NGF CHAIRMANSHIP SUCCESSION: Govs set for showdown by Vanguard Media Limited

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Catholic Bishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan (l), watches as the Prelate of the Methodist Church, Dr. Ola Makinde, discusses with the wife of the Chief Security Officer to the President, Mrs. Merit Gordon-Obuah, during a reception organised to honour the First Lady at the Banquet Hall, State House, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida.

From right: Former Minister of External Affairs/Guest Lecturer, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, Pro-Chancellor, Pan-African University/Chairman of the Occasion, Dr Christopher Kolade, Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, his wife, Olukemi, and the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Alli Olanusi, at Governor Mimiko’s 2nd term inauguration lecture, titled: ‘Leadership, Democracy and Development: A Paradigm Relationship,’ at the Cultural Centre, in Akure, yesterday.

ABDUCTION OF FOREIGNERS

Security forces close in on kidnappers Intelligence source: ‘They are still inside Bauchi’

BY JIDE AJANI & SUZAN EDEH

ECURITY agencies are on the trail of the abductors of seven foreign construction workers in Jama’re Local Government Area of Bauchi State. In fact, information pieced together by Sunday Vanguard, yesterday, suggested that the abductees were still being warehoused by insurgents inside Bauchi State. As a result of this, there has been increased security presence in some strategic areas of the state. “The kidnappers are still inside Bauchi State and are yet to ferry their victims out. It is this discovery that has created a heightened security presence in the state”, a top security source said. Indeed, a group, Jama’atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladissudan, Ansaru, for short, which translates as Vanguards for the protection of Muslims in black Africa, claimed responsibility. Meanwhile, the security situation in the state, monitored by Sunday Vanguard, revealed

that security agents have mounted many check points around and in the state capital, a development that led to traffic congestion. The police have also commenced a 24-hour stop and search operation with a view to stopping the possible relocation of the victims. Mobile policemen and soldiers were stationed on major h i g h w a y s . Many commuters, who were held up in traffic around Yelwa Road, Wunti, Central Bank Road, Awala Junction, Gombe Road and Wunti Dada Road, expressed frustrations concerning the development. “I am just coming from Abuja, and from Jos to Bauchi Road, the security checks have been hellish for me. At each security checkpoint, I spent nothing less than an hour. In other instances, I spent nothing less than two hours. This is frustrating and, to make matters worse, the weather has been very hot,”a commutter told Sunday Vanguard. But reacting to the situation, the state commissioner of

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police, Mohammed Ladan, said that security had been intensified to forestall any breakdown of law and order. Ladan appealed to members of the public to cooperate with security agents by giving useful information that will lead to the arrest of criminals in the state. The kidnapping of seven foreigners is the biggest of its kind since the insurgency of Islamic militants reared its head in Bauchi State nay the North. It occurred on the 16th of February in Jama’re town, about 200 kilometres north of Bauchi, just as the incident has sent a

signal to foreigners that the North is a dangerous place. The expatriates were kidnapped at a Lebanese construction site in the night. It was learnt that the company for which the foreigners worked was handling a road project that runs from Shuwarin in Jigawa State to Azare in Bauchi State. The Labanese company, Setraco International Holding Group, has its headquarters at the outskirts of Jama’re local government area of Bauchi where the kidnapping took place. In its statement claiming responsibility, the group, on

Twitter, said: “Based on the transgression and atrocities done to the religion of Allah SWT by the European countries in many places such as Afghanistan and Mali, by Allah’s grace, Jama’atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladissudan have the custody of seven persons, which include Lebanese and their European counterparts working with Setraco in Nigeria on the 8th of Rabiul Thani, 1434 equivalent of 7th February, 2013. “It is stressed that any attempt or act contrary to our condition by the European nations or by the Nigerian government will lead to the happenings as it was in the previous attempt.” It was signed by one Abu Usamatal Ansary. The “previous attempt” the group referred was the killing, in Sokoto State, of Franco Lamolinara, an Italian, and Christopher Mcmanus, a Briton, after 10months of abduction last year. Security also heightened, yesterday, as been heightened throughout Bauchi metropolis and at the headquarters of Triacta Nigeria Limited, a construction company handling the Bauchi International Airport. According to a staffer of the company, who pleaded anonymity, security agents had been deployed to the area to protect the expatriates handling the airport project and other workers of the company. “Since the kidnap incident, there has been heavy security at Triacta because most of the people handling the project are foreigners; but work is in progress at the airport. The foreigners are residing somewhere in the state metropolis; I cannot disclose the place for the sake of their security”, the staffer said.

Govs set for showdown Continued from page 1 the body that may hold tomorrow in Abuja.. Late last night, Sunday Vanguard was told by the camp of one of the governors opposed to the incumbent chairman of the forum, Amaechi, who is also the governor of Rivers State, that “if the right thing is not done, some of us are ready to pull out of the NGF in the next meeting. That is given already. And they know.” Upon further enquiry about what the right thing is, Sunday Vanguard was made to understand that the “things which stalled the meeting of last Thursday can be broken down into two: “some of us said ‘give us the score-card, the achievements for the tenure’, which was a legitimate demand and a normal thing to do at the end of the tenure of every executive of any association. “The second demand was that elections should not be by affirmation. Open the space for interested candidates. Let’s conduct this election as it should be. Let there be democracy or even semblance of it. These are our minimum demands. On these grounds, at least 13 of us are speaking

with one voice. This has nothing to do with any rumoured presidential ambition or whatever. “Do we look like people that could be sponsored? At how m u c h ? ” You have a rash, arrogant and overbearing situation in your hand and then you need to be flogged to assert your independence. In NGF we are all equal. Nobody is the boss. ”We were selectively invited to meeting (NGF meeting). At the meeting, the Secretariat claimed they sent out all invitations accordingly. However, when some of us got wind of the meeting, we dashed in to attend. “Even those that got ‘invitations’, election was not on the agenda but suddenly it found its way into the agenda”. However, sources said the basis for the reform which some governors are seeking is embedded in the report of the Governor Raji Fashola Committee. The report of the committee sought to reform the NGF, just as it made some recommendations. Sunday Vanguard gathered that the recommendations, some of which have to do with tenure of office and terms of

office, are yet to be ratified by the body. Meanwhile, some governors are also speaking for the Forum as a body. In two separate interviews, some governors insist that what is happening now could be likened to a storm in a tea c u p . One of them said: “This is not the first time that the NGF would be having issues to resolve. Every time governors face issues that threaten to tear the body apart, we have always found a way to resolve our differences. “This one would not be different. We would find a way to stick together and resolve whatever differences that exist. Mind you, some of the states have never had it so good in terms of revenue accruing to them. “Some of the things people misconstrue to be acts of confrontation with the Presidency on the part of our chairman are products of decisions collectively taken by all of us and agreed to”. Of importance in this tango is the cold water being poured on the on-going good gover nance tour, a project reportedly instituted by the NGF but which some governors are now dissociating themselves from.

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SINGLE TERM AGREEMENT CONTROVERSY

Kalu, Ribadu, Saraki, el-Rufai, Ajumogobia, Obanikoro, 200 others, float new group BY JIDE AJANI

T a time when the controversy sparked by last weekend’s disclosure that President Goodluck Jonathan allegedly entered into an agreement

Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State (left), during a visit to Chief Emeka Anyaoku (right) at his country home, Obosi, Anambra State, yesterday.

with some state governors to spend just a term of four years in office is still creating ripples, over 200 political heavyweights in the country have teamed up to form a new political group. The group started out as G-37. At the weekend, Sunday Vanguard was reliably informed in telephone conversation with one of

the conveners that the group, which “seeks to set itself apart from the fray of merger and needless sundry confrontation, would fashion a new path to Nigeria’s glory”. Yet to come up with a formal name, the group is said to have been holding meetings and consultations as a nonpartisan political organisation with the aim of instituting good governance in the country. Former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, is said to be the arrowhead of the group. Five formal meetings of the group have been held while “a plethora of consultations are going on across the six geo-political zones of the country ”, a source based in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja said. At the group’s last meeting on Wednesday, February 20, 2013, “it was a packed house as scores of politicians were in attendance.” The meeting was held in Maitama, Abuja. Among those in attendance were Senator Gbemisola Saraki, who is the vice chairman of the group, Basorun Akin Osuntokun, the secretary; a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu; one time minister, Odein Ajumogobia, SAN; a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olabode George;

Ambassador Fati Abubakar; Nigeria’s former High Commissioner to Ghana, Ambassador Musiliu Obanikoro; a former Minister of Aviation in the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode; and Chris Uche, SAN. A member of the group told Sunday Vanguard that the main focus of the group is unity. “At a time that Nigeria’s centenary is here, we need to first of all ensure that we are united as a people before politics comes in”, the member said. “The way the country is going”, he continued, “gives cause for concern because we can only play politics when there is peace and unity”. The group already has committees put in place to ensure a synergy of purpose. Some of the committees include Mobilisation, chaired by Fani-Kayode, with Senator Grace Bent as deputy; the Finance Committee, chaired by Fafa Dan Princewill; Media, chaired Senator Emmanuel Onwe, with Prof. Mahmud Jega as vice chairman; while Nuhu Ribaud heads the Committee on Strategy and Research. Some other members of the group include Lawal Shuaibu; human rights activist, Uba Sani; Senator Umar Argungu; Olusegun Awolowo; and Hon. Uche Ekwunife.

Why Nigeria, Libya, Angola, others remain oil, gas destination, by Avuru BY ADEOLA ADENUGA

HE managing director of Seplat P e t r o l e u m Development Company, Austin Avuru, has described West Africa as a prime petroleum province in the world. Avuru made the submission in London in a paper he presented at the just concluded International Petroleum Week 2013 organized by the Energy Institute. To buttress his point, Avuru pointed to the fact that “Africa’s contribution to world reserves has increased from 7.0 per cent in 1995 to 8 per cent in 2011 with estimated 2.8% of world oil (68 bn barrels) in Sub-Saharan Africa and 44 bn barrels of those in the Gulf of Guinea.” He also highlighted growing reserves in Libya, Nigeria and Angola while noting that it is a “trend likely to continue with new discoveries announced in Ghana, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Mozambique, and Uganda in 2011.” Highlighting the strategic position of West Africa in the global petroleum game, Avuru noted that West African

countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Cote D’ Ivoire, Cameroun, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Chad have cumulative oil reserves of over 60bbls of oil and over 208 tcf of gas making them a key resource base for oil and gas exploration with potential for significant spikes in reserves. Taking a broad view, the Seplat boss, noted that oil and gas activity on the continent extends from Mauritania to Angola with Nigeria and Angola accounting for the lion share, an impressive 80% of the total sub-region’s reserves as at January 2012. New production countries have also joined the big players following the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in Chad, Ghana,Cote D’ivoire, Liberia, Mauritania. As if to dispel the cynicism of naysayers, he noted that the potential for growth remains high while explaining that latest findings indicate that future growth will come from West Africa because since 2007, West Africa has seen more success in exploration than other regions of the world – making it attractive for investment.

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Corruption is Nigeria’s biggest problem — Akinyemi

•2nd term: ‘Mimiko will be under pressure’ BY DAYO JOHNSON, Akure

From left: Wally Jiang (WESTCH, China) Nebojsa Nakicenovic, International Institute for Applied Systems Anaylsis, Gernot Grimm, Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology, Austria, Simon BransfieldGarth, Azuri Techologies, SUSTAINIA, James E. Rogers, Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership, Paul Odili ( Representing Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan), Delta State, Walter Koren, Austrian Economic Chambers at the Vienna R20 Conference on Sustainable Energy Future.

Chief Executive officer, Sapele Power Plc, Engr Reginald Ifionu (left); Company Secretary, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Ltd, Mr Isaiah Odeleye; and Managing Director, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Limited, Mr Austin Avuru, during the signing of Transaction and Industry agreements for PHCN successor companies in Abuja.

Osoba, Ogbeh head APC constitution, manifesto committees BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU & GABRIEL EWEPU, Abuja

NE time National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Chief Audu Ogbeh, and the former governor of Ogun State, Aremo Segun Osoba, have been appointed by the All Progressives Party, APC, to head the drafting of manifesto and constitution of the mega party. Chief Tom Ikimi, who read the names and terms of reference of some committees after a meeting in Abuja, yesterday, said that chairmen of the four political parties that are merging agreed and arrived at the names of the committee members. The constitution committee, headed by Osoba, Chief Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba as secretary and Niyi Adebayo, Chris Ngige, John Oyegun, Akpan Udoedehe as members, among others, was mandated to examine the constitution of the merging partners in detail, analyze them, examine political party constitutions from successful democracies with a view to adopting some suitable

provisions. The manifesto committee, with Ogbeh as chairman, Senator Hadi Sirika as secretary and Dr. Usman Bugaje, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chief Achike Udenwa, Alhaji Ibrahim Gaida, Prof. Tam David-West, Osita Okechukwu, among others as members, was saddled with the responsibility of working out sound methods for job creation including mass housing and agriculture. The committee was mandated to pay special attention to power supply, agriculture, transportation, health, housing, industrial growth and how to tackle corruption headlong. The INEC/legal and constitution compliance committee, which has Mr. James Ocholi, SAN, as chairman, has Gorge, Governor Kashim Ibrahim Shetima, Ahmed Yerima, Okoi Obono-Obla, Celestine Omeha, Martin Agbaso as some of its members, is to determine and examine all legal issues related to the process of merger of the political parties. The committee is also expected to provide guidelines to all the parties involved in the merger which will ensure full compliance with all rele-

vant laws by all the parties, liaise with INEC and all other relevant agencies to ensure a smooth consummation of the merger and to document all understanding and or agreements among the merging parties.

FORMER External Affairs Minister, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, yesterday, fingered corruption as Nigeria’s biggest problem. According to him, “No one can be a billionaire in this present Nigeria without being corrupt. ”To be a millionaire is still alright but if you are a billionaire, you are corrupt and that means you are cutting corners”. Akinyemi spoke in Akure at a lecture, to herald the inauguration, today, of Governor Olusegun Mimiko for second term entitled, Leadership, Democracy and Development; A paradigm relationship of Governor Olusegun Mimiko second term in office. He lamented that in Nigeria of today there are no more values to hold on to unlike in the 60s. ”Parents not only encourage their children to cheat to beat the system, they aid and abet the children in the nefarious activities,”the former minister said. ”Akinyemi continued: No one believes anymore in the concept of society. ”In my youth, to be accused of theft or any other criminal offence was tantamount to being banished from society. ”To be convicted was tantamount to suicide. But now no one asks for the source of the wealth. ”People in jail,accused of murder, run for and win elections. More than a

score of members of the Nigerian Senate have EFCC court cases against them. ”Only in Nigeria do you steal billions and escape with less than a million naira fine. ”To move forward, the political elite must make a conscious effort to arrive at a consensus that will be the outcome of negotiation, give and take,compromises. ” The system to be put in place should not reflect temporary advantages secured through a temporary monopoly of power. He asked Mimiko to maintain the tempo of developmental projects put up by his administration in the last four years. The lecturer, who insisted that the governor must score Grade A during his second term, con-

gratulated him for his encouraging achievements in his first term in office and charged him not to relent on his oars. ”At the same time, I commiserate and feel sorry for him because having set such high standards of achievements, he is going to be under considerable pressure to maintain that high level of achievements for second term.,”Akinyemi stated. ”Now that Governor Mimiko has scored a distinction in the first term, I am also expecting another Grade A performance during this term. ”I know what Ondo State looked like in the 50s at least as seen through the eyes of a young adult. I have seen what it looked like in the 1990s and what it looks like now. I am impressed by what I see.”

Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta/ Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku (third left), with Founder/President of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Fasehun (second left), Mr. Tony Uranta (left), Mr Dimieari Von Kemedi (third right) and Special Assistant (Special Duties) to the PAP chairman, Mr. Henry Ugbolue (first right - behind) and other members of the delegation during the OPC leader's courtesy visit to the Presidential Amnesty Office in Abuja.

...Jonathan, PDP govs tackle the merger challenge BY HENRY UMORU, Abuja

RESIDENT Good luck Jonathan will today go into a meeting with governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to resolve some of the crises in the party. Sunday Vanguard gathered that the meeting, scheduled for the Presidential Villa, also has on the agenda the merger of four opposition political parties, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; Congress of Progressive Congress, CPC; All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP; and All Progressive Grand Alliance , APGA; to give birth to All Progressives Congress, APC. Sunday Vanguard gathered that, Jonathan, at the meeting, will harp on unity among members of the PDP, the governors and the national leader-

ship of the party against the backdrop that the coming together of the parties and their ten governors must not be taken for granted, but as a challenge to the ruling party. The meeting, a source said, is aimed at strengthening the party following the crises in the party in Adamawa State, South West, among others. The president, as learnt, will also brief the governors on the Professor Jerry Gana Committee on the contentious which report he will receive. Meanwhile, the governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has described the APC as too small to flush out the PDP from the Presidency in 2015. Speaking with journalists, yesterday, when Adamawa PDP stakeholders came to present their memorandum on the crisis in the state chapter to

his commttee, Lamido said, ‘’APC is a gathering of small parties. Small party plus small party, what do you get? In mathematics, you can’t get something out of nothing; so, small party plus small party equal a smaller party. Is this the party that will flush us out? The entire votes of all the parties nationwide put together is nothing, so which type of mathematics is this?; it’s a warped mathematics.” On the reconciliation process and the assignment of his committee, the governor said, “PDP is one family where you have people who believed in Nigeria with passion. We avoid anything that will bring anything bad to Nigeria.” Speaking on behalf of the Adamawa stakeholders, Senator Mohammed Maina disclosed that the delegation of very senior

elders of the PDP and all the elected members of the PDP from the state were at Legacy House to address the Sule Lamidoled committee on the crisis in Adamawa State. Maina said, “Already we have submitted our memorandum to the committee and what we came to do today is to show them that what we wrote to the committee is a fact and not figures. “The state is a PDP state. Adamawa has been a PDP state from 1999 till date and fortunately there is a move and you know the committee set up by Mr. President to look into this crisis has been receiving memorandum and we came today as bonafide members of the PDP, elders and elected members of the PDP to see the committee to ask them and ensure that the PDP does not break up in Adamawa state”.

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fond of law enforcement and commercial bus drivers. His pronunciation of two key letters adds a funny twist to whatever he says in Pidgin english. "You are crazy, useless police man" becomes " You dey knaze, yeye ponice man!" His outrage gets more agitated when his audience double up in laughter. he just can't seem to pronounce "R" and "L" when he gets angry and it becomes impossible to take him serious. Anger gives him grammatical license and his expressions are hilarious.

have a way of creeping across languages and Nigeria is on the fore front with our very own brand of Pidgin English. The Vanguard is nation wide but its most endearing and may I say popular version comes from the Niger Delta. I have very rarely met people from that area without a great sense of humour; they come across as very easy going and laid back. I probably should say that they are no push overs as they are not shy about defending their land, rights and resources but that's a topic for another column altogether. So back to how language is providing much needed laughter at the expense of the English language. My driver has been with me for 15 years and, yes, he is from the Niger Delta area. He is a natural born story teller and I often have to wear my head phones if I want any silence in the car. He can tell you the tale of spoon picking up some rice and have you rolling in stitches but it does get tiring day after day. Musa (my driver) is very mild-mannered and gets along with everyone, children in particular love him but you need to see him the few times he gets angry. At those times his command of the English language fails him and his local dialect spews a very funny but mostly predictable diatribe. I should mention that he is not very

2015: Persons with disability unfold demands BY CALEB AYANSINA

HE Joint Associa tion of Persons With Disability (JONAPWD) has insisted that its demand on 5% affirmative action on both appointive and elective positions from state and federal governments subsist for any politician to win their support in the 2015 general elections. Consequently, the association inaugurated an 11-man committee, led by Rilwan Abdullahi, to sensitize people living with disability (PWD) on their civic responsibili-

Igbimo Ure Ekiti hosts Fayemi

HE Igbimo Ure Eki ti (IUE) hosts Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State to a dinner in Lagos on Thursday. The group, according to its officials, Mr Gbenga Oyebode and Dr Funke Adebajo, will give Fayemi’s score card and highlight areas of critical needs in the state, even while recognizing the governor’s achievements to date.

ties and rights, to ensure total participation of its members during elections. The National President of Persons with Disability Initiative Nigeria,

Engr Augustine Onwuamaegbu, stated this at the inauguration of the committee in Abuja. He called on the registered political parties to accord equally opportu-

I personally believe that language is a tool of communication and this par-

Grammatical License ANGUAGE is the best tool of communication and it comes in many diverse tongues. In the world we now live in, English is the language most widely spoken and if all the manuals and language set ups of most gadgets are to be believed, there are quite a few versions; some a lot more different than that spoken by the Queen of England who is the confirmed custodian of the english language. I love the inflections and accents of the other latin languages in English. My favourites would be French, followed by Italian and Spanish. There is a new rise of Latinos and Latinas in the entertainment world and they speak English with a decidedly heavy spanish accent; they are very exotic some even say sexy! They do what we do in Nigeria; a literal translation of their local dialect into English with hilarious results. The fact is that most of us think in our local dialect before we translate and speak English; along the line many meanings are lost in translation. A new arm of the Nigerian and even African entertainment industry is riding the wave of grammatical licence to hilarious and financially satisfying effects. Comedy has developed into a local goldmine and an enviable international export that is changing the face of entertainment. Cultural influences

What I find is that communication is not hindered by phonetics, syntax or grammar we just take license of the grammar and the drama around us to hilarious effects

ticular column was informed by my nearest and dearest. My close friends marvel at my chameleon like abilities with languages and accents. I can blend into any crowd and sound the same in a very short time. I am also referred to as a bad influence who can speak the most terrible pidgin one minute while being able to switch to proper queen's english the next. My

nity to women and PWD who are vying for political position under the platform of the party. The president also urged Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to evolve modalities that will accord PWD more time during voters’ registration as well as voting period to ensure total participation by all and sundry.

We didn’t kill revenue collectors — Edo transport union

OLLOWING the death of two revenue collectors on Friday in Benin City, the Edo State Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), yesterday, warned against actions that will jeopardize the tax regime of the state government, just as it disassociates itself from the killing of two revenue collectors. Akugbe Ventures, a revenue collecting agency of the state government, had ac-

cused the RTEAN of killing two of its members and alleged further that the RTEAN was trying to frustrate the group in collecting revenue for the state government. But the RTEAN, led by Comrade Osakpanwa Eriyo, in a letter addressed to the Chairman, Board of Internal Revenue in the state, Chief Useni Elamah, declared that it was not against the collection of Personal Income Tax from

commercial drivers who are members of “ our great association”. “As partners with the state government in her developmental programmes, it will be absurd to go against what will bring quick and desired development to the state. We want to correct this impression being created by our detractors that RTEAN is against the successful implementation of the collection of tax from commercial drivers in the state”, the union said.

Foundation ceremony for Motailatu

HE foundation lay ing of Motailatu Church Cherubim & Seraphim Worldwide (Kingdom Parish), holds today, at Magbagbeola Layout, opposite Ilesha Garage, Osogbo, Osun State.

Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013, PAGE 9

Expected to attend are the Chairman of CAN in Osun State, Superior Evang. (Dr) Abraham Aladeseye; Supt Apostle/ Prophet Samson Opadotun, Asst Secretary OAIC Nigeria Region; Apostle General Adelani Adeju-

mo, Chairman OAIC Osun State. The event will be coordinated by the Superintendent of Motailatu Church C&S International Sub-Headquarters, Supt. (Dr) Israel Akinadewo (Omoeri)..

best friend heard my husband say something not too long ago and concluded I had corrupted him. She used one of my terms to accuse me, "You have happened to him". My explanation for things going wrong as a result of people's bad habits is to say they happened to it. My driver scratching my car in my lingo would be "Musa happened to it". At the time of the accusation I hadn't really taken it to heart as there are very few people as articulate and correct as my better half but he said something this week that confirms I have definitely happened to him. I had asked why he was wearing multiple articles of clothing and his answer was a Debbie classic "I am colding".. Nigerians are larger than life, we are boisterous, gregarious and some would say loud, I say we live life in colour at full blast. The broken English we speak is on the move constantly, new words, terms and expressions are everywhere. One the more popular terms is "You don fall my hand" it means you have brought me shame. Familiar words like “eat” become “chop”, “to meet” becomes “colide” or “jam”, “Father” or “Pa” is “Paleh”, “Mother ” or “Ma” is “Maleh”, “brother ” is “bros” sister “Sist”, “Steal” or “Rob” is “Obtain”, “The Law” or “Law Enforcement” is “Kongo” “Arrest” is “Cramp”. Every “CH” sound is pronounced “SH” and “G” sound sounds as “J”, "L and R becomes "N". It almost feels like a different language when you are in the midst of those who are vast in pidgin and it differs from region to region of the country; in fact from house to house. What I find is that communication is not hindered by phonetics, syntax or grammar we just take license of the grammar and the drama around us to hilarious effects.

Family celebrates GK Animashaun @80 BY BASHIR ADEFAKA

LHAJI Ganiyu Kay ode Animashaun will be 80 years on Tuesday. The ceremony marking the anniversary will hold in Nigeria and England. The Nigeria’s side will take off in Lagos with special prayers and thanksgiving service at Ahmadiyya Central Mosque, Simpson Street, Ebutte Meta, Lagos at 10.30am while a reception will take place at 12.30pm at the New Ahmadiyya Prayerground, between the Corner of Ladipo and Adams Street, Ebutte Meta. The England side will come up the same day with special prayers and thanksgiving service at Alvion Gate, London while reception will also take place at the same venue between the

hours of 1400 and 1500 GMT. GK, as popularly called, is a distinguished lawyer of over 35 years and a politician. Former Chairman, Mushin Local Government of the 60s, GK Animasaun’s major areas of investment and entrepreneurship include real estate development, building construction, insurance, banking, commerce, oil and gas and medical. Born February 26, 1933, Animashaun is married to Yetunde, daughter of late Rev. Cannon D. K. Asekun in a marriage that has spanned 50 years with five children. The B’obagunwa of the Source, Ile-Ife, is member and Life President of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam Nigeria.

Dayo Akinyemi launches Vivid Praise

AYO Akinyemi has launched an album entitled, Vivid Praise. Based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, his genre of music is a fusion of American jazz contemporary gospel and traditional African dynamics. He attended the University of Baltimore where he received a B.Sc. degree in applied information technology, and also went through

some music training. He grew up in Ibadan, Oyo State but hails from Ekiti State.

Dayo Akinyemi

PAGE 10—SUNDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

Minister of Aviation declares war on Yoruba -- 1

ntil recently, I had taken very little interU est in the matter of Yoruba

marginalization as alleged by the Yoruba Unity

or a start, how can an yone explain the idioF cy, no apologies for that, of Yoruba trooping to the polls in 2011 to vote Action Congress of Nigeria in every election only to turn around and vote PDP for the presidential? Everyone, who must have “voted for Jonathan not PDP” can now accept responsibility for this situation in which we find ourselves. The leaders of the ACN who bro-

Peace through strength “The whole purpose of religion is to facilitate love and compassion, patience, tolerance, humility, and forgiveness.” -- Dalai Lama XIV"

have been long trou bled at the level of violence and casualities in the senseless waste of human lives in the last couple of years. There is a big elephant in the room and it seems the elephant in the room is getting so large and yet no one seems to want to talk about it! This big elephant that no one dare speaks its name is Boko Haram. Inching away from the epicentre of these atrocities does not mean we are free of its proliferation; in fact we are as guilty as the perpetrators if all we do is stand and do nothing. We ought to be standing shoulder to shoulder to condemn their callous acts against Nigerian citizens and the instability of the country . Are we are so fearful and

kered the deal for the switch to PDP have allowed Okupe, who will say anything, to make his nonsensical claim. Had the South West stood firmly behind Ribadu, the outcome might have been different. So, let’s be done with the crocodile tears of those who dug our graves. However, there is a Yoruba proverb which applies here. It says, “Ki a le akata lo na, ki a to f ’abo si odo adie”; meaning, “chase away the

terrorised by terror that we have failed to walk hand in hand with our fellow Nigerians? It has to be known that anyone that threatens a group of Nigerians by virtue of religion threatens all Nigerians.Boko Haram has become this big elephant in the room and it is about time we stopped pussy footing about, we cannot live our lives drawing invisible lines and remaining in our respective camps because it is not our problem and that is the matter. It is our problem collectively. So we look to our leaders for some reassurances and actions and we wait. In the meantime, more and more mindless killings and butchery goes unabated, this acts cannot and should not be justified by any sane individual or any religious group. They are holding the whole country to random and we cannot afford to sit back and shrug our shoulders. I am a Muslim and I know

s an aside, let me point out to the Minister that the Yoruba can defend themselves in this war. She might be the Minister of Aviation or anything; she might even be waging an ethnic war – for reasons known to herself. But, one thing she must know is this. The Southwest is host to every other ethnic group in Nigeria – far more than any other zone. Even the

Everyone, who must have “voted for Jonathan not PDP” can now accept responsibility for this situation in which we find ourselves

fox first, then attend to the wayward chicken”. Of all the Ministries in the Federal Government, one, above all others, is headed by a Minister who has virtually declared war on Yoruba people in every area of her Ministry. That is the Minister for Aviation.

airports and other Aviation Ministry agencies are surrounded by Yoruba territory. We hold the nation’s assets. The first question anyone will ask is: why pick on her? The answer is simple, there is increasing evidence that she is being deliberately

these people do not represent me or my faith. I know that, I was taught that, for every man, woman, child they kill, maim and orphaned they go against what my faith tells me, or what I know of humanity because regardless of who their victims are, they are my brothers and sisters . These criminals are psychopaths, murderers and bandits, who portray themselves as guerrillas without a cause. They have long crossed the line. I grew up in a household surrounded by many faiths. We as children did not discriminate who was who on the basis of faith, in fact as children we know all that Eid, Christmas, Easter and Eid meant more to go round. There was the freedom of worship and so it should be.

gone to school together and shared their lives together. If we start becoming territorial in a place where we call home, Nigeria, then we seriously have a problem. It is bad enough that as diasporas, living so far away from Nigeria, I am often reminded that I am an outsider, I am made to remember that I truly do not belong, it is the little things that jolts you back to reality. When you are asked where you are from or what ethnicity are you, where are you originally from, or how long you have lived in the country( I was born there!. So you already know you are an outsider, as far as you are concerned you know there is somewhere, someplace that we call home had been divided up along the

Forum, the original Afenifere group, and, now, Afenifere Renewal Group, ARG. To my mind, the marginalisation of Yoruba by Jonathan’s administration and specifically some Ministers was caused to a large extent by the Yoruba leaders themselves – and that includes all the leaders without exception. Unlike, Doyin Okupe’s and Chief Richard Akinjide's views, my grouse is simple. Yoruba people can now be easily marginalized and persecuted because divisive politics had made it impossible for us to unite to fight our common causes irrespective of political affiliation. An organization, AGBAJO YORUBA AGBAYE, AYA, formed for that purpose, was allowed to die by some of those now shedding crocodile tears.

“On top of these, says YUF [Yoruba Unity Forum] some Ministers such as that of Aviation have specialized in sacking the Yoruba from agencies under their control and replacing them with favourites from their preferred ethnic groups”. Idowu Akinlotan, in PALLADIUM, Sunday, February 17, 2013. N almost twenty years of writing this column, I have never written any article in support of anyone because he is “my brother”; neither have I written one against anyone because he is not “my brother ”. OBJ received the same treatment as Babangida, Abacha, Yar ’Adua and, now, Jonathan. Segun Aganga and, now, Adewunmi are undergoing the same interrogation as Alison Madueke and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. The current Minister of Aviation is the first Minister to ever attract my attention in this regard because of mounting evidence of her deliberate tribal hostility. She has started the war; she will not determine when it will end and how.

The reason for singling her out of the several MDAs in the Federal Government is again simple. It is strategic to focus our energies on the worst offender, fight her to a standstill as an example to others that Yoruba people will not be pushed around by any transient holder of power. And she will not be the last holder of the Ministry. She will go, sooner or later. But, the war will continue.

We are a secular country the last time I checked. What they have done is to make the divide or our difference more glaring and created a level of paranoia and mistrust amongst people that have lived together,

lines of faith and ruled by terror on the basis of your religion. It is a tragic recklessness and a slap in the face of every well-meaning and sane Nigerians. The Nigerians I meet here are my fellow Nigerians;

antagonistic to us – that includes me. The Yoruba Unity Forum in a recent publication, set out the number of Yoruba people who had been sacked from the Ministry and its agencies – almost invariably to be replaced by other ethnic groups. One or two might be justified by claiming incompetence, old age, diminishing productivity, corruption, etc. But, when only people from one ethnic group suffer such dismissals, it becomes highly suspicious. That, however, is small potatoes compared to the main issue; the one that has left no doubt in my mind that, ethnic cleansing and persecution of Yoruba is a deliberate policy, is in connection with the problems of Dr Wale Babalakin, SAN, who I never met. This issue, in my view, should demonstrate the resolve of all Yoruba people to fight a battle declared against one of us by someone else for fairly clear motives. And, it is a struggle that must be non-partisan. This is no PDP versus ACN affair. It is Yoruba versus the Minister of Aviation. Incidentally, the Minister of Aviation, I now believe has an ally in the Asset Management Corporation, AMCON, Mr Mustapha Chike Obi. Together, they want to reduce Babalakin to zero. Let me present the case as documented. My Monday, February 18, 2013, column, in this paper, was titled WHO WANTS WALE BABALAKIN DEAD?, because at the time, I had no clue regarding who could be behind the plot to persecute Babalakin. Now, all the facts at my disposal point

to the Minister of Aviation, who has gathered other coconspirators, from her ethnic enclave, to help her execute the project. They will fail. Other Yoruba people will join Babalakin to ensure they don’t succeed. In fact, the battle will be taken to the door step of the Ministry of Aviation itself – if Madam does not stop fomenting trouble for herself.

we share a country and have more in common than what seperate us regardless of their state or their religion if we could get along abroad why can't we get along in Nigeria? So in a place where I cannot call home, I get treated with so much respect and I can attend and go out without fear or intimidation to a place of worship of my faith. Over here mosques, churches, temples are built barely a stone throw to one another. Over here in schools, children are taught religious education, given an education where they learn about other religion, history and facts, this does help foster tolerance as well as educate the young people on other religion other than the one they ascribe to. Now that is what I call tolerance but in all I do believe that there has to be more emphasis in educating our young in Nigeria. Not only that education will also ensure that they are out of the clutches of those that want to brain wash them into terror. The poverty and disparity is disgraceful so the resentments is palpable and we cannot afford to breed young ,impressionable, poor, uneducated, unemployed and unemployable minds with no prospect for the future. What we are doing is inadvertently moulding them for an alternative occupation such as terror, kidnapping and major crimes.

Tolerance, can only exist if we address the level of poverty, unemployment, corruption, inequality of opportunities and standard of living. We have got to reduce the senseless hatred that divides our people and our leaders should be leading the way. It heartens me when I read that the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar and Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola have addressed Muslims at a public event to openly beseech Muslims to unite, stay tolerant and be at peace with all fellow Nigerians regardless of their faith. The Sultan was resolute in his address that Islam will, and always will remain a religion of peace. He said: “Those who claim to be doing what they are doing in terms of terrorism in the name of Islam are on their own. They are not doing anything for Islam or Muslims but for themselves. Nothing more, nothing less! And that is why when I hear people refer to these terrorists as Islamic terrorists, I always feel bad. I have said it so many times that Islam does not approve terrorism or the taking of anybody ’s life.” and Aregbesola said “a Muslim, who promotes chaos and disharmony has deviated from the teachings of Islam and a good Muslim is required to exemplify the best in conduct through accommodation, tolerance and forbearance for him to be called a good Muslim”.

i-Courteny Aviation B Services Limited, whose Chairman is Dr Wale

Babalakin SAN, as most air travelers know, was persuaded by the Obasanjo administration to build Murtala Muhammed Airport Two, MM 2; which it did. As part of the agreement, all domestic flights were to originate and land at MM2, once completed and operational. The old domestic, called General Aviation Terminal, GAT, was to be closed down; and become an integral part of MM2. As usual, with our lawless governments, the Federal Government refused to close down GAT and encouraged some airlines, especially one owned by people from one of the two eastern zones, to operate from there. As far as I am concerned, the airlines operating from GAT are not at fault. Government carries the blame. In order to enforce the agreement, Bi-Courtney dragged the Federal Government to court for enforcement of the contract and for damages. BiCourtney won the case and huge damages were awarded in its favour…... Visit Web site: www.Delesobowale.com

SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013, PAGE 11 been added to it by the legislature. Rather, it is because what is added is an incredible extortion which goes into the big holes in private pockets.

National Budget as a Communiqué budget. Since 1999 when democracy was resurrected in Nigeria, we have never had a budget; what we have always had is a communiqué of political negotiations. Before what is wrongly called budget is signed, the polity is usually overheated in a cat and rat game which always short changes the citizenry.

hand, when the President ignores the orders, it is not that he does not hear the legislators; it is also not necessarily a matter of ego of who blinks first the way we on-lookers imagine, it is that there is more than meets the eye in the posture of each of the combatants. So, when the law makers order the President to sack any of

HE last time I spoke with my brother, Joe on phone, he wondered how my weekly column is always able to follow with ease, the ‘goings-on’ in Nigeria when I am hardly in the country these days. What my brother did not immediately appreciate is that people abroad do not need to spend too much time searching for Nigerian events or indeed what the details are. A few minutes of “browsing” will expose the typical issues and because Nigerian matters take the same pattern all the time, any analyst can easily fill in whatever gaps there are. It is not difficult, for instance, to understand the unending annual tussle over budget by the National Assembly and the Presidency. A simple check will show that it is always about what our legislators want for themselves and what a wellfed Presidency is unwilling to let them extort. Hence, every President has a problem with our legislators at the beginning of every financial year with respect to the

The Presidency has to learn that having a World Bank expert as Minister of finance will not stop some Onitsha market trained economists in the National Assembly from “correcting” the errors in the estimates presented by the executive

Temperamental declarations by our legislators such as “sack Director General X or Y” must not be understood to mean that they are unaware that they have no powers to simplistically direct and order the President about. On the other

his own employees, they know it is an improper demand, but they suspect that the said employee is under the secret cover of the executive. Again when the President decides not to sign a budget, it is not just because so much has

PhD, Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos,

Legacies, lessons and the audacity of Joseph Ratzinger’s resignation Pope Benedict XVI after the death of much-beloved Pope John Paul II, observant followers of events in Vatican City knew that the new pontiff had a lot on his plate. To start with, the Pope himself was well aware that he had to work extra hard to match, and if possible surpass, the achievements of his predecessor who was selected despite criticism from some disgruntled highly-placed Italian Catholics opposed to the election of a non-Italian Pope. Again, halting the rampaging global march of secularism which threatened the very core of religious belief (including Catholicism), expansion of the Knowledge of Jesus Christ, revival of the faith, and defense of orthodox catholic doctrines on life and family were top on the new pontiff’s to-do-list right from the very start. During his tenure, Pope Benedict XVI dealt with specific problems and scandals that rocked the pillars of catholic ecclesiastical authority and constituted a formidable obstacle for him to effectively execute his quiet evangelical mis-

sion. These include: (1) his citation of negative comments against Prophet Mohammed which angered many muslims; (2) numerous cases of sexual abuse by catholic priests in different parts of the world; and (3) accusations that Pope Benedict himself, as an Archbishop in Germany, failed to adequately monitor and sanction a priest abuser. Despite these challenges, the Pope was determined to forge ahead. He

HEN in April 19, 2005, Joseph CardiW nal Ratzinger was crowned

stance, in a letter to Irish catholics, he personally apologised to the victims and announced measures meant to placate them and reassure the faithful that such misbehavior will be severely dealt with. Pope Benedict XVI will be remembered also for his efforts to stem the crisis of faith in the contemporary world which, according to him, was responsible for social and moral ills that plague human societies. In his opin-

Everyone should learn some lesson from Pope Benedict’s decision

took bold concrete steps to reconcile catholics and muslims, and initiated respectful conversation between the Vatican and the Islamic world. The acme of his effort was in 2006 when he prayed alongside a muslim cleric inside Istanbul’s Blue Mosque. On the issue of sexual abuse by catholic priests, the Pope tried his best to reduce the damage caused by the scandal. For in-

ion, the crisis was due to people’s reluctance to acknowledge the truth that comes from God. As a panacea, the out-going pontiff insisted that Christians should see their faith as a religion of love in which believers are willing to accept God’s love and share it with others, in the full awareness that true love entails making sacrifices for peace. Christianity, he maintained, is the path to salva-

The factual meaning of security vote was later illuminated by Governor Kwankwaso of Kano, a two time governor, who testified that security vote is a device for stealing. If so, it is not uncharitable for us to conclude that it is because the executive has security vote which is unaccounted for, that legislators want constituency projects vote to be put into same use.

he contention al ways centres on a term known as “constituency project”. What does it mean? How much does it cost? Is it ever executed? How many times is it recycled? Who is the contractor? What is the difference between a “constituency project” and other projects captured in the budget? Are the latter not located in constituencies? One analyst answered all these questions the other day when he said that what is called “constituency projects vote” is the same as “security vote”. He is no doubt persuasive because every project in a budget ought to be located within a constituency meaning that every project is a constituency project. If so, to select another group of projects and officially name them constituency projects as if they are to be executed in heaven suggests that constituency project is more or less a nebulous term. As for security vote, I must confess that for long, I could not quite comprehend its essence. It became clearer only when I realised that as the security vote for the executive increased yearly, insecurity correspondingly increased. In other words, although we have security votes in our budgets, they are never used for security.

hen I took up my childhood friend who is a legislator, on the matter; he angrily asked “why don’t you question Governors who commandeer local government finances? In summary therefore, Nigeria will for a while contend with security votes in every arm of government that is, security vote in the executive and constituency projects vote in the legislature. What about the judiciary? Is it correct to assume that it has not developed one for itself? Of course, it is simplistic to so assume because there is security vote in the judiciary too though it is not easy to see. But those who have cases before judges see it quite often especially in election petitions. It is security vote that is at play when some election panels unanimously give conflicting judgments on two cases with similar facts. All that such judges do is to “skillfully” distinguish one case from the other by deciding that half a dozen is not different from six! In all of these, the is-

tion, social justice and genuine happiness. It must be remarked that Ratzinger’s ascension to the pontificate was a reaffirmation of the trend that led to the emergence of Karol Woytila (Pope John Paul II) from Poland, which vindicates the position that the papacy is not the exclusive mandate of Italians. Ratzinger was Pope John Paul’s right-hand man and confidant for over twenty years. Therefore they must have influenced each other profoundly, particularly in doctrinaire catholicism. Their lifestyles were remarkably similar – meditative, humble, and simple to the point of asceticism. The two Popes travelled extensively, and each issued hundreds of speeches, homilies, and encyclicals in order to promote the catholic faith, peace and reconciliation worldwide. Before he died, Pope John Paul II forgave Ali M. Agac, a Turkish national who shot and wounded him shortly after his election; similarly Pope Benedict XVI pardoned his butler, Paolo Gabriele, who leaked confidential Vatican papers to the press last December. However, in terms of orientation and style, John Paul II was poetic and intuitive whereas Benedict XVI evinces a more analytic and theoretical disposition. This might help explain the fact that in spite of his failing health, Pope John Paul II persevered to the very end, whereas Pope Benedict XVI chose to retire. According to the retiring

Pope, he had “deteriorated to the extent that I have to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.” Obviously, Benedict XVI thought deeply about his impending resignation, and must have felt the angst people feel when faced with momentous decisions that would profoundly affect their lives. Through creative imagination, one can appreciate the heavy burden his decision to leave office entailed, especially considering the fact that the last time a Pope abdicated was about six hundred years ago when Gregory XII quit because of serious internal schism within the catholic church. We commend Pope Benedict XVI for boldly and frankly acknowledging his inability to carry on with the onerous duties entrusted in him by his exalted position. It takes a man of wisdom, spiritual integrity, uncommon selflessness, and respect for others to step away from the privileges, pomp and pageantry of the papacy and become a monk. So, everyone should learn some lesson from Pope Benedict’s decision. Political leaders who hang on to power at all cost, especially those incapacitated by age, disease, or severe personality flaw should realise that all earthly power and authority is transitory and that it is silly to jeopardise one’s health because of power. In Nigeria, late President Umaru Musa Yar ’Adua clung to power for too long despite the fact that he was

sue at stake is that each arm of government pursues some security votes because “money is power”. Thus, we cannot stop the constituency project vote in year 2013 budget. Otherwise, the Legislature may unanimously resolve that the President should choose between it and remaining in office. Indeed, the Presidency has to learn that having a World Bank expert as Minister of finance will not stop some Onitsha market trained economists in the National Assembly from “correcting” the errors in the estimates presented by the executive. The Legislators often add more constituency projects because they claim to be nearer to the people and know what the latter want. The President may not be persuaded by the claim since the same people voted for him too and indeed more massively than anyone else. He is also conscious that if the issue is about proximity to the grassroots, then it is local councilors and not national legislators that deserve community projects vote. Give and take therefore, the 2013 budget will eventually not be a financial document that it is elsewhere but a communiqué of the material personal desires of those in the corridors of power. It is a price which civil society is paying for its docility. For how long this will last is as Eric Osagie would say, buried in the womb of time. physically incapacitated to discharge his duties. More recently, according to media reports, governors Sullivan Chime and Lyell Imoke of Enugu and Cross River states respectively were absent from their duty posts for several months due to undisclosed ailments, and did not consider it appropriate to relinquish their positions. There is no good reason for clinging to power tenaciously in the face of serious health challenges. Most probably people that do so utterly misconstrue the essence of power. But in the true sense power is a privilege to serve others. Life is too short, too precious and irreplaceable for anybody to risk one’s health for power. Thus a sensible person would never jeopardise his or her health merely to enjoy the ephemeral trappings of power. In this connection, I salute Pope Benedict XVI for his wise decision to step down from his exalted position as the spiritual head of over 1.2 billon catholics. Even as an unbeliever strongly convinced that religion is a relic of man’s humble superstitious beginnings, I cannot but admire the audacity of his choice, which clearly shows that a decision reached after sincere and deep soulsearching contemplation should be followed through irrespective of the sacrifices one has to make in the process. I wish Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger the very best in his future undertakings

PAGE 12– SUNDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

We serve as alternate teaching hospitals – Dr. Majekodunmi, MD, FMC, Ido-Ekiti *’How to stem rising psychiatric disorders’ BY WALE AKINOLA

Dr Ayodele Majekodunmi established teaching hospitals. Does that put the FMCs in the category of hospitals that train interns, house officers? Let me take the FMC Ido-Ekiti as an

Dr Ayodele Lawrence Majekodunmi boasts of solid credentials to earn him the office of the chief medical director of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Ido Ekiti. A consultant psychiatrist at the FMC and head of clinical services/ chairman, medical advisory council of the institution prior to his assumption of office as CMD, he is a Fellow of the West African College of Physicians. A professional of note and leader of men, the CMD, in this encounter, fields questions on FMCs and his primary constituency, psychiatry. Excerpts: OME people say Federal Medical Centres (FMCs) are glorified tertiary healthcare providers because they are not properly equipped for that role. How true is the claim? Right from inception, FMCs were established as tertiary health institutions so that they can handle all categories of medicare. Over the years now, FMCs, all over the country, have grown in leaps and bounds to the extent that, quite a large number of FMCs or average number of FMCs like our own, are comparable to teaching hospitals. So a large vacuum has been filled in tertiary healthcare contrary to the insinuation you mentioned. In Ekiti and Ondo States where there are no federal teaching hospitals, patients with severe medical problems do not need to be transferred or referred to Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital or UCH or LUTH as it used to be. The FMCs do everything that all these teaching hospitals do. Ofcourse because of inadequate funding and some rare areas of specialisation, you still have reason to refer patients to other hospitals but substantial vacuum created by the lack of teaching hospitals in many parts of the country has virtually been filled. FMCs base their operations on the law that established teaching hospitals. As we speak, there is still no law backing the establishment of FMCs. The enabling law is before the National Assembly. But because it is a tertiary institution and all the things that happen in the teaching hospitals happen here, we adopt the Act that

In Ekiti and Ondo States where there are no federal teaching hospitals, patients with severe medical problems do not need to be transferred or referred to Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital or UCH or LUTH as it used to be

example. When you talk about health care delivery or tertiary health institution of this calibre, we can categorise our functions to include service delivery which is delivering healthcare, treatment of patients, diseases. Two, manpower development. The question you raised falls under manpower development. In this hospital, the highest cadre of training that happens in teaching hospitals is training of qualified

medical doctors to become experts, specialists in their chosen areas. And so, in FMC, Ido-Ekiti, we are already there. Now, we train specialists in psychiaty. Just like UCH, Ibadan; we train specialists in paediatrics, community medicare, family medicine, obstetics and gynaecology, surgery, ENT. Apart from that, we train house officers, interns in all medical areas – pharmacy, physiotheraphy, laboratory science. Interns are those that have graduated but need one year training before they are licenced to practise. How have you built on what you met on ground when you came in as CMD six months ago? When I came in, in September 2012, I met a lot on ground that had been achieved by the previous administration. I was part and parcel of that administration. The training I spoke about, we already achieved a lot. The only addition in the last six months is in the ENT. In the area of infrastructural development, all the things we have on ground, we met them. If there is anything we have done in that area, it is modification and improvement of the structures. Even this administrative building, it could not have been done in six months. I met it on ground. I understand you now have a nursing school We started it a long time ago. It was a challenge that stalled the take-off. And as God would have it, it is taking off under my administration. The students are in their first year, ready for their exam. Administration is a continuous thing. We are lucky here. The new MD is an insider. I have been in the system for close to nine years. I worked with former Mds almost from the beginning to the end. I joined the hospital as the head of psychiatry and built my department right from the scratch. Today the department compares with the best in West Africa. So we are lucky that one of us who has been part of the system, who witnessed the growth of the hospital and understands the dynamics of the environment is the MD. That is why the things have been relatively easy. He knows the areas of deficiency, where to adjust, to make the people happy and put the system in perfect

shape. Where do you hope to see the FMC, Ido-Ekiti at the end of your tenure? I don’t even pray it remains on FMC. I believe it would have changed to a bigger facility/ As we speak,. We are expecting students from Afe Babalola University to join us, maybe in another two years. We have started planning for their arrival. Once they join us, that means we have taken another step forward because that qualifies us as a teaching hospital. Afe Babalola Univesity is a private institution while we are federal government institution, but don’t forget that the Federal University, Oye is there. I believe that with a very good partnership, the Oye University will soon start their admission. I don’t see the federal government spending money to build a brand new teaching hospital for the Oye University if they have medical school. That means we can serve as their teaching hospital. There appears to be rising cases of psychiatric problems in the Nigeria. How did we find ourselves in the unsavoury situation? Talking professionally, it is not unexpected. If you look at mental problems, you can classify them as genetic or biological, and environmental. The environmental aspect has classification too. One of them is economic or social environment, or, better still, socioeconomic environment. In Nigeria today, our socio-economic environment is terrible. Where do we start from? From the spate of unemployment? As the chief executive here, I know what I face. Sometimes it is like it is because of employment that I am here, not to do any other thing. In one day, I receive employment requests of about 100. But it is not their fault. Majority of them are university graduates. Where there is such high level of unemployment, other things will follow, there will be vices on a high scale. Indian hemp smoking, drug taking. Even you have high rate of divorce leading to depression on the part of the victims and consequently mental disorder. These factors in the country are enough to make anybody run amak. You go to work only to return to meet your house burnt down by Boko Haram and your family killed. You need to be extraordinarily strong not to end up in the psychiatry worldthe trauma, the shock will be too much. Everyday we have armed robbery. So the simply solution is improvement in the socio-economic environment. And government alone cannot do it. People should see what they can do to ameliorate the situation so that it doesn’t lead to psychiatry cases.

Polio killings: Radio station loses licence BY EMMANUEL ELEBEKE AND ABDULSALAM MUHAMMAD

HE National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, has suspended the licence of the Globe Broadcasting Communications Limited, the owners of Wazobia FM, Kano, for alleged breach of broadcasting code. According to a statement from the office of the Head of Public Affairs of the commission, Awwalu Salihu, the suspension was in continuation of steps the NBC is taking, following the

alleged broadcast of an episode of a programme Sandar Gaima aired at 10pm on Tuesday, February 5, 2013, which was allegedly found to be in breach of several sections of the code, including section 0. 2. 1, 3. 9. 1, 5.1.12, 5. 3.7. The statement quoted section 3.9.1 of the code, which stipulates that language or scene likely to encourage or incite crime or lead to disorder shall not be broadcast. “Following due consideration of the seriousness of the breaches contained in the programme, which was inciting, the commission has formed the opinion that the station had been used in a

manner detrimental to the national interest,”the statement said. “The Commission has therefore, decided to suspend the licence of the station in accordance with section 10(d) and 14 of the schedule of the National Broadcasting Act, Cap N11, Laws of the Federation, 2004 with effect from Friday February 22, until further notice”. With this development, the NBC said that the station was expected to go off air. It advised all broadcasting stations in the country to appreciate the great power of the medium they are entrusted with by the society, and

warned that, while making broadcasting to perform their cardinal responsibility, it must not be at the expense of national interest, unity and cohesion of Nigeria’s diverse social, cultural, economic, political and religious configurations. Wazobia FM ran into trouble when it aired the programme, “Sanda Girma”, which the authorities considered instigating the populace against polio vaccination in Kano metropolis. The presenter of the programme, Yakubu Musa, and Malam Mubaraq, a news room staff are standing trial over their alleged role in the broadcast.

SUNDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013, PAGE 13

Policemen at the scene of the blast

Killing in the name of sand? By BILESANMI OLALEKAN

s you descend the steep road beside the Festac link bridge towards the site of the incident, even after three days, you could still see clusters of people discussing the tragic incident. The common denominator among the groups is the raining of curses on the assailants of the late Chief Pius Oladele. The mechanic workshop, under the bridge, had just two saloon cars. Even then, the mechanics there, two of them, in mufti, merely sat down doing nothing. The same thing with trucks carrying sand, all were packed, just as the sand, in different portions, were left untouched. At the right side of the site were houses by the bank of the river. In between the mechanic workshop and the portions of sands was the late Oladele’s white Toyota SUV car. The four tyres had been deflated. The impact of the explosion that killed him on Monday was such that days after killing, there were still traces of blood at the site and even shreds of blue Jeans littered the floor. It appeared that Oladele was very important to the community, which, besides being a sand dealer, he headed as Baale. Virtually all the people Sunday Vanguard met with spoke glowingly about him. At some point, one of the respondents, Bimpe, 32, burst into tears. “ There is nobody here that can say Baale was a bad person. He was good to all of us here. That is why all of us are shocked at what happened. What could he have done to have warranted being killed in such a cruel manner? I know that whoever

is behind this act will not have peace for the rest of his life”, she said. The large number of canoes on the river attracts your attention as you move closer to the bank. Each of the canoes, Sunday Vanguard was told, had, when discharged, two lorry loads of sand. There were about sixteen of the canoes, empty, by the bank. This site is just a discharge point. They don’t dredge sand from there. Bola, 42, one of the confidants of Olaldele said sand is sourced from Tin-Can, Igbede around Volkswagen, Ijegun and Ibeshe. Usually, according to him, the canoes

this challenge. Each of the canoes carries two lorry loads of sand. Each lorry load of the sand is sold for N11,000 which is about five cubic. Anybody from Ikotun, Okota, Festac, Surulere, all come here to buy sand. Even the Chinese construction company, when they were doing Okota road, came here to buy sand. So this place is very popular. He was the chairman, Sands Dredgers Association from here up to Ikorodu, Ijegun and Badagry. He became the chairman about six years ago, just about the time he introduced me into the business. At the moment, as you

Since the source of the wire that triggered the explosion was from the canoe, we all immediately suspected the carpenter with sand get to the site from between 12.30 a.m. and 5 a.m. It could be five or eight at a time such that by the time the workers off load the sand and start working, the total workers on site is not less than 50, that is excluding the drivers and motor boys of the tippers. Said he:”I was into oil before. I joined this business about six years ago. It was him (Oladele) that brought me into the business. We get the sand from Ijegun and environs. We only use this place as discharge point. We work round the clock here including Saturdays and Sundays. However, our presence here is subject to movement of the canoes; if, for whatever reason they could not load at the dredging sites, that means there would be no work here but there was hardly anytime we had

can see, nobody is working, even from our dredging sites, as soon as we called and told them of the incident, everybody has stopped working and returned to base here. Nobody is working, from the tipper lorry drivers to those who paddle the canoes to the off loaders and even the carpenters who work on the canoes till next week”. According to Bola, Oladele arrived the site with his wife at about 8.30 in the morning of the fateful Monday. He (Bola) was there earlier. The deceased then called him to get him rice and fish - N100 rice, N600 fish. As he made to go, he found that his wife also wanted to eat Amala. “So he gave me money to buy fod for himself and his wife. But as I was about going, he said we should go together as he had a memory card for his car radio system which he had

bought earlier but which he didn’t collect. The place is just around where I wanted to buy the food. We returned from there. Not long after, his friend, a policeman, came. After he ate a little, he passed on the remnant to me. He complained that there was a Sienna vehicle behind his house for days, he said he was suspecting trouble. Incidentally, somebody who knew the owner of the vehicle was around during the conversation with the police officer, he then called the man who said the vehicle had mechanical fault, he promised to pick up the car that same day. “And as they (Oladele and the police officer) wanted to delve into other issues, out of respect, I just moved away from them. It was not up to two minutes when we heard the blast. Of course everyone ran away before regrouping minutes later to discover it had dismembered our boss”, he narrated. While Lagos Police Commissioner, Mr Umar Manko, said the explosion was triggered by electrical fault, many people said the account was not true. Wesey Felix, 47, the Otun (the second in ranking to Oladele) of Ifesowapo community, took Sunday Vanguard on a journey of the event.” When the policemen came here after the incident, in the course of searching for evidence, we all saw them as they pulled two strings of wire, one of which had its source from one of the canoes by the bank, just close to the perimeter fence Baale was seated. That canoe happened to be the one the association’s carpenter was working on the previous day. The wire was laid under ground from where the explosion happened and terminated inside the canoe. And he was on that same canoe the previous day. The carpenter has been arrested today (Wednesday) though. And, thankfully, he has started singing. Since the source of the wire that triggered the explosion was from the canoe, we all immediately suspected the carpenter”, he explained. C M Y K

PAGE 14— SUNDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

SEME, IDI’ROKO BORDERS

Nigeria has no border here, Interior Minister, Abba Moro, laments

Unscheduled visit reveals chaos at country’s gateways BY GBENGA OKE

bba Moro simply stood there, ramrod, hands akimbo, mouth opened wide. Mind you, he is Nigeria’s Internal Affairs Minister. The sight was shocking; even to him. Welcome to Seme, Nigeria’s notorious border point to the West. The same thing replicates itself at the Idi’roko Border post. The scenario simply reinforces the claim that Nigeria’s borders are porous. Chaos rules! Traders carry out their activities in such a manner that you cannot tell when you have crossed the border. Observing the activities at the border, in fact, you may be on the Nigerian side and be haggling with a trader on the Benin Republic side. You can buy any item of your choice ranging from rice to vegetable oil, household items, etc, with either the Naira or Cefa, currencies used in Nigeria and Benin Republic, respectively. This conversation ensued between Sunday Vanguard and a frozen food seller at the Idi’roko Border which, just like the Seme Border, is not different from a bustling market: How much is a carton of chicken? Big or small? What do you mean big or small? If na small size or big size you want? How much is big and how much is small? Na N4750 for small and N6,800 for big What’s the difference? Oga you wan buy abi you dey dey ask (At this point you change your language and level with her) Madam I wan buy? (A car speeds past you, raising dust and you ask a question which angers the seller). But this dust no go spoil this chicken? Oga I beg no spoil market for me go. This conversation at the Idi’roko Border post was so funny because the frozen food seller, a Nigerian, was actually on the Benin republic side of the border. The language spoken by most of the traders on either side is Yoruba, spiced with the truncated English Language known as pidgin. Although there are checkpoints with uniformed personnel manning some points, you can hardly distinguish between the Nigerian border and that of the other country. People pass through the checkpoints unchecked. Even the vehicles that pass through the checkpoints are not checked. Neither are the passengers. The vehicles are cleared on the presentation of receipts showing that they had made some payments. There are no Nigerian flags flying, neither is any imposing structure to signpost Nigeria as the giant of Africa there. Yet, this is Seme Border, where goods worth billions of Naira are imported into C M Y K

Above: Dilapidated building at Idiroko border Below: Abba

the country annually from the Republic of Benin, with duties running into billions too. Goods imported into Nigeria through the border include second hand vehicles popularly known as Tokunbo, rice, vegetable oil and household items. And because of the unsavoury educational schedule in Nigeria, especially at the tertiary level, Republic of Benin has become a haven for university education for Nigerian parents who can afford it for their children. The immigration officer in charge of the Seme Border, Mr Ogbe Jae, captured the situation when he said immigration activities at the border were virtually nil at some point. Jae told a nonplussed minister of interior, Moro, who visited the border on an on-the-spot assessment of the situation there: “The only people who clear with Immigration here are students because when they want to go for National Youth Service Corps, they must present evidence that they schooled in Cotonou and that is why they clear with us.” Jae said there were matters to be resolved and agreement that needed to be signed for the Immigration at the Seme Border to function well. According to him, up till the time of

the minister’s visit, the Immigration and other Nigerian security outfits at the border were not allowed to carry ammunitions or fly the Nigerian flag.

is words, “There are several matters to be resolved by the Federal Government and agreements to be signed before we could be allowed to carry ammunitions here. When the agreements are signed, that is when we can carry arms at this border. “The building of the border house was awarded by government but the Nigeria Immigration, which is supposed to be the first people you will meet when crossing the border, is sandwiched such that we are not the first any longer. “With this arrangement, you cannot control illegal immigrants crossing because there are several routes they pass at the back which lead them to the Republic of Benin. Even where we stand right now is Republic of Benin and there is hardly anything you can do to stop anybody because we are staying on their land”. Jae stressed further, “You cannot fly the Nigerian flag here until those agreements are signed; so if anybody slaps you, you cannot use gun or harass Continues on page

SUNDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013, PAGE 15

ground and the need to improve on them. His words, “This border is one of the oldest borders in Nigeria and it has been anybody here because we have been like this from time immemorial. Before sandwiched in-between the security and since my assumption here, this is agencies of Benin Republic and it is their the first time a minister is visiting and flag that is flying in full here.” we are happy to have you here, it shows Moro, who was apparently taken aback you want to see things for yourself. We by what the immigration officer said, commend your courage”. stated, He went further, “There is synergy “Do you have the report? among the security agencies operating “If yes, please I need a comprehensive here and we are trying to improve on report on my table because I need to act the infrastructural amenities to ensure on it immediately”. we have a hygienic environment”. The minister went further, “Honestly, Dosumu allayed the fear of I am surprised and I don’t even know Moro, saying there was 24-hour where to start from now. What it means surveillance at the border and the is that Nigeria has no border here (at agencies working with their Benin Seme) just like I said of Idi’roko. It is Republic counterparts at ensuring the only your uniform that makes you border was safe for all. Immigration officers and not that you are We have security in place to actually doing the work of an checkmate any insurgency. Immigration officer. Minister dujring the visit The Army, the Police have put in place 24 hours surveillance and we have find everything here confusing”. been able to establish security Earlier he had visited Idi’roko cooperation with the agencies of Benin Border where he was alarmed at Republic and that is why there are no the state of the infrastructural facilities border clashes between both at the office of the Immigration there. countries. We also share information He shook his head in disbelief at what and meet from time to time”, the he saw throughout the visit. Customs boss said. According to Moro, his decision to pay The minister, before departing the the visit to both borders was borne out Idi’roko border, also met with Mr of the reports he had been getting that Janvier Akotegnov, the DPO of Igolo, a Nigeria did not have adequate neighbouring border town in Benin Immigration services at both borders, a Republic, in an effort t o f o s t e r situation which makes it easy for collaboration between the Nigerian miscreants to enter Nigeria easily. This assertion, he said, made him leave health? This is worrisome that all is “My visit here is to ensure our borders security operatives and their Beninese Abuja and headed for Lagos enroute happening here and nobody is bringing are properly guarded and I think the counterparts. Moro’s visit was concluded with a Idi’roko and Seme on unscheduled it to the attention of government”. Customs, Immigration and all other visits to see things by himself and to As if that wasn’t enough, the visit to security agencies must come together. I parade by men of the Customs in his enable his ministry arrest the insecurity the demarcation called border between am impressed by the Customs but honour before his convoy departed for situation in Nigeria. Nigeria and Benin Republic left the disappointed by the other sections Seme Border around 2pm. The trip to Seme Border took several From the Airport in Ikeja, it took the minister in a bigger shock. here”. minister, his entourage and this reporter He further said, “You people here hours as the road was riddled The borders had no gates! over two hours, despite the siren blaring Rather the demarcation was done with represent the first touch when anybody with potholes. We arrived at Seme Border and, from pilot car leading the convoy, to arrive bamboo trunks which could not wants to enter Nigeria, but with this the point of arrival, the Idi’roko Border. Upon everything seemed arrival, Moro headed to the wrong with the Immigration office and setting. inquired about who was in I am surprised and I don’t even know where to start from now. The bamboo charge. e m a r c a t i o n Many of the Immigration What it means is that Nigeria has no border here (at Seme) just ddiscovered at Idi’roko officers on duty did not even like I said of Idi’roko. It is only your uniform that makes you replicated itself at the recognize him and some of Border while them had to inquire from those Immigration officers and not that you are actually doing the work Seme men of Immigration on the entourage before they and other security realized the man standing outfits operated from right there with them was the inside containers, a minister of interior. guarantee any security or serious open border without any control, the which left the Upon the realisation of the personality scrutiny to stop people from coming in possibility of hoodlums, terrorists with situation with them, calls were made to the top and out of the Nigeria. their devilish acts entering Nigeria is minister dejected for the several echelon of the Immigration at the border The reaction of Moro, on sighting the made easy especially when you use hours he spent there. Meanwhile, and, within minutes, all was set to bamboo was: bamboo and blocks to make a what the minister did not notice was conduct the minister round the premises “How do you differentiate between demarcation, it cannot stop any that whereas he was conducting his visit, there were other unmarked which also houses the Customs, Nigerians and Benin Republic citizens hoodlum from entering Nigeria”. National Drug Law Enforcement Agency here, especially with this free movement The minister, however, disclosed that routes through which smugglers do (NDLEA), among other security outfits. in and out? the Federal Government will build a their business successfully, smuggling The first thing that caught the attention “How do you know people who are plaza at the border. His words, “Our plan into the country cars, electronics, food of Moro was the decaying infrastructure entering Nigeria to cause mayhem or is to build a plaza at this borderline to items and many more. Those familiar with the smuggling at the premises of the Immigration. The those people that are miscreants?” further improve on our security situation offices could be likened to what was He left the border and headed to the while effort is in place to repair all business told Sunday Vanguard that recently shown on Channels Television Customs office where he was welcomed dilapidated infrastructures at the there are dozens of unmarked routes through which cars and food items are about the decaying infrastructure at the by Customs Area Comptroller, Ogun offices”. Police College, Ikeja. Responding, Comptroller of Customs, smuggled into Nigeria; just as there State, Prince Ade Dosumu. are many more footpaths that allow for The environment was virtually a The minister’s first reaction on arrival Ogun State Command, Dosumu, piggery while darkness took over the was the well organised and neat commended the minister for the visit the free flow of people. entire place due to lack of electricity and environment in which the Customs to the border just as the entire surrounding had market men personnel were working. He he stressed that and women buying and selling. commended the Customs Comptroller there was a lot It was also observed that all the offices for taking the initiative of working in a government could lacked basic needs like air conditioners, well arranged and hygienic environment do to strengthen tables and chairs while the whole just as he tasked the Immigration to the security outfits environment could be likened to a borrow a cue from the Customs. Moro at the border. dungeon. stated that there was the need for a There were electrical wires all over the synergy among all security operatives e said offices, unused water tanks littered the at the border in order to arrest the Idi’roko environment while the toilets and insecurity situation in Nigeria. border is bathrooms were nothing to write home His words, “There is need for a one of the oldest about. synergy among security outfits at this borders in Nigeria Checking the other facilities in place border to properly address the influx of but no sitting at the Immigration office, the minister insurgents into Nigeria because, without minister had visited could not help but ask, “Is this the kind collaboration, there will be a problem in the border to look of environment you people operate arresting this insecurity problem Nigeria a t t h e in and you do not care about your is presently going through. infrastructure on

Continued from page

Ministers unscheduled visit reveals chaos at country’s gateways

C M Y K

PAGE 16 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

C M Y K

SUNDAY

Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013, PAGE 17

 L a d o j a . . . Fo r avoidance of any doubt, no fund was seized from me. Not even any of my properties has been taken over by the EFCC.

BY BASHIR ADEFAKA enator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, 68, is chemical engi neer and a product of University of Liege, Belgium. A farmer that he also is, Ladoja was one of the very few Nigerian figures that created the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Between 2003 and 2007, he was elected governor of Oyo State. For three hours at his Bodija GRA home in Ibadan last weekend, he told Sunday Vanguard the story of what transpired between him and Governor Abiola Ajimobi and how the attitude of the governor has led to the current strained relationship between the ACN-led government and his young but vibrant Accord Party. On the state-of-the-nation, he said since Nigeria cannot be discussed without a mention of the PDP; and that PDP’s biggest mistake was its failure to make the late Sunday Awoniyi its national chairman. Excerpts:. S

The Oyo State Government said the EFCC seized some of your properties and froze your accounts and it said it has asked the EFCC to hand them over to it. What is your take on that? First and foremost, let me tell you that this an issue still in court. And it will be contemptuous for anybody to speak on such matter. In the said publication, the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Taiwo Otegbeye and Festus Adedayo alleged that properties were seized and accounts frozen. With the Dauda Kolawole an ACN chieftain joining the fray, there is the need to react

Myproblemwith theAPC merger arrangement, by Rashidi Ladoja

•Marginalisation: ‘S/West, architect of its own headache’

and correct the erroneous impression that is now in circulation through the ACN propaganda mercenary. For avoidance of any doubt, no fund was seized from me. Not even any of my properties has been taken over by the EFCC. The so-called seizures were made from Chief Wale Atanda of the Heritage Holdings, who the EFCC in a curious twist converted from a defendant to a prosecution witness. At any rate the issue is still in court, as I said, and it would be contemptuous of the court to comment on it. The body language of the incumbent administration in Oyo State is indicative of a strained relationship

between you and the governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi. Where did things go wrong and what really is the problem – because at some point there appeared to be an understanding to work together? You have talked of body language and I don’t want to presume that I have to interpret body language. I would rather want a situation whereby somebody will tell me directly that we don’t need you again. Of course, from the beginning there has been one problem or the other. The problem started when the government said they had problem fulfilling their part of the agreement they had with us.

At that time the belief was that the leader of their party, my late brother, Alhaji Lam Adeshina, was the cause, may God bless his soul; because on one of the occasions I remember that they asked the governor to go and cancel the agreement. We believed that yes, the reason for going into the government should not be defeated and the reason for going to the government with him, Governor Abiola Ajimobi, was to help him stabilize the government so that he could be able to perform to the best of his ability. But since the death of my brother, Continues on page 18

PAGE 18—SUNDAY

Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24,, 2013

Continued from page 17 Lam, it seems as if the situation is getting more and more complex. Not just about the agreement but also, there have been vicious attacks on my person and on our party. If you say body language, may be that is the body language that they want us to interpret as to say, “We don’t want you again.” But we want to say precisely that when they tell us that they don’t want us any more, then, we would pack our loads and leave.

My problem with the APC merger arrangement, by Ladoja

ow did you pull it off – your Accord Party that is; winning some seats in the state assembly and four Reps? The propelling power is commitment to service. You see, I have had opportunity of leading this state from 2003. During the campaign I told the people in no uncertain terms that this is what my government will give you and this is what the government will do and when we won the election in 2003, we set out doing them. We gave them the parameters with which they could measure those things we did. For example it was during campaign we said within the four years we would eradicate guinea worm in Oyo State because the state was one of the most endemic states at that time. So, it was fulfilled and by the grace of God guinea worm was eradicated during our time. We said we would improve the situation in the education sector and we provided them with an environment conducive for learning. We told the people of Oyo State during our campaign that we were not going to have more than 30 pupils and students per class. We were second to Katsina in 2006 SUBEB rating. At that time, Ladoke Akintola University Ogbomoso was rated as the best state university in Nigeria and number seven in all the universities (Federal, state and private) in the country. So, we were rewarded. I mean, that effort we put into the education sector was rewarded. So, if we now came back to say okay, we want to contest, it is not Accord Party that people were looking at. People were actually looking at those behind Accord Party. If it is possible to build a reasonably affordable house where people can line, why do you have to go and build a marble house, particularly where you have some other pressing demands? That was the secret. Now, coming back to your

Ladoja..The

propelling power is commitment to service

question about the propelling power that made Accord Party perform greatly within the short time of coming up, those were the things that we did and people said oh, this is the man we can trust. There was no magic. It was just the question of harvesting the trust of the people. Immediately after the election, the PDP made frantic efforts to ensure that you return to the party. So much that even former President Olusegun

have derailed. So, with the talk that Ladoja left PDP, I don’t see anything tangible in it. All of you knew what happened between 2003 and 2007 which led to my leaving the party. The reconciliation they pursued was not sincere until 2010 and then we said, “Look, enough is enough. It doesn’t seem that this party that is People’s Democratic Party and later on became People’s Deceiving Party is going to change.” We then decided to go and found

the PDP we would have the chairman; where PDP led the Accord, they would have the chairman. We didn’t ask for more than what we could normally have asked for. What we asked for was for the posts to be shared in proportion of our efforts. So, after the ward congresses, when the Local Government congresses were supposed to be held the next week, we now discovered that the names of our people that were on the executives

Most of the times, we don’t want to take consequences of our actions. Today, the South West is in the opposition and so if that is true the psyche of many people in government is that, they should not feed my opposition Obasanjo paid you several visits and a body was raised within the party to meet with you with a view to bringing you back to the PDP but all those efforts came to naught. What made us to stay until December 2010 to go into Accord Party was that, we believed that we were members of the PDP. Because as a founder of the party, I believe that there are some fine gentlemen in it. Of course, after sometimes it was hijacked. The biggest mistake that PDP made was that it did not choose (Sunday) Awoniyi as the chairman of the party in 1999. If Awoniyi had become chairman of PDP, maybe the party would not

a party that was relatively unknown here. That was how we got into Accord Party and by the grace of God we did it. (Cuts in) Although your party, as young as it was, performed reasonably well at the 2011 elections but you lost the governorship. Do you have any cause to regret it? I have no regret that I lost the governorship election at all. But the only thing that I’m happy about is that the people of Oyo State have shown me love; they have shown me loyalty and the only thing I can do to appreciate those people is to give them the best I can. So, when PDP now came, we agreed that where Accord led

during the ward congresses had been changed. But I said, “Let us go ahead” but also said that a party where you cannot be sure that two plus two will be equal to four; a party where you cannot be sure that what you did in Ibadan is what they are going to reflect in Abuja isn’t a serious party. I said, go ahead. And then again at level of the state congresses, we found two parallel lists: One body had its own congress at Liberty Stadium, another body was doing its own at Olubadan Stadium. And I said, “Hun hun! We don’t want to become another faction of PDP.”

Some people in PDP are still insisting that you should return to PDP. Some are even saying that, as a businessman, there is no way you are going to remain in the opposition. What is your reaction to that? You see, politicians will always find a reason to justify whatever they want to happen. Where were they when all those things were happening? We are not in PDP. The PDP of today is not the PDP of our dream when we started it in 1998. The PDP of our dream was a party established to satisfy needs of the people and not one where the Chairman and Secretary would be acting in different ways and for different purposes. They agreed together that they were going to reconduct the congress of Adamawa State. Then after that, 10 out of the National Working Committee members - led by the secretary you said (laughs) – met behind the chairman and then reversed the decision that was taken when the chairman was sitting in - a matter that concerned the chairman of the state! That is where they have problem; in a situation where you cannot be sure that the decision you have taken here in Ibadan will stand when you get to Abuja. So, I don’t see myself being in such a party. Now, you said some of them were saying as a. businessman, Ladoja should

Continues on page 19

SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24,, 2013, PPA AGE 19

Continued from page 18 not be in opposition. Do they say that a businessman should always be in the government party? That is not true. I am not a contractor and so I’m not looking for contracts. From the way you have spoke so far, it appears that, in spite of everything, you restrain yourself from criticizing the government of Ajimobi so as not to be held responsible for why the government fails... (Cuts in) I’m not saying that I will not criticize. What I’m saying is that, it is my responsibility as an elder statesman in this state to work for the stability of any government in power, so that the people of Oyo State can enjoy that government. And so, once elections are over, party politics should softpedal. I was the first person to congratulate Abiola Ajimobi when he became governor. What is your take on the merger that recently brought about the All Progressives Congress, APC, and why is your party not involved? In 1999 there were three major parties: the PDP, APP and then the AD. After the first set of the election, when it was time for presidential election, APP and AD allied using AD/APP as platform. They contested that presidential election and they lost! Nothing new is happening. The only thing is just for the APC to say they will be able to carry the votes of ACN in the Southwest, they will be able to carry the votes of APGA in the Southeast and then carry the votes of CPC in the North West and that of ANPP in the North East. But look, this thing is not arithmetic. What would have been best was for you to develop your party to a level where you can fight election on your own so that you can have people of like minds. But in a situation whereby people of different interests come together to say we are merging to win votes, let’s wait and see. There will be a time that the CPC will say, ‘Not anymore; we cannot go on with CAN’. APGA will say ‘no, no, no we can’t work with Buhari’. From the report we have now, APGA has even already said that they are not part of the arrangement. If the only reason they are coming together is to win election, then, that is conspiracy. Are you saying that the manifestos of APGA, ACN, CPC and ANPP are the same? Do they have the same outlook? They would have normally first of all worked out what is going to be the basis for participation. And that is where I expect that they

Ladoja...it is my responsibility as an elder statesman in this state to work for the stability of any government in power

Marginalisation: ‘S/West, architect of its own headache’ should have started from. Now APGA is disagreeing over the merger. You don’t do things like that. They just jumped at it simply because they want to win election. No. It’s not arithmetic. Now that you don’t seem to want to participate in the mega party thing, what efforts are you making to spread out on Accord Party? Yes, we have taken root in Oyo State. We are already in Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Lagos and so we can assume that the Accord Party is in the whole of the South West. And at the

that may be another party will break out of the PDP so as to enable the aggrieved people to satisfy their aspirations and so on. But who knows? Because parties are not just I say that 2015 is still far away, particularly with what is happening at the national level of the PDP because you cannot talk of Nigeria without talking about PDP. The party has about 26 governors and so there is no way you talk of Nigeria without talking about PDP. But may be the headache they have is that they find it difficult to manage the

learn about Nigerians: We are fast at criticizing our leaders. We are not patient enough to allow them to work. If you amend the Constitution of Nigeria today, tomorrow, another person will ask for Constitution amendment again. That is what we are in Nigeria. What I can just advise Jonathan to do is that, once you know your people for what they are, whatever they say should not bother you at all. What you should do is to ensure that you know what is

If the only reason they are coming together is to win election, then, that is conspiracy. Are you saying that the manifestos of APGA, ACN, CPC and ANPP are the same? Do they have the same outlook? same time, do you know that we have legislators from Delta, Anambra, Rivers? So, we are making efforts in other parts of Nigeria also to make sure that our party is able to spread as fast as it can. Our chairman is from Katsina State and that is to show you that very soon, they will see us in every state of the country. What then is your politics going to be like preparatory to 2015? You see, people are looking at APC and PDP as rivals. PDP of today has sacked Oyinlola, Mustapha and Segun Oni. So, what is the fate of PDP? Is the implosion happening in PDP not going to affect its ability to perform in future election especially the 2015? The impression is

success they have made over the years. And all the things that are happening in the party presently, the outcome of it will determine what happens in 2015. You see, if you disrespect the courts, you are doomed. One of the problems the PDP has is that it always disobeys court orders. President Jonathan said he was the most criticized President in the world. How do you find that comment? Yes, he said so. He has been mostly criticized but I can hear that from him that he’s making amends and he is truly making amends. He had said that the situation would improve. He had promised that the infrastructures would be better. That is one thing I

good and be rightly guided too and ensure that you do things correctly. So, I don’t see that as a big problem. So, one thing that I like about Nigerians is that, we are very critical about our leadership. What you, President Jonathan, should do is, when they are criticizing you, take them where they are right and make amends and where they are wrong, explain to them why you have taken the steps you have taken. After all, people have not yet overcome hunger, we have not yet had a situation whereby all Nigerians have good education, we are yet to even be able to give all-round employment to those of our

people that are in need of employment. Just before the last question, you are aware of the cries of marginalization by stakeholders in the South West that they claim the President Jonathan has inflicted on the region. How did we get to this point and what is the way out? Most of the times, we don’t want to take consequences of our actions. Today in Nigeria, the South West is in the opposition. Is that true? And so if you know it is true and of a surety it is true, and the psyche of many people in government is that, they should not feed my opposition, or that they should not encourage the opposition to challenge them, that in itself is something.

hen another angle of it is that people in government from South West are not looking for the benefit the region can derive but the benefit they can get from the government on personal grounds. That is one of the reasons why they cannot even say it boldly that look, we are leaving PDP if they fail to satisfy our yearnings. This man wants to be a board member and the other wants to be something else and so on. That is the problem. We know that many things that are supposed to come to South West are not coming. Look at that of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. You are in the opposition party. How can an opposition now expect that you could just go and lord it over the major party. And now we are shouting marginalization here and there. But nobody is preventing us from creating our own Eldorado in our states and our region. If we are not the Chief of Army Staff and we are not in important positions, it doesn’t mean that we should not be able to do well for ourselves here. South West voted for Jonathan. How they did it, I don’t know because I would have expected Ribadu to win in South West. I mean, in a situation whereby Jonathan won more than 50 percent of Lagos votes and, yet, PDP didn’t have one member of the House of Representatives means that there must be a magic that Jonathan performed to that extent in Lagos and other parts of South West. May be the God of his father were behind him to have that kind of huge success here. It was only in Osun that Jonathan did not win in the whole of South West and he did not do badly there. I think it was forty something to fifty something percent.

PAGE 20—SUNDAY VANGUARD,FEBRUARY 24, 2013

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Re: A homesless generation

OUSING is very vital to the human life; for without it, we are no better than the animals whose roof is the sky. Sadly, the sky has become a roof for many citydwellers in our country, so to say, as homeless people of all ages sleep under the bridges, in market places, in uncompleted buildings, on pavements, and slabs on the roadside. How did Nigerians, particularly those from areas noted for their pride of their ethnic group, family and roots, get to this deplorable situation? Population explosion, mass migration to the urban areas, loss of jobs and consequently of rented premises, all contribute to this. One leaves hometown for a better life in the cities, to improve one’s circumstances and render financial help to other members of the family back home, so, when things don’t work out well, it’s very difficult to accept failure, and have to return to the life that one was escaping from. Some of such people may then prefer to rough it out on the streets, waiting for their circumstances to improve. This situation could persist for long, and if no tangible help comes, they may become permanently destitute, exposed to all sorts of health and criminal hazards; becoming a problem for the society. Miracles and breakthroughs do happen, and some may actually become home-owners later, who knows? Whatever one’s circumstances in life, one needs some place to call one’s own at a point, even if it’s a lowly one. Once you’re free of escalating house rent and threats of eviction by landlords, and you have your own roof, other problems in life can be bearable and manageable, by the grace of God. When we didn’t have the population explosion that we have now, and some people didn’t mind spending all the days of their lives in the family house, housing wasn’t the major human life problem that it has become in this country. Parents with just one house, divided up the rooms among all the children. Those children who could build a house of their own, moved out and rented out their inherited rooms, while those who couldn’t, lived in theirs and passed them on to their own children. You can imagine the chaos where several children with their own separate families all inherit a few rooms from their parents! Leaving home to go rent rooms/apartments in your own home town thus becomes necessary! A thing that was like an abomination many years ago! You couldn’t be a tenant in your birth place! When you left home then, it was to move into your own house. With the hard economic crunch, how possible is this for the majority of the populace who can barely make ends meet, and who struggle to meet payments for their rented rooms? Some of our readers believe that the government at all tiers can do much, if they want to, to help the masses become home-owners, or, become C M Y K

View-Point

Helen Ovbiagele Woman Editor

Before getting into power, some Nigerians would say all the right things that would promote a good life for the citizenry, but when they get into power, they do nothing. government tenants. “Madam, thank you for drawing attention to housing in our country in your piece ‘A homeless generation.’ Actually, there was a time when some governments were concerned about housing for the masses; to the extent that they built affordable accommodation for citizens to buy e.g. the Jakande era. My family bought a threebedroom flat at the Amuwo Odofin Housing Estate for seven thousand naira at the time. It’s the only place we have to call our own, and also where I raised all my children. As a retiree, I can’t see myself building a house at this stage of my life; neither can I see my children, some of whom are still jobhunting, building their own houses yet. Those who are married are in rented accommodation. But for that Jakande’s move, we would still be tenants. - Thanks. Pa Solomon, Lagos.” “Helen, thanks for your write-up. Playing politics with people’s welfare (housing) is not acceptable at all. Yohanna .. “ Before getting into power, some Nigerians would say all the right things that would promote a good life for the citizenry, but when they get into power, they do nothing. Your write-up was to the point, but can our rulers say that they don’t know that it’s time that housing is given priority again? Do they need to be told again and again that they should address this government wrong problem? What about them? Isn’t the

acquisition of their own personal houses the first thing they engage in even before they properly start their jobs? Houses, not only for themselves, but for members of their families, and generation to come. But Nigerians can choose not to vote into power again, any ruling party which fails to make houses available and affordable to the masses. We have that power. Let’s use it without fear or favour.” “Mrs. Ovbiagele, with regards to your write-up of January 20 th, concerning the balloting out of the Satellite Town houses. General Obasanjo, at the time, also invited government parastatals and corporate bodies to come acquire land in the Satellite Town area, and build houses to sell or let to their workers at affordable prices. The NNPC, NPF, some oil companies, and a few other agencies took the advice and built quarters for their workers. I remember mentioning this to the managing director of a large manufacturing foreign company I was working for at the time. I suggested that it would help our staff. He brushed me off, saying that they weren’t in Nigeria for that. I think that state governments should make land available to multinational companies to do this for their workers, and closely monitor the project till the very end; which should lead to sales of houses to workers at affordable prices. Thanks. - Ben, Abuja.” “Madam, every government at any given time, should make housing a priority. Many of us

cannot afford the cost of building a house of our own, due to the high costs of building materials. Even if you have a plot of land from your family, where would you get the money to build when banks are no longer giving loans for such purpose? But the government can build at a reduced cost, as they would know how to get the materials cheap. We can then go look for money to purchase from them. Funsho, Ibadan.” “Auntie, the rich in this country are so greedy that if there are houses for sale at government estates, they would turn it into a business venture by buying several to go re-sell to other people at much higher prices. This defeats the purpose for which the government built the estate. There should be a way by which the government edges out the rich from the sale, and sell to the low-income group.” “Decent housing is part of human right. The government should bring down the costs of building materials, so that most Nigerians can afford to build. It’s terrible being a tenant all one’s life. It isn’t enough for government to try to control rent. It doesn’t work anyway, and it isn’t fair on the landlords, considering the high costs of building/maintenance. Rent is the main source of income for many house-owners in the cities. If you insist on government-controlled rent, you get thrown out, or, are denied accommodation. As I am now, I can’t even afford to build in my village. Thanks. - Eji, Enugu.” We thank all those who sent in their views. We’re sorry we can only publish these few.

JAPANESE FASHION STYLE CHINAwww.japanesestreets.com FASHION WEEK 2012

SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013, PAGE 21

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I grew my clientele by doing free jobs at first—Omotola Abdul, CEO Hardey’s Make-over At a time when many young people are frustrated over their inability to find jobs, 25 year old Mrs.Omotola Aderonke Teriba Abdul, a graduate of Mass Communication, created her dream job for herself. She’s the CEO of Hardey’s Make-Over and Bridal Aso-Oke in Lagos. In a recent encounter with Vista Woman, she shared her passion for creativity and love for business, while also revealing meeting her heartthrob, another embodiment of creativity, with whom she finally tied the knot late last year. Excerpts: By JOSEPHINE IGBINO VIA IGBINOVIA

Passion for creativity, business

’VE always loved the art of make-up from childhood. The love was so strong that the first thing I always did whenever I came across any magazine was to study the make-up of the women on its pages. I however did not learn the skill until I had done some other things. After graduation, I went to the United Kingdom where I had a brother who was in the army. I actually went there in search of greener pasture like many young Nigerians, but after close to two years there, I decided to return home and do other things. The burden of going into the make-up business was getting more intense. Incidentally, shortly after I returned to Nigeria, I attended a wedding where the bride’s make-up really caught my

people from business is the challenges that come with starting-up. Of course, the beginning is always hard, but with determination, one will always scale through. It wasn’t easy for me too, but I persevered. For example, after venturing into make-up, my first real job was not financially rewarding! That did not discourage me though, because I was more concerned about perfecting my skill. However, too many people are anxious to start earning big money as soon as they venture into business, and they could become discouraged and frustrated if they’re unable to do this. I could remember doing a lot of free jobs at first. Funny enough, most of those free jobs fetched me big contacts later, as those clients introduced me to those who paid well. That was how I built up the business.

Fulfillment

Seriously, I’m enjoying my job as a

fancy. I immediately asked the make-up artist where she had learnt the skill,and she mentioned a place in Ikeja. I went there and trained for two weeks, after which I started working on developing what I had learnt. Fortunately, while in school, I had learnt how to weave Aso-Oke from a relative who was into the business and that made building my business a lot easier. So, after learning make-up, I went back to that relative to specially learn the art of bridal AsoOke. So, it’s part of what I do now. Starting-up was not really difficult because I had acquainted myself with the art of networking as an entrepreneur while in higher institution. As a student, I ran a boutique where I sold ladies’ wears and accessories, among other things. I actually began by buying ladies’ wears from the UK whenever I went on holiday. The trade did not affect my studies in any way because I also learnt to balance my time, and as a matter of fact, I graduated with very good grades.

Mrs.Omotola Abdul.....Too many people are anxious to start earning big money

as soon as they venture into business.

Challenges

One thing that usually scares

make-up artist. It is something I’ve always wanted to do, and I’m grateful to God that I was able to make it see the light of day. It has also been financially rewarding, but like I said earlier, it’s not really about financial benefits. It was more of fulfilling my dreams.

Advice to young people

To other business-minded young people, I advise that you identify what you’re sure you enjoy doing. It’s not just about money. Because you’re not yet a professional, understand that you still have to learn every day. Also, if it’s make-up, be ready to travel a lot because you could be asked to come dress a bride, outside the town you reside in. *Josenta

Meeting my husband

I met my husband, Kehinde Oluwatosin Abdul, in church. He came for a programme in my church, and I happened to be one of the organizers. He’s into the entertainment industry as an MC, compere and comedian. We eventually got talking and gradually, we became friends. He has really been a source of encouragement to me. We finally tied the nuptial late last year. C M Y K

PAGE 22—SUNDAY VANGUARD , FEBRUARY 24, 2013

Boys flock to me! Dear Rebecca

am a sociable girl of sixteen and still in secondary school. Because of this, boys like me a lot but I try not to be snobbish. My problem is I can’t handle it when some boys write specially for me and some-times unnecessary. Please tell me how to reply such letters because a boy has written one such letter now and I don’t know what to say to him in reply. REPL Y REPLY

OW nice life would be if fel low human beings behave the way we want them to. The truth is that as God in his wisdom has given us the freedom to do as we like, and we exercise that freedom, we are bound to clash with other people and upset them, making them unhappy and angry. Most girls attract the attentions of boys. That is normal. Girls are also attracted to boys. Since they are supposed to be the stronger and more assertive of the two sexes, boys usually take the lead and make the first approach whether or not they feel unworthy of the girl they admire, and are likely to be rejected. In short, boys will always approach girls either verbally or in writing, for a romantic rela-

tionship. This is good because as many people in world would one day get married, it is important that they interact through friendship, and have the opportunity to study members of the opposite sex. This would enable them know the sort of partner that they would like in their lives. With this knowledge, a marriage will stand a chance of being successful. So don’t be abusive rude or angry when a boy writes to you or approaches you for friendship. If you like this boy who has written to you, but you don’t want a romantic relationship, tell him straight away that you want ordinary friendship. If it is romance, know that boys some-times have several girlfriends at a time. Just like some girls do. So don’t get too upset or jealous. It when you are in a serious relationship leading to marriage, that you have to insist your man shows you love and respect by remaining loyal and faithful. If it is ordinary friendship, you don’t worry about such things. At 16, however, there should be no special boy in your life. Your priority right now is to do very well on your studies so that you can make top grades, and you can stand the chance of gaining admission into the universities. So, concentrate on that and leave boys till very much later.

Am I bi-sexual? Dear Rebecca

am a seventeenyear old school leaver. I have two problems bothering me and making my future hopeless. First, I masturbate and this started two years ago. I’ve tried several times to stop it, all to no avail. The sexual ecstasy I derive from it draws me to it. I do it in all sorts of private places. The mere thought of it sends my organ standing. This is embarrassing. My second problem is that I noticed I admire the men

folk a lot especially when they are in jeans or shorts. As a matter of fact, I stare at men in jeans or shorts and when I think of it, it sends me masturbating. This action sickens me. I cannot understand anymore whether I am bi-sexual or homosexual. Help Rexy REPL Y REPLY

EX is a private thing and your sexual leaning is your own personal affair

I want to be a beauty queen! Dear Rebecca

AM an 18 year old girl nursing the ambition of becoming a beauty queen like THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL. I have all the attributes of a beauty queen. I am six feet tall, have good figure and facial features. Could you please help contact Sliverbird production and find out how I can take part in it? I would like to get their phone number if possible. If I am eligible, what are the requirements and how will it be arranged? Though I have pimples now, I would get rid of

them before then. Caroline, Kano State. REPL Y REPLY

AKING part in beauty contests has become a stepping stone for many girls to embark on other careers like modelling, acting, the entertainment industry, etc. Several organizations run beauty pageants in the country. I suggest you look in newspapers and magazines for the contests, as they are usually advertised. Personally, I don’t think beauty should be judged,

since in many cases, we have no input in it. We are endowed with it whether we deserve it or not. It is not something we acquire due to our own hard work. Still, one can’t really stop young girls from aspiring to take part in these contests. Several beauty queens we’ve had in recent years are either graduates or undergraduates. This is good because education is very important to one’s total growth and development. One cannot remain a beauty queen forever, so, a sound education background which would en-

able one to have a good job and career later, is advisable. Silverbird productions of 17A, Commercial Avenue, Yaba, Lagos, are the organizers of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant. The contest is open to young ladies from age 18 to 25 with a valid Nigerian passport. Apart from some newspapers, Rhythm Radio carries the adverts too. You can also log on to their site on the internet, I learnt. You must have at least, your GCE’O’ level papers, but girls in higher institutions of learning are highly favoured. Good luck.

and business. For many people, the world over, their religion determines their sexual behaviour and attitude to sex. At seventeen, you are still discovering yourself and acquiring both physical and emotional maturity. You cannot aptly categorize your preference in sex yet. The Fact that you admire men in tight outfits and you get aroused, does not make you a homosexual; it is not unusual to be thrilled when you see a member of your own sex whose physical appearance appeals to you. In the same token, liking the company of women or admiring them does not mean that you are promiscuous or a skirt-chaser. Going from woman to woman for sex is what makes you promiscuous. The future would determine whether you prefer men to women, or you want both sexes for love -making. Right now. I advise you to take your mind off the issue of sex. I know it is boring when a school leaver is idle at home, waiting to obtain better results or gain admission into a higher institution, but try to occupy yourself with hobbies you enjoy music, sports, exercise books etc. Pick up a temporary job if you can. Think of things which make you happy

and do them. Sex is only a few mintues’ pleasure and it should not be your main source of happiness. It becomes boring when you make it your whole life. We have said many times in this column that masturbate is a safe way for men and women to relieve their sexual tension. You won’t fall sick or become infertile from it. It is much better than sleeping around and exposing yourself to all sorts of health hazards. Experts say you should not feel guilty about it, but if you would like to get married in future, masturbation should not be a replacement for relationship with the opposite sex. Guilt feeling about masturbation could make you feel ashamed and bring on psychological problems. Instead of committing adultery, some married couples safely relieve themselves that way, when it is not safe for them to have sex, either due to advanced pregnancy or illness. Some religious bodies say it is sinful, so, if you are sickened by the act, I would strongly advise that you pray to God to give you the strength to kick the habit and concentrate on more important things like your studies and future career.

•All letters for publication on this page should be sent to: Dear Rebecca, Vanguard Media Ltd, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B 1007, Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria. E-mail: dearrebecca2@yahoo.com

SUNDAY

Vanguard ,

FEBRUARY 24, 2013,

PAGE 23

Her ex became a gigolo; she landed a moneybag

HE decent thing to do when you realize your marriage isn’t working in spite of all your efforts to make a go of things, is pack in such a relationship. That’s exactly what Aminat did three years

ago when she confessed she no longer felt anything passionate towards her husband. And the feeling was mutual. So they both decided on a clean break with Aminat taking sole custody of the only child of the marriage Bimpe, aged nine. “Seeing Niyi my ex was always so hard,” sighed Aminat. “It wasn’t that I still loved him, - Honestly I didn’t. The break-up had been right for both of us. The sad bit was that while Niyi had moved on, I was stuck with being a single mother. My friend never failed to tell me of Niyi ‘ s escapades with his new found-land - a fashion designer with an impressive factory. My job as a civil servant scarcely compares with the glamorous life Mide, Niyi’s mistress lives. And she’s for ever flaunting her wealth - buying fancy clothes for him and taking him on romantic weekends to neighbouring countries. And I don’t blame her - Niyi is a stud

and knows how to make a woman come alive in the bedroom. “A few months after they met, Niyi breezed in to give our daughter the peanuts he gives her as pocket money. But he was dressed to kill, wafting a very expensive aftershave. Looking sheepish, he confessed that it was all thanks to Mide - the girlfriend. I’d never really met her, but had spotted her twice at the wheel of her fancy jeep with Niyi in tow. All I saw of her were her expensive weave on, heavy make-up - yet I was sure it wasn’t her

looks that kept my exhooked. It was her money, Niyi is a civil servant too and as hard up as I was. What he gives our daughter is all he can afford and although he and Mide aren’t living together, he still manages to live the high life. All thanks to her - the fancy meals, and drop-everything weekends away, are all funded by her. “Whenever he takes our daughter out, she always comes back with expensive presents and how nice auntie Mide is. I often bristled with resentment. It’s been ages since 1’d been able to buy her a toy or good

the party without his wife and was quite keen to see me again. Within weeks, he’d taken over my social life - taking me to interesting places and showering me with gifts and money. For the first time in months, I could treat my daughter to outings and toys. Jide even encouraged me to open a savings account for her. He then gave my twobedroom flat a face lift and bought us decent furniture. “Niyi was happy for us clothes. Unlike Niyi, I had nothing glamorous or exciting to look forward to - all I had were bills as I juggled to make ends meet on my salary. And life just kept rubbing it in. Over the next months, Niyi took up golf because Mide was an avid p layer. She

bought him a set of clubs and fancy sports pants to go with it. To crown it all, he told me he wouldn’t be able to see us for a few weeks as he was going abroad with Mide! When he left, I sat down and cried. How could life be this unfair? I had another good moan when I got to the office and my good friend and

colleague, urged me to come with her to yet another party. She’d often asked and I’d refused in spite of the fact that she said I could leave my daughter with her two. This time though, I didn’t say no. What did r have to lose? I deserved a break too! “When she saw what I had on for the party, she shook her head disapprovingly, lent me a better gear from her wardrobe and even did my make-up. I hadn’t had so much so much fun in years - the party was lavish and full of interesting people. That was how I met Jide. A friend of my colleague, he’d come to

at first - afterall, he too was living on the laps of his lover’s luxury - a sort of gigolo. Then he started being funny. Was Jide sleeping over? He wouldn’t want our daughter to be exposed to a man coming to the flat and going to my bedroom that frequently. I just ignored him. He still lived alone, what stopped him from having the girl with her? And why didn’t he move in with nis fancy woman? He said it was none of my business. “Jide is ten years older with a wife and three children. He didn’t want any more children but wouldn’t mind my having one to give my daughter a brother or sister. rm still thinking about that. Last month,

when Niyi came to take our daughter out, Jide was in the flat, doing justice to hot pounded yam with all the works. Niyi looked really uneasy and barely acknowledged Jide’s greetings. When she left with a cherry ‘goodbye uncle”, Jide gave her some money to take with her. In his way, he was trying to humiliate Niyi and I was having none of that. I told him it was Niyi’s treat and the poor girl wouldn’t need the money he was urging her to take. “When Niyi brought our daughter back, he said he would prefer she stayed with him any time I had a ‘date’. I told him he shouldn’t worry - that my colleague was always happy to take her. He’s no longer as cocky as he used to be, he shows off Mide’s gifts; his payments for services rendered. But thanks to him, I could have a relationship with a clear conscience and enjoy the type of luxury he now takes for granted just for doing what he’s often done - sleep with a part-

ner! If he can’t take it, he should lump it. I’m now a free agent and what is sauce for the goose is definitely sauce for the gander ... “

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You are what you eat

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 C M Y K

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 byproducts 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 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-

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 toxins. 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.

* The Wheel Posture

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

P AGE 24 —SUNDAY Vanguard , FEBRUARY 24 , 2013

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

08056180152,

SMS only

Women who can’t live with a man! M

ORE and more women today are settling for ‘living happily apart’ relationships. They all had dreams of the stereo-typed relationships - meet a prospective partner, get married, have desired children and live happily ever-after. But reality is far from all that. ‘When I got married,’ said Lisa, a medical doctor, ‘I did because I was pregnant. Both of us were in medical school and my family wouldn’t approve of me getting married out of wedlock. “Marriage is for life,” preached my prim mother, “and no child has a right to be born a bastard if both parents could help it.” “So we got married and married life was not what I expected it to be. My new husband was always studying and it was soon obvious we got married out of necessity than love. We eventually qualified and went on to have two more children. I was lucky to have a cossy apartment that went with my job whilst my husband stayed on at the teaching hospital. Marriage was dull. I was in my 30s and not prepared to hang on to a hum-drum existence for the rest of my1ife. Then my husband was given the accommodation he’d applied for for years and he wanted me to move in with him. I refused. The apartment I had was on a good part of the city why leave that to live in a block of flat? “We parted amicably and got divorced shortly after. I eventually met a man I really fancied. He was a divorcee too - he’d been for about seven years and had four children. A successful busi-

nessman, he wanted us to get married straight away. I was happy in the relationship and was actually in love with him. The more I thought about the prospect of re-marrying, the more I convinced myself that what mattered most to me was romance. Romance had quickly died when I first got married, and I resented staying at home to look after the kids, see to the cleaning of the house and hold down a full-time job. “That was when I made up my mind never to live with a man again. I sat my new man down, explained how I felt and left it to him to make up his own mind about the relationship. I was happy when he said he loved me and was quite happy to have me on any terms. He’d had some bad experiences in his marriage and didn’t want a repeat performance. To give our union a semblance of stability, we did a traditional wine-carrying ceremony just to appease our relatives. So now, he stays with me weekends till Monday when he goes back to his house. His children are quite grown and either live abroad or stay in apartments given them by their dad. ‘We’ve had this ‘marriage’ for five years now. We value the time we’re with each other and have a healthy social life. This keeps the romance and passion alive and because we’re not together all the time, we don’t get under each other’s skin. There are no rows about money or silly little things that drive a wedge between other couples. When he comes into my home, it’s on my own terms. His things are neatly placed~ whereas

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"

My heart anthem

I pledge to the love of my life this day,to be faithful,loyal and honest to her in all ramification of our lives.To love and cherish her with all my

in his home, he does what he likes. He always leaves lights and air conditioners on unnecessarily. But he knows I’m conscious of my electricity bills and will turn off all lights and won’t leave things plugged in. ‘It’s the happiest relationship I’ve ever been in and I put it down to living separately, I wouldn’t change a thing!’ . According to Eduvie, a renowned actress, “I love the fact that I can get on the plane to say Abuja with my friends instead of being tied to the house because I have to put hot meals on the table for my husband or breast-feed a child. After I had my daughter 13 years ago, I’d decided one was enough. I’m only human, and like any woman, have had a day during a break-up of a relationship when I sit around in my nightie feeling depressed. Yet I quickly realise that, we came into this world alone and we all go out of it alone and there’s no point being reliant on anyone else to make you happy. “I’ve really had three boyfriends in my 40 odd years and all have been high-profile relationships. My first serious boyfriend was an industrialist with

whom I had my daughter and he still takes good care of us. I was engaged to the second

one and dumped him when I caught him sleeping with a close friend. The third one was a bit younger and immature, so we amicably agreed to be just friends. As a matter of fact, I’m on friendly terms with my exes and appreciate what I have learnt from all of them. It takes strength to look back on a relationship and learn from the experiences you had with that person. ’This understanding comes with age, of course. When I was in my 20s, I was in a relationship because I felt it completed me. But now I look back and feel so grateful that I didn’t marry the person I was with them. I have changed so much as a person since then and I’m sure he has changed too. With age and experience, I have become confident and happy in myself regardless of who comes in or out of my life. I certainly don’t want anyone to look at me as a 40-year-old single mother and feel sorry for me. I’m having the time of my life ... “

strenght,to defend the love I have for her,the hug we'll hug,the kisses we'll kiss and our love making all in unity,to uphold her like she owns the whole world.......waiting for you, Wisdom Onos wisi_wiso4beauty@yahoo.com 08161595795.

Endless Love

Unending love, who can find? The love that knows no bounds,who can give? We use val's day or period to celebrate,share and make love...but is that how its supposed to be? Love should be celebrated at all times. Some of us are lonely,yet we have people around us. Some of us yearn for care and attention,yet we have people who claim to be there for us. I dont know where else to turn to3o find real love.

In Praise of Single Mothers According to Julia Goodwin, Editor of Prima Baby Magazine, single mothers can sometimes feel that every problem in the society - from increased violence to emotionally stunted, underachieving off-spring - is laid at their door. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Here are some reasons she gives for single mums to be cheerful. A child is happy with one loving parent: Living with both parents isn’t as important to a child’s happiness as having one person who loves you unconditionally. So, if your ex is no longer in contact, you can make up for his absence. And if your relationship was difficult, your child could be better off with just you. Research shows it is the children of parents who stay together despite constant conflict who suffer the most damage. Your going to work doesn’t ruin his life despite research claiming that a child’s performance at school is affected if mum works, a new report has found nothing of the kind. A study by Bristol University tracked the development of 14,000 children over 10 years and found that, in terms

of psychological well being and behaviour, the children of working single mums did just as well as those whose mums stayed at home. You have more time for your child: If there is a man in the house, a woman’s workload is increased by at least eight hours a week, and that means less time to spend with the kids. A man also consumes a significant chunk of mum’s attention. Single mums, however, are not tied to their partner ’s demands, and so can spend more time with their children. A suitable male role model doesn’t have to be dad! Just how thick can you get?! (Humour) Susan is fed up with her husband watching football on TV all of the time. ‘I’m leaving you!’ she yells. ‘All you care about is football. In my case, I’ve found someone else. He’s much younger, more handsome, tender, understanding and treats me like a queen. Plus he has a huge willy and makes love to me every day. ‘ ‘Really,’ her husband replies. ‘Which team does

he support?’ Down To Adam Again? (Humour) A scientist asks his class what was man’s most beneficial invention. ‘The wheel’ one student says. ‘The steam engine,’ a girl pipes up. ’The internet,’ another lad argues. ‘You’re all wrong,’ a young man protests. ‘The screw was the most important.’ The other students look puzzled. ‘Well,’ he goes on, ‘if Adam and Eve hadn’t had a screw, there wouldn’t have been any people to come up with those inventions.’

Maybe I should love myself the more? But wont that make me selfish? This Val, may we find unending and endless real love in the hands of those that deserve us. Stan Stan stanfeelings@gmail.com 07035709315

Touch her heart

Touch her heart not body, Steal her attention not her virgnity, Make her always smile,not wasting her precious tears!!!! Chris Onunaku dekris4real@gmail.com 08032988826/08184844015

SUNDAY

Vanguard ,

FEBRUARY 24, 2013,

PAGE 25

2013 BUDGET IMPASSE

Who blinks first between NASS and Presidency?

Jonathan, Mark and Tambuwal ... who blinks first? BY OKEY NDIRIBE

t is not new. Indeed, the ritual of the now familiar tango between the executive arm of government and the legislature is again keeping he budget season heated as usual. This national assembly and this presidency did not invent it but the shambles that is now being introduced into the budget face-off signposts yet the sometimes infantile approach of the leadership in the country to some otherwise very critical engagements of very serious nature. Sunday Vanguard was made to understand at the weekend that the last ditch effort to get both the leadership of the National Assembly and the executive on the same page failed. The meeting between both, held inside ASO Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, "succeeded in the breach rather than the expected resolution of the thorny issues", a source privy to the meeting disclosed. "Indeed", the source went on, "whereas they agreed to meet again, the reality on the ground is that both have dug in so much that whatever resolution that is wrought at the end of the day would be no different from the Obama/House resolution of the American avoidance of a fiscal cliff. What this simply means is that the resolution would not be long lasting except the status quo changes regarding positions held and stuck to by each side". Now, this lingering budget impasse between both may reach an anti-climax, Tuesday, this week, when the mandatory 30 working days provided in the Constitution as deadline for the President to sign the document lapses. Already, federal lawmakers seem set to C M Y K

override President Goodluck Jonathan if he doesn't assent to the budget by the time they reconvene for plenary sessions. This indication was given last Thursday by the Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Media and Publicity, Hon. Zakari Mohammed while addressing journalists in Abuja. He pointed out that "If the 2013 Budget is not passed into law in good time Nigerians would suffer". Commenting further on the budget imbroglio between the two arms of government, Hon. Mohammed explained that meetings were still being held between principal officers of the National Assembly and the Presidency over the budget impasse adding that members of the National Assembly didn't want to make a hasty decision on the matter. Said he: "As at today (Thursday) we haven't yet reached the stage of overriding the President over the budget. Our leaders are still holding meetings with them. "There is need for us to explore and exhaust all reconciliatory avenues before we can go ahead to override Mr. President. "We have not shifted ground on any issue raised in the budget because they affect Nigerians”. Commenting on the areas of disagreement within the budget, Hon. Mohammed cited the non-allocation of funds to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC); the inclusion of uncompleted 2012 capital projects that were rolled over to 2013 fiscal year; insistence by the legislators on quarterly briefings by the Minister of Finance and the $79 per barrel oil benchmark fixed by the National Assembly. So far, series of meetings have been held between principal officers of both

arms of government over the unfolding situation since the budget was submitted to the Presidency on January 14. This was reportedly confirmed by the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly matters, Mrs Joy Emordi, while speaking to journalists in Abuja recently. A principal officer of the House who spoke to Sunday Vanguard last Monday said none of the two sides had agreed to shift ground on any of the contentious issues. It would be recalled that the House had earlier in the year adopted a resolution demanding for the sack of the SEC DG, Ms Arunma Oteh, on the ground that she lacked the requisite qualification to head the commission. The Senate later adopted the House resolution on the SEC boss. The National Assembly's resolution has so far been ignored by the Presidency.

he development had resulted in accusing fingers being pointed at the federal lawmak ers as legislators who had embarked on a mission of vendetta against Oteh. Reacting to the insinuation in some quarters, the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on the Media, Hon. Victor Ogene, had said it was laughable for anybody to suggest that the Green Chamber of the National Assembly's decision against SEC was an act of vendetta against the DG of the institution as a result of the allegations of bribery she earlier leveled against Hon. Herman Hembe, the Chairman of the House Committee on Capital Market. Hon. Ogene pointed out that the House had earlier initiated investiga-

tions into the activities of SEC before Oteh made her allegations against Hembe. He asked:"Which one came first?" According to him: "This same House was already having a public hearing on SEC when Oteh made her allegations. That an issue arose midway during an investigation shouldn’t abort a process that was already on-going. During this process, issues had been raised regarding Oteh’s competence; regarding some resources of SEC that were paid into private accounts; issues bothering on corporate governance whereby staffers were recruited from outside the system and issues regarding indecorous working relationship with key commissioners in SEC. These issues were already on the front burner of the Committee’s discourse before Oteh made her allegations which up till now still remain mere allegations because the case is still in court. So, until Oteh proves her allegations, they remain mere allegations. The issues mentioned had been established for long before Oteh made her allegations." " It is only when somebody is drowning that he or she could clutch at anything he or she sees in order to survive" he said. President Goodluck Jonathan had last October presented the 2013 Budget Bill before the National Assembly. The bill was entitled "A Bill for an Act to authorise the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the total sum of N4.924 trillion of which N380 billion is for statutory transfers, N591 billion is for debt service, N2.412 trillion is for recurrent expenditure while the balance of N1.540 trillion is for contribution to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure for the year ending on the 31st day of December, 2013."

P AGE 26 —SUND AY PA —SUNDA

Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

enator Suleiman Adokwe, playwright, artistic director, administrator, politician, was born in February, 1954 at Agwatashi in Obi Local Gov ernment Area of Nasarawa State. Adokwe, elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and represents Nasarawa Senatorial District, is the Chairman, Committee on Senate Services. He was first elected into the Senate in April 2007 and sworn-in in June 2007. In this interview with HENRY UMORU, , the lawmaker bares his mind on the 2013 budget, among other issues. Budget defence in the National Assembly has become a ritual. When the MDAs appear before committees to defend their budgets, it appears even the committees don’t know what the MDAs do. Is that not an indictment on the part of the National Assembly’s power of oversight? By asking the MDAs to defend the budget before you, there is a presumption that you also know what they will be talking about. All the standing committees are expected to go on oversight even before the MDAs come for budget defence. If there is any show of lack of knowledge, I would think the committees are lazy on their own part because I know that when I served in the Navy Committee, there was no naval formation we did not visit in this country such that by the time the Chief of the Naval Staff was talking about what he needed, we knew precisely whether he needed it or not. So, if any committee is not showing knowledge of what is happening in the MDAs, it cannot adequately provide the budgetary needs of such MDAs. Budget defence is about making the MDAs justify what they are asking for! If they cannot justify it, you cut it down. It is unfortunate that most of the time, we give them exactly what they want or even assist them in getting more; that I believe is why they do not appreciate our role here in the National Assembly. If truly you can trim the excess fat in some demands and take them to areas where you think they are needed, you will actually be doing the job of appropriating. It is alleged that MDAs repeat budgetary proposals for same items every year and get it passed as well. Is that not an indictment on the National Assembly? I don’t think it would be correct to say what was there in the 2011 Appropriation Act is what was there in the 2012 Appropriation Act. There are differences. Sometimes, it is a continuation of a project, and most projects have a lifespan of about four to five years. If the same item is recurring, it simply means that you are continuing the project. So, a distinction has to be made between a project in continuation and the one actually completed and is resurfacing. If one is resurfacing year in year out, that is fraud outright. In the 2013 The only time we can budget, almost 90 percent of the capital projects are meant get down to the to be continued from 2012. In bottom of the truth is fact, the Executive didn’t want when the National to submit any new budget. When we had the NDDC bud- Assembly itself has a get coming in November, the well-equipped and Senate President descended on the NDDC that we won’t efficient budget office. take that any more. It doesn’t Right now, most of our make sense that a budget you skills and knowledge ought to complete in November, you are bringing your ap- are dependent upon propriation in November. what the Budget Office What has the Senate discovered about the way the MDAs of the Executive does draft their budgets to suit for us their purposes? The only time we can get down to the bottom of the truth any field, we won’t be able to is when the National Assem- do the necessary analysis of bly itself has a well-equipped the budget. Now, we are hopand efficient budget office. ing that with the establishRight now, most of our skills ment of the National Institute and knowledge are depen- for Legislative Studies, we dent upon what the Budget should be assisted in making Office of the Executive does very good analysis of whatevfor us. Until we have our own er budgetary requests come Budget Office, with skilled from the Executive. Anytime manpower to assist, because we convene public hearings, the legislators can come from we rely on independent con-

Adokwe....the Executive didn’t want to submit any new budget

It is not good for the President to withhold assent to bills – Senator Adokwe * ‘Why it is difficult for lawmakers to detect fraud in budgets’

C M Y K

sultants who help us out (and) that is the moment you will be able to detect any hidden fraud and so on. If it is a matter of law and the committee is fortunate to have lawyers, they would help to detect legal loopholes; if it is on the economy and you have economists in the committee, they can help but the bottomline is that the National Assembly needs its own budget office that can actually help it in detecting whatever hidden frauds are there in the budgets of the MDAs. How about National Assembly bills not assented to by the Presidency? We need to understand that our democracy is still being nurtured and is growing. There is a culture of ‘Executive’ in Nigeria and the Constitution itself has not helped matters. It is one of the most Executive Constitutions I have ever gone through in this world where the President seems to have all the powers. Even the ordinary

Nigerian believes that it is the statement uttered by a local government or a state governor that must be taken serious, but I believe that with time, people, including lawmakers, will come to know that the Legislature has some powers to exercise. There is a provision in the Constitution for when the President does not sign any bill, the National Assembly can pass it and it becomes law. We have not really exercised that provision in this Assembly. It only now requires that one day, the National Assembly will take the courage to do that for one or two bills and the President would have no choice but to implement such law. We believe the President has a duty also to help the Constitution to grow and if he has any quarrel with any law, he should always make his observations known for the Legislature to take notice and make necessary amendments so that we can have a consensus. It is happening

everywhere in the world. The American President and the House Speaker once sat together in order to avoid crisis of budgeting. But here, you find a minister saying the Legislature’s resolution is of no importance! It doesn’t bring goodwill that a minister or an aide of the President would speak like that. We have never heard the President say that, but we have never heard him caution his lieutenants either! So, the presumption is that he takes precarious liability for their actions. I believe that it is not good for the President not to be assenting to our bills. If he has any grouse with a bill, he should contribute to the growth of democracy by making suggestions as to how the offensive clauses that are preventing him from assenting to the bill are amended to reflect a new consensus. If he doesn’t do so, then the legislators should also test their powers once by enacting the law by the passage with two-thirds majority. We will come to that one of these days. With your position, are you also not worried that the National Assembly does not have a well equipped Library? I am worried, we started with the establishment of the National Institute for Legislative Institute which is going to be a world-class institute that will fill all these gaps. I participated in the recruitment of staff there and we employed professors of economics, law and social policy analysis from all over the world, Nigerians that have excelled from Harvard and other world-class universities. So, you can see from the last seminar they had, the cream of Nigerians that attended is a testimony to the fact that if that institute becomes well established, it should fill the gaps. We hope to have a very standard library there, the best economists there that would assist us in making analysis, not just for Nigerian Legislatures, but also for Legislatures across the West African subregion and indeed the continent; that is the vision we have for the institute. Certainly, as we grow, this is the longest the Legislature has stayed in Nigeria from 1999 to 2012; so, I believe that, with time, we should be able to have a library like the American Congress, it is a gradual process. I always tell people when they say the Nigerian Legislature is like this and that, the Legislature is a Nigerian institution like every other institution. Even the Nigerian universities whose major factory should be the library don’t have libraries. We don’t have a culture of reading in this country and this reflects in virtually all the institutions that we have including the national assembly. Even we, the legislators, are Nigerians and it is not many of us that have the reading culture.

SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013, PPA AGE 27

BUDGET IMPASSE

National Assembly and the veto option, by Hon Eno, Chairman, House Appropriation Committee ‘We passed a responsible appropriation’

on. John Owan Eno of the Peoples Demo cratic Party (PDP) represents Obubra/ Etung Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. He is also the Chair man, Appropriation Committee of the House. It could be said that the duty of appropriating funds for the ministries,departments and agencies of government falls squarely on his shoulders. In this interview, he speaks about the lingering controversy concerning the 2013 budget and related issues. BY OKEY NDIRIBE channel of communication between the National Assembly and the Presidency on matters concerning the 2013 budget. That is what we are going through now. It is normal for the Presidency or Federal Ministry or Finance to ask questions about the budget as it was passed by the National Assembly. This is what is going on now. Right from when we were considering the budget until after it was passed, there have

What do you have to say concerning information reaching us that the 2013 budget which was passed by the National Assembly last December is on its way back to the National Assembly because President Goodluck Jonathan refused to sign it? Any talk about the President returning the 2013 budget to the National Assembly is a mere speculation. This is a budget that was passed by the House before we embarked on Christmas recess; everybody had expected that it should have become a law by now. However, I can say for certain that the budget has not been returned yet. I do not think the budget is on its way back to the National Assembly. The President would not return a bill passed by the National Assembly through the back door. It has to be done formally to both arms of the National Assembly. After a budgiet bill is passed, there is also need to work on the details that have to be forwarded to the Presidency along with the bill. It was only under the Presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo that the President assented to the budget without demanding to see the details. I don’t want to say whether that was a measure of his commitment to implementing what he signed. The tradition since the late President Umar Yar ’Adua assumed office has been for the details to accompany the bill when it is submitted to the Presidency. President Goodluck Jonathan has followed the same footsteps by insisting on receiving the details since he assumed office. The details have long been sent to the Presidency. Beyond the formal channels of communication, there presently exists some kind of an informal C M Y K

John Owan....The legislature has the power to adjust budget proposals

The President would not return a bill passed by the National Assembly through the back door. It has to be done formally to both arms of the National Assembly

been several meetings between the leadership of the National Assembly and the Presidency to address the grey areas in the fiscal document. I hope that as soon as this is done, and I think it is going to be very soon, the President would assent to the budget. But one of the clear conditions that the National Assembly insists must be met concerns the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) which was not given any allocation. Indeed, the National Assembly had earlier insisted that the Director-General of SEC, Ms Arunma Oteh, must be sacked before lawmakers could appropriate funds for the running of SEC in 2013. However, the President doesn’t seem to be thinking along that line. What do you have to say about this situation? The Presidency has

also been unhappy over the $79 oil benchmark fixed by the National Assembly. So far, I have refrained from commenting on specific issues. The National Assembly’s zero allocation for the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), the oil benchmark of $79 and the increment of the budget by N63 billion could be among the thorny issues being addressed by both arms of government. However, the most important thing for now is that the budget bill is signed into law so that Nigerians can get dividends of democracy when it is implemented. The National Assembly is working to ensure that this is achieved. Both parties are working to ensure that this becomes a reality in no distant time. But for how long will this dialogue between the National Assembly and the Presi-

dency last because Nigerians are getting impatient? We know Nigerians had hoped that implementation of the 2013 budget would begin on January 1 so that the issue of poor budget implementation is put behind us. I agree with you that whatever is going on now cannot go on indefinitely. However, without prejudice to what we are currently doing, the Constitution is very clear. If we want to adhere to the Constitution strictly, the National Assembly has its role to play in case the budget is not assented to by the President. However, due to the nature of our democracy, we are exploring other means that are not exactly constitutional but that are good enough for the good of our democracy. But let me say that even though we have missed the opportunity of commencing implementation of the budget from January 1, 2013, I believe implementation of the 2013 budget would begin earliest in the history of budgets in this country. What can you say about the National Assembly’ s addition of N63 billion to the expenditure profile of the budget which seems to be one of the areas of friction between the legislature and the executive? The most important thing is how justifiable is the addition. The duty of the National

Assembly is to consider expenditure estimates presented to it by Mr President. What that means is that the National Assembly would painstakingly consider such a proposal. The legislature has the power to adjust budget proposals as it deems fit based on interactions with the implementing agencies. Don’t forget that it is only when the budget is presented before the National Assembly that it becomes a public document. There is nobody that has so much knowledge that can present a proposal that is infallible. So, when you talk about addition of extra expenditure, let us go down memory lane under the present democratic dispensation, you would notice that the addition made to the budget by seventh National Assembly remains the least when compared with the sixth, fifth and other earlier assemblies. I don’t think that should be an issue. Yes, it is true that the oil benchmark was increased above what the president submitted as was considered necessary by the National Assembly. At least about 75 percent of the projected revenue was ploughed back into the budget to reduce the budget deficit. The National Assembly was very responsible in terms of what it added to the budget.

28—SUNDAY, Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

Oba TTejuosho ejuosho mar ks 75 amid pomp marks

ba Adedapo Tejuosho, the Osile of Oke-Ona, Egba has always proved he is a grand monarch with exquisite taste and panache, so, it came as no surprise when the royal father held Abeokuta, Ogun State, spellbound on Tuesday with pomp and pageantry as he celebrated his 75th birthday. The roll-call of dignitaries includes royal fathers, governors, prominent politicians, business moguls, government functionaries and even a past President in the person of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Those who could not make it wrote in to congratulate the monarch. Photos by Wumi Akinola

The Oloris of Oba Tejuosho; Olori Olabisi, Olori Yetunde and Olori Omolara

At Miss ECO WAS ECOW 20 12 201

Oba Adedapo Tejuoso, the Osile of Oke-Ona, Egba, cutting his 75th Birthday Cake

From Left; Otunba( Dr.) Ayora Bola Kuforiji-Olubi and Olori Toun Tejuoso

L-R: Oba Dapo Tejuosho, celebrant, with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (GCFR) and Gov. Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State

L-R:Justice George Oguntade (Rtd), Ahaji Rasaq Okoya and General Oladipo Diya (Rtd)

he 2012 edition of the Miss ECOWAS beauty pageant recently held in Port Harcourt. Supported by the Rotimi Amaechi led Rivers State Government, the pageant is aim at promoting peace and brotherly love among the ECOWAS countries. Miss Zirra Banu from Nigeria emerged the winner and Miss ECOWAS Peace Ambassador 2012 in an event filled with pomp and pageantry.

L-R: Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Tele Ikuru (2nd Left) his wife, Mina (3rd Right) and others with the new Miss Ecowas 2012.

Shank bounces back in bloom

nding 2012 on a high note with the success of their annual Lekki Pasa Pasa Fiesta, which was a mix of fun and beach sports including beach volleyball, soccer and jet skiing, Quay Productions has announced its successful execution of a promotional contract with one of Nigeria’s talented artists Shank in January 2013.Shank’s smash hits include ‘Ghetto’, ‘Julie’, ‘Salute’ remix featuring Wizkid and his new hit songs are billed to be released soon

Ghanian delegates with the new Miss Ecowas 2012

Shank (middle) in South Africa flanked by friends

Staff of Quay Productions signing the agreement excution with Shank, the artiste

Contestants in traditional attire

SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;29

Bunmi Aina-Craig buries mum in style

Gun salute by the Naval Officers at the Ikoyi Cementary during the wake-keep at St Agnes Catholic church

L-R: Idowu Tosho-Obenbe, Temitope Obenbe, Gbenga Obenbe and Mrs Loye

buja-based lawyer, Barrister Bunmi Aina-Craig along with her five siblings entertained family abd friends when they laid to rest the remains of their mother, Late Christiana Oluwaremilekun Egunjobi. The Service of songs held at St. Agnes Catholic Church, Maryland followed by the requiem mass at the same church. Reception and entertainment of guests followed at the Island club, Onikan, Lagos.

Children of Late Mother Oluwaremilekun Egunjob led Aina-Craig (3rd left)

Christiana by Bunmi

Tompolo FFoundation oundation donat es tto o Sc hools donates Schools

he Tompolo Foundation began the year on a philanthropic note as its donates educational materials to schools in Warri-South West Area of Delta State on Monday at Ogbe-Ijoh Town. Photos By Akpokona Omaifure

Members of Tompolo Foundation led by Mr. Job Bebenimibo (2nd Left), Director of Education and Comrade Paul Bebenimibo (3rd Right), and others.

Mr. Job Bebenimibo (Right), presenting the items to Mr. Godspower Uyabribinde, Secretary LGA

Final burial of Madam Oduk oya Oduko

t was indeed a celebration of life as the children of Late Madam Susanah Abeke Adenuga Odukoya held the final burial ceremony in honour of their late mother in Omu-Ijebu last Saturday. The funeral mass held at First African Church Mission followed by the reception which was well-attended by important personalities from the State. Photos by Wumi Akinola

Mr. Job Bebenimibo (Left), presenting the items to Mr. McDonald Akpojevwa, C.I.E.

Nwaka and Eghosa FORMER Miss Nwaka Nmoye has signed off her maiden name to Mr. Eghosa Eguabor in a Holy matrimony that took place in Benin City, Edo State.

L-R: Funmi Ademola, Aina and Abayo Odukoya during the dedication of Musical Instrument to the Church by The Children

L-R: Olatoye Sanusi, Alhaji Olawale , Ade Olapade and Rafiu Oyebanji

From Right, David Abayo Odukoya, Aina Gbenga, Funmi, Adenike, Abiodun, Kemi and Ademola, the children

L-R: Alhaji Ganiyu Saka, Alhaji Balogun Raji and Mufutau Hamzat

The couple;Nwaka Nmoye and Eghosa Eguabor

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C M Y K

Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013 — PAGE 31

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The private sector as ‘the driver’ of the Centenary celebrations Glo sponsors television commercial

BY KAYODE SOMORIN

President Goodluck Jonathan with Nigerian children representing different ethnic groups on location during the shooting of the theme film for the Centenary celebration, sponsored by Globacom Limited. The President formally flagged off the Centenary celebration at the Banquet Hall, State House, Abuja last Monday. one hundred years, citing missed opportunities, political/ economic challenges, endemic corruption and myriads of dark spots to buttress their point, another school is quick to submit that such proponents widely miss the essence of the centenary celebrations, saying that living together as a people for 100 years, irrespective of our ethnic, religious and language diversities, is enough reason to celebrate.

IGERIANS may not wear it like a badge of honour on a daily basis or shout at the rooftop about it, but if you want to know how united the people of the country are as an indivisible entity, then wait till the nation is doing well in sports, politics, literature and in any other field of human endeavour. A case in point for Nigerians to demonstrate their unity and patriotic zeal is when the Super Eagles won the African Cup of Nations competition in South Africa. Similarly, Nigerians rallied round the flag when Professor Wole Soyinka became the first African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986; when Chioma Ajunwa leapt to the country’s first Olympic gold medal in Atlanta, USA in 1996 and when Agbani Darego became the first Nigerian to be crowned Miss World in 2001. Such moments of pride provide a national platform for re-union as political, ethnic and social differences are completely relegated for the nation to discuss and celebrate our victory as brothers. For Nigerians, celebrating our union dates as far back as 1914 when the country was amalgamated. In spite of their initial reservations, our forefathers and the subsequent generations have lived together as one indivisible nation, living and sharing together the challenges, the good times, the bad times and the resources, ever since. By January 2014, Nigeria would have existed for one hundred years. On January 1, 1914, the then GovernorGeneral, Lord Fredrick Lugard, brought the British dream for a corporate entity called Nigeria to fruition by formally amalgamating the Northern and Southern Protectorates of Nigeria into one country. Prior to 2014, Nigeria, as a nation, has clearly drummed it to the whole world that we can live as one in spite of our challenges. While a school of thought may posit that Nigeria has nothing to celebrate in the last

project private-sector driven. Indeed, the Federal Government’s position to celebrate the centenary with funds from the private sector is a national call to the array of conglomerates in Nigeria. Expectedly, companies that share this nationalistic vision have showed interest. Leading the pack is Globacom Limited, regarded as Nigeria’s biggest corporate export. Among other initiatives, the

As we count our blessings in the last 100 years as a nation and celebrate our resilience as a people, a quality which had seen us surviving a civil war, nothing will be more gratifying than for all Nigerians to resolve to contribute to the efforts to launch the country into the next 100 years

This possibly is why a large segment of the society from the organised private sector, the political class and the massively expanding entertainment industry has endorsed the decision by the Federal Government to celebrate Nigeria’s centenary. One of the key reasons the project quickly gained currency is the decision of the government to make the

leading, wholly indigenous telecoms company in Nigeria has produced and sponsored a television commercial entitled, “The Future”, which featured President Goodluck Jonathan interacting with children from different ethnic nationalities in the country. The commercial was presented at the flag-off dinner held at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja,

and watched by a congregation of top government officials, former Heads of State, industry chieftains and politicians. In the television commercial, the children articulated the hopes and aspirations for a greater Nigeria in the next 100 years and premised the achievement of this laudable goal on unity, which they graphically illustrated by joining their hands together. The children whose ages range from eight to nine years itemised the major achievements of Nigeria in the last 100 years and mouthed the country’s strong points like: ‘We are the fifth biggest oil producer in the world’ ‘We are soon going to be the third largest telecoms market in the world’ ‘our strength as a nation is when we all work together’ ‘ we hope to become one of the truly great nations on earth!’ Jonathan said he would consolidate on the unity of the country as demanded by the future leaders. The president’s light hearted comments on the television commercial is instructive as he said amongst others,“...In the documentary in which I appeared with the children,

you will see that the children performed better than me. That means that our future is brighter..” The programme of the centenary celebrations has the imprimatur of the private sector in conception and execution. The event is multifaceted and multilocation and provides wonderful opportunities for corporate organisations to express faith in the unity of Nigeria and love for the wonderful people. It is projected that about 15,000 direct jobs would be provided by the event while thousands of other jobs would be created indirectly. The decision to infuse the centenary spirit into national and international day celebrations like the World Press Freedom and World Food Day is highly commendable as it will imbue Nigerians with requisite patriotism. The theme song, symposium, essay competition, fashion show, musical show, beauty pageants, arts and craft exhibition and awards, among other events, would also resonate with Nigerians who are expected to chart a path for the country’s greatness. The construction of a Centenary City in Abuja would be one of the enduring legacies of the centenary celebrations as the city will demonstrate the harmony between nature and the work of man to create an example for the future of urban development in the country. As we count our blessings in the last 100 years as a nation and celebrate our resilience as a people, a quality which had seen us surviving a civil war, nothing will be more gratifying than for all Nigerians to resolve to contribute to the efforts to launch the country into the next 100 years with renewed hope and expectations. This surely will reposition Nigeria as a united, progressive, productive and respected nation eager to harness its God-given potentials to offer leadership in global affairs. If we all buy into the efforts to re-inspire unity in the country, the aims would be achieved sooner or later. Then, we can collectively and joyfully chorus: One Nigeria, Great Promise!

SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013, PAGE 33 STORIES BY UDEME CLEMENT S a follow up to the story on the relocation of Ikeja Computer Village, our correspondent, during a visit to Katangowa Market, along Lagos-Abeokuta expressway, gathered that Katangowa is the proposed site where the Ikeja traders may be resettled. In terms of size, Katangowa is bigger than the Computer Village, as the market covers about 26 hectares of land with most of the traders dealing in second-hand clothes. Katangowa shows a vivid picture of a disorganised setting. While the major entrance to the market from LagosAbeokuta expressway is almost taken over by street traders, a large portion of the market has been overtaken by refuse. During the visit, some of the items seen on display in the market in large quantities were clothes, bags, shoes, curtains, belts and other textile materials. Also, many women and young girls were seen selling vegetable, fish, tomato, pepper and other food items in the market. While most of the dealers in textile materials operated in small shops, those trading in food items displayed their wares on the sidewalk thereby disrupting free flow of traffic around the market. At the back of the market, which leads to Saint Peters Anglican Church, there were structures serving as residential homes. Lagos State Commissioner for

Goodbye to Ikeja Computer Village

*Why we are moving traders to Katangowa, Lagos govt *’Our Digital Village project’

Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Olutoyin Ayinde, said measures were being put in place by the state government to rehabilitate Katangowa and thus fast track the relocation of the Computer Villagers traders. He told Sunday Vanguard: “To start with, the initiative to rebuild the Computer Village is in line with the policy of the state government to re-plan Ikeja. The place you have as Computer Village today was a residential zone in Ikeja and not built for commercial activities. But due to long years of military rule, we seem to have lost a sense of order and planning. Now the state government is working tirelessly to rebuild the place and put it in a better shape. “G o v e r n m e n t discovered that the Computer Village is no longer conducive and started making efforts to move the traders operating there to Katangowa. On the other hand, Katangowa is not a virgin land. One part of Katangowa has residential structures, another has the market

Due to long years of military rule, we seem to have lost a sense of order and planning. Now the state government is working tirelessly to rebuild the place and put it in a better shape

Olutoyin Ayinde while the other part is the dump site. The issue of pre-qualifying bidding exercise was when the expression of interest from private investors was invited. The concept was to get investors to rebuild the Computer Village , not before relocating Katangowa to another place called Amikanle. Realistically, we must first go to Amikanle to build a new market and move the people from Katangowa there before rebuilding the Computer Village . This is the issue because it is not possible to start the project at Ikeja when the operators are still occupying that place. “Also, there are vital issues involved in the Ikeja project that the

government is taking into consideration, which makes people think that the project is foot-dragging. For instance, you must first go to Amikanle, to build a new market for traders at Katangowa to relocate to. After that, compensation must be paid to individuals who built structures in Katangowa Market, because you cannot just wake up over night to restructure a place, destroying investments that people put there without adequate compensation. For example, we had a case of the people in Oluwole Market in Lagos Island , where government followed due process and the owners of the

place were resettled and also have a stake in the new development. So, when we evaluated all these, some of those who expressed interest initially during the prequalifying bidding could no longer cope. Beyond that, we do not want to put the project in the hands of incompetent investors who will abandon it halfway. “The last time we visited Amikanle showed that the level of development there is so much and will not be wise to clear those buildings and put a market. Aside from that, the location may not be viable to move the market there. At present, we are looking at a new model of how all the activities can co-exist,

for Katangowa to accommodate the existing traders, the dealers in computer and allied products from Computer Village and the residential area. From our experience, often times, people who claim to have funds to invest in mega projects do not usually have it at the time the projects are awarded. So, if government starts by putting something there to show commitment, genuine investors will be encouraged to come in. Already, the ministry has started the design of a Digital Village in Katangowa by the state government, which is estimated at about N500million.” On if there are underlying interests within the ministry to handle Ikeja project, he said, “This is not a direct labour project, so there is nothing like personal interest. Financial challenge made some companies that expressed interest initially to back out, but we still have those who submitted their proposals with us. In order to select a credible firm with the required financial capability and technicalknow-how to handle the project, we have engaged a Transaction Advisor, who will look at the request for proposals from bidders and give government expert advice on the best company to engage. So that the project, when finally awarded, will be well executed. The government is methodical in approach by following due process. This is what people should appreciate”.

Customs deepens reform

*’Single window will fast track economic development’

N line with the ongoing reforms in Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Murtala Muhammed Area Command (MMA Command) has trained about 85 participants, which include agents, airport operators, media practitioners, ICT operators on extant rules safeguarding Customs clearing procedures. The three-day training, which attracted stakeholders from various organisations, covered change management, compliance, bond/ licensing, risk management, Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA), import procedure, ICT, documentation, core Customs functions, valuation, rules of origin (R.O.O) and airport/baggage declaration. Speaking at the opening ceremony in Lagos , the Customs Area Con-

troller (CAC) of the Command, Comptroller Charles Edike, said, “Change management was designed to enhance e-payment, eclearing and e-processes relevant to core Customs functions. Lack of compliance is the major reason we have delay in the system, because giving a wrong value poses a serious challenge to Customs as the duty is computed through proper valuation of items. It is also imperative for the stakeholders to know what we do and how we manage the risks involved in the clearing procedures. We do not want a situation where people declare airport baggage as household item and electronics as personal effects”. During the practical class, the facilitator, Aliyu Saidu, who talked on change management, explained, “Training is

fundamental to economic growth and development. Challenges in the borders spurred Customs to map out efficient strategies to tackle such challenges. Customs is faced with demands arising from globalisation of trade. There is the need for effective security and control of international supply chain in globalisation of business trade. Today we have global Customs network, better management of borders, which include seaports and airports.” He went on, “Capacity building helps to deepen Customs understanding of global supply chains and new technology to strength our partnerships. Using modern technology becomes very imperative because now International trade is key driver for economic development. The global landscape is complex

opment as well as providing security for the citizens. The traditional roles of a new dynamic Customs include cross-border movement of goods to combat smuggling and to secure borders, while ensuring faciliComptroller Charles Edike tation of legitimate trade. and highly sensitive to These promote certainty, external drivers such as predictability in risk manincrease in volumes and agement and security to complexities of interna- support to trading system tional trade, new busi- in the country. As a result, ness models and re- the changes increase quirement. Others in- high level of modernisaclude increased security tion and developmental threats and organised reforms taking place in crime”. the organisation, which He continued, “The results in changes that efchallenges for govern- fects staff and major ment include curbing stakeholders. In order for terrorism, promoting the organisation to adapt socio-economic devel-

to new practices and initiatives, it is generally accepted that effective management of change minimises pitfalls and speeds the return to a normal and improved performance.” His words: “Compliance implies conforming to stipulated rules and legal regulations to enhance productivity. The benefits for compliance include speedy clearance of goods, predictability of outcome, good ethical behaviour, transparent procedures and increased productivity as well as economic growth in the long-run. For non-compliant, there are high risk of detention and economic risk to the country. We are advising agents and travellers to comply with the roles because we are making non-compliance very expensive.”

PAGE 34—SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

Positioning and Differentiating the Market Offering Through Product Life Cycle T

ferentiation by personnel. By exhibiting a professional, reliable, quick and courteous response to customer can differentiate companies from competitors. The distribution channel plays its part as differentiation tool and can prove to be competitive advantage. For example Dell computer through direct selling approach delivers computer system right at door step of home owners and offices. Another important differentiation tool is image. There are various ways to achieve image differentiation depending on industry and market segment. Sponsoring of event and causes is one way building up image among consumers. As pointed out earlier, compa-

ODAY’S markets repre sent the surplus market, with a wide range of product available for sell. Consumer has huge product offering to choose from, for soap, there are more than dozen brands and each brand has at least 4 or 5 varieties. Companies have to work on strategies, which would differentiate their products from competitors. This differentiation strategy also cannot last for long as competition is likely to catch very soon. Companies are aware of the product life cycle; challenge is to work up strategies for positioning and differentiating as to extend product life and making it profitable. A market place has many segments out of which companies have to make a choice in which to operate. And within the market segment companies need to decide its offering and image. This process of identifying and build the brand image within a segment as to occupy presence in consumer mind is called positioning. Positioning is all about consumers rather than the product, the challenge is to develop a positive perception in consumer mind. Positioning is done based on an idea the product promotes, too many ideas will confuse the customer. Companies need to decide which idea to promote to be ahead of competition. Positioning should offer clarity to customer about what product is all about. For example, a competitor has similar positioning ideas, than the company is better positioning product where it enjoys a competitive advantage. Now, it is up to the marketing plan to create programs which highlight this positioning idea. Positioning related marketing programs are responsible to pass unique selling proposition on to the customer. However, this can be taken forward with differentiation. Differentiation is process of adding more meaning to the product by highlighting attributes beyond the central theme. Task of differentiation is to highlight the relevant benefits in a distinctive manner which cannot be easily followed by competitors and provide profitable benefits to the company. There are many differentiation tools available to the company to extract maximum benefits. The main variables which offer differentiation are product, service, personnel, channel and image. Product related attributes serve a good base of the differentiation. However, product differentiation varies depending on the nature of industry. For example, commodity products are difficult to differentiate on appearance where as automobiles present an opportunity with plenty of differentiations. Service plays important differentiation tool where differentiation is difficult based on physical attributes of product. Differentiation in service can be achieved based on ordering ease, customer service during the sell, after sell customer service and consulting. One step forward in service is dif-

streamline product category, enter new markets and modify product feature as well as attributes. In saturation stage, it is time for companies to review sustainability of product by conducting the cost benefit analysis and remove products, which are dragging on company’s profitability. Markets in which companies are operating too have similar phases as products. Companies have to analyze positioning and differentiating strategies at various stages of the product and market life cycle. How ‘human’ Is Your Marketing? Consider for a moment the marketing environment in which you operate. Pause what you’re doing. Look at the people, your fellow workers, the company in which

One of the biggest mistakes marketers make is talking at consumers instead of talking to them

ny’s strategy has to change according to the stage in the product life cycle. The product life has introduction stage, growth stage, maturity stage and saturation stage. In introduction stage focus is on establishing a foothold in the market space and consumer mind, through promotion, product trial and establishing distribution channel. In growth stage, sales are increasing and company is striving for the number one space. Strategies here consist of acquiring new customer, expansion brand line and fighting of competition. In maturation stage, growth is not explosive as before, there are no further distributors to add and sales start a decline. Here companies attempt to

you’re working for. How much of what you do revolves around the people to whom you’re marketing? By this is I mean the actual recipients of the material and communication you push out. As marketers, we tend to take an introverted view of our work. Before you disagree with this statement, let me explain. We have our stats, we think we know our customers and then we come up with an idea we think is amazing. This is pushed out to a group of individuals who are expected to devour it and hopefully at the end of this process buy into our product. The problem with this approach, well, one of the problems

is that we tend to forget that the people we’re communicating to are human and that they have an innate drive towards happiness. So in order to understand better how we can market in a more human way, let’s look at three requirements for what is commonly considered “happiness”. As humans, we get a sense of satisfaction from the things we accomplish through genuine and acceptable effort. If you look at this in marketing terms then we can say that our actions should inspire people to accomplish something. The products we push out could be something the consumer aspires to and once acquired gives him/her a sense of achievement; either through hard work or, and here’s the humdinger, reaching beyond their own boundaries and in doing so bettering themselves, thus achieving a greater sense of purpose in their perpetration. This could come in the form of a positive campaign for, let’s say, recycling. Take for example Adobe’s Adobe in Action campaign. It’s a brilliant marketing strategy and many companies make use of it, but not all have been able to truly “humanise” their campaigns. It’s one thing to throw money at a problem, but marketing in a way in which the consumer feels personally involved in the brand/ business’ outreach creates an allimportant sense of achievement. Belonging As abstract as this might sound, the sense of belonging is actually quite straightforward. As marketing diversifies onto ever expanding platforms it becomes easier for marketers to generalise their message or campaign and merely adapt it to suit the different delivery methods. We tend to forget how important it is for people to feel like they belong somewhere. This can be as part of a group, a culture, religion or race. As much as societal trends try and globalise our existence the fact remains - we want to be part of the “Trekkie Society”,

the “BMW Club” or the “I Love everything that starts with an i” club. So if consumers want to be a part of something why do marketers communicate with them in such a generalised manner? Being able to specialise marketing material for a specific demographic gives the recipient of your material the sense that they are being spoken to directly. Immediately you have their attention and, even better, their loyalty. Your product stands out among millions of others and your message hits home. Engagement One of the biggest mistakes marketers make is talking at consumers instead of talking to them. Imagine yourself back in the industrialised schooling system of the west. Picture your teacher in the front of the classroom telling you “this is how it is” and there are no two ways about it. Most of us have experienced this at one point or another throughout our life. Hierarchical communication in terms of marketing to consumers is unsustainable and results in people disconnecting from you and in doing so your message is lost. If you are to deliver truly engaging communications to your target market then you have to be open to an exchange of ideas, opinions and even criticism. Only by allowing this free flow and speaking to consumers will your product find its place among people. Marketing has very much become a two-sided affair. On the one hand, there are those who understand, to a certain extent, the needs of their target market and relate to them on their terms. However, there is a sea of marketers who rely on traditional means of product placement and communication i.e. en masse. The sooner we realise that the industry has evolved into a very different beast, one where the communications cycle has reached a plateau between marketer and consumer, the better we will be able to relate to people on a more human level. “Marketing is not and cannot remain the silo it’s been for decades. Marketing is fast becoming interdisciplinary and the node that links everything organically - everything that helps a business grow, from customer support to sales, technical teams and financial considerations. Yes, stats and data are crucial in order to measure campaigns, especially in the advertising environment and environment and they give us trend indicators - they outline a pattern with regard to user interaction with an application, or highlight what content is downloaded the most from a resource centre. But data without heart will not take you far - as the heart, the values of listening and understanding will lead your business to truly engage, to maintain conversations and to grow your digital biosphere,” said Barbara Ulmi, head of marketing at GraphicMail. Web resource posted on Bizmarketing by: Gerhard Jacobs

SUNDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013, PAGE 35

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

Centenary celebration quite uncalled for! Dear Sir,

am totally against the spending of money on the centenary of the amalgamation of the southern and northern protectorates by Lord Frederick Lugard which comes up on January 1, 2014. Rather it should be a time for sober reflection that the comments of Lord Lugard in 1926 of Nigerians being unthinking, vain, disorganised, thriftless, lacking in self control, discipline, foresight and veracity, are true of our present crop of politicians! The billions of naira mapped out for this celebration, some part of which as usual will end up in private pockets, should have been used to create jobs for our youths, improve our electricity supply, equip our hospitals, fund our education adequately, work on our roads, etc. Let the truth be told, if those in the corridors of power especially since the 70s till date, did not exhibit the character traits enumerated by Lord Lugard, our country could have been well developed and a paradise on earth with the abundant resources God has blessed us with. Our ruling class should be ashamed of themselves that if a country like Japan which has just recorded their worst trade deficit due to oil imports, was blessed even with a fraction of the

resources we have, their country would have become the greatest economy on earth, coupled with their manufacturing skills! It is very sad that our country which God has so much blessed with

abundant natural resources, has remained under-developed and backward, due to the greed of our ruling class, dishonest civil servants and their business partners, all of whom have become richer than her!

Shame on them! Ifeka Okonkwo Plot 44, Ahocol Housing Estate, Phase II G.R.A, Awka.

Delta 2015: Who takes over from Uduaghan? Dear Sir,

S 2015 approaches, many Deltans are gradually jostling for the office of the governorship. Delta State is divided into three senatorial districts; Delta south, Delta north and Delta central. Delta south and Delta central have assumed the number one citizen of Delta State since 1999 which expires in 2015. Peoples Democratic Party operates vividly the system of zoning arrangement to make every zone have a share of political power. Delta State comprises Isoko, Urhobo, Ijaw, Ukwuani, Aniocha, Ika and Itsekeri.It has 25 local governments. It is learnt that Delta State governorship is zoned to Delta North while Deputy governor and Delta State

House of Assembly speaker are zoned to Delta south and Delta central for equation of the state power to avoid conflict of interest in the political system. Many assumed that if power is zoned to Delta North, automatically, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, the present member of Senate, former Commissioner for Health and Secretary to the Delta State Government respectively in Delta State could emerge as the governor while the former Commissioner for Energy and present Delta State SSG, Comrade Macaulay Ovuzourie can emerge as Deputy governor if the political calculation is fixed. Delta State politics in 2015 shows that Delta south or Delta central cannot produce the governor of the state. One of the reasons Delta North, the Anioma is agitating for their own state creation is as a result of gross

marginalization over the years while Isoko, Itsekeri and Ijaw were not left out in agitating for Coast state some years back which was traced to marginalization of power in the state. Again in 2015, many people know that Uduaghan would hand over power to those that need it as their political right. Some of these professed aspirants jostling for 2015 governorship have not politically or economically impacted their immediate environment. I describe most of the aspirants as newspapersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; campaigners without legitimate manifestoes to persuade the people of the state.

Godday Odidi, public affairs analyst writes in from Lagos

PAGE 36—SUNDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED BARBER

Why I kidnapped my mother for N20 million ransom L

AST Sunday, we broke the story of a physical ly challenged barber, who allegedly abducted his mother, Mrs. Kate Emienor, in Edo State and demanded N20 million ransom from members of his family for her release. The story sounded like fiction to many, who could not fathom how a son could abduct his own mother and ask for ransom. Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, however, confirmed the story, adding that the police rescued the mother and seized the suspect. On Tuesday, February 5, the 35-year –old physically suspect, Obehi Emienor , from a polygamous family in Ekpon community, Igeuben Local Government Area of Edo State, allegedly kidnapped his mother, and then demanded ransom from his elder brother (not of the same father), who is abroad. Obehi, based in OgwashiUku, Delta State, was said to have tricked his mother to bring foodstuff for him from the village and waited for her at Agbor, from where he took her to his rented apartment at Ogbe Isheagu quarters. He allegedly held the mother hostage for 10 days, while meeting with his siblings in Benin-City, the capital of Edo State, to discuss her kidnapping and freedom. The Delta police boss, Aduba, told Sunday Vanguard that the police were not quickly alerted about the kidnapping, but when a report was made, “ we deployed our men in the field and, with technological tools, we were able to track the suspect.” He went on: “I do not want to reveal our strategy but we systematically followed the matter and traced the user of C M Y K

the phone to Ogwashi-Uku. The family members were shocked how we got to know that it was a member of their family that kidnapped their mother, but we knew what we were doing, and trailed him to his barber’s salon , where we picked him up. “My worry in the spate of kidnapping is the insider factor. You can see a case where a physically challenged person in a family is the one kidnapping his mother. The insider factor in cases of kidnapping compounds nipping the crime in the bud.” The suspect, it was leant, got information about 48 hours earlier that the police were on his trail, but he never believed he could be seized in connection with the abduction until he was arrested in his shop.

BY EMMA AMAIZE

There was no family to console the other because the wailing swept through every home. The Okobe experience compared with the Biblical account of the Passover night when every Egyptian family from the palace of Pharaoh to the subjects lost their first male child

35 years old Where do you hail from? Edo State Which place in Edo State? Ekpon Do you know what brought you to the police station? Yes What brought you? They said that I kidnapped my mum They said or that you kidnapped your mother? Yes, I did Why, what happened? It is because of the condition I met my mother. So I was not pleased and my elderly ones, they are not taking care of her. Therefore, I insisted to take her to my place to take care of her. In the process, I was annoyed and I said, ‘ let me test my brothers and sisters’, which is that they should not look for her and that I kidnapped her in order for me to know how serious they are or how caring they are to my mum. Again, I wanted to know if my elderly brother is deceiving us all the years he

Sunday Vanguard spoke exclusively to Obehi and his abducted mother at the OgwashiUku Police Station, on Monday, as the police were preparing to arraign them in court. First is the interview with Obehi. What is your name? Obehi How old are you?

Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba

Suspect with walking stick

went abroad. All these years, he has been promising that he would take us abroad, but he did not. So, along the line, we started negotiating on phone. After negotiation, I discovered that they did not have anything. I came back from Benin City and told my mother that I had confirmed everything I needed to confirm, so I told her to leave my house. She now told me that she would leave the next day because she wanted to get home in the afternoon when the villagers would have all left for the farm. I left her and went to my shop (barbing salon) in Ogwashi-Uku when the police came to apprehend me that I kidnapped my mother. Is it from Benin you took your mother? No, from the village, Ekpon You took her to where? To my room in Ogwashi-Uku You are based in OgwashiUku? Yes Where do you stay in Ogwashi-Uku? Ogbe Isheagu

id you rent a house there? Yes, I rented a house. What did you tell your mother was the reason for taking her away? I told her to bring food for me, and when she came, I started explaining certain things to her. She had earlier told me that she would like to bring Christmas food for me and I told her there was no problem, that she should bring it and that I would come to collect it at Agbor. So, actually, she came, we met at Agbor. I collected the food from her and told her that I did not like her condition because she always complained to me that she was having high blood pressure, and that my elder brother was not caring for her. Did you call your elder brother abroad to tell him about your mother’s condition? No, my elderly ones in the village know about the condition, they see her. Is it true that you are a member of a cult group here in Ogwashi-Uku? No, I am not in any cult group. Who are your gang members in Ogwashi-Uku? Only you would not have held your mother for 10 days without assistance. It is only me; I do not have gang members If you say you are the only member, who was the person calling your brother overseas on phone and demanding for ransom? I was the one. You? How? Does he not know your voice? No, it was not through call, it was through text messages How much ransom did you ask for? For the first time, I asked for N20 million Why did you bring the money down later? They said that they did not have N20 million, so I told them that the least I would collect was N10 million. But when we went for a family meeting, my elder brothers were complaining to me that it was only N400,000 that they had. When I got home, I now told my mother that I had drawn my conclusion from my plan, as I had discovered that they (her children) did not have money and that she had to go the following morning. What was the content of the text messages you sent for ransom? I have forgotten the content of the text message; it is not everything I can remember

Continues on page 37

SUNDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013, PAGE 37

‘Why I kidnapped my mother for N20 million ransom’ Continued from page 36 now. Nevertheless, you asked for ransom? Yes One of the persons you sent a text message to is Joy. What is she to you? She is my sister Who again did you send text to demanding for ransom? My brother. Which number did you use? Glo number, but they blocked it later. You bought the Glo SIM yourself? No, I saw it on the ground and picked it. Were you the one that told her to go or it was the police that found out you were keeping her, and you asked her to leave before they caught you? No, a day after, the day after I came back from Benin, I told her to go. Was it from one of the family meetings to discuss her release that you got to know? My elder brothers called me from Benin at a time to run away from Ogwashi-Uku, he said the police were threatening and, because of that, I went to Benin. So, all that they had been discussing on how to release the woman, they told me. One of my elder brothers was the one that told me they only had N400,000 . So when they told me that they had only N400,000, in my mind, I said no need, let me go and release her so that they will know that I had released her. Therefore, when I got home, I told my mum to go, she said no problem, that she would leave the next day. Did your brothers know that you were the one that kidnapped your mother while you were holding meeting with them? No. Which means you were hiding the fact from them? Yes, I did not want my elderly ones to know because they were the ones that I was keeping the information from. What do you mean? That is, to know if really they had the money to take care of my mum or not. Are you not one of the children? In what way had you taken care of your mother that you felt the best thing was to test others? The little one that I had, I

you were the one that kidnapped your mother. How did they know? I do not know, but I think it was the message they got from the police. They said I should leave Ogwashi-Uku and come to Benin City so that the police would not get me. What did you say in the family meetings with your brothers and sisters when you people were discussing how to release your mother from those that abducted her? I did not say anything. While did you say that your elder brother overseas was not bringing money to feed your mother, your mother just said that he brings money? No, I did not say he was not sending money; he used to bring feeding money.

Gov Uduaghan: Battling to stem the tide of kidnapping took care of her. While she was with me, I used to buy her medicine and other things. Your mother said you told her you wanted to extort money from your brothers and not to take care of her as you claimed? I was only testing them to know their response that if actually they kidnapped my mother, what they would have done. Do you think that kidnapping your mother was the best way to test your brothers? Yes. Are you saying that it is justifiable to commit crime because you wanted to test your brothers? I do not understand. For how long did you detain your mother? Up to nine day. How did the police find out that you were the one keeping your mother? I do not know. I was in my shop when they came to arrest me What did the police tell you when they came to your shop? They asked me if I was the owner of the shop. I said yes. They said I was under arrest. I asked them for what offence, they did not tell me and they forced me to enter a motorcycle. You said that some of your

brothers called you to leave Ogwashi-Uku Yes, that was two days before the arrest. For them to have asked you to run from OgwashiUku means that they found out

I was only testing them to know their (brothers) response that if actually they kidnapped my mother, what they would have done?

If I die, my blood is on your head –Kidnapped mother (Abducted Mrs. Kate Emienor also spoke to Vanguard) What is your name? Kate Do you know what happened? I do not know. I had reached his house when he told me and I replied him I could not be part of such a plan. He said I should sit down and that nothing will happen to me. I told him no, I would not be able to stay with him. I cried and cried that I wanted to go home, but he was begging me to stay. Was he the only one you saw while you were in his house or some of his friends came to visit him? I was the only one in the house with him. What food were you eating? He cooked food, but I could not eat it What food did he cook?

Sometimes he will cook rice, yam and other things Your son, Obehi, said he brought you to his house to make his brother outside the country to bring money to cater for you. Did he tell you that? He did not tell me.

Mrs

Kate Emienor

If he brings feeding money, why did you have to do what you did? They did not inform me that he used to bring feeding money, it is of recent that I was told. You mean you did not find out if he brings money and yet you kidnapped your mother to extort money from him? Since he left, he had never called me and I have received no call from him Can you not see that what you did is wrong? You did not ask, you did not find out and you kidnapped your mother to armtwist your brothers? It is only my elderly ones in Nigeria that used to tell me that they were preparing visa for us to leave the country, this , that and that and we kept on waiting for the visa, wait, wait and wait, nothing, nothing. What happened to your leg? It was in a spiritual attack in 2003. How do you know it was a spiritual attack? What were you involved in? I know it was spiritually You are using walking-stick? Yes, it was when they arrested me that they used something to injure my leg, which is why I am using walking stick. You are a barber, but you hair looks so bushy and scary. How will somebody come to shave hair in your salon when you do not cut your own? I do not cut it because I do not like cutting my hair right from time, even when I was in primary school. What is your purpose for cutting the hair of others when you do not see the reason to shave your own? It is just what I like, natural. You are not looking good in it; it makes you look like a criminal? It looks good to me. What are your regrets about this incident? Well, I do not know That means you have not repented; you care no hoot about happened? Now, I have resolved that according to what they are saying, according to what I am hearing, that I have done something wrong, but, even since I was born, I have not been involved in any kidnapping. I have not been involved in stealing. Are you saying that, on your own, you do not understand that you have done something wrong? That is what people are saying, but I do not see it that way.

PAGE 38—SUNDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

BY IFEANYI OKOLIE

esidents of Igando area of Lagos State are still reeling in shock over the penultimate Saturday murder of eight persons during a shooting spree by a lone gunman who attacked the home of his girlfriend, killing her and seven other members of the family. The incident, which threw the entire area into disarray, has reinforced a sense of insecurity among residents who have resorted to staying indoors and refrained from speaking with strangers. Strangers are now viewed with suspicion and any attempt at inquiring into the incident would attract hostility. But those who managed to speak to Sunday Vanguard lamented the failure of the police from apprehending the gunman who has allegedly threatened to carry out more attacks on members of his late girlfriend’s family. “We now live in fear; we don’t know how a man could come all the way from Delta State with a rifle and wipe out two families without anybody doing something about it. I read in the papers that the man is threatening to kill more people. I wonder why he is still on the loose and why he has not been apprehended yet,” a resident, who identified himself as Rashidi, said. Time was 10 pm on Saturday, 16 February, 2013, when the gunman, later identified simply as Henry, stormed the home of one Mr. Ekene Ozor, where his girlfriend, Sandra Ijedinma, was staying with her elder sister, Praise Ozor, at Ishitinu area of Igando, with an AK-47 rifle. Mrs. Ozor, children and siblings were preparing to go to bed when Henry allegedly entered their apartment. Katharine, Sandra’s twin sister, and two of Mrs Ozor ’s children, Happiness and Bethel, on sighting Henry, were said to have stood up to welcome him into their apartment, but he greeted them with volleys of gunfire from his assault rifle, killing the children on the spot, while Katharine escaped. He then, according to an eye witness, moved in to killing his girlfriend, Sandra, who was lying on a couch in the living room. He shot her severally and left her in a pool of blood before going after Mrs. Ozor, a seven-month-old pregnant woman. However, Mrs. Ozor, out of bravery, made a last ditch effort to save her life as she sprang from the living room with her last child, Victory, and

Ngozi Odia

The scene of murder

Fears, in Lagos suburb, over mass killer on the loose made for the door. But Henry, out for more blood, went after her and shot her from behind. She ran further before she allegedly collapsing in front of her bed room where Henry caught up with her and fired more shots at her, but Mrs Ozor wrapped around Victory and prevented her from being hit by the bullets. Not yet satisfied, Henry went to the home of Mrs. Ngozi Odia, one of his girlfriend’s elder sisters; also living within the area, and killed her alongside her three children: Angela, Chidinma and Chinenye. But before escaping, the suspect made a call to Mr. Ekene Ozor, the man whose home the assailant had visited to wipe out his family, and who runs a popular bar in the area, and threatened to kill him. According to Ozor: “I was surprised when I received the call. He said, ‘this is not Sandra’s boyfriend. I am coming for you. Anywhere you are, I must get you.’ I asked him, `who are you and what is the threat for?’, but he switched off the

phone.” Startled, Ozor said he quickly called his wife, Sandra and Katherine. Although their phones rang, none of them answered. I had to call my landlord and he told me that something tragic had happened in my flat and that I should come home immediately.” Katharine has told the police that Henry was her slain twin sister’s boyfriend who is familiar with everyone in their family but nobody knew he was a kidnapper.

source said: “She (Katharine) told us that her late sister used to visit the boyfriend, Henry, at his base in Delta State and, during one of such visits two weeks ago, some heavily armed men stormed Henry’s apartment manhandling Sandra in the process. “She added that the armed men reportedly told Sandra that her lover absconded with their share of the ransom paid to them for one of their kidnapping exploits, threatening to wipe out all his (Henry’s)

family members if he did not pay the money. “Thereafter, Sandra contacted her family members in Lagos, informing them of what happened to her and they rushed to Delta State and brought her to Lagos for medical treatment. But while she was receiving the treatment, Henry, feeling betrayed, stormed their Lagos home. She told us that the moment Henry entered their apartment; her sister ’s children welcomed him without knowing that he was out to kill them”. Lagos State Police Command has vowed to apprehend Henry as detectives from the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Panti, Lagos, have taken over investigations into the killings. Sunday Vanguard gathered that a crack team of operatives at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Ikeja have been detailed by the state commissioner of police, Umar Manko, to assist the homicide detectives in tracking the suspect.

Ekene Ozor

The late Sandra Sources disclosed that the homicide detectives and their counterparts at SARS are not limiting their search for the suspect to Lagos State. They said the Lagos police were collaborating with the Delta Command to apprehend the suspect. A police source blamed their inability to apprehend the suspect on the night of the incident on their failure to pinpoint his exact location after the attack. “We knew he was within the area after the attack because we had the entire area under lockdown. Also all entry and exit points within the state were sealed with policemen. But our problem at that time was that we couldn’t pinpoint his location. We suspected he could be in one of the hotels in the state waiting for the dust to settle before fleeing. No body also knew the registration number of the SUV he drove”, the source stated.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013 — PAGE 39

PAGE 40—SUNDAY

Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

BY RENO OMOKRI

S we approach 2014, the year in which Nigeria attains her centenary, it may probably begin to enter the consciousness of Nigerians that this nation has been in existence for much longer than many had previously thought. Alongside this realization, would be a dawning that many of the issues we need to address, as a nation, have been decades in the making and common reasoning would make it obvious that there’s no magic fix for problems that took decades to create. You don't go to the gym from the first time at age 40 – unfit and completely out of shape – do a set of bench presses and expect to walk out with muscles. There's a law of process in nature and you either learn to harness it or you break yourself trying to bypass it. And it is in recognition of this law that Nigeria’s literary icon, Professor Chinua Achebe, a man who has lived through 83 of the 99 years of which Nigeria has been in existence advised in his most recent best seller, There was a Country, that "we must learn patience and not expect instant miracles". We live in a world that spins on its axis, but we remain unaware of this movement of the earth, conditioned by our relative minuteness to remain unconscious of this scientific fact. However, there are those committed to the specific knowledge of this force of nature, who are continually in observation of this phenomenon. Once in a while, those ignorant of the scientific facts attempt to argue with the scientists, calling them liars. These arguments don’t make the scientists liars. Disagreeing with facts doesn't turn them to lies. Facts remain unmoved by disbelief or cynicism. This ignorant and loud approach to disagreeing with facts is the unfortunate trend I have observed in the Nigerian social media space where an extremely loud minority hold the preconceived mindset that ‘if it is not happening to me, it is not happening in Nigeria’. This is an extremely shallow and narcissistic view. Responsible self-leadership requires that if one decides to assume the position of a public commentator, as so many on social media wish to be, there is also a responsibility of widening one’s world view, so as not to mislead the people whom you desire as followers. A true leader is a fact seeker and follows the facts wherever they may lead. A true leader makes research based conclusions. For example, you can’t sit in your home and conclude that since the power situation in the country has not improved where you live, that it hasn’t improved at all for others in the country. That in itself betrays a selfishness and a corruption of the narrative because you have reduced Nigeria to your locality and give off the impression that you are speaking of Nigeria as a nationality. Celebrated CNN anchor, Christiane Amanpour did a show on the Super Bowl power failure in America and decided to ask CNN’s correspondent in Nigeria to do some OpenMicinterviews on the power situation in our country. What happened? Vladimir Duthiers found a

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Christiane Amanpour and our Stockholm Syndrome

President Goodluckk Jonathan(right) with Christiane Amanpour: What manner of appraisal ? location in Lagos where he asked Nigerians to appraise the power situation in their country. Some people said it was terrible, some said it had improved. But CNN, for the purpose of sensationalism decided to edit out the voices that projected a positive report and only reported those who painted a sorry picture. By shutting down voices that she didn’t want to hear, Amanpour misled the world in her report and that’s very sad. Why did Amanpour do this? Her show was a calculated attempt to cover the national embarrassment of the Super Bowl outage by ridiculing Nigeria and video testimonials of Nigerians affirming that power in their country had improved would not fit into her pre-conceived narrative of selling the misery of African nations to the world, hence they were not used in her report. I am saying this with all seriousness and those who would accuse me of spinning the truth may want to listen to the audio of the unedited interviews here (http://tinyurl.com/9wthgaq) And compare with what Ms. Amanpour presented to the world here (http://tinyurl.com/bxnquvz) On the issue of the power situation in Nigeria, there are some who may disagree that the power situation in Nigeria is improving but it is a fact. Nigeria in the last three years has increased from 2800 MWs to 4500 MWs. Obviously, in a nation of 170 million people this is grossly insufficient, however, Nigerians ought to remember that between 1980 and 1999 no new investments were made in the power sector. In fact, the Egbin power station that was commissioned in the very early 80's was the last power plant that was built in Nigeria before the launch of the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) and the contract for that plant was awarded in the 70's. So how can we have a situation where our population increased for 20 years and no investments were made in building new power plants and Nigerians who remained silent all that time want to heap all the blame on the administration that is finally doing what ought to have been done? As Lord Denning said in

the celebrated case of UAC vs Mcfoy, “ you can't place something on nothing and expect it to stand”! It used to be back in the day that activists were people passionate about their nation, but accidental activists of today are passionate about power. They criticize ferociously using the foulest language but are themselves so intolerant of criticism and have a horde of impressionable youngsters who would unleash a torrent of insults on any one who dares criticize them.

money but bought more batteries for the house? It would be tempting to say that no scenario could exist for such an eventuality. But, then you don't know this house. The inhabitants of this house are so presentminded. They remember not the N16 and the one battery. It is in the past, and after all the 8-yearold has explained his frustrations with the battery buying system, and even gave a half-hearted apology and though he never brought back change, he was forgiven. In this house, the fault must be that of the 3-year-old, he’s the problem. Why? He managed to buy twice the number of batteries his 8-year-old bought with one-forth of what his elder was given. Unfair, you may scream. But that is the exact situation we find ourselves in Nigeria. A social media user expressed anger at me for celebrating the revival of Nigeria's previously moribund railway networks and asked me if that was what obtained in America where I lived for many years. Apparently this fellow wasn't taught that in making comparisons you should first compare what is with what was and only then can you appreciate progress. Before the American rail system got to where it is, there was a consistent investment by several

Some may disagree that poverty is reducing but it’s not a lie. According to the World Bank, poverty in Nigeria reduced from 48 to 46%. I did not make this up and the Federal Government has no control over these foreign individuals and institutions And the reason these men masquerading as activities are able to hoodwink many in the theater of Social Media is because they have clued on to the psyche of the Nigerian netizen which is that cynicism is celebrated as intelligence. For example, it is a natural and spiritual law that what you appreciate increases in value and occurrence. So for instance if a child shows good manners and you celebrate him or her, the child is likely to display good manners more often, not because he/she necessarily wants to be good mannered but because the child likes to be celebrated. Now imagine that two children lived in a home and there was darkness and the first child who was eight years of age was given N16 and then sent on an errand to buy batteries for a rechargeable lamp. Imagine that he bought just one battery and this was not sufficient. And so the second child who was three was given N4 and went to the same store and instead of buying just one battery, he bought two which was still insufficient. Under what scenario would the older child who was given more money have the audacity to criticize the younger child who wasgiven less

administrations who kept building on what they met, till they went from A to B to C all the way to Z. Nigeria's railways had been moribund for over a decade and rather than applaud the leadership that removed the shame of a nation some people expect that we can go from moribund to fast speed trains, which is akin to asking a child to move from crawling to running. James Russell Lovell once wrote that "No one can produce great things who is not thoroughly sincere in dealing with himself". As Nigerians, we have to be sincere with ourselves. We cannot allow our narrative to be hijacked by tragic heroes, who have written epistles to rubbish all those whose backs they have climbed on to success and praise those whose backs they still need to climb. Is it not said that a slave who has seen his fellow slave buried in a shallow grave must know that he too will be so buried when his own time comes? Social Media is now the ladder on which bitter people who served in government and left under a cloud of disgrace want to climb to power. One only has to look

back at what these disgruntled elements did to the people who helped them rise to power, to know exactly what the future holds for the people they are presently using. I appeal to Nigerians, to resist this tendency to display the symptoms of Stockholm Syndrome where victims of abuse end up having sympathy for their abusers. Even if you believe there is nothing you can do to make Nigeria great, at least believe that Nigeria can be great. Don't let bitter persons sap away your faith in your nation. Of course, there are a lot of challenges but things are getting better! Disgruntled persons may tell you that our economy is not doing well, but the facts don't support them. Let me present some of the facts to you. Only last year, the Clinton Foundation identified Nigeria as one of the ten fastest growing economies in the world. On the 10th of October 2012 while addressing the Annual Conservative Party Conference, David Cameron said "We've been hearing about China and India for years but it’s hard to believe what’s happening in Brazil, in Indonesia, in Nigeria.” His Undersecretary of State for Africa, Mr. Henry Bellingham said of Nigeria, “Nigeria has averaged growth of 8.9 per cent which is really stunning. Nigeria is the world’s fourth fastest growing economy with solid growth in the next five years and beyond; this is truly remarkable.” When the papers reported that President Barack Obama had declared Nigeria the "world’s next economic success story" on August 26th 2012, I tweeted about it and somebody actually tweeted back in response saying, "what does he know of economics?!” Some may disagree that poverty is reducing but it’s not a lie. According to the World Bank, poverty in Nigeria reduced from 48 to 46%. I did not make this up and the Federal Government has no control over these foreign individuals and institutions. They cheer for no team in the contest, so why would they lie? Only this morning I woke up to the cheery news that Nigeria’s inflation had reduced to 9% the first time it has hit single digit in four years! We can invest so much intellectual and emotional energy on painting a negative image of our country on Social Media andcelebrate when Miss Amanpour makes Nigeria the butt of her jokes to a worldwide audience, but not everyone will be laughing in scorn. Some will actually be laughing all the way to the bank. And I know some of those who will be among this lot. Only three days ago Leadership Newspapers ran as its front headline the story "Exodus, The Movement of British-Born Nigerians… Back to Nigeria". While some Nigerians resident at home are getting carried away by the gospel of negativity being peddled by tainted persons, Nigeria is seeing a reverse brain drain of highly skilled Nigerians born in Europe and the Americas who know that in a world where many nations struggle with negative GDP growth there must be many things right about a nation with consistent 7% GDP growth. Reno Omokri is Special Assistant to the President (New Media) and is on twitter @renoomokri

SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013 — PAGE 41

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PAGE 42—SUNDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013 BY JOHN AJAYI

new dawn looms in Ondo State, as

activities and preparations for the swearing in ceremony of Dr. Olusegun Abayomi Mimiko for a second term in office gather momentum. As it is customary of this type of epoch making event, the people of the state and indeed, the general public, both local and global audience will be treated to the theatrics of a colourful event.

Mimiko: Beyond the Hollow Ritual of Oath taking

With an estimated guests attendance of about twenty five thousand people (25,000), the swearing in ceremony of Governor Mimiko, slated for Sunday 24th February 2013 at the Democracy Park in Oja Oba area of Akure, promises to be another historic event in the annals of the state.

lready the state government is leaving no stone unturned to ensure a hitch-free grand inaugural ceremony as a planning committee headed by the Commissioner for Planning & Budget, Mr. Akin Adaramola,

C M Y K

Dr Olusegun Mimiko.....I will work for you. e

”

lso expected, he hinted are “past and serving governors, top notchers within and outside Nigeria and prominent politicians.

otwithstanding the elaborate plans already put together by the cerebral team of the Inauguration Planning Committee, the import of an occasion like the swearing-in of a major political office holder like the governor of a state should not

has concluded plans on all the activities for the event. Addressing newsmen in the Cocoa Conference Hall in the governor ’s Office recently, Adaramola, who was also the former Director General of Mimiko Campaign Organization in 2012 Governorship election, disclosed that activities for the inauguration was kick started with a special edition of the Divine Agenda Praise Night at the Cultural Centre. The programme, the technocrat turned politician revealed, will be followed with a Jumat Service at the Central Mosque in Akure on 22nd of February 2013. Also on the list is an inaugural lecture slated for Saturday, with the theme “Leadership Democracy and Development; a Paradigm Relations.” The lecture slated to hold at the Cultural Centre will be delivered by the eminent Scholar and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, while the former Nigerian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade would be the Chairman of the august occasion. As usual too, the lecture will be attended by notable and eminent Nigerians cutting across the social divides. On the same day, also at the same venue, a premiere of the movie titled “Asogbodilu” will hold. Sunday 24th will be the DDay when Governor Olusegun Mimiko and his Deputy, Alhaji Alli Olanusi will be inaugurated at the Democracy Park, in Akure amidst pump and pageantry. Nonetheless, activities for this great event will be rounded off on Sunday 10th, March with a thanksgiving service at the Redeemed Church of God, Provincial Headquarters along Ilesha Road in Akure. In his press conference statement, Mr. Akin Adaramola assured that “important dignitaries, religious and traditional rulers from across the country are expected to grace al l these

battles. Specifically, it was

February 24th, 2009, at the Akure Stadium that Mimiko, the avant-garde politician popularly called and known as Iroko made that avuncular historical declaration as a covenant with the people. Standing humbly before the joyous crowd, the, elated Mimiko, reflected on the rising frustrations of his people under previous administrations seized the moment as he declared: “I will strive at all times to make

The international recognition of Ondo State today in not only in the area of commendable attention of Mimiko to the health of his people, the state has also been acclaimed for development in Human Habitat Renewal

be under-estimated. Not even in the least, the inauguration of a political iconoclast like Governor Olusegun Abayomi Mimiko, who advertently or inadvertently destiny has accorded the honoric duty of using such moments to galvanize hope in his people, not withstanding their situations and circumstance.

recisely four years ago, Mimiko made historical statements on the occasion of his inauguration before the mammoth crowd that gathered to rejoice with him. It was shortly after the Appeal Court Tribunal restored his hitherto stolen mandate after rigorous months of exhilarating legal

decisions that will benefit the greatest number of our people. I will work for you. “As the Iroko made this pronouncement, he struck a cord in the declining spirit of his people, who were obviously and earnestly yearning for a messiah of some sort.

iving their concomitant predicament political and social situation at the time, such an assuring prophetic message of hope was all the people needed to give the new occupant at Alagbaka Government House all the support to steer the ship of state. For other politicians, such statements are often

regarded as normal political gibberish that have little or no nexus between the speaker and the target audience. However, in the case of Governor Olusegun Mimiko, the inaugural pronouncement on 24th February 2009 has become the defining character of the first four years term tenure of Iroko in the Sunshine State. The statement, “I will work for you” has reverberated throughout the governor ’s days in office in the last four years of his administration in Ondo State. A cursory to review of developmental programmes and projects under Governor Mimiko in his first term in office will certainly prove cynics wrong. The administration’s Mother & Child Hospital is an open book. Located in the state capital, Akure and Ondo, the hospital with facilities of world class standard and other wellequipped health institutions across the state, which has become a catalyst for the success of Abiye, the popular Safe Motherhood Programme of the state government has become an international bench mark unit.

he success of the Abiye Programme is not only measured by the sheer number of lives that have been saved, or brought to life free of charge but also by its recognition and endorsement by the international bodies such as World Health Organization (WHO) World Bank, and UNICEF as a benchmark for

developing world in the war against infant and Maternal Mortality. The international recognition of Ondo State today in not only in the area of commendable attention of Mimiko to the health of his people, the state has also been acclaimed for development in Human Habitat Renewal. This was manifested recently with the honouring of Mr. Governor in far away Italy for his exceptional performance in Urban Renewal. Without any equivocation, this honour can be seen in the new look of major towns, especially Akure, the State Capital. The beautifications, the road dualization, organized market and transport systems along with other noble initiatives of the administration have earned the state a pride of place amongst its peers. As once stated, by John Henry Newman, a renowned English author, “growth is the only evidence of life.”

n the last four years, Governor Olusegun Mimiko has demonstrated the wisdom in Henry Newman dictum in almost all spheres. In the administration’s 12-

point Programme Christened – A Caring Heart, Agriculture and Food Security have received requisite attention food supply in the state in the period under review has received tremendous boost through a number of steps taken to assist farmers. These include the mobile farm inputs supply system, the farm produce buy back policy and the establishment of AgroCities in the three Senatorial Districts of the state to encourage youths on mechanized farming. The Iroko has in the past four years connected significantly with the grass roots through the popular Quick-Win Projects which are found in more than four hundred communities with different projects such as Basic Health Centre, Town Hall, School Infrastructure Road, electrification and cottage industries amongst others. The people are happy for being part of governance as they make their choice in whatever they want from government. Specifically, the r ural populace makes the project choice, execute and take charge to guarantee sustainability. Each of these communities can boast of at least three projects that are life-changing and community c e n t r e d .

he state government has also ahead its peers in the area of empowering its people. This the government has creditably done for groups like Market Women, artisans, widows and farmers through the different credit windows. The past four years has also witnessed tremendous growth

in education with the Mega Schools introduction. It has also embarked upon aggressive infrastructural provisions in all its tertiary institutions. The state government has equally placed its name on the global tourist map with its transformation projects on commerce, trade, Culture and Tourism. The Sunshine State, Inther to a far away zone to tourists in Europe and America has today become a haven for tourists on yearly mountain climbing adventure.

n view of these and many more giant strides. Mimiko’s Second coming to be proceeded with an inaugural ceremony should excite all progressive, minded people. While elaborate plans have been made to make the occasion colourful and unique, Governor Olusegun Mimiko again patiently awaits the historic moment to re-invent himself as the selfless pariot who is an harbinger of good tidings for his people. On the 24th February all lovers of history, all lovers of development will watch out for yet another historic and prophetic pronouncement from no other person than the Iroko himself. It is an auspicious

occasion for a greater expectation that certainly goes beyond the hollow ritual of oath taking! Iroko, again, history beckons! John Ajayi is a Lagos based journalist and public relations consultant.

PAGE 44 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

Killings, arson: Police take over Delta community N

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

BY EMMA AMAIZE

ELTA State Police Command has deployed anti-riot police officers in Uzere kingdom, Isoko South Local Government Area, Delta State following a crisis in the community, which led to the killing of two persons and burning of numerous houses, at the weekend. Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, who confirmed the deployment, said the police officers were deployed to restore order. His words, “Teams have been dispatched to Uzere under Oleh to assist in quelling the lingering

riotous situation.” According to him, “Lack of respect for government recognized monarch is the reason for this development. It is a gangup by suspects earlier on arraigned but were given bail by the court. “They regrouped subsequently and the illegally crowned monarch who had already been declared wanted is the brain before the reprisal attack and manhunt is on for them. It is the same group that held the Deputy Governor hostage, last year”. He also disclosed that police officers were drafted at the weekend to Umuaja in Ndokwa axis of the state dismantle a barricade

mounted by youths, who hid under a festival in the community to extort money from people. Sunday Vanguard learnt that armed men loyal by one of the factions in the festering Uzere crisis, invaded the community, Friday. Members of the group reportedly mobilized and traced the mercenaries to the home of one of their sponsors, which resulted in the death of one Omojolildolor, a security guard. Uzere has been in turmoil for some years following a major disagreement over the community ’s relationship with a multinational oil company operating in the area.

O fewer than seven persons were, yesterday, arrested in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, f or allegedly

beating up policemen during the monthly environmental sanitation exercise. Sunday Vanguard learnt that the incident occurred at Elite Road,Idi-Aba,where the suspects were alleged to have contravened the sanitation law. According to an eye witness, two policemen who were accompanying the officials of the ministry of environment to monitor the exercise, were assaulted by seven suspects after allegedly acting contrary to the sanitation exercise

Assault on police:Seven held in Ogun scheduled between 7am and 10am. It was gathered that the suspects considered the police questioning them as insulting, tearing the policemen

uniform and seizing their berets. However, the police

reportedly left the scene for reinforcement and subsequently returned to the scene to effect the arrest of the suspects.

Chevron advised to caution officials over EGDC election

leader from Gbaramatu

Kingdom in Warri South West Local Government Area, Delta State, Chief Mathew Ebiware, has called on the

management of Chevron Nigeria Limited, to caution its officials allegedly dabbling into the Egbema Gbaramatu Development Council, EGDC, election to desist forthwith. Ebiware, made the call in Warri, saying the election of new executives into the council is purely the affairs of the member communities, adding that Gbaramatu people are capable of making the right choices. His words: “In order not to worsen the present situation, the management of Chevron must ensure that its officials do not dabble into the affairs of the council, particularly the pending EGDC election to produce new executives, it is purely the affairs and mandate of Gbaramatu people” According to him, “The people of Gbaramatu will resist any attempt by Chevron officials to interfere in the election or impose a particular candidate on the people”.

Osubor passes on

HIEF Sunday Patrick Osubor of Ogbe Isse quarters in Onicha-Uku town, Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State has passed on. The burial rites begin on Thursday, February 28 with wake-keep in his compound at Onicha Uku. This will be followed, on Friday, March 1, by Requiem Mass at St. Michael’s Catholic Church, interment in his family compound, and entertainment of guests, all in Onicha Uku. The outing/ thanksgiving mass at St. Michael’s Catholic holds on Church, Onicha-Uku Sunday, March 3 . He is survived by a wife, children and grand children,among others.

Late Chief Osubor

SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013—PAGE 45 sameyoboka@yahoo.com

08023145567 (sms only)

Our common rituals: Lenten season and Ramadhan BY JOSIAH FEARON

a Muslim draws closer to God by abandoning bodily pleasures, such as food and drink. This makes the sincerity of their faith and their devotion to God all the more evident. The Qur ’an states that fasting was prescribed for those before them - the Jews and Christians- ( Baqarah: 183-185) and that by fasting a Muslim gains taqwa, which can be described in one word as ‘God-consciousness’.

IDOWU-

S in previous articles, this piece is written for those who wish to see Nigerians united in spite of their religious differences. It is the hope of the writer that, reading this piece will open up discussions between those who profess these two faiths ( Islam and Christianity)and, eventually, result in deep respect for each other ’s faith practices and lead to a more eirenic relationship. L ast Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) Christians all over this country joined millions of others all over the world to begin a forty-day fasting period called Lenten Season. The Muslim equivalent to this religious duty is Ramadhan. Are there similarities in their observance, do they have similar expectations during and after the periods and could faithfulness to the expectations bring about individual transformation, unity among Nigerian Christians and Muslims leading to even development especially in the Northern parts of the country? In the Christian liturgical calendar, Lent is the penitential period of 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter. Traditional Christian observances of Lent include fasting and penitence, both in preparation for Easter and as a way of spiritually “joining” Jesus with the fasting and meditation he did in the wilderness. For early Christians and for Eastern Orthodox Christians today, the rules of fasting are strict: just one meal a day, in the evening, and no meat, fish, eggs, or butter is permitted.

Origins of Lent:

The name lent is a Germanic word originally used to refer to the spring season generally. Over time, it replaced the Latin quadragesima, which means “forty days.” Lent lasts forty days because, according to biblical accounts, Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days of fasting, meditation and reflection before beginning his ministry ( Lk.4:1-12). In Western Christendom as well as in Africa, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday; for Eastern Orthodox Churches, it is called “Great Lent” and begins on Clean Monday (one of my uncles, though an Anglican, follows this tradition).

Lent & Ash Wednesday:

Where do the ashes come in for Ash Wednesday? It was traditional in ancient times for people engaged in special times of fasting, prayer, repentance, or remorse by rubbing ashes on their foreheads as an outward symbol of what they are experiencing internally. This custom entered Christianity through Judaism, and Christians today may apply ashes on their foreheads to mark the beginning of Lent. Ideally, one should use ashes from the burning of palm fronds from the previous year ’s Easter celebrations.

Lent and Fasting Today:

In Western Christendom today,

Similar teachings on the main event of the two seasons: Fasting A significant number of Christians within mainland Christianity and most Muslims believe that fasting is more than abstaining from food and drink. Fasting also includes abstaining from any falsehood in speech and action, abstaining from any ignorant and indecent speech, and from arguing, fighting, and having lustful thoughts. Therefore, fasting strengthens control of impulses and helps develop good behaviour. Particularly during the Lenten

Bishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon the strictest fasting rules were eliminated in the Roman Catholic Church in 1966. Only Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are required to be strict fasting days for Roman Catholics. Penance, however, is still observed and marked by alms giving, devoting time to prayer and Bible reading, and other forms of religious study. In the Anglican communion, Lent and Fridays are set aside as days of fasting and abstinence, however, individual Anglicans are free to determine for themselves what particular measures of abstinence they will follow in the observance of these days, though certain parishes and dioceses are more encouraging of fasting than others. While in Kaduna diocese for example, everyone is encouraged to fast all through the Lenten season, in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney its people are discouraged from fasting during Lent. During the early days of the church, this period was also one in which those who wanted to become Christians prepared for their baptismal rites.

Days of Lent:

Calculating the days of Lent varies between Western (Protestants, Catholics, Anglicans) and Eastern (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, eastern-rite churches affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church) churches. In Western churches, Sundays are skipped when counting because Sundays commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. In the Catholic Church, the official end of Lent occurs on Holy Thursday with the mass of the Lord’s Supper. These details are presented here to inform our readers that in the Christian faith, this annual ritual, unlike the Muslim equivalent is not an obligation as we shall see from the Muslim ritual equivalence in Islam. However, it would be educative to note some of the common practices between the two faith traditions.

Ramadhan. In Islam, this season is the prescribed period

We challenge Christians and Muslims in this country to become humble and begin to respect each other’s religious traditions which, as shown above, have a lot in common when every Muslim is expected to faithfully observe the forth pillar of Islam. This observance involves fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, which is probably the most notable time for fasting among Muslims. In Islam, fasting for a month is an obligatory practice, from fajr (dawn), until the maghrib (dusk). Muslims are prohibited from eating, drinking (including water), and engaging in sexual activity. They are also encouraged to temper negative emotions such as anger and addiction. By fasting, whether during Ramadan or other times,

season and the sacred month of Ramadhan, believers strive to purify body and soul and increase their taqwa (good deeds and God-consciousness). This purification of body and soul harmonizes the inner and outer spheres of an individual. Christians and Muslims who take part in the observance of these seasons, aim to improve their body by reducing food intake and maintaining a healthier lifestyle. Overindulgence in food is discouraged and eating only enough to silence the pain of hunger is encouraged. On a

moral level, believers strive to attain the most virtuous characteristics and apply them to their daily situations. They try to show compassion, generosity and mercy to others, exercise patience, and control their anger. In essence, by observing these important seasons and the religious duties prescribed, Christians and Muslims are trying to improve what they believe to be good moral character and habits. Fasting is the soul of prayer; mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others you open God’s ear to yourself (St. Peter Chrysologus, c. 400-450, Bishop of Revenna).

Our appeal:

Over 80% of Nigerians belong to one or the other of these two religious traditions with such excellent common rituals. If we are so blessed with such rich religious practices, it becomes incumbent on Christians and Muslims to live-out these rich religious disciplines. We challenge Christians and Muslims in this country to become humble and begin to respect each other ’s religious traditions which, as shown above, have a lot in common. It has been observed that there has been a significant increase in the goodwill messages sent to the Christian community when the Lenten season took-off on ashWednesday. It should not go unnoticed, the message from His Eminence, The Sultan of Sokoto, the Spiritual Head of the Muslim Umma in Nigeria. We do hope that the discipline of this Lenten Season will continue to play out as we pray for one another, study our Bible with the determination to live it out and go out of our way to show mercy to those around us who are suffering. Josiah Idowu-Fearon, Ph.D.(ABU) Diocesan bishop of Kaduna (Anglican Communion).

NCPC flags off Easter pilgrimage tomorrow

HE 2013 Easter pil grimage exercise will kick off tomorrow. Executive Secretary of Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission, Mr. John Kennedy Opara disclosed this recently while addressing newsmen in his office. Opara said that about 2,650 pilgrims are expected to take part in the exercise and provision has been made for other self-sponsored pilgrims to join in the exercise. The NCPC boss also affirmed that the 2012 Christian pilgrimage was a huge success as the commission recorded zero abscondment. He stressed that the success recorded was possible because

of the thorough screening procedure the Commission adopted. He further stated that the aim of the programme is to enable Christians encounter God personally and transform their lives morally and spiritually. In his words: “We want people to go and come back spiritually and morally transformed and in turn impact on the lives of the people for a better society.” The NCPC helmsman stated that pilgrimage is not for leisure, but a spiritual exercise where pilgrims are given the essentials and allowed to experience life as Christ did as much as possible.

According to him, “our pilgrimage is not tourism, it is not a journey for comfort but a spiritual journey to remind us of whom we are, where we were coming from and where we are going to. It is a journey of a life time.” Opara regretted the death of a pilgrim from Adamawa State which he said was most unfortunate, noting that but for the loss of one pilgrim the commission would have recorded a zero mortality rate during the last exercise. However, he assured that the medical team would always do their best to ensure that zero mortality of our pilgrims is maintained and sustained.

PAGE 46 --- SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

Pope’s resignation, a lesson for our leaders----Clerics THE COUNTERFEIT CHRISTIAN CHURCH (2)

ESUS says the kingdom of heaven is like putting yeast in a large portion of dough. (Matthew 13:33). While pastors with limited understanding of kingdom dynamics see this yeast as beneficial on the grounds that it is designed to promote the rapid numerical growth of the church; those with better insight see it as spiritually counter-productive precisely because it leads to the exponential growth of the church. This growth is contrary to God’s design.

Most of today’s Christians do not have the kind of faith Jesus is looking for

Abnormal church Yeast in the bible is a metaphor for a corrupting agent. The yeast "infects" the dough and makes the bread puffed up and "proud." Therefore, yeast was required to be thrown away at the Passover. (Exodus 12:15). No meal offering was acceptable with yeast. (Leviticus 6:17). Jesus himself uses yeast to characterise the duplicitous doctrine of the religious leaders. He warns: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” (Luke 12:1). As the church grew from a tiny seed into a small mustard bush, it was as God designed it. But over time, with the yeast of pastors, it mutated into a large tree, something God never intended. It became a freak giant of a tree not in keeping with its geneticcode. It therefore ceased to be God's church when we perverted the doctrines of Jesus on the altar of church growth. It became a counterfeit of the true church, even though it still claimed to be “Christian.” It formed an unholy alliance with Rome and took on many facets of pagan mystery religions. Jesus defined the acceptable parameters of his church. It is small in size: “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32). Its workers are small in number: “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few.” (Luke 10:2). Its membership is a small elect: “Many are called, but few chosen.” (Matthew 20:16). Its pathway is found only by a small number of people: “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:14). Therefore, the crowd should not be confused with the church. Jesus says: “When the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). Since according to the reputable Pew Research Centre there are now over 2 billion Christians on earth, more than any other religion, the conclusion is inescapable. Most of today’s Christians do not have the kind of faith Jesus is looking for.

Demonic church In effect, Jesus’ parables portray the current deviant form of the kingdom of God. His mustard tree not only ex-

periences aberrant growth; the birds of the air nesting in its branches are demons. They are messengers of Satan: “the wicked one,” with the objective to steal the word of God from men’s hearts. (Matthew 13:4/19; Mark 4:4/15; Luke 8:5/12). Jesus’ portrait is therefore identifiable in its perverseness as the end-time “mystery Babylon” which represents today’s Christian church. (Revelation 17:5). The church is “a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!” (Revelation 18:2). Jesus says: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat.” (Matthew 13:2425). Accordingly, the modern church is overrun by demons who plant weeds among God’s wheat. These weeds now occupy strategic positions as pastors, bishops and general overseers. They are revered as “father,” “papa” and “daddy,” in contravention of Jesus’ directive to call no one father but God. (Matthew 23:9). God allows this to happen, just as he allowed Satan to tempt Job; just as Jesus was led of the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil; and just as Jesus allowed Satan to sift Peter like wheat. (Luke 22:31). Out of this adversity, God is nevertheless determined to bring forth his true children. Jesus says: “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:45-46). This presents another remarkable kingdom dynamic. The pearl is the only “jewel” that is not buried in the earth. It comes from a living organism: the oyster. The first thing of note about the oyster is that it is not kosher. It is forbidden food in the Law of Moses. (Deuteronomy 14:10). The second thing of note is that oysters only produce pearls in response to irritation. When the oyster gets hot and bothered, it produces the pearl in self-defence. Even so, those who seek the Lord even in the counterfeit church will become his pearls. They will be rescued from their inconvenient places of growth and become God’s glorious adornment: “‘They shall be mine,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘on the day that I make them my jewels. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. Then you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.” (Malachi 3:17-18).

Counterfeit church Therefore, what we see all around us

today is the false church headed by false popes, pastors and bishops. This counterfeit church is large, flamboyant and worldly. But God’s true church is a “little flock” of “little ones” led by one Good Shepherd. (Luke 12:32; Matthew 18:14). By presenting the kingdom of God as a mustard seed which grows to become a tree, Jesus was giving a prophecy about the coming perversion of church growth, which is already upon us. Thus, Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed is designed to dispel all grandiose mythical and selfserving expectations of the kingdom of God. But thanks to “Nicodemus pastors,” the myth has once again recaptured Jesus’ true portrait. We are back again to planting cedars of Lebanon everywhere. What we have now in the churches is the kingdom of pastors, which has little to do with the kingdom of God. There, personal empires are built through the distortion of the scriptures for the sake of collecting as much tithes and offerings as possible. Jesus says: “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” (Matthew 21: 13). Our so-called “men of God” now include jet-flying, designer-suited internationally-acclaimed superstars. However, true “children of God” are despised and rejected by the people. (Isaiah 49:7). The authentic ministry of Christ is not glamorous: it is humiliating and frustrating. The Messiah himself laments: “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the LORD's hand, and my reward is with my God.’” (Isaiah 49:4). Therefore, today’s celebrated pastor is a contradiction in terms. This is the Lord’s final verdict: “Many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:11-12).

By SAM EYOBOKA & LAYINKA LATONA RIMATE of African Church, Most Rev. Emmanuel Udofia, the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Alfred Ade-wale Martins, Mainland Diocesan bishop of African Church, Rt. Rev. Ola Ade Ajayi and a Catholic priest who pleaded anonymity have said that the recent resignation by Pope Benedict XVI is in order, arguing that Nigerian leaders should borrow a leaf from the act. Reacting at different fora, to the uproar that greeted the news of the pope’s decision to abdicate with effect from Thursday, due to declining physical ability to cope with the demands of his office, the clerics said the action would not jeopardize the smooth administration of the universal church. Most Rev. Udofia told our reporter that Nigerian leaders who would rather remain in office even when they are not fit, must take a cue from the action of the Pope, adding "I want to advise our leaders who want to die in office to learn from what this servant of God had done. Our leaders who know that their health is failing but to stay put just to prevent others from coming in, must imitate this man of integrity." Archbishop Martins in a release signed by the Director of Social Communications, Rev. Monsignor Gabriel Osu, said the Pope acted in humility and love for the church. His decision is to ‘renounce’ his esteemed position on realizing his declining physical ability was in conformity with the Canon Law and in obedience to the dictates of his conscience. According to Archbishop Martins: “We do not have this sort of event happening everyday but at the same time we know that the Code of Canon Law promulgated in 1983, makes provisions for the resignation of the Pope if he becomes incapacitated or, as with Benedict XVI, if he believes he is no longer able to effectively carry out his official functions due to a decline in his physical ability. “This is not the first time that a Pope would resign. In fact we have had not less than three Popes who resigned including Pope Celestine V in 1294 and Pope Gregory XII in 1415. Pope Benedict XVI was not forced into taking that decision," he stated. Archbishop Martins said the Pope’s decision to go into retirement and ‘devotedly serve the Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer,’ should serve as a great lesson for those in positions of authority, especially political office holders in Africa and other parts of the world, to resist the temptation of clinging to power at all costs including the murder of the very people they want to govern. In his response, Bishop Ade Ajayi said what has happened is not shocking because God has a purpose for every occurence, saying "there is no new thing in this world. What has happened must not be shocking to anybody." The Catholic priest who pleaded anonymity, said Nigerian and African politicians should know that they cannot hold on for life even the...but I think every leader, public servant should learn from this man. "We had somebody like Mandela who could have stayed on but he did not and he was celebrated. If we can learn to respect the people and know that it is all about service either as the Pope. They should be able to throw in the towel when they realise that they can no longer serve the people and give room for someone who is capable to do the job," the priest said, adding that it is not in African character to resign but "I will put it that it should be in the character of the civilized person to resign when he/she realise that he/she is no longer capable of rendering the service he/she is in need of."

SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013, PAGE 47

Dualising Abuja-Benin Road BY OKHAREDIA IHIMEKPEN

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF The gains in the road sector

OAD development in Nigeria following the sudden death of President Musa Yar ’Adua; the emergence of President Jonathan Goodluck, and the inception of Jonathan’s transformation agenda, sensitized Nigeria to the need to demand for real dividends of democracy. Significantly and happily for Nigerians, these changes coincided with the setting up of Jonathan’s transformation agenda which formed the considering index of his administration . While other ministers were considering how best to make their stay in office relevant to the needs of the 21 st centur y, the Minister of Works, Arc. Mike Onolememen, went the extra mile and took a unilateral step to push, not just for transformation, but also for institutional reforms and restructuring of the Federal Ministry of Works for effective performance. He up-

graded the previously backwater Quality Control Unit into a full department known as Materials, Geo Technics and Quality Control Department, in a drive to raise quality bar for road projects. The new look Ministry of Works, that came into being as a baby, was conceived in a particular form by the ambition of Jonathan’s transformation and born by a consensus of the ministry. Interestingly, one of the consequences of this drive is evident, and by emergence, of our long expected AbujaBenin dual carriageway. Seeing the significance of road network in a growing economy in 1980, President Shehu Shargari promised to dualize the Abuja- Benin road before the expiration of his tenure in 1983. When his government was truncated, successive governments restated the promise. Though the concept was noble, it did not survive the board room politics of politicians. While impeachable on paper, it was a case of a symptom in search of a decease. There is no doubt that Nigerians were fed up with the status quo and other universal upheaval of disgust that erupts whenever they recalled past

years of nightmares on our roads. This is the significance of the N16 billion dualisation Abuja -Benin road project now being executed by the Jonathan administration. In October 2011, at the inauguration of the Senate Committee on Works, worried by the deplorable condition of our

VIEWPOINT

ment. The effect of unfulfilled promises in our national development strategies has been more sharply felt on the road sector than our other segment of the economy. Indeed, rather than result in an improvement in our economic situation, successive strategies

The effect of unfulfilled promises in our national development strategies has been more sharply felt on the road sector than our other segment of the economy

roads across the country, i t urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on our roads. At the occasion, the deputy Senate President, Ike Ekueremadu, explained that Nigerians will be pleased with the president if there is massive repair of roads across the country. Nigerians want to see good roads, as they have become the parameter for Nigerians to measure the performance of any govern-

have made it stagnate and become more susceptible than other sectors to the economic and social crises of our society. Thus, we are unable to point to any significant growth rate or satisfactory index of general well-being, in the past 20 years. By Jonathan’s current performance, if not in other sectors, Nigerians now have confidence in the administration ‘s transformation in the road sector. In 2011, when Onolememen

was appointed minister, his screening speech, which steamed a bold challenge at the floor of the Senate, signaled the birth of one of the most historic, futuristic and mythical epoch in the screening process of parliament. Ever since, his tenure has been eventful. His track record of productive and strategic implementation of the transformation of our road policies, coupled with his vast experience in policy conceptualization as well as his technical audit of projects, may also have cemented his reputation as a workaholic and manager of men and resources, the result which is evident in our works ministry today. Now that we are lucky that the Abuja-Benin dual carriageway is devoid of the centrifugal forces experienced in the East-West road, nor subjected to the politics of who is responsible for it’s neglect, it is hoped that the carriageway will be completed in record time. This is the only way we can say the road sector has a human face in the Jonathan Goodluck transformation agenda. .Ihimekpen is a Benin-City based public affairs analyst.

ICPC and the anti-corruption fighters BY FOLU OLAMITI VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF The governor of Nasarawa State on scale.

N Nigeria, the consensus view on the fight against graft is that the anti-corruption agencies should operate like Rottweiler guard dogs with dentition designed to bite and crush the bones of culprits. Some prefer the death sentence for anyone convicted of corruption charges, while many others simply want to see ministers, state governors, National Assembly members and other top g o v e r n m e n t functionaries accused of corruption while in office to be hauled into detention and charged to court as soon as they are nabbed. From the beginning, the anticorruption agencies toed this line. They deployed very heavy media sensationalism in the trial of corruption cases. Some socalled big guns were nabbed, detained and later released, while only a few, very negligible, got behind bars. From indications, the anti-corruption, war which began in Nigeria in 2001, has been whirling within the same circle, begging for new approaches to stem the menace within the larger society. A new approach is what the Independent Corrupt Practices And Other Related Offences Commis-

sion (ICPC) has been focusing on. It involves tackling the menace right from the root and not from the surface as Nigerians are used to. To the new team, headed by Barrister Ekpo Nta, the battle against corruption should encompass even the young ones in formative ages. Ekpo Nta has repeatedly argued that the best soldiers for the anticorruption war are primary and secondary school students and, by extension, scholars in the tertiary institutions. For this reason, the ICPC has initiated plans to engage them seriously in the battle. The Anti-Corruption Volunteers Corps, launched by the ICPC few years back, and ICPC club in schools, have recorded some breakthrough in this regard. ICPC received petitions filed by students, pointing the Commission’s attention to cases of anti-corruption in their environment. The petitions, to say the least, have proved very helpful. The ICPC Chairman is not resting on his oars in the plan to raise a bottom- up approach in the fight against corruption. He has been holding talks with the National University Commission (NUC) on the need to overhaul the tertiary education system in the country in a manner that would make the universities, polytechnics and colleges less prone to corruption. With the cooperation and collaboration of the NUC, the ICPC has concluded a review of corruption-prone systems as a pilot scheme into three universities. The report of its findings will be unfolded in a few

days. Again, it was the students that encouraged the ICPC to take the bold initiative following petitions from them and members of staff, unions and other stakeholders, alleging all manners of corrupt practices and abuses in the tertiary institutions. The Chairman noted that some of the abuses were in admission processes, conduct of examinations, appointments and promotion of staff and manipulation and falsification of academic records such as transcripts, general examination malpractice,

VIEWPOINT

The anti-corruption, war which began in Nigeria in 2001, has been whirling within the same circle, begging for new approaches to stem the menace within the larger society

cultism, sorting, impersonation, indecent dressing, intimidation, lateness, running illegal programmes, plagiarism, suppression of information, absenteeism amongst others. This system review on the university system,

according to him, would put an end to such acts of corruption in the schools. On the other hand, Nta, has been fighting to make ethics a compulsory subject in the category of English and Mathematics in primary and secondary schools. According to him, the teaching of ethics would further strengthen the efforts to build a new generation of Nigerians that will uphold the values of integrity, honesty and accountability in their day-to-day living. He would have spoken the minds of Nigerians who had benefitted from such teachings as they schooled at the period Nigeria was evolving as a nation. The jettisoning of the idea by successive governments has been the reason acts of perversion appear to be taking hold of many who are in schools at all levels in Nigeria today Nta drummed this idea of a return to teaching of ethics in school during his visit to St Anthony ’s Nursery and Primary School, Molete, Ibadan, his alma mater just recently. He was accompanied on the trip to the school by a member of the Board, Prof. Olu Aina, and some Directors of the Commission including the Director, Public Education, Mrs Rashedat Okoduwa and Head of Media. He passed out of the school in 1964 as head boy, and so, the feeling of the nostalgia overwhelmed him as soon as he appeared within the premises; he kick- started the ICPC agenda for recruiting new soldiers for the anti-corrup-

tion war from the school. In his words of exhortations on how schools in Nigeria could assist in the fight against corruption, Nta explained that efforts by the ICPCto introduce the teaching of ethics to young Nigerians was already yielding f r u i t s . He said, “The very first assignment you see me doing here today is not by mistake. It is part of the ICPC function. If you are not aware, we have partnered with the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) headed by Prof. Godswill Obioma to fashion out curriculum for Ethics and Good Governance that takes care of primary to secondary school levels and it is in operation now. “Our next target is to ensure that Ethics and Civics will be taken as a compulsory subject alongside Maths and English. For those who remember, we took Civic as a compulsory subject when we were in the primary school and during such classes you were taught about your country and patriotism”. The ICPC boss pledged to build a library in the school and equip it with enough story books, text books and other instructional materials. He shared the view that apart from giving back to the alma mater which provided the foundation for all his education and achievements in life, his visit was part of the Commission’s outreach initiatives to preach honesty and integrity to the younger generation of Nigerians.

PAGE 48 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

VIEWPOINT VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF

NCC's message to consumers on cut in tariff for short message service, SMS

ECENTLY, telecom consumers in Nigeria got a text message from Eugene Juwah, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). It was more or less a love text message. And that’s not because the message came in February, the often abused month of love. It’s because the message in itself bore an emblem of a regulator’s love and appreciation of telecom subscribers. The kernel of the message was simple: the NCC has cut the tariff for short message service (SMS) from N10 to N4. SMS is the service that allows short messages to be sent from one phone to others. It is more common among subscribers within the Global System for Mobile(GSM) communication genre. Not many Nigerians gave a thought to the import of the NCC gesture. However, a careful analysis of the behavioural pattern of Nigerian telephony consumers will reveal that what Juwah and his team at the NCC did goes beyond slashing of SMS tariff. It is a gesture that would help telecom consumers acquire a new and more responsible telephony culture. Phone etiquette says talk less, go straight to the point and deliver your message. It recommends that you do not waste time on preambles which often run into minutes. In the Western world, such etiquette is seriously adhered to. Some organisations install monitoring applications to check employees who abuse the phone. In Nigeria, there seems a cultural dimension to the manner we use the phone. We spend handsome minutes prefacing our message such that in some cases, the caller forgets why he

Making sense of Juwah’s text message or she made the call after wasting some good minutes on needless preambles. This translates to more time wasted on the phone and more money spent on phone calls alone. Since 2001 when the GSM companies rolled out services, Nigeria has remained at the upper end of the log of nations which spend more man hours just making phone calls. The latest report by international consulting firm, PricewaterhouseCooper (PWC) indexes this analysis in the most profound manner. The report says phone subscribers in the country spent a beguiling 22.3 billion minutes, an equivalent of 42,427 years, talking on the phone in 2012 alone. Considering that the nation has about 113 million phone lines which may be a little less at the time of collation of raw data for the report, this amount of time is ridiculously high. What the report did not say was the content of the conversation within such period; but going by our inherent tendency to engage more in frivolities than the real business of phone calls, it is not out of context to say that much of the talk centred on the unnecessary and avoidable. The clear interpretation of this is that average revenue per user (ARPU) in the country is high. The high ARPU has pushed the cumulative amount spent on phones calls, text messages etcetera last year to N2.1 trillion. Of this amount, a huge chunk is spent on voice calls alone. ARPU is a financial performance indicator in telecoms parlance that measures the average monthly or yearly revenue generated by Global System for Mobile communications, Code Division Multiple Ac-

cess and the fixed telephone operators in a particular country. Going by statistics from PWC, ARPU in Nigeria stands at N912 monthly which is the average amount the telecom operators get from each subscriber. Further breakdown of the PWC re-

BY MALCOM UGBECHIE

Apart from saving the telecom consumer good money, using the SMS option for communication will also free up the networks most of which are notoriously congested

port shows that the total call times recorded in Nigeria shot up by over five billion minutes from 17 billion minutes in 2011 to 22.3 billion minutes at the end of 2012. Correspondingly, SMS volumes increased by three million from 1.5 billion to 1.8 billion during the same period. The message here is simple: Nigerians talk too much on phone. They make the call when a simple text message would just have served the purpose even better. It is no surprise therefore that all the multinational telcos which rolled out services in Nigeria started declaring hu-

mungous profits, far more than what they cumulatively declared in all the other countries they had been doing business. This is the sense in which the recent slashing of the tariff for text messages should be likened to a love text message from someone who desires to save Nigerians from the telecom operators. By slashing prices of SMS, Juwah is encouraging Nigerians to send the text rather than make the call. Apart from saving the telecom consumer good money, using the SMS option for communication will also free up the networks most of which are notoriously congested. The regulator’s recent abrogation of promotions by operators (some of which are dubious and spurious) also lend to his avowal to stop the fleecing of consumers. It is obvious that Nigerians love to communicate; but communication via the phone must follow conventional rules otherwise the subscriber suffers financial haemorrhage. It is worse in an environment where there is heavy dependence on GSM networks. It goes without saying that telecom operators have over the years ripped off subscribers in the country. Some operators, driven by profiteering spirit, have taken subscribers far more than the capacity of their networks. The net effect is congestion with its attendant glitches: dropped calls, poor voice quality and general poor quality of service. When Juwah assumed duties barely two and a half years ago, he promised to address these anomalies. He has sanctioned operators, he has banned promotions that put more pressure on the networks, he has encouraged telcos to invest more in improving the technical integrity of their networks. Now, he is asking the operators to charge less because in telecom, profitability is in volume of subscribers not in high tariff. Nigeria is the biggest market out of Africa and on no account should the people pay more for less. This is the logic in Juwah’s economics of low tariff. It is worthy of our collective approbation. Ugbechie writes from Lagos

Mimiko: The Iroko waxes stronger VIEWPOINT BY LAJA AMUDIPE

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF The giant strides of Governor Olusegun Mimiko toward the development of Ondo State

OR people who love African safa ri, from the Serengeti plains in East Africa to Yankari games and the Ondo State forest reserves, they cannot but wonder about the iroko’s majestic splendour. Amidst rival trees, creepers and shrubs that struggle for space to enable them engage in their required photosynthesis, the tree towers above all-but without denying others space under the sun. When winds buffet it, when cyclones spiral its way near it or when other natural phenomena strike, the iroko stands ramrod straight! Little wonder then that the sobriquet, Iroko, fits Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State the way his Ghandi cap and well starched batik buba and sokoto match his athletic physiognomy. Like this king of trees, Mimiko is a veteran of many wars. And just as an eagle does not run away from storms but rides and triumphs over it, the Ondo State governor, despite his deceptive frame that covers a heart of steel, confronts challenges. To him, it is fire that brings out the best in gold. That is the political trajectory of the Ondo governor, a man who fights for his people and, in spite of all odds, keeps his own end of any bargain. He did it in his first time, he

is going to do it again as he is sworn in for his second term on 24 February 2013. On 24th February 2009, while taking the oath of office for his first term as Executive Governor of Ondo State, Rahman Olusegun Mimiko pledged in his inaugural speech: "I will strive at all times to make decisions that will benefit the greatest number of our people...At all times, in all seasons, I will work for you." Fast forward to 2013: promise kept! In

When he eventually took office, despite the many strong political winds that assailed him from all fronts, Mimiko never wavered in delivering on his commitment to serve the best interest of the people the four years of his first term as governor in the "Sunshine State", Mimiko marched his words with deeds. He made good his solemn pledge and kept faith with the people of Ondo State. Mimiko, fondly hailed as Iroko by his countless admirers, had ridden on a popular will to office. He saw to it that he reclaimed, on 23 February 2009 at the

courts, the mandate freely given to him by Ondo State people at the 2007 polls, but which was stolen by election riggers. Mimiko competed in the gubernatorial election in Ondo State on April 14, 2007, against the incumbent Olusegun Agagu of the PDP and‘lost the contest’, according to a flawed result released by the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC. Convinced that he was the true winner at the polls, Mimiko was ready to overcome the challenge; he contested this decision at the election tribunal and Agagu lost office on February 23, 2009, following a landmark Appeal Court ruling which cited irregularities in the 2007 election, and was replaced by Mimiko as governor. Mimiko, who ran on the Labour Party’s platform, became the first, and remains the only member of the Labour Party to win gubernatorial office in Nigeria. And when he eventually took office, despite the many strong political winds that assailed him from all fronts, Mimiko never wavered in delivering on his commitment to serve the best interest of the people. Given the ‘locust years’The Iroko Waxes Stronger Despite the difficulties it initially faced, the Mimiko government hit the ground running and settled down to the hard work of restoring the lost glory of the state and bringing a new lease of life to the populace. Given the ‘locust years’ that was the period overseen by the preceding governments, Mimiko knew his job was cut out for him. And he sought the support of the people in the onerous task of reshaping and redeveloping Ondo State for the com-

mon good. He called the populace to service, something he demonstrated by, among other things, tweaking Ondo State’s official slogan to read: ise loogun ise – meaning, hard work is antidote for poverty. This went on to become his government’s mantra, and the spirit of its transformational agenda. Mimiko said of his resolve to carry the people along in his government. "...Part of why we came on board was that there was this palpable disconnect between the government and the people. To actually drive development, you have to create a synergy between the government and the people. They must key into the programme and you must be able to catalyse and release the creative energies of the people to drive development." The people, indeed, called the shots in the scheme of things as the Mimiko administration progressed in office. A very striking example of this was the very innovative nature of the administration’s Community Development project – which had the people as its nucleus. Community development was a key ingredient of the administration’s 12-point developmental programme, which was tagged ‘A Caring Heart’. The people have been the driver of the projects so far undertaken under the community development policy of the Mimiko government, and the impact has been felt in the innermost parts of the state. As he takes another oath of office on 24 February, 2013, for a second term in office as governor in Ondo State, Mimiko can only do one thing: continue to keep faith with the people.

Contribution of not more than 800 words should be sent to sundayvanguard@yahoo.com

SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013, PAGE 49

chimeena@yahoo.com 08026350360

What we understand by Restitution By KWAME OPOKU ART

• Edem Duke and represntative of French government at the return of some art works recently in Abuja

hort of giving details of the anticipated repossession of Nigerian artefacts from France, Usman insisted that diplomacy remained the “best and only option for now and we would change our strategy if it’s not working.” Is Nigeria’s approach to restitution of cultural artefacts really working? We are all pleased that the French, just like the US Americans are returning Nigerian looted artefacts that have been intercepted by the police or customs whilst in transit or at arrival at port of destination. This is the result of normal collaboration between customs/police institutions of France/USA and those of Nigeria. They are not the result of efforts by cultural institutions seeking the return of looted items, as far as we know. These are the results of investigation of criminal activities pursued by the customs/police institutions. When we talk about restitution of cultural artefacts, we are referring to those cultural objects, like the Benin artefacts in British Museum, Ethnology Museum, Berlin, Ethnology Museum, Vienna, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and other museums. These artefacts, like the Nok sculptures and other Nigerian objects in Musée du Quai Branly, and other museums or private collections, are already located in definite places and the museums there feel they have a right to keep them despite frequent demands for their restitution. Although many of these objects are looted objects, they are not objects of customs/police seizures. They are often identifiable by name such as Queen-Mother Idia or Akenzua II because they are known to both holders and demanders as specific objects. They are not anonymous as many of the customs/police seizures are. The French Ambassador stated at the recent return of the Nok objects to Nigeria; ”At the time of the seizure, nobody knew where the statuettes exactly came from. They were later analysed by several French experts, coming from

When we talk about restitution of cultural artefacts, we are referring to those cultural objects, like the Benin artefacts in British Museum, Ethnology Museum, Berlin, Ethnology Museum, Vienna, Museum of Fine Arts

a famous French museum (Musee du Quai Branly), from the French Museums Directorate of the Ministry of Culture, and from the Research and Restoration Laboratory of the also famous Louvre Museum. These experts were eventually able to determine their origin.” sually, the objects of restitution discussion between institutions are of a much better quality than many that are seized in transit between two countries nut this is not an absolute rule. What is important to retain is that in restitution, the object is not on its way to another place, not in transition but has a definite location, such as the 584 Benin bronzes in the Ethnology Museum, Berlin or the 167 Benin artefacts in Vienna. They are not going anywhere because the holders believe they have a right to keep them and they have said so loudly and often. The holders consider that these artefacts are theirs by right. Sometimes the illegal holders of these artefacts present

Casey Imafidon kick starts Abuja Season of Writers

RITER, Journalist and Filmmaker, Casey Imafidon kick-starts the first quarter of the Abuja Writers Forum’s readings for February at Hamdala Plaza, Plot 23, Jimmy Carter Street, off Protea Hotel, Asokoro, Abuja. An indigene of Edo State, Imafidon was born and raised in Lagos. After his secondary school stint, he proceeded to the Nigeria Institute of Journalism and studied Mass Communications, with a specialization in Broadcast Journalism. He also studied film production at the SAE Institute in South Africa, which has a reputation for practical creative media education. The writing bug bit Imafidon at the tender age of nine and since then he has been at it and his stories have appeared in various publications including online literary magazines. His first published book, “Effects”, is a study of youthful exuberance. In a nutshell, it revolves around the relationship between the weird, strikingly peculiar and physically unkempt Simisola and the deported felon, Ronald Adetokunbo. His current publication, “Ajegunle”, is part of an ongoing project to map Lagos in the context of stories. The short stories metaphorically compare daily living in Ajegunle to a larger Nigerian picture. It tells the story of tough persons who grapple with the hardships of existing in West Africa’s most populated slum, driving by the passion of succeeding against all odds. Imafidon is currently negotiating with the producers of “Igodo” with the intention of doing two sequels of the popular film. He has also worked on film scripts with the likes of Onyeka Nwelue and Iyke Okogwu and is the in-house film director for Eagles and Angels, a Lagos-based production outfit. He has since also obtained professional training and certifications in Project Management, Creative Writing and Public Relations and does stints in Corporate Communication. The Guest Writer Session, an initiative of the Abuja Writers’ Forum(AWF), debuted in June, 2008 and has run non-stop, providing a valuable platform for budding and established writers to showcase their publications.

• Sample of Nigeria's Nok heads them as if they had created them. Thus the Germans who are keeping the Egyptian Queen, Nefertiti in Neues Museum in Berlin call her “Berlinerin” (a woman from Berl i n ) . The great Ekpo Eyo in his, From Shrines to Showcases: Masterpieces of Nigerian Art, (2010, Federal Ministry of Information and Communication, Abuja) mentions many Nigerian works that are outside the country. The catalogues of various exhibitions, involving collaboration by Nigerian institutions mention many excellent pieces. When some of the famous Nigerian artworks abroad start returning home, when the looted Benin bronzes start coming home from the British Museum ,or from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston or from the Ethnology Museum, Berlin, we would know that restitution of looted Nigerian artefacts has begun. And we shall dance, dance and dance.

•Imafidon

PAGE 50—SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

lic Enemy, Peter Tosh as well as Marvin Gaye. I draw inspiration from playboy magazines, movies, conversations, novels, sculptures, poems and paintings. Any challenges? Life is full of challenges but I see them as opportunities. You get to rise up to the occa sion once you discover and connect to the untapped resources inside of you. Are you satisfied with the music industry? I find it quite funny that we keep talking of an industry. What we have in Nigeria is a music scene. There are no

By PRISCA SAM-DURU

INTERVIEW

Y artist name is Ade Bantu, I am a grenzgänger and a fufuologist, I do a bit of music, a bit of Film production and I like exploring the world. Meaning? Grenzgänger is a German word that is also sometimes used in the English language. It means boarder crosser- someone who refuses to be confined to one role. “Fufuologist” is a term I invented around my music which I call “The Sound of Fufu”. Our music is conscious music. It talks about life, love and pain. When did you start recording? I actually started music with a bunch of friends in secondary school in Germany. We recorded a demo which was passed on to a record company. They liked what they heard and before we knew it we were recording an album, touring and giving interviews. I’ve been recording since 1991 and my first album was with a group called Exponential Enjoyment in 1993. The first album I recorded with Bantu was titled “Fufu” it was released in 1999 on Kennis Music. I have recorded over 10 albums with various groups. My band Bantu has recorded 5 Albums, but the first song that caught people’s attention was “Nzogbu” which we released in 1999. The Album “No Man Stands Alone”, released in 2011 was produced in Nigeria. It featured Fatai Rolling Dollar, Sound Sultan, Nneka and many others. Bantu’s new single “Oya Oya” is a collaborative effort between my band and a German Breakbeat producer called Basement Freaks and

Ade Bantu

Music keeps me sane — Ade Bantu

degoke Odukoya also known as Ade Bantu, a Nige rian-German musician, producer and ac tivist, is founder of the Afro-German musical collective and leader of Bantu & Afrobeat Academy Band. The KORA award winner in this interview, lets readers into his life, music and thoughts about Nigeria. Excerpt: the album is doing very well. It was released late 2012 and the response has been amazing. We gave out the song for free on the internet. The producer, Basement Freaks, and my band felt like making the song available to as many people as possible. We had over 2000 plays and downloads in a matter of hours. Radio feedback has been good. Everyone likes the song, which is a fusion of Afro beat, Afro hiphop, and house music. ”Oya Oya” is a feel good

tongue in cheek kind of song. We have been performing it for over 8 years and now we felt like it was time to release it. The chorus of the song and video say it all. What kind of music do you play? Bantu’s music is an eclectic fusion of Hip hop, Afro beat,Reggae, Jazz and Yoruba soul. We are constantly searching for sounds and words to capture our AfroGerman reality. Whose music changed your life? I’d say artists like Fela , Pub-

structures in place that warrant the term Industry. When you talk about an industry, you are referring to structure. We lack the right structures in this country. Too much of trial and error is going on. Proper and effective distribution does not exist. It’s a music scene that we have in Nigeria, not a music industry. How do you relax? I do a bit of sports, I meditate, I read, write and if I am inspired I work on music I hang out with friends, watch a good movie, have a nice dinner. If you are not recording, what do you do? I work with kids on a musicdance-theater project called BornTroway. We go to disadvantaged communities in Nigeria and train kids for free. I’m also working on a cinema documentary called “Elders Corner ”-it’s the story of Nigeria told through its musical icons What is music to you? Music is my life. It keeps me sane and grounded.

Your thoughts about Nigeria? We need to renegotiate Nigeria. Bring everyone back to the drawing board and let' s all decide what we want from each other and what we are willing to give to this country. For now Nigeria is nothing more than an artificial entity.

National Rebirth for Presentation in Benin By GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

HE public presentation of three books for National Rebirth written by Mr. Adetunji Adeyoyin will take place at the Oba Akenzua 11 Cultural Centre, Benin Thursday, 28th February, 2013. The presentation which have the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai as Special Guest of Honour, will take place under the chairmanship of the Special Adviser to the President on Ethics & Values, Dr (Mrs.) Sarah Jibril. The books according to the author include; The Achievers, which addresses children of ages 10 to 14 and aimed at inculcating obedience, humility, honesty, hard work and perseverance in children, while the second book, Youths: Agents of Transformation, addresses young people from 14 t0 25. According to Adeyoyin the books are meant to encourage children to embrace the culture of servant-leadership which include; development of community spirit and service to others among other things. Others books to be presented at the event are: Transformation: Collective, yet Individual Responsibility and Values: A Recipe for Transformation.

Goke’s confessions for turn around By PRISCA SAM-DURU REVIEW

HE world today is witnessing a situ ation bedeviled by violence of diverse magnitude, anarchy, starvation, health challenges, evil of the highest order, corruption, poverty, war in the homes, nations and among nations. And in the face of all these, hapless individuals have responded with despair and negative confessions. While despondency is not an option as regards finding clues to the prevailing circumstances, making negative confessions is even worse an option. In this regard, Goke Coker, a Senior Associate Pastor with the House On The Rock, whose life is a glowing testimony of God’s unfailing love and amazing grace, in “God’Fessions”, a 188 page book, provides for readers, life changing confessions as a way of escape. Believing and confessing which are an integral part of the Christian walk, are Goke’s suggested antidote to negative situations and according to him, are best used positively. He puts it succinctly thus, “What becomes manifest in our lives depends on our faith and confession”. God’Fessions is aimed at helping readers cultivate an awareness of their spiritual blessings and the lim-

itless powers of God. It also enables the reader grow stronger in faith, even as he establishes the truth of God’s word over his life and that of his household through positive declarations. The book is therefore, written to touch lives. The new book which is now available in bookshops and online, comes with 90 daily confessions of God’s word and promises over the life of the reader. The author takes the reader through a journey which is punctuated with such headings as; Turn Around, Joy Unspeakable, Distinction, Supernatural Safety, Clarity of Vision, Increase and Lifted for Life. In what can best be described as chapters, the author begins each chapter with the words, ‘Today I speak over my life and my household that God’s abiding presence will be with me and make a difference in my life’. This sort of statement progresses into declarations on the subject matter around each topic, and then climaxes in such confessions like, ‘I believe and I say amen’. The book is sequentially arranged in a manner that lifts the reader from the state of despondency through till he attains the solid ground of God’s certainty. Goke masterfully does this with the aim

of reconnecting the reader to the Almighty God and subsequently hold Him to promises made at the beginning of creation. This is one book everyone who believes in God should read every day if only to know these promises. But reading it alone is not enough; one must meditate on the words, own them and believe them. What is after all the essence of prayer, if not to connect with G o d ? In “End of Struggles”, which is found on page 96, the reader is relieved with this statement, ‘Suffering has ended. My seasons of lack and want are over and the curse of generational poverty is broken. I enter into plenty’. There are also scriptural promises that abound on the odd number pages on the r i g h t . Coming from an author whose early years in life were marked with tests and

Goke s, G o d ’F e ss io n by d e sh li Pub C o k e r, 8. , Pages 18 AuthorHouse temptations that accompany street life in Ojuelegba, a part of Lagos, which was at that time, known as a place where social ills thrive, Goke’s life-changing teachings are laced with gripping stories of his personal tests and triumphs. God’Fessions makes a pleasurable read with it’s high quality print as well as content that is almost devoid of errors signifying that it is definitely not a book put together in a hurry.

SUNDAY

Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013, PAGE 51

THE BAUCHI DEADLY KIDNAPPING

Gaping bullet holes in expatriates’ live camp *Survivors moved to Abuja

*Security agencies on the trail of kidnappers

By Suzan Edeh

ithin 24hours, they c l a i m e d responsibility. Jama’atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladissudan, Ansaru, for short, which translates as Vanguards for the protection of muslims in black Africa, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of seven expatriates in Bauchi State. It was another sordid chapter in the unfolding confrontation between Islamist insurgents and the Federal Government of Nigeria. Coming at a time when Jamaatu Ahlil Sunna Lidawati wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, promised a ceasefire, it was a rude awakening to the authorities when the Bauchi kidnapping occurred. The kidnapping of seven foreigners is the biggest of its kind since the insurgency of Islamic militants reared its head in Bauchi State nay the North. It occurred on the 16th of February in Jama’re town, about 200 kilometres north of Bauchi, just as the incident has sent a signal to foreigners that the North is a dangerous place. The expatriates were kidnapped at a Lebanese construction site in the night. It was learnt that the company for which the foreigners worked was handling a road project that runs from Shuwarin in Jigawa State to Azare in Bauchi State. The Labanese company, Setraco International Holding Group, has its headquarters at the outskirts of Jama’re local government area of Bauchi where the kidnapping took place. When Sunday Vanguard visited the Setraco headquarters, there were more than 20 mobile policemen who cordoned off the site. The walls of the company were shattered as a result of the bombs the gunmen used to gain entrance. There were also gaping bullet holes on the walls of the flats the foreigners lived in. There were only two residential buildings close to the company, one of which was the live camp where the

foreigners stayed. The other was a local prison station. The Chief Security Officer of the live camp, Ahmed Alhuda, narrated how the incident happened. ccording to him, “the incident happened when all the workers of the company had closed for the day”. Alhuda went on: “Around 10pm, I received information that gunmen had attacked the live camp where the expatriates were residing. When the gunmen attacked the camp, some of them came from the north side of the site and bombed the walls while others attacked from the south side, bombing that section too to gain full entrance. “When they gained entrance into the premises of the company, they headed to the club of the camp where they met four of the expatriates and kidnapped them. From there, they proceeded to one of the flats in the camp and kidnapped a husband and wife. “One other victim was kidnapped in his flat, making seven of them. The security guard, John Amalu, whose identity was mistaken for a mobile policeman was killed in the attack. “Some of the gunmen attacked the prison station close to the live camp by shooting sporadically to scare the prison staff. They also attacked a police station in the heart of the town and burnt

The kidnapping of the expatriates in our live camp is the most terrible situation we have ever experienced two cars at the station.” The Human Resources Manager of Secrato in charge of Kano/ Maiduguri project, Mr. John Yama, also gave an account of the incident. According to him, “The kidnapping of the expatriates in our live camp is the most terrible situation we have ever experienced. “On that fateful Saturday, around 9.30pm, we started hearing gunshots and everybody in the premises of the company became rattled. We later got information that our camp was invaded and seven expatriates abducted. A security guard on duty was killed. We are making preparations to convey the guard’s corpse to his town in Kogi State for burial”. The chairman of Jama’re local government area, Adamu Aliyu, revealed the kidnapped victims as one Briton, one Greek, one Italian and four Labanese, saying the seventh victim is a woman. Aliyu described the attack as unfortunate and advised residents of the area to remain calm and co-operate with the security operatives in order to

fish out the culprits. Confirming the attack, the Bauchi State Police Commissioner, Mohammed Ladan, said the gunmen attacked a police station and a prison, before storming the construction camp in Jama’re. He said,”Yes we suffered an attack, but our policemen repelled the attack on the police station in Jama’are and Kafin Madaki . The gunmen also attacked a prison and the security men at the prison yard, but the attack was also repelled. They burnt two vehicles in Jama’are police station and attacked Setraco construction company, killing a local security guard and kidnapping seven people.” adan said the police had c o m m e n c e d investigations into the attack. In a rather audacious manner, the group issued this statement on Twitter and signed by one Abu Usamatal Ansary: “Base on the transgression and atrocities done to the religion of Allah SWT by the European countries in many places such as Afghanistan and Mali etc. “By Allah’s grace Jama’atu

Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladissudan have the custody of seven persons, which include Lebanese and their European counterparts working with Setraco in Nigeria on 8 th of Rabiul th Thani, 1434 equivalent of 7 February, 2013. “It is stressed that any attempt or act contrary to our condition by the European Nations or by the Nigerian Government will lead to the happenings as it was in the previous attempt.” The “previous attempt” the group referred was the killing, in Sokoto State, of Franco Lamolinara, an Italian, and Christopher Mcmanus, a Briton. There are suggestions in intelligence quarters that Ansaru may have been responsible for the killing of the Europeans last year, after being help captive for over 10months. Ansaru is believed to have links to the late Osama BinLadin’s Al-Qaeda, Sunday Vanguard can reveal. Both hostages who were killed were construction engineers with B. Stabilini Construction Company Nigeria Ltd, and were engaged in the construction of the Kebbi branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. They were abducted in May, 2011. Sources also claimed the group was a breakaway faction of the Jamaatu Ahlil Sunna Lidawati wal Jihad. And whereas President Goodluck Jonathan had in two separate letters to the families of the deceased expressed his heart-felt condolence, Sunday Vanguard had been made to understand that “a wave of arrests carried out in the wake of 2011 kidnap by the Department of State Service, DSS, resulted in the capture of the group’s leader, Abu M o h a m m e d ” . One of the sources revealed: “It was Abu Mohammed, with links to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), who provided very useful information about the hideout of the kidnappers of the deceased Briton and Italian. “It was that very useful piece of intelligence that formed the basis for a co-ordinated rescue o p e r a t i o n .

PAGE 52—SUNDAY

Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

Puzzles linger amid Reps’ moves to unmask Oyerinde’s killers •They are after my life-Ugolor •I am still waiting for IGP to produce assailants – Oshiomhole BY SIMON EBEGBULEM, Benin City

he House of Representative Committee on Public Petition, headed by Hon.Uzo Azubuike, will, on Wednesday, hear the petition written by a Coalition of Civil Society Organizations in Edo State against the police over the killing of the Principal Private Secretary to Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, and the subsequent arrest and detention of his bosom friend, Rev.David Ugulor, in connection with the murder. The Conference of Non Governmental Organizations (CONGOS), Edo State had accused the police of cover-up and professional misconduct in the investigation of the murder. Oyerinde was murdered on May 4, 2012 at the heat of the governorship election campaign in Edo State, but investigations into the matter have been dogged by controversy following the parade of six persons alleged to have killed Oyerinde by the Department of State Security Services and another set of suspects by the police. Ugolor, the Executive Director of the African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), was detained in prison for 41 days after one of the alleged killers, Garba Usman Maisamari, paraded by the police investigative team led by DCP Chris Ezike, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, Special Anti Robbery Squad (FSARS) Abuja, allegedly fingered him. Maisamari allegedly claimed that one ‘David’ had paid N200,000 out of the N20million agreed by the duo for the assassination of Oyerinde. But prior to the identification parade done at the Edo State Police Command, one Moses Jolugbo of SARS allegedly took Ugolor’s picture for an undisclosed reason. However, a Benin High Court, headed by Justice E.A.Edigin, on the 16th of August, 2012, declared the detention of Ugolor as unconstitutional and ordered the police to unconditionally release the environmental activist. In addition, the court ordered the police to pay N5million as damages to him. Another application for bail for Ugulor was filed before Justice P.I.Imoedeme of Benin High Court on the 11th of September 2012. The judge, in his ruling, declared that the materials relied upon by the police were not sufficient enough in such “a serious case that attracts capital punishment/ death penalty”. While admitting Ugolor to bail, Imoedeme said that ‘to refuse the application is to punish the applicant for an offence in respect of which there is no legal evidence implicating him”. The police, nonetheless, arraigned the 10 suspects including Ugolor before an Oredo Magistrate Court, Benin City on the 27th of September, 2012, for the offences of conspiracy,

Late Oyerinde

Ugolor armed robbery and murder of Oyerinde. Magistrate F.O.Idiake, who presided over the matter, ordered that the case be taken to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for advice. The DPP report exonerated Ugolor from complicity in the murder and observed that the suspects paraded by the police were already in the custody of the police since the 24th of April, 2012 in respect of a case of unlawful possession of cartridges far before Oyerinde was murdered on the 4th of May, 2012. The DPP report observed also: “The locally made cut to size single barrelled gun with a cartridge allegedly used by the supects for killing Oyerinde was in custody of Esigie Police Station, Benin City at the time Oyerinde was killed because the gun had been used for a different crime by the suspects far before Oyerinde was killed and recovered by the police on the 24th of April, 2012”. n his part, Oshiomhole cut his holidays short to return to Nigeria on the 16th of August 2012, and expressed concern over the two contradictory reports on the murder by the SSS and the police. However, the governor commended the SSS investigation while he punctured the claim by the police to have the real

Adams

Uzo

If a Governor can’t get justice, what is the hope of a tomato seller, what is the hope of a roadside mechanic, what is the hope of an okada rider killers of Oyerinde, accusing the force of alleged attempt to muddle up the investigations. According to him, in an advertorial dated Friday 17, 2012 in Vanguard, “ after listening to the briefing of the DCP, I came to the conclusion that there were several inconsistencies, in particular the alleged involvement of David Ugolor who is unarguably the most prominent civil society activists in Edo state and a well known friend of Comrade Oyerinde. The DCP said they have call logs of Rev. Ugolor and when I asked if the claim of regular phone contacts between the suspect and

Rev.Ugulor had been established, the DCP said he had received the call log of Rev.Ugolor and was yet to verify that of the other suspects who implicated him. In my view, the police investigation team under the DCP is purely engaged in acts of mischief in a futile attempt to shield the real murderers of Comrade Oyerinde. It is now up to the police to prove otherwise and they are duty bound to do so”. But the police, in a report sent to the House of Representatives Committee on Petitions, and signed by DCP Chris Ezike, debunked the allegation that two of the suspects arrested in connection with the murder were already in police custody when Oyerinde was murdered. The police insisted that “suspect Danjuma Musa and Murtala Usman were arrested on the 24th of May, 2012 and not 24th April, 2012. They were arrested by good Nigerians and handed over to the Divisional Police Officer, Oba Market Benin City who subsequently handed them over to the Special AntiRobbery Squad, Edo State Police Command on the same offence of unlawful possession of cartridges”. The police added: “The petitioners also posited that the gun used for the murder of Oyerinde was earlier used for armed robbery and recovered by the police. and that by police record this gun was already in police custody when the murder took place. Again, this is just simplistic and misleading. The four suspects who robbed and murdered Oyerinde used three guns for the operation and took away one double barrel gun from the deceased residence”. owever, Oshiomhole, last Tuesday, while receiving the new Commissioner of Police in Edo State, called on the Inspector General of Police to produce the real killers of Oyerinde while he expressed confidence of the House of Representatives to uncover the truth as it hears the matter on Wednesday. According to Oshiomhole, “I cannot pretend, I remain aggrieved and I believe it’s a shame, a national embarrassment that a Governor can’t get justice. If a Governor can’t get justice, what is the hope of a tomato seller, what is the hope of a road-side mechanic, what is the hope of an okada rider? The Police will not rest, I will not rest until the police get the killers of Olaitan”. The governor noted that the police must recognise that they have a duty to protect the citizens. “All of us must recognise that we are trustees of the Nigerian people. We must earn the position that we are privileged to occupy. Anywhere I see a police officer, I will keep saying it, you must produce who killed Olaitan and explain why they bungled the investigations. I have said it to the IG, I have said to the President and if I have the opportunity I will say it to the UN”. Oshiomhole explained that his insistence on the police to produce Olaitan’s killers is to entrench the rule of law, noting:”

SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013 — PAGE 53

C M Y K

54 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

Like Amuneke like Mba: From obscurity to hero By PATRICK OMORODION

UPER Eagles victory in far away Tunisia in 1994 could be likened to last Sunday’s win in South Africa in many respects. First, both wins were on away soils and the teams were propelled by two people you could label father and son. Clemens Westerhof who tutored the 1994 squad, being the father as he coached Stephen Keshi who was part of the squad then. Keshi as captain of the Westerhof team, could be rightly called the son, who learned great things from his Dutch benefactor and rightly applied the same tactics for the 2013 victory. When Westerhof was incharge, he included homebased players as well as some who plied their trade in some African countries like Emmanuel Amuneke, who was new as a player of the great Egyptian club, Zamalek. The 1994 squad had great players like the Late Rashidi

Yekini, who was the hottest striker in the continent at that time as well as Samson Siasia and Mutiu Adepoju. Therefore, Amuneke, as a young and fresh member of the team was on the bench till the final against Zambia when Westerhof introduced him as his joker. As one of the journalists who covered that tournament, I could recall how Amuneke’s introduction changed the course of the game as the Kalushaa Bwalya led Chipolopolo knew next to nothing about him. And rightly he did the damage, scoring the two goals that gave Nigeria the victory. Only Westerhof knew why he introduced Amuneke. He must have watched him closely at training sessions and felt he could always sneak in behind the defence of the Zambians whose eyes must be on Yekini. Keshi also adopted the same tactics in the 2013 AFCON. He selected his team, and boldly included six home-based players, a departure from the usual scenario of inviting and using

CELEBRATION... Super Eagles players celebrating their AFCON win with the trophy after they pipped Burkina Faso 1-0 in the final. only Europe-based players after the departure of Westerhof from the Nigerian scene. Not many people, including his employers, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, who wanted only foreign-based players who they thought were better exposed to tackle other teams in the competition, could spare Keshi a tongue-lashing for including Sunday Mba and five other home-based players for the Nations Cup assignment.

ut like Amuneke in 1994, Mba became the saviour of the Eagles in the most crucial matches of the 2013 AFCON. First against Cote d’Ivoire in the quarter finals when all had thought the Eagles had reached their final

destination, Mba, hungry to make an impact, took the fight to the Ivorians and unleashed a ferocious shot that beat the Ivorian goalkeeper for the winning goal. That singular victory gave the Eagles the push and can-do-it spirit that propelled them to roll over Mali in the semi final before the crunchy tie against the rugged and determined Burkinabes in the final. There were palpable fear among Nigerians that Jonathan Pitriopa, just recalled after a wrong card call that ruled him out of the final, could inspire the Stallions to upset the Eagles, but the Eagles held their own, playing cautiously until Mba again, did a yeoman’s job of waltzing through the Burkina Faso de-

fence to chip the ball beyond their goalkeeper for the lone goal that separated both teams. After the 1994 final, Amuneke moved from Egypt to Europe where he starred for Sporting Lisbon in Portugal and Barcelona in Spain. That could be Mba’s lot too after he superlative performance at the 2013 AFCON where could have caught the attention of some agents and clubs alike. Many have said that the Warri Wolves player, who moved from Rangers Football Club of Enugu, may not stay too long on the Nigerian scene before he is snapped by European clubs. And he is already dreaming it as was quoted to have said that “I hope I can also get a deal in Europe after what I achieved at the Nations Cup.”

SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 24, 2013 — PAGE 55

Nations Cup success: Chelsea want Omeruo back in London

Coach dashed my London 2012 dreams, says female boxer BY BEN EFE

IGERIAN female boxer, Kehinde Obare is still nursing regrets that she wasn’t part of the history when women boxing was introduced to the Olympics for the first at the London 2012 Games. Obare and two other female boxers were in China to seek qualification for London 2012, but they failed to book their passage to the Olympics. Obare said that it was very painful as she lost narrowly to her opponent in her last bout, she pinned the blame on poor instructions from the coach,

Kehinde Obare

Ndika Nsofor who led them to China. “I was looking forward to boxing at the Olympics. I trained very hard and was in high spirit during the qualifiers, but I lost to a Japanese opponent 14-16. “It was painful to me because I have all it took to beat her. I blame the coach who was at my corner, he was giving wrong instructions. If the national coach that was training us had gone with us, I would have made it. “The other girls also complained of poor coaching by the technical adviser. I wonder why he has to be with us when we have our national coach,” said the boxer who works with the Nigeria Army. She submitted that missing London 2012 denied her opportunities, however, she has now planted her focus on the Rio 2016 Olympics. “By God’s grace I’m working harder than ever to be at the next Olympics. We need the exposure to open doors of opportunities for us boxers. “We are just here there a very few competitions to participate whereas there abundant talents. I want the federation to start preparations now so that we will not be left unprepared for the 2016 Olympics,” said Obare whose first international exposure was the in China during the Olympics qualification.

UPER Eagles defender, Kenneth Omueruo is set to rejoin Chelsea in the summer after his superlative outing in at the 2013 African Nations Cup where he help the Eagles to win the trophy. He was sent on loan to ADO Den Haag to develop his skills, but Chelsea on the look out for replacement for aging John Terry will open talks with the Dutch club next month to pave way for Omeruo’s return to Stamford Bridge.. With Omeruo in line to be named in Chelsea’s first-team squad next season, another Nigerian at the London club, Victor Moses, believes the teenager can fit into the Blues. “I couldn’t believe it when he said he hadn’t played in the African Nations before. He was really strong and is a good defender. He is a great lad and a player for the future (for

When asked what was going through his mind, he said: “Nothing bad. People ask me this but it is a free shot at goal. “You are nervous but it was a chance. There was no doubt going through my mind, when

Chelsea),” Moses told chelseafc.com. Omeruo joined Chelsea at the start of this season from

Belgian club, Standard Liege before he was immediately sent on loan to ADO Den Haag.

Hard times await dope-cheats at major marathons

TRICTER anti-doping penalties will be applied to elite athletes in the World Marathon Majors (WMM), the series that brings together six of the world’s top races, organizers said on Friday. Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York have collectively revised their elite athlete contracts to include new provisions that include the right to suspend payment and demand repayments of prize money, appearance fees and performance bonuses. The sanctions will be triggered for any athlete “found in violation of a criminal offense involving drugs, anti-

Ameobi eager to play Eto’o’s Makhachkala S

HOLA Ameobi has in sisted that Newcastle United have no fear when it comes to taking on Anzi Makhachkala in the last 16 of the Europa League. The Russians boast former Real Madrid and Barcelona star Samuel Eto’o and star Brazilians Ewerton and Willian. But Ameobi feels it is a case of “Bring on the Russians” as Newcastle now prepare for a game that will be played in Moscow meaning the Toon Army are now heading for Red Square. Ameobi told the Chronicle: “They are a good side or they wouldn’t be here. Anzi have a lot of players and they are top players. “Every opponent we get now will be tough. Whoever it is we will have to at the top of our game.” Ameobi was the hero in Kharkiv last night though and kept his nerve when stepping up to take the winning spot-kick.

MASTERFUL … Super Eagles defender, Kenneth Omeruo surprised all with his display at the Nations Cup in South Africa. His club Chelsea FC believe he is now mature to join the club’s first team. Photo courtesy fifa.com

I get the penalty I step up and put it where I want to put it. “Fortunately I have never missed one. “The confidence has always been there. It always will. It is a matter of applying myself.”

doping rules, or if for any other reason the athlete’s result has been nullified by a relevant governing body,” WMM said in a statement. Women’s world record holder Paula Radcliffe applauded the move and hoped all major events would follow suit. “The cheats need to understand that they are not welcome in our sport and will be caught and made to pay,” she said. “This is a step forward in increasing the deterrent and showing athletes and managers that cheating won’t be tolerated. “Having to pay back all money won while cheating is common sense and a logical element that has been missing

for a long time. It is clear that any monies won while cheating are tantamount to fraud and should be returned.” Tokyo is making its WMM debut on Sunday with Kenyan Dennis Kimetto holding the fastest time in the men’s field. Compatriot Michael Kipyego is the defending champion. The Marathon majors series was founded in 2006 with the men’s and women’s winners each receiving $500,000 in prize money at the end of a two-year cycle. WMM said it has supported increased and more frequent out-of-competition drug tests in Kenya and Ethiopia, the two countries which provide a majority of top competitors.

Nigerian elected ECOWAS Cycling Union president BY OSARETIN EMUZE

TROPHY... The Deji Jakande U-16 Football competition took place in Lagos recently with Young Warrior FC of Bariga emerging winners. Sponsor of the competition and member of the Federal House of Representatives, Deji Jakande (left) presenting the trophy to Segun Akinlotan, captain of the team.

HE president of the Nigerian Cycling Federation, CFN, Alhaji Mohammed Nur Sheriff has been elected the President of the ECOWAS Cycling Union. The election which took place last week in Cairo, Egypt also saw Mohammed Bashir, the CFN’s technical director being appointed as member of the Technical Committee of the Confederation of African Cycling for another four years. Bashir, who arrived the country Monday last week, expressed appreciation to the National Sports Commission, NSC, for its wonderful support for the Nigerian representative in the Cairo election. ”I sincerely thank Nigerians and the NSC for all the support and encouragement we received for election,” he said, adding that the Board of the CFN will meet early next month to discuss important issues to be presented to NSC.

SUNDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 24, 2013

Scramble for Nations Cup hero, Mba rages BY BEN EFE

uper Eagles’ hero at the 2013 Nations Cup, Sunday Mba has balked at claims by Warri Wolves officials that he is their bonafide player. There are conflicting claims by Rangers of Enugu and Warri Wolves on the where the player ’s affirnity lies. But the Mba who scored the only goal that earned the Nations Cup for Nigeria at South Africa 2013 stated that he has fulfilled his contractual pact with the Wolves and wondered why all the noise about his affiliation with the club. “We were four players that left Warri Wolves before the Nations Cup. Why is it that I am the only one they are bothering. The truth of the matter is that I have no contract with Wolves,” the player said. Following his impressive run at the Nations Cup scoring two winners against Cote’d Ivoire in the semi-final and Burkina Faso in the final, Mba is primed for a move to Europe. And both clubs are laying claims in order to benefit from the imminent transfer of the player. Enugu state FA boss Chidi Ofor Okenwa said Mba has always been a player of Rangers. He argued that the player was loaned to Dolphins of Port Harcourt who in turn loaned him to Warri Wolves.

“We don’t have to start joining issues with Warri Wolves on who owns Sunday Mba. Any contractual agreement of a player is with the state FA, and that is Delta state F A. Like when Mba joined Rangers

As player denies Warri Wolves He belongs to us — Etu from Enyimba, he was duly registered in Enugu F A and his papers are still on my table,” said Okenwa.

LACK Stars veteran defender, John Pantsil allegedly stab his wife in the eye following allegations that he slept with prostitutes during the 2013 Nations Cup in South Africa. The former Fulham, West Ham and Leicester City player was arrested on Friday and he spent the night in jail before being released on bail yesterday. According to Police spokesman, Freeman Tetty, Paintsil assaulted both his wife and a neighbour in their upscale Accra neighbourhood. “He had a confrontation with his wife and it ended with a blow,” Tetty said. “The wife had a deep cut on the upper eyelid. She ran to a neighbour’s house and Paintsil also rushed to the neighbour and gave the neighbour a few slaps and threatened to kill the neighbour.” Paintsil was allowed to post bail after police formally notified him that he stands accused of assault and that criminal

that: “ Mba signed a two year contract with us. But last December he told us that he wanted to go back to Rangers. And we let him go, because we didn’t want to hinder any player’s ambition. “As I am talking to you, I have a letter from the NPL signed by Tunji Babalola which states that the player belongs to Warri Wolves. Foreign clubs are already talking to us concerning his signature. We have all his documents concerning his contractual agreement right with us.”

Your conscience will judge you, Reeva’s dad tells Pistorius

SHINING STAR... Super Eagles midfielder, Sunday Mba shone like a million star at the Africa Nations Cup in South Africa. His success with the national team has set clubs scrambling over his ownership.

Black Stars’ defender stabs wife B

“Even his loan deal to Dolphin was duly documented.” However, Warri Wolves spokesman Moses Etu stated

charges could be filed in the coming days, Tetty further said, without specifying the amount paid in bond. Paintsil’s wife has been released from the hospital, according to the police spokesman. The allegation that Pantsil slept with prostitutes was first made by a football commenta-

•John Pantsil

tor Appiah Kofi in a radio interview. Appiah alleged that Pantsil was responsible for bringing women to the Black Stars camp to have sexual intercourse with them and this contributed to the team’s poor performance at the Afcon.

Paintsil, however, denied the allegation and threatened to take Appiah to court to clear his name. The wife of the defender is reported to have questioned Paintsil on several occasions since the issue broke, but the former West Ham defender lost his temper on Friday and allegedly attacked his wife, reportedly stabbing her in the eye.

HE father of Oscar Pisto rius’s girlfriend has warned the athlete will have to ‘live with his conscience’ if he is lying about how he killed her. Barry Steenkamp said the Paralympian will ‘suffer alone’ if his claim that he shot 29-yearold Reeva Steenkamp accidentally is false. But Mr Steenkamp told the Afrikaans-language Beeld newspaper he might be able to forgive Pistorius one day if the double-amputee is telling the truth. His remarks were issued as the athlete appeared to issue his first public statement after being released on bail yesterday charged with premeditated murder over the Valentine’s Day killing of Miss Steenkamp.

Fulham Arsenal Norwich QPR Reading West Brom

ACROSS 1. House of Reps Speaker (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)

Results 1 2 2 0 0 2

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0 1 1 2 3 1

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)

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