66 soldiers on death row saved by Vanguard Media Limited

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66 soldiers on death row saved By Kingsley Omonobi

or the 66 soldiers sentenced to death for mutiny and other offences in the fight against Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East, the good news is that they will no longer face the firing squad. The Army authorities announced, yesterday, that their death sentences had been commuted to terms of 10 years imprisonment. “The death sentences by firing squad, passed on 66 soldiers in January and March, 2015, by separate General Court Martials (GCMs), have been commuted to 10 years imprisonment each”, the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Colonel Usman Sani, said yesterday. After the sentencing of 12 soldiers to death for shooting at a vehicle conveying the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 7 Division of the Nigerian Ar my, Maiduguri, Borno State, Major-General Ahmed Mohammed, the Army authorities, on October 2, 2014, at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) Garrison, inaugurated another nine-man GCM to try about 100 soldiers. The soldiers were charged with offences ranging from mutiny to assault, misconduct and tampering with military property. Of the lot, 77 were

accused of committing mutiny, punishable by death. The charge said the soldiers attached to the 7 Division, conspired to commit mutiny, saying they refused to join 111 Special Forces Battalion, led by Colonel E.A. Aladeniyi, to the Maimalari Barracks for an operation (against Boko Haram fighters). The mutinous soldiers had blamed the GOC and other officers for the death of four of their colleagues allegedly ambushed while on a special operation against Boko Haram in Kalabalge LGA, near Chibok, Borno State; where over 200 school girls were abducted by terrorists in April, last year. One of the CGMs was headed by Brigadier General Chukwuemeka Okonkwo. The Army spokesperson, Sani, in a statement announcing the reversal of the death sentences handed to the 66 soldiers, yesterday, to 10 years imprisonment, said: “It will be recalled that 71 soldiers were arraigned on several charges in joint trials. The soldiers were arraigned on several count charges that included Criminal Conspiracy, Conspiracy to commit mutiny and Mutiny. “Others were Attempt to Commit an Offence (Murder), Disobedience to Particular Orders, Insubordinate Behaviour

THOUGHT FOR TODAY TIME AND SEASON By Richard Eromonsele

Everything in life has its time and season.There is a time to be born,time to live and time to die.There is a time to play,there is also a time to work.There is a time to sing and dance,there is also a time to smile and laugh.There is a time to read,there is also a time to write.There is a time to study, there is also a time to meditate.There is a time to think, there is also a time to plan.There is a time to sow, there is also a time to reap.Everything in life has its time.Work while you work, play while you play, read while you read.Whatever you are doing at a particular time, do it with all your mind.Think about it!

and False Accusation, amongst others. “They (soldiers) were tried, discharged on some charges but found guilty and convicted on other charges which included mutiny. “Out of the number, 66 were found guilty on some of the charges and sentenced to death, while 5 were discharged and acquitted and one was given 28 days Imprisonment with Hard Labour (IHL). “However, following series of petitions, the Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai, ordered a legal review of the cases. The directive was carried out to examine the merit of each case. “It was on the basis of the review and recommendations that the Chief of Army Staff commuted the death sentences of the 66 soldiers to 10 years jail terms. The sentences are to run concurrently. “The cases of other soldiers are being reviewed and will be made public once the appropriate reviews are completed.” The reprieve for the convicted soldiers, yesterday, elicited jubilation from their families. Family members of some of the convicts, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard on phone, were full of praises for the Army authorities and the Chief of the Army Staff (CoAS), but would have preferred that their kinsmen were outrightly pardoned and possibly reabsorbed into the military.

L-R: Senator Dino Melaye; Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly (KWHA), Dr. Ali Ahmad; Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, his wife, Oluwatoyin; Kwara State governor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed; Alhaji Kawu Baraje; Deputy Governor of Kwara State, Elder Peter Kisra; and Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, assisting the Senate President to cut his 53rd birthday cake at a ceremony in Ilorin , yesterday

List of pardoned soldiers Continues from page 1 12. Pte Olayode Oluwasegun 13. Pte Tijjani Jimoh 14. Pte Kabiru Abubakar 15. Pte Mamuda Sywasan 16. Pte James Emmanuel 17. Pte Mukaila Musa 18. Pte Magaji Ahmadu 19. Pte Amao Bukola 20. Pte Wuyep John 21. Pte Oti Kelvin 22. Pte Ameh Mathew 23. Pte Olaitan Joseph 24. Pte Kulukulu Endurance 25. Pte Usman Isaac 26. Pte Ocheje Williams 27. Pte Adila Dangana 28. Pte Sudan Hannania 29. Pte Sunday Godwin 30. Pte Datti Hassan 31. Pte Abubakar Garba 32. Pte Joseph Dauda 33. Pte Chiemela Azubuike 34. Pte Abubakar Mohammed 35. Pte Anagu Mark

36. Pte Danbaba Francis 37. Pte Oton Asuabiat 38. Pte Nwachukwu Udo 39. Pte Ibrahim Saliu 40. Pte Abafe Sylvester 41. Pte Eze Isaac 42. Pte Abubakar Mohammed 43. Pte Samuel Michael 44. Pte Ishaya Musa 45. Pte Ogai Douglas 46. Pte Atim Peter 47. Pte Hemas Okpe 48. Pte Ahunaya Temple 49. Pte Eyaknse Uwah 50. Pte Ilesanmi S. 51. Pte Solomon Ishaku 52. Pte Nasiru Zubairu 53. Pte Audu Daniel 54. Pte Buaz Lucky 55. Pte Muhammed Abubakar 56. Pte Anas Awalu 57. Pte Babangida Jamilu 58. Pte Hashimu Ibrahim 59. Pte Mohammed Suleiman 60. Pte Shehu Sa’adu

Boko Haram attacks Buratai, Army chief’s village

oko Haram gunmen launched a dawn raid, yesterday, on the home town of Army chief, Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, triggering a fierce gunbattle with troops, residents of a nearby village to which people fled the clashes said. There was no immediate report of casualties in the

fighting in Buratai, Borno State. Abubakar Umar, a resident of the nearby hamlet of Miringa, told AFP that the fighting began at 5:00 am after Boko Haram insurgents attacked the village. “At one point, we could hear explosions coming from the direction of Buratai,” he said.

Troops reinforcements from a military base in the town of Biu, 30 kilometres from Buratai, were seen passing through Miringa. “Nine trucks conveying soldiers and another four carrying local hunters drove through our village towards Buratai and from what we hear more are on their way,” said Shitu Ayuba, another resident. Some Buratai residents had fled to Miringa, where they took shelter in a

Gunmen abduct Gov Dickson’s sister, one other By Samuel Oyadongha, Yenagoa

26-year-old lady, Nancy Keme Dickson, has been kidnapped by armed men at the Okaka suburb of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital. The gunmen also seized her sales girl. Sunday Vanguard gathered that Nancy is Governor Seriake Dickson’s sister. The gunmen, numbering four, were said to have

stormed Keme’s shop at about 2.50pm, yesterday, in a Lexus Jeep. According to eyewitnesses, the gunmen trailed their victim to her shop along Okaka Road, Yenagoa where she and her sales girl were forcibly taken away to an unknown destination. Bayelsa State police public relations officer, Asinim Butswat, confirmed the incident. He said, “On December 19, 2015, at about 1450hrs, four unknown gunmen in an ash

Lexus Jeep, trailed one Nancy Keme Dickson, 26, to her shop at Okaka Road, Yenagoa, and abducted her and her sales girl to an unknown destination.” Butswat said immediately the command was alerted, it embarked on a stop and search/ cordon operations in a bid to rescue the victims and apprehend the perpetrators. “Efforts have been intensified to arrest the abductors and investigation is ongoing.”

primary school, locals said. Buratai and nearby villages have been repeatedly targeted in deadly raids by the Islamist insurgents since June, when the army chief assumed office. Residents believe the attacks are in response to recent military gains against the jihadists under the army chief. President Muhammadu Buhari has given the military a December 31 deadline to crush the jihadist uprising that has killed some 17,000 and displaced around 2.6 million people since 2009. Penultimate Saturday, Boko Haram killed 30 people and injured 20 others in raids on three villages near Buratai. ON THURSDAY, THE INSURGENTS KILLED 14 PEOPLE, SOME OF WHOM WERE DECAPITATED, WHEN THEY RAIDED KAMUYA VILLAGE, THE HOMETOWN OF BURATAI’S MOTHER AND BURNT IT DOWN.

PAGE 6 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015

KOGI GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION

•L-r: Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai of Kaduna State with Secretary to Kaduna State Government, Alhaji Lawal Abbas and Chairman Northern Governors Forum, Alhaji Kashim Shettima at Northern Governros Emergency Meeting in Kaduna State yesterday. Photos: Olu Ajayi

•L-r: Bauchi State Governor Muhammad Abubakar, with Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello and Kogi State Governor Idris Wada at Northern Governors Emergency Meeting in Kaduna State yesterday.

SSANU shuts down 30 varsities FG’s deadline to retrench 2,000 December 24 •As unity sch. staff ends Dec.31

Johnbosco APC engaging in political terrorism By Agbakwuru, Abuja In Rivers, Akwa-Ibom — PDP ENIOR Staff Associ S ation of Nigeria Uni•Accuses Oyegun of saying his party will forcefully take versities, SSANU, has direct-

over the South-South By Henry Umoru

ATIONAL leader ship of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday, accused the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, of engaging in political terrorism in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, just as it stressed that the action portends great danger to the nation’s democracy as well as capable of threatening the peace and stability in these states and the South-South. In a statement by the Acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, the PDP noted that what was going on in the two states and others controlled by the PDP was a script acted in line with the statement of the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, that the ruling party would capture all the states in the South-South. Secondus said, “The recent comments credited to Chief John Oyegun, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), conveying the desperation of his party and the Presidency to forcefully take over PDP states in the South-South is, to say the least, unfortunate and disappointing. “Chief Oyegun’s boast, while reacting to the bizarre ruling of the Court of Appeal judgment on Rivers State governorship

petition wherein he stated: “I am more confident of winning Akwa-Ibom than any other state in the South-South...we are going to win; that is almost a certainty”, is not only careless but also smacks of impunity and arrogance that have characterized the APC. “This comment also further betrays APC’s dirty underhand deals with unscrupulous electoral and judicial operatives, which gives its National Chairman impetus to make sweeping statements that has no place in electoral reality. “Perhaps, it is pertinent to ask: ‘How could Chief Oyegun have known for certainty the outcome of the gubernatorial dispute in Akwa-Ibom State, a matter that may end up in the Supreme Court? Is this not a clear indication so

far that Chief Oyegun and the APC are indeed interfering with the judicial processes in their quest to forcefully take over PDP states? “Having severally alerted Nigerians and the international community of the plans of the APC to decimate the opposition by `taking over ’ states controlled by the PDP, especially in Rivers and Akwa-Ibom states of the South-South zone by every means possible, we warn of dire consequences of the actions by the APC to disrupt the will of the people of the two states. “Indeed, let it be known that the PDP warned that this script being played out by Chief Oyegun and his ilk in the APC clearly portends danger to our democratic project and our national stability”.

By Oboh Agbonkhese

HE headline act of 2015 Ovation Carol, tagged Christmas, in Lagos, legendary American singer, Evelyn Champagne King, has assured Nigerians of unlimited merriment and fun during the show scheduled for Eko Hotel on December 20. Evelyn King, scheduled to arrive Nigeria this morning, described her participation at the carol as a homecoming and urged her fans to meet her at the

By Simon Ebegbulem, Benin City

OVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State said, yesterday, that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under President Goodluck Jonathan squandered the resources of the country and that of its members. While he pointed out that things had changed positively since the coming of President Muhammadu Buhari, he, however, asserted that “it will take time

former Delta State Commissioner for Higher Education, Professor Hope Eghagha, says the Federal Government must approach the problems of insurgency and political agitations with the knowledge that a federation is never imposed, but

corruption reportage

created by the willingness of participating regions, governments, persons, groups and races. Eghagha also decried what he described as mob action by a section of the media in the reportage of various corruption cases, saying only a law court can convict any one. Speaking to newsmen at

event. “This is your sister coming home to perform at the Ovation Carol,” said an

elated and beautifully rotund King in a promotional video specifically shot to celebrate the show.

Comrade Issa Aremu loses wife

HE wife of Comrade Issa Aremu, a labour leader, Hajia Hamdalat Abiodun, is dead. Abiodun died in Lagos on Tuesday after a brief illness and has been

buried at the family residence in Ilorin, Kwara State, according to Islamic injunctions. Fidau prayers for her comes up today at the family residence. She was aged 51.

had written the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, urging him to order the immediate withdrawal of all letters from the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, National Universities Commission and the Federal Ministry of Education directing ViceChancellors to remove personnel of the University Staff Primary Schools from the pay-roll.

Nigeria would have collapsed, if Jonathan had won — Oshiomhole •As he receives over 5,000 PDP decampees into APC

INSURGENCY: Federation is never forced, says Prof. Eghagha •Decries ‘mob action’ in

Evelyn King promises fun at Glo Ovation Carol

ed its members to embark on indefinite strike from December 24, following Federal Government’s directive to Vice-Chancellors of universities to remove the names of staff of their secondary schools from their pay-roll. The National Executive

Council of SSANU took the decision to paralyse academic activities in the nation’s universities after its meeting in Abuja. Addressing journalists on the outcome of its meeting, the National President of SSANU, Comrade Samson Ugwoke, said the action of government to retrench over 2,000 staff was contrary to the Federal Government and SSANU agreement of 2009. Ugwoke said that SSANU

the God’s Kingdom Society, GKS, Feast of Tabernacles in Warri, Delta State, he said: “There are too many distractions in the polity. The North-East is still boiling, the South-East is threatening and there is also the Shiite threat. “If the Federal Government realises that a federation is not imposed, then there must be persons within these sects and groups to negotiate with quietly and privately.” Pointing out that Biafra is an idea, Eghagha said that ideas do not die. He added that if the agitators were made to feel that their leaders, who fought the Civil War, had been forgiven and that they are true Nigerians, there will be peace. Meanwhile, he cautioned against repeating the Book Haram mistake with Shiite, which made the sect spiraled out of control.

to clean up the mess of the past”. Oshiomhole stated this while receiving over 5,000 members of the PDP in the three senatorial districts of Edo including the immediate past Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Power, Patrick Ikhariale; Abbas Braimah; and Bisi Idaomi. The decampees were received into the party by Oshiomhole, assisted by some governorship aspirants of the APC, such as former Governor Osarhiemen Osunbor and Gen.Charles Airhiavbere, who had on several occasions urged the PDP leaders to forget pride and join Oshiomhole in moving the

state forward. “For the first time, big people are being asked to account, in the past we only hear of governors, local government people, commissioners but this time we are seeing Minister of Finance confessing like a witch craft how they took money and even co-opt their children so they didn’t just share money for the party they shared for their families. When a Minister pays money into her own personal account, we have seen national security being redefined to meet the security of a political party to secure the party in office rather than secure the nation even in the face of a devastating insurgency”, the governor stated.

BOKO HARM: Return of IDPs to begin next year, says Buhari By Sam Eyoboka with Agency reports

OLLOWING the December deadline to flush out insurgency, President Muhammadu Buhari has told a former British Foreign Minister David Miliband that the millions of persons displaced from their homes by Boko Haram would start the process of returning in 2016, just as the National Christian Elders Forum expressed concern over recurring orgy of violence and destruction that seem to define the northern region of Nigeria. The militant group’s ongoing six-year insurgency, which has spread from northeastern Nigeria to neighboring countries, has killed at least 17,000 people and internally displaced

more than two million, 10 per cent of whom live in government-run camps, AFP reported. A September report by UNICEF said that 500,000 children had been uprooted and forced to flee their homes in the previous five months alone. Buhari has set a deadline of the end of December for the Nigerian Army to retake all territory currently held by Boko Haram, which has been forced back into its Sambisa Forest stronghold in the northeastern Borno State. After a meeting with the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian aid agency headed up by Miliband, the President said that efforts to return the internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their homes would begin “in earnest” in 2016.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015, PAGE 7

From left: UN Women Representative , Nigeria and ECOWAS, Dr Grace Ongile; Plateau State governor, Rt. Hon. Simon Lalong; and UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, E relu Bisi Fayemi, during a courtesy visit to the governor to discuss UN Women programs in Jos… last week.

Hon. Tajudeen Obasa representing Ojo Federal Constituency in a warm handshake with President Muhammadu Buhari as Vice President, Prof Yemi Osibajo looks on during the presidential dinner organized for members of the House of Representatives.

Anger in Igbo land over pro-Biafra protesters killing M

ANY Igbo in the South-East are displeased with the alleged killing of five pro-Biafra protesters in Onitsha, Anambra State, last week, celebrating the court order that Nnamdi Kanu, the Director of Radio Biafra and leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), should be released from detention. An Igbo group, Association of South Town Unions, ASETU, yesterday, condemned the killing, describing it as a calculated attempt to foist crisis on Igbo land. The group welcomed Nnamdi Kanu’s release, condemning security agents attacking of protesters. It pointed out that all hands must be on deck to secure the peace and security of the nation. In a communiqué by the State Presidents and Secretaries of ASETU and read by the President General of Association of Imo State Indienous Town Unions, Chief Emeka Diwe, the group which is the umbrella body of associations of town unions in the five states of the South East zone, said, “ We are quick to point that in most cases, peaceful protest is an invitation to dialogue. But we regret that marching out soldiers who only know how to shoot and kill against armless and peaceful demonstrating protesters is not the best solution to the agitations. Even if you

achieve peace by force, it will not last. Dialogue remains the best option. You cannot achieve peace by shooting at defenceless people. What the soldiers did was to add more fuel to a raging fire. This is unacceptable to us as Town Unions and grassroot leaders of the South East zone.” In separate reactions the alleged killing was also condemned by the leader of Biafra Independence Movement, BIM, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike; the Ogirishi of Igboland, Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka and other human rights groups. In his reaction through a telephone chat, Uwazuruike said: “After all, if the Department of Security Services, DSS, had released Kanu since the

magistrate court gave an order to do so, these orgy of protests would not have arisen in the first place”. Ezeonwuka, who spoke to newsmen at the scene of the incident, condemned the shooting and killing of unarmed persons with live bullets, adding however that on the other hand, if it was true that the jubilators had blocked the roads, it was not proper. The Chairman of South East Zone of Campaign for Democracy, CD. Uzor A. Uzor, in his own reaction, called on government to set up a panel of inquiry to ascertain the reason for the shooting and punish the culprits accordingly. Meanwhile, some Igbo youths, yesterday, warned some leaders of the South East not negotiate with the

Federal Government on their behalf over the mass protests for the actualisation of the Biafran Republic. The position of the Igbo youths was contained in a statement signed by the founder of Igbo Youth Movement, IYM, and leader of the South East Democratic Coalition, Evangelist Elliot Uko, in Enugu. Uko’s statement read, “The wide gulf between the Igbo masses and the political class is about to be widened dangerously. “The mindless strategy of using the blood, tears and sorrows of frustrated Igbo youths who have lost faith in Nigeria, to curry jobs and favour from President Buhari could create a huge chasm between the leaders and the led in Igbo land.

Nigeria’s economy not entering recession — CBN By Gbenga Olarinoye, Osogbo

HE Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has allayed the fear that the nation’s economy may be entering recession. The apex bank, however, stated that the economy was currently being restructured in accordance with the dynamics of the global economy. Fielding questions from newsmen in Osogbo at a sensitisation programme

the officials of the bank held with the people of Osun State, Mr. Babatunde Okulaja, Assistant Director, Development and Finance Department of the CBN, said one the innovations of CBN to restructure economy is an initiative called Produce Add Value and Export, PAVE. “Through PAVE we don’t only consume all what we have produced, we package and send abroad and earn dollars. By so doing,

GDP is improving and the economy will be better for it,” Okulaja said. According to him, as the regulator of the economy, CBN has discovered that efforts are mainly geared towards production, while no tangible value was been added to the produced items. But through PAVE, Nigerians are being encouraged to add value to the goods produced to make them exportable and thereby earn for the country world stronger currencies.

Court stops construction works in Asaba BY Victor Ahiuma-Young

N Asaba High Court in Delta State has restrained Oshimili South Local Government Council from further construction works on the Ogbeafor Primary

School land located close to the Ogbeogonogo market Asaba, the state capital. This followed a motion for interlocutory injunction filed by the counsel to the Umuezeafadia family of Asaba, Mr. Chike Onyemenem

(SAN), who told the court that Oshimili South and other defenders in the matter were duly served on the November 27, 2015 and that since the defenders had not challenged the application, the court could grant the orders sought

by the claimants. The land was initially given to the missionaries by the fa but the state government which inherited later relocated the school built on it and now, the family wants their piece of land returned to them.

Lions Club launches N95m eye-care centre •Awosiyan inuagurated as President

LATINUM Lions Club has called on organisa tions and the rich in the society to support projects that will impact positively on communities and the less privileged. The appeal was made while seeking financial support from the public towards the completion of the on-going construction of a N93 million eye-care centre in Isheri area of Lagos.

Hon Sola Oyedeji, Special Adviser to Oyo State governor, who was the chairman of the occasion, in his address, said the club had found its way into many countries with the affirmation to develop people and environment. The club raised about N1.5 million at the occasion while a donor promised to build the administrative office of the project. One and half plot of land was donated by the traditional ruler of Isheri Olofin, Oba Wahab Ayinde Balogun. Mr.

Segun Awosiyan was inaugurated as President of the Club at the occasion. Awosiyan, in his inaugural speech, explained that the project was part of the club’s programs for 2015/ 2016 under the community needs assessment and response to supporting government efforts at all levels. “We decided to continue with our core project of N95 Million Eye Care Centre,” Awosiyan added.

Ex Rivers LG boss petitions Buhari, IG over alleged harassment

former Chairman, Emolga Local Government Council of Rivers State, Honorable Allwell Igbor, has petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, over “harassment by the police”. The petition, sent through his counsel, Festus Keyamo, and copied to President Muhammadu Buhari; the Chairman, Police Service Commission, Chief Mike Okiro; and the National Human Rights Commission, among others, alleged that an Assistant Superintendent of Police attached to the Homicide Section of Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, Abuja, was being used by an unnamed influential man to declare him wanted.

Jieaworrar 2016 prediction book

HE launching of 2016 Prediction Book by All Saints Church of Christ (Aladura), Odogbolu, Ogun State holds tomorrow at the church premises in Odogbolu. The book launch will hold during a special night vigil where the church’s founder Primate (Dr) Samuel Bisi Ademosu who had been in a 21 days spiritual seclusion will offer special prayers for individuals, families and the nation.

Delta PMAN holds summit

ELTA State chapter of Performing Musicians As sociation of Nigeria, PMAN, says it is organising a summit in January 2016 where notable Deltans would be given awards. PMAN Governor in the state, Mr Quincy Tebite, who disclosed this in Asaba when he led members of the association to pay a courtesy visit on the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Rt Hon Monday Igbuya, expressed the readiness of PMAN to partner with the state government.

PAGE 8 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015

KOGI GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION

•Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuayi of Enugu State (right) and Chief Innocent Chumwuma, CEO of Innoson Group of Companies as the governor received the key of a patrol vehicle manufactured in Enugu by Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company and donated to Enugu State Government.

•Students of Albesta Academy, Lekki, Lagos, led by their Choir Master, Mr. Taiwo Adelusi, during the students presentation of 2015 Calypso Christmas Carol, at the school’s ground; in Akodo, Lekki, Lagos.

BLEAK CHRISTMAS AHEAD: Bankruptcy fear hits states (2) Being the second part of the cash crunch affecting states across the country. The first part was published last Sunday. BY DELE SOBOWALE

ONTRARY to the conventional wisdom in the South, most states of the North are very conservative in the use of loans. They are risk averse. The unexpected truth is that it is the revelation that the South-West had been the one prone to questionable use of loans and advances to fund projects which have zero per cent return on investment. The average deduction from the allocations from the Federation Account to the states for September 2015 was 20.95%. But with the exception of Oyo State, which had deduction of 17.48%, all the other states in the zone recorded deduction from source of over 20%. See table below. + That is double the national average in percentages. And only two states – Lagos and Ondoare among the top ten in terms of the allocations from the Federation Account. That should serve as a wake-up call to the state Houses of Assembly – before the roofs cave in. Many states of the fed-

Table II Deductions (%) of from Gross Allocations for SW State % Deduction Ruling Party Oyo 17.48 APC Lagos 28.43 APC Ondo 29.64 PDP Ekiti 37.43 PDP* Ogun 41.71 APC Osun 97.72 APC Average 42.06+ eration got into commitments which they could only discharge if oil prices were above US$90 per barrel. Ekiti State deductions need to be explained. They represent, mostly, deductions for loans and commitments made before Governor Fayose took

HE Ijaws of Niger Del ta has described the coronation of Prince Godfrey Ikenwole Abiloye Emiko, as the new Olu of Warri without crisis as joy to all Niger Deltans. In a congratulatory message by Comrade Joseph Evah on behalf of Ijaw Monitoring Group, the Ijaw said “the Itsekiri has made Niger Delta proud before the eyes of the world that all the culture and customs that bring dignity and honour to our people will never die”. According to the former Publicity Secretary of Ijaw Nation Congress INC “The unity, the Itsekiri displayed as well as the power of the crown symbolizing

ment can expect to receive less in January 2016 than they got in September. Yet, the deductions will continue. It is quite possible that some states might receive nothing in January from Abuja. They might even be asked to bring more money to repay their commitments. Technically, an entity – nation, state, local government, private company, NGO – is bankrupt when it can no longer redeem its pledges. When governments can no longer pay salaries, pensions, gratuities, contractors etc, as and when due, they are going to trigger a massive wave of defaults which can only be called bankruptcy. At that

point, it will no longer matter to those they owe whether or not the funds were judiciously spent on “innovative programmes”, many of which become unsustainable or abandoned projects, they will press for their money. Zamfara already feels the lash; as one creditor obtained a court order to seize the funds in its bank accounts. More states face the embarrassment in the near future. The threat of states bankruptcy is real. Only a fool will ignore it. The only question left to address is: What are we going to do about it when our states become economically unsustainable?

Celebrating a crime-free Yuletide in Abia By Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu of lives “SECURITY and property is of

great importance to me and will be reflected in our coming actions and policies. My administration will continue to provide necessary support to the security agencies to sustain and uphold the current peaceful atmosphere”.Gov. Ikpeazu.

Ijaws salute new Olu of Warri By Tony Nwankwo

over. So, to some extent, he is a victim of commitments made by his predecessors. Even with that explanation, it is still a fact that governors in the SouthWest, irrespective of political party, have committed their states to deductions, on account of loans

taken when the monthly allocations to states were about twice of what they are now. Even the N389bn allocated to the three tiers of government, which is about half of what they received in November of 2013, might turn out to be a huge sum compared to what they can expect in 2016. All available information point to crude oil price and volume sales dropping drastically below the levels we now experience. The beginning of 2016 is only three weeks away, and January sales are already known; the price and volumes are well below what we had in September this year. So, every tier of govern-

their common destiny means they cannot be shaken by politics, personal or group interest, and this is a lessen to other tribes in Africa”. The Ijaws urge the new Olu of Warri to continue to be a bridge builder like his predecessor, in the Niger Delta and beyond. “The background of His Majesty, Ogiame Ikenwoli, assures us that peace, greater economic prosperity for the Itsekiri people will reign. We urge the Federal Government to engage traditional rulers in nation building. The role of traditional rulers in the affairs of our nation need be appreciated by all tiers of government” the statement added..

The above words by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu during his maiden address on May 29 at Umuahia Township stadium indicate that security is central to the policies of his administration and would not be relegated to the background .Ikpeazu on another instance had assured Abians of strengthening the existing security situation in the state, and continuous support to the law enforcement agencies to improve and sustain a more efficient incident response time and introduce contemporary technologybased solutions to assist in the enhancement of Security. Unlike in the past when the minds of Abians in Diaspora were agitated by the thought of how to spend the Yuletide at home because of security challenges,the situation has changed for better and Abia is now a safe haven. Ikpeazu has added another cap to his hall of achievements. This is to ensure that Abians, both at home and in Diaspora ,enjoy a crime-free Yuletide. The governor has procured 20 modern patrol vehicles fitted with communication and mon-

itoring gadgets for the police and other security agencies in the state to enhance inter-agency communication and improve their response time to distress calls from members of the public . The vehicles will be stationed at strategic locations across the state this Yuletide. Similarly, Zenith Bank has donated five brand new security Toyota Hilux trucks to assist Abia State government in its crime fighting efforts. This is as plans have been concluded to mount Close Circuit Cameras (CCTV) and vehicle tracking devices at some strategic locations in the state to discourage criminals from making the state their safe haven. During the welcome party in honour of the 14th Brigade Officers Mess, held at the 14th Brigade Headquarters, Ohafia, the governor had also restated his administration’s resolve to sustain its partnership with the Nigerian Army, adding that Abia State remains the safest state in the country for husiness and other activities. The above efforts are few out of the numerous

efforts by the governor to ensure that lives and property of Abians are adequately secured. Part of the actions was the restoration of military roadblocks in the state to ensure kidnappers and other criminals did not take undue advantage of the exit of the military to resume their nefarious activities. Shortly after the restoration of military checkpoints, another stride was added to the government’s efforts to ensure that Abians go to sleep with both eyes closed. A special security operational centre was established in Aba with open security phone lines to be used at the collation centre. Establishment of the centre came on the heels of the launching of a special security outfit, comprising army, police, and SSS to check insecurity,especially kidnapping in the state. It will be recalled that between 2007 and 2010 that a gang of criminals seized Abia State, especially Aba, the commercial-hub of the state. They made Aba their operational base, and the city became unsafe as kidnap-

pers, rapists,armed robbers, oil thieves, cultist, and sundry criminals unleashed a reign of terror. The activities took a huge toll on the economy of the state as banks and public commercial operators were forced to close shops .The situation also forced residents to flee the state enmasse. Also, prospective local and foreign investors were stiffly scared. “Security, they say,”is a everybody ’s business”. Therefore as the government does its bit in ensuring security of lives and property of the residents,individuals are saddled with some responsibilities to volunteer useful information to security agencies. On the other hand, security agencies should improve their operations by swift response to distress. They also owe the public the duty to protect their sources of information. By so doing, the public’s confidence that was once lost would be restored. And more importantly, there should be stronger collaboration among the security agencies in the state.

•Ukegbu is SSA to Gov. Ikpeazu on media.

SUND AY Vanguard , DECEMBER 20 , 2015, P AGE 9 SUNDA

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PAGE 10 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015

The other side of the Dasuki probe

ith the judiciary already handling allegations by the present Federal Government that a huge portion of the funds for fighting insurgency was diverted by its predecessor, the subject is hardly ripe for comments by columnists who appreciate the rule of law. In the meantime however, there are a number of instructive statements in the public domain which we cannot ignore. A good example of such statements is the one credited to Dr. Peter Odili, a former governor of Rivers State. According to media reports, the former governor admitted receiving N100million (not from any insurgency fund) but from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the contact and mobilization in the South-South for the 2015 elections. He also reportedly affirmed that he has never had any dealings with the embattled Sambo Dasuki the former National Security Adviser (NSA). Odili was reacting to the

allegation that 6 persons namely Bode George ( South-West); Amb. Yerima Abdullahi (North-East); Peter Odili (South-South); Attahiru Bafarawa (NorthEast); Jim Nwobodo (South -East); North-Central (Ahmadu Ali) received from the office of the NSA, N600million. Nwobodo and George have since similarly denied the charge. Until the judiciary pronounces on the subject, no one can say the denials are right or wrong; and this article as earlier hinted is not about who is guilty, rather we are interested in the other dimension of huge sums for electioneering in Nigeria. If only one political party spent N600million just for mobilisation, it becomes obvious that as Nigerians, we need to stand up against the politicisation of our nation. The point becomes more glaring when we add the other huge figures being peddled about in connection with publicity expenses for the same election. Tunde Salman, the Director of PhD,Depar tment of Philosophy, University of Lagos 08116759758

A critical phenomenology of Christmas (1)

ive days from now, it would be Christmas once again, an indication of the cyclic nature of time. As usual with the weeks and days leading up to it, preparations for the celebrations are gathering momentum in all the nooks and crannies of the globe. In the major cities of Nigeria, Santa Claus’s white-bearded cheery face is emblazoned at shop entrances and windows. A visit to the major markets and shopping malls in Lagos and commercial centres all over the country is a tedious undertaking at this time, because everybody is hustling about, pulling and pushing all in a bid to buy one thing or another. Of course, petty thieves and pickpockets are on the prowl, cleverly stealing from people’s handbags and pockets. And given the ubiquity of Internet technology and explosion in electronic transactions, fraudsters are working hard looking for victims to defraud. Business people and transporters are already implementing strategies aimed at profit m a x i m i s a t i o n . Unfortunately, with the growing hardship in the country right now, millions of Nigerians would not enjoy the Yuletide the way they would have wanted. Many of the roads in the country, especially federal roads in the South-East, are in a terrible state of

disrepair, which means that road accidents will likely increase from now till after the New Year celebrations. According to “The Truth about Christmas,” an informative essay on Christmas published in the December 2010 edition of Awake, Christmas celebration has spread to non-Christian countries such as China, Indonesia, Japan, Lebanon and Turkey. The article reports that in the West, Christmas has metamorphosed into a secular moneymaking enterprise, with many advertorials blatantly targeted towards children. Millions of Christians still go to church on Christmas day in the pretext of commemorating the birth of the purported “saviour of mankind,” whereas their real intention is to show off their expensive new clothes, shoes, bags etc. Meanwhile, the welldecorated shopping malls playing Christmas carols have become the new temples. Because of r e l e n t l e s s commercialisation, people are unduly agitated and worried over how to buy Christmas gifts for their loved ones. Some of them borrow money in order to meet the expectations of family members and friends. Overspending during Christmas has become an unfortunate feature of a supposedly spiritual event. From the foregoing, there is no

Communications, Elections Observation Centre for the Centre for Policy Advocacy and Leadership Development (CPALD) in a recent study attempted to track Political Advertorials for the 2015 Presidential Electioneering Campaigns in Nigeria for the Print Media only. He reportedly found that the sum of N3, 835, 898, 475 was spent on only that component of election campaigns output. When disaggregated, the APC Presidential candidate

Those who have often asked why elections in Nigeria are ‘a do or die’ matter may have heard many times that it is because our political system is a winner takes all type. What people forget to add is that as a result, we do not hold elections, we merely purchase consciences and his support groups according to the study spent N724, 540, 609 while the PDP Presidential candidate and his support groups spent N3, 111, 357, 876 respectively meaning that PDP may have spent 4 times more than APC. The study also revealed that third party spending, particularly for the PDP candidate, patina of doubt that Christmas, which is supposed to mark the birthday of Jesus Christ, the most iconic spiritual teacher in human history (according to Christians), has evolved into the celebration of rabid materialism, debauchery and showy exhibitionism. But how did this come about? Is the transformation due to the largely non-Christian origin of Christmas itself, or is it an inevitable product of rampaging capitalism? Looking at the historical basis of Christmas, was the figure described as Jesus of Nazareth a genuine historical figure or were the narratives concerning him an admixture of fact and myth - more of myth, in fact? If there was indeed a historical Jesus, was he actually born on Christmas day, that is, 25th of December? What are the historical origins of Christmas? Attempts to answer these questions can open up fresh and interesting vistas of thought concerning one of the most celebrated festivals in human history. Most Christians, particularly in Nigeria, do not know that Christmas celebrations developed from non-Christian sources. Tradition has it that Jesus was actually born on December 25, and his birthday is celebrated on that date. Indeed, ‘Christmas’ means ‘Christ’s Mass,’ that is, the mass commemorating the feast of Christ’s nativity, or birth. The Christmas Encyclopaedia states that canonisation of December 25 as Jesus’ birthday did not evolve from biblical precedent, but from Roman festivals held at the end of every year, about the time of winter solstice in the

contributed significantly to this expenditure subhead. Considering the capital intensive nature of broadcasting, items such as jingles, documentaries and hate speeches which characterized the 2015 elections may have consumed unimaginable sums from which many persons seem to have benefitted. Even before the legally approved time for election, many support groups had spent huge sums. For example, although former President Goodluck Jonathan, for as long as two years to another election, supposedly pleaded severally not to be distracted from governance, a ProJonathan group, Tr a n s f o r m a t i o n Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), went round the 6 geopolitical zones galvanising the people to persuade an ‘unwilling’ Jonathan to contest for a second term. Nation-wide, TAN collected millions of ghost signatures in support of Jonathan. How much did TAN spend and from where did its leaders collect their own mobilisation funds? We need answers because except we trace the sources of money being spent by such third parties, we cannot put a halt to the trend whereby candidates at Nigerian elections design strategies of evading campaign finance rules and regulations. Meanwhile, there are regulations fixing what can be spent during elections. In

fact, the amended Electoral Act, 2010, makes elaborate provisions on financial guidelines for politicians and political parties. Section 91 of the Act for instance directs that the maximum election expenses to be incurred by a candidate in a presidential election should not exceed N1 billion. Similar ceilings are set for governorship elections at N200 million, while elections to the Senate and the House of Representatives are not to exceed N40 million and N20 million respectively. There is even the interesting rule that no one is allowed to make a donation above N1million, but this and all other regulations are constantly breached making it obvious that the nation, under money-bag leaders is unwilling to implement the law thereby tacitly empowering people with illgotten wealth to win elections Those who have often asked why elections in Nigeria are ‘a do or die’ matter may have heard many times that it is because our political system is a winner takes all type. What people forget to add is that as a result, we do not hold elections, we merely purchase consciences. Those being purchased are not the unemployed as is often alleged; money bags many of whom retrieved such bags from the public treasury can buy and do buy any type of wealthy opinion leader. All those who

imagine that an incumbent can hardly be defeated in a Nigerian election are merely alluding to the opportunity he has to use public funds to buy everyone just as he can use his office to favour supporters and harass opponents. For the journalist, it may be simple brown envelope but what traditional rulers get would be hard to imagine but different from place to place. In the sophisticated southwest, it could be dollars and plenty of it. In my StateEdo, noisy chiefs get Prado jeeps and become campaign managers in chieftaincy attires. Again, incumbents are so power drunk that they can do and undo. If you speak the truth in office which is not exactly in favour of an incumbent, you may be as distinguished as General Martin Luther Agwai, you will get the boot. Indeed, even if you are a former Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces planning to contest a Presidential election, someone in the Army, your former constituency, will be made to issue spurious statements about your certificates. How Professor Attahiru Jega immediate past chairman of our electoral body managed to get out of it is one reason why this writer supports encomiums being poured on the man now. It is however hoped that the Dasuki probe will better position the nation to appreciate what our leaders do in office.

Northern Hemisphere. Those festivals included the Saturnalia, in honour of Saturn, god of agriculture, and the combined festivals of two sun gods, Sol and Mithra from Rome and Persia respectively. Both birthdays were celebrated

solar disk was transformed into haloes around the heads of Christian saints. Now, granted that The Bible contains narratives of questionable historicity, and although, contrary to what most Christians believe, the question of whether the individual named Jesus in the Gospels actually existed is far from settled, Christmas celebration was never recommended in the Christian scripture. Indeed, The Bible did not state the actual date Jesus was born – it merely gave geographical indications surrounding the birth and early circumstances of Jesus. In Luke 2:8, for instance, The Bible suggests that when Jesus was born, shepherds were living out of doors herding their sheep at night near B e t h l e h e m . Meteorologically speaking, October usually marks the commencement of the cold rainy season in the area of Christ’s nativity, and at such period shepherds, especially in the colder highlands such as those around Bethlehem, brought their flock into protected shelters at night. The coldest weather, occasionally accompanied by snow, usually occurred in December, making that period inappropriate for shepherds to tend their animals at night. Thus, it appears that, judging from biblical account concerning the birth of Jesus and the weather condition of Bethlehem and its environs, it is unlikely that he was born in December. Another work published by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, entitled Insight on the Scriptures suggests, that Jesus was born during the ancient Jewish month of ethanim, that is, in September or October. As already indicated, The

Bible does not contain any account about Jesus celebrating his birthday, nor recommendation by Jesus or any of his twelve disciples that it should be celebrated by his followers. The pioneer Christians, some of whom accompanied Jesus in his missionary work, never celebrated it on any date. But interestingly, during the last supper with his twelve disciples, Jesus asked them to commemorate his death, probably indicating that his death is a momentous event for his followers (Luke 22: 17-20).

. Overspending during Christmas has become an unfortunate feature of a supposedly spiritual event. From the foregoing, there is no patina of doubt that Christmas, which is supposed to mark the birthday of Jesus Christ, the most iconic spiritual teacher in human history (according to Christians), has evolved into the celebration of rabid materialism, debauchery and showy exhibitionism on 25th of December, the winter solstice, according to the Julian calendar. The metamorphosis or adaptation of these celebrations into Christian practice began in 350 A.D., when Pope Julius 1 proclaimed December 25 a Christ’s birthday. The nativity gradually absorbed and supplanted all other solstice rites, while solar imagery became increasingly prominent in depicting the notion of “the risen Christ” or sol invictus, and the old

Two of the most popular manifestations of mythology in modern Christmas are the phenomenon of Santa Claus and the Christmas tree, the latter arising from ancient superstition connected to the god of agriculture. In many countries today, including Nigeria, it is generally believed by children that Santa Claus actually brings presents to them. Children regularly write to Santa asking for presents which, according to tradition, elves help him to manufacture in his headquarters at the North Pole. There is a popular account of the myth of Santa Claus which claims that it was invented by the legendary Saint Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Asia Minor (Turkey). Probably, therefore, the appellation ‘Santa Claus’ could have originated from Sinterklaas, a corruption of the Dutch expression for ‘Saint Nicholas.’ Needless to say, there is no mention of Santa Claus in The Bible, which implies that the cheery, red-faced fabrication that goes by that name has absolutely nothing to do with the birth of Jesus.

SUNDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015, PAGE 11

Wedding of Governor Okowa’s daughter

Marilyn Okowa,daughter of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, and Gbolahan Daramola were joined in holy wedlock at St Philip Photos Nath Onojake Anglican Church Asaba, Delta State

From Rrght: Governor Okowa and wife, Edith, Senate President, Bukola Saraki; the couple, Marilyn and Gbolahan Daramola; Mrs Titilola Daramola, groom’s mother and Mr.Jim Ovia, chairman of the occassion The couple, Marilyn Okowa and Gbolahan Daramola

Mr. and Mrs Lawrence Osiegbu (sponsors)

Uncle Sam Amuka and Mr.Jim Ovia

From right: Mr.Gabriel Ogbechie, MD Rainoil Ltd The groom’s Parents, Engr. Niran Daramola and and Mr.George Orogun, Economic Adviser to Delta wife, Titilola State Governor

Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Senate President (right) and Gov Willie Obiano of Anambra State C M Y K

Governor Okowa and Governor Ibrahim Yeri, Governor of Zamfara State

Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State and wife, Haija

Governor Okowa with Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, a former governor of Delta State

From left: Senator Bukola Saraki, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and wife, Edith

PAGE 12â&#x20AC;&#x201D; SUNDAY

Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015

Alaowei Broadrick Bozimo, a former Minister of Police Affairs and wife, Justice Rosaline Bozimo

From right: Senators Ighoyota Amori and James Manager

A cross section of traditional rulers

From left: Barr.Kingsley Otuaro,Deputy GovFrom right: Hon.Festus Ovie-Agas, SSG,Delta ; ernor, Delta State;wife, Ebi, and Chief Edwin Hon.Ebosa, Chairman DESOPADEC,Delta State, Uzor, PDP Chairman, Delta State and Hon.Erhatake Ibori

From Left: Mark Shenton; Chief Okowa ,Governor Okowaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father and wife Lady Patricia Okowa, and Mr Lawrence Osiegbu

No words to justify corruption in motherland

hen the news of the ille gal diversion of the funds meant for purchase of arms and ammunition to fight terrorism in Nigeria broke, I made a solemn pledge to myself not to run any commentary on it. Unfortunately, I had been called out by friends many times to give an opinion on what has now turned out to be a monumental fraud. To be honest the urge to contribute far outweighed the restraint I put on myself. The decision not to write was based on historical experience. Nigeria is a vast country with millions of citizens and therefore different ideas and views on national affairs. Because of the diversity of the country, a simple story may have different perspectives depending on what tribal, political or social version you listen to or read. The effect of this is that most times the stories have been further embellished to portray the characters as devil incarnates or as saints being persecuted. The task of sifting the truth from these myriad of news had been made further difficult with the proliferation of blogs and citizen reporting. Every blog has interests to protect, either subtly or openly. If you are a keen follower of the

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Hon. Erahtake Ibori (right) and Henry Imasekha

From left: Sai Daura and Mr.Tony Eze

Nigerian social space in recent times you will definitely understand what I am getting at. Some stories circulating on the social media more often do turn out to be the figments of the imagination of some creative bloggers whose aims are two fold- first, mischief and secondly to increase the ranking of their sites by attracting more visitors with alarming headlines. You can therefore pardon my initial reaction when I put the "Breaking News" of diversion of "Boko Haram Funds" as one of the many such stories. To be honest, the "cacophony" of news coming out from the opposition, the government, interest groups and many busy bodies did not do one any good. One can recall that the journey to this monumental "discovery" started with the arrest and detention of the former National Security Adviser to the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Sambo Dasuki. The arrest was turned into a song and dance episode when the opposition came up with an ingenious story of witch-hunting because of his role in the 1984 coup that ousted the former Head of State Muhammed Buhari. Not long after this we were told that the principal character in the unfolding drama was dying and

needed a medical passage abroad. You can therefore understand the plight of many Nigerians who found the whole episode confusing. However, as the days turn into weeks, we are getting the full grasp of what went down with the "Boko Haram funds." Until recently the mystery of the "lack of political will" to defeat Boko Haram has been the biggest concern to ordinary Nigerians. In the past few weeks we have now realised why Boko Haram would never have been defeated. Not with the security apparatus in place under the advisory of Sambo Dasuki. Now Nigerians are getting wiser by the day. It is getting clearer how some notable Nigerians had fought Boko Haram in their dreams. They needed no guns, bombs, machete or cutlass, all they needed was access to the office of the National Security Adviser. They got their allocations to fight Shekau and his band of terrorists. What is happening in Nigeria is no fiction as dreamed by any blogger or aspiring journalist. It is a reality. It is not a film, but the whole episode is acting out like a well scripted script from Hollywood. The characters are notorious real life celebrities who are (were) leaders in their profession or trade. So by any means they cannot be regarded as light weight. These characters were people who at a point dictated the pace at which the country, Nigeria, should progress. They called the shots from their high places while the mere mortals salute "ranka Dede" whenever they pass by. The ordinary citizens had no clue that these men were systematically killing them. They had destroyed many families and helped influenced the future of many to go the wrong way. While I was still getting to the reality of this absurd drama in my

Mr and Hon Peter Markpor

dear country, a new neighbour turned up in my front garden. Simon, the new neighbour has just bought the property next to mine and as it is traditional over here, he popped around for a cup of tea. As you might have guessed, the main purpose of the "Welcome Tea" is usually not for anything but to assess your neighbour and know if he or she would be a nut case or a friendly and pleasant individual to

Now Nigerians are getting wiser by the day. It is getting clearer how some notable Nigerians had fought Boko Haram in their dreams

wake up to every morning. Fortunately for me, Simon is an impressively well read and travelled British man in his mid fifties. After the initial introduction, Simon and I have taken to each other. We go for walks and had tea together often. On one of the early days, Simon asked me where I was originally from. I was taken aback and for a second wondered what his train of thought was. It is not everyday you get asked this type of questions, especially by white folks as to them, it is not "politically correct" to do. I turned sideways and was about asking him why the interest, but the innocent look in his

face gave him away as genuine. So I told him. According to Simon, he had read and heard so much about Nigeria in recent times that he had been searching for answers to some questions bothering him. Simon told me he grew up with the idea that Africa, including Nigeria needs alms and offerings from the Western world. He could not resist having a dig at me with 419 stories of years gone by and the Chibok girls. He recalled how many emails he received promising instant financial rewards if only he could help launder funds. After talking non stop about corruption and mismanagement among African countries for a while, Simon paused and looked at me. I could not offer any help in terms of explanation to Simon on the workings of the minds of Nigerian of Afrucan leaders on corruption or mismanagement. I am as confused as he is. How do I enlighten him that the funds allegedly diverted and allocated to individuals was controlled by an individual who was not even the Minister of Finance in the government? I was tight lip and no words to explain to Simon why the Chibok girls are still in the forest. I attempted but eventually gave up. But Simon was not ready to give up. His body language and the frown on his face summed up his disappointment in Nigeria. He has heard a lot about the natural and human resources, yet all that is there to show is parade of failures. Simon had interacted with many intelligent Nigerians yet had not found any tenable excuse for the "rape" of the country by its leaders. I have always struggled explaining the actions of individuals and governments in Nigeria. I realised that the best solution to staying sane is to avoid justifying anything in Nigeria.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015, PAGE 13

WHAT NEXT AFTER ONITSHA MAYHEM?

The Army, El-Zakzaky’s

Shiite and the Zaria killings •The ‘failed attempt’ on General Buratai’s life By Luka Binniyat

heik Ibraheem Zakzaky, 62, the ever turbaned, tough looking leader of the Shiite Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, is an Islamic scholar and a tempestuous preacher. He speaks straight to the powers-that-be and has survived many jail terms in the hands of military governments in the ‘80s and ‘90s for sedition. Never hiding his hatred for Israel and the United States, he lost three sons and 35 followers after a proPalestinian protest with the military on July 25, 2014 in Zaria, Kaduna State turned bloody. And penultimate Saturday night, gunfire and occasional explosions kept residents of Gyelesu area of Zaria nervously awake in their homes. An estate, which housed Zakzaky - a first class graduate of economics from the Ahmadu Bello University (I979) - had been condoned off by soldiers, and was the theatre of the gun battle. C M Y K

Even in the gust of the cold, dusty harmattan, residents in high rise buildings around the area claimed that a peep through the window showed battle ready soldiers taking position with their weapons, spitting fire into the large compound where Zakzaky, his household and hundreds of followers were holed up. It was not clear if the embattled Shiite Muslims were firing back at the troops, since both sides later gave contradicting accounts. But, residents, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard, claimed to have heard piercing screaming of women and children, with men barking out orders from the compound. The battle went on, right through the night and continued after day-break, until Sunday. Zaria, an old Hausa city, with a blend of ancient homes and modern buildings, located on the south-most fringe of the Sahel in Kaduna State, had experienced a violent encounter between the Nigerian Army and the IMN the previous day (Saturday).

It was not clear if the embattled Shiite Muslims were firing back at the troops, since both sides later gave contradicting accounts. But, residents, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard, claimed to have heard piercing screaming of women and children, with men barking out orders from the compound

Video clips show a group of people, some of them wielding clubs, machetes and knives, refusing armed soldiers passage on a major road. An unidentified Brigadier General and his men emerge, vehemently pleading with the leaders of the group to leave the road, but to no avail. Objects are thrown at the soldiers as they try to navigate the unruly situation. Suddenly, the crowd, which also has some women, becomes riotous. The clips then show scenes of burning tyres and cleared barricades on a street but, this time, deserted. The clips are the evidence of a resolvable issue that later became ugly, leading to the siege on the compound of Zakzaky that Sunday night. That penultimate Saturday evening, the Nigeria Army and the Shiite Muslims had traded blames over the afternoon confrontation between soldiers and the sect.

COAS escaped assassination from Shiites – Army

A statement by Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman, Acting Director, Army Public Relations, issued, in Abuja, read: “The Shiite sect, on the orders of their leader, Ibrahim El-Zak zaky, today afternoon, in Zaria. attacked the convoy of the Chief of the Army Staff, while on his way to pay homage to the Emir of Zazzau and attend the Passing Out Parade of 73 Regular Recruits Intake of Depot Nigerian Army, Zaria. “The sect members, numbering hundreds and carrying dangerous weapons, barricaded the roads with bonfires, heavy stones and tyres. They refused all entreaties to disperse and then started firing and pelting the convoy with dangerous objects”, the statement said.. “The barricade was obviously a deliberate attempt to assassinate the Chief of the Army Staff and members of his entourage while on a legitimate official assignment as Special Guest of Honour at the Passing Out Parade which had earlier been widely publicized. “The troops responsible for the safety and security of the Chief of the Army Staff, on hearing explosion and firing, were left with no choice than to defend him and the convoy at all costs as well as open up the barricaded road for law abiding citizens. This is in line with the Nigerian Army’s Rules of Engagement and Code of Conduct. “This kind of behavior will not be tolerated from any individual or groups and should not be allowed to repeat itself. “We wish to implore all Nigerians to continue to be law abiding and remain conscious of other people’s rights to life, freedom of movement and passage. “The Chief of the Army escaped unhurt and continued with his duties”.

It’s a lie, COAS was never attacked – Shiite

However, the spokesman for IMN, Mallam Ibrahim Musa, told Sunday Vanguard on phone that the COAS was not attacked, and that it was three vehicles carrying armed soldiers that shot and killed seven of their members and injured 20 after the COAS had long passed. He said: “It is true that the COAS was in Zaria to attend the Passing Out Parade ceremony at the Nigeria Military School, Zaria on Saturday. “And this coincided with the time that we hold our annual Maulud at Hussaimiyya in Zaria.

Continues on page 15

PAGE 14—SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015

Our El-Zakzaky story, by the Army

In this interview, the spokesperson for the Nigeria Army, Colonel Sani Usman, explains the circumstances that led to the bloody confrontation between members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, led by Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and the Nigeria Army, penultimate Saturday. Not the first of its kind, but the activities of the IMN and the handling of the matter by the army personnel have, this time, generated a lot of attention. Excerpts:

hat is the update on the leader of the Shiite sect, El-Zakzaky, especially his whereabouts? I can tell you that, contrary to the rumour that is going on, he is alive. What exactly happened that Saturday that led to the clash and bloodbath? One thing I want you to understand is that there wasn’t any procession that day. What happened was that quite a number of important activities were going on in the country on that day including the Chief of the Army Staff Annual Conference, in Dutse, Jigawa State. The Emir of Dutse was also celebrating his 20th anniversary on the throne; so it became incumbent on the Chief of the Army Staff to wait behind and be part of the programme. That same day, we were having the Passing Out Parade of the 73 Regular Recruits Intake in Zaria and then there was the graduation ceremony of the Kaduna State University. Now, part of the tradition had been that whenever a very important dignitary is in Zaria, which is the headquarters of ZauZau Emirate, it is imperative for such a guest to pay a courtesy call on the Emir; so we were on our way from Dutse to Zaria, first and foremost to pay the courtesy call on the Emir of ZauZau, who had to cut short his engagements in Kaduna where he had attended the convocation ceremony to be with us. So when did the crisis begin? Sometime around 2:30pm, along Sokoto Road, by the Railway Clinic, a group of youths started coming from the PZ end, close to the spiritual headquarters of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria. What they did was to start encircling the convoy of the Chief of the Army Staff. We came down, we pleaded with them and we wanted them to see reason but, before you could say Jack Robinson, some of them had started throwing stones and you could hear loud bangs. People who were responsible for the safety and security of the Chief of the Army Staff had to clear the way for the Chief of the Army Staff. They had made bonfires and there was stone-throwing all over the place and no amount of pleading could get them to see reason. They made it clear that they had done it to several other people and that the Chief of the Army Staff was nobody and he could not pass through that road. C M Y K

Remember again, there were series of arguments. They alleged that some days ago, some security operatives went to a particular village and murdered their people. Meanwhile, there was nothing like that. What actually happened was that there was an altercation between the Islamic movement and some other Islamic sect over the location or ownership of a mosque. Then they changed the argument that they were having a funeral procession. For goodness sake, there was’t any funeral procession and, of course, when the leader was giving an interview on the BBC Hausa Service, he said they were hoisting a flag. Please, which flag are you going to hoist at 2.30 in the afternoon? And, in any case, in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, there is no flag that is more important than the National Flag. I want to honestly tell you that all these things were premeditated, they were planned and, before you knew it, they started encircling. And the advance party of the Chief of the Army Staff, some 15 minutes earlier, passed through the same place without any incident. The arrival of the Chief of the Army Staff was well publicised and these people were aware that the convoy was that of the Chief of the Army Staff and they decided to ambush it. Were these people armed? Certainly they were armed What sort of arms were they carrying? The least were machete and catapult. They also had petrol bombs and were always hiding behind trees Had there been any issue between the authorities and the Shiite Islamic Movement in Nigeria before that day? Many Nigerians and those who have had encounters with these people know that they have always constituted a nuisance. I would rather ask you to find out from those living in Zaria or those who traverse the road between Zaria, Kaduna and Kano; they will tell you of their agony, but I can tell you of a particular incident during one of their processions. There was a woman whose child was sick. Her husband was in Abuja and she wanted to get to the hospital but

*Col. Usman ... The Shiite members on the rampage had petrol bombs she was stuck in one place for over five hours. Some time last year, a soldier was attacked with a machete on the head. We have living witnesses. Even this recent one, the Chief of the Army Staff’s car was stoned and scratched.

I want to honestly tell you that all these things were premeditated, they were planned and, before you knew it, they started encircling. And the advance party of the Chief of the Army Staff, some 15 minutes earlier, passed through the same place without any incident

Considering the ugly situation which happened last year when the sect leader lost three of his sons, and now this, don’t you think the situation could have been better managed? Let me make this clear, the Nigeria Army does not have any problem with anybody or any group of persons. We are against criminals and criminality and whoever is not ready to operate within the ambit of the Nigerian law, something must be done about that. In any case, to be better handled by who? The perpetrators who made an attempt on the life of the Chief of the Army Staff or the Nigeria Army? When you say assassination attempt, was there truly an assassination attempt? What I want you to understand is that there is abundant evidence and there are witnesses to the circumstances that led to the events of Saturday. What I want you to know is that they were quite aware that the Chief of the Army Staff was passing and it was made abundantly clear to them that it was the Chief of the Army Staff and his entourage performing a legitimate official duty and they refused to budge. Rather than reason, they started taking position as per military tactics on a federal road. So, how did the military get to his home and started exchanging gun fire? Like I told you earlier, that aspect is subject to inquiry and I don’t want to discuss that. The headquarters of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria appears to have been levelled. What would you say informed

the decision of the Nigeria Army to take such a step? What I want you to understand is that we are targeting criminals and criminality. And whatever transpired is subject to inquiry and I wouldn’t want to comment on that; I would urge that we await the report of the inquiry. Some people have tried to insinuate that we were seeking vengeance, but there is nothing like that. Possibly, it is the Movement that would have said it has grouses against the Nigeria Army, but the Nigeria Army has never been against any individual or any group of individuals. Why would they have a grouse against the Nigeria Army? Has the Army offended them in any way? Just as earlier said, like losing sons and earlier they were talking about the incident that happened in Zaria. Let me tell you, when the present Chief of the Army Staff came on board, he requested for all the files, and he wanted to get to the bottom of the crisis that happened last year and ensure that justice is done. People are worried because a mishandling of a similar thing in Borno led us to the crisis of Boko Haram? So, why didn’t the military take action knowing what it had known about the sect and not waiting until an alleged attempt on the life of the Chief of the Army Staff? I can understand their worries given the history of Boko Haram, but I can assure that the Nigeria Army and every reasonable Nigerian has learned lessons from that ugly incident and we don’t want that kind of thing to repeat itself and that is why it needed to be nipped in the bud. And unlike the previous instance when the law was circumscribed, the law is being followed diligently and I will implore Nigerians to be patient. *This interview was first aired on Channels Television last Tuesday.

SUNDAY VANGUARD,, DECEMBER 20, 2015, 15

Continued from page 13 “At 12 o’clock, we had to control traffic for our members to pass. “The security details attached to the Chief of the Army Staff came down from their vehicles and we discussed and they passed. “Immediately the COAS left, some well armed soldiers in three trucks arrived “It was from there that they became very rude and brutal. Then they started firing. I can tell you that we lost seven members and 20 were severely injured”. The next day (Sunday), far worse claims were made by the Shiite group.

The ‘failed attempt’ on General Buratai’s life but have currently been denied access by the soldiers on ground who are in a killing spree, shooting anyone identified as a member of the Movement. “We wish to state here that some of those earlier declared dead through various sources might not have been killed but might be severely injured and in need of assistance. “Members of the Movement should be allowed immediate access to Sayyid Ibraheem Zakzaky (H) as a means of taming the situation from aggravating. “Access to health facilities should immediately be allowed to those injured anywhere in Zaria”.

Our top leaders killed - Shiite

A statement by Musa read: “Following alleged blockade of the route of the Chief of the Army Staff by the members of IMN, the Nigerian Army descended on armless members of the Movement with heavy military weapons, killing indiscriminately. “In the mean time, leading members of the Islamic Movement, and other members as well, have been killed by the soldiers including the leader of the Kano Center, Sheikh Muhammad Turi; Dr. Mustapha Sa’eed; Malam Ibrahim Usman and Sister Jummai Gilima. “Also killed were Sayyid Aliy, a son of the leader of the Movement, Sayyid Ibraheem Zakzaky (H); the wife of Sayyid Ibraheem Zakzaky (H), Malama Zeenat Ibraheem, and tens of other members as more are being killed at the time of this release. “The sporadic killings took place at three different locations that include the residence of the revered leader of the Movement at Gyallesu; the Husainiyya Bakiyatullah at the GRA; and the Darur Rahma, located along ZariaJos Road where many armless people were killed.

Alibi

“The killing was so brutal at Gyallesu that even those injured in the shooting were identified and killed in cold blood by soldiers. At the time of writing this press release, the victims run into hundreds, if not thousands. “We state categorically that the claim by the Army that members of the Movement attempted to assassinate the Chief of the Army Staff is a blatant lie as the Army came back to launch their attack more than an hour after the COAS had passed. “Clearly, the Nigerian government, through its military, is now on the rampage, in an all out war with the Islamic movement, its members and structures. The scale of this attack would suggest it was C M Y K

Zakzaky, wife in our custody – Army

Buratai..."There was a deliberate attempt to assasinate'' him

meticulously planned by the authorities and now being executed ruthlessly. The alleged attack on COAS Burutai was just an alibi. As the dust began to settle over Zaria on Monday, the Movement claimed that at least one thousand of its members have been killed by soldiers.

‘Zakzaky taken away with wife’

Another statement by Musa, that Monday, said the Army was not only selectively killing its members , but it had also instigated the public to join in the killings. The IMN statement read, among others: “Following the brutal attack on the Islamic Movement in Nigeria by the Nigerian Army in Zaria, we wish to state as follows: “A source has confirmed that the Army has taken the revered leader of the Movement, Sayyid Ibraheem Zakzaky (H), from his house this morning and is receiving treatment for injuries he sustained during the attack. “About a thousand of members of the Movement have been massacred at the moment as counting continues, but the soldiers are now busy evacuating the dead bodies to an unknown destination. “There are hundreds of others who have received various degrees of injuries that are in need of assistance

Shortly after the Monday statement by the Shiite Muslim group, the General Officer Commanding, GOC, 1 Division of Nigerian Army, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, said the Islamic leader was in the custody of the Army He told journalists: “On December 12, 2015, myself and Kaduna State Commissioner of Police were with President Muhammadu Buhari who was in the state for an assignment when I received a distress call that the life of the Chief of the Army Staff, COAS, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, was threatened by some hoodlums who blocked his way on Sokoto Road in Zaria city. “After much persuasions from senior officers on the entourage, the hoodlums, who were later identified as Shi’ites members, remained adamant and, in line with our Rules of Engagement, we had no option than to clear the road for the COAS and, in the course of doing that, the hoodlums started throwing missiles at the convoy; and our men responded which resulted in minimum casualties. “From there, we received information that they had started mobilizing in one of their temples at Husainiyya, the residence of the leader at Gyellesu and Dambo Road. That was on Saturday night, this led to a long night of battle. “We have nothing against the Shiites because they are Nigerians and our duty is also to protect them. But we cannot tolerate them forming a government within a government. I call on all Shiites members to be law abiding and go about their religious activities without

tampering with the freedom of others. “I want to say that Zakzaky and his wife are with us and they are safe. We shall soon allow his family and members to meet him. “Please don’t ask me about the number of casualty. All I can say is that both sides had casualties and it is not our job to count how many of the Shiites were in the casualty”.

Corpses

But there were many accounts on the casualty figure. One claimed that the morgue at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria was filled with corpses of the Shiite Muslims, and that truck loads of more were still being dumped there. Another claimed seeing corpses in open drains, toilet soak-aways and under the rubbles of demolished buildings. But one thing was sure: Scores were killed by soldiers in the university city..

Pandemonium

On Tuesday, hundreds of protesting members of the IMN, around 12 noon in Tudun Wada quarters of Kaduna metropolis, caused pandemonium that spread to many parts of the town. The Shiites, demonstrating against the Zaria incident and the detention of their leader, ElZakzaky, were, however, blocked from continuing the protest by armed police men around Tudun Nupawa. Pedestrians in Tudun Wada and adjoining areas ran in different directions in fear, many not knowing the cause of the panic. Shops hurriedly shut while banks and other corporate businesses closed. Vehicles, tricycles and motorbikes sped in different directions, hooting as they fled to safe areas. Around 2pm, Sunday Vanguard put a call to Musa, the IMN spokesperson. He said: “Our members came out about two hours ago to protest the Zaria killings. They were also peacefully demonstrating against the detention of our leader and his wife. The Sheikh was shot four times on his legs. Our protesting members are saying that they cannot trust anyone to take care of the leader outside our members and members of his family. But, fully armed policemen came and halted the peaceful demonstration. They then started shooting at the protesters. As they ran, people also ran with them, because the police were firing into the procession. “I cannot tell you how many have been killed now. You know that when you escape with gun shots, anything can later happen”. When contacted, Kaduna State police spokesman, DSP Abubakar Zubairu, said the police had merely gone there to restore law and order.

PAGE 16, SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015

AYO ONIKOYI 08052201215

Temit ope Ajibola w eds Jolomi Otumara emitope weds

olomi Otumara and former Miss Temitope Ajibola have consummated their relationship in holy matrimony. The couple became man and wife before their their families, friends and a host of distinguished guests who came to honour the parents with their presence. The reception of guests which was a spectacle of pomp and pageantry took place at Classique Event Centre, Ikeja, Lagos. Photos by Kehinde Gbadamosi

From Left; Mrs Nike Obasa, Hon Idowu Obasa, Mrs Banke Sekoni, and Prof Ropo Sekoni.

Mr Jolomi Otumara, and Miss Temitope Ajibola, having their first dance

From Left; Mrs Uwala Akpieyi, Mrs Rita Amuka, and Ms Yeye Rewane.

L-R: Delta State Governor, Mrs Justina Otumara, Mrs. O .Touyo, and Mr Augustine Uroye, Former Chairman Warri/South Local Govt Area.

From Left; Alhaji Ahmed Al-mustapha, Mr Pinheiro, [SAN], and Mr Godfrey Etikerentse.

oc ha quits Iffean eanyi Nkwoc ocha yi Nkw bachelorhood

feanyi Nkwocha, Vanguard’s advert manager’s cousin has signed off his name as a member of the bachelors’ club when he took beautiful Lilybeth as wife recently. They exchanged the nuptial vows before families, friends and men of God at Mount Camel Pro Cathederal, Emekuku, Owerri.

The couple with groom's parents, Oha Jude and Ann Nkwocha

The couple with bride’s parents

The couple with their families

The Nwonu burial in Anambra

hildren of Ichie B.C. Nwonu, Ichie Ezevude of Nibo, Anambra State have done their father proud by giving him a befitting burial. The burial, which took place at Nibo, held the small town spellbound as important personalities trooped in to pay their last respect to the deceased.

R-L: HRM Eze Ugonwanne MC Ngene Ezeike IV of Nibo, Emeka Nwonu (Chinaechendo) Adaora Nwonu. C M Y K

The children - Emeka Nwonu-Chinaechendo, Adaora Nwonu, Nneka Gada - Nee Nwonu, Anuli The children - Emeka Nwonu-Chinaechendo, and Nwonu, Onyeka Nwonu, Ifeoma Nwonu. Adaora Nwonu.

SUNDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015, PAGE 17

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PAGE 18, SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015 Edited by: Morenike Taire

Teens learn from what we do, not what we say —Chinemenma, teen coach

teenagers? I had to think of a very creative way to reach out to them, knowing fully well they are energetic, passionate and their attention span is very short. If you are not bringing something to them that is fun, they are just going to shut down on you with time. Apart from being creative, I had to use what I studied which is journalism/ Mass communication. I asked myself how I could create a niche using this, get their attention and also practice what I studied. That was how I decided to get across to teens using the magazine. When I started, a lot of people told me it wasn’t going to work because Nigerians don’t read, both old and young. It has been a bit of a challenge and still is but I have realized that because of the way I did the magazine, a lot of them pick it up and don’t drop it until they are through. I had to find a way to make it fun and also educating as well as entertaining. There is also the radio programme where I bring the teenagers on air and we talk about different issues that affect them, ranging from peer pressure to anything that affects teenagers at large. For everything I do, I carry the teenagers along. Most times, you would even see them giving you ideas about current trends. *Chinemenma

BY ANINO AGANBI

hinemenma Umeseaka is a wife, mother, teenage coach, radio/TV presenter, magazine publisher and a people builder. She is the founder of a teenage-based initiative called 9ineteen. In this interview, she shares how she uses her different platforms to reach out to teenagers and young adults and also educate parents on how to relate with their teenagers. Where do parents draw the line It is unfortunate that we are in a generation where a lot of parents are so busy that they shift the responsibility of a child care to the next available person. They believe that since they are paying the school fees, the teachers must teach them the values they need in life. When I talk to parents, they believe I am always antagonizing them because I tell them no child came to this world to decide on being rebellious or evil. When you are calling that child evil, it’s because you laid the foundation for it. Parents should rise up and do their work because we are losing it. How did you get into working with teens? I honestly do not remember how I got into this but I know that right from a very early age, I wanted to do something that had to do with teenagers because of my upbringing. I didn’t have people to look up to while growing up except for my parents and I did not have people to confide in. I had issues with so many things that were happening around me but there was no one reliable to say what I was dealing with or being exposed; sexual abuse and others. It made me realize that teenagers are being neglected and they needed someone to coach or help them out. I have volunteered for a lot of organizations. I worked with one for seven years and while working with them, they were rehabilitating prostitutes and area boys. I tilted towards working with more of their teenagers and the response was fantastic. I realized I had a lot of connections with teenagers, and that I knew how to get their attention and get

C M Y K

Umeseaka

them to listen to me. When I see parents with teenagers who have different complaints about their teens, if I am able to talk to the person, they listen and then you see them start changing. For me, I saw this was my calling; it was born out of a need because I didn’t see anybody doing this as they should. They all reach out to either children or youths. How has your childhood experience impacted these

When a teenager is withdrawn, something is definitely wrong. It is for the parents or people around to dig deeper

A lot of teenagers have issues relating with adults at home, how do you bring them out of their shell? Most times, if such a thing happens, then it’s either their parents have shut them down or have created the environment for them to shut down. I educate parents on how they can connect with their teenagers. When a teenager is withdrawn, something is definitely wrong. It is for the parents or people around to dig deeper. You do not just take what a teen tells you at face value. You need to push and keep pushing for you to get the answers. It shows them you are

actually interested. It’s either that child is being abused or molested by an in-house person. It is good to ask them to open up, but when they are opening up to someone who doesn’t listen to what they say or doesn’t believe them, it’s difficult for them to open up. You would discover parenting has shifted to social media, TV and much more. How do we balance it? I always tell parents about family values. If a child doesn’t have a blue print to work with then they wouldn’t know what is obtainable or allowed in their homes. With my kids, I make them realize they can only have a restricted number of hours to watch tv during the week. Instead, I encourage them to play after studying. I advise parents against leaving TVs and gadgets in the bedrooms because it becomes difficult to monitor them. I treated a topic at some points on whether parents should spy on their teenagers social media? I strongly believe that parents should spy on their teens because a lot of them are exposed to things they are not ready for. Parents should always lead by example because teens learn from what you do, not what you say. How can society play positive roles on these lives? I believe the media has a huge role to play here. I always tell people that information is key. If the media knows the power it wields over people, they can use it wisely. We can use the media to expose teens to things they should know. The government and educational sector can put priority into helping them understand themselves and the things they need to know. Most times I say charity begins at home. So, if the outside world is not giving us what we need, then parents should lay the foundation. If we lay the appropriate foundation for our children, no matter what the society shows them, they will be able to get back on track.

BPW tasks women entrepreneurs on technology compliance BY JOSEPHINE AGBONKHESE

ONSTOP advancement in technology is the language of the 21st century and women entrepreneurs, as well as professionals, must learn to flow with the tide if they must be relevant. This assertion was the crux of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women, BPW, 2015 National Conference/Award which drew women of different echelon from across Nigeria, to the nation's numero uno commercial city recently. Speaking in line with the theme 'Developing 21st Century Competencies for Making a

Difference, African Regional Coordinator, BPW International, Mrs Adenike Adeyanju Osadolor, said the ability to accommodate new ideas and keep abreast of events around the globe was essential to being a key player in any sector today. "The world has moved from handwritten letters to emails, internet and social media marketing, and much more. Times have changed and we have to align ourselves to succeed in our businesses and professions," Adenike told the mammoth crowd of gaily dressed women that flooded the conference hall. National President, BPW, Mrs Angela Ajala, in her remark, however emphasized the need for work-life balance, stating

that progress in the 21st century might remain a mere dream unless a compromise was reached between work and personal life. "It takes a delicate balance to have all-round success. You cannot start a year without having defined goals; for your husband, children and career, with steps and actions to take for each, so that you have a balance. You can't flow with the year; the year flows according to what you are determined to do. So, know how to set goals because you can't have 365 days without a concrete plan. Otherwise, you're going to have the unexpected thrown at you because you failed to forecast and prepare for

opportunities," the Abujabased seasoned educationist said. The event chaired by renowned finance guru, Sir Festus Oluremi Omotoso, MFR, also featured a keynote lecture by Sam Babatunde Obafemi as well as a lecture on 'Cutting Edge Digital Marketing Strategies for Sustainable Business' by the Executive Director, Genie NG, Mr.Lawrence Ani Wilbert. Among those honoured were Mrs Mary Adeola Babalola, MD, Springview Integrated Textile Company Limited; Modupe Onabanjo of Village Headmaster fame; Mo Abudu, CEO, EbodyLife TV and Mrs Justina Audu-Ogbe, a community pharmacist.

SUND AY Vanguard , DECEMBER 20 , 2015, P AGE 19 SUNDA

When it pays the husband to look the other way

OME couple of years back, Hector, a fifty-one year-old businessman and a colleague took up his daily paper at the breakfast table and gave an involuntary yelp when he got to the obituaries. For, staring him in the face was the picture of a lover he saw only the week before. “My wife wanted to know what the matter was when she heard my scream,” said Hector later “but I told her I’d read just a nasty report in the papers and she left it at that. Later that day, after I’d established that she was really dead and would be buried the next day, I had a talk with my wife. I had to explain to her why it was that important for me to attend Bose’s (that’s the lady’s name) funeral. She was a girl I was madly in love with, who swore she loved me more than she loved her husband. I’m sure my wife agreed that I should go because now that she was dead, she was no competition. I wouldn’t have told her if there was no chance of the story getting back to her ‘well-meaning’ busy-body friends! “But seriously though, I’d never met anyone as charming and loving as Bose was to me. She wasn’t

an ordinary girlfriend. She was like a wife to me. Whatever I bought my wife, I always made sure I either bought her the same things or gave her money equivalent to the amount of purchase. Part of me died when she did and that was no exaggeration” . Polyandry has never been an accepted thing in this country. In fact, nobody dares mention it in male circles, but the fact still remains that for decades, married women have always had lovers they would stake their marriage on any day. A lot of women look on these lovers as second ‘husbands’. They see these men as men who make it possible for choice meals to be placed on their family tables. Men who guarantee paid holidays. Men who have the grudging respect of the husbands of women they are involved with because such husbands are helpless to stop the relationship. The financial power the wives lovers wield is enough to silence the husbands. At a naming ceremony recently, a few guests gasped as the new mother’s lover sauntered in with a handful of his friends. The guests’ looks became more incredulous as the husband made a fuss of the man and showed his entourage to a vantage spot! Furious whispers then followed regarding all the goodies the lover was able to throw into the couple’s path. On top of that, he was alleged to have used his

muscles to get the redundant husband a job that had a car thrown in! Women have their fun names for men that have come to stay in their lives. They call them “Shocka b s o r b e r s ” , “Stabilizers”, “Godsent” amongst others, unlike the casual onenight stands they refer to as “interludes” and

mere experiments! For the shock-absorbers, the sky is the limit, as to what their women would do out of gratitude. For years, Rita, a wife and a mother of three always shopped for two sets of family. Then, she would cook her lover’s dinner in her kitchen using the best ingredients. Her lover ’s driver was always around at the dot of three in the afternoon to take the goodies away. The cat was

finally let out of the bag the day the suspecting husband followed the driver to his destination only to discover that the man was also married. He was determined to put an end to the shameful affair before it got out of hand. He made a lot of noise at the poor man’s house intending to embarrass him in the presence of his wife. The lover’s wife said she knew what was going on.

She’d always been a lousy cook and if another woman could make her husband happy, why begrudge him a happiness he could well afford? Moreover, her man’s lover was married with no likelihood of wanting to snatch her man. Looking at the complainant coldly, she told him to thank his stars her husband was happily s h o u l d e r i n g responsibilities that were his. “You are sick”, spat the husband as he charged out of the house. Talking seriously though, if a man can have the stamina for three to five wives, couldn’t a woman have for just two men? A lot of them do already! Clara, one of such women sees it as having her own back at a husband who’s always days behind the housekeeping money. “On the days he doesn’t meet his financial obligations and expects food on the table, I make sure he has more food than he bargains for,” she said. “What I do is use my current lover’s money to buy food for the house and watch with relish as he wolfs it down. It always gives me sadistic pleasure he’s feeding fat on his ‘assistant’s’ generosity.”

08052201867(Text Only)

You are what and how much you eat

C M Y K

O be healthy and hearty our food must be wholesome and in the right quantity. Eating anything and everything and too much of anything spells doom for our well-being. In the urban centres across the length and breadth of the world people are developing the diseases brought on by Modern civilization and t’s attendant prosperity. To put it simply, people who are earning so much are getting more and more careless with their eating habits. There are now a lot more people engaged in sedentary occupations than ever before with such people physical activity is nearly always at a minimum. But you see the body needs a certain minimum level of exercise. When this is denied the body, it soon begins a down-hill trip. And the inordinate amount of food consumed adds to the problem of deterioration. It’s like this, when the body is given more than it needs in relation to its energy out-put the surplus calories translate as excess weight. There must be balance as regards tissue building (anabolism) and tissue

breaking down (catabolism) when one exceeds the other you have what is known as Metabolic inbalance leading to a build up of toxemia. There are two fundamental ways the body produces toxemia. One is normal and natural to the function of the organism; the other we constantly contribute to knowingly or otherwise. In the first place there is toxemia produced on account of the process of metabolism. The inner body never at a stand-still has billions of old cells being replaced by new ones each day. The old cells needing replacement are toxic, meaning poisonous and must be gotten rid of by one of four means of elimination: skin, lungs bowels and bladder. All this is normal and natural to the body and doesn’t have to worry us unless in a situation where this toxic waste is not being rid of at an equal rate to which it is being produced. All what this process demands is ample energy at the body ’s disposal. The second means by which toxemia is produced in the body is from the by-products of foods that have not gone through digestion and assimilation and become part of the cell structure. The build up of this toxic waste will eventually lead to overweight. The problem

doesn’t end there. Toxins are acidic in nature and the build up of acid makes the body require water to neutralise it bringing

weight. And we can also understand that there must be the kind of living pattern that allows us to continuously cleans our system and forestall a build up of tox-

* The Wheel Posture about more weight and bloat. On a daily basis this finally brings us to the door step of obesity and all what it portends. So now, we see that interference with the body ’s elimination cycle is the forerunner of toxemia and over-

ins. To help us achieve this state of metabolic balance are the following food items that work against overweight: Carrot, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, orange, pear, plum, pineapple, beetroot, cabbage, grapes, lemon and strawberry. Exercises to be practised to achieve the same end

include CHAKRASANA for regularization of bowel movements and matsyendrasana the lateral spinal twist to stimulate the activity of the kidneys. CHAKRASANA, or the wheel posture. Technique: Lying flat on your back, draw in the knees and place your feet wide apart on the floor. Put your hands backward on the floor just below the shoulders. As you breathe in deeply, raise the entire body in the shape of a bridge. As you stay in this position respiration must be slow and deep. After 15 to 20 seconds, lower

the body, lie flat on your back and rest in a still fashion. You may repeat this thrice. MATSYENDRASANA or the lateral spinal twist. Technique: Placing the left heel under the right thight which his lying horizontally on the ground put the right foot over the left thigh with the sole of the foot on the ground. As you turn the chest to the right put the left arm in front of the left knee which is uprightly erect and grasp your left knee. Place the right hand across the middle of the back. As you stay in this posture your breathing must be of an even rhythm for some 30 seconds. Change legs and arms and repeat on the other side. Apart from the wonders it works on the kidneys and the digestive system, it is also said to restore strength to the nerves.

Yoga Classes STARTED Physical Therapy Centre @ 32 Adetokumbo Ademola, Victoria Island Lagos. 9.00am — 10.00am on Saturdays

PAGE 20—SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk 08056180152, SMS only

Revisiting the age old question: Does size really matter?! O ne would have thought these busy-body scientists would have more beneficial things to do than delving into the anatomy of men. One of the great mysteries of mankind may have been solved by these Nosey Parkers. Scientists from King’s College in London have measured 15,000 penises in 16 countries. This work has allowed them, after feeding the findings into computers, making boffinish statistical adjustments, twiddling knobs and squinting at graphs, to announce an average size for men’s undercarriage. This in turn has been seized on as having psychological significance. Apparently, men are now less likely to have a nervous collapse about their own shortcomings. “We have not been told the logistical ins and out, if that is the term, of this ground-breaking global operation,” commented Martin Letts, a social critique. ‘’The research demanded at least two readings (one at ease, one standing to quivering attention) for each specimen. The mind boggles. Were the laboratory assistants who took the data dreary middle-aged men speaking in monotones, or were they busty, sultry ladies with husky larynxes and widening eyes? To what level of exactitude were the measurements taken? What instruments were employed - school rulers, tape measures, laser micrometers or (ouch) cold, industrial clippers? While we’re about it, exactly how in 16 languages, do you say ‘sorry to interrupt your busy day, monsieur, but would you mind dropping your drawers so that my pouting assistant Miss Droop can

take the bore and length of your old man?’” The ‘expert’ who led the psychiatrists from King’s College Hospital, announced that the average length of an erect penis is 5.6in. Typically, it sounds more in Continental centimetres - 13.12cm. The figure shrivels to 3.6in when the member is in a state of genital repose. “I seriously doubt that many men are much concerned by these readings,” continued Martin. “I bet most of us, when we read the report, discreetly did some thumb work to try to work out what 5.6in looks like, and then had a rough gonder below decks to see how we fared by comparison. “But will men have been psychologically affected? Does size matter to them as it is said to matter, particularly to their wives and girlfriends? Or is this yet another attempt by the medical/psychiatric world to create colly wobbles where previously few existed? Dr. Veale said his findings would help doctors reassure the large majority of men that the size of their penis is in the normal range. He said he would ‘use the graphs to examine the discrepancy between what a man believes to be their position on the graph and their actual position’. Another doctor disclosed that some men, poor fellows, suffer from something called body dysmorphic disorder, which can cause a person to have a distorted view of how he looks. Apparently, this is a serious source of anxiety to some gents, who become convinced they are laughably tiny. One does not wish to downplay the gravity of body dysmorphic disorder which no doubt exists. One naturally has Sympathy with those who may worry that they have been given short commons

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" THERE'S NO LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT It doesn't exist and don't even tell me you believe in it without a proper explanation.

in the trousers department by the Almighty. “But is this perhaps a case of publicly employed scientists going to expensive lengths to investigate a not particularly widespread problem? Is male appendage size quite possibly a false hoo-hah created by society? There may be extreme cases of smallness or vastness, where it can create disharmony between men and their sexual partners. The late Elizabeth Taylor had physical difficulty with one of her early husbands, so enormous was his manhood. Wide as a beer can, apparently. But does any of this truly justify a research operation of the size (dread word) just carried out by these London medics? And anyway, are women really so concerned with measurements than size namely love? “For millennia, the male

member has occupied a curious place. Immediately riposte: Yes, mate, between your legs! Men know there is not much they can really do to alter the equipment fate has given them. Women can increase, decrease the size of their busts by visiting a plastic surgeon, but medical science offers men much less chance to vary their dimensions. Similarly, despite all those baldness cure adverts, there is not much they can do to stop their hairlines receding. You just have to accept it and get on with life. Adrian Mole may have agonised about this subject, but he was created by a woman. I simply don’t believe, even in this age of explicit advertisements with endless commercial emphasis on sex, that men give much thought to their willy size. “I attended boarding schools in the seventies and barely recall anyone mentioning how well hung they were. We did have one boy who was nicknamed ‘Chopper ’, but that was

Whatever happens on the first meeting is ATTRACTION and not love. Meeting someone for the first time,something must attract you to them. It could be their way of speaking,dance steps,dressing or smiles.It doesn't mean you love them,it only means they've caught your fancy. Attraction can be channeled to love and can also bring heartbreak if not well handled. Attraction is an interest,an allure. Someone's bully brown can eye can instantly attract you to them. It doesn't mean you are ready enough to call it Love. Love has many definitions. It is an intense feeling of affection and care towards someone..It is patriotism. Love can be colloquial anyway. Don't be deceived. Don't call it love yet, honey. Attraction at first sight happens,not love. It doesn't mean you shouldn't be very friendly

because he was a notoriously dirty tackler on the football field. Did we size up one another in the communal showers? Not that I recall. Mind you, I have always been short-sighted and in showers, you naturally have to remove your spectacles. If I had been interested in seeing how a fellowstudent measured up, then I would have had to peer down quite close for a proper gawp, and I’m not sure that would have been appreciated! “ *Next Week: A woman’s view on the topic! It’s Alright To Fake It, Ladies! That famous scene in When Harry Met Sally summed up the situation perfectly. As Meg Ryan’s character showed, faking an orgasm is not difficult for the average woman. It is often thought that those who do so are simply trying to spare their partner’s feelings. But a survey

commissioned by Cosmopolitan magazines found another reason for pretence. Just as many apparently fake it because they have had enough and simply want their lovemaking session to end so they can get some sleep. Sixty-seven per cent of those polled had faked an orgasm with a partner. The survey also suggests that when it comes to making love, women’s pleasure isn’t always a priority. Some 57 per cent, or just over half of those surveyed, said they had an orgasm most or every time they had sex. But 95 per cent believed that their other half climaxed every time. Most women said they had their first orgasm between the ages of 17 and 19. Almost all of the 2,300 surveyed said they had experienced an orgasm at some point in their lives. Time For Everything? (Humour) A man was riding through the desert when he saw an Indian lying naked on the ground with his penis sticking up in the air. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Me telling time,” the Indian replied and sure enough his willy acted like a sundial, casting a shadow over a cross his body. “It’s 4 o’clock,” he said. A little further on, he saw another Indian lying naked on the ground, with his penis up in the air. “Me tell time,” said the Indian as the man rode by. “It’s 6 o’clock,” he said. Then five minutes later, he saw a third Indian lying naked on the ground but this one was masturbating. To hide his embarrassment, the rider remarked, “Telling the time are you?” “No, winding watch,” came the reply. This I wishing all readers of this column Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

the first time you meet people but don't be fast to think you're in love Because what you still have is attraction which can be grown, developed intolove or muddied,shattered into ust and heartbreak.

Chris Onunaku dekris4real@gmail.com 08032988826/08184844015.

My World.... Wow! How time flies...is already a year when we walked down the isle against all odds. Non of their verdict could stop what we share not even science... Our love was stronger and love won, and if what we share was a mistake then I don't want to be correct for ever... Love u now n forever.... Happy anniversary my love my Ena and my World... Ekhas_theory... d4greatness@yahoo.com 08158309333

SUNDAY

Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015, PAGE 21

NGO NGOtestimonies testimoniesof ofability abilityin indisabilities disabilitiesas asHelping HelpingHands Hands International Internationalfetes fetesSpecial SpecialNeeds NeedsChildren Childrenfor forChristmas Christmas By Funmi Ajumobi

nytime I am opportune to visit the less privileged homes in our society, one thing that always comes to mind seeing the situations of the children, is whether Nigerians that amass wealth for themselves and generations unborn actually know that more than 15% of the population amounting to over 13 million Nigerians are in different centres living with one disability or the other and need money. Surprisingly, people and NGOs that take care of these children are not doing so to make money because nobody is paying them. The NGOs only have kind-hearted people who support them once in a while especially at festive periods.

Pastor Okoliko Samson, the founder of Centre for the Destitute Empowerment Int’l in Idimu, Lagos and Abuja, started caring for Persons With Disabilities (PWD) as a call by divine revelation, according to him, in 2006, but because of the fear of the unknown, he started with one child believing in what the late Chief Bola Ige wrote in a newspaper that if you cannot feed one thousand, feed one. He started with a child who lived along the way to his church fellowship whose father rejected when no school was ready to admit him. Today, they have 55 children in Lagos and 33 in Abuja. Okoliko did not only accommodate these children, he feeds them, clothes them, gives them primary education, pays teachers in his centre and sends them to secondary school that are disability friendly. Academic achievement of these formerly rejected children is beyond what can be pushed behind but should be shown to the parents who have lost hope in their children, that there is hope if they can just try more to take care of them and not lock them inside. There are abilities in disabilities. Mr Okoliko in his testimony said his joy is that he is touching lives because some would have never gone to school to C M Y K

•Cross section of members of Helping Hand International and children at the Centre for Destitute Empowerment Int’l fulfil tbeir dreams if not that he yielded to the call. “Many parents do not even ask after their children or bring anything to them. You can imagine what would have happened to them under their roof ” . Three of the children had 9 Credits, 7Credits and 5 Credits at a sitting. 2 of them are in the university, 2 are seeking admission into the university while 15 are engaged in vocational skills training. Okoliko’s challenge is the location that is not disabled friendly because it is a rented apartment. Apart from the money they need to pay rents, money is needed to develop plots of land given to him by a friend in Lekki to pay instalmentally. While appealling to the public to help them financially to fast track the construction of the site, he said the land would be developed to a disabled friendly environment that will assist the children develop mentally, physically and academically. Though Helping Hands International who organised end of the year party for the centre where I had opportunity to see this great work had been putting smiles on Persons With Disabilities faces for the past seven years in different Local Government Areas in Lagos State and helping this centre in tremendous way for two years by paying students schools fees, buying wbeel chairs, crutches, computers, music sets, sewing machine cookers, books in

Surprisingly, people and NGOs that do rescue and take care of these children are not doing so to make money because nobody is paying them except kindhearted people that support them once in a while especially at festive period

•Children digging it with members of the Helping Hand Int’l containers, clothings just to mention a few, they prefer to be silent and push up soliciting for the home believing they are the one that need publicity for the good work they are doing. The children themselves did not keep quiet because every opportunity given to them to talk was all praises to the passionate foundation who remembers them at the festive period to make them feel the season and restore more hope in them that they are loved by the society and not forgotten. One of the testimonies of the centre was given by 18 years old Opeyemi Oloyede who is in SS3 at Malad Int’l College. She said she wants to be a Medical Doctor to be able to take care of the sick and to reach out to the less privileged. While appreciating God’s grace for not allowing her to beg on the streets despite her situation, Opeyemi advised her colleagues to be happy and believe that God will

•Chinedu and Opeyemi look forward for well meaning Nigerians to help them fulfil their dreams.

change their situation one day. She thanked Helping Hands International for their continuous support and organising Christmas party for them. 16 years old Christian Chinedu in SS3 in the same school on his own decided to venture into what most people believe Persons With Disabilities cannot do; agriculturist. With a genuine reason to have a plantation where pulp to make papers for production of books would be available to reduce importation of books and encourage exportation, he encouraged those in the similar situation to strive harder and believe tbey will make it in life. While thanking and praying for the owner of the centre for helping the forgotten in the society, he thanked Helping Hands International for their continuous show of love to them all this season. Christian also appealed to well meaning Nigerians to come to their aid to pay their school fees so as to bring their dream to reality. He asked government to wake up to their responsibilities saying that he has never enjoyed government assistance since he was born. The children were entertained with food, drinks as they also displayed different dancing steps. Christmas gifts were also distributed to them.

PAGE 22, SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015

Ericsson mobility report: 5G mobile subscriptions to hit 150m by 2021 ...Nigeria among top five countries for Q3 net global mobile subscriptions By EMEKA AGINAM

s Nigeria was listed among top five countries for third quarter net global mobile subscriptions additions, latest Ericsson mobility report released at the weekend revealed that there will be 150 million 5G mobile subscriptions by 2021. The Ericsson Mobility Report is one of the leading analyses of data traffic available, providing in-depth measurements from live networks spread around the globe. This is even as mobile subscriptions in Sub-Saharan Africa to reach one billion by end of 2021, with 690 smartphone subscriptions, according to the report.

According to the report which provided insight into the future of 5G networks, the march towards 5G In Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the study, LTE subscriptions are projected to grow almost 28 fold by 2021 with WCDMA/HSPA combined with LTE accounting for almost 80 percent of subscriptions 5G networks, based on standards that meet ITU IMT2020 requirements, are expected to be deployed commercially from 2020. Reading the report to Technology Journalists yesterday in Lagos, the Managing Director of Ericsson Nigeria, Johan Jemdahl said that South Korea, Japan, China and the US are predicted to

Know your rights, NCC tells telecoms consumers

ommitted to regulating the Nigerian telecoms industry and protecting the telecoms consumers, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has assured telecommunication customers that their rights must be protected at all times. Speaking at the weekend during its Consumer Town Meeting held in Sagamu Ogun State, the Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau of the Commission, Abdulllahi Maikano told the gathering to use their rights to lay complaints and express their challenges directly to their respective service providers and the regulatory authority. He said that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria expressly provides for a number of rights, which are recognized as inalienable to every citizen of the country. According to him, the Commission has always been making effort to see the protection of consumer rights by giving them timely information and education on developments in the industry. We equally give them voice through our outreach platforms like the Consumer Town Hall Meeting, he C M Y K

explained. At the forum that attracted capacity audience and service providers, he said that NCC with the mandate of regulating the telecommunication industry and the protection of the telecom consumers recognize the rights of every telecoms consumer which must be protected. These rights, according to him included, right to be informed, right to quality service, right to be heard, right of timely installation, restoration and repair of services, right to safety, right of privacy, right of timely and responsive customer service, right to accurate and correct charges, right to seek redress, among others. These obligations, according to him will include ensuring adequate protection of telecom Infrastructures in their their neighbourhood., reporting to the law enforcement agencies any act of vandalism of telecom infrastructures in their environment, ensuring the usage of their telecorn gadgets for correct and legitimate transactions, refraining from any wrong and criminal use of telecom facilities available to them among others.

lead with the first, and fastest, 5G subscription uptake. He said that 5G would connect new types of devices, enabling new use cases related to the Internet of Things (IoT); the transition will open up new industries and verticals to ICT transformation. The report, a comprehensive update on mobile trends, revealed a significant increase in mobile video consumption, which is driving nearly six

Video to account for 70 percent of total mobile traffic in 2021

times higher traffic volumes per smartphone in North America and Europe (2015 to 2021). Other highlights from the latest Global Ericsson Mobility Report, according to him, included the following: *Video dominates data traffic: Global mobile data traffic is forecast to grow ten-fold, 2015 to 2021, and video is forecast to account for 70 percent of total mobile traffic in 2021. In many networks today, YouTube accounts for up to 70 percent of all video traffic, while Netflix’s share of video traffic can reach as high as 20 percent in markets where it is available. *Mainland China overtakes the US as world’s largest LTE market: By the end of 2015, Mainland China will have 350 million LTE subscriptions, – nearly 35 percent of the world’s total LTE subscriptions. The market is predicted to have 1.2 billion LTE subscriptions by 2021. *ICT powers the low-carbon economy: ICT will enable savings in energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across all other industrial sectors. The total emission reduction, the report said could be up to 10 gigatonnes of CO2e, representing about 15 percent of global GHG emissions in

2030 – more than the current carbon footprint of the US and EU combined. The Regional Head of Ericsson Sub-Saharan Africa, Fredrik Jejdling, while reacting on the report said that, “In Sub-Saharan Africa, the dividends of connecting the unconnected through mobile broadband access and driving new services cannot be overlooked as it allows business and society to fulfil their potential and create a more sustainable future. “For example, increased connectivity improves the prospect of financial inclusion for the 70 percent unbanked through mobile money services starting to take form across Africa. “The same is true for transformation in the agriculture, healthcare and even the media industries. As we approach 100 percent mobile penetration, focus should be on ensuring that the value of ubiquitous mobile access is harnessed for the common good of all.” With 20 new mobile broadband subscriptions activated every second, global increase in mobile subscriptions, the report said is another clear driver for data traffic growth. “As of now, there are the same amount of mobile subscriptions as there are people on the planet; in 2016 we will reach the four billion mark for smartphone subscriptions alone”, the report added.

ASUS thrills smart phone market with ZenFone series

he recent introduction of ZenFone smart phone series by the European Laptop maker, ASUS into the Nigerian market has continued to thrill customers as a result innovative technologies from the brand. The brand-new models, which come with comprehensive camera solutions, PixelMaster Technology and ZenUI software support included ZenFone Selfie, ZenFone Laser 5.5, ZenFone Go 5.0, and ZenFone C 4.5. PixelMaster is a unique ASUSd e v e l o p e d technology that combines software, hardware and optical design to deliver incredible image quality. Speaking at the unveiling of the product, ASUS Nigeria Country Product Manager, Mr. Simplice Zaongo, said: “We are very excited to bring our latest ZenFone family to the Nigerian market. These brand-new innovations are each an empowering luxury that

strikes the perfect balance of beauty, functionality and performance, and especially offers Nigerian consumers a comprehensive camera experience via both hardware and software.” ZenFone Selfie is the ultimate choice for selfies with its twin 13MP PixelMaster cameras and a dual-color, dual-LED Real Tone flash at both front and rear. It also features the new multifaceted polygonal design aesthetic to the ZenFone, offering beauty and power in abundance. “ZenFone Laser 5.5 includes laser auto-focus technologyin its 13MP PixelMaster camera for clear, nearinstant shots in just 0.3 seconds. ZenFone Go 5.0 and ZenFone C 4.5 are equipped w i t h PixelMaster

camera for up to 400% brighter photo and video,” he added. ZenFone Laser 5.5 model benefits from a powerful 13MP PixelMaster camera with an f/ 2.0 wide-aperture lens to capture stunning, highresolution photos with zero shutter lag — augmented by laser auto-focus technology that empowers users to capture perfect clarity in just 0.3 seconds. Available in5.5-inch (ZE550KL) version with 1280 x 800-pixel HD resolution, ZenFone Laser incorporates the latest and toughest Corning Gorilla Glass 4. ZenFone Go 5.0’s powerful quad-core MediaTek processor easily handles multiple tasks and delivers immersive gaming experiences.It is equipped with a highresolution 1280 x 720 HD IPS display, sporting a pixel density of 294ppi for an impressive visual appearance with improved clarity, brightness and vivid colors. ZenFone C 4.5’s fashionable vibrant colors are designed to match users’ unique style; with MediaTek quad-core processors for the best performance and power efficiency in their class.

SUNDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015, PAGE 23

How I got back my trimmed body three weeks after birth —Lizzygold Onuwaje

•Lizzygold pregnant

t’s been just about a month, actress and former Miss Delta State, Lizzygold Onuwaje, surprised us all with her baby bump photos and the birth of her child. Naturally, she should be a nursing mother and worried sick how to get her former shape back? But not Lizzy, as she is already up and about and looking like she has never passed through the labour room. From the photos she sent to Potpourri, it is as clear as day, that the actress has a secret recipe to have turned out looking something that just came off the production line of a manufacturing company. “After birth, I avoided fatty, oily and solid meals. All I did was drink hot liquid meals for a week with very light meals” she said in a chat with Potpourri. “And then, I did exercises on my tummy. I didn’t give it a break and I always drank very hot pepper soup made by my mum. Pepper soup is medicinal and that did the magic for me” she squirmed “ I did pelvic bone exercise, it is good to exercise the first week after birth because then the tummy fat is still very tender and will be easy to burn”she said.

•Lizzygold three weeks after birth

Mocheddah reveals her favourite Nigerian ar tis artis tistte D

estinambari crooner, Mo’cheddah has revealed who her favourite artiste is,in the Nigerian music scene. In a recent chat with Ayo Onikoyi, she says Seyi Shay is her choice, leaving the likes of Tiwa Savage, Omowumi, Waje in the lurch. “Right now, I am a huge fan of Sheyi Shay. I love her style, her costume and her

performances are mind blowing. I love to watch her performance, I love the way she dances. I love how much energy and work she puts into her music”

•Mo’cheddah

Stephen Omamuli’s Class Hospit ality honoured Hospitality

S •Kafui Danku

Kafui Danku on sexual harassment in Ghollywood O

ne of Ghana’s reigning queens of the screen, Kafui Danku, has come, seen and looking to conquer. And she may be very well on her way as she has proved herself as a good actress and has done a few good films to prove she’s an outstanding producer as well In a recent revealing chat with Ayo Onikoyi, the darkskinned sexy beauty talks about sexual harassment and stated unequivocally that she has never experienced it but owned up that she knows it happens in the Ghanaian movie industry called Ghollyhood “ Personally, I haven’t experienced any, but I’ve received messages from young women aspiring to be actresses complaining about being harassed in one way or the other by producers/directors. I thank God that I didn’t have to go through that” she told me when asked if there is sexual harassment in Ghana’s movie industry

unday December 6, 2015 was another memorable day for many distinguished personalities, corporate organizations and the political class, especially those who have really shone like a shining light in their business endeavours at the 10th edition of the Ikeja City Award held in Lagos . Lagos big boy, Stephen

Omamuli’s Class Hospitality was one of the companies that was rewarded for its excellence in service delivery. The hospitality outfit bagged the Best Hotel Services Company award. The annual event which marks its decade, according to the organizer, Solkem Nigeria, painstakingly collected

nominations and carefully selected winners out of the lot that were screened. Omamuli who was in UK on official assignment was represented by his team at the well attended event which also saw awards being given to Nnamdi Ezeigbo’s Slot Nigeria, Tayo Ayeni’s Skymit, Senator Oluremi Tinubu as well as Hon Adedamola Kasunmu of Lagos House of Assembly, among many others.

•Class Hospitality representatives

STOP PIRACY NOW! STOP BUYING PIRATED MOVIE AND MUSIC CDs, DVDs. IT IS KILLING THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY. STOP! C M Y K

PAGE 24— SUNDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015

Dbanj explains his 10 years musical ‘epic journey’ D

apo Oyebanjo, better known as Dbanj shouldn’t have had it easy on Tuesday when he invited the media for the private viewing of his just released EP tagged ‘An Epic Journey’ at the Silverbird Cinema, City Mall, Ikeja, because he kept them waiting for much too long. Everyone was mad and before the singer showed up they had all worked out how hard they would grind him but it was not to be. The Koko master’ s charm, boisterousness and electrifying energy melted their highly strung nerves. He was all noble and even went down on all fours to ask for forgiveness. He was quickly forgiven. According to him, the occasion was to release visuals of all the eight tracks in the EP ‘An Epic Journey’ and announce the Koko tour through 10 cities th in the country to mark his 10 year anniversary as a music maker. He also seized the opportunity to announce the birth of the DKM/Slot music machines where people can buy original Cds/DVDs in any of the Slot shops anywhere in the country from 2016. “I wanted to showcase this personally to the media in other to explain the vision and mission behind it” he said of the visuals for all of his eight tracks in the EP.

“I was not in the country. But I was reading stories where many were wondering where I was. Is Dbanj a farmer now? What is happening to him? So I thought about something. I am not the first person to do this, Beyonce also did this in her last album. She released all the videos at once. But because I am Dbanj not Beyonce and also an African, I decided to give the press a private viewing of the videos. Though, we are still working on the album but I have decided to give my fans eight visuals all at th once” In his view, it is his 10 year in the industry and he wants to use his new EP to tell the story of his sojourn in the music world. But having seen the EP, from track 1 to 8, nothing told of D’banj’s journey through the years but what he has grown to become in 10 years of his musical journey. A journalist put this question to him and the Banga Lee explained that he was not about the past but the present and the future. So substantively what the epic journey is all about is the story of the colossus Dbanj has become. The EP opened with the track ‘The king is here’, projecting the Koko master as a king with a harem of concubines and servants at his beck and call. The scene has the singer in bed, woken up by the

•Dbanj

concubines with what seemed like a chorus of “ Good morning your highness” followed by a brief speech by a white butler, congratulating him on his 10th anniversary as a musician. “Happy anniversary your highness, today marks another

year of your triumphant music career. Ten years ago today you started your musical journey. Celebrations are in order your highness” says the white butler to which Dbanj responded ‘Yes’. That is how the epic journey begins for the Koko master and he wants us to believe that after ten years, he is now a king. The

chorus of the song ‘The King is Here’ succinctly captures the picture Dbanj wants us to see of him. He features Reminisce and Cassper in the song. From the ‘King is Here’ the scene moves on to chapter two titled ‘Los Angeles Adventure’ where much of the scene is an orgy of wild partying, with the Senegalese superstar, Akon setting the ball rolling. Though the single is titled ‘Frosh’ but Dbanj probably wanted us to know what a king often does is nothing but partying. From there, he moved on to ‘Feeling the Nigga’ and if this explains anything it is just telling us how Dbanj through the years has rubbed in our faces his manhood and how endowed and manly he is with the opposite sex. Next was the fourth track ‘Confidential’ and the Koko master was all about how big he has gotten. “When you are running with D’banj you don’t need credential. He Featured Idris Elba and the actor displayed his rap ability. After that comes the popular ‘Knocking on my door’ which is another party orgy scene. The point Dbanj scored here is being able to tell us he is now a farmer, with a few tricks with the tractor and all. Then he embarked on a ‘Shopping Spree’ to tell us he can match anybody anywhere dollar for dollar. There is a scene where him and Ice Prince wiped a smug grin off the face of a pompous white store attendant who told them they could not shop at a shop reserved for business moguls and oil tycoons with display of wads of dollars. After that he went on to the ‘International Display’, where he told us his most desired dream, “ I want to be rich and famous like Coca Cola’. From Track 1 to 8 the ‘Epic Journey’ tells us of Dbanj’s desire to be bigger than what he is today.

Kelvin AAyyanruoh emer ges winner of Glo Dance with PPeeter emerges

L-R: Second runner-up, Julius Fakta; first runner-up, Mali Hot Boy; show promoter and judge, Peter Okoye, and winner, Kelvin Ayanruoh, HAIL THE DANCE KING: Twenty-four year old Kelvin Ayanruoh falls on his knees in joy after he was declared winner of Globacom-sponsored reality TV show, Dance with Peter, in Lagos on Saturday night C M Y K

fter more than 3 months of rigorous display of dance skills in the Glosponsored Dance with Peter reality T.V show, twenty-four year old Kelvin Ayanruoh from Delta State has emerged the champion, winning a prize of a Toyota RAV 4 SUV, N3million cash and an opportunity of featuring in P-Square’s next music video.

Kelvin beat five other contestants including Mali Hot Boy, Julius Faktah, Amazing Amy and Da Octopus at the grand finale which held at the Bamako Studio Ojodu, Lagos, to clinch the coveted star prize. While Mali Hot Boy came second and won a Honda Civic Car and N1 million, Julius Faktah came second and will go

home with a Kia Rio car and N1million cash. Both of them will also have a chance to feature in a top Glo Ambassador’s music video. Amazing Amy finished fourth, while Da Octopus was in the fifth place. Basking in the euphoria of his title, jubilant Kelvin said his main driving force is to “respect all and fear none.” Kelvin began as a member of a dance group called Elevators NG. He made it through the audition stage by his ability as a solo performer and has proved himself by winning the competition. G-Xtreem and C-Fly made it to the top seven and were placed sixth and seventh respectively by the viewers. Dance with Peter was launched in August by Globacom in partnership with Peter Okoye, the twin brother and partner in musical group, PSquare. The company disclosed that its decision to sponsor the show was because of the need to promote the dance culture among Africans and assist those who may want to go into the dance profession to discover their potential. Peter Okoye performed with Glo ambassador and entertainer, Dapo Oyebanjo, popularly known as D’banj, who was the guest judge on the show.

SUNDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015, PAGE 25 Onikoyi68@gmail.com

MTN, Pepsi unleash brand ambassadors at ‘Corporate Elite’ 2015 concert T

HE ninth edition of ‘Corporate Elite’ 2015 concert, co-sponsored by Pepsi and MTN set ablaze the Convention Centre of Eko Hotel and Suites last Sunday as the two prime brands unleashed their brand ambassadors to thrill corporate guests who thronged the venue. The audience was held spellbound from start to finish, not only by the MTN and Pepsi ambassadors, but also by top artistes, both local and international, who dished out their evergreen and brand new tones. The event took another dimension with the emergence of Nigeria’s king of soul, Timi Dakolo singing Iyawo mi. The song reverberated as young ladies sang along with so much gusto. Banky W’s Yes No was good enough to maintain the tempo of excitement among the audience who kept asking for more. Mr. Olu Maintain staged a comeback with his popular tone Yahooze,

driving audience crazy while Styl Plus was cool and calm on stage with Olufunmi. Tecno the rising star of Nigerian music took the entertainment notch higher with Baby Palanga and other beautiful songs from his music inventory. Cobhams Asuquo marked his presence, combining instrument with sonorous rendition of Duro, while Nigerian rapper and singer, Mo’Cheddah dished out tunes from her award

winning album, Franchise Celebrity. 112 and Jagged Edge, American R&B singers went memory lane, as far back as 1997 spending more time to entertain their fans with 112 singing Anywhere, Dance With Me, It’s Over Now amongst others. The event reached its climax with the performance of Nigerian superstar, Sound Sultan who kept fans on their feet singing Orobo, Mothaland and Ole. Guests however became emotional

IVIAN Odu has emerged the winner of the just concluded beauty pageant, Face of the World Nigeria. The new beauty queen beat 18 other beautiful contestants to claim the coveted crown. Other winners on the night include 300 level student of political education, Naomi Omorebum Oyomole who emerged as Face of Edo; Samuvie Elohor of environmental studies and resources

IKE a cool breeze on a hot summer evening, a new radio station had begun test transmission in the Warri neighborhood beaming signals of genuine transformation of the good old oil city, Delta State and indeed the Niger Delta region. Rize 106.7 FM, the positively different radio station hit the airwaves late October testing its supersonic equipment in preparation for effective take-off in the last month of the year giving listeners in the Delta region a fresh opportunity to make choices. The focus of the station currently beaming signals from its Esiton Link Road, off Ogunu Road in Warri is said to be inspirational with the objective of galvanizing the huge human resources available in the Niger Delta region to positive vocations for the proper development of the region. Efforts to reach the pillar behind the station modeled after Rize FM in Atlanta, Georgia, Mr. Tony Mene Akpata proved abortive, but a source close to his business empire on Ogunu Road, hinted that the proprietors are doing everything possible to re-order the priority of the youths of the area from militancy through a new wave of entertainment. Unlike existing stations in the area, Rize FM tilts towards being identified as a family station with programmes appealing to all ages.

C M Y K

Corporate Elite Concert to give its teeming consumers a platform to enjoy themselves and live for now. He noted that the recent signing of Seyi Shay as Pepsi Ambassador was in line with the vision of the brand to encourage young Nigerians to continue to aim high adding that Pepsi is committed to providing opportunities for them to make their dreams come true.

Vivian Odu emerges ‘Face of the World’ Nigeria

Rize FM hits W arri air waves Warri airw

and more patriotic when African China stormed the stage with his award winning political song, Mr. President. Everyone joined the superstar to echo the lyrics – ‘lead us well’. Speaking at the event, Managing Director, Seven Up Bottling Company, Mr. Sunil Sawhney described the event as bigger and better with the artistes who performed at the concert. He said Pepsi as an international brand is proud to be associated with the

management 400 level, National Open University won Queen Tourism Edo. Anita Aghafua representing Ekiti State emerged as Queen Tourism Lagos, Miss Cross Rivers, Sylvia Edesiri won Face of Delta, Most Beautiful Girl in Edo State was won by Uzebu Osarosemwen Pamela representing Gombe State, Miss Photogenic and Miss Hospitality went to Miss Nasarawa and Plateau States. respectively. The organizers of the beauty pageant and President, Face of the World Nigeria beauty pageant, Prince Eerik Odigie used the occasion to thank God, sponsors, his crew members and encouraged the winners to be good ambassadors of their states and country. The beauty pageant attracted many high profile personalities

led by the executive governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon. Obahiagbon, in his address commended the organisers and enjoined them to continue to strive for the best in every areas of their endeavours as they are using pageantry to style tourism and

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Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015

•Ben Nwabueze

•ABC Nwosu

•Jeo Irukwu

•Peter Obi

AMID PRO-BIAFRA PROTESTS

Igbo marginalisation unacceptable

— Ebitu Ukiwe, Ben Nwabueze, ABC Nwosu, Joe Irukwu, Peter Obi, others By CHARLES KUMOLU

HEIR countenance was business like, an indication of the critical nature of what they had converged for. Indeed, an issue of uttermost significance could attract such eminent Nigerians of Igbo extraction. Consider these names: Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Senate President; Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, retd; Mr. Peter Obi; Prof Ben Nwabueze, SAN; Prof A.B.C Nwosu; Chief Joe Irukwu, SAN;Senator Hope Uzodinma; Senator Sonni Ogbuju; Sen Ben Obi; Prof George Obiozor; Chief Gary Enwo-Igariwey, and Elder Uma Eleazu. Others are Prof Osita;Ogbu, Chief Guy Ikokwu, Chief C.C Ifeanyi, Bishop Sunday Onuoha, Chief Charles Odunukwe, Eze C.I. Ilomuanya, Eze Gibson Nwosu, Igwe Chris Onyekwuluije, Chief E. A Ukpabi, Mr. Emeka UgwuOju, Chief C.C Ifeanyi, Chief Christopher Eze, Chief Charles Odunukwe and leaders of various market associations in Lagos, among others. From Abuja, Enugu, Owerri, Umuahia, Awka, Abakiliki and other parts of the country, they met in Lagos to deliberate on issues affecting the South-East in the light of the o-ngoing street protests by youths in the geo-political zone. Sunday Vanguard understood that the gathering was at the instance of C M Y K

Ekweremadu under the auspices of Concerned Igbo Elders, Traditional Rulers and Stakeholders. Instructively, the convergence was the first of its kind since the commencement of the reverberating protests by youths demanding for the

sovereign state of Biafra. The forum was particularly distinguished by the fact that it was of a melting point for every class of the Igbo race, as evidenced by the presence of serving and past government officials, traditional rulers, the clergy, academicians and traders among others. At the event, chaired by Ukiwe, speakers mirrored the protests within the context of the place of the Igbo in the present dispensation and submitted that the underlying issues are beyond the assumed reasons for the unrest. Blending the realities on ground with historical instances, they were unanimous in the argument that the South-East has been deliberately relegated out of prominence in the country’s political configuration. This situation, to them, contravenes all known principles and norms of federalism which the country practices. With certitude, the speakers dismissed the widely held assumptions that the protests were provoked by the collapsed and inadequate infrastructure in the region. Psychological and physical pains The outrage, they enthused, is nothing but the outward

expression of the psychological and physical pain arising from the current exclusion of the SouthEast from the governance of Nigeria. Sunday Vanguard also learnt, from the uniformity of the contributions to the interaction, that the Ndigbo feel alienated by the distribution of political offices in a manner widely seen as unequal. Of note, in their reckoning, are key ministerial, security and statutory positions, among others. A communique, issued at the gathering, further elucidates the posture of Ndigbo. It read: ‘’This meeting was convened at the instance of the Deputy Senate President, Sen Ike Ekweremadu. The meeting was of the view that Ndigbo are dissatisfied with their current

Sunday Vanguard also learnt, from the uniformity of the contributions to the interaction, that the Ndigbo feel alienated by the distribution of political offices in a manner widely seen as unequal

position in Nigeria. The meeting noted that Nigeria is a negotiated federation of three regions in 1960. And our fore fathers played a major role in bringing it to be. ‘’In the First Republic all constituent regions had their separate constitutions and had a say in the exercise of central power in Nigeria. Ditto in the Second Republic with federating units. In the Third Republic, even when the Alliance for Democracy,AD, dominated in the South-West, the then President Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP made deliberate efforts to bring in AD. That was statesmanship. That was nation building. Nation builders ‘’It is not in doubt that Ndigbo are nation builders, found all over Nigeria, earning their living and helping to develop the communities in which they are domiciled. Ndigbo do not have an empire mentality and do not wish to dominate any other and would not want to be dominated either. ‘’Ndigbo would never accept to be second class citizens in a country in which their fore fathers laboured along with others to bring into being and to develop. Ndigbo would never be tired of and protesting against injustice and inequity in Nigeria. For as Elie Diesel said ‘’There may be a time when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest against injustice.’’ Street protests by the youths ‘’Ndigbo have reviewed the ongoing street and public protests by the youths calling for Biafra and are of the considered opinion

that these are outward expressions of the psychological and physical pain arising from the current exclusion of the South East geopolitical zone from the governance of the country and this should be addressed and redressed. ‘’Consequently, Ndigbo strongly recommend that dialogue be embraced in order to remedy the situation. All public protests should be stopped. And more importantly the public protests should not be exported. Ndigbo are deeply saddened by the loss of lives arising from the protest. Enough Igbo blood have been spilled in Nigeria. Immediate dialogue ‘’To facilitate the immediate initiation of dialogue to remedy the current intolerable Igbo situation in Nigeria, we reiterate the advise given to the Federal Government by Ohaneze Ndigbo to treat the continued detention of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu as a political

matter rather than criminal issue. We understand that the courts ordered his release. We urge the Federal Government to abide by the rule of law. ‘’Ndigbo participated actively with other Nigerians at the 2014 National Conference. We see the report of that conference as a veritable document to anchor the proposed dialogue towards the restoration of Nigeria to true federalism which our founding fathers negotiated prior to independence in 1960. ‘’Ndigbo stand firmly on the implementation of the key recommendations of that conference. The meeting stands for, believes in and supports the unity of Nigeria founded on justice and equity.’’ However, moved by the impressive turnout and the ability to have a common voice on the development, Nwabueze called for the sustainance of such oneness on issues pertaining the zone. ‘’The success of this gathering should not end here. We need to sustain it. First thing is to formalize this initiative. We must also have a group to talk with our governors not only on the Biafran issue but others.’’

SUNDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015, PAGE 27

Why Nigerians hardly survive cancer

there were over 300 patients waiting because people were coming from all over the country. Nigeria has 105,000 cancer patients that are treated with radiotherapy in a year. Now, let us compare Nigeria with some countries like South Africa. South Africa has 18 clinics and the population is very small; so they have one machine for 1.3 million people while Nigeria has one machine for 180 million people. Japan has 611 therapy machines at the rate of one machine per 150,000 people. China has 463 units; that works out to one machine to 1.8million people. Actually, a national emergency has been declared concerning cancer in Nigeria. Over 80% of the people leaving Nigeria for medical treatment, are going out because of cancer. If we can increase the facilities for screening for early detection through mobile screening van, that will take the screening to the people where they are located so that they can comply with the screening recommendations, then, we will be getting some result in our efforts to tackle cancer.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Prof. Okoye By Victoria Ojeme ROF. Ifeoma Okoye is a radiologist at the Radiation P Medicine Department at

University of Nigeria College of Medicine (UNCM) and University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu. Okoye, who is also the founder of a non-governmental organisation, Breast Without Spot (BWS), in this interview, explains why Nigerians hardly survive cancer. She, however, says the situation could be reversed by eating fresh fruits and vegetables, exercising, monitoring industrial wastes and pollution as well as vehicular and generator emissions.

Why is cancer rate on the high side now? There are many confounding reasons, though the genetic aspect has always been there and you have more genetic modification going on because of triggers like radiation. Recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) came up with information to show association between mobile phones and cancer and advised that it is safer to use earphones so that you keep a distance between your phone and yourself. For instance, you can put it on speaker to reduce contact. I mean there are so many other things to show that radiation has actually increased genetic modification resulting in cancer. WHO, in 2009, made a statement that the main reason for cancer in developing countries is the embrace of the western culture. If we examine that statement of embracing western culture, you look at increased industrialization, increased urbanization, and crowding. And, of course, in industrialization, there is environmental pollution. There was a study that analyzed the relationship between increasing cancer and increasing age of the population and the population living longer. We look at the contribution of diet, the contribution of urban life style, like sedentary life style, which is contributing to obesity. These factors are shared by urban noncommunicable diseases like hypertension, diabetes and premature ageing, which is called degenerative diseases. So, industrialisation increases environmental pollution and, in Nigeria, we have not made any effort in that aspect. There are so many cars that are not road worthy on our roads, and the fumes that they generate contribute to environmental pollution and nobody is doing anything about that. Our refuse disposal is totally ineffective. There is so much putrefaction going on with much of our refuse hanging around, bringing out all sorts of odour we are all inhaling and then, of course, we

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cannot overlook the generators. If you go to high density areas where people are living in flats, where people are living very close to each other, the fumes from generator exhausts is just what the people inhale. One of the things they said, after evaluating the factors including the increased utilization of alcohol and oral contraceptives, is that there are viruses that cause cancer. So when you put everything together, they found out that environmental pollution is actually the highest contributor. So, we are loading our bodies with few radicals from all these things and they get deposited and cause inflammation. If you have pains and take drugs to reduce the tumour load, it will not cure you. But if you are detected early, you will still not be able to achieve cure and most of those ones happen to the younger age group. And the younger age group incidence or prevalence is higher in black population and Nigeria is one of them. And so, that is why we are increasing efforts to have our population understand why, from the time the girl-child develops breast bust, she should start examining herself. Breast examination So, here, in Nigeria, our recommendation is that people should start doing breast-self examination as soon as the breast buds come out, monthly. Then clinical breast examination once in a year, the moment you get to the age of 20. And if you have a family history of breast cancer; you should not do only clinical breast examination once in a year or self breast examination monthly, you should also see a doctor and start doing ultra

sound test of the breast before the age of 40 and then mammography after 40. Some people may insist that mammography should not be done annually until the age of 55. The same thing goes for cervical screening. And then on prostate cancer for men, you start your screening at the age of 40. Some have even dropped it to 35 because black men are more likely to have prostate cancer than their Caucasian counterpart. And this shows that we need to look at what actually are the contributors and how we can address them. The World Cancer Research Fund International has been working on it. The body awarded seven new grants for research into the link between diet, nutrition, physical activities and cancer. The grants, awarded as part of our 2014 and 2015 circle fund research around the world, cover a wide

â&#x20AC;˘Prof Ifeoma Okoye

Our recommendation is that people should start doing breast-self examination as soon as the breast buds come out, monthly. Then clinical breast examination once in

a year, the moment you get to the age of 20

range of topics from wearable technology to the

Mediterranean diet. The studies will help to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge so that we can better understand cancer prevention and survival. It has been confirmed irrevocably that in red and processed meat has a cancer link. Then we are using a lot of food enhancers; monosodiumglutamines that have been found to cause cancer. And we usually go to the market to get fresh

chickens. Unfortunately, most of these chickens are from poultries that are not well kept. We need more oversight in our food production. Now our complex carbohydrates are very good, they have high fibre. Nigeria is so rich in different forms of legumes to eat instead of these refined carbohydrates which are imported. What are the options available for cancer? You have different forms. Depending on the stage it has reached before intervention, it is either to reduce the mass size or take it out completely, especially for the breast cancer. Now, apart from surgical intervention, there is chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is drug intervention. It is so expensive that it is unaffordable unless you are very rich. You see a situation where people pay N40,000 every month to N160,000 every six weeks or more. And it is usually for as long as your body can tolerate it. But these days, there are supportive therapies to assist the sufferer to weather the storm of chemotherapy. Then there is radio-therapy. But the story in Nigeria is abysmal. Whereas we are supposed to have one radio-therapy machine per one million population, according to the International Atomic-Energy Commission, in Nigeria, we have only one functional clinic. Ordinarily, the machine should have a life span of of seven years but this one is 16 years old and recently broke down. And before it broke down,

Are there side effects for cancer treatment? Yes. One of the things that have developed over time is immune booster that is able to help your body weather the storm of cancer treatment. In the past, we had chemotherapy drugs that will kill the normal cells and kill the cancer. But now a lot of therapies have been developed that target the cancer cells more accurately so that it will defeat the side effects that people are talking about because this side effect issue, people use it to deceive patients by telling them that, when they do chemotherapy, they will die very fast. And that is why we have introduced the Go Pink Day Campaign which we started on October 15. Now, in all that fun of going pink, we reduce the fear associated with cancer and we are sustaining it for the next five years. But as we do that, we need to have corporate alliance so that we do not leave government alone to handle the problem. When you have corporate entities adopt the mobile service for the states, screening for cancer can be taken to the doorsteps of the people. In America, millions of people are living with breast cancer, millions of people are living with cancer because they were detected early. But here, in Nigeria, you will hear that this person has cancer and the next thing is that he is dead. And we think cancer diagnosis is a death sentence, no; it is a death sentence because of the late detection. If we increase early diagnosis, then cancer will not be synonymous with death and we will increase on the survival rate. I know of women here in Nigeria who came early and they have lived for 40 years and they are still alive. So our target in the next five years is to make history on cancer. If we do that, we will improve on mobility and mortality in Nigeria.

PAGE 28— SUNDAY

Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015 08116759757

DOUBLE TROUBLE FOR FAMILY

Four siblings go blind, injection paralyses mum By Chinweoke Akoma

EVERAL years ago when Mercy Okafor Onanwa got married to her hearthrob, Christopher, hopes were high they would live happily thereafter and raise kids that would in turn take care of them in their old age. The arrival of the first child, Henry, a boy, brought enormous joy to the family. However, trouble began soon after the birth of the second child, Chidie- bere, a girl, who had what seemed then like a slight sight challenge and the family attributed it to measles which was rampant at the time. Somebody advised that the child should be taken to the eye hospital in Kano. Chidiebere was taken there. But notwithstanding the parents efforts, the girl went blind. It was the same story for the third child, Uchenna, and two other siblings, Nkechinyere and Kaodilichukwu. “Greater part of my motherhood has been spent taking care of the blind children,” their mother lamented. But for the family, the worst was yet to come. The mother is today paralysed and confined to wheelchair after she reacted to an injection. Mrs. Onanwo is a widow having lost her husband in 2001.”I have seven children, namely, Henry, Chidiebere, Uchenna, Ek- enedilichukwu, Nkechi, Ifeanyi and Kaodilichukwu. While Henry, Ekene and Ifeanyi don’t have health issues, the other four are blind and we have suffered terribly for the past 40 years”, she narrated. “While I was healthy, I was the one running from pillar to post seeking for help on how to train and take care of the children. But I started having my own health challenge after some years until I was finally demobilised in 2012. Since then, I’ve been confined to the

wheelchair and the bed where I eat, pass urine and faeces. “I was given an injection in a hospital which I suspect had either expired or had serious reactions on my system leading to paralysis of my two legs. I was at Amaku Gen- eral Hospital, Awka for two weeks before my transfer to Nnamdi Aziki- we University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, where I stayed for seven months,

without recovering the legs. I suffered from bed sore and the hospital fixed a urine bag and catheter to my system which I’ve carried since then. We tried all we could for the blind children”. Emyben Foundation, moved by the pathetic situation of the mother of seven from Umuoba Akabor village, Mbauk- wu, Awka South Local Government

Area of Anambra State, offered to lend a helping hand. The president of the foundation, Prince Emeka Ekwealor, and friends donated bags of rice and cash to the family. The foundation also encouraged one of the blind daughters to sit for examination for admission to the university with a promise of scholarship award to any level if she scaled through. The presentation of the gifts to Mrs Onanwa took place during the finals of the football match competition for primary schools in Mbaukwu which was also sponsored by Ekwealor and aimed at nurturing hidden talents in the community. The widow thanked the foundation and other public spirited individuals, for their assistance aimed at rehabilitating her children so as to make them useful members of

the society, adding that it had not been an easy road for the family. “The family struggled to get two of the blind children pass out of secondary school while the other two dropped out. The last one, Kaodilichukwu, was in school when I took ill and that has been where we are since then. “My daughter, Ekene, is the only eye of the family now. She is the one who takes care of the five of us at home while her own future has been mortgaged because of out condition.” The immediate past President General of Mbauk- wu Town Union, Chief Omife I. Omife, and Chairman, Old Akabor Village Union, Sir Nwankwo Sam- uel, noted that the family members don’t indulge in anything evil and never had issues with their neighbours or the community and appealed for more help for them from the public.

Youth corps member constructs community road T

he Coordinator, National Youth Service Corps in Oshimili South Local Government Area of Delta State, Mrs. Olive Etukudo, has urged corps members to imbibe the spirit of selfless service. Etukudo, who gave the charge while commissioning a 1.25km road at Paul Oke Ikediashi Drive, Asaba, the state capital, graded by a corps member under the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Tourism, Miss Uloagu Chidimma, as part of her Community Development Service, CDS, Project, said they should not only pick projects that will be beneficial to them under the CDS scheme. Represented by the Assistant Director, Corps Discipline and Rewards, Mrs. Rose Ovuokerie, she pointed out that the CDS scheme was designed to allow corps members to look for the needs of the community and take step towards meeting them. While commending Uloagu the NYSC Coordinator observed that many communities are not supportive of corps members especially on CDS projects. Speaking on what informed the selection of the project,Uloagu said she was moved by the desire to serve humanity. “It started when I came to

withdraw money from First Bank at Inter-Bau Roundabout and I was hungry; so I decided to get something to eat. I saw the woman selling food in front of the road and the road was bad, they even

dropped wastes along the road which was behind where she operated. “I felt the place was not conducive and it will help her business if there was a motorable road, not just her

but people living around the area. So I walked round and discovered the road leads to the old Anwai Road. At this point I decided that I will grade the road as part of my CDS project”.

From left: Mr Israel Bolaji, Head, Public Relations, Startimes Nigeria; Mr Ubong Udofa, beneficiary; Emeka Odoma, Senior Legal Officer, Consumer Protection Council (CPC); and Somoye Tunde Habeeb, Brand and Marketing Manager, Startimes, during Startimes prize promo presentation to its customers, in Lagos, last week.

Buhari should not be afraid to fight looters — Iboi By Olayinka Ajayi

ITCHES have expressed support for the ongoing anticorruption campaign by President Muhammadu Buhari. Declaring the support in Lagos, spokesperson for White Witches Association of Nigeria, WHIWTAN, Dr Okhue Iboi, said decision to back Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade was taken at the end of an emergency meeting of the association that took place at Ofosu, Edo State. “As stakeholders in the project called Nigeria, we can’t fold our arms and pretend that all is well with our nation. It will not only amount to act of unpatriotism if we decide to look the other way while others are speaking out on way forward for Nigeria,” Ibori stated. C M Y K

“Following our worries over Nigeria, the general assembly of witches decided to hold this meeting. In attendance were witches from all the 36 states of Nigeria including Katsina, the home state of Buhari. It was at the end of this meeting that the unanimous decision was taken that we should support Buhari to fight corruption. There was no dissenting voice – we also took other decisions on some national issues affecting the country.” Calling on Buhari to be resolute, the spokesperson said the President should not be afraid to step on toes in his avowed determination to sanitise the country. “These looters are even lucky that it was Buhari that was going after them to expose and punish them. On our own, we had decided to wage spiritual war against them, and our own

punishment would have been harsher. But but since Buhari has decided to take up the challenge, we have decided to support him. Buhari should not be afraid. I want to assure him that no human force can overcome him. We have one or two piece of advice that we want to give him if he can send emissaries to us or invite us to Aso Rock. Contrary to the wrong impression by some people, white witches are not evil people. We liberate people from evil people. We are messengers of God, and for over 20 years now, we have been speaking regularly in the media on some national issues,” he said. Speaking on the fate of Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike regarding election rerun which the court has ordered, Iboi urged Wike to pray very well as he may not return to the Government House.

“The ball is in Wike’s court. If he wants to remain as governor of Rivers State, he should pray very well otherwise the wind of change currently sweeping across the country will blow him away. But if he does all the needful, he will retain his seat,” he said. On the crisis rocking All Progressives Congress, APC over Saraki’s leadership of the Senate, Iboi said APC may break into splinter groups. Urging the National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Buhari to continue to work together for the benefit of Nigerians, the spokesperson said: “The partnership between Buhari and Tinubu is divinely ordained, but let it be known to the two of them that some people even within APC are not happy with the union between the two men. They want the two

of them to clash. Some saboteurs who I will call enemies of Nigeria are desperate to separate them, but they will fail in their ungodly mission.” Speaking on why former President Goodluck Jonathan lost 2015 election, Iboi said one of the factors was that Jonathan disobeyed witches.

*Dr Iboi

SUNDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015, PAGE 29 08116759757

By Esther Onyegbula

n Information Communication Technology, ICT, expert in Lagos, Emma Osim, arrested for robbery, has confessed that his victim was an unsuspecting client. According to the ICT consultant, who claimed to have graduated from Lagos State University, he plotted the robbery of one of his clients after he came to have a soft ware installed in his laptop. Sunday Vanguard learned that a three- man armed robbery gang, on December 10, at about 7pm, invaded the residence of the client, an expatriate, one Mr Anesh at Gbagada Estate, and dispossessed him of his GSM phones, I-pad, laptops and other valuables after they had tied his hands and legs with

ICT GRADUATE CONFESSES

I led robbers to my client’s house

to steal rare software in laptop rope. It was gathered that immediately the police received a tip- off that armed robbers had attacked a resident at Gbagada Estate, a team of officers from Anthony Police Station responded and intercepted the robbers while trying to escape. Some of the looted items were immediately recovered and the policemen released the victim. Confession The suspect, Osim, said: “I

bought the fake gun for N200 for the operation. I have known the victim, Mr. Anesh, for about a year now. I didn’t ask him to give me the application because I knew he won’t give it to me because he had already installed the soft-ware. It is about a year since I started working with the man. “I used hood to cover my face because I felt if I did not, they would easily recognise me. Unfortunately, they recognised

me. I went to steal the laptop, not money, because it contained an accounting software. They don’t buy it here in Nigeria; you have to buy it online and I don’t have the facility to buy it. “Initially, when we entered the compound, I didn’t cover my face. It was when I entered the building that I used the hood to cover my face. After I collected the laptop, I did not know that the driver had seen me. After the driver recognised me, I

COCOA REVOLUTION

‘Ondo will soon be richer than Lagos!’ By Dayo Johnson, Akure

ITH the resuscitation of the 1,744 hectares of Oda Cocoa Farm Estate at Oda village, in Akure South area of Ondo State by the Mimiko administration after its neglect by successive administrations in the state since it’s creation in 1976, the state is now on the verge of becoming one of the leading producers of cocoa in Africa. Nigeria produces 240,000 metric tonnes of cocoa per annum out of which Ondo accounts for over 40 percent. So the revamping of the Oda Farm Estate is seen as a feat on the part of the state administration. The plantation was established by the Premier of the defunct Western Region, the late Obafemi Awolowo, in 1954, and had since been abandoned before it was taken over by the Mimiko administration through its Cocoa Revolution Project, CRP. Conducting journalists round the farm, the Chairman of the CRP, Dr Samuel Jibayo Oyebade, who is also a former Commissioner for Agriculture in the state, said that the objective of the project was to revamp the cocoa industry, make it a catalyst for employment generation and source of revenue for Ondo. Oyebade added: “The governor approved the establishment of the CRP in June 2013

to mitigate the challenges of cocoa production and bring about increased production, good agricultural practices and sustainable standard beans processing amidst improving the economy of the state and making life worth living for peasant farmers. “The initial plan of the CRP was to establish and rehabilitate 100ha each of old and new cocoa farms for farmers at one ha/ farmer, as a model for adoption. However, with the governors intervention, the CRP has since taken over the management and rehabilitation of the 1744ha Oda Farm Estate which has become the centre of CRP activities hitherto. “ The Oda Cocoa Plantation is the source of Ondo State’s Premium Cocoa Beans used in the production of the award-winning Oda 70 percent SPAGnVOLA Chocolate”. Oyebade said the CRP had achieved the

following: Establishment of over 60ha new cocoa farm as pilot at Oda, establishment of 12ha new far at Agangan camp, rehabilitation of 80ha Cocoa at Oda, revamping of 300ha also at Oda Cocoa Farm Estate, rehabilitation of voluntee farms at Obada 10ha, Igbado 2ha, Aganhan camp 4ha and 4ha at Owena Elesin. Others, according to him, include production of 1.5million hybrid cocoa seedlings, fabricating a tractor high powered water pump for provision of water for irrigation and application of cocoa chemical yearly, production of ideal cocoa fermentation boxes and sun drying mechanisms for the production of premium (high quality) cocoa beans for chocolate production and the production of 62.7 metric tonnes of farmers cooca beans last

Oshiomhole ejects ‘Mammy Wat er’ ttoo def lood Benin rroads oads ater’ deflood By Simon Ebegbulem, BeninCity t is a joyous moment for residents of Igbinaduwa, I Upper Siluko, Textile Mill and

2nd East Circular roads in Benin City following the on-going road and drainage projects in the area by Edo State Government. Residents had abandoned their residences over the years after flood swallowed the homes. But hope came when the Governor Adams Oshiomhole- led administration came into office in 2008 and decided to tackle the flood problem in the state head on. There was this belief that a certain goddess, popularly

known as Mammy Water, resided in Upper Siluko, down to Teachers House, and had frustrated any effort by government to solve the flood problem in the area. However, when Oshiomhole came, after studying the situation with experts, it was agreed that, no matter how much is invested in road construction in the area, it will be a waste unless a solid erosion work was done, that will channel the flood from these area to the Ogba River. That was how government came up with the N30billion Benin Water Storm Project. Today, the impact is being felt in the area as those who abandoned their homes have returned. The signs were

obvious when Oshiomhole paid an unscheduled visit to the project sites, as a mammoth crowd welcomed the governor, expressing appreciation for finding solution to the flood problem. The 1.3km, 5 meterdeep underground drainage system linking Textile Mill Road to Ogba River through Igbinaduwa Street is one of the solid erosion projects inspected by Oshiomhole last Tuesday. The governor took time to celebrate with the over joyed residents at Igbinaduwa, where he had to break protocol to attend a wedding ceremony in one of the houses which were abandoned but the owners are now back to their homes. His appearance at

*Osim... first time of robbing couldn’t run. I was there when they called the police and I was arrested. We were two that went for the operation but the other person escaped. This is the first time I am doing a thing like this and it was the laptop that took me there.”

year. Oyebade added that the CRP produced 4.7 metric tones of premium cocoa beans last year, partnered the Federal Ministry of Agricultures and Rural Development, IITA, IFAD, USAID, French Association for the International Development of Exchange of Food and Agricultural Produce and Techniques, ADEPTA, and Isreali Fertilizer Production Groups, among others. Part of the feat achieved include the silver award for Ondo State by the London Academy on Chocolate with the Oda 70 percent single Estate Chocolate in April this year. He said: “We have demonstrated that in Oda Farm, our cocoa revolution project is a high capacity tractor-water-pump-driven which collects water from the river and small streams that will be close to the farmers’ farms. Irrigation will change the face of agriculture. “In a matter of few years, Ondo State shall be richer than Lagos State. The cocoa revolution will enhance the revenue profile of the state and the monthly allocation from the Federation Account will be mere peanut. While planting our 100 hectares of cocoa, we planted about 200,000 stands of plantain as a shield; that also will generate funds later”. Oyebade explained that if the country wants a breakthrough in revenue through agriculture, the Federal Government should follow the Ondo State template and make cocoa production a source of employment generation for the country’s teeming population. He noted that with two year into the project, it has recorded tremendous achievements which include sensitizing the youths to embrace cocoa farming and production.

the ceremony, even when he was not invited, generated thunderous cheers from the celebrants, as the guests echoed ‘Osho Baba, Osho Baba, you too much, you too much’. The governor, visibly happy for the appreciation expressed by the crowd, invoked the “precious blood of Jesus” to destroy any attempt to disrupt the ongoing projects in the state by persons he described as enemies of progress. He vowed not to abandon any project at the expiration of his stay in Edo Govt. House in 2016. “We will fight those we need to fight in order to do the projects we need to do. But that fight is informed by public interest and there is no going back. And as you can see what is going on around the country, all my enemies are falling one after the other and we are standing,”he said. “And by the grace of God, we will stand because God sees our heart and He covers us with

the blood of Jesus, so no evil planned by man can stop the progress that we are determined to make for the benefit of the people of Edo. The verdict of the people is what matters. You can see how people are happy with the work and that is my greatest joy. We are just coming from around the Teachers House; you have seen what is obviously, by any standard, what is passed for a miracle because people gave up, that Mammy Water had taken over that area. And you could see the feeling of people driving on the road. You can see the depth of the drainage and, right on top of it, we are constructing a road that will connect Ogba River, Textile Mill Road and, under it, we have flood going. This is part of the Benin City Master Plan. And, from the reaction of the people who know what this place used to be, you can see their joy. That, to me, is the verdict. “

PAGE 30—SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015

Road map to sustainable power, housing, road infrastructure — Fashola BY HAKEEM BELLO

OLLOWING intensive ongoing ministerial briefings, meetings with parastatals and agencies as well as critical concerns in the sectors under the purview of the new Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN along with the Minister of State, Mustapha Baba Shehuri on Tuesday set an agenda and outlined strategies for achieving short, medium and long term goals in the three critical sectors of the economy under the ministry. In his inaugural media briefing at the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, with the theme,”Setting Agenda for Delivering Change”, Fashola picked his bearing from the huge expectations of the Nigerian public who voted for the All Progressive Congress (APC) message of Change and elected President Muhammadu Buhari to office having promised to address the challenges of security, corruption and dwindling economic fortunes of the country, Fashola noted that the cooperation of Nigerians was needed in order to achieve the realization of the expectation with the Ministry playing its expected role in the process. In analyzing the current situation, the Minister blamed the economic downturn has led to massive loss of jobs in the country, to the anomaly in budgetary expenditures over the years, said in order to achieve the needed change in the economy of the country the ratio of Capital Expenditure to Recurrent Expenditure must change in the 2016 Budget adding that this had been the bane of budget implementations in the past. “The first thing that must change is the Capital to Recurrent ratio of the budget, and our colleagues in the Ministries of Finance and Budget and Planning are working on this and they will address you at their own time on the changes they have made and what citizens must do to enable them achieve that plan. As I have had cause to say before, the budget is the article of faith of every serious nation and government and our resolve to do more capital spending with less resources must be indicative of our seriousness to reflate this economy”, the Minister said. “The records that have been made available from previous budgets show that the last time Nigeria budgeted over N200 Billion in a year’s budget for roads was in 2002. It seems that as our income from oil prices increased over the last decade, our spending on roads decreased”, the Minister said noting that the Federal Government budgeted N18.132Billion in 2015 and the Ministry of Works got N13Billion for all roads and highways in 2015, although it has contracts for 206 roads, covering over 6,000km with contract price of over N2 Trillion. Fashola who expressed regrets that jobs have been lost in the road construction industry which affected the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) results, promised that contractors handling road projects across the country would be paid the arrears owed them to enable them recall sacked workers pointing out that the anomaly was created “simply because we did not budget enough for Capital expenditure and contractors were not paid”.

C M Y K

•Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN In order to reverse the trend which had incapacitated many Nigerians, the Federal Government would take some short term measures, including the payment of contractors handling various projects across the country to enable them recall their workers back to work. “By paying these contractors we will restore the lost jobs as an economic intervention of our promise of change”, Fashola said adding that the intervention would start from the contractors handling the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and worked across Nigeria gradually. Giving insight into the problem created by the anomaly in budgeting, the Minister recalled that as at March 2015 the sample of job losses from only five out of thousands of construction companies showed that in Company 1, the number of junior staff fell from 1800 to 1250 while Senior Staff strength fell 550 to 300 and expatriates from 500 to 250. According to him, in Company 2, local staff strength was reduced from 3000 to 1500 and expatriates strength fell from 100 to 50 while in Company 3, staff strength fell from 2500 to 1100 with more likely to go and in Company 4 local staff number fell from 4500 to 3000 while number of Foreign workers fell from 250 to 100. “By the end of September when budgets had been fully exhausted these numbers worsened”, he said. Recalling that a particular company had laid off 4,000 workers because Government was owing N3 Billion, Fashola declared, “Our short term strategy will be to start with roads that have made some progress and can be quickly completed to facilitate connectivity. We will prioritize within this strategy by choosing first the roads that connect states together and from that grouping start with those that bear the heaviest traffic”. The Minister, however, regretted that because of the budget and financing structure in 2015 and with only 17 days to Christmas, his Ministry could not honestly promise those travelling for the festivities shorter journey times this December adding, “But we are optimistic that with works hopefully resuming next year, things should improve over the next few months and progress”. He said the successful implementation of his Ministry’s plan to remove human and vehicular obstructions and

If we succeed, we can get a lot of workers back to work in cottage and small industries which are the critical driving forces of our economy adding that the foregoing represented the highlights of the Ministry’s roadmap to delivering the change Nigerians voted for in the short term

impediments from our Highways would signpost the early signs of benefits of journey time improvements that commuters should expect, adding, however, that this would be as much the responsibility of citizens as that of Government. “The removal of settlements under federal bridges, along federal highways needs the buy-in of all Governors and the leadership of the Federal Government”, he said. In the Power Sector, Fashola said his Ministry’s first priority would be to get contractors to finish ongoing transmission contracts to enable the Ministry transport the power being generated to the Discos to distribute adding that the second priority would be to ask the Governors to identify and enumerate their most populous industrial and commercial clusters where manufacturing, fabrication, welding and related productive work is going on. “Our second priority is to ask the Governors to help us identify and enumerate their most populous industrial and commercial clusters where manufacturing, fabrication, welding and related productive work is going on, especially by small businesses and to see how we can use the existing Legal framework to attract embedded power supply to these people who must be ready to pay for the

power”, he said. The Minister, who disclosed that in 2015, out of the N9.606 billion budgeted for Power, N4.476 Billion was for recurrent expenditure to cover salaries and overheads, while N5.130 Billion was for capital expenditure, supposedly for on-going projects, noted that this was not enough to complete only 22 of the 142 existing transmission projects estimated at over N40 Billion. “Apart from these there is a 10MegaWatt wind energy project in Katsina nearing completion, a 215 MW plant in Kaduna and the 3,050 MW plant in Mambilla Taraba State all of which need to be completed”, Fashola said adding that in such cases, the tariff may be higher than the current official tariff, but it would be “many times a significant improvement on what they have and we will need the collaboration of the Discos to achieve this”. The Minister said the Discos could move them from self generation which, according to him does not deliver all round electricity, to a place where they would get over 90 percent predictable and reliable power to run their businesses. “We have success stories and experience to work with from some successful small independent power projects in places like Lagos, in Isolo industrial estate, Lekki Free Trade Zone and Aba to mention a few, and we can expand on these”, Fashola said adding that owners of the Discos would be expected to co-operate “through flexibility and innovative disposition for emergency interventions while they plan and develop their wholesale roll out plan”. Fashola, who noted that the Federal Government is now a regulator through the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), declared government’s intention to strengthen this part of its responsibility “so that we can hold the Gencos and Discos to their contracts with citizens”, adding, “But before we do that, we must play our own role of providing gas and expanding the Transmission Network”. He further pledged that as a government and consumer of power through the ministries departments and agencies, governments must show example at federal, state and local levels by paying up backlogs of power bills and ensuring from there that they pay for what they use. “Our ministry intends to champion this at the Federal Level and I hope that the State Governors, heads of parastatals, National and Sate Assemblies, the various State and Federal Courts, Local Governments, Military, police, and other related security agencies will find this a worthy undertaking to join and ensure payment of all their electricity bills”, the Minister said. Pointing out that the nation’s economy could not wait indefinitely and suffer job losses, the Minister declared, “If we succeed, we can get a lot of workers back to work in cottage and small industries which are the critical driving forces of our economy adding that the foregoing represented the highlights of the Ministry’s roadmap to delivering the change Nigerians voted for in the short term. He disclosed that his ministry would expand and enlarge

transmission lines, which according to him, “are what we locally call “High Tension Wires” which run on high towers across our country over land and over water” transporting power across the country. “We will do what any serious passenger operator must do. Get additional buses to carry the waiting passengers and plan to buy bigger buses for the additional passengers that are on the way, that is the extra power that is coming. That is what TCN has to do”, he said. In the Housing sector, Fashola said the priority would be to complete on-going projects, adding that the Ministry would then get land from the Governors in all states and the FCT to start the housing development across the country using the LagosHoms model, starting with 40 Blocks of Housing in each state and the FCT. “We expect State Governors to play a critical role here, by providing land of between 5-10 hectares for a start, with title documents, and access roads or in lieu of access roads, a commitment that they will build the access roads by the time the houses are completed. We see this leading to potential delivery of 12 flats (Homes) per block and 480 Flats (Homes) per state, and 17,760 Flats (Homes) nationwide, for a start”, the Minister said. According to him, “This will translate into a minimum of 4 doors and 2 windows very conservatively per home; a demand for 71,040 Doors and 35,520 Windows nationwide in year one, which we will encourage to be made in Nigeria. The demand for those who will make and fix the doors and window, the hinges, the wood polish and the paint and tiles suggest the onset of jobs and change for our artisans and workers who are the real builders of every economy”. Reviewing the nation’s position in the three critical sectors, Fashola, who noted that the 2015 Budget made only a provision of about 16 percent amounting to approximately N557 Billion for capital spending out of a total budget of over N5 Triilion, pointed out that the first thing that must change would be the Capital to Recurrent ratio of the budget. “As far as status reports go, the Federal Government budgeted N18.132Billion in 2015 and the Ministry of Works got N13Billion for all roads and highways in 2015, although it has contracts for 206 roads, covering over 6,000km with contract price of over N2 Trillion”, he said adding that the country’s ability to achieve connectivity of roads would depend on capital spending in 2016 to pay contractors and get them back to work. The Minister, who identified his short term strategy to include starting with roads that have made some progress and could be quickly completed to facilitate connectivity, added, “We will prioritize within this strategy by choosing first the roads that connect states together and from that grouping start with those that bear the heaviest traffic”. Pointing out that as at May 2015, many contractors had stopped work because of payment resulting to many fathers and wives employed by them being laid off, Fashola said at least 5,150 workers have been laid off as at March 11, 2015.The Minister said in order to make the roads safer, his Ministry intends to reclaim the full width and set back of all Federal roads, representing 16 percent and about 36,000km of Nigeria’s road network “by immediately now

•Continues on page 31

SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015, PAGE 31

MINISTERIAL APPOINTMENT: ‘Buhari is taking the tried and true approach’

BY NOEL OBIORA

resident Muhammed Buhari’s appointment of Babatunde Fashola as Minister of Power, Works and Housing was recently described as a “masterstroke” in one of the daily newspapers. However, the author’s analysis of what makes the appointment a masterstroke reads more like the description of a stroke of luck. All the factors the author listed to make him conclude appointment was a masterstroke were already known to most Nigerians, given Fashola’s tenure as governor of Lagos State for eight years. A masterstroke connotes something only one with a special knowledge of the subject matter could do, and even then, only the very best of those with such expertise, “a master”, can on rare occasions execute, the “stroke”. However, the author, who first noted this fact, was right, but for the wrong reasons. Fashola’s appointment was a “masterstroke”, and it is important for Nigerians to understand why it was a masterstroke. Combining two of the most important portfolios for Nigeria’s development - Power and Works-could not have been by happenstance. Adding the Housing portfolio to them would be rather excessive, if not over ambitious, but for the fact that it was pure genius. The Office of the President had, with one stroke of the pen, recognized and corrected what previous administrations had been too blind to see. Therein lies the masterstroke, not in the appointment of “an infrastructure junkie” to run the combined portfolios. The appointment recognizes that electricity affords the government the greatest possible reach to its people beyond what any other governmental program could, and should be developed in coordination with other infrastructure needs and development. Simply put, the Obasanjo and Jonathan’s administrations’ approach to electricity infrastructure development was the “field of dreams” approach: “If you build it, they will come”. Hence, in the past, Nigeria had failed to plan for who will use the power infrastructure it was building and failed to even plan for evacuating the power to where ever it should be used; it did not know exactly where and for what specific “system” purposes each particular addition was intended as it was unplanned. By collapsing the Ministry of Power with the Ministries of Works and Housing, Buhari is taking the tried and true approach of “how-Dubai-wasbuilt”. The small nation in the desert knew that in order to develop itself with the kind of infrastructure its funds could build, it would need more than the small population it had to justify it; so the camel-stop at the cross road of the great silk route “planned”: they planned to make the traders who transited through it since the ancient of days stay a while, and they gave Europeans a place to go in winter, closer than their usual destinations, and they gave corporations a tax haven, they gave students in neighboring countries great colleges, and everyone else a competing vacation stop. Soon, there was no shortage of people to use their massive investment in infrastructure. On a recent training workshop in Dar Es Salaam for Tanzania’s Regulatory Utilities on behalf of the

National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and the United States Agency for International Aid (USAID), I was asked to make a presentation on improving rural electrification and I modeled my presentation on the “how Dubai was built” approach, to explain that the problem of rural electrification was more a problem of “demand” than lack of “electricity” infrastructure. When I traveled beyond Dar Es Salaam after the workshop, I realized how much the lack of other kinds of (Works) infrastructure undermined the demand that rural electricity requires. Any attempt to grow rural electricity demand in Tanzania would require massive investment in roads, re-planning towns to facilitate movement by including loops, wider roads for easier and greater access, building facilities for emergency response and security units and improving information technology (IT) connectivity. These are Ministry of Works responsibilities. Similarly, effective electrification in Nigeria would bring about a degree of economic activity and population redistribution that would tax every Ministry of Works project known; adding to that what Nigeria needs to address its housing deficiency, without understanding how the electrification driven “growth and economic activity” would impact sprawl and congestion, or planning to bring the new housing projects up to a standard consistent with progress in the electricity industry, would simply make a bad situation worse. On the other hand, effective regulation offers the best opportunity to stimulate investments and pay for infrastructure development in Africa. In a paper I presented earlier this year for the African Forum of Utility Regulators (AFUR) 12th Annual Conference in South Africa, I noted that African countries have the opportunity to further sustainable development through the penetration and reach of the electricity industry. Using the example of the reach and impact of mobile phones, even in the poorest countries in Africa, we maintained that a similar penetration for the electricity industry would allow regulators to employ electricity surcharges to stimulate investments, build infrastructure and generally pay for sustainable development in ways that governments employ taxes. However, we warned that such a development would first require regulators to integrate information, communication and technology in their regulatory processes and decision making. Next it would require that regulators address the deficiencies in the quality of electricity service delivery through best practices in regulation that are open, transparent and well vetted by a broad range of stakeholders, especially ratepayers. We looked at some examples of best practices for both requirements at the California Public Utilities Commission[2]. Thus, the marriage of Power, Works and Housing in one portfolio is a stroke of genius, but it would only work in reality if Nigeria’s administrators do integrated resource plans in advance. In 2012, while writing for AFUR Newsletter, I noted that Nigeria’s electricity administrators had lost the right to blame NEPA as an excuse for

•President Buhari the moribund state of the electricity infrastructure in Nigeria, because these administrators had largely failed to plan. Every Nigerian Power Minister since 1998 has blamed the problem of Nigeria’s electricity on NEPA’s failure to invest in infrastructure, but the 14 years since 1998 has been more than sufficient to improve the infrastructure NEPA neglected, at least by increasing delivery from about 4,000MW of delivered power to 6,000MW or even 10,000MW. Instead power delivery has gone down to 2,800MW, while authorities repeat the same excuse. NEPA’s failure to invest in infrastructure prior to 1998 cannot plausibly explain why thermal power plants that were authorized in 2005 were built without gas connections or why the

The marriage of Power, Works and Housing in one portfolio is a stroke of genius, but it would only work in reality if Nigeria’s administrators do integrated resource plans in advance. nameplate capacity that NEPA left behind has only deteriorated. There must be a better reason. What cripples Nigeria’s electric system is that Nigeria neglects to

do integrated resource and procurement planning for the entire county’s demand and load not, as the Nigerian authorities have claimed, that NEPA failed to invest in the system. Combining the portfolios of Power, Works and Housing also frees the Nigerian Electric Regulatory Commission (NERC) to regulate more effectively. In the past, it appeared administrators in the Ministry of Power and NERC did not fully understand their relationship with each other. As such, both agencies wasted useful resources in turf battles rather than working together. This includes the Ministry forming new parastatals that arguably fell under the statutory authority granted NERC and getting legislation for it. With the amount of work that needs to be done to bring affordable electricity to Nigeria, the last thing the sector needed was warring agencies. By combining the three portfolios, the Ministry would likely feel less threatened by the expansive scope of NERC’s regulatory authority, but might even welcome it as it would have its hands full in coordinating the regulation of electricity with its obligation under Works and Housing. In sum, President Buhari’s appointment of former governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, as Minister of Power, Works and Housing, was a masterstroke, but unless administrators appreciate the reasons for that stroke of genius and work together to realize it, a great opportunity might be lost.

• Noel Obiora, a legal practitioner, is a member, Board of Directors at San Francisco Conservation Corps; California Public Utilities Commission.

Road map to sustainable power, housing, road infrastructure, by Fashola •Continued from page 30 asking all those who are infringing on our highways, whether by parking, trading, or erection of any inappropriate structure to immediately remove, relocate or dismantle such things voluntarily. This will be the biggest contribution that citizens can offer our country as proof that we all want things to change for the better”. Concerning the Power sector, Fashola, who recalled that until around November 2013 the Government was the owner of all power assets in Nigeria except a few independent power plants added that private companies today have the responsibility for generation pointing out that all the generation on the National Grid is produced by six of the companies which were previously Government owned, two international oil companies ( Shell and Agip), and a company owned by the Federal, State and Local Governments (The Niger Delta Power Holding Company , NDPHC), whose generation assets are in the process of being sold to private investors. Describing the change in Power policy as a welcome development, the Minister, however, added that THE CHANGE comes with its own challenges including human resistance, suspicion, vested interests, learning new things and so on, adding that all of these were

quite normal when things change and “our responsibility to navigate and overcome these challenges”. “If it is any comfort, countries like Brazil, South Africa, India and Mexico, to mention a few, have passed this same road before and they are clearly better for it. It is now our turn to do so, and we must resolve to make a success of it. We can do that by relying on our own recent experience”, the Minister said. According to him, “Today, we are at a point when government spending on all aspects of power has been significantly reduced on distribution and generation, except for some projects started under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP).The spending of government is now largely focused on transmission network and gas supply while Gencos and Discos focus on producing power and distributing it”. “Government is now a regulator through the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) which is like the National Communications Commission (NCC) which regulates Telcos.We intend to strengthen this part of our responsibility so that we can hold the Gencos and Discos to their contracts with citizens. But before we do that, we must play our own role of providing gas and expanding the Transmission Network”, he said. On Gas, the Minister, who listed environmental issue and the

availability of gas infrastructure such as pipelines and the issue of pricing as some of the challenges besetting the sector, added that, subject to budgetary approvals and financing, the Ministry of Petroleum would build certain by research and industrialization of housing”, the nation would attain sufficiency in housing. Expressing gratitude to directors and assistant directors as well as officers, for their cooperation while he was engaged in assessing the status of works done in all Ministries, meeting with some of our parastatals and corporations, Fashola added, “ Since our inauguration we have spent the last few days, getting to know ourselves and (which is still on-ongoing) and generally trying to understand where things stand, where the problems are, what can be solved, what cannot be solved, what must continue and what must be altered”. At the well attended inaugural media briefing which had the Permanent Secretaries of Works and Housing, Engineer Abubakar Magaji and his Power counterpart as well as top management staff of the three hitherto distinct Ministries merged into one, Fashola took several questions from the media men covering the various sectors now under the supervision of the Ministry.

•Hakeem Bello, Special Adviser on Communication to the Hon. Minister

PAGE 32—SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015

The Caliphate, The Emir and Nigeria’s Master Race (Part 2) By Femi Fani-Kayode The first part was published last Sunday

S it any wonder that on October 12, 1960, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sadauna of Sokoto and the Premier of the Northern Region, said: “This new nation called Nigeria should be an estate of our great grandfather, Uthman Dan Fodio. We must RUTHLESSLY prevent a change of power. We must use the minorities in the North as willing tools and the South as conquered territory. We must never allow them to rule over us and never allow them to have control over the future?” Is it any wonder that in 1990, Sheik AbubakarGumi,theleaderofthemost powerful Muslim sect in northern Nigeria said ‘’no Christian will be allowed to rule over Nigeria unless it is over his dead body?” Is it any wonder that my friend and brother Governor Nasir El Rufai, once warned the Nigerian military against whatheconsideredtobetheirexcesses in the fight against Boko Haram and told them that “anyone, whether soldier or otherwise, that kills a Fulani must consider it as a debt that, no matter how long, will be repaid?” Is it any wonder that in 2001 some unscrupulous and irresponsible leaders in the core North invoked ‘’political Sharia” as a secret weapon in their attempt to discredit, destabilize and destroyPresidentOlusegunObasanjo, a southern Christian President? Is it any wonder that in 2001, President Muhammadu Buhari, a core northern Muslim, said ‘’what is the business of Christians if we Muslims chop off our limbs in the name of Sharia’’ and went further by saying that it is his intention and desire ‘’to spread Sharia all over the federation’’. Is it any wonder that the same man said in 2014 that “an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the North?” Is it any wonder that Governor Bello Masari of Katsina State said that there was a link between Boko Haram and the Fulani militants/ herdsmen and that they both “kill people and rob them of their property”. Is it any wonder that virtually every single notable southern leader in our political history that has ever aligned with the North, including MKO Abiola, Ken Saro-Wiwa; Isaac Boro, and many others ended up secretly regretting it because after all, their noble efforts of regional and ethnic bridge-building, they ended up being cheated, insulted, marginalized, humiliated, maligned, misrepresented, used, dumped, jailed or killed? Worse still, in the case of Saro-Wiwa, after he was hanged, acid was poured all over his body in order to remove all trace of him. Is it any wonder that Dr. Junaid Mohammed, one of the leading apostles of northern hegemony, said that Nigerians should ‘’let the Biafrans go’’ and that ‘’they need Nigeria more than Nigeria needs them?’’ Is it any wonder that Chief Bola Ige, of blessed memory, once referred to the Fulani as “the Tutsis of Nigeria” and that Mohammed Yusuf, a leading core northern civil servant, once referred to the Tutsis as “the Fulani in diaspora?” Is it any wonder that virtually every single courageous, moderate, honest, liberal and truly progressive core northern leader, like Abubakar ‘Dangiwa’ Umar, Nuhu Ribadu, Kashim Ibrahim Imam, Halilu Akilu, Tanko Yakassai, Sule Lamido and Lawal Batagarawa that sought to build bridges of peace and understanding with the South

C M Y K

throughout his life and career, that insists on equity and fairness between the ethnic nationalities, that refuses to describe his tribe as the ‘’master race’’, that resists racial and religious bigotry, thatdeploresinjusticeandwickedness andthatstandsupagainsttheexcesses of his own leaders and people, is persecuted, viewed with suspicion, misrepresentedandnotallowedtoachieve his full potentials by the deeply conservative and reactionary leaders of the ultra-conservative core North? Is it any wonder that many are of the view that ‘’the biggest unifying factor in Nigeria is not football but crude oil? The very moment crude oil (in significant commercial quantity) is discovered in the North, that day will mark the beginning of the North’s agitation for a breakaway from the entity called Nigeria’’. The Bible tells us that “God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform”. When the misguided and ultraconservative leaders of an ethnic nationality in a multi-cultural and multiethnic state prides itself on building an empire, enslaving others, occupying their land and holding on to power byconsistentlyusingviolence,religion, subterfuge, lies, deceit, manipulation and the shedding of blood, a terrible price has to be paid. For those that doubt the veracity of my earlier assertion that every single core northerner that has ever ruled this country has either died in office or been removed from power and detained for a number of years, permit me to enlighten you. Kindly note the fact that General Yakubu Gowon, General Ibrahim Babangida and General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who were also Heads of State and who were also from the North, were not core northerners but Middle Belters. That is what set them apart and made the difference. We are talking about core northern leaders here and the bitter and tragic end that each and everyone of them suffered after being Head of State, President or Prime Minister. Consider the following. Sir Tafawa Balewa, who was Prime Minister from 1960 till 1966, was from the core North and he was killed whilst in office. General Murtala Mohammed, who was Head of State from 1975 till 1976, was from the core North and he waskilledwhilstinoffice.AlhajiShehu Shagari, who was President from 1979 till 1983, was from the core North, and he was removed by a military coup whilst in office after which he was detained for two years during which he almost went blind. General Muhammadu Buhari, who was Head of State from 1983 till 1985, was from the core North and he was removed in a military coup whilst in office after which he was detained for four years. General Sani Abacha, who was Head of State from 1994 till 1998, was from the core North and he died under mysterious circumstances whilstinoffice.AlhajiUmaruYar’Adua who was President from 2007 till 2010, was from the core North and he died under mysterious circumstances whilst in office. No-one deserves to be killed or to die in such mysterious circumstances and no-one deserves to suffer incarceration unlawfully. I am saddened by what each and everyone of these respectedleaderssufferedandbywhat they were forced to go through. I deplore murder, violence, bloodshed and the unconstitutional removal of democratically-elected Presidents and Prime Ministers. I do not relish what happened to any of them and neither do I endorse what befell them. However it is clear to me, as it ought to be clear to any discerning

•Chief Femi Fani-Kayode reader, that there is more to all this than meets the eye. It is not a coincidence. The Abel in Nigeria There is a clearly established patternofsadandunfortunateeventshere that cannot be ignored or wished away and that must be critically examined. In short, there is clearly a bigger picture in all this and a concise message that many of us fail to appreciate, acknowledge or recognize. The Bible says “he who lives by the sword shall die by the sword”. The efficacy of this spiritual truism and powerful scripture is better proved and exhibited in our country than perhaps any other. Today, in Nigeria, God is asking Cain ‘’where is your brother Abel’’ and this time He must get an answer. Yet,whopreciselyisAbel?Theanswer is simple and clear: Abel is Gideon Akaluka, the young man from Benue State who was dragged out of a Kano police station by a barbaric mob and whose head was cut off and placed on the end of a long pole for allegedly desecrating the Koran. Abel is the little Igbo girl who was ravaged by kwashiokor and starved to death during the Nigerian civil war. Abel are the two young men that were shot to death in Enugu for marching against injustice, for demanding the release of their leader Nnamdi Kanu and for calling for the establishment of Biafra. Abel is the pastor whose church was burnt down, whose family was butchered and who was crucified at the altar by an irate mob of terrorists and Islamic fundamentalists in Borno State. Abel is the Muslim girl who was stoned to death for falling in love with

If this country is to remain one, then the tendency in thecoreNorththathonestly believesthattheFulaniwere ‘’born to rule’’ must retrace their steps and think again

a Christian boy and attempting to marry him in Zamfara State. Abel is the woman that was hacked to death with her children and thrown down a well by a mob of Muslim fanatics in Jos. Abel is the Kataf man that was castrated and chopped into pieces, the southern Kaduna girl who was burnt alive and the Berom woman that was mutilated and raped to death by Fulani militants. Abel are the five young Igbo traders that were slaughtered in their shops for “not being able to recite the Koran” at Madala market in Niger State. Abel are the 105 brave young soldiers who were attacked with chemical weapons by Boko Haram in Borno State and who our government have refused to acknowledge or honour in death. Abel are the 200 girls from Chibok, the 170 girls from Bam and the thousands of other young girls from all over the North who were abducted from their homes, schools and communities and who were raped, tortured, enslaved, maimed and murdered in cold blood by Boko Haram. Abel are the hundreds of thousands of Igbo that are always butchered wheneverthereisanyconflictordispute in the North. Abel are the 21 Shiite Muslims who were blown to pieces in Kano by Boko Haram. Abel are the nine young Igbo martyrs that were shot to death by security forces during a peaceful IPOB march in Onitsha. Abel is the palm wine tapper who was cut to pieces in Delta State and the royal father that was hacked to death in Enugu by Fulani militants. Abel is the embattled community in Delta State who were forced to ban the Fulani militants and herdsmen from entering their land due to their consistent acts of rape, murder, terror and violence. Abel are the great souls that the leaders of the core North conspired to destroy by setting them up with trumped up and malicious criminal charges.TheseincludeChiefObafemi Awolowo who was sent to prison for three years on the watch of Sir Tafawa Balewa and President Olusegun Obasanjo who was sent to prison for three years on the watch of General Sani Abacha. AbelisColonelEmekaOdumegwuOjukwu who fought against the mass murder of his people, who protected his kith and kin from Cain’s genocide and who was driven into exile. Abel are the young Igbo boys and old Igbo men that were rounded up in thetownsquareinAsabaandexecuted by our troops during the civil war. Abel are the one million Biafran children that were subjected to genocide and to a slow, miserable, painful and horrific death by our government during that same civil war. Abel are the 800 innocent souls, includingelevenyoungyouthcorpers, that were butchered by President Buhari’s supporters in the core North after he lost the presidential election in 2011. Abel are the 350 teachers that were killed by Boko Haram in Borno State. Abel are the 100 Shiite Muslims that were slaughtered by our army for staging a peaceful protest in Kaduna. Abel is every single one of the hundreds of thousands of innocent souls that were killed in sectarian violence and ethnic pogroms in northern Nigeria over the last 55 years. Abel are the so-called wretched of the earth: the weak, the helpless, the voiceless and the downtrodden. Abel is the silent majority who have no voice to speak for themselves, who are not members of the so-called ‘’master race’’, who were not ‘’born to rule’’ and

whowerecutshortandsenttothegreat beyond before their time. For every nation and every evil seed comes a day of reckoning. In Nigeria we are almost there. It is just a matter of time. Until then Cain, the rejected of the Lord, shall remain rejected and Abel’s innocent blood shall continue to speak against him and his seed. The Lord God of Hosts, the Ancient of Days, the Man of War and the God of All Flesh is speaking and He is saying ‘’let my people go’’. The question is whether Cain is listening. I am also Fulani Before I conclude this piece, permit me to clarify one or two issues. It has been said that I am ‘’anti-core North and anti-Fulani’’ yet nothing could be further from the truth. The only thing that I am ‘’anti’’ is injustice and wickedness. I would like to remind readers that one eighth of the blood that flows through my veins is Fulani and this derives from my maternal great grandmother who was a pure Fulani woman. I am very proud of that aspect of my ancestry and I am equally proud of my almost pure Yoruba bloodlines and heritage.Icanhardlybedescribed as a hater of the Fulani when I am partly Fulani myself. However, if some believe that criticizing the leadership of the Fulani and the atrocious and often times irresponsible way that they have behaved over the last 55 years makes me “anti-Fulani”, then so be it. I would also like to remind my traducers that I was introduced into politics and given my first political appointment in 1992 by a highly respected and much-loved elder statesman who happens to be from the core north by the name of Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, the Marafan Sokoto. Marafan is like a father to me and he is a man that I cherish. If I was ‘’anti-Fulani’’ or ‘’anti-core North’’ this would not be the case and I would harbor no such affection for this great Nigerian. Again, I have defended my friend and brother Colonel Sambo Dasuki, a former National Security Adviser, and resisted the ruthless persecution and misrepresentation that he has been subjected to by the Buhari administrationasmuchasanyoneelse over the last few months. Dasuki is a Fulani of royal blood and noble lineage. If I ‘’hated’’ Fulanis, I doubt that I would have bothered to do so. If I raise issues about the core-North or the Fulani, it is because I believe that they can do far better and I am of the view that they need to do a lot of soul-searching about their role and purpose in a wider Nigeria. If this country is to remain one, then the tendency in the core North that honestly believes that the Fulani were ‘’born to rule’’ must retrace their steps and think again. This point has been eloquently enunciated by Mr. Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB, the OPC, MASSOB, Afenifere, the Yoruba Council of Elders, Ohanaeze, the Ijaw National Congress, the Niger Delta militants and so manyotherethnicnationalistsandselfdetermination groups over the years and who can blame them? Like President Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, said 210 years ago, “we prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery”. Again like President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, the father of pan-

*Fani-Kayode was Minister of Aviation in the Obasanjo administration.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015, PAGE 33

HEN I survey the state of the world, I am reminded of the words of Charles Dickens when he wrote the following in A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” It is the best of times for researchers, commentators, observers etc as events in all parts of the world fill the airwaves about Syria, Paris, Iraq, Mali, Maiduguri, Yola, Kenya, and the filth called presidential campaign in the United States. So much to comment upon. But the content of the events fills me with horror. World leaders are clueless about how to respond to challenges and fear seems to rule the world. It is indeed the worst of times. But, today, in this our own corner, we come to celebrate. At the back of my mind is the lamentation of a former foreign diplomat, who served in Nigeria, who told me “you Nigerians achieve so little but celebrate so much”. This is not the case on this occasion. We are not just celebrating a man, we are celebrating a Nigeria that once was, with the hope of a regeneration. In 1959, a young Ijaw boy (now a venerable old man), aged 24 years, left what is now Akwa Ibom, travelled to Ilorin, then Lagos, then Ibadan and then Zaria, back to Lagos and then back to Ibadan where he had stayed for the rest of his life. There was once a country (my compliments to Chinua Achebe). That is not all. He met a Yoruba lad, the late Lawrence Arokodare, in 1962. They bonded, looked out for each other, worked together, established a joint company in the 60s and, till today, that company is still thriving as a joint venture despite the death of one of the partners. Hear what Rev Etteh has to say about his partnerships: “People who work and live with me have seen the spirit that operated in Lawrence and I, that we, when we started our journey together in life, gave no precedence to strife and discord, we were completely unaffected by tribalism or prejudice. This is one reason I still take care of my late partner’s family; they still invite me for any events and special occasions that may arise. I care about Lawrence’s wife and his children. I don’t have a bias over anything or anyone that still belongs to him till this day. Both of us were known back in the 60s and 70s as people who accommodate all tribes, …” There was once a country. Yes, there was once a country, where a Mazi Mbonu Ojike, an Ibo, would be a Deputy Mayor of Lagos, where a Umaru Altine, a Fulani, would be a Mayor of Enugu, where an Eyo Ita, an Ibibio, would be Leader of Government in the East, where Professor Kenneth Dike, an Ibo, and Professor Tekena Tamuno, an Ijaw, would be Vice-Chancellors of the University of Ibadan. In 1962, the political crisis erupted in the old Western Region when the state of emergency was declared in the region, Chief (Dr.) Majekodunmi was appointed the Administrator and a young army Captain, Murtala Mohammed, was appointed his ADC. I was in Ibadan then and saw both of them worship in Christian churches. In 1966, when Chief Obafemi Awolowo was released from prison in Calabar and flown to Lagos, it was a young Major Murtala Mohammed who volunteered to drive him to Ikenne. In 1975, when the then BrigadierGeneral Murtala Mohammed took over the reins of government, his ADC was Lt. Akintunde Akinterinwa. Both of them C M Y K

The new country we need, by Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi

•Prof. Akinyemi

•Rev Etteh

died together in 1976. Yes, there was once a country. There was once a country when, in 1957, one Felix Okonkwo was appointed a member of the Northern House of Chiefs. According to Senator Ben Murray Bruce: “So integrated was Okonkwo into Kano society that he was known….as Okonkwo Kano” (Thisday, November 30, 2015). What a country we once had. The two immediate questions which I need to address are: What changed? And what is the way forward? For clarity, let me register this fact. The volume of cross-country movements or migrations is greater today than when Revd Etteh left Upenekang in what is now Akwa Ibom State. There are more cross-cultural marriages now than then. That institution of immense potentiality at birth, the National Youth Service Corps, should take credit for these crosscultural developments. But, and this is the crucial question: Are we more integrated, more united, today than in the 50s, 60s and 70s? The answer is a categorical no. We must resist the temptation to manufacture evidence. The evidence is all around us. We have fought a civil war, there are continuing threats of secession, there are loud cries of marginalization coming from all over the country. Or as the 2014 National Conference put it “since independence, millions of Nigerians of different tribes and faiths have lost their lives, and that children have been orphaned, women have been widowed, men, women, boys and girls have been maimed, hopes have been dashed, dreams have been shattered and properties have been destroyed, on account of conflicts brought about by the absence of genuine national integration and in total disregard of the tenets of our faith to truly love our neighbours as ourselves”. New words have crept into our political lexicon such as power rotation, our turn, quota, catchment area, federal character, etc. From the beginning of political activism in Nigeria, until 1999, roughly for a period of about 150 years, there were several federal elections involving the founding fathers, namely Tafawa Balewa, Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Shehu Shagari and not once was an election fought on the basis of “its our turn” or “power rotation” or any such abracadabra lexicon. Zoning syndrome Yet, in 1999, the military government at that time decided to award the Presidency to the South-West on a rotation basis thereby introducing a new pernicious term into Nigerian politics. Can we get back the Lawrence and Etteh Nigeria from the post 1999 malaise? Of

course, politicians will be politicians and will use anything to sell themselves. But there is hope out there if only we look out for it. Something has escaped the notice of everyone. Oh yes, everyone can recite the fact that General Buhari ran for office in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015. The implication of this has escaped all but a few. My interpretation is that by running against Obasanjo, Yar ’Adua, and Jonathan, General Buhari explicitly rejected the rotation and zoning syndrome in Nigerian politics. My interpretation is further buttressed by the fact that in every political party, their primaries had candidates from different zones. Dr. Alex Ekwueme contested against Obasanjo in the PDP, Atiku contested against Jonathan in the PDP, while Okorocha contested against Buhari in the APC primaries. So, there is still a silver lining out there. More evidence that all is not lost. Mrs Grace Brent, a lady from Osun State, was elected a senator from Adamawa State. Pastor Ben Akabueze from the South-East was, for 16 years, the Commissioner for Economic Development and Budget in Lagos. But we must resist the temptation to misinterpret data. In the last election, in Lagos, Chief Oghene Eghoh, Mrs Rita Orji and Mr. Tony Nwoolu were elected into the House of Representatives to represent their constituencies. This has been touted as evidence of new nationalism. It is nothing of the sort. Their constituents were

Yes, there was once a country, where a Mazi Mbonu Ojike, an Ibo, would be a Deputy Mayor of Lagos, where a Umaru Altine, a Fulani, would be a Mayor of Enugu, where an Eyo Ita, an Ibibio, would be Leader of Government in the East, where Professor Kenneth Dike, an Ibo, and Professor Tekena Tamuno, an Ijaw, would be Vice-Chancellors of the University of Ibadan

primarily from their ethnic stock. Of what benefit is that. Even the Pharisees do the same. It is when a different ethnic group picks you as its representative that a new nationalism is born. Yes, there was once a country. But I have not addressed the issue of how did we get from the Nigeria of Lawrence and Etteh to where we are now, although you might have guessed. Politics dragged us there. Drawing from Etteh’s memoirs, you can tell when the rain started falling on our heads. He remembered when in the 1960s, his friend, Lawrence, got the company where he worked, Ove Arup & Partners (OAP), to invite Etteh to Ibadan to take a job only for some people to castigate Lawrence for not recommending a Yoruba man for the job. The date of the incident is instructive. 1963/64 was right in the midst of the political crisis created in the Western Region after the declaration of the state of emergency in the West by the Federal Government. The Yoruba of the West were feeling very much under siege. Of course Nigerian history then became an apt illustration of the Swahili proverb which says, “You don’t need to teach anyone how to fall into a ditch. Just take the first off the edge and other steps will follow”. Nigeria descended into insurrection in the West, two coup d’états, and a civil war. From then on, Nigerian politics became deeply rooted in ethnic-driven sentiments. If truth be told, appointments at the federal level became a battleground between the East and the West as merit was thrown overboard. People now got the impression that what you got at the Federal level depended on the ethnic colouration of the Minister and Permanent Secretary. In other words, the descent of politics into ethnic quagmire was accompanied by a bureaucratic descent into ethnic quagmire and a descent in all spheres of human endeavor in Nigeria into ethnic quagmire. What is the way forward? Firstly, Nigeria is a complex country to manage. It is not a simple state. It is a state of nationalities, many nationalities. Some have suggested that we have about 360 nationalities. Others have suggested 450 nationalities——typical Nigerian hyperbole. Every village is now being called a nationality. Managing such a complex enterprise is going to call for compromises and an understanding that mistakes will be made and that when mistakes are made, they should be addressed. And it is important to begin from a historical perspective. That Nigeria is a multi-ethnic state is a fact that cannot be denied. The following are the most populous and politically influential – Hausa and Fulani 29%, Yoruba 21%, Igbo (Ibo) 18%, Ijaw 10%, Kanuri 4%, Ibibio 3.5%, Tiv 2.5% (Nigeria Fact Sheet, United States Embassy). It is counterproductive for anyone to deny his or her ethnic identity. But admitting one’s ethnic identity is one thing, while asserting that identity to the detriment of other ethnic identities is the problem. In other words, assertion of an ethnic identity is ethnicity and is acceptable. But a behaviour based on an assertion of one’s identity as if that is the only identity in a multi-ethnic state is ethnicism and unacceptable.

•Prof. A. Bolaji Akinyemi, CFR, delivered this lecture at the Maiden Edition of Engr. (Rev) Et Ikpong Ikpong Etteh (OFR) Annual Distinguished Lecture held, at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki, Lagos, on Wednesday, December 16, 2015. Continues next week

PAGE 34— SUNDAY

Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015

How unscrupulous Nigerian businessmen aid Chinese’manufacture of fake products — — Ambassador Ambassador Onadipe Onadipe •Says China is doing a lot for Nigeria, Africa

•Shola Onadipe

Shola Onadipe is Nigeria’s Ambassador/Deputy Chief of Mission to China. In this interview, Onadipe speaks on the relations between Nigeria and China. By Victoria Ojeme HOW is the trade relationship between Africa and China? The trade relationship between Africa and China has been on the increase especially after the establishment of the Forum for Africa/China Cooperation (FOCA). China has been the pacesetter in China/Africa relationship and, in fact, in the relationship between Africa and the rest of the world. It seems the developed countries, the Europeans have developed a kind of fatigue in always giving out to Africa: aids and grants, and thus, we have become Oliver Twist, always asking for more. So China is encouraging us. China has been giving concession for exportation of their agricultural products. We, Nigerians, don’t have that, but China has been able to give this concession to developing countries as a means of helping them to grow. When we were abandoned by the IMF, the World Bank and other financial institutions of the developed countries, that was exactly when China came to our rescue with the establishment of FOCA, thus giving us a lifeline. They started with 10 billion dollars almost 15 years ago and this was increased after three years to 20 billion; increased to 40 billion in 2012. . Nigeria trade volume with China, for instance, has reached 11 billion dollars; so, across Africa, it is in excess of 240 billion dollars. China has done a lot for Africa and is still doing a lot. You now see that India wants to have a relationship with Africa as a whole, South Korea has its own version; even Turkey. It is like nobody wants to be left behind in the Chinese example of harnessing and ensuring the growth of Africa. They are doing this with the belief that Africa remains the continent of the future and they are very pragmatic, they have foresight. This is a foresighted foreign policy initiative and I call it a master stroke. The same goes for the safe maritime rules and road projects which involve about 70 countries. China put down about 40 billion dollar for the benefit of Africa. So, generally, trade between Africa and China is on the increase and will continue to increase; after all, our traditional trading partners are all clients of China. It is better for us to come to China directly instead of having middlemen in Europe and America serving as a bridge C M Y K

between us and China. China has done well by making sure they discuss with us directly and that is the beginning of the win/win situation which China introduced in its multilateral diplomacy with Africa a couple of years back. What should be expected of African leaders? We expect African leaders to encourage China, because what we are getting from China is devoid of the stringent IMF conditionalities. In those days when IMF will give us conditionality called instant mystery fund, the moment you take that fund, you are into mystery and poverty. You have all sorts of names for the IMF and shamelessly the conditions imposed on developing countries, at that time, were not there for the developed countries, rather they were giving subsidy to their own farmers and they were telling our own governments not to give subsidy. All the conditions of IMF and World Bank were conditions created to cause social dislocation, social unrest. They were expected to make Africans uncomfortable. Don’t give fuel subsidy, don’t give agricultural subsidy. It was a desired economic situation, you borrow money, within a couple of years, your interest has grown more than the principal. It was only themselves that understood the kind of economics they were practising with us then. And where did that lead us? Now China has come to replace IMF and World Bank. If you compare the amount of money China has borrowed to the least developed countries in Africa in the last couple of years to what IMF and World Bank had given to Africa, you can see which one is more humane. Do IMF and World Bank borrow money to developing countries any longer? Nobody is interested in their money, not with those stringent conditions. So, African leaders do accord respect to China. You can’t take that away from them; their benevolence, their foresight for Africa. Meanwhile, even though you put your money where your mouth is, they are not father Christmas; but in a situation where we became helpless, they came to our aid and they have been on this for a very long time. So, I expect them to blow their trumpet more than they are doing now. They first came to Africa 50 years ago which was 1963 so they

have been collaborating with Africa, they have been sharing with Africa and I salute them for that. They are ready to share their technology, they are ready to share their experiences in development and, for some of us who are unrepentant believers in China model of development, I don’t think anybody can convince me that China doesn’t mean well for Africa, so African leaders should be grateful, they should equally feel challenged that China can’t come and do everything for us because, virtually every aspect of our life China is trying to touch with its focal program: education, science and technology, research, infrastructure, trading, and probably teach us how to organize ourselves. A lot of countries in Africa cannot sustain themselves without China, but the issue of corruption, planlessness, civil strife, civil war, terrorism and all such things don’t really give that conducive atmosphere for growth; so, China has contributed to peace and security in Africa through the African Union; they contribute money, they contribute

China remains the destination for American investors, same for Europeans, same for the Japanese. In China, what you see are not fake. It is our brothers who come here to tell them to make inferior goods for them because they want to maximize profit

troops. We, Africans, have to wake up, so we don’t have to rely on China to come and do everything for us. They are looking for friends and that is the difference. This soft power is becoming very influential, not military gangsterism. We have to do a rethink and see what is our best option, but there is no option better than the fact that African leaders must wake up, we Africans have to be foresighted, we have to think for ourselves and bring about those positive aspects of our culture. That is what is making China to succeed. They believe so much in their culture, they are building on it and they are improving their lifestyle. We are adopting foreign cultures; the French has assimilated more than half of Africa. We are just following blindly, we are not creative, we are not original, we are too intellectually lazy to sit down and crack up our way of life based on our culture. It is convenient for us to adopt other people’s culture and live with it which I don’t think is the right thing to do. Let me take you to the trade issue. There is the allegation about China exporting inferior goods to Nigeria. As the Ambassador in China, how true is this allegation? Nigerians are the cause and not China. China produces standard good. Go to America, go to Britain, go to Wall Mart in America, 90 percent of the goods you find there are made in China. China remains the destination for American investors, same for Europeans, same for the Japanese. In China, what you see are not fake. It is our brothers who come here to tell them to make inferior goods for them because they want to maximize profit. I have seen this. 20 years ago, I was in Indonesia, you get to Tabana market, the first thing they will ask you is ‘you want Nigerian standard?’ That is so disheartening; so we started wondering, `what is Nigerian standard?’ It was then I knew that our people come there deliberately and ask that they lower the quality of whatever they want to take to Nigeria. They are not thinking of buying to go and produce in Nigeria, no, that will take time, but buying inferior

quality goods to go and sell and maximize profit. They don’t care because there is no standard. What is the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) doing? So the enforcement of standard is very important because everybody would do what he likes. Customs officials all there, pay the right money you can bring in anything. So, who is to be blamed? The system is not protective of the poor people who are the victims of these petty businessmen and traders who go over there and insist that the Chinese must produce inferior quality for the Nigerian market. That is where the problem lies. Is the Chinese government making effort to stop these fake products? There must be an agreement in place. People obey the law; maybe a few don’t, and when they are caught, the consequences are very severe. So, once you are caught breaking the law, you know what you are in trouble. That has served as a deterrent. However, with more and more Nigerians producing inferior goods over here, I don’t think any Chinese will want to be involved because of the consequences. Meanwhile, we must have all inspectors, I don’t know what is happening now. Today, it is one thing, tomorrow it is another, and the old ones are no longer there and then there is no proper communication of what is going on. And we know all this. So, to me, the Chinese have no problem. How many Nigerians are serving jail terms in China? There are 450 Nigerians serving jail terms across China prisons and most of them are drug related cases. So, the question remains, where are our Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and Customs? What are they doing? Do Nigerians own companies in China? Yes! There are about 20 companies owned by Nigerians and, when you talk to them, they are ready to come and invest in Nigeria, but the issue is lack of power supply because you cannot run a factory on generator.

SUNDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015, PAGE 35

Intriguing lifestyle of Abuja churches

‘Daddies’,‘First Ladies’

BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU

ONE are those days when church signposts bore just the name of the church. These days, the average church billboard is incomplete without a conspicuous picture of the pastor and his wife. The remaining space is left for the name of the church and time and days of meeting. Most pastors have abandoned the message of salvation; prosperity is what many now preach and it is fast entering into the mentality of some followers that being wealthy might just be one of the criteria that takes one to heaven. A pastor is highly revered and referred to as ‘papa’, regardless of his age; the wife is the ‘mama’ of the church. It won’t be wrong to state that some Christians no longer look up to Jesus Christ but to their pastors. Pastor Gbenga Moses of the Mountain of Fire Ministry, Region 33, Kubwa said the ‘ daddy and mummy syndrome’ has eaten deep into many church such that they have assumed the place of Christ in the lives of their members. “Many churches no longer advertise Christ; we now advertise daddy and mummy. We no longer preach to sinners through crusades, we now preach to convert people from one Pentecostal church to the other. We no longer publicize the gospel of that old rugged cross; we now publicize the activities of daddy and mummy,” Moses said. “I think the idea behind it is for church members to know their pastor and be able to identify himself but we must at all time portray Christ first in all that we do even on the church signposts. “It is embarrassing for pastors to promote selfcomfort first than actual ministering. The old churches got the respect of the people because of ministering to their health, education, and many other social programmes in addition to saving souls. “Some believe the picture will boost the morale of newcomers but, of the truth, Christ is the one doing the work and not man.” Sunday Vanguard investigations revealed that personality syndrome has become a thing of prestige. It is, however, gender-driven because when the man is ordained as the pastor and, his wife is automatically promoted the First Lady of the church. In other words, she becomes an assistant pastor or joint pastor to the man. Self-promotion in the Christian ministry may not be new. Jesus himself had to deal with this problem on numerous occasions with his disciples. The Son of God became a servant to seek and

to save that which was lost, and before him were his own followers often arguing about greatness, fighting over the best seats, and pushing their earthly agendas upon him for their own glory in the here and now. Jesus took every opportunity to correct this problem, summarily when he said, “whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt 20:27-28). Pastor Adeyemo Adejumo of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Province 28, Alapere, Lagos, told Sunday Vanguard on phone that many churches today have imbibed the personality syndrome because of the competition in the Christiandom where the crave to endear converts to their churches has pushed pastors to pictorials. “I do not see anything wrong in it. There are so many churches today unlike in the olden days, so, present day churches began to make use of pictorial signposts to attract newcomers to worship centers,” Adejumo said. “They are just trying to publicize their churches particularly the upcoming churches but the churches of old were not like that.” No matter how twisted it might seem, many of those

churches are seen in some quarters as departing from the old path of holiness while exchanging holiness for worldliness where women no longer wear head covering, wear all manner of dresses to church. Despite the increase in the number of religious centres, there has been an increase in the rate of crimes in the country. In some parts of Abuja, particularly the satellite towns, five minutes walk from anywhere will lead one to a church. Investigations, however, revealed that not all the churches are genuine; some are no more than business centres and money-making ventures. To many Abuja residents now, the surest ways of making big money lie in politics and religion. A good number of the pastors have almost the same story to tell: The ‘I heard the call’ tale, whereas many are called for difference purposes that are against the pastoral mission. Churches in Abuja, like some other places, are no stranger to controversy and scandal. Being a pastor of a church is a comfortable chair in a comfortable industry. But not only are they letting down their people, they are also letting down their purpose. There was a time in this country when the church had a powerful allure, a grassroots empathy that won the institution an incredible amount of power and sway. Further findings by Sunday

Many churches no longer advertise Christ; we now advertise daddy and mummy. We no longer preach to sinners through crusades, we now preach to convert people from one Pentecostal church to the other Vanguard showed that the blister in many churches today is caused by the so-called church ‘ mummy’ or the First Lady syndrome. However, through 2,000 years of Christian history, the role of the minister’s mate has continued to change. Variations of the preacher’s wiferole have often moved from caring companion to heart keeper, resident sacrificer, spiritual sustainer, ministry partner, energetic helpmate, institutional church leader and, more recently, deputy pastor. But whatever direction the minister ’s wife’s role tilts at any moment of human history, it always involves a position of trusted support for the work of the ministry. And it is always an invaluable asset in the service of the kingdom. Meanwhile, the thinking in many quarters is that the role of the pastor’s wife should be scriptural. The New Testament does not give a specific role to the pastor ’s wife. Paul lists the qualifications for those desiring to be elders or deacons in I Timothy 3: 2-10. The days that pastors were accessible to everyone are fast fading away.

Some pastors no longer trust God with their security as they go about with stern looking bodyguards, and move around in a convoy of vehicles. Some even fly private jets, the needy members in the congregation notwithstanding. Assurances from such pastors have caused many to pray and wait for God to perform magic. Many people have turned churches into miracle centres and they just pray without working towards the actualization of the prayers. The economic situation of the country has also not helped matters as people now seek spiritual solutions to all issues, even those that would be solved by hard work. Imagine people spending the time they should be at work on ‘ prayer mountains’ , praying to overcome hard times. Another scripture that has become a weapon in the arsenal of some pastors is Malachi 3:10. “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there might be meat in my house”, they announce every Sunday. Meanwhile, not all members can say exactly what becomes of their tithes and offerings after the service. Speaking to Sunday Vanguard, Pastor Jibola Ayoade of Crystal House International Gospel Centre, Asokoro, Abuja, said it depends on the perspective from which people view it. He, however, does not see anything wrong with it, adding that pastors, most of the time, use the pictorial signboards to attract people to their churches. Ayoade said that some churches that have might relocated from states due to insurgency from northern states could adopt the personality syndrome in order for members who had fellowship with them from where they relocated from to know that they are now in Abuja. “But l strongly object to using pictorial signboards when the motive behind it goes worldly outside the need to help propagate the gospel or where the image of a pastor is promoted above the church”

PAGE 36—SUNDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015

By Kenneth Mbele

S the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja begins hearing in the appeal filed by Governor Darius Ishaku to upturn his removal by the Taraba State Election Petition Tribunal, the question on the lips of many political analysts is: Can the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) survive the attack by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)? After losing power in the 2015 general elections, PDP has watched its stature diminish in a matter of seven months, with many Nigerians raising the fear that there is a plan to turn Nigeria into a one-party state by the APC. Since APC came into power in May, virtually all the judgments given by the election petition tribunals have been against PDP. The governorship poll in Rivers State was annulled by the election tribunal and the Court of Appeal upheld this decision on Wednesday. Chief Nyesom Wike, the governor of the state, has vowed to pursue his case up to the Supreme Court to get justice, but his chances are not bright. The latest PDP state to lose at the election petition and the Appeal Court is Akwa Ibom. Governor Udom Emmanuel is equally heading to the Supreme Court to seek justice. Several PDP federal lawmakers, notably former Senate President David Mark, have also lost their cases at the tribunals. The election in Bayelsa was declared inconclusive and the fate of the PDP governor is uncertain. It is against this background and other developments that many were very critical of the November 7 judgment of the Taraba Election Petition Tribunal annulling the election of Ishaku and ordering that Hajia Aisha Alhassan, the candidate of the APC, should be sworn-in on the grounds that Ishaku was not properly nominated by the PDP in the governorship primary. Besides Taraba, the only other state still in the hands of the PDP in the 18 northern states is Gombe. The others are effectively APC – controlled. The Justice Musa Danladi Abubakar-led tribunal ruled that Ishaku was not properly nominated as PDP’s governorship candidate, pointing out that the party did not conduct its primary in Jalingo, the state capital. The tribunal upheld the testimony of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Head of Election Monitoring that the commission was not aware of any primary conducted by the PDP in line with the provision of the Electoral Act which produced Ishaku as the party’s candidate. According to the tribunal, the defence by the PDP that the primary was shifted to Abuja because of security challenges in the state was untenable. The tribunal Chairman said Ishaku was not validly nominated as the PDP candidate and, as such, was not a candidate, ab initio, in the April 11 governorship election in Taraba. It was the first time the election of a governor would be cancelled on the doctrine of a “wasted vote” based on a challenge by a petitioner who didn’t contest the primary along the same party line. There have been mixed reactions as the Taraba people who favoured Ishaku in the election expressed concern on the judgment of the tribunal. As expected, the judgment gave vent to Alhassan’s renewed

C M Y K

•Gov. Dairius Ishaku of Taraba State.

•Odigie Oyegun

Can APC wipe out PDP from the North? battle to unseat Ishaku. She immediately reactivated her campaign with a new slogan: Mandate. And the governor said: “I have appealed against the election tribunal judgment, and I am also appealing to all the citizens in my state to be calm because I still have a lot of confidence in the judiciary, and the Appeal Court will do what is correct and right.” Ishaku polled a total of 369,318 votes while Alhassan polled 275,987 in the first and second elections. Now, at the appellate court, Ishaku and his party have filed an appeal asking the court to reverse the decision of the tribunal that upturned the victory of the governor. In the appeal by the PDP, which listed Alhassan, APC and INEC as respondents in that order, the appellate court will look at 17 grounds of appeal to make its decision.

Fresh election option

It is not for nothing that the Taraba Election Petitions Tribunal judgment is generating adverse reaction. The spurious reason adduced by the tribunal reason for nullying the governor’s election, in the estimation of many analysts, is an indication that the APC-led Federal Government is determined to take all PDP states, and put Nigeria on the path of a one-party nation. Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), for instance, lent credence to this thinking when he said the tribunal should have ordered a fresh election in the state instead of ruling that the APC candidate in the April 11 election (Alhassan) should be sworn-in as governor. “Section 140 Subsection 2 of the Electoral Act says that where a tribunal believes that a person was not qualified to be elected into the governorship office of a state or for massive irregularities, it shall not declare the person with the second highest number of votes to be returned to the position, but shall order a fresh election,” Ozekhome said. He said that the election tribunal committed a grave error in asking that the APC candidate be

sworn-in, expressing confidence that the “error” would be rectified by the Court of Appeal. Speaking on the constitu-tionality of the verdict, Ozekhome said: “The entire judgement returning Senator Aisha Alhassan as the governor in place of Darius Dickson Ishaku is a monumental shame, a complete ruse and a total disaster bereft of any research or intellectual depth. To be sure, it is true that Section 87 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2010, as amended, provides that a political party seeking to nominate a candidate to represent it at an election must hold primaries. But, by virtue of Section 87 (9), anyone who complains that any of the provisions relating to nomination or selection of a candidate by a political party has not been complied with shall apply to the Federal High Court or the High Court of a state for redress. This, therefore, makes Darius’ alleged non qualification to contest the election, not being the product of any political party, in the absence of

The tribunal’s ruling is just one of the many contradictions, inconsistencies and double standards that have characterized the APC-led administration since it came into existence, and even exposed its hypocrisy

a primary, to be a pre-election matter. “Even if we agree that such matter can be taken up as a post election matter at the tribunal, going by conflicting decisions of appellate courts, how can one excuse the final order made by the tribunal to the effect that the certificate of return be retrieved from Ishaku and given to Aishat who should be sworn in immediately?” Supporting this assertion is Shuaib Alaran, who said: “I have not had the opportunity of reading the tribunal’s judgment in full, but from the media reports, I think I will disagree with the consequential order of the tribunal that since the sitting governor was not validly nominated by his party, the candidate who scored the second highest votes becomes the winner of the election. To my mind, I think the appropriate order of the tribunal should have been the one calling for a fresh election with the exclusion of the PDP. My reliance is on Section 140(2) and (3). By virtue of those provisions, where the tribunal finds that a candidate who won in an election was not validly nominated by his party, the proper order is to direct the INEC to conduct a fresh election”.

Contradictions

Ozekhome and Alaran have a soul mate in another lawyer, Kenneth Agba, who faulted the tribunal’s voiding of Ishaku’s election, not because he (governor) did not win majority of votes cast at the polls; not because of irregularities during the election, but because he was properly nominated by his party, the PDP. “The tribunal’s ruling is just one of the many contradictions, inconsistencies and double standards that have characterized the APC-led administration since it came into existence, and even exposed its hypocrisy. It is coming not quite long after the Benue Election Petitions Tribunal upheld the election of Samuel Ortom of the APC as governor, overlooking the same reason for which Ishaku’s

election has been annulled. Ortom was a member of the PDP and actually participated in the party’s primary, which he lost to Terhemen Tarzoor. While he was slugging it out in the PDP, Senator George Akume frustrated all efforts to conduct the APC primary, dangling the governorship ticket before Ortom, if only he would defect from PDP”, Agba stated. “Ortom defected when he could not secure the PDP ticket. When the APC gathered all the aspirants on its platform in Abuja and asked them to elect a candidate from among themselves, Emmanuel Jime, a former member of the House of Representatives, emerged the consensus candidate. But with the intervention of party personalities, the party fielded Ortom, not Jime. “The cases in Taraba and Benue share some similarities, but quite strangely, different endings. The PDP in Taraba said it moved its primary to Abuja, away from Jalingo, the state capital, for security reasons (the same reason the tribunal gave for moving its sitting from the state to Abuja). “The APC in Benue chose the federal capital, not Markudi, the state capital, for a meeting of aspirants to choose its candidate, for no justifiable reason. If Ishaku’s election cannot stand because he was not properly nominated by his party, the PDP, then Nigerians need to be told why Ortom’s election was upheld, even when he was not properly nominated by the APC. There must certainly be a reason why the same law applies differently, depending on who is at the receiving end or, more succinctly put, the party that is benefiting from it and the one that is losing. The ruling of the Taraba election tribunal must be viewed against the background of the now familiar proclivity by the opposition to use the courts to achieve, through the back door, what it cannot achieve through the ballot box”.

Suspicion

Meanwhile, another school of thought believes the main legal argument the tribunal judges stood on to pass such a weighty judgment is curious and tenuous. To those in this school, INEC did not complain that Ishaku was not validly nominated. The PDP did not complain that someone had imposed Ishaku on the party. No aggrieved member of the PDP had gone to court complaining that he had been robbed of victory in the primary. “It was the petitioner who had complained that her opponent was not validly nominated. And from decided cases, outright victory could not have been awarded to her if it was true that her opponent was not fit to be a candidate of his party,” a public affairs analyst, Idang Alibi, who spoke the minds of those in this school, said.

The issue

The issue, as it were, is not about the PDP losing power in Taraba or in any other state in Nigeria for that matter. It is all about our country and the sustenance of democracy. Should Nigeria slide into a one-party state and the opposition killed, we all know the consequence – dictatorship – that we all fought against under military regime and Obasanjo civilian government. Having put in the public domain the APC agenda to kill the opposition, it is left to Nigerians to accept or rise up to fight.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015, PAGE 37

MESSIANIC proph ecy came from Micah: “Bethlehem Ephratah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5:2). Who exactly, or what, is Bethlehem Ephratah? Bethlehem Ephratah is first and foremost a reference to the descendants of a man called Bethlehem whose mother was called Ephratah: “These are the sons of Hur, the first-born of Ephratah, the father of Bethlehem.” (I Chronicles 4:4). Later, it became the name used to distinguish between the town of Bethlehem Ephratah and that of Bethlehem Judah. This means Micah’s prophecy has a double entendre. The Messiah who is from everlasting will come out of a person as well as a city. The birthplace of Jesus will be the person and the city of Bethlehem Ephratah. Jesus’ birthplace Where is Bethlehem Ephratah? The wise men from the East asked: “Where is he who is born king of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2). They did not ask: “Where is he who was born king of the Jews?” Jesus was not born: Jesus is born. God refers to himself as “I AM.” (Exodus 3:14). He who is from everlasting must always be seen in the present continuous. Accordingly, Jesus is: “the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8). Jesus is born every day. He is birthed and born in those who believe in him and who put their trust in him. Thus, Paul tells the Colossians: “the mys-

and make it plain on the tablets, that he who reads it may run. For the vision is still for an appointed time, but it speaks to the end, and it does not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it; because it will surely come. It will not tarry.” (Habakkuk 2:2-3).

O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM tery is that Christ lives in you.” (Colossians 1:27). Likewise, he admonished the Galatians: “My children, for whom I again travail until Christ should be formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). If you believe in Jesus, you are impregnated with the word of God. Christ is formed in you, making you Bethlehem Ephratah. You become, in effect, the birthplace of Jesus. You become that little town of Bethlehem. He or she who carries Jesus in the womb must be mindful to carry the baby to full birth. “The LORD will record, when he registers the peoples: ‘This one was born there.’” (Psalm 87:6). City of God Hebrews says: “(Abraham) was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:10). You, the believer, are that city. You are the Zion of God. You are the city Abraham was looking for. Abraham was looking for the birthplace of Jesus. You become that birthplace the day Christ is formed in you: “You are the temple of the living God, as God has said, ‘I will dwell in them and

Abraham was looking for the birthplace of Jesus. You become that birthplace the day Christ is formed in you walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.’” (II Corinthians 6:16). Jesus confirms that: “Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw and was glad.” (John 8:56). Abraham rejoices every Christmas day. He rejoices every day that Christ is born in somebody. Jesus says: “there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10). “Where is he who is born king of the Jews?” Christ is born in a little town of Bethlehem. He is born in a humble abode. He is born in a manger and not in a palace. He is born in a place of humility. Gideon is a type of little Bethlehem Ephratah: a nobody divinely appointed to become somebody. God says to Gideon: “Go in this your might and you shall save Israel.” But Gideon protests: “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Ma-

nasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” (Judges 6:15). However, God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. Saul is another type of little Bethlehem Ephratah, divinely promoted to become the first king of Israel. Saul also protests: “Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin?” (I Samuel 9:21). But that is precisely what makes him eminently qualified to be God’s choice. When he was overtaken by pride, the kingdom was taken away from him. Last became first Jesus says: “the last shall be first, and the first last.” (Matthew 20:16). Accordingly, God raised Joseph from prison to palace. He raised David from the sheepfold to the throne. He raised Daniel from slavery to prominence. He raised Jesus

as a lowly carpenter from the little town of Bethlehem. Bethlehem was the least: it became the most distinguished. David was the lastborn: he became the firstborn. That is kingdom dynamics. Therefore, child of God, never despise the little or small. Zechariah asks: “Who has despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10). Let it not be you. Nathanael asks in disbelief: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). Just wait and see. The greatest things are appointed for those from Nazareth. “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.” (I Corinthians 27-29). This is the sub-text of the birth of Jesus. The little man or woman in whom Christ is formed is appointed for greatness. “Write the vision,

Perfecting of the saints God says: “A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time." (Isaiah 60:22). Therefore, thank God for the little and the small. Thank him for the small ration currently placed before you. Jesus thanked God for five loaves and two fishes. He understood that a little shall become a thousand. Accordingly, with five loaves, he fed five thousand. Jesus says: “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18). This makes you a work in progress. You are a city under construction. God is the alpha and the omega. The beginning and the ending. There are so many alphas without omegas. But if God begins something; he is duty-bound to complete it. “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6). You little town of Bethlehem, let your soul magnify the Lord. Let your spirit rejoice in God your Saviour. It is only a matter of time, but you will become righteous. It is only a matter of time, and you will stop sinning. Thus says the Lord: “Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it.” (Isaiah 46:11).

EDWIN CLARK’S SON WEDS The solemnization of the holy matrimony between former Miss Nnei Evelyn, daughter of Prof Eric Opia, and Ms (Chief) Ruth Benamaisia, and Mr Ibrahim Camaraebi, son of Chief Edwin Clark, took place at the City of David Parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Victoria Island Lagos. Photos: Biodun Ogunleye

From left: Amb Akporode Clark, Chief Sesan Dipeolu and Mrs Koshare Clark

The couple, Mr & Mrs Ibrahim Clark C M Y K

Ms (Chief) Ruth Benamaisia and Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi

From left: Prof Eric Opia, Ms (Chief) Ruth Benamaisia, Chief Edwin Clark and Dr (Mrs) Marinatu Onaiwu Clark

From left: Col & Mrs Ekundayo Olajide and Prof Anya . O Anya

PAGE 38 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015

Should we revert to N97 per litre petrol? •Yes – Esele, ex-TUC chief •No, it will bring untold hardship – former PENGASSAN leader If subsidy is removed now, tomorrow government will tell us there is another subsidy to be removed. How many times did former President Olusegun Obasanjo remove petrol subsidy? current Minister of aviation must look at their area again, because the new administration hastily removed the waiver without due diligence. Everywhere in the world, importation of spare parts for aircraft is duty free. If the waiver is not replaced, the implication may be increase in flight fare, because local airline operators have to pay their debts, to remain in business.” Removal of petrol subsidy will bring more hardship on Nigerians- Former Zonal Chairman, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Comrade Folorunso Oginni: “We are not in support of subsidy removal because it will bring more hardship on Nigerians. In the first place, fuel is not supposed to be imported, for subsidy to be paid on it. But because we failed to plan, so, we planned to fail. If government removes subsidy now, will Nigerians still buy petrol at a high rate with a minimum wage of only N18.000?

* Vehicles and Jerry cans on queue for N87 petrol... Inset: Peter Esele, Mohammed Tukur and Folorunso Oginni in airports infrastructure. The Payment of petrol subsidy is not STORIES BY UDEME multiple charges are still there, good for our economy- The CLEMENT even as local airlines are still Managing Director, Afrijet heavily indebted. Airline, also former Deputy he move by Federal “Now, we are going back to square Secretary General, Airline Government to increase one because the last administration Operators of Nigeria (AON), official pump price of granted waiver for spare parts Mohammed Tukur: “I support Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) importation, but the current removal of petrol subsidy 100 commonly known as petrol, Finance ministry removed the percent, as such payment does from N87 to N97 per litre, as waiver and categorised importation not make any economic sense. well as proposed removal of fuel of spare parts with other things. For Now, we are not buying fuel at subsidy has sparked controversy instance, if you import an aircraft the official pump price of N87 among Nigerians and now you must pay duty, and if you per litre. There is price variation stakeholders in the oil and gas go back to import engine or other across the country. Some filling sector. While some people said spare parts for the same aircraft, stations are selling at between government should remove you are compelled to pay duty N150 and N130 per litre, while subsidy to invest the money in again and navigation charges. The others are selling higher than developmental projects, other that. In other countries when said government’s action will crude oil price drops, the price bring more hardship on the of fuel also drops, but that is not citizens. the case in Nigeria, as the price When Sunday Vanguard visited of fuel is still high despite some labour organisations you can see here. The declining crude oil price. Iran within Lagos metropolis, 70 Duty Paid Value (DPV) wants to flood the market with percent said the masses will be for the rice is crude oil, once they start, the the most affected, as prices of estimated at the price of crude may come down goods and services will increase monetary value of over to 1$ per barrel. So, let subsidy beyond their reach. While at N23.9million. This be removed for us to move the local airport, some seizure would send a forward.” passengers said government serious warning signal On whether increase in the price must manage the situation well to those trying to of petrol and removal of subsidy to prevent any increase in sabotage our economy will have adverse effect on the airfare. It was also observed that there is no hiding Aviation sector, he said, “It will that the cost of transportation place for smugglers in not affect the sector too much in some parts of Lagos O y o / O s u n because aviation fuel is of increased by 50 percent, as Command. Also, higher quality than the normal petrol sold for between N180 there is no going back PMS. You can even use it to cook and N150 per litre. because it is like kerosene. For Acting Customs Area Controller (CAC), Oyo/Osun on duty payment for Some experts, who spoke with rice imports from the instance, if there is an Command, Mr. Abdulsalam Hassan, with one of Sunday Vanguard, expressed borders.” emergency, a pilot can use the intercepted trucks their views: He went on, “It is kerosene to fly, but it is very risky At N97 per litre, there is no n line with the policy of the shocking to observe because kerosene is not of good subsidy: Former President, Federal Government to that notwithstanding standard like the real aviation Trade Union Congress of curtail smuggling of contrafuel. Therefore, people must be the sensitisation campaigns Nigeria (TUC), Comrade band items into the country through warned about the dangers of embarked upon under the Peter Esele: the border lines, the Nigeria flying airplanes with kerosene. platform of Customs Community “We can move back to N97 per Customs Service (NCS), Oyo/Osun Apart from the low quality, it can Consultative Forum (CCCF), litre as we used to buy before Command, stormed a forest along damage the engine of an some unscrupulous elements still the last administration brought KishiIgbeti area of Oyo State and aircraft, it can cause plane continue to smuggle items into the price to N87. If petrol sells intercepted five long trucks fully crash and air-return. That is the country. The Command will at N97, it means there is no loaded with foreign rice, brought why some international flights not relent on its continuous subsidy again, because that is illegally into the country by when they come, they get enlightenment programmes to the market price. In my smugglers. certification to see where they guide and facilitate trade, in opinion, bringing the price Speaking, the Acting Customs get their aviation fuel from, to order to enhance willful down to N87 was the mistake Area Controller (CAC) of the prevent using kerosene. compliance with the law, while government made. This is Command, Mr. Abdulsalam “Looking at the industry this the long arm of the law awaits because, the extra N10 that was Hassan, disclosed that the year, we can’t say we have not those unrepentant economic removed per litre amounted to operation took place by 1.00am achieved anything. Before the saboteurs who are out to destroy a huge amount being added to through intelligence gathering, as general elections, the major our economy” . subsidy payment on daily basis. a combined team of officers from achievements were, stealing of He added, “So far, the Again, if government wants to his Command bombarded the money, poor infrastructure and Command generated a total of remove subsidy; what are the forest where recalcitrant rice abandoned projects at airports. N144.2million from 2156metri plans for the citizens? How will smugglers hid huge imported We made positive achievements tonnes of rice between October they improve the lives of foreign rice. in terms of Nigerian Civil and November this year, when Nigerians? These questions are He said, “Our officers who were Aviation Authority (NCAA) the restriction on duty collection vital because we should not just so determined, embarked on that curtailing air crashes and for rice from the borders was talk about subsidy removal operation in the forest at night retaining the Category-One removed. This is a great without putting measures in through a tip off, and the bags of certification for Nigeria, but we achievement under the current place to develop infrastructure, rice were seized and brought into can’t boost of achievements in management of the new to improve the living the Command with five trucks as aviation without improvement conditions of the citizens.”

This is because the cost of transportation will increase, especially for people bringing food items from the North and other parts of the country. The price of goods and services generally will skyrocket. I think government must sit down to look at the issue again. “So, what exactly, can we say Nigerians are enjoying in this country? Ordinarily, we do not suppose to buy fuel more than N30 per litre. Look at the bad condition of our roads, for instance, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is very bad. So, we do not support the removal of subsidy. Let government build refineries and refine our crude oil in Nigeria to stop importation. Saudi Arabia, where petrol is sold at equivalent of N22 per litre is not better than Nigeria. “If subsidy is removed now, tomorrow government will tell us there is another subsidy to be removed. How many times did former President Olusegun Obasanjo remove petrol subsidy? That time, government said, they were going to invest the money in other sectors of the economy, yet our education sector is in disarray, the healthcare system is still very poor, our manufacturing sector is in comatose, even the rail system is not functional. So, where is that money? Who is subsidising who? As, I said earlier, we cannot support removal of petrol subsidy now, instead, let government build refineries across the country and employ our youths are who jobless.”

Customs raids smugglers’ forest, intercepts Controller General of Customs, trucks load of rice Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali

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(retired). Also, from January to November 2015, the Command realised a total of N13.2billion from revenue generation. Additionally, a total of 166 seizures, with a DPV of N395.1million were recorded by the Command. We are ready to confront the challenges that militate against our successes and continue to build on the achievements so far recorded in the areas of revenue generation and anti-smuggling.” On the risk of carrying out such operation at night, the OC, Compliance, Abuja, Mr. Usman Galadima, explained that the officers from Oyo/Osun Command patrol the border region day and night to curtail smuggling of offensive items and prohibited goods illegally into the country through any means. He stressed, “We operate under Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA), which allows Customs to seize items that are illegally brought into the country without appropriate payment of import duty. The law says that duty should be paid on specific items that are not prohibited before entry into the country. Therefore, these items were seized because after interception, there was no evidence of duty payment, whereas in law, you have to pay duty before entry. These procedures were not followed by those who brought in these items. We must continue to work tirelessly at ensuring that contraband items are not smuggled into the Command”.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015, PAGE 39

Ibom deep sea port will bring back all Nigerian bound cargoes — Usoro The Chairperson of Ibom Deep Seaport Implementation Committee, Mrs. Mfon Ekong Usoro, who is also the pioneer Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA and the current the Secretary General of the West and Central Africa Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control, spoke to Sunday Vanguard’s Godfrey Bivbere, of efforts at the completion of the deep sea port, challenges so far and many more. Excerpts: oes Akwa Ibom State really need the Ibaka seaport? Isn’t this some kind of ego trip for us as a state, as some have suggested? That is a double barrelled question. First let’s get the name correct; it is Ibom Deep Seaport, not Ibaka, because truly the project location traverses both Ibaka and Ibeno communities. Do we need a deep seaport? The direct answer is yes. When we say ‘do we need…’, the ‘ we’ there is not limited to Akwa Ibom State ; it is Nigeria that needs a deep seaport. As of this moment, Nigeria does not have a deep seaport. What we have now that may be closest to being a deep seaport are the Lagos ports which, by continuous dredging, has now been able to achieve a feat of between 10 to 12 metres depth. But that doesn’t make it a deep seaport because it still cannot take in vessels of over 15 metres draught. So we don’t have a deep seaport in Nigeria . The second point is that the major ports in the country are currently all located in Lagos . Millions of containerized cargo comes into Nigeria ; but relatively very few are destined for the Lagos metropolis. It is from Lagos Port that containers or palletized cargo are transported by road haulage to other parts of the country. The import is that Lagos ports which are on the Western flank serves the entirety of Nigeria , resulting in delays, accidents, high insurance premium and exorbitant freight rates. When freight rates are high, consumers purchase items in the market at a higher cost. If you divide Nigeria into two, vertically that is north to south, you have the north east, north central, south east and south-south on the eastern flank. As of today there is no deep seaport on this eastern part of Nigeria . The industrial hub of this country is in the south east and part of the south-south, so if you have a deep seaport that is located in the Niger Delta, that is in Akwa Ibom, then the port will be able to service as its primary catchment area, the south-south, south east, north central and the north east. These regions in terms of population have over 50 percent of Nigeria ‘s populace. That means there is already a critical mass that is underserved by the existing ports in Nigeria . The issue of the ports congestion and delay is because we do not have the capacity in our ports to accommodate all the vessels that call at Nigeria . The existing ports in Nigeria have no capacity to transport all import and export cargo. Most of the vessels destined for Nigeria, call at the ports of neighbouring countries like Togo, Benin, Cameroun to discharge due to inadequate capacity even though the cargo are for Nigerian market. Ibom deep seaport is designed for very large vessels, vessels that can load over 13 thousand containers

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in one voyage. There has been much talk about the Ibom Deep Seaport from the last administration up until now. What are you bringing in as a Committee that is going to make the outcome different this time? We are hoping that, by the grace of God, this will be the last Committee. This Committee will realize Ibom Deep Seaport. What we are bringing in is our collective wealth of expertise, experience, contacts and goodwill; the State has never had a Committee that has been constituted in this manner. All of us on the Committee are experts in the shipping and maritime industry and infrastructural projects. We have marine engineers, marine surveyors, hydrographers, maritime security experts, maritime administrators, experts in maritime law, infrastructure financing, ICT etc in the project team. Some people are of the opinion that politicization of the project deep sea port and strong interests working against it from certain sections of the country would work against it? First of all, it is understood that people have to be skeptical, say for one political reason or the other. I would say, as an expert, that it is an unwarranted fear. The theories are totally unrealistic. In the final analyses, everybody plays by the market, because it is the market and the planning that dictates the success and failure of a project. It is not a particular ethnic group that will decide if we must have a deep seaport in Nigeria or produce a professionally sound business plan. It is not in the interest of the policy makers or the Nigerian economy that we are losing revenue to neighboring countries because of the inadequacy of the existing ports. We live and interact with them, and we know they know that there should be a deep seaport in Akwa Ibom State. We actually have a lot of cooperation from them. It should be noted that other deep seaport projects are also being planned, for instance, the one in Lekki. It is pathetic that some Akwa Ibomites may want to de-market the project for political reasons; this is very unpatriotic because the Ibom Deep Seaport is for Akwa Ibom State , not for a political party. Members of the Committee are not politicians but professionals and experts in our respective different fields. We are purely motivated by the commercial imperative of having a deep seaport in Akwa Ibom which will serve Nigeria and other neighboring countries. We are totally politics blind and intend to meet with key Akwa Ibom stakeholders in every political party for their inputs. Let’s connect the dots between the current administration’s industrialization and investment promotion agenda with the seaport project. How do they connect? That is a very interesting question. The deep seaport drives industrialization and economic activities in the community, and the economic activities in the community also drive the deep seaport. So there is going to be a synergy between both activities. As we talk to investors, that is, shipping lines, terminal operators… they are interested in knowing the economic and

•Mrs Usoro commercial activities in the state where the seaport is located. When they know that there is a vehicle plant, a big mall, a petrochemical factory, power plant etc it immediately engenders interest. In point of fact, one of the shipping lines asked a question concerning availability of mega-sized malls because they bring in consumables a n d commodities from Asia for traders and supermarkets. We cited the vibrant markets in Akwa Ibom and Abia, mentioned Tinapa, but it is even better to say we have Shoprite in Uyo. As Shoprite sets up shop in Uyo, they come with their anchor tenants. We have the big mall, we have large markets in Aba, Onitsha and also in Akwa Ibom that are driving the demand for the deep seaport. On the aspect of this drive towards agriculture, some of the terminals will be for dry cargo such as grains, rice etc. It will serve the farmers better to know that there is a deep seaport next door and an agriculture cluster in the industrial city; remember we are working on Ibom Industrial City which is integrated with the port. Now that you have mentioned the Ibom Industrial City, could we talk about it some more? Before now, we heard about Ibom Industrial City as the bigger complex, and the seaport as a part of the city, but we no longer hear much about it. Has that idea been jettisoned? No, it has not been jettisoned at all; it is still a dual project. We still have the Ibom Industrial City and the deep seaport is actually a part of it. It is going to be an integrated city where the infrastructure will serve the industrial city and also the deep seaport. On the industrial city itself, we are following the

modern pattern of industrial cities, where it is designed and constructed on a cluster model. That means, you will have a different industrial sector per zone. Part of the industrial city, especially the waterfront area, will have ship repair yards, oil and gas logistics the activities in the industrial city will promote the seaport and the seaport will also promote the industrial city. That is the modern concept.

The industrial hub of this country is in the south east and part of the south-south, so if you have a deep seaport that is located in the Niger Delta, that is in Akwa Ibom, then the port will be able to service as its primary catchment area, the south-south, south east, north central and the north east We don’t want to build a seaport that will only have a quayside, what happens behind the quayside is the modern way of planning and construction of a seaport. Produce or goods brought into the Industrial city are produced or processed have secondary and tertiary value and ready for export. It is a fantastic concept and design. It is very important to note that the Ibom Industrial City and Deep Sea Port is a Free Trade Zone area. Industries and tenant will enjoy the fiscal incentives accorded to a FTZ. You asked earlier what we stand to offer (the Committee). We are bringing in our technical abilities in project design and execution; our plan sees a clear path from now to when the first cargo arrives, because our intention and our concept is not to encourage the State government to commence construction or some money bags bring in funds to construct the port only to be saddled with an idle port. The committee was constituted in July, we have been

busy engaging with advisors and potential investors to make sure that as we commence, we will have ships berthing immediately after construction is completed. We want investor/developers, preferably shipping lines and terminal operators because you are assured of ships and cargo. What meet on ground on this project, given that the former administration promoted the project a lot? What exactly is your Committee and this administration building on? For a start, one of the greatest positives that we have in herited from the past government and which we leverage on is that everybody knows about Ibom Deep Sea Port; stakeholders are aware of the existence of the project. We are not just beginning to tell a story that was never told. It was a good story and it got the industry excited. The immediate past government as you said brought immense publicity to the project and we must acknowledge the administration before that for their contribution to the project. 8 The industry is now interested in seeing it come to fruition, which is the stage that we are at. Development and construction of a port is not something you complete in two, three years; the background work that the previous administration did is now culminating in our actually securing investors who are ready to bring in funds and co-develop the port with Akwa Ibom State and the Federal Government. It must b e mentioned that the previous administration produced the outline business case for the project and obtained Federal Government approval. What is the nature of partnerships you’re looking at, and at what ratios? The public private partnership structure is 20 percent Federal, 20 percent State and 60 percent private sector. The bulk of the funding will be from the private sector, which could be one megacompany or a consortium. Udom’s government is working hard to attract private equity into the state. The government is not looking for people who want funding from government but those who have deep pockets to invest. The government’s role is to provide an enabling environment. Looking at Ibom deep seaport and the industrial city and the plans you have on ground right now; in the next ten years where do you see Akwa Ibom State ? Akwa Ibom will be a thriving industrial and commercial hub in the South South; you will have at least forty thousand new jobs, modern city infrastructure, industry and tourism. We are going to have a fantastic water front along the Industrial City 9 designed in a way that will attract people to visit for tourism purposes. There will be residential areas and educational institutions.

VON Automobiles introduces new vehicle range

he largest vehicle assembler in Nigeria, VON Automobiles Nigeria Limited, has introduced new commercial vehicles products from their stable meant for Nigerian market. Stallion Motors Head of Commercial Vehicle Division, Anurag Alagh, made this known in Isolo,Lagos State, at an exhibition of VON adaptable range of trucks and buses, noting that the vehicles are reasonably priced and proven for performance and reliability for the Nigerian market According to him,VON Automobiles which is a

representative of prominent vehicle manufacturers and local assemblers of commercial vehicles, including Ashok Leyland(Trucks & Buses) Hyundai Motor range of Light and Medium Duty Trucks(Trucks & Buses) and Iveco range of trucks, has come out with these reliable and quality products ”to encourage more prospective customers to buy new and adaptable commercial vehicles particularly now that the Federal Government is committed to implementing the National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP)” New products being introduced

by VON commercial vehicles include the new rugged, reliable and economical 1718 Ashok Leyland -11Ton payload withallsteel ladder frame truck. Ashok Leyland Garbage Compactor and Italian engineered Iveco 682 Tractor Head with 55Ton GCW. Ready for delivery this month. As per the market requirement and need VON has introduced durable and economical trucks and Buses, Mr. Alagh said: “ Our endeavor always is to provide the best of products with best of after sales services to our customers for Value added benefits Pan-Nigeria.

PAGE 40 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 20, 2015

Why we crashed cement price – Dangote *Empowers distributors with 150 new trucks

L-R: Chairman, D.C Okika Nigeria Ltd, Mrs. Beatrice Okika; Group Chief Marketing Officer, Dangote Group, Oare Ojeikere; Chairman, Chinedu & Sons Ltd, Mr. Chinedu Ezenyili; Managing Director, Nwa Ado Resources, Mr. Igwebuike Ikwueme; and Group Managing Director, Dangote Cement Plc Onne van dar Weijde, during the cutting of the tape to unveil the fleet of trucks to empower distributors in Lagos BY WALE AKINOLA

angote Cement Plc is beating its chest for leading an initiative that crashed the price of cement by about 40 percent. The move by the market leader cut cement price from about N2,000 to N1,300. The cement company explained the rationale behind its action on a day it empowered distributors with about 150 trucks. The trucks will aid the supply of cement to Dangote Cement Plc retailers. The 150 trucks represent the first phase of the trucks to be given to distributors. Another set of 250 trucks will get to the market leader ’s distributors, according to the Group Chief Marketing Officer of Dangote Group, Oare Ojeikere, under the second phase of the Tr uck Empowerment Scheme. “The Truck Empowerment Programme was initiated to ease the challenge of delivering cement to the doorstep of our customers, big and small”, Group Managing Director, Dangote Cement Plc, Onne van dar Weijde, told Sunday Vanguard moments after unveiling the trucks. The GMD added: “We only recently took a step to make cement affordable across the country. Cement price, at the beginning of the year, was hovering between N1,900 and N2,000 per bag. Today, we have crashed the price by about 40 percent. The provision of the trucks to our distributors is a follow up to the price crashing as it will enable the distributors get the product to the retailers with ease enroute to the end users.” Addressing the gathering at the unveiling of the trucks, held at TBS, Lagos, Ojeikere said Dangote Cement Plc took the decision to lower the price of cement as part of its efforts to make the product affordable and consequently contribute to reducing the nation’s housing deficit of over 80 million. The move, the Group Chief Marketing Officer stated, has also improved the profitability of Dangote Cement Plc distributors over the past six to eight months. His words: “We have done a

few things to improve the profitability of our partners over the past six to eight months. “We came out with a scheme to ensure that those who worked aggressively have been rewarded for their diligence. The results have proved that we did the right thing. We also took a decision that it was time we made cement more affordable. Our view is that if we did this, we could reduce the nation’s housing deficit of over 80 million. It would also increase the quantity of cement that is sold. “We are proud to say that we led an initiative that crashed the price of cement from N2,000 or N1,900 to as low as N1,350 or N1,400 per bag. What that has done is that it has attracted significant growth by as much as 40 percent. October and November have been the best ever in terms of the quantity of cement that we have sold. “We have made cement affordable and that has increased our rating. We know cement can be put into several other uses. This road here is made of concrete. It can be here for another 100 years. If we make cement more affordable, then we can give the people the opportunity to make use of it in the diverse ways”. Speaking on why Dangote Cement Plc decided to give the trucks to the distributors, Ojeikere said: “We are committed to changing the ways we engage our partners. We want to make them an extension of our business and create a good atmosphere for their operations. “This scheme is about empowering our partners, to ensure that they have what is required to service their customers. Our partners, sometimes, require very expensive items. Under the current dispensation in Nigeria, our exchange rate has ballooned out of proportion so much so that it is difficult for our partners to invest in new trucks. It is our business to assist them to get our products (cement) to the end users. We are in the business of selling cement and this requires trucks for our distributors to perform optimally ”. The Group Chief Marketing

L-R: Chairman, Chinedu & Sons Ltd, Mr. Chinedu Ezenyili; Chairman, Lafenax Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Lawrence Ifenchor; Managing Director, Global Comcept Nigeria Ltd, Gilbert Igweka and Group Managing Director, Dangote Cement Plc Onne van dar Weijde, handing over the truck key, at the presentation of fleet of trucks at the occasion. Photos: Kehinde Gbadamosi.

We are proud to say that we led an initiative that crashed the price of cement from N2,000 or N1,900 to as low as N1,350 or N1,400 per bag. What that has done is that it has attracted significant growth by as much as 40 percent. October and November have been the best ever in terms of the quantity of cement that we have sold Officer told the distributors, drawn from the South-South, the South-East and Lagos: “The trucks are coming at no cost to you. All that we ask is

that you use the trucks to service your retailers for three years and meet the targets, and you will get the trucks for keeps. “The about 150 trucks we are giving out today represent the first phase of the empowerment scheme. Another 250 trucks are in the pipeline for distribution under the second phase. This scheme is about you and how to empower you and take you to the next level.” Unfolding the market leader ’s incentives for other stakeholders, he explained: “We are also trying to ensure that your retailers are also supported. When you visit them (retailers), what you see is that some of them have tarpaulin which they use outdoor or our posters. They sit on the bench or cement block. “As the market leader, we believe that if we give them umbrellas, tables and chairs, we will also be seen to be doing something for them. We have no intention of serving

retailers. That is not our business. “Those people remain your (distributors) customers. We will continue to reach them through you. “And to put some icing on the cake, we also decided to launched a major consumer promotion. As I speak, we have announced 42 millionaires. 420 people have won N50,000 each. What I find particularly gratifying is that we made the calls to the winners in the presence of the industry regulator. Today, there are seven block makers who won N1 million each. “And there are two labourers who also won N1 million each. “One of them claimed to be an electrician who uses his spare time to work as a labourer. He made four entries and won N1 million. There is a student who also won N1 million. There are retailers who equally won N1 million each. The human angle stories are really touching. We are touching the lives of the people. And to say that those millions are rolling into people’s pockets at a time that things are so difficult in the country as a result of the downturn in the economy ”. One of the beneficiaries of the trucks, Mr Igwebuike Ikwueme, Managing Director of Nwa Ado Resources, and a distributor at Dangote Cement Plc plant at Obajana, was excited about the gesture. “The empowerment scheme has the potential to move our business of distributing cement forward”, Ikwueme stated. “I sell about 900 trucks of cement every month. But having now been empowered with the truck, I can do more and I am sure there will be improvement. Dangote has, by this initiative, proved that it is the market leader and is committed to changing peoples’ lives”.

How Centro Mall set Lagos aglow with Christmas Music Show BY FOLASHADE OLADIMEJI AND OLAYADE AYOLAMI

o spice up the yuletide season, the Centro Lekki Mall recently convened a musical show for Lagos residents. The event brought families and friends together to appreciate the significance of the season. With an audience which included the creme de la-creme, the event featured the Muson School of Music who entertained the audience and shoppers with Christmas Carol, jazz band, string quartet and more. In a chat with Sunday Vanguard at the venue, the Publicist of the convener, Miss Omawumi Ogbe, said the show was put together to foster love among residents of the Lekki community and Lagos at large, adding that similar events would follow during key seasonal milestones. She said: ‘’This will be the first of an annual Centro Christmas tradition designed to bring the community together. Similar events will occur at key seasonal milestones like Valentine day, Easter, Independence Day among others.

‘’That is why people of all ages attended this free event. It was a family Christmas fun day as well as a shopping Day.’’ She further provided insight into the benefits of shopping at Centro. Ogbe said:’’The benefits of shopping at Centro Lekki Mall are that we provide the shoppers with a one-stop shop experience with a variety of high quality stores at Centro. The shops range from Restaurants to Women’s wear, Men’s wear, Kids Wear, Hat Shop, Hair Salon,

Beauty & Spa, Luxury Gift Store, Luxury Drinks and Champagne Store, Fabric Store, Toy Shop and more, there is something for everyone. Another benefit, she said is the beautiful ambience created by the open-air architecture at the mall. ‘’To store owners, we offer premium quality facility management services. Our mall is managed by dedicated onsite team to ensure the maintenance of both quality service and the highest of standards,’’ she added.

A musical performance at the event.

C M Y K

SUNDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015, PAGE 41

Was Dasuki only obeying orders from above “He [Dasuki] should be made to say all he knows on the matter. ...It is surprising that an adviser to the President could be awarding contracts and making payments.” Balarabe Musa, former Governor of Kaduna State. r Debo Adeniran, Chairman of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, also seemed to agree that the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, was not empowered to disburse funds, but was made to do so under the Jonathan administration. Incidentally, readers must note the emphasis on the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, as opposed to the person occupying the office. In the matter of arms deal, the person was Sambo Dasuki. It could have been

anybody else. My private investigation has revealed that it is not the first time that the ONSA or Office of Directorate of State Security, ODSS, the Nigeria Police force, NPF or other security agencies had been used to disburse funds to corporate entities and individuals in our histor y. A great percentage of the funds looted by former Inspector General of Police, IGP, Tafa Balogun, were given to him administration to help win the 2003 election. (See book PDP: C O R R U P T I O N INCORPORATED). Incidentally, a bigger scandal than Dasuki’s is escaping our attention. In the on-going investigation into N1 trillion worth of contracts by the Nigerian Railways Corporation, NRC, the

Men do suffer from emotional abuse “I’m not accepting things I cannot change. I am changing things I cannot accept”- Angela Davis Matthew Gansallo walked to my office and told me that he was going to write a book to help men who have been going through emotional abuse. I sense there was more to his intent. Matthew Olaseni Gansello, you see, is qualified in the history of art, fine art and architecture and is building an international education consultancy. Although, he lives in London, he is very much a Nigerian and has a vested interest in the Nigerian community. The draft of his book has generated interests from TV, churches and several community groups, the word is: it is a concern and there is a need for a discourse. We need to talk and for the sake of our men and family, we need to do it now. He told me the story: there seems to be an increasing number of our men in the diaspora going through this ordeal and are reluctant to seek help. Speaking to some of his friends, many in their 40s and 50s agree that men find it difficult to discuss their problems with close friends and family and are reluctant to get help.Uunfortunately, some

have taken their own lives because of the shame. Yes, men can be victims of emotional abuse and this is something that is often not talked about within our community after all, men should be able to deal with their own problems. Let me make it clear, women are more likely to be victims of physical and emotional abuse. But these pattern men are being emotionally abuse and we are seeing this alarming rate across the diaspora and it is too common place to ignore. This is a black thing, not just a Nigerian thing. Matthews’s book: Men who suffer from emotional abuse; silent suffering, intends to shed light on the phenomena. This is happening to men in particular, who go home to get a wife and settle abroad. And the abuse starts when the wife is about to or have received their papers or residency; they begin to make spurious accusations, then routinely emotionally or physically abuse, goad him, threaten to take the children away, make him homeless and contact the authorities in order to make a claim that the man is the aggressor. He gets a criminal record, could lose his job, his family, his home and means of living. This modus operandi

former Chairman of the Board of Directors, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur (former Chairman of PDP) and Senator Ladan, who headed the NRC have stated categorically that the Board of NRC was not involved in awarding any contracts. So, who was awarding contracts for the rails? That’s another story. When the DSS first broke the story alleging that the former National Security Adviser, NSA, Dasuki was involved in a $2bn arms deal and that he took the huge sum of money from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, for weapons not delivered, my initial reaction was “ you can tell that to fools”. Something told me that the DSS was too unprofessional in its haste to nail Dasuki. Last week, the question was asked on this page if it was possible that the NSA could drive a trailer to the CBN and order the Governor to load $2bn into it and the CBN Governor would say “Yes Sir” and load it. Obviously, the CBN could only have released the funds after the President of Nigeria and the Minister of Finance must have authorized the transaction(s). Furthermore, even a child should know that nobody, all alone, swallows $2bn in Nigeria. A powerful syndicate is always involved – with a seems to be too commonplace for it to be a rarity and it is tearing families apart and the emotionally abused man, in particular, comes out of this worse off as he grapples in silence with the abuse. Emotional abuse chips away at a person’s feelings of self-worth and independence. Emotional abuse can be as destructive and damaging as physical abuse and it damages the person’s mental health. It's common for physically abusive relationships to also include aspects of emotional abuse as this is how power and control is maintained within the relationship. It is insidious and unrelenting. The common pattern; man brings wife from home, he supports her and sometimes her family, he finances her studies, she gets her papers, she graduates, starts earning, trouble starts in the family home, physical and emotional abuse on both sides, children suffer, divorce pending, police are involved, man leaves home, restricted access to children, messy divorce, more stress and he becomes socially isolated with anger or depression sets in. Usually, it does not end well. We, as a community have got to address this and urgently too, we have to admit that this is going on. Unless, we open up and offer support, then it will continue to happen and it will affect the next generation and any relationship that this abused man may have after this trauma. The children are victims too, and are pawns in this unfortunate situation, they become silent witnesses and they have to deal with this on a daily basis and this experience will affect them in later years. They will become emotionally scarred if this is not fully

powerful man at the top. Invariably, when such deals are to be operated, the task is assigned to an officer whose job description does not ordinarily cover those functions. Let me illustrate from our history. Under President Shehu Shagari, during the Second Republic, rice importation by Government was not undertaken by the Ministry of Agriculture or Commerce. It was assigned to late Alhaji Dikko – the Minister of Transport. Dikko had the political assignment to

ONSA was turned into an award and settlement centre by the Jonathan administration. It has been alleged that some individuals received various mind-blowing sums of money for u n s p e c i f i e d “consultancy” services. Definitely more revelations are expected involving more people associated with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The NRC story and the arms deal story have only

By turning the ONSA to a funds disbursing office, they bastardized it and rendered it ineffective in its fundamental role. Why hold Dasuki when the real authors of this monumental scandal are still at home? Let him go “take care” of designated party members of the National Party of Nigeria, NPN. So, it was clear to me that the DSS was raising a false alarm by creating the impression that Dasuki unilaterally embezzled $2bn. Now, we are witnessing an unfolding drama which indicates that, contrary to the first impressions, the

three things in common. First, they represented unimaginable waste of national financial resources. Second, they followed the same pattern. Third, they could not have been possible without the approvals of the Federal Minister of Finance and the President of Nigeria. Since “Every organization is the

addressed. The break up definitely will have a long term effect on the children. And the man in an abusive relationship often rides a lonely train, he often hides the emotional scars in public as if nothing is wrong and when he gets home, he deals with reality: day in and day out of emotional abuse. He becomes an expert in living two lives and keeping the secret and remaining silent, dare not confide in people. Who would believe that this man is the victim? He lives with the shame if found out, that he cannot keep the family together and the secret has a

record of your injuries and make sure your doctor or hospital also documents your injuries. Remember, medical personnel are unlikely to ask if a man has been a victim of domestic violence, so be honest and let them know the cause of the injuries. Have a safe plan; confide in a trusted friend, identify a place to stay, keep copies of important documents outside the home. Seek legal advice and get a restraining order against the abuser. Get support from family and friends. Most of all, there is life after an abusive relationship and it should not define the person and it will take a while to trust again. Time really does heal all wounds.

Emotional abuse can be as destructive and Tayo Fatunla’s damaging as physical Book Launch abuse and it damages So I was particularly proud to have been invited the person’s mental to the launching of his health OUR ROOTS Sketch serious impact on his emotional health. For those who are experiencing emotional abuse; it is important to get help and get help earlier rather than later. Do not be tempted to retaliate, it may lead to arrest and a criminal record, protect the children and contact the emergency services. The police have an obligation to protect you and your children, just as they do a female victim. Always get evidence of the abuse, report to the police and get a copy of the police report. This will come in handy later on. Keep a journal of all abuse with a clear record of dates, times, and any witnesses. Include a photographic

book. OUR ROOTS was a long held inspiration of Tayo's and it began as a school project at The Kubert School in Dover, New Jersey. The 120-page info-tainment book is a compilation of illustrations of Black achievers in the diaspora and also highlights places and things of interest that relate to Black History. OUR ROOTS has poignant and insightful vignettes. Tayo's work has taken him the world over and OUR ROOTS and OUR ROOTS spin-offs has featured in BBC and the Voice newspaper are amongst his work that has been published around the world. Marcus Garvey said it so well that; “A people without the knowledge of their

lengthened shadow of one man”, according to Ralph Waldo Emerson, 18031882, then the government which was responsible for what we are witnessing can only be accepted as the shadow of Goodluck Jonathan. But, he had an accomplice – Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the former Coordinating Minister for the Economy, CME. Together, they, not Dasuki, had ruined their reputations for ever and Nigeria for a long time to come. By turning the ONSA to a funds disbursing office, they bastardized it and rendered it ineffective in its fundamental role. Why hold Dasuki when the real authors of this monumental scandal are still at home? Let him go. OKONJO-IEWALA IN REAL WAHALA NOW – “Fortune ever fickle, will assail with a sudden stroke, the kingdoms of the proud.” Geoffrey Chaucer, 1342-1400. (VANGUARD BOOK, VBQ, p 64). Once she ignored invitations from the National Assembly and treated everybody else with disdain. She was once ranked among the world’s hundred most powerful women. When the EFCC, inevitably, invites her, she better run to Abuja. Otherwise she will become one of the most wanted women on earth….. past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots”. That is exactly what OUR ROOTS SKETCH BOOK does so well, knowledge is power. OUR ROOTS Black History Sketch book, written and illustrated by TAYO Fatunla, was launched at the Canada Water Library in Surrey Quays, South-east London. The launch was hosted by Councillor Michael Situ, and graced by the presence of many local luminaries including Mayor of Southwark, Dora DixonFyle, who spoke of the need to have an educational book like OUR ROOTS in a diverse communities, that it is essential for both young and old to know something about Black History and she recommended that OUR ROOTS should be stocked in local libraries and be made accessible to all. Speaking to councillor Situ, who is a Cabinet Member for Communities and Safety for Southwark Council, he was very proud to have OUR ROOTS book launched in the borough of Southwark. Roland Rampat who wrote foreword to the book, said of his journey with TAYO through the years in helping to support an educational project as OUR ROOTS. I spoke to Tayo's mother, who told me that his father initially was not pleased with his chosen profession and that she had to convince him that it was Tayo's calling. She was right. And Tayo's was so proud of his son at the launch. Tayo has inspired a lot of young people and especially black children who through his body of work have gone on to achieve on to greater things. Tayo continues to inspire more young aspiring artists up and down the UK and with his book he inspires even more.

Page 42, SUNDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015

Our varsities and the corrupted admission process VIEWPOINT By Damilola Oguntade

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF

The paradigm shift we need in our higher institutions of learning

ING Solomon, in one of his documented sayings of wisdom, says: “The glory of the youth is their strength and the beauty of the old men is their grey head” – Proverbs 20:29. When I take a survey at N-I-G-E-R-I-A, I ask myself questions about the meaning of the saying. How well are the youth channelling their strength to good use thereby shining forth in their glory? Do the older and more experienced outsmart the youth in the regular daily contest for survival? These are questions to be addressed going forward. Education has been said to be the liberation of the mind. Perhaps, this is why most of our youth have seen it a necessity to go a step further after their secondary education to seek tertiary education. The widely accepted

VIEWPOINT By Craig Marsh

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF

A look at the growth of online learning

DVANCEMENTS in the field of information technology have allowed online learning to become more sophisticated and diverse. As universities around the world boast more online students than ever, traditional ways of learning are transforming. In the last decade, Nigeria has experienced massive institutional growth in its university education sector. However, demand for higher education still outweighs supply. According to the Registrar and Chief Executive of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), over 1.4 million candidates sat the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in 2015; but there were fewer than 800,000 places available at tertiary institutions across the country. With similar challenges faced across the globe, increasing numbers of students are choosing to study online to strengthen existing

VIEWPOINT By Sugar-Boy Debekeme

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF Using oil money prudently

UITE apart from the fact that the assessment of the property deal involving High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, as regards the National Maritime University, clearly indicates that Tompolo was merely legitimately paid what he negotiated with the Federal Government on the amount he was willing to sell his property as take-off site for the institution, certain alarming matters have been thrown up. The last time I bothered to check, the Maritime University, over which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is clearly witch-hunting Tompolo, apparently at the behest of the All Progressives Congress, APC, whose chieftains and apologists have now appointed themselves the EFCC spokesmen in the

route for this aspiration is of course writing UTME, Universal Tertiary Matriculation Exam. We have seen instances where candidates’ application to some of our institutions are generally meddled with. On one hand, the failure of the candidate to secure admission is sometimes of their own. They insincerely select their courses of study because they are influenced by society’s perception of certain courses as potentially unlucrative. Sometimes, this influence is from the pressure from parents. On the other hand, the selection criteria of our institutions are even beyond merit consideration. I was aggrieved upon discovering that the admission list of one of the nation’s most priced institutions, after the summer post-UTME exams, was tampered with. A combination of some of the successful candidates’ surnames with their UTME registration number revealed their results and some did not even scale the set cut-off marks published on the school’s website for their chosen course yet, they were on the merit list. In this same institution was a

massive omission of names that were supposed to have been included on the merit list. What hypocrisy! Apart from a dearth of facilities in our institutions, there is also a deliberate sieving of intellectual candidates in the corrupted admission process of most of our universities. For most people, the notion is you must have an internal contact that will push your admission for you else, your admission process is weak. This accounts for why selection based on merit is an act attended more by lip-service than practiced in reality. Until our selection process is strictly based on merit and not interrupted by bribery and favoritism, we will never be properly represented on the international scale. We cannot continue to produce whacks yearly and expect our institutions to have high fliers in their alumni. Another way to allow the glory of the youth, which is their strength to shine forth, is by encouraging the sincerity of career selection, that

is, the absence of criticism of some career as not lucrative or prestigious. There is already an existing competition for enrolment for certain courses based on society’s perception of them as the ultimate source of rescue in the nation’s economic turmoil. What we should target is a depopulation of these ‘lucrative’ career paths so that the opportunities that abound in the unpopulated sectors can be tapped into for economic growth. Hence, the gifting and passion of young people seeking further education into tertiary institutions should guide them in course selection. By so doing, the tendency to fail the entrance exams into these institutions will be reduced if not eliminated. Another long- term investment to be made into our education nationwide is the provision of teachers and infrastructure for special courses such as art and design. Candidates with the innate talent for this field are either trained inadequately or bullied into taking on other courses for study-since a and design is

A social approach to learning skills and expand capabilities while maintaining family and career responsibilities. Increased awareness of online education, improvements in computer literacy and the growing democratisation of the internet are also speedily driving interest and participation in online learning among Nigerians. These factors have led to wider acceptance of the merits of this learning platform and its power to increase people’s access to learning. More and more individuals are realising that, instead of replacing classroom-based learning methods, online education is an alternative that adds value to their skill development and careers. Designed for the working professional There are several other factors contributing to the growth of online learning; its flexibility appeals to more mature students, for example. It also allows people who may not be able to commute to a university, or who have a work schedule that doesn’t allow them to physically sit in a classroom at a set time, to earn their

degree. Available 24 hours a day, the online classroom is delivered asynchronously, which means students are not required to be in class together at a specific time. Programme content is also adapted to suit the working professional: modules are broken into smaller learning units that contain individual assignments and shared activities to offer students even greater flexibility to decide where and when they will study. In addition, the online classroom is truly global and connects students and faculty members from all over the world, making it possible for learners to collaborate and share resources in an approach that did not exist a decade ago. By contrast, traditional classroom settings tend to have more of a local or regional focus. Building communities online Contrary to the belief that online learning is a solitary learning experience, several online learning institutions (such as the University of Roehampton, London Online) have developed networking platforms similar to popular social-media

The trials of Tompolo matter, is situated in the Niger Delta. Of course, we cannot be too sure that it has not been miraculously transported from the South to somewhere up North, seeing that this is of course Nigeria where anything can happen. The alleged N13 billion spent by the Federal Government on purchasing Tompolo’s private property as the institution’s take off site, as well as, what it spent on additional land for the institution in neighboring Okerekonko, coupled with what has been additionally expended thus far in developing the university are federal funds derived from the oil wealth belonging to the Niger Delta. The last time I also checked, none of the funds was mobilized from any resources the Federal Government might have mopped up from Katsina or from Lake

Chad. Yet the born-to -rule administration of the APC would have us believe it is now entitled to take Panadol for what – if at all – should be the headache of the Niger Delta while our President has devoted almost N40 billion of Niger Deltan oil money to search for oil in the same Lake Chad when more than 50 years of prospecting for oil in that barren wilderness has been completely fruitless till date. Not done with such gambling with our common wealth by the APC-led Federal Government, our President is making the case for spending an astronomical amount of more Niger Deltan oil money on diverting a river all the way from crisis-ridden Central African Republic to replenish the very same Lake Chad, a lake which, from all indications, God has abandoned!

channels to help students build communities among their peers. Despite the thousands of miles between them, a social platform can connect students with faculty members and with each other to share best practices for their course and their careers. This creation of an academic environment that supports personal engagement both inside and outside the classroom has become an integral part of the online postgraduate learning experience. Faculty members are key to supporting an integrated and interactive approach to learning, where students complete assignments by engaging in creative online discussions. Faculty members make the experience more personal by being available and in regular contact with the students, using videos, blogs, wikis and discussion forums to actively promote critical thinking and problem-solving. Using digital technology to deliver education is not only increasing access for millions; it’s also helping to improve learning. It has been estimated that students who do study

Suddenly in our country, everything must now be for the North. Our national patrimony must now be spent rebuilding the North-East that was destroyed by Boko Haram initially inspired by the zealots who spearheaded Shariah in the North and who remain the bigwigs of the APC as if we are the ones who charmed them into destroying a region they are indigenes of! Oil money, inhumanly appropriated from the Niger Delta and taxes heartlessly milked from similarly productive parts of the South-West, South-East and Middle Belt must now be misallocated to rebuilding the killing fields of Boko Haram only for them to destroy the place all over again and for us to be compelled at gunpoint to cough out more money to perpetually keep rebuilding it like a pack of fools. Only northerners are qualified to man all three arms of government. Only northerners are qualified to head the entire

traditionally perceived as an unprofitable venture meant for unserious persons. On their own paths, such candidates with unprofessional ambitions should do a good research on their course so as to articulate its advantage to their parents whose support they need. Institutions in developed countries admit foreign students without employing favouritism or bribery to dictate for them. They even offer scholarships to support the study ambition of foreign students. Yet, our very own process in admitting our own youths to study has been tainted. The earlier our tertiary institutions begin to admit candidates strictly on merit, the sooner their names and intellectual output will become attractive to those who recognize quality. The best time to take a paradigm shift in our values as a nation is now so that the glory of our youths which is their strength can begin to shine accordingly.

•Oguntade can be reached via damilola em@yahoo.com, @MercyOguntade on twitter. online have a 60% faster learning curve than those who attend traditional programmes. Research has also shown that, in terms of learning outcomes, there is no difference between online and traditional learning formats. Both require planning, study, student participation, and feedback from both students and faculty members. There is no doubt that there will continue to be a place for the classroom and the traditional student–teacher interaction, but as technology continues to evolve, so naturally will the way in which we learn. Online learning has provided access to quality education from around the world, helping more people fulfil their potential by strengthening and developing their skills. The innovation social technology brings to the online learning experience is something that I believe enhances the student experience and will continue to minimise “distance” between peers. •Marsh is Vice President of Academic Innovation at the University of Ro ehampton, London Online.

military apparatus of a supposedly united, indivisible and indissoluble entity called Nigeria that was forged by an unscrupulous British military adventurer and was named by a woman with whom he was committing adultery. Only northerners can be appointed to man scores of critical federal agencies from which hapless southerners are being fired on a daily basis. Only northerners are qualified to form the kitchen cabinet of a President who solemnly assured us he belongs to everybody and to nobody. Before the APC plunges our nation into doom, probably in a bid to divert attention from its now all too obvious incompetence and unpreparedness to rule, can we all please come together and call the Buhari administration to order, please?

•Debekeme, a commentator on national issues, lives in Port Harcourt.

SUNDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015 —

Page 43

Oshiomhole, AAU and infrastructural development VIEWPOINT By Inwalomhe Donald

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF A governor’s passion for a university

MBROSE Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State is rated high for infrastructural development and academic excellence. The Director of Justice Research Centre for Central and West Africa, Mr Mike Smith, disclosed this at the inauguration of the projects initiated by Governor Adams Oshiomhole at the school. Mr Smith commended the governor and the Vice Chancellor, Prof Cordelia Agbebaku, the management and staff for ensuring that the mission of the school was sustained,

VIEWPOINT By Turaki Adamu Hassan

TRIBUTE IN BRIEF

The House of Reps Speaker at 48

ECEMBER 26, the day after Christmas, is also the 48th birthday of Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Born in 1967 in Tafawa Balewa Province of Bauchi State, Dogara rose from a very humble background in that rural community where Nigeria’s first and only Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa came from. He was first elected into the House of Representatives in 2007 from one of the most diverse constituencies in the country with Christians and Moslems, and many ethnic groups co-existing. Yet, within eight years, he has been able to win the confidence of all segments of the people whose lives have been touched by him. Close associates and family members would say he never struggled for anything in life. While he acknowledges God’s divine favour over his life since

VIEWPOINT By Yusuf Oladipupo

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF

Another look at polls in two different states

wise man does not cut his nose, just to spite his face. The unfolding electoral drama in the Bayelsa State governorship election, especially the cancellation of the election in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area by the state Returning Officer, Prof. Zane Akapaku, who is the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the University of Calabar, reminds me of a similar exercise of power by Prof. Benjamin Ozumba, the Returning Officer for the April 11 governorship election in Abia State. Ozumba had announced the cancellation of the results of the election in Obingwa, Osisioma and Isialangwa North Local Government Areas of Abia saying the action was in exercise of ‘’the powers conferred on me.” The Returning Officer cited the reports of local and international observers, who monitored the

describing their efforts as worthy of emulation. He added that with the impressive standard of the school, the expectation is that the students should always make the difference at all levels. Agbebaku was grateful that Oshiomhole personally inaugurated the projects. Let me add that this is a clear evidence of not only his passion for good governance and the raising of the standard of education in Edo but also a proof of his love for AAU and his concern for its infrastructure development. The eight projects inaugurated were those executed with the N500,000,000 special grant the Comrade Governor approved for the university when the AAU Governing Council was put in place on August 5, 2013. The final instalment of the grant was

received by the institution in February 2014 and the funds have been applied to execute the construction of workshop building for the department of building and studio for fine and applied arts department in the faculty of environmental studies; the construction of two-in-one laboratory block for the department of medical laboratory science, and the construction of 500-capacity lecture theatre in the faculty of basic medical sciences, among others. The significance of some of the projects underscore the reason the AAU remains exceedingly grateful to Edo State government. The 500-capacity lecture theatre, the two-in-one laboratory and the medical library have greatly enhance the prospects of the departments in the College of

restore the faculty of law to its former pride of place. The most expensive of all the projects executed with this special grant was the complex housing the workshop for the building department and the studio for fine and applied arts. The facilities are already being used by students. It is to be recalled that on September 29, 2014, the Comrade Governor was equally in the university to inaugurate some projects funded from a N250m grant. All these confirm the avowed commitment of Oshiomhole to the growth of the university. AAU cannot thank the Comrade Governor and Edo State government enough for their benevolence to the university.

Medicine during the recent accreditation exercise. AAU is now confident that its medical laboratory science programme will receive full accreditation and the students will no longer go to other institutions to write their final examinations. Meanwhile, AAU appreciates Oshiomhole’s for the release of N100 million to assist in the preparation for the accreditation of its courses. It is a credit to the Edo administration that the moot court in the faculty of law, abandoned since 1991, has now, through the governor ’s intervention, been completed and furnished. However the adjacent lecture •Donald is of Justice Research theatre, also abandoned about the same time, requires additional Centre, Benin City, Edo State, inwalomhe.donald@yahoo.com funding to complete it so as to

Dogara: In the footprints of Tafawa Balewa childhood, Dogara never took it for granted that this divine grace may abound. It takes only a courageous person like Dogara who, even though comes from a constituency that was a stronghold of the then ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and without the support of his governor, defected to a newly formed opposition political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). Many friends and associates came down hard on him as a result of that singular, far-sighted decision. However, he remained resolute knowing fully well that the era of change was beckoning. He would go on to record a landslide victory on March 28. His election as Speaker was not surprising to those of us who are close to him. Whether friends or foes, or even his worst critics would admit, he is an embodiment of leadership. To him, public office is never to be used for personal elevation, or pre-emptive and prebendal

•Hon. Yakubu Dogara accumulation of wealth but a call to duty, to serve God and country. Whether in public or private, I always see a man who is in pains. His angst is not personal because he is a contented man. He has got what it takes to live a comfortable life, but his pains stem from the fact that, despite being blessed with abundant natural and human resources, Nigeria, our beloved country, has not been able to provide basic social services to its citizens-as a result of which a vast

population of the people is facing existential threat. His dream is that sooner than later, a better Nigeria will emerge where both the haves and the haves not will have a place that will accommodate them in the system. The Speaker strongly believes that a system is evolving where the people will be the centre of governance and that democracy in Nigeria will soon be able to deliver its promises to the people. Already, Nigerians have begun to see the immense leadership qualities in him as the House has since gone far with its legislative functions and even set record of legislation on December 10 when not fewer than 130 bills were presented for first reading. Today, over 300 bills have been introduced in the green chamber and are at various stages of legislation. The House is cleaning up Nigeria’s statute books as some of the nation’s extant laws are 100 years old. Worth mentioning here is his rejection of N500 million offer to defect back to an opposition party.

Indeed, it takes more than enough courage for anyone to resist the temptation to be induced or to enrich oneself in a society where majority of the ruling class are in competition to amass wealth while the mass of the people are languishing in abject poverty and deprivation. Gentle and peaceful to a fault but hard as steel, the Speaker is too generous; yet unassuming and exceptionally intelligent and a natural orator. For anyone who knows Dogara, these things are easily discernible about his character-humility, intellect, courage and a calm spirit. These same qualities were said of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa of blessed memory and today Dogara is following in his footprints. To this young gentleman, a lawyer of high repute, erudite scholar, family man and a devote Christian, I say a happy 48th birthday and wish him many happy returns of the day. *Hassan is Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs to the Speaker.

Like Bayelsa, like Abia governorship election election in the state, for the cancellation. He said the reports contained ‘’incontrovertible evidence of massive violence, rampant cases of ballot snatching” and other irregularities that characterised the election in the affected council areas. Shortly after Ozumba’s pronouncement, heaven was let loose by the powers-that-be in Abia. No sooner had he cancelled the results than the former Gov. Theodore Orji, leading a delegation of chieftains of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), stormed the venue of the collation of results on the premises of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Umuahia. The delegation halted the collation on its arrival at the centre, when Orji summoned the former Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Prof. Selina Oko, to her office. A few minutes later, Orji also ordered Ozumba to be invited to

the closed-door meeting, thus disrupting the exercise, while scores of election monitors, journalists and heads of the various security agencies in the state, who were present at the centre, waited anxiously for what would be the outcome of Orji’s visit. At the meeting, Ozumba was ordered to reverse the cancellation. So, as soon as he emerged, he proceeded to reverse himself, saying that the outright cancellation was no longer tenable and that they have decided to isolate the polling units where the reported violence and snatching of ballot boxes took place. Of course, that never happened. After recanting, the professor of medicine and Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, also went on to readmit the initially cancelled and rejected results from the three LGAs. This was how PDP and its governorship candidate, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, purportedly won the election with the bogus figures

allotted to them in the three disputed council areas over the leading All Progressives Grand Alliance’s (APGA) candidate, Dr. Alex Otti. Before the untidy conduct of INEC, in complicity with PDP, Otti was leading with over 60,000 votes in the 14 LGAs whose results were already collated by the Returning Officer. The contentious results from the remaining three local governments for PDP and APGA, which upset the applecart, are as follows: Obingwa PDP=82,240, APGA=1,952; Osisioma PDP=42,122, APGA=1,017 and Isialangwa North PDP=19,789, APGA=6,853. It is gratifying that the tribunal, which handled the petition filed by Otti, challenging the declaration of Ikpeazu as the winner of the election, upheld the cancellation. Otti’s contention is that having cancelled the results of the election in the three council areas, the Returning Officer lacked the power to reverse himself.

In view of the cancellation, the only option open to any aggrieved party, especially Orji and his PDP stalwarts, was to seek redress in the election petition tribunal. It is a serious threat to the nation’s democracy that rather than seek redress in the tribunal, Orji resorted to impunity and use of brute force to coerce the Returning Officer to do the illegality by reversing himself and readmitting cancelled results. Imagine the war-scene that could have been created at the INEC collation centre, had Otti and APGA thrown caution to the wind and mobilised their party chieftains and aggrieved youths to counter PDP’s anti-democratic conduct. It is paradoxical today that the same PDP, which forced the Abia INEC to reverse the cancellation, is celebrating the cancellation of the results of the election in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State by yet no less an official of the commission than the Returning Officer. •Oladipupo is a public affairs analyst.

PAGE 44—SUNDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015

By PRISCA SAM-DURU PRESENTATION

ust as issues relating to self determination by Biafrans have refused to rest, so are issues surrounding the annulment of June 12 by the Ibrahim Babangida regime. The June 12 election seems a case that may outlive this generation and beyond as people who fought for its deannulment have refused to let the matter find rest just as the winner of that election has. The fact remains that for as long as Nigeria maintains the staus quo of sweeping matters under the carpet rather than addressing them, genuine agitators in the struggles, would remain committed to ensuring justice is done. This was the case last weekend as there were eloquent literary agitations for the attainment of justice during the presentation of the book titled ‘June 12 Election: Campaign For Democracy and the Implosion of the Nigerian Left’ written by a lawyer and former student activist, Onyeisi Chiemeke, held at the School of Science Auditorium of the Federal College of Education Technical, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos. Onyeisi Chiemeke who was active in the process after the annulment of June 12 election said the principal organisation that stood for the deannulment of that election was Campaign For Democracy adding that after everything that transpired, he decided to publish the book to help clear every misconception or misrepresentation on the matter.

R-L; John Odah,Chairman of the occassion;Barrister Onyeisi Chiemeke;The Author;Chief Emmanuel Ejiofor,The Onishe of Ubulu-Uku Kingdom;Mrs Tina Okonkwo[Osodieli];Mrs Patricia Chiemeke;wife of Author and Mr Frank Oshanugor,Publisher of the Book at the event. PHOTO;AKEEM SALAU

as Socrates, Plato etc, stressing that if Nigeria offers a liberal environment for scholars like Chiemeke, we would surely expect more intellectual contributions towards developing our sociopoiltical space. He noted that the various chapters of the book attest to Chiemeke’s deep passion for intellectualism having made reference to so many existing works relating to the topic he discussed in the book. In his review, Dr Chijioke Uwasomba of Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife, said Chiemeke’s book contains details of the intrigues and other negative activities that characterized

Memories of June 12 ressurects in Lagos He expressed optimism that his book though will be offensive to many, is going to also generate further debate which definitely would result into Nigerians thinking of

The book is a frank and undiluted account of the crisis of the Campaign for Democracy and how it lost a golden opportunity to use the June 12 struggle to galvanise Nigerians

moving forward. “There must be a need for reingeneering so that we can make progress. I don’t want the government to feel my impact because we are not advocating for reform. We are advocating for a fundamental change in the way and manner that the Nigerian society is being run. And that fundamental change must address the question of income distribution and production processes, who gets what and how does the person get what?” He said. Publisher of the book and Managing Director, Jesonia Communicatins ltd, Mr Frank Oshanugor who expressed joy associating with the author for his intellectual prowess said, the author follows the pattern of ancient philosophers such

the June 12 struggle and made it impossible for the realization of the mandate. He described the book as “A frank and undiluted account of the crisis of the Campaign for Democracy and how it lost a golden opportunity to use the June 12 struggle to galvanise Nigerians with a view to changing the country fundamentally, but it allowed all manner of antediluvian tendencies to negate the struggle. The book also harps on the problems of the Nigerian Left which include sectarianism, lime-light seeking, ethnicity and all other I know-it- all-syndrome that have bedraggled the Nigerian Left and made it unattractive in the whole struggle for the emancipation

Stakeholders advocate for more women in visual arts By ELIZABETH UWANDU ISSUES

ne of the raging issue now is the pivotal role women play in almost all areas of life. Women are seen in all areas of life, business, civil service, teaching etc, but there seems to be a dearth of women in the arts sector. Why is it so, does the culture forbid them or what, this was the reason why Art Forum Africa (AFA), a new platform that runs online publication, and organises forum for discourse on matters that concerns artists, curators, collectors, the government and others involved in arts in Africa gathered stakeholders in the arts industry to discourse on the topic, “Where are the women in the visual arts? In his opening remarks, Bukola Oyebode, co-founder of AFA, said the ratio of male to female representation in the visual arts is small, hence the question of ‘ Where are the women in visual art? Speaking further, Oyebode said, “I believe this forum will garner some solution on the discussion. Take for instance,they are more men in the hall than women ,and in terms of representation via publicity, galleries and functions, the ratio of male to female is small.

Presenting the panellists which included Peju Alatise, a renowned artist and architect based in Lagos ; Azu Nwabogu, Executive Director, African Artists’s Foundation, with Ugonma Adegoke, an independent Curator and Creative Director, The Life House and Zebra Living; Wana Udobang, Co-founder AFA, and moderator of the discussion; in her remark, said, “ It is important that women are not written out of the historical narrative in virtual arts. It would be doing our future and the future of emerging artists a great disservice. The arts are about story-telling and this also means that we will experience the dangers of shutting our diverse narratives.” Udobang added that recurring research on artists’ representation in galleries and at art sales show that women are less visible in the art scene, Highlights of the discussion on why women are often not

The issue of women representation is most times tied to gender issue that cuts across global circle occasion by the culture they live in

• The panellists at the forum accorded recognition in the virtual arts circle, by the discussants included issues such as- culture being a key part in the imbalance of women representation, absent of mentorship for the younger and upcoming artists, lack of arts education via imbalance in the syllabus structure, lack of proper documentation of artists. Others issues raised were: issue of corruption and politics in the industry; absent of creative niche by some female artists and above all the issue of gender and subordination. Reflecting on ways to improve the statusquo of women representation in arts generally,Alatise, whose works reflect a strong focus of the significant and power of womanhood, said the issue of women representation is most times tied to gender issue that cuts across global circle occasion by the culture they live in. However, she advised women to push forward in their words. Her words, “Ability to push yourself is not a gender

issue; ability is about yourself ; addressing it needs specific manner.” Giving tips on improvement, Alatise said Mentorship and education are few ways to address f e m a l e representation in arts,” Mentorship is important for female artists to be themselves by learning from other female artists who had made name.” On education, the Lagos based artist said, the educational system needs to be revamped to address the question of choice of study for secondary schools students who are most times too young to decide what line of study they want at the senior secondary level. Collaborating Alatise suggestions, Laju Olayinwola, an art historian at the University of Lagos: and a member of the audience, “Mentorship is very important and this drives us to the issue of documentation. It is so important that we know the history of arts, the challenges artists faced especially female ones who achieved feats in their time.” Olayinwola also advocated a support system for students after secondary school who wished to make arts a career.

of the Nigerian people from the clutches of imperialism, underdevelopment and antidemocratic tendencies.” Former Secretary General of the Nigerian Labour Congress Comrade John Odah who was Chairman of the occasion noted that what the author did was to completely unmask pretenders in the actualisation of June 12. Its like throwing a literary bomb into Nigeria. His people must be proud of a their son who is forthright, and patriotic. If you read the book, you feel like carrying a cutlass and matcheting the next governor or minister or House of Representative person you see. He regretted that “Today those who fought for installation of democracy are relegated to the back stage while those who collaborated with the military are the ones who are celebrated.”

Etisalat Prize for Lit shortlist announced By JAPHET ALAKAM LITERATURE

hree finalists have been announced as the three shortlisted authors for the 2015 Etisalat Prize for Literature and sadly, no Nigerian author made the list. The authors that made the list include; Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Penny Busetto and Rehana Rossouw. The Etisalat Prize for Literature is the first pan-African Prize that is open solely to debut fiction writers from African countries. Now in its third year, it is acknowledged as the most prestigious literary prize for African fiction. The three books, selected from the longlist of nine, are: Penny Busetto (South Africa) - The Story of Anna P, as Told by Herself (Jacana Media); Rehana Rossouw (South Africa) - What Will People Say? (Jacana Media) The shortlist was selected by a three-member judging panel: Professor Ato Quayson, Professor of English and inaugural Director of the Centre for Diaspora Studies at the University of Toronto (Chair of Judges); Molara Wood, writer, journalist, critic and editor; and Zukiswa Wanner, author of Men of the South and London Cape Town Joburg. Chair of judges, Professor Ato Quayson, comments: “The variety of styles and subject matter of the books on this year’s Etisalat Prize for Literature shortlist reveal the vitality of contemporary African literature. They contribute to our understanding of what it is to love, to laugh, to improvise, sometimes to despair, to know and yet be fooled by the assurance of such knowledge, to work for our ablution in the fate of another ’s suffering, and ultimately to embrace life in all its bewildering complexities.” Zukiswa Wanner adds: “This year’s Etisalat Prize for Literature shortlist showcases the varied voices emerging on the African literary scene, bringing something beautiful and unique.

SUNDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015 —45

Abia Warriors unveil Boboye as new manager

BIA Warriors Football Club of Umuahia have unveiled the immediate past Chief Coach of Sunshine Stars of Akure, Kennedy Boboye as its new Manager. The 37-year-Old former U-23 star was unveiled in Umuahia to the club’s fans and well wishers in a ceremony that attracted who is who in sports in Abia State. Boboye, who was accompanied to the occasion by his manager, Idika Okoro, is coming to Umuahia having led Sunshine Stars to a 6th finish in last season’s league and missed a continental ticket by whiskers. He replaces former Flying Eagles tactician, Isa Ladan Bosso, who led Abia Warriors in its first two Premier Seasons.

continued from B/P against Sunderland. The 37-year-old’s attendance at Stamford Bridge comes after Montreal Impact denied speculation that he had been contacted regarding a return to the club. On their Twitter account, Montreal posted: ‘The rumour about Didier Drogba is unfounded. No contact has been made with the club or him.’ Drogba scored 12 goals in

continued from B/P that has been lacking from team for most of this season – and having gone 3-0 up just after half-time looked on course for a comfortable victory. But then Sunderland scored and those old nerves crept in alongside a sense of uncertainly. José Mourinho may have gone but the champions puzzling problems remain. Mourinho spent the day at the Amex Arena watching Middlesbrough, managed by his former assistant at Real Madrid, Aitor Karanka, record a 3-0 win against Brighton but will no doubt having been keeping tabs on events here and one can only imagine how he reacted upon hearing Chelsea had scored twice inside 13 minutes, through Branislav Ivanovic and Pedro, and deserved to lead by more come the half-time whistle. The word” betrayal” may well have been used again. The fury was also felt here by the home spectators, who as well as chanting Mourinho’s name during this contest also held aloft a C M Y K

Ibe hails Klopp’s fatherly figure L IVERPOOL youngster Jordon Ibe has described Jurgen Klopp as a ‘cool father figure’ who ‘understands’ the club’s players, young and old alike. The 20-year-old has become an important member of the first team at Anfield, particularly since the arrival of Klopp in October, and Ibe is delighted with the trust shown in him over the past two months. “One on one, he’s really good. He’s building relationships. The older players, you can see the respect they have for him. With the younger ones like me he’s a father figure. He’s cool, you know. He understands,” Ibe told The Independent. “On the pitch you don’t feel any pressure. It’s the freedom he gives you, letting you get on with what you need to do, just making sure you work hard at the same time. From the youngest player to the oldest player in the team, he’s given them freedom. “The thing that’s in his heart is the work off the ball:

•YOUR SHIRT...Abia Warriors boss, Chief Emeka Inyama (l) unveils club’s new managr, Kennedy Boboye. man they had monitored Chief Inyama, who In his speech, the and admired for a long time Chairman of Abia Warriors because of his technical commended the State Football Club, Chief qualities and hoped he Governor, Dr Okezie Emeka Inyama said the would bring his experience Ikpeazu for his relentless support to Abia Warriors, club was happy to grab a to bear. lamented that Bosso could not meet the club’s target charge of Chelsea in 2009. of picking at least a Just last month, Drogba continental ticket in the two 14 matches for Montreal after signing with the MLS admitted that he has an seasons he held sway, club in July following the agreement to return to adding that the club has end of his second spell at Chelsea once he finishes accepted his resignation and wished him well in his his playing career. Chelsea. Speaking to BBC Africa, future endeavours. The Ivory Coast international enjoyed much he said: ‘I want to give back success at Chelsea, to the club which has given winning four Premier so much to me. I have continued from B/P League titles, four FA cups, agreed that with the club dressing-room after another three League Cups and directors. hit them on the counter‘Why not manager? Why attack to lift The Canaries desperately disappointing the Champions League in not sporting director, out of the bottom three performance and result. 2012. The United manager had Drogba has played under trainer at the academy or despite a consolation strike plumped for experience for Hiddink before when the maybe an advising role for by Anthony Martial. a match he had to win. Dutchman took interim strikers?’ After a week that saw Van Ashley Young, Phil Jones, Gaal’s managerial prodigy Chris Smalling and Daley Jose Mourinho sacked by Matic driving them on from Chelsea, there is now huge Blind made up the back range of banners declaring midfield and Willian, Oscar pressure on the 64-year-old line with the raw defensive trio Guillermo Varela, their love for their former and Pedro a blur of Dutchman whose side Cameron Borthwickleader and disgust with the movement behind the more failed to register a shot on Jackson and Paddy attitude of those in blue. focused Costa. target until Martial’s goal McNair all returned to the But then came Fabio after 66 minutes. Cesc Fàbregas and Diego bench after defeats in Costa’s names were booed Borini’s 53th- minute strike When the Stretford End and prior to kick-off and then after Thibaut Courtois had chant for substitute Ander Wolfsburg Bournemouth. failed to properly deal with after Pedro had scored came Herrera and greet his Up top Rooney returned the first chant of “Where Younès Kaboul’s close- introduction as if it was Eric from a dodgy ankle to play range header and where you when we were Cantona or George Best at centre-forward. To try and shit?” from every corner of suddenly Sunderland were running onto the pitch, you put him in the mood, the back in the game. Borini, know United are in trouble. this stadium. It was poisonous stuff and who had come on as a half- And there were as many skipper was presented with a shield by Sir Bobby extremely strange as a time substitute, almost boos as encouraging Charlton before kick off to group of spectators became scored again on 56 minutes support for Van Gaal as he increasingly irritated by the before the excellent trudged his way to the mark becoming the 10th player in United’s history sight of their team playing Duncan Watmore almost capitialised after more well. It was also something I fear for my job for Guus Hiddink to mull uncertainly from Courtois. Assistant coach Steve over as he watched continued from B/P minutes merely a alongside Roman Holland, who was in consolation as the home Abramovich, and Didier charge for this match, made performances and results, side huffed and puffed Drogba, in the Russian two changes to the team that Van Gaal responded: “It’s before a disgruntled home owner’s box having been lost at Leicester on not up to me to say about support. “I am always confirmed Chelsea’s Monday, with Fàbregas that question, but we shall evaluating myself because interim manager for a coming in for Ramires and, see. Yes of course I am worried I think that is an aspect of second time in six years more notably, Pedro starting the philosophy I have,” he earlier in the day. The in place of Eden Hazard. about that because I know said. “But the philosophy that belief in a manager is Dutchman will now be That hip injury was real very important, and when is also making an evolution aware he is stepping into a after all. - I am not the same coach I Sam Allardyce made three you lose the games you was 25 years ago. “So, you club at war with itself but no doubt he will have taken changes to his Sunderland play then the belief in a are always evaluating and encouragement by the way team with Kaboul returning manager shall decrease.” Cameron Jerome (38) of course that philosophy is they performed up until the from injury. Jack Rodwell and Alexander Tettey (54) very important for me. moment Oscar scored via a and Jermain Defoe also Because of that I am - or 50th minute penalty. The started in the manager’s scored either side of half- maybe I have to say now, time with Anthony hosts were excellent, with now favoured 3-5-2 Martial’s goal on 66 was - a very successful Fàbregas and Nemanja formation. manager.”

Drogba

Van Gaal

Chelsea

winning tackles. Say I might lose the ball four times, I won’t hear anything from him, unless I don’t work to get it back. “Before, I used to build up a lot of pressure inside myself but now I feel cool. I’d like to score more, but first and foremost, it’s the team that matters. We can change things around and do better. We can make history. The manager, he helps make us believe.” Ibe has netted twice in 20 appearances in all competitions for Liverpool this campaign, but has yet to score his first Premier League goal in 2015-16.

•Ibe and Klopp to reach 500 games. After missing the last three games, he did look as if he could use the minutes on the pitch to get matchshape. He did actually put the ball into the net after a bright opening but was offside as he turned in Juan Mata’s pass. It was downhill after that.

Obagoal continued from B/P American following the issuance of a Green Card to the ex-Inter Milan forward. Nigeria allows for dual citizenship and this is also good news for Seattle Sounders, who could now sign another foreign player in place of Martins. Obafemi Martins obtained the Green Card at some point this year and this was confirmed when the Major League Soccer (MLS) released the roster update for all the 20 MLS teams and listed Martins as a home player. Sounders may benefit more in cases like that of ‘Oba’ as Jamaicans, Oniel Fisher and Damion Lowe, who have spent several years as students and professionals in the US could obtain Green Cards soon. MLS clubs are allowed to have eight foreign nationals.

46 — S UNDAY Vanguard Vanguard,, DECEMBER 20 , 2015

Nigerian Boxing is going places with Gotv M

R. Jenkins Alumona, Managing Director/CEO of Flykite Productions, promoters of GOtv Boxing Night, explains how the event has brought Nigerian boxing back from the dead How well would you say GOtv Boxing Night has done in meeting the objectives for which it was conceived? That we are having an African title fight at the fifth edition of GOtv Boxing Night is indicative of the fact that the growth of the sport, which is the objective of GOtv Boxing Night, is being realised. And were it not for time and other logistical considerations, we could easily have two African title fights on the same night. Over the last one year of GOtv Boxing Night we have produced boxing superstars locally. These include Olaide Fijabi, Skoro and Oto Joseph. We are still not where we aim to be, but we have made genuine progress. Amateur boxers are now keener to turn pro because GOtv Boxing Night offers them the platform to get fights on a regular basis, something that was no there before. By next year with the Olympics and world championships, we are certain to have many more amateur boxers turn pro and take the opportunity being provided by what we are doing. It is why why we are having GOtv Boxing regularly. The MultiChoice representative, Martin Mabutho, told the press that the competition will hold regularly and assured that there would be five to six editions of it next year. I think the contribution of GOtv towards the development of boxing in Nigeria will rekindle the desire of other boxing promoters to come and promote more boxing competitions. Given how good initiatives fizzle out in Nigeria, did you see GOtv Boxing Night lasting this long when you were starting out? A: I sure did. When I spoke to the management of GOtv, headline sponsors of the competition, they told me they wanted a long-term relationship with Nigerian boxing. Their position was that it should be developmental in nature, with an intention to grow the sport. I also had the benefit of having interacted with boxers at the professional and amateur levels. That familiarity made it clear to me that there is a wide pool of amateur boxers seeking opportunity to turn pro, but were being held back by a paucity of fights. Do not forget that I was a sports journalist and I covered boxing early in my career. GOtv Boxing Night was conceived to by GOtv to give back to its large number of subscribers and help grow the sport in Nigeria, just as they want to contribute to the growth of the country in general. Initiatives like this gulp a lot of money. Can an investor in this type of project make money from what he has invested? Why not? But you must have a C M Y K

Mr. Jenkins Alumona MD/CEO Flykite Productions

the level we wanted. Then, we saw that the lights in the arena weren’t functioning properly, which we couldn’t blame the stadium management for because they hadn’t been used for a long time. What we did was to get good lightning. The boxers also provided a challenge. We saw that some had become rusty because they hadn’t fought for a long time. But we got around those challenges and we are still in the process of raising a new breed of pro boxers from the amateur ranks. Some of them made their pro debuts at GOtv Boxing Night. Fijabi, Eribo and Otto Joseph are examples. The challenges will always be there but we are happy that we have been improving on quality. For instance we intend to make the next competition on Boxing Day a family-friendly event. We expect parents to come with their kids and they are assured of maximum security, which has always top-notch at every edition of the boxing competition. We take security very seriously and thankfully, one of our partners is the leading private security company in Nigeria. Also, we have gifts for all the kids coming

have to take their training very seriously through whatever means they can. Flykite has financially assisted ex-boxers and one wonders what that is about since the focus is on active. It is obvious that some of the retired boxing heroes need help and that is why we honour those who have attended the competition by giving them a percentage of the gate-takings. We are grateful to the Chairman of MultiChoice, Mr. Adewunmi Ogunsanya, for his support. He can be rightly described as the number one supporter of boxing in Nigeria. He also provided a trophy, along with cash prize of N1million for the best boxer of the night. The prize money has been increased to N1.5million and that is what will be giving out on Boxing Day. It is just to help the boxers. Big sums are spent in the organisation of this event, yet you charge so little at the gate. Why? It is because we want to grow the sport and bring back the fans. The fact that we’re in the fifth edition is some encouragement. We do not want to scare the

solid plan and a solid team to recoup your investment down the line. GOtv is already recouping its investments because the public is starting to associate it with professional boxing. This also extends to the continent, where the event is shown live in 47 countries. When people think of professional boxing now, they think of GOtv. So they are starting to recoup their investments. The GOtv brand is already benefitting from that relationship. For us at Flykyte Productions, we are satisfied that our efforts are being rewarded and people are appreciating what we are doing. Financially, we are of the belief that as the sport grows, we can get more people on board beyond

SUCKER PUNCH . . . Otto “Joe Boy” Joseph (right) delivers a right punch to the face of Kehinde “Ijoba” Badmu during their six -round lightweight challenge bout

The challenges will always be there but we are happy that we have been improving on quality. For instance we intend to make the next competition on Boxing Day a family-friendly event

GOtv and also to partner with GOtv and then, perhaps, we may have our financial compensation or benefits. What did you think you needed to change when you were kicking off? We saw a dire lack of organisation. If you are putting something live on the television, the quality has to be high in terms of organisation, getting the logistics right, including the quality of the ring, refereeing, etc. We also saw that the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control needed to raise standards in terms of training the referees. Successfully confronting these challenges has raised standards. Another problem we identified was the venue for the competition. The Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, where we use hadn’t been used for a long time. So, we needed to get the place ready to

to watch the boxing competition. We look forward to having a great evening of fun and sport. We always arrange, our own power sources other than that provided by the stadium management. As part of your developmental approach, are there plans to invest in training facilities for the boxers? I can say for certain that Flykite Productions has a plan to provide training facilities for boxers as a means of encouraging them. We don’t expect the sponsors to necessarily do that, but GOtv might be interested in contributing to such cause anyway. But I don’t think it is incumbent upon GOtv to do so because the boxers belong to different camps and I know they have training facilities in their various camps. It’s professional boxing and the boxers themselves are professionals, who know they

average boxing fan away by charging heavily. People pay N200 for the regular tickets but they get gifts, if they come early, worth more than five times the amount they pay to get in. The people who come to the Vip section pay N1000 and get gift items that are worth double if not triple of such. We we are not unaware of that, but we think we need to grow the sport gradually to the stage where we can now charge something at par with the value of entertainment they get. You attend with N200 and get a decoder worth N5000. That’s part of it; it’s part of growing the sport and that’s why I said at the start that GOtv takes a developmental attitude towards the sport of boxing and they underwrite the losses in terms of what the gate takings are.

SUNDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015 — 47

Ighalo not for sale — Watford manager

Platini blasts FIFA ethics committee

USPENDED European soc cer chief Michel Platini has accused a FIFA ethics committee of denying him a fair hearing on the corruption allegations against him and finding him guilty in advance. Platini declined to attend a meeting of the ethics committee on Friday, instead sending a statement which was read out by his lawyer and released to the media on Saturday. “I decided not to come before you to present my explanations in person. For one reason, and Hello Loneliness...Jose Mourinho talks on the phone one only: I’ve already been Stadium watching Brighton host Middlesbrough judged, I’ve already been found guilty,” the former French midfielder and head of European soccer body UEFA said. Platini was the favourite to reIEGO Costa and Cesc Chelsea fans were singing his place Sepp Blatter as head of Fàbregas were booed by name when Branislav Ivanovworld governing body FIFA but Chelsea fans before the match ic scored the opening goal afhas himself become mired in the against Sunderland at Stam- ter five minutes. corruption scandal engulfing the ford Bridge. Costa and Fàbregas were sport, in which dozens of former The perceived involvement booed again when they were top officials and marketing execof the Spanish pair in the de- substituted in the second half, utives have been indicted by U.S. parture of José Mourinho with Costa walking straight authorities. prompted many home fans to down the tunnel after being He himself has not been jeer when their names were replaced by Loic Remy. charged, but FIFA is investigatannounced in the starting John Terry offered words of ing him and Blatter, who is also line-up. One banner described support for Fabregas and Cossuspended, over a 2 million Fàbregas, Costa and Eden ta. Swiss francs ($1.97 million) transHazard as “the three rats”. “I think all of us are in this fer from FIFA to Platini in 2011. There was considerable sup- position, not just one or two Both men say it was a legitimate port for Mourinho in the form individuals,” said the Chelsea payment for work the Frenchman of T-shirts, banners, face captain. had done. masks and chants: the In the statement read by his lawyer, Platini said a series of comments by FIFA officials, including anonymous briefings to the press, had made clear that the ethics committee had already determined his guilt. ORMER Super Eagles the absence of coach Sunday “I no longer have confidence winger and assistant coach Oliseh. in the disciplinary bodies of FIFA. The team has been training They have shown their bias, their of the Super Eagles B team since December 14 in Abuja has expressed confidence that prejudices, their inability to rewithout coach Oliseh who is spect confidentiality, the pre- the team’s preparation for the still recovering from undissumption of innocence and the CAF African Nations Champi- closed illness. But Babaginda onships will not suffer due to rights of the defence,” he said. stated that Oliseh was not being missed in camp as the players psyche up for the tournament billed to start January 16 in Rwanda. “I want to assure Nigerians

in the stands at the Amex

Chelsea fans boo ‘3 Rats’ D

“We are all in the position because one or two have performed and the rest haven’t unfortunately. “But that’s in past and we have to move on and start winning football matches and Chelsea need to be a lot higher than we are.”. Terry acknowledged the supporters are right to be frustrated by the club’s situation and need to be won over. “Chelsea is such a big club we’re not used to being here the last 10 years we’ve had a lot of good times,” he added.

ATFORD manager Quique Sanchez Flores has said he does not expect Nigeria international Odion Ighalo and strike partner Troy Deeney to leave the club in January. The former Nigeria U20 captain has netted 10 goals in the EPL, while Deeney has scored five goals. “With Ighalo and Deeney, my expectation for sure is we are going to keep them,” Flores declared. “From the meetings I have had with the owners, we have not talked about the possibility of these players leaving in the middle of the season.” Before the start of the season, Ighalo, 26, turned down a “crazy” offer to move to China. Watford, who are seventh on the table on their return to the English top flight, will play Liverpool today in continuation of the EPL.

Ranieri plays down Leicester title chances

CHAN: Training progressing without Oliseh — Babaginda that the players are coping

very well in camp. The absence of the Chief Coach has not, in anyway, affected the training and other preparation for CHAN. “Nothing much is missing. In fact, we are just going about the business in camp as if Oliseh is here with us. On a regular basis, Oliseh himself has been talking with the players. I want to say that we are not missing him at all.”

Etebo shuns Tunisia move

Etebo...Sticking to Warri Wolves C M Y K

ATIONAL Under-23 team striker, Oghenekaro Etebo has rejected links to a Tunisian clubside believed to have made a bid of $1.2 million for the Warri Wolves striker. Etebo, who played a crucial role in Nigeria’s qualification for the 2016 Olympics and the AFCON U-23 win in Senegal said he only read about the move in the media. “I have read about different deals in the dalies and on the internet. But I want to keep it straight that I’m willing to stay here in Warri to help Wolves

do well at the Champions League and also impress at the 2016 Olympics.” It was gathered that Warri Wolves on the hand are eager to sell the player and have placed a $2m price tag on the player. There are now several young Nigeria stars featuring in Tunisia – Emem Eduok, Bernard Bulbwa (Esperance), Junior Ajayi, Kingsley Sokari (CS Sfaxien) – which could be a better gateway to a career in Europe Egyptian double champions Zamalek are also reportedly on the hot chase of Etebo.

Ranieri... On cloud nine Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri insists he will not start thinking about his side’s Barclays Premier League title chances until April despite a 3-2 win at Everton ensuring they will be top for Christmas. Five of the last six teams to top the table on December 25 went on to become champions and despite the Foxes’ unlikely stay at the top, Ranieri is not getting carried away. Riyad Mahrez scored a penalty in each half to make it 2-1 after Romelu Lukaku’s eighth goal in as many matches briefly equalised but Shinji Okazaki added the third and Kevin Mirallas’ late strike could not force a draw. “I am very, very honest. If we stay there at the end of April, I will think about the title. Now I just enjoy it,” the Italian said. “That is football. Football is crazy. If it is crazy in this way, I am very happy.”

SUNDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 20, 2015

Van Gaal’s Man Utd suffer another shock defeat L

OUIS van Gaal and Manchester United slumped to their sixth game without a win as

Norwich City scored a famous victory at Old Trafford on Wayne Rooney’s 500th game for

the home side. United dropped out of the Champions League places as Cameron Jerome and Alex Tettey Continues Page 45

Drogba returns to Stamford Bridge

ORMER Chelsea star Didier Drogba joined new interim boss Guus Hiddink in Roman Abramovich’s Stamford Bridge box yesterday. Drogba, who now plays for MLS side Montreal Impact, is currently enjoying his off-season break and sat in between Hiddink and Abramovich for the match Continues Page 45

RESULTS

CONTEST . . . John Obi Mikel (L) was among the Blues players who turned the hand of the clock with a 3-1 victory over Sunderland in their first match after the sack of Jose Mourinho. But the fans showed their displeasure with the players with banners calling some ‘rats’ while hailing Mourinho as the Special One. Photo: AFP

Chelsea fans boo their own players in win over Sunderland A

T the end of the week where so much has changed for Chelsea came a display from those in blue which felt somewhat familiar. They soared to an early 2-0 lead with a display brimming with verve and vigour, drive and desire – everything, basically,

Obagoal bags American citizenship Van Gaal: I fear N IGERIA international Obafemi Martins will no longer count as a foreigner for Seattle Sounders as he has been listed as an Continues on Page 45

Continues on Page 45

CROSS WORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1. Governor of Sokoto State (8) 5. Assistant (4) 7. Praise (5) 8. Upright (4) 9. Lantern (4) 11. Tradition (6) 13. Lagos masquerade (3) 15. Exclamation (2) 16. Pig’s nose (5) 18. Agent (3) 20. Glitters (6) 24. Forward (5) 25. Nigerian state (6) 27. Boring tool (3) 29. Ghanaian fabric (5) 31. Perform (2) 32. Oshiomhole’s state (3) 34. U.S. currency (6) 36. Vow (4) 38. Musical quality (4) 39. Inclination (5) 40. Eager (4) 41. Damages (8)

DOWN 1. Sample (5) 2. Niger state town (4) 3. Observe (5) 4. Lecture (6) 5. Everyone (3) 6. Use (6) 10. Inquires (4) 12. Carpet (3) 14. Colour (6) 15. Resistance unit (3) 17. Coax (4) 19. Rollicked (6) 21. Hatchet (3) 22. Satisfied (4) 23. Nigerian state (3) 26. Cry of derision (3) 27 . African country (6) 28. Endure (4) 29. Child (3) 30. Spoke (6) 31. Adorn (5) 33. Baking chambers (5) 35. Asterisk (4) 37. Possessed (3)

See solution on page 5

for my job

OUIS van Gaal has conceded his job is on the line after Manchester United suffered a third straight defeat in losing 2-1 to Norwich City at Old Trafford. United have gone six games without a win - their worst run of form since 1989, a period in time when Sir Alex Ferguson had yet to win a trophy as United manager. They have suffered three successive defeats in all competitions to fall out of the top four, and are nine points behind leaders Leicester City, who enjoyed a 3-2 win at Everton. Van Gaal was asked if his board would continue to accept such a sequence of poor Continues on Page 45

PREMIER LEAGUE Chelsea 3 Everton 2 Man Utd 1 Southampton 0 Stoke City 1 West Brom 1

Sunderland Leicester Norwich Tottenham Crystal Palace Bournemouth

1 3 2 2 2 2

BUNDESLIGA E/Frankfurt FCCologne Hamburger Hannover 96 Ingolstadt

W/Bremen B/Dortmund Augsburg Bayern/Munich B/Leverkusen

1 1 1 1 1

2 2 0 0 0

SCOTLAND - PREMIERSHIP Celtic 1 Motherwell Dundee FC 4 Hamilton Inverness CT 2 Dundee Kilmarnock 0 Aberdeen Partick Thistle 1 Ross County St.Johnstone 0 Hearts

2 0 2 4 0 0

WALES - PREMIER LEAGUE Aberystwyth 4 Bangor City Haverfordwest 0 Airbus UK Broughton Llandudno FC 1 Port Talbot Newtown 4 Carmarthen

0 1 1 1

NORTHERN IRELAND - PREMIERSHIP Ballinamallard 1 Carrick Rangers Ballymena 1 Linfield Dun. Swifts 3 Portadown Glenavon 1 Warrenpoint Town Glentoran 2 Cliftonville

2 3 1 1 0

CYPRUS - 1ST LEAGUE Omonia N. 2 Ethnikos Achnas Pafos FC 0 APOEL Nicosia

1 1

POLAND - EKSTRAKLASA Termalica 0 R/Chorzow

CROATIA - 1ST LEAGUE Dinamo Zag. 1 Inter Zapresic NK Istra 1961 0 Hajduk Split

0 2

ISRAEL - LIGAT HAAL Hapoel Raan. 1 Bnei Sakhnin

AZERBAIJAN - PREMIER LEAGUE Sumqayit 3 Ravan Baku Qarabag FK 1 FK Qabala

3 1

SAUDI ARABIA - PREMIER LEAGUE Al Qadasiya 1 Hajer Al-Faisaly 0 Al Hilal

1 1

AUSTRALIA - HYUNDAI A-LEAGUE Wellington 1 Sydney FC 1 Melbourne FC 2 Melbourne Victory 1 Perth Glory 2 Sydney W. FC 2 EGYPT - PREMIER LEAGUE Ittihad 0 - El Entag El Harby

MOROCCO - BOTOLA PRO OCK 0 MAT Tetouan Difaa 3 Chabab FAR Rabat 2 KAC Kenitra

1 0 1

SOUTH AFRICA - PREMIER LEAGUE Free State 1 Jomo Cosmos Golden Arrows 1 Polokwane City Kaizer Chiefs 2 Bidvest Wits

0 0 1

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