Saraki, Ekweremadu must answer forgery charges

Fitch downgrades Nigeria’s credit rating to ‘B+’

By Babajide Komolafe

L

AGOS— INTERNATIONAL agency, Fitch Ratings, yesterday downgraded Nigeria’s credit ratings, indicating

•As Naira strengthens to N282/$ increased likelihood that the country will not be able to meet its debt

obligations.

Meanwhile, the naira, yesterday, strengthened

for the second consecutive day, as the interbank foreign

exchange rate dropped to N281.67 per dollar.

Citing increased fiscal

New FX regime to add N1trn to revenue estimates >P.8

...towards a better life for the people

**

VOL. 25: NO. 63057

and external vulnerability, slow fiscal and monetary adjustments and renewed insurgency in the Niger Delta, the Fitch downgrade Continues on page 16

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

N200

FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

Saraki, Ekweremadu must answer forgery charges — JUSTICE MINISTER & ATTORNEY-GENERAL, ABUBAKAR MALAMI Says they're entitled to fair hearing under the law

By Soni Daniel, Nothern Region Editor & Ikechukwu Nnochiri

A

BUJA — THE Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, yesterday, insisted that Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki; and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, have a case to answer over Continues on Page 5

Withdrawal of support for Buhari: Go to hell, APC Senators tell PDP counterparts >>8 BREAKING OF FAST:

President Muhammadu Buhari (right) addressing members of the judiciary during breaking of fast at his residence, in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: State House.

Nigerian Army to probe coup rumour COLUMNISTS: OYO PROTESTS:

Turning the villain 16 American massacres and to hero See inside

the Dollar •P.19

Frivolous show-offs!

•P.17

>>9

Aisha Buhari to Fayose: Retract your story on Halliburton scandal or face legal action >>9

Mr & Mrs

2 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

C M Y K

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C M Y K

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C M Y K

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POCKET CARTOON

INAUGURATION: Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki (left) and Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mr. Tunde Fowler, during the inauguration of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the 2013 NEITI Audit report, in Abuja, yesterday.

Saraki, Ekweremadu must answer forgery charges— AGF Continues from page 1 alleged forgery of the Senate Standing Orders, 2015.

The AGF, in a statement issued through his media aide, Mr. Salihu Othman Isah, said it was “quite unfortunate” that the Senate construed move by the Federal Government to dock Saraki and Ekweremadu as “a coup against the legislature, with a view to cause a leadership change in the National Assembly.”

Malami said his attention was drawn to a press statement by the Senate, signed by Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, Chairman, Senate Committee on Media Affairs, on June 19.

He said the statement, entitled, ‘Forgery Case, An Unconstitutional Violation of Principles of Separation of Powers, Checks and

Balances,’ was published in some national dailies and social media platforms.

Malami, who maintained that his office was empowered under Section 174 (1) of the 1999 Constitution and vested with the power to undertake and initiate criminal proceedings in any court of law in Nigeria, accused the Senate of deliberately raising allegations “to whip up sentiments of Nigerians.”

NASS' allegations untrue, baseless —AGF

He said: “The position of the Senate alleging that the move to arraign the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, former Clerk of the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa and

IT'S UP TO YOU

BY AYO ADIO - 08104802192 O what you can to maintain a good relationship with the people in your life but remember at all times that even without them your life would still blossom, hence the progress of your life is not dependent on a singular relationship.

D

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE- O8084919482 When resistors show up in your life, disengage from their opposition with polite thanks for sharing and change the subject — Gabrielle Bernstein

O

FTEN when you are excited about pursuing your dreams, people in your life can resist your path. If you get hung up about this resistance, it will block your forward motion. When resistors show up in your life, disengage from their opposition. Keep positive people in your life who will cheer you on small successes.

Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly, Bernard Efeturi before the court last Monday, June 20, for forgery initiated by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice portends danger, is quite unfortunate.

“That the Senate went on to describe it as wanton abuse of judicial processes and insinuating that the action of the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation, who is the Chief Law Officer of the country, is an interference on the legislature by the executive arm on the affairs of the Red Chambers of the National Assembly; and, therefore, a violation of the principles of separation of powers as enshrined in the Constitution, is also regrettable.

“These allegations are totally untrue and baseless.

We are not unaware of the doctrine of separation of powers; and it is not in doubt that each arm of government is constitutionally vested with distinct powers.

"Looking critically at the doctrine of separation of powers, it is a practice that exists on a tripod, viz, the executive, legislature and judiciary, with clearly distinctive functions and responsibilities as captured under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

We're committed to rule of law

“So, by virtue of this, we are committed to the rule of law and will thus keep to the tenets of the rule of law as enshrined in a constitutional democracy HETHER the knife falls on the melon or melon like ours. on the knife, the melon suffers

SAYINGS OF OUR PEOPLE

W

“The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation is empowered under Section 174 (1) of the Constitution and vested with the power to undertake and initiate criminal proceedings in any court of law in Nigeria.

"By virtue of this power as the Chief Law Officer of the nation, he has simply initiated criminal proceedings for forgery against the affected principal officers in the Senate for altering the Senate Standing Rules, in the Federal High Court.

“It is worthy to note here that the action of the Attorney-General of the Federation can stand the test of any law since he did not act in a vacuum.

"He acted based on a recommendation by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), having fully satisfied investigative procedure arising from the petition sent to the Nigeria Police by some aggrieved members of the Red Chambers of the National Assembly, alleging that the affected officers altered the rules of the Senate for Dr. Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu to emerge leaders of the Eighth Senate of the National Assembly.

"Under the 1999 Constitution, only the Attorney-General of the Federation has the powers to institute criminal proceedings.

“For the benefit of doubt, as stated above, there was a petition bordering on allegations of forgery against the defendants; the petition was investigated by the police and the police recommended the case for prosecution.

“At this point, the question is how initiation of criminal proceedings against Dr Bukola Saraki, Ike Ekweremadu, Salisu

Maikasuwa and Bernard Efeturi violated the principle of separation of powers as contained in the constitution?

“The action of the Attorney-General of the Federation cannot obviously be said to be a coup against the National Assembly as the Senate has claimed.

Accused persons entitled to fair hearing

“By preferring the charge, the accused persons are entitled to fair hearing under the law, while the prosecution is obligated to prove its case against them beyond reasonable doubts.

“Therefore, the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation has not violated any known law in the land. Or is the Senate suggesting that its principal officers, members and staff of the National Assembly are above the law or enjoy same immunity as do the nation’s President and governors?

“It is common knowledge over the years, since the nation embraced democratic system of governance and backed by the current constitution, those elected officers of government, who are exempted from legal

encumbrances ,whether it is civil or criminal, are known to all.

“It is pertinent to be reminded too that forgery of the Senate Standing Rules cannot be described as the internal business of the National Assembly that is exclusively only in its purview. The Attorney General of the Federation cannot, therefore, be faulted for his decision to initiate legal actions against the accused for alleged forgery after a thorough police investigation of the issue, whether there was an amendment of the Senate Standing Rules in 2015 or not.

“The case of Adesanya vs Senate, which has been seriously touted in its press statement, does not support them and they should rather take their plea and defend the action accordingly.

“We assure Nigerians that the Attorney-General of the Federation will continue to be committed to the rule of law at all times.

“On this particular forgery case, we believe he should rather be commended for his foresight and political will to carry out his constitutional role to the letter and not to be vilified under any guise.”

N23BN DIEZANI BOOTY: EFCC quizzes Kebbi ex-gov over N450m

By Soni Daniel

A

BUJA —FORMER governor of Kebbi State, Alhaji Saidu Dakingari, yesterday, appeared before operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, telling them what he knew about the disbursement of N450 million allegedly given to the state to compromise last year ’s Presidential poll.

Dakingari was reportedly quizzed for hours in the Kano office of the EFCC and he is said to have made useful statement to his hosts.

It was not clear at press time whether he would be cleared or asked to return

on a new date for further interrogation over the huge cash disbursed to all chapters of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 36 states and the FCT towards ensuring the success of their presidential candidate.

It is also not known how much of the cash received was actually put to work for the intended purpose by the recipients, who are now singing different tunes.

Each of the states received between N450 million and N700 million, depending on the evaluation of the party, which was at the commanding height of the nation’s affairs.

The EFCC said in a short statement: “Former

Governor of Kebbi State, Saidu Dakingari, is currently being quizzed

by Kano office of the EFCC over his involvement in the sharing of N450 million campaign fund.”

No fewer than 16 former PDP governors have been interrogated by the commission over the cash.

Among those already questioned are former Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State, former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno State, former Governor James Ngilari of Adamawa State, and a former governor of Zamfara State, Mamuda Shinkafi.

6—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

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Customs arrest man with 106 parcels of hemp, 4 passports

By Ifeyinwa Obi

T

HE Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has arrested and handed over to the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, suspected cannabis trafficker, Mr. Sylvester Gbenga.

According to a statement by the Customs Public Relations Officer of the Command, Taupyen Selchang, about 106 parcels of hemp were found on the suspect.

The parcels were allegedly concealed in a Toyota SEQUOIA car with Lagos State number plates EKY 407 CA. The suspect was arrested at Gbaji Customs checkpoint along LagosBadagry expressway.

According to the statement, the arrest of the suspect was possible through intelligence gathering by the seizing officers, led by A/C Abubakar Hamza, who trailed the suspect from neighbouring Benin Republic.

The suspect and the parcels were handed over to the Commander, NDLEA Seme Badagry, represented by the PSO Admin/Logistics of NDLEA, Seme, Musa Khalil.

The Acting Customs Area Comptroller, Sabo H. A., disclosed that attempts by the suspect to bribe officers on duty with N47,500, was rejected.

He said the suspect had four international passports, belonging to four different persons, three handsets, one ipad, N199,500 and 72,000 CFA.

WHAT NIGERIANS WANT: Members of Independent Advocacy Project, Onevoice, at a rally for peaceful and conclusive elections, financial transparency and security in Nigeria, which ended at Lagos State secretariat, Alausa, yesterday.

PHOTO: Akeem Salau.

Police kill robbery kingpin, Onye Army, in Aba shootout

By Ugochukwu Alaribe

A

BA—POLICE in Aba, Abia State, have shot dead a robbery and kidnapping kingpin, who had been terrorising the city.

The robber, popularly called Onye Army, was shot dead near the Good Morning Market area

after his gang had robbed a victim of N3.5 million, which he withdrew from one of the new generation banks along Azikiwe Road.

As they made to escape through the market, the gang saw a stationary police van, alighted from their car and riddled it with bullets, not

A

DO -EKITI—PA Ajagunna Adalumo, the 90-year-old father of popular Ekiti hotelier, Mr. Oluwole Adalumo, was on Wednesday night kidnapped from his house at Oke-Ijebu, Ikole-Ekiti. His son owns SMJ Hotel in Ikole, Ekiti State.

An eyewitness, Bimbo Ajayi, a relative of the victim, said in Ikole, yesterday: “One man came down from a car parked in front of the

amount of cash.

Contacted, Police Public Relations Officer, Abia State Command, Ogbonnaya Nta, confirmed Onye Army's death.

He urged members of the public not to hesitate to assist police with useful information, which could lead to the arrest of the fleeing hoodlums.

Robbers kill bank customer, cart away money

By Evelyn Usman

A

four-man robbery gang, yesterday, shot dead a 26 years old bank customer in the Apapa area of Lagos and escape with his money.

The deceased, Kingsley Chukwu, who was a private guard attached to a residential apartment at Creek Road, was reportedly on his way to deposit an unspecified amount in one of the new generation banks on Commercial Road when he was attacked.

Apparently trailed by the gunmen, who rode on two motorbikes, Chukwu, as

They shot him from behind—WITNESS gathered, was shot at close range by one of them, while another forcefully collected the bag containing the money from him.

Thereafter, the robbers fired sporadically into the air as they zoomed off.

Eyewitness acount

An eyewitness, who identified himself as Kareem Maju, said Chukwu was rushed to a private hospital in the area, but was rejected on the grounds that a police report was required before he

90-yr-old father of Ekiti hotelier kidnapped

By Rotimi Ojomoyela

knowing that the police had laid an ambush.

In the ensuing gun battle, Onye Army was shot dead, while other members of the gang fled.

Items recovered from the gang included one AK-47 rifle, three magazines, a Toyota Camry car and an undisclosed

house and approached the old man in his sitting room, pretending that he had a message from his son, the hotelier.

“When the abductor came out of the house alongside the old man, two other men from the car dragged Baba into their car and drove away before people could suspect their mission.

Although we raised alarm, they had left before help came.”

Also speaking on the abduction, Mr. Festus Kolade,

one of the youths in the area, said the matter was immediately reported at the police station, while the search for the old man had started.

Kolade, who claimed to be a member of the victim’s family, said the abductors were yet to make any contact with the family.

A police officer at Divisional Police Station in Ikole, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed the incident.

can be treated.

He said: “Kingsley Chukwu worked with a woman at Creek Road. He was sent by his madam to deposit some money. He kept it in a bag and boarded a motorcycle to Commercial Road.

“On reaching the bank, he alighted, paid the motorcyclist.

Then all of a sudden, two motorbikes appeared from nowhere with two persons on each. One of them ordered him to bring the bag and without giving him any opportunity to refuse or comply, another fired a bullet which hit him in the hand.

“He tried to run into a building, only to be shot in the back and the bullet came out front through his stomach. The man that fired the first shot walked up to him and took the bag containing money. The operation was so fast, it was over even before policemen from some of the banks arrived the scene.”

Police story

Confirming the incident, spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command,

Dolapo Badmus, said: “I confirmed a case of attempted robbery on a bank customer in one of the banks in Apapa.

“But as policemen posted to the bank were closing in on the fleeing robbers, in their bid to escape, they (robbers) shot a customer whom they presumed was delaying their movement.

“The command is on the trail of these fleeing robbers. It will not give up in ensuring that it gets them off the road,” and appealed to members of the public to avail the command with information that could lead to their arrest.

6 facing trial in Bay

By Emem Idio

Y

ENAGOA—A Federal High Court in Yenagoa, yesterday, remanded six persons in prison custody over alleged operation of an illegal refinery in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

The accused, all males, Convention Jaham, 38; Abombi Jaham, 39; Mike Azikiwe, 45; Okoye Morris, 38; Ebikemie Perekpohehei, 32, and Promise

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016—7

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3 dead, 14 injured in Lagos-Ibadan Road accident

By Bose Adelaja

T

HREE persons were, yesterday in Lagos, confirmed dead, while 14 others were injured in an auto crash involving a commercial bus and an articulated vehicle.

The incident, which occurred at about 5.30a.m. along LagosIbadan Expressway, inward

Tollgate, was attributed to speeding on the part of the truck driver, which had no number plate. It collided with the LT bus, number plates KRD 326 XG. Both vehicles were said to have veered off the road leading to the death of the three passengers, who were trapped.

Nine sustained injuries,

while five others sustained minor injuries and were immediately rushed to the trauma centre on the expressway.

The truck driver was said to have survived the incident, but became unconscious and was equally taken to the trauma centre.

It was gathered that men of

Lagos State Emergency Management Authority, LASEMA, Lagos State Fire Service, Nigeria Police Force, Lagos State Transport Management Authority, LASTMA, and Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, swiftly responded and rushed to scene.

LASEMA boss, Michael

Policeman shot by soldier in clash over relief materials in Borno Everything under control—Military, Police authorities T

HERE was tension at Borno State Government House and its environs, following shootout between military and police personnel in the premises.

It was gathered that a soldier allegedly shot a police officer in the foot near the Deputy Governor’s office, venue of the distribution of relief materials for Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in Maiduguri.

Though details of the incident were still sketchy at press time, Army and police authorities have assured that everything was under control.

A statement issued by the military and police authorities read as follows: “In the morning hours of today (yesterday), there was an unfortunate fracas between a soldier and a policeman around the office of the Deputy Governor over a disagreement, which led to the unfortunate shooting of a policeman on his foot.

“The policeman is responding to treatment and has been visited by the Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General LEO Irabor, and the Commissioner of Police, Borno State Command, Aminchi Baraya, both of whom went together to sympathise with the policeman.

host communities of Maiduguri and Jere metropolis.

“The distribution was meant to take place at 28 wards of the two local government areas.

Unfortunately, when the exercise was launched in old Maiduguri ward for Jere Local Government Area and at Shehuri north ward for Maiduguri on Sunday, hoodlums overpowered the committee in both instances and made away with many bags of the rice meant for the internally displaced persons, IDPs. “As a result, officials tasked with the distribution shifted the exercise to two premises around the office of the Deputy Governor outside the Government House in order to ensure security of the food items while beneficiaries were

identified and issued with allocation notes to give them access to the distribution centres.

“The exercise had gone smoothly since Sunday with some wards covered, until the unfortunate development today, Thursday (yesterday).

Authorities caution officers

“The Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force in Maiduguri jointly condemn this unfortunate incident, which was quickly brought under full control within minutes.

“The Army and the Police are jointly investigating the cause of the fracas with a view to ensuring that anyone found culpable amongst the security men are made to face disciplinary measures

in line with laid down rules of the Nigerian Armed Forces.

“Findings and measures taken will be brought to public knowledge as soon as possible.

“The Army and the Police operating in Borno assure the general public that they will continue to collaborate and work together towards their ongoing counterinsurgency and civil security efforts that have led to the emerging peace in Borno State.

“The Army and the Police commands in Borno State call on all personnel to exercise restraint in the cause of their duties and should strive to respect one another and work together to secure innocent citizens and maintain peace.”

Akindele, confirmed the incident, saying the three trapped victims were adults: two males and a female.

He urged motorists to avoid reckless driving and to drive within the appropriate speed limit to prevent road accidents.

A total of 17 passengers were said to be on board the LT bus when the accident occured.

Police arraign man for murder

By Jane Echewodo

A

Police Sergeant, Kareem Sikiru attached to Ajegunle Police Station, has told a Lagos State High court sitting in Ikeja how a man identified as Mustapha Qudus, allegedly killed one Taiye Iyanda by stabbing him with knife.

22 years old Mustapha is facing a count charge of murder brought against him by the Lagos State Government.

Sikiru said: “On March 25, 2015 at about 12:10pm, we got information that a young man was lying at Apo Estate, Wey bridge Ajegunle. We went there and I took a photograph ordered that the corpse be moved to General Hospital mortuary, Ikorodu.”

Obanibasiri Balogun Market, Oshodi, demolished by Lagos State Government yesterday. PHOTOS: Lamidi Bamidele.

The issue

“By way of background from the Permanent Secretary, Government House and Security, Mr Ahmed Sanda, the Borno State Government had on Sunday, June 19, began the distribution of rice to internally displaced persons living in the

yelsa for operating illegal refinery John, 2, are standing trial on a two-count charge of constructing and operating an illegal refinery.

The accused persons were, on May 26, arrested by men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, at Ebelebiri-Agba community in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State while allegedly operating the illegal refinery.

Prosecution counsel, K. C. Nwachukwu, said the crime was contrary to Section 3 (1) of the

Petroleum Act, CAP, P10, LFN, 2004 and punishable under Section 1 (17) of Miscellaneous Offences Act, CAP, M17, LFN, 2004.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges, but the trial judge, Justice Aliya Nganjiwa, ordered the accused persons remanded in prison custody and adjourned the matter to July 18 for hearing on bail application.

RECRUITMENT: Police arrest 7 suspects for impersonation, forgery

By Suzan Edeh

B

AUCHI—ELEVEN suspects have been arrested over impersonation and certificate forgery in the ongoing recruitment exercise of Nigeria Police Force in Bauchi State.

Police Public Relations Officer of the state command, Haruna Mohammed, said this

while speaking yesterday.

According to Haruna, the seven suspects arrested had been charged to court for engaging in an unlawful act.

He said one Abdullahi Suleiman, 23, of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi State, who was a dismissed constable and an ex-convict, re-applied for constable cadre with different

credentials bearing Kabiru Ibrahim Dikal.

He noted that the case was under investigation after which the suspect would be charged to court.

He said: “On the recruitment exercise, the screening of the shortlisted applicants into the Nigeria Police Force in Bauchi State include Cadet ASPs, Inspectors and Constables.”

8—Vanguard, FRIDAY JUNE 24, 2016

AMCON seizure: We'll outlast you

Withdrawal of support for Buhari: APC senators dare PDP counterparts

—Murray Bruce

....Task President not to look back in anti-corruption war

By Emmanuel Elebeke

F

OUNDER OF Silverbird Galleria, Senator Murray-Bruce, has said his companies will out-live Assets Management Company of Nigeria that took over his companies for N11 billion debt owed to banks that were sold to AMCON. In a reaction to the development yesterday he said in a statement posted on his Twitter handle“ today’s development was not necessarily unusual for a company that had been in existence for over three decades. In 36 years, Silverbird has grown and like anybody, it will face challenges. Tough times do not last. But we, as tough people, outlast them.”

Sen. Bruce, who said he was on an international flight when officials of AMCON took possession of Silverbird Group’s property in Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt in the early hours of Thursday, added that his businesses would soon be back in operation. “I have been on an international flight and have only just landed,” Murray-Bruce said, adding, “the situation is being resolved and things will be back to normal.”

Reps to probe NCC's proposed auctioning of 2.6GHz spectrum

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

A

BUJA—THE o u s e of Representatives, yesterday, mandated its Committee on Telecommunications to investigate the proposed auctioning of 2.6GHz spectrum by the Nigeria Communication Commission, NCC. The House also mandated its Committees on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness, Aids, Loans and Debt Management and Internal Displaced Persons, IDPs as well as the North East Development to jointly investigate alleged diversion of donor funds meant for IDPs in the North H

By Henry Umoru & Joseph Erunke

A

BUJA—SENATORS of ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday, dared their opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, counterparts to withdraw their support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.

PDP senators, Wednesday, declared that they were withdrawing their cooperation with the government, alleging

harassment of party loyalists in the government’s anti-corruption war.

But the APC senators, who, however, declared their support for the Senate leadership, even as they remained evasive on their support or otherwise of the planned trial of of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, over alleged forgery of Senate Standing Rules, asked President Buhari to remain unshakable in his anti-corruption fight.

Addressing a press conference

in Abuja, the ruling party senators insisted that no amount of threat from their PDP counterparts would make them back down on their support for the President’s programmes and policies which, they alleged, were being considered unfavourable by their PDP counterparts.

Reading a prepared text through the Senate Deputy Majority Leader, Sola Adeyeye, the APC senators accused their PDP counterparts of mischief against their party and President Muhammadu Buhari, saying the

President’s fight against corruption was within the ambit of the nation’s laws.

Staunch loyalists of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, were conspicuously absent at the briefing, indicating that all is not well in the caucus of the party which has a total of 57 senators.

Only 16 of the APC senators, including Ovie Omo-Agege, were present at the briefing.

The text read: “The Joint Caucus of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Labour Party senators in the Senate are stoutly behind the policies and programmes of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. Our support is aimed at actualizing the promised, desired change that Nigerians voted for last year. ‘’We are shocked at the totally partisan reaction of our colleagues from the opposition party, PDP, to the on-going investigations and recovery of public funds meant for the prosecution of the war against insurgency.

Manufacturers decry harsh business environment LECTURE: From left: Senior solutions architect, Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria Ltd, Yemi Joseph; Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, and Managing Director, Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Mr. Oladele Amoda, during the 13th Distinguished Annual Lecture of Nigerian Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, tagged: 'Power distribution demand, side management in developing economies,' in Lagos, yesterday. Photo: NAN

New forex regime to mark up revenue estimate by over N1.0trn

By Emeka Anaeto, Economy Editor

F

E D E R AT I O N A C C O U N T S consolidated revenue fund is set to rise by over N1.0 trillion, following the successful take-off of the flexible exchange rate this week.

The policy, which brought down the value of Naira by over 40 per cent, has led to a surge in the Naira cash from oil revenue.

But the increase would still fall short of the N3.9 trillion projected in the 2016 budget due to shortfalls so far recorded in the first five months of the year, while further shortfalls are expected down the year due to drops in oil production below budgeted target.

The budgeted revenue was based on oil production benchmark of 2.2 million barrels per day, mbpd, and exchange rate of N199/USD1.0, but fiscal revenue analysts had to base their analysis on actual production level of 1.4mbpd recorded last month, while the exchange rate for oil

revenue has been marked up on the basis of this week’s average exchange rate of N282.8/ USD1.0 recorded in the new forex market.

Financial market analysts indicated that by the end of this trading week in the new forex market, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, would have raised about N1.24 trillion from the projected sale of about USD4.4 billion on both spot and forward markets, against N875.6 billion which that same quantity of dollars would have yielded under the previous forex regime.

Sources at Finance Ministry told Vanguard that the ministry was expecting a spike in revenue as a result of the new forex policy but could not confirm the figures.

According to him, the ministry cannot give any figure since the rates are not fixed and cannot be determined by either the CBN or the ministry.

Using exchange rate of between N260 and N270/USD1.0 which was the CBN’s forecast rate when the new forex system eventually stabilizes, analysts at FSDH Merchant Bank said: ‘’We expect currency adjustment to US$/N260 to increase the FGN retained

revenue for 2016 to about N3.522 trillion.”

In a similar comment, analysts at Afrinvest West Africa, a Lagosbased investment house, said: “Translation of oil earnings at lower forex rate is expected to reduce the impact of decline in oil productions on federation revenue based on our estimates.

“We analysed that if equilibrium exchange rate settles at N280/USD (40.6% higher than budget benchmark of N199/ USD1.0) and oil production remained at 1.4mbpd (36.5 per cent lower than budget benchmark of 2.2mbpd) with global oil price up by average 26.3% to USD48/pb, Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC, allocation will receive a boost, thus strengthening fiscal revenue capacity of Federal and sub-national governments.

“Also restoration of foreign credit lines/capital market borrowings of sovereign and municipals, subsequent to the implementation of the flexible system, will aid budget implementation and buoy aggregate demand.”

By Victor AhiumaYoung

L

A G O S — MANUFACTURERS in the country, yesterday, decried the harsh business operating environment declaring that the current business outlook in the country was frightening.

Operating on the platform of the Chemical and Non-Metallic Products Employer’s Federation, CANMPEF, made up of 97 firms, the manufacturers group called on government to immediately put measures in place to encourage business before thing degenerated further..

Addressing members and other guests at the 37th Annual General Meeting, AGM of CANMPEF, its President, Mr. Devakumar V.G. Edwin, said: “In view of the difficult operating environment, our membership declined and we continued to record a fall in members during the year under review. This is a reflection of the prevailing harsh economic climates. Some manufacturing industries had close shop as a result of worsening high cost of production, occasioned by collapsing public infrastructure, inconsistent government policies and insecurity of life and property in some areas of the country. This development has also impacted negatively on our finances but more importantly, indicated the ability of our sector to generate much needed employment at this crucial time.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016—9

Retract your story on Halliburton scandal or face legal action AISHA BUHARI TO FAYOSE:

Issues governor five-day ultimatum

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BUJA—WIFE of the President, Aisha Buhari, has given Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, five days within which to retract the story that she offered bribe to convicted U.S lawmaker, Williams Jefferson, over the Halliburton scandal or face legal action.

Legal representatives to Mrs. Buhari, in a warning letter sent to the governor via courier on Wednesday, said: “Our client has referred to us statement made by you and published on the 20th of June, 2016 (and other subsequent days) concerning and pertaining to her person for necessary action.

“The said statement, which was caused by you and your agents and widely circulated and published in various media platforms: print, electronic and online such as Premium Times of June 20, 2016, contains very wild, unfounded and false allegations and imputations against the person of our client.

“Specifically, in the said statement credited to you and signed by your Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, you, inter alia, stated as follows: ‘’Even the President cannot claim to be an angel. The estate he built in Abuja is known to us.

His wife was indicted over the Halliburton Scandal (sic). When that American, Jeferson, was being sentenced, the President’s wife was mentioned as having

wired $170,000 to Jefferson. ‘’Her name was on page 25 of the sentencing of Jefferson. We can serialise the judgement for people to see and read.

“Take note that unless you and your agents meet our humble demands within five working days of the receipt of this letter, we shall take all necessary steps within the contemplation of the law to seek redress for our client.”

Ismaila Alasa and Mary Ekpene signed the letter on

behalf of the law firm representing Mrs Buhari.

Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, could not immediately confirm or deny if Mary Ekpere & Co. is, indeed, the solicitors to Mrs. Buhari.

Mr. Fayose had on Monday evening distributed a statement which contained excerpts of court documents sourced from the United States Department of Justice website.

In the statement, Mr. Fayose said Mrs. Buhari was an

CONFERENCE: From left: Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun; former Group Managing Director, Diamond Bank Plc, Chief Alex Otti, and Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Mr Segun Ogunsanya, during the Nigerian Bar Association's annual international business law conference in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: NAN.

Nigerian Army to probe coup rumours As DHQ appoints new commander for Operation Delta Safe

By Kingsley Omonobi, with agency report

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BUJA—THE Nigeria Army has said it will investigate and track down those behind the recent speculation that some of its officers had approached the Niger Delta militants for support to carry out a coup against the government.

This came as Defence Headquarters yesterday announced that a new

commander, Rear Admiral Joseph Okojie, had been appointed for the new joint security outfit for the Niger Delta, following the scrapping of ‘Operation Pulo Shield’ by the Federal Government, which had now been renamed, ‘Operation Delta Safe.’

Denying that it was plotting to topple the democratic government, the Army said it will leave no stone unturned

until persons linked to such “dangerous” speculation were fished out and brought to book.

Spokesman for the army, Sani Usman, said in a statement yesterday that the Nigerian Army, as a product of democracy, would never contemplate such “antidemocratic misadventure.”

He said under the command of the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai,, the Army would rather remain focused as a professional

SEX SCANDAL: Rep writes US ambassador in Nigeria, threatens legal action three members of the House,

By Immanuel Jannah

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BUJA—A member of the House of Representatives, Samuel Ikon, who was accused of illegally soliciting for prostitutes, alongside two other lawmakers while in the United States, has written to the US ambassador in Nigeria, James Entwistle, and threatened to seek legal redress in competent courts of law both in Nigeria and the US. He issued the threat in a letter addressed to the ambassador,

accomplice in the bribery scandal that landed Mr. Jefferson in jail, saying he added the link as a proof.

Although an Aisha Buhari was mentioned in the case files, those who investigated the matter have, however, said that the said Aisha Buhari was an impostor and not the wife of the President.

Two former chairmen of Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, have come out within the past two days to say Mrs. Buhari had no connection with the Jefferson bribery scandal.

explaining that he was ill during the trip and could not have had sex due to ill-health.

He said he would have no other option but to go to court, if the ambassador failed to clear his name of the allegation, saying also that he was ill at the time of the purported incident and couldn’t have had sex in that condition.

Entwistle had on June 9, 2016, written to the speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, alleging that

including Samuel Ikon, Mohammed Gololo and Mike Gbillah, requested hotel parking lot attendants to help them solicit for prostitutes during their leadership training in America.

But Ikon said the allegation was not only false, but also in bad taste, adding that he was diagnosed of Malaria and Typhoid before the trip and was on medication throughout the trip.

He said he only got a bit stable in Cleveland when the medication began to kick in..

institution that would have nothing to do with such “abomination and heinous crime.”

He said the army would always remain loyal to the office of the President and Commander-inChief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, while defending the constitution and territorial integrity of the country.

He said the coup speculation was a calculated attempt to distract the army from its ongoing war against terror in the country.

The Army’s statement read in part: “The attention of the Nigerian Army has been drawn to another campaign of calumny and distraction by faceless criminal gang of economic saboteurs that hide under the aegis of Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force, JNDLF, alleging that some officers of the Nigerian Army approached them for support to overthrow our duly elected present democratic government.

“This is baseless and most unfortunate allegation that existed in the warped minds of the originators of such weighty allegation. The Nigerian Army wishes to state that this is not true and, hereby, distance itself from this weighty allegation."

REDUCTION IN N1.04TRN MTN FINE:

Senate summons Malami, Shittu, Emefiele, others

By Henry Umoru & Joseph Erunke

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B U J A — T H E Senate, yesterday, summoned the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, and Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to appear before it and explain why the fine imposed on MTN by National Communications Commission, NCC, over infractions was reduced from N1.04 trillion to N330 billion.

Those summoned are expected to appear to shed light on the matter, especially with regard to whether the reduction was carried out in accordance with the regulation of the NCC governing fines and penalties.

The decision of the Red Chamber was taken, following a motion to that effect by the Chairman,Senate Committee on Communication,Gilbert Nnaji, PDP, Enugu East, during the day’s plenary.

The Senate said its communication committee must immediately effect the summon for the parties involved in the controversial reduction to appear to give explanations on the matter.

It charged the Committees on Communications as well as Justice, which are to hear the parties’ side of the story, to round off the assignment and submit a report within two weeks.

Senator Nnaji, in the motion, said he was aware that the NCC, enabled by the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003, was the statutory regulator for the telecommunications industry in Nigeria.

He also said he was aware that as the regulator, the commission had been imposing fines on erring telecom operators over the years, adding that proceeds from the redemption of such fines had been lodged in the commission’s designated account.

He recalled that in October 2015, in line with the Nigerian Communications Commission Registration of Telephone Subscribers) Regulation, 2011, the Nigerian Communications Commission imposed a fine of N1.04 trillion on MTN CommunicationsNigeriaLimitedfor failing to deactivate 5.2 million unregistered subscribers on its network.

10 — Vanguard, FRIDAY JUNE 24 , 2016

Group sues NYSC over mobilisation fund

By Innocent Anaba

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AGOS—THE Citizens Advocacy Initiative for Accountable Leadership, CAIFAL, has dragged the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos over alleged mobilisation fraud.

Also joined as respondents in the suit are Director General of NYSC, Sidmach Technologies Ltd, Minister for Youths and Sports, and the Attorney General of the Federation.

CAIFAL in the suit is praying the court to declare that by virtue of the provisions of the NYSC Act 1993, the first to third respondents have no statutory rights to demand a premobilisation fee from prospective corps members.

In an affidavit deposed to by one Mr Mike Ogie, in support of the suit, the group averred that in 2014, NYSC introduced an electronic registration programme, where prospective corps members were required to register online with the sum of N3,000 as precedents for mobilisation.

It added that the NYSC entered into a memorandum of understanding with a company, Sidmach Technologies, to collect the fees on behalf of the NYSC, through the issuance of scratch cards to prospective corps members and under the memorandum, 70 percent of the money collected, would be ceded to the company (Sidmachy), while the balance of 30 percent was reserved for the NYSC.

Education ministry registers Continuing Education Centres

By Amaka Abayomi

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HE Lagos State Ministry of Education through the Lagos State Agency for Mass Education has commenced mass registration exercise for Continuing Education Centres (CECs) and Tutorial Centres across the state.

Briefing journalists, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Mr. Obafela Bank-Olemoh, said the registration of the centers rides on the strategic objective of Lagos State to expand access to knowledge and improve the quality of education at all levels.

He said: “Government will do all in its power to improve the quality of education in the state.

As the government, we must set standards across the board and ensure they are met.''

PRESENTATION: From left: Dr. Doyin Abiola, Former MD/Editor-in-Chief, Concord Newspaper; Oba Rilwan Akiolu, Oba of Lagos; Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, Chief Host; Otunba Femi Pedro, former Deputy Governor of Lagos and representing Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, chief launcher of the Book, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, former Governor of Ogun State and Chairman of the occasion and Mr. Steve Ayorinde, Lagos State Commissioner of Information/Strategy and Author of the Book, during the Public Presentation of Book, Cascade of Change, A Decade of Liberal Thoughts in Honor of Lagos state Governor Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, by Mr. Steve Ayorinde, at Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos, yesterday. Photo by Bunmi Azeez.

Why I retained Arase when I became President — BUHARI

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

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AGOS—PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, in Lagos revealed why he retained the just retired Inspector-General Police, Solomon Arase when he assumed office not because of his strategy and tactics as a policeman, but because of his intellect and capacity as an operations person.

This came as different speakers took turns to commend Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, at the public presentation of a book launch, “Cascade of Change: A decade of liberal thoughts,” written by Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde.

The book centred on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s first year in office.

The President, who was the Special Guest of Honour, while speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, quoted Arase as saying that it was very strange for him to have been invited for a farewell dinner when he finished his tenure.

Adesina, who spoke about the reaction of Arase to a farewell dinner orgnised in his honour by Buhari, said Arase had expected that he would be sacked before the end of his tenure.

His words:”While he (Arase) was speaking at the dinner in Abuja, he told the president that it was very strange for him to have been invited for a farewell dinner, as what we know in Nigeria is

the incumbent getting sacked when a new government comes in.

According to Adeshina, “Mr. President appreciates sound mind and intellect and that shows the goodwill he has for Mr. Steve Ayorinde, the author of the book we are launching today (yesterday).”

He commended Ayorinde’s initiative in writing the book, and urged Nigerians to emulate him by contributing to knowledge.

Governor Ambode in his remarks said his administration has succeeded in laying a strong foundation that would propel the state to emerge as a globally competitive city-state.

He said the state has the privilege of housing the largest collection of media houses in Nigeria, saying it was an indicator of the fact that every journalist, editor, columnist and blogger has a role to play in the development of the state.

He said Ayorinde’s contributions and participation as the arrowhead corruption, so as to promote the of the media and strategy team in justice system. his governorship campaign was They both spoke in Lagos at the instructive to what the State 2016 Lecture and Media award Government could achieve if of the National Association of Judiciary Correspondents, NAJUC, entitled The Judiciary, Media, Anti graft agencies and the fight against corruption.

Sagay also said that the

By Esther Onyegbula committee had made various HE Lagos State reforms that would tremendously Government has assured aid the speedy dispensation of justice of high profile corruption the Ppolice and other security agencies of her support towards cases in the country.

According to him, “We have ensuring the safety of lives and created a new manual for property of residents of the state.

Chairman Lagos State Security prosecution of financial cases which will give prosecutors a step Trust Fund, Mr Oye Hassanby step process for prosecution. Odukale gave the assurance at the We have recommended that for presentation of 100 bulletproof effective prosecution, the vests, ballistic helmets to Lagos prosecution should be made up State police command.

“The Lagos State Security Trust of a team comprising of; an investigator, prosecutor and other Fund and the State Government has done a lot and is still doing a lawyers,” he said.

Presidential c'ttee working on Special Crimes Court – SAGAY

By By Innocent Anaba, Onozure Dania & Jane Echewodo

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HAIRMAN Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, SAN, yesterday, said that the committee was working on Special Crimes Court, which when completed and passed into law, will make the fight against corruption and other grafts faster.

He added, “My committee has concluded the drawing up of the Special Crimes Act for judges who will be specifically selected to adjudicate special crimes such as financial crimes, kidnapping, cyber crimes and drugs.”

Also, acting Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Magu, urged the judiciary to be astute in the fight against

members of the team are on the same page.

In his remarks, Chairman of the occasion and former Governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba said in the last one year, Governor Ambode has silently embarked on massive transformation of the state.

Osoba, who alluded to the clearing of Falomo Roundabout in Ikoyi, the ongoing dualization of Epe-Ijebu Road and many other infrastructural projects in Lagos, said he was indeed happy that the Ambode administration has continued in the tradition of excellence the state had always been known for.

He also commended the swiftness with which the Governor attends to issue of infrastructural renewal, saying many testimonies abound that Governor Ambode is a silent achiever, adding that such was what governance should be all about.

In her goodwill message, former Managing Director of Concord Newspapers, Dr. Doyin Abiola said she was proud that Lagos has always been a centre of excellence producing people of excellence.

Lagos pledges continuous support to security agencies lot to ensure that the security and

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welfare of Lagosians are protected and the thrust of this government under Governor Ambode is to ensure that security of lives and property is given top priority and by so doing, businesses will thrive the state and there will be more infrastructure and employment.

“I want to urge them that despite the challenges, which we know are huge, the state government cannot totally meet these responsibilities, as you know it’s a Federal responsibility but we will continue to intervene and support the Nigeria Police and other security agencies,” Hassan–Odukale said.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016 — 11

ELECTION FUNDING: I stand by my story — FAYOSE

As Omisore accuses EFCC of harassing him over falsehood

By Gbenga Oke & Rotimi Ojomoyela

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D O - E K I T I — GOVERNOR Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has reacted to the alleged denial of the involvement of a second generation bank in the funding of his election in 2014, saying the bank should come out with an official statement on the matter.

The governor was reacting to a news report in the media claiming that the bank had dissociated itself from the funding of his election.

Speaking through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Idowu Adelusi, in Ado Ekiti yesterday, the governor said, “I stand by my claim that the bank majorly funded my election in June 2014. “ I don’t expect an organisation like the accused bank to stay in a corner in matter of national concern like this and be talking. ''Rather, I expect it to issue an official statement not as feeble as this one being peddled in the media so that I can begin the second stage of my revelations. ''My statement was made in the open and if I can accuse an institution like that in the open, I expect the institution to give official reply. ''All what have been claimed to have been said by the bank in the media can be situated in the realm of rumour. ''And I want to refer the All Progressives Congress, APC, the bank and the EFCC to John chapter 8 verses 6-7, which says; “This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

“When they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, he that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone .

“Let those orchestrating this know that failure awaits them.”

EFCC is harassing me over falsehood – Omisore

Meantime, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, yesterday accused the EFCC of witch-hunting him and devising plots to nail him at all cost.

Omisore also denied the fresh allegation by the EFCC that N1.3

By Godwin Oritse & Ifeyinwa Obi

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HANDOVER: From left; Director, Co-Curricular, Science & Tech, Education District 3, Lagos, Mrs. Odunsi-Titus; Director, Regulatory & CSR, Etisalat Nigeria, Ikenna Ikeme; Principal, Akande Dahunsi Senior High School, Mrs. Badejo Olayinka; Principal, Akande Dahunsi Junior School, Mrs. Ajiboye Olanike, and Director, Schools Admin, Education District 3, Ikoyi, Mr. Mudashiru Raji at the handover of educational equipment to Akande Dahunsi Junior and Senior High School by Etisalat Nigeria. billion Naira was stashed in his bank account.

Omisore in a statement said, “It is very unfortunate that the EFCC won’t stop at anything to blackmail all the opposition figures and I stand by my word that I never collected a penny or

have any dealings with Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA. EFCC won’t stop at any height in its bid to blackmail the opposition. ‘’My appearance on a national television programme has provided another means of

falsehood to harass me. ‘’Only yesterday morning, I accused EFCC of dodging court summons. I didn’t collect any money from ONSA. I have not had any dealings with the ONSA. Last time, it was N700 million, today, it’s N1.3 billion.’’

Govts need assistance of corporate entities — AREGBESOLA

By Gbenga Olarinoye

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SOGBO—GOVERNOR of Osun state, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, has called on wellmeaning Nigerians to come to the support of governments at all tiers in the face of the present economic challenges the nation is going through.

Aregbesola made this call during a presentation of drugs to the state government by Akol

Pharmaceutical Company at the Executive Chamber hall of the Governor’s Office in Osogbo.

The governor said the call is necessary because the nation is going through a lot of hardship, which require that supports should come in other that government may meet its obligations to the citizens.

He stated that the situation is so bad that what the Federal government used to take from the

federation accounts as its own monthly revenue about 18 months ago is even more than what is being shared by the three tiers of government.

“What this company did is a demonstration of hands of fellowship. We celebrate this because we need such support and we will appreciate it as this will also encourage other donors to follow the footstep of Akol Pharmacy.''

APC raps PDP over condemnation of Osuwon Omoluabi ‘irrational criticism of all Ogbeni

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HE ALL Progressives Congress in Osun State, has described the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s criticism of Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s launch of the Weights and Measures Standard Procedure (Osunwon Omoluabi) in the state as: ‘the natural reaction of people ill-disposed to transparency’.

In a statement by the Party’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Mr Kunle Oyatomi, in Osogbo, the APC castigated the PDP for its alleged

Aregbesola’s projects since 2010'.

The statement said the introduction of ‘Osunwon Omoluabi’ was to prevent cheating by unscrupulous people involved in commerce in the state, adding that it was a measure that would bring order to commercial activities in markets in the state.

According to the APC; ‘’Only people who pathologically resent order, decency and transparency would see anything objectionable in the launch of ‘Osunwon Omoluabi’''

NANS protest in Ekiti over unpaid workers salaries

By Rotimi Owomoyela

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DO-EKITI— STUDENTS of tertiary institutions in Ekiti state, under the aegis of National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, yesterday took to the streets of Ado-Ekiti to protest the failure of Governor Ayodele

Seme Customs hands over confiscated drugs to NDLEA

Fayose to pay the salaries owned workers.

The protesters who carried placards of different inscriptions described Fayose as not been sincere and concerned about the plight of the striking workers.

Some of the placards read: “He who works deserved to be paid”, “Workers are

dying of hunger”, “NANS say no to taxation of school pupils in Ekiti” among others.

They were chanting several anti-government songs, calling on Governor Fayose to pay salaries of workers as many of them are experiencing serious hardship.

The protesting students

comprising representatives from different higher institutions in Ekiti state converged at Fajuyi roundabout, from where they move through the governor ’s office along Okesa.

Civil servants in Ekiti State are been owed five months salaries and other entitlements.

OLLOWING i n c r e a s e d surveillance at the Seme border post, the Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service yesterday handed over to the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency 106 parcels of illicit substances suspected to be cannabis (Indian hemp) and a suspected drug dealer.

The suspect, Mr. Sylvester Gbenga was trailed from Benin Republic to the point of entry and arrested.

Disclosing to newsmen, the Command’s Ag Comptroller Aliyu Sabo, a deputy Comptroller said that the drug were concealed in a Toyota Sequoia vehicle with Lagos State registration No. EKY 407 CA was arrested at Gbaji Customs checkpoint along the ever busy Lagos – Badagry express way.

According to Sabo, the arrest was made possible through intelligence gathering by seasoned officers led by Assistant Comptroller Abubakar Hamza who trailed the suspect.

Sabo, disclosed that attempt by the suspect to bribe officers on duty with the sum of Forty Seven Thousand Five Hundred Naira (N47, 500.00) in order to compromise his arrest was resisted.

12—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

Senate reduces NDDC's budget by N19bn

By Henry Umoru & Joseph Erunke

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BUJA—THE Senate has a p p r o v e d N241.114billion budget for the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. The federal lawmakers, reduced the N260.064 billion budget by N18.95 bilion.

The reductions by the Senate were made in the capital projects amounting to 8.20 per cent cutting across the states and regional which did not affect the recurrent expenditure.

According to the approved NDDC budget, the personnel expenditure stands at N17,560bn; Overhead Expenditure is N9.98bn; Internal Capital Expenditure is N1.3bn, while Development Projects is N212.273bn.

Presenting the NDDC 2016 budget at the plenary yesterday, Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, (PDP-Delta North), said that the breakdown of the N260.064bn submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari, puts personnel expenditure at

N17.56bn; Overhead Expenditure is N9.98bn; Internal Capital Expenditure is N1.3bn, while Development Projects is N231.224bn In the presentation, the Federal Government had put the revenue sources for its proposed budget for NDDC as: Revenue brought forward at N9.964bn; Federal Government

contribution is N60bn; unpaid arrears by the Federal Government was put at N50bn; Oil companies contributions and others was put at N130bn; Ecological Funds, N10bn and Internally Realized income put at N100bn.

The total revenue as projected by the President was N260.064bn.

But the committee recommended a total revenue of N241.114bn.

The breakdown shows that revenue brought forward is N9.964bn; Federal Government Contribution is N41.05bn; Oil Companies Contributions and others is N180bn; Ecological Funds isN10bn, whileotherInternallyRealized IncomeisN100bn.

Bayelsa alleges plot to destabilise state

by APC •That's not true —APC, Sylva

By Emem Idio ENAGOA—BAYELSA State Government has alleged that there were plans by the state chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, to instigate youths to embark on a violent street protest today in Yenagoa, the state capital.

A statement by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Dr. Boma Spero-Jack, said that part of the plan was for the youths to violently disrupt business activities and cause a breakdown of peace and order in the state capital.

He warned youths in the state

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not to be used, as the state government would hold them responsible for any death, injury or act of lawlessness that the planned protest would result to, adding that the various security agencies have been put on full alert to deal decisively with any acts of violence, no matter, who was involved.

He also called on Bayelsans to be vigilant, especially parents and guardians, to ensure that, their children and wards were not used to breach the existing peace in the state, stressing that, the state government will not hesitate to apply the full weight of the law on any group of

youths, who may decide to take to the streets, under whatever guise.

Meanwhile, former Governor Timipre Sylva, the governorship flag bearer of the APC, during the last governorship election and leader of the party in the state has distanced himself and the party from any plan to lead a mass protest in the state.

A statement by Mr. Doifie Buokoribo, Media Adviser to Chief Sylva, yesterday, described the allegations as,” irresponsible, baseless and laughable” and challenged the Bayelsa State Government to provide any proof to support the alleged involvement of Sylva in the plot.

A'Court fixes July 4 to hear bail application by APC chieftain

By Jimitota Onoyume ORT HARCOURT—THE Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday, adjourned till July 4, to hear the bail application by the former Chairman , Asaritoru Local Government Area, Rivers State, Mr Ojukaye Amachree under the tenure of ex governor Chibuike Amaechi.

The court panelled by Justice Sidi Bage with Justice Lokulo Sodipe and Justice Adamu Jaurd will hear the bail application.

The panel granted the appeal by the counsel representing the state government, Mr Godwin Obla for a short time to file his reply, saying he only knew of the motion for bail barely two days ago.

The counsel, who later spoke to newsmen on the issue, said, “They brought an application for bail, pending appeal. I have just been served the process, I have applied to the court to grant me time to file my response, and we are coming back next month to argue the application.”

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Edo speaker flays ‘barbaric' culture at the early period of their against widows marriages, and going

By Princewill

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Ekwujuru

ENIN—EDO State House of Assembly Speaker, Mrs. Elizabeth Ativie, yesterday in Lagos condemned the debasing and barbaric culture where widows are deprived of their rights, saying that governments at all level should provide mechanisms to protect them and enforce their rights.

Speaking at the first edition of the Felix King

Charity Foundation in commemoration of the international widows day replicated in Nigeria: tagged #WidowsRight, Ativie condemned some widowhood practices in parts of Nigeria, noting that the suppression of widows was deeply rooted in culture and tradition stemming from the alleged second-rate status of women.

“Based on these, women are made to suffer double jeopardy of losing their husbands, sometimes even

OIL EXPLORATION CONTRACTS:

through some excruciating cultural rites of proving their innocence in the death of their husbands,” she noted.

“These practices are debasing, shameful, barbaric, abhorrent, and grossly wicked. The death of a woman’s husband heralds momentous suffering, hurt and violation of her human rights by cultural agents of the community, including her spouse’s family,” she continued.

FG,

communities ignorant —EXPERTS

By Ediri Ejoh AGOS—EXPERTS in the country’s oil and gas sector, have accused the Federal Government and the oil communities of ignorance to contractual agreement signed before exploration and production in the region.

This was as they attributed such dysfunction to policies and regulations supposedly meant to guide petroleum operations.

Disclosing this at a workshop for journalist organised by Natural Resources Governance Institute, NRGI, Managing Partner, Sterling Partnership, Mr.

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Israel Aye, stated that for the oil sector to develop to its fortune, there was need for developmentofthecountry’slegal framework , which requires that

such laws, regulations and policies governing the industry should be unambiguous, comprehensive, flexible, transparent and practical.

Omokhodian shuns MEND nomination DIALOGUE:

By Prince Okafor

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ENIN—CHIEF Lawson Omokhodion, who was recently listed as the Edo State representative in the Aaron2 negotiating team proposed by the Movement of the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, yesterday, declined the role.

In a statement, Omokhodion, who recently

returned from a PanAfrican regional conference, said that I have decided to decline my nomination as part of the MEND Aaron2 negotiating team. ”Nigerians who employ violence as a means to solve their problems should think twice, I believe in the indivisibility of a sovereign and strong Nigeria,” he stated.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016—13

Your allegation baseless, Okowa tells Oshiomhole ALLEGED RECRUITMENT OF THUGS:

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By Festus Ahon

SABA—DELTA State governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, fired back at his Edo State counterpart, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, describing the allegation that he (Okowa) was recruiting thugs to undermine the Edo election as baseless and indicative of loss of confidence of the All Progressives Congress, APC-led government to woo voters based on track records of its achievement.

He restated his support for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate in the Edo State guber election, Pastor Osagie Ize- Iyamu and congratulated him on his emergence as the party’s flagbearer.

Chief Press Secretary to Okowa, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, while responding to the allegation by the Edo State Government, in a statement, stated that it was preposterous for the Edo State Government to expect that Deltans would leave their constituencies and embark on a wild goose chase of registering to vote in Edo State.

He noted that Edo State Government has also betrayed its

ignorance of the workings of the Permanent Voter Card, which makes multiple registration impossible and asked the APC in the state to restrict itself to issues rather than resort to namecalling.

Aniagwu said: “Governor Okowa is too refined to engage in such clandestine activities to the extent of decimating his own support base by encouraging his constituents to register in

another state. What becomes the fate of Delta political stakeholders who would rely on the votes of those people in subsequent elections?

“This is laughable and is gradually becoming a character of the APC in Edo State to believe that it can scare opponents through smear campaign. Governor Okowa declared publicly that he would support the PDP candidate both

morally and logistically to win the September 10, 2016 governorship election in Edo State and no amount of brow beating would stop him.”

The statement recalled that Oshiomhole’s outburst, some weeks ago, against the South PDP Governors for pledging their support for the PDP in Edo State and wondered when it became an offence to declare support for members of one’s party.

A-Ibom Assembly grants Gov Emmanuel approval to obtain N14.16bn FG loan

By Chioma Onuegbu

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YO —AKWA Ibom State House of Assembly, yesterday, granted Governor Udom Emmanuel approval to obtain N14.16billon from the Federal Government.

This followed a letter by Governor Emmanuel to the House dated June 17, 2016 requesting the approval of the House for Akwa Ibom State Government to participate in the budget support facility recently approved by the FG for 36 states

of the country.

After deliberating on the letter at yesterday’s plenary presided by the Speaker, Mr. Onofiok Luke, the lawmakers agreed that approving the support facility request had become important considering the biting economic situation in the state and country at large.

Some of them lamented the plight of their constituents especially pensioners and concluded that the support facility would go a long way to

assist the state to meet the challenges faced as a result of drop in revenue accruing to it.

Member representing Oruk Anam state constituency and Leader of the House , Mr Udoh Akpan, said “ For sometime now, it is clear to Akwa Ibom people and Nigerians that the economy of the country has nosedived. The pensioners are suffering, many are dying.”

The Speaker thanked the lawmakers for their sensitivity to the plight of Akwa Ibom workers and especially pensioners.

Fix national grid to avoid systems collapse PHEDC tells TCN

P

By Prince Okafor

ORT HARCOURT— PORT Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHEDC, yesterday, called on the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, to fix the national grid to avoid constant collapse of the grid.

The call came on the heels of recent blackout experienced

by PHEDC within its areas of operation.

According to the Head of Corporate Communications, PHED, Mr. Jonah Iboma, “There is need for TCN, to fix the national grid to avoid constant collapse of the system. In May 2016, the national grid collapsed five times, and this month the grid has started collapsing again.”

He noted that the major reason for the recent blackout within SouthSouth region was due to some constraints from the national grid as well as problem of vandalism, which led to the destruction of most of the gas pipelines.

Labour lauds Edo gov on N25,000 minimum wage

B

By Simon Ebegbulem

ENIN CITY—THE organised Labour has described Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State as a pacesetter, who should be emulated by other governors in the country on the welfare of workers.

A statement by the Chairmen of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and Trade Union Congress, TUC, Emmanuel Ademokun

and Marshal Ohue respectively, noted: “On behalf of NLC and TUC Edo State councils, we write to most respectfully express our appreciation to the governor, Mr Oshiomohle for the increase in the minimum wage of the Edo State civil servants from N18,000 to N25,000 effective from May 1, 2016.

“Governor Sir, your pronouncement on

May Day has come to stay. This has further established your love and compassion for the working people; we are extremely honoured by this uncommon gift.

“You have again set the pace for others to follow as no state governor has ever given workers salary increase without agitation, it is even more historical as this increase came at a time when many state governors could not pay their workers’ salaries.”

Court restrains Ugborodo spiritual head from conducting election into youth exco body

By Tare Youdeowei

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ARRI—A Delta High Court sitting in Warri, yesterday, restrained the Spiritual head of oil-rich Ugborodo community in Warri South-West Local Government Area of the state, PriestBenson Omadeliandeight others from conducting any election/swearing-in into the executive positions of Ugborodo community youths body in order to forestall a break down of law and order.

Parties in the suit are Mesrs

Julius Atete, Victor Igban and Peter Omoabenyi for themselves and on behalf of Ugborodo Community Youth Body as Claimants/Applicants and Mr. Benson Omadeli (Olaojori of Ugborodocommunity)andeight others on behalf of a purported electoral committee and Mr. Emmanuel Onuwaje and two others for themselves and on behalf of constitution review committeemembersappointedby the Ugborodo community youth body as defendants.

Trial judge, Justice P. OnajiteKuejubola in the ruling, said

having heard A.K Ibini, counsel for the claimants/ applicants.

Thejudgesaid: “Iherebygrant the application for interim order of injunction to forestall break downoflawandorder.Ialsogrant the order for substituted service and an order restraining the 1-9 defendants, by themselves, privies, agents, cohorts or any person or persons whatsoever from conducting any election/ swearing –in into the executive positionsofUgborodocommunity youthsbodypendingthehearing and determination of the motion on notice.”

14—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

Ihejirika was never arrested by DSS— INVESTIGATION

CSOs, media advocate speedy resolution of court cases

By Esther Onyegbula

By Kingsley Omonobi

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IVIL society organisations and the media have demanded immediate resolution of lingering corruption cases in courts across the country.

Rising from a two-day stakeholders strategy review meeting on lingering corruption cases in the country in Lagos, participants drawn from over 40 CSOs and media organisations agreed that there exists the need to end all corruption cases that have lingered in courts for several years.

Organised by the Citizen Centre for Integrated Development and Social Rights, CCIDESOR, and supported by Justice for All, J4A, an initiative of the Department for International Development, DFID, the strategy meeting was aimed at reassessing the status of corruption cases in different courts before the advent of the administration of President Muhammad Buhari.

The meeting also deliberated on and reviewed actions required to provide supports for the speedy conclusion of all corruption cases lingering in courts, most of which had been in court for 10 years.

A

VISIT: From left—Comedian, Gbenga Adeyinka I, Director, External Affairs, Ntel, Osondu Nwokoro, and Comedian Ali Baba, when they visited Ntel in Ikoyi, yesterday.

I’m being prosecuted for old grievances—Dasuki ...as FG seeks protection for witnesses

By Kingsley Omonobi

F

ORMER National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), told a Federal High Court in Abuja that he was being punished by persons at the highest level of power for perceived grievances held against him while in active military service many years ago.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government, yesterday, told a Federal High Court in Abuja that witnesses against Dasuki must be protected.

Dasuki, who did not name any person, said punishment being meted out to him was borne out of vendetta.

Prepare for the last 10 nights

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E have discussed about generosity, kindness and giving in Ramadan. It is not also good to be wasteful. Some Muslims are unable to distinguish between their needs and luxuries, hence they engage in wasteful spending on themselves, buying things they would not need in Ramadan while there are lots and lots of people in need of one thing or the other that you can provide.

Some, at the end of each fasting day, pile up varieties of food that they cannot consume, thereby spending more on what they do not need. If you have more, remember the have-nots.

The act of giving is Ibadah, and no act of Ibadah can be said to be too much.

Some sleep through the whole night with the alibi that they had a hectic day. Some even find it easy to compromise their sahur

for more hours of sleep.

Ramadan is a time we have to increase all our spiritual devotion. The day and night should be a beehive of spiritual activities. Like I said some days ago, at the moment, if you visit some mosques during tarawih prayers, you will notice a drop.

We should rather step up activities because it will take another 12 circle of the moon before we witness another Ramadan. So, we need to maximise the period by using our time wisely and spending in the way of Allah.

While some good-spirited individuals spend more money in feeding poor Muslims, some also sponsor Muslims to Umurah and Hajj.

That is a great reward indeed.

Muslims should explore all avenues and opportunities of carrying out good deeds,

Speaking through his counsel, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN), Dasuki told the court: “It is clear that the defendant (Dasuki) is being punished by the powers that be for the perceived offences committed long before. We leave them to the Almighty God for his ultimate judgment.”

Dasuki had been arraigned before three different high courts for various allegations and was granted bail but rearrested in December last year by the Federal Government and has since been held incommunicado.

At the resumed trial yesterday, the Federal Government had approached while also realising that their priorities should be dictated by the desire to secure aljanah and be less-concerned about mundane things.

A Muslim should apply himself to deepen his sense of following the practice of Holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W), in every aspect of his life, at all times and especially during the month of Ramadan.

This requires seeking more knowledge about how to maximise the benefits of the month, its etiquette, assimilating the wisdom and goals of fasting, and facilitating the means that allow all the Muslims to benefit from their fasting and increase in their ibadah.

Ramadan timing for today City Fajr Iftar/Maghrib Abuja 4:49am 6:53pm Ibadan 5:09am 7:05pm Ilesha 5:05am 7:08pm Ilorin 5:02am 7:05pm Kano 4:38am 6:53pm Lagos 5:10am 7:04pm Asaba 5:00am 6:55pm Zaria 4:45am 6:53pm Maiduguri 4:20 6:35pm Jalingo 4:35am 6:38pm Please, note that at Farj time, sahuur ends and Magrib time, Iftar begins.

the court, seeking secret trial of Dasuki who is facing charges of unlawful possession of firearms, money laundering and breach of trust.

In the fresh motion argued by the prosecuting counsel, Chief Dipo Okpeseyi (SAN), government prayed the court to allow witnesses give evidence behind the screen to be provided by the court.

He held that the request hinged on the fact that Dasuki, as a former top security chief, has large loyalists across the country who may jeopardise the trial if done in the open.

Okpeseyi cited the case of the government witness who was involved in an accident, stating, however, that as much as he would not allude that Dasuki had a hand in the accident, it heightened the need to have witnesses protected by the court.

However, counsel to Dasuki, Joseph Daudu (SAN), vehemently opposed the request for secret trial of Dasuki. His argument was that it will breach the principle of fair trial.

He added that contrary to the position of the government, Dasuki cannot be a threat to the witnesses as he has been in government custody since December last year.

Daudu argued that open trial is the minimum requirement in a criminal trial and, as such, any attempt to opt for a secret trial in the instant case, which was not a capital offense, will run contrary to Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution on fair trial.

Justice Ademola, after taking argument from both parties, fixed ruling and continuation of trial for September 13, 14 and 15.

BUJA—FORMER Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Onyeabor Ihejirika, who was reported to have been arrested in a house in Maitama, has been in his house in Asokoro since Tuesday without any such arrest, Vanguard can authoritatively disclose.

V a n g u a r d ’ s investigation, which necessitated visiting his Asokoro house, showed that Ihejirika was neither invited by the Department of State Services, DSS, nor arrested.

A close associate of the retired General, when contacted, described the reports as the handiwork of mischief makers, adding that it was a figment of their imagination.

During the visit to his residence, the retired general was seen driving out of his compound in company of a friend.

Reports had, Tuesday, indicated that DSS arrested Ihejirika at a house in Maitama, Abuja, to explain allegations of fraud when he was Chief of Army Staff.

Mama Omenugha dies at 98

M

ADAM Sabina Omenugha, 98, mother-in-law to Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Professor Kate Omenugha, is dead.

Her son, Lord Michael Omenugha, said vigil mass, wake keep and night of tributes will hold on August 22 at the Omenughas’ compound, Umuru village, Nnobi, Idemili South LGA, Anambra State.

Funeral Mass is at St Paul’s Catholic Church, Nnobi, on August 23, followed by entertainment of guests at family compound in Nnobi.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016—15

Family of kidnapped octogenarian tasks Police on speedy investigation

By Enyim Enyim

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NITSHA—FOUR years after the kidnap of an octogenarian, Lady Roseline Ughanze from her son’s house in Alor, Idemili South Local Government of Anambra State, her family yesterday urged the police and other security agencies to quickly conclude investigation into the matter The Ughanze family while addressing journalists in Awka through their lawyer, Mr Odinaka Obiorah, said the conclusion of the investigation will help bring to book the perpetrators of the crime and also set the family’s mind at rest as to whether their matriach is still alive or dead.

Obiorah said the family still has a strong belief that Mrs Ughanze who was 80 at the time of her kidnap four years ago was still alive, adding that a thorough investigation will also reveal if she has died.

“We call on the police and other security agencies to rise up to their duty as we are not in doubt as to those who kidnapped our mother. Justice should take its course no matter who is involved or how powerful,“ he said.

The family said the phone number used in demanding ransome from her family by the abductors was surrendered to the police to ease their investigation but was surprised that the police after tracing and arresting the owners of the cell phones, released them.

Obiorah said, “It is the position of the family that they do not know

if their mother has been killed or if she is still alive but they know that petitions and other similar letters being circulated by the detractors have killed the search for Lady Roselyn Ughanze.

“The authors of said petition and letters are putting up smiling cheeks to Lady Roselyn Ughanze’s discomfort and her family’s predicament over same.

“I announce the family’s plea to those who have access to Lady Roselyn Ughanze, their beloved mother, to let her know if she has not been killed that the detractors killed all the family’s efforts to locate her. She should be told also that the family, though down now,

have not given up in their search for their mother.”

Obiorah however expressed confidence in the police and their ability to find Ughanze and also track down her abductors, calling on them to continue and conclude investigation in the matter.

“The family is also appealing to the general public who may have any useful information on the circumstance of Lady Roselyn Ughanze’s abduction or her whereabouts or whereabouts of her remains to contact the police or the family’s solicitors.”

It would be recalled that Lady Ughanze was kidnapped by unknown persons in the early

hours of June 23, 2012 as she prepared to leave for morning mass and efforts to rescue her had led her abductors to dump any further contact with the family for ransom.

Before her kidnap, our correspondent gathered that a previous attempt had been made on her but she was lucky to escape.

Attempts to speak with the Anambra State Police Command’s Spokesman, DSP Ali Okechukwu for his reactions on the matter was not successful as at press time.

A

BAKALIKI—A couple, Mr & Mrs. Elizabeth Favour Nkwuda and Paulinus Nkwuda, has instituted a N500 million suit at Abakaliki High Court against Mile Four Hospital Abakaliki, for alleged medical negligence, poor assessment and mismanagement of their pregnancy, which led to the death of their baby in the womb.

Vanguard learned that the baby allegedly died during an unauthorized surgical operation performed on the lady by the medical team of the hospital.

Others joined in the suit are the Hospital Administrator, Rev.Sister Celine Anikwem, Dr. Azubuike and Dr. Osuagwu as 2nd, 3rd and 4th defendants respectively.

The 3rd and 4th defendants were the doctors who handled the lady’s situation at the labour room.

Mr. Nkwuda, in a five-page witness statement on oath through his counsel, Mr Nwugo Nwugo, alleged that neither him

E

BONYI STATE Government has sought partnership with a Chinese firm, CAMC Engineering Company Ltd, in the area of power, agriculture, mining, manufacturing and health.

Governor David Umahi, while receiving a delegation from UNIDO and CAMCE at the Governor ’s Lodge in Abakaliki on Wednesday, said “On the issue of power, hospital, mining, agriculture, industry, we are very much interested.”

He specifically told the officials of the Chinese company led by the Director-General, Yu Tao, that his administration would be highly delighted if they could build a 10MW solar plant in the state.

New Anambra monarch pledges peaceful reign VISIT: Anambra State governor, Chief Willie Obiano, briefing the World Bank Task Team Leader on FADAMA III AF, Dr. Adetunji Oredipe and Mrs. Eniye Ambakedero , Senior Technical Adviser on Agribusinees to the Minister of State for Agriculture,when the 5th Federal Government/World Bank Mission on FADAMA visited the Governor, in Awka.

Couple slams N500m suit against hospital over baby’s death

By Peter Okutu

Umahi partners Chinese firm, seeks 10mw solar power plant

nor his wife gave consent either by oral or in signature to the surgical operation which took the life of their baby boy.

He said even after the surgical operation on his wife,neither the doctor who performed it nor the nurses or anybody in the team deemed it necessary to inform him or his wife how and why the baby boy died.

He added that despite the condition of his wife, she was forced out of her bed and the bed was assigned to another person by the hospital management.

Mr. Nkwuda further said that

notwithstanding the medical negligence,the management also forced him to pay N20,950 for drugs and N40,000 for caesarian section.

He contended that negligence, mismanagement and poor assessment of his wife’s pregnancy by the 3rd and 4th defendants and their team which occasioned the death of their baby were as a result of incompetence and quackery.

Mr Nkwuda said that by reason of flagrant medical negligence, ill treatment to him and his wife, they had suffered shock, physical,

mental and psychology trauma and therefore demanded five hundred million naira in compensation from the defendants.

The case came up for mention on Tuesday at Abakaliki High Court Five and all the defendants have filed their motions for appearance.

The presiding judge,Justice Ogwu after hearing from both counsels adjourned the matter till July 18, 2016 for pre-trial

BOI, Abia govt sign MoU on SMEs

By Anayo Okoli

U

MUAHIA—ABIA State Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the Bank of Industry, BoI, for the marching funds for Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs, in the state.

Under the agreement, the Bank of Industry is to provide N1 billion in Small and Medium

Enterprises development fund.

In his remarks, shortly after signing the MoU, last week at the Government House, Umuahia, the Acting Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Waheed Olagunji, explained that the MoU was designed to lend resources to genuine entrepreneurs in the state, especially in agriculture and other areas.

According to him, SMEs are the major creators of jobs, pointing out that the implementation of the MoU would go side by side with capacity building.

He however, advised the potential beneficiaries to pay back the funds and pledged to work with the state government to realize the industrial potentials of the state.

By Nwabueze Okonkwo

O

NITSHA— THE newly enthroned traditional ruler of Uga community in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, Igwe Chidi Ezenwugo has pledged to maintain a peaceful reign throughout his period on the throne.

Speaking at the Governor ’s Lodge, Amawbia shortly after receiving his certificate of recognition and staff of office from Governor Willie Obiano as the substantive traditional ruler of Uga community, Igwe Ezenwugo also pledged to maintain the truth and justice at all times, without fear or favour.

He, therefore, commended the state government for recognizing him and his subjects for the confidence reposed on him by selecting him to inherit his late father’s throne, adding that having mounted the saddle, the community would no longer lose their rights but rather, it would continue to make a steady march towards progress in all aspects of human endeavour.

16—Vanguard, FRIDAY JUNE 24, 2016

Fitch downgrades Nigeria’s credit rating to B+ ...says vulnerability of Nigeria’s economy worsens As Naira strengthens to N282/$ Continued from Page 1 Nigeria’s long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘B+’ from ‘BB-’ and long-term local currency IDR to ‘BB-’ from ‘BB’.

In a statement issued, yesterday, Fitch said: “The outlooks are stable. The issue ratings on Nigeria’s senior unsecured foreign-currency bonds have also been downgraded to ‘B+’ from ‘BB-’. The Country Ceiling has been revised down to ‘B+’ from ‘BB-’ and the Short-Ter m ForeignCurrency IDR affirmed at ‘B’.”

The new ratings imply that though Nigeria is currently meeting financial commitments, there is a limited margin of safety and capacity for continued timely payments is contingent upon a sustained, favourable business and economic environment.

Explaining the rationale for downgrading the country’s rating, Fitch said: “Nigeria’s fiscal and external vulnerability has worsened due to a sharp fall in oil revenue and fiscal and monetary adjustments that were slow to take shape and insufficient to mitigate the impact of low global oil prices. Renewed insurgency in the Niger Delta in 1H16 (first half of 2016) has lowered oil production, magnifying pressures on export revenues and limiting the inflow of hard currency.

Forecast Fitch forecasts Nigeria’s general government fiscal deficit to grow to 4.2 percent in 2016, after averaging 1.5 percent in 2011-15, before beginning to narrow in 2017.

“Despite expected increases in non-oil revenue, the agency expects overall general government revenue to drop to just 5.5 percent of GDP, from an average of 12 per cent in 201115.

“The fall in general

government revenue represents a risk to the country ’s debt profile.

Fitch estimates general government debt/ revenue will rise to 259 percent in 2016 from 181 percent in 2015, higher than the 223 percent median for ‘B’ rated peers.

Nevertheless, depreciation of the naira will increase the debt and debt service burden.

“On 20 June, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) commenced trading on the interbank foreign exchange market under a revised set of guidelines that will result in a more flexible exchange rate.

However, the new regime will not be fully flexible as it will still involve a parallel market as importers of 41 items are excluded from the inter-bank market, which will continue to hinder growth, capital inflows and investment, in Fitch’s view.

Uncertainty Furthermore, the delayed change in exchange rate policy casts some uncertainty over the authorities’ commitment to a more flexible system. The CBN’s previous exchange rate policy of managing demand for hard currency and restricting access to dollar auctions at the official FX rate resulted in a significant shortage in dollar liquidity.

“Fitch expects that some continued intervention in the FX market will reduce international reserves, which were below USD27bn before the new market began trading, compared with USD34bn at end-2014.

Fitch expects reserves to fall to 3.4 months cover of current external payments by end-2016.

Fitch forecasts GDP growth to fall to 1.5 percent in 2016, down from 2.7 percent in the previous year, after GDP contracted by 0.4 percent year-on-year in 1Q16 ((first quarter of 2016)) stemming partly from low hard currency liquidity. 2Q16 ((2nd

quarte of 2016)) is likely to experience a further contraction, as the resurgence of violence in the Niger Delta has brought oil production levels down to around 1.5 million barrels per day (mbpd) in May, from approximately 2.1 mbpd in January.”

Naira strengthens to N282%, interest rate falls to 34% The naira yesterday strengthened for the second consecutive day in the interbank foreign exchange market for spot and future transactions, while interest rate fell by more than half to 34 percent.

Data released by Financial Market Dealers Quote (FMDQ) showed that the interbank exchange rate for spot transactions rose to N281.67 per dollar yesterday from N282.8 on Wednesday, indicating N1.1 or 0.3 percent appreciation for the naira. However, the interbank exchange rates for all future transactions remained stable.

On the other hand interest rate in the interbank money market dropped sharply by more than half in response to decision of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to open its discount window for banks to use their treasury bills to fund foreign exchange purchases.

Interest rate on overnight lending fell from average of 68 per cent on Wednesday to 34 percent yesterday while interest rate on securitised lending fell to 30 per cent from 63 per cent.

Meanwhile FMDQ yesterday announced it has revised the methodology and publication standard for Nigeria Interbank Foreign Exchange (NIFEX) in line with the Principles for Financial Benchmarks of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). The revised standard, the company stated, would take effect from today June 24, 2016.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016 —17

Frivolous show-offs!

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AST week, a British TV station, Channel 4, screened a documentary titled “Lagos To London: Britain’s New Super-Rich”.

And I couldn’t believe my ears or eyes.

The stars of the show were the daughters of Femi Otedola, the oil tycoon, and the twin sons/grandsons of Greg Mbadiwe, a onetime Nigerian ambassador to the Congo, and Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe, the veteran politician and nationalist.

The documentary was about the youngsters’ pampered lifestyles. And I was totally shell-shocked and more disgusted than words can express by their crass conceits and eagerness to publicly boast about their riches – a particularly insensitive decision at a time when ordinary Nigerians are going through hell financially.

milestones: “Some people have graduation photos, we just have magazines.”

We were then treated to images of the little madame dressed like MarieAntoinette, an 18th century French Queen with whom she claims to have an affinity.

Marie-Antoinette is famed for having uttered the immortal words: “Let them eat cake then!” (when she was told that French peasants were starving because they couldn’t find bread to eat).

And I’m sure she meant well, but she was eventually sentenced to death by a revolutionary court and executed in 1793.

Ms Otedola did not display any knowledge of such tedious historical details, preferring to dwell on blander aspects of her heroine’s existence.

“I feel,” she said, batting her eyelashes, without any trace of irony whatsoever, “like I’m this young woman with so much responsibility.

Marie-Antoinette was Queen of France at such a young age…MarieAntoinette and I both love dogs…”

She said that her graduation party had taken place in a famous London hotel and that she was

Exclusive stores and clubs They boasted about their expensive shopping and drinking habits, boasted about the exclusive stores and clubs they frequent abroad, boasted about their luxury cars, showed off their £7 million Lagos yacht and so on. The whole exercise boiled down to a sickeningly tasteless catalogue of conspicuous consumption.

The Mbadiwe boys (we were told that their family wealth “originally came from gold-mining”) were pretty annoying; but the Otedola girls – aspiring DJ Cuppy aged 23 and fashion blogger Temi, l9 – were especially pretensious and vacuous.

Interviewed in her parents’ £35 million London residence, one of them informed viewers, as she smirked and simpered next to a pile of glossy publications that featured her father on their covers and presumably contained several pictures of the entire clan celebrating various C M Y K

I was totally shell-shocked and more disgusted than words can express by their crass conceits and eagerness to publicly boast about their riches

wondering how to top this prestigious venue when she gets married.

Versailles Marie Antoinette’s lavish palace and marital home – was a possibility. But maybe not “because Kanye [West] and Kim [Kardashian] already did Versailles.”

I guess that her laughably

A Marie Antoinette-themed party in London by children of a Nigerian oil magnate featured in the documentary. (Screengrab from Channel 4 YouTube clip) delusional belief that she is on a par with global superstars and a king’s consort is harmless. But what I don’t get about this kid and her ilk is why they don’t realise how bad they look and sound to sensible people.

I grew up with rich folks of many nationalities and don’t have anything against those who inherit or earn legallyacquired wealth and enjoy perks like lovely houses.

But rich folks from good homes are not supposed to flaunt their advantages so brazenly! A highway in Lagos is named after the illustrious Mbadiwe patriarch and we were shown a photo of the old man with Queen Elizabeth II in 1956.

And I find it very strange that Otedolas and Mbadiwes – who are not uneducated newcomers to substantial affluence – should display such wanton

ostentation…and even stranger that their doting Dads – who come across as serious-minded – allowed them to appear in such a silly, vulgar documentary in the first place.

One of the girls said: “I represent Nigeria [internationally] and I think I’m part of the people who are going to really change the reputation that Nigeria has.”

Nigerian billionaires Someone should tell this immensely irritating wannabee, to her face, that she is not the kind of ambassador we as a nation will ever need!...and that there are plenty of equally fortunate Nigerians of her generation who conduct themselves much more admirably and wouldn’t dream of carrying on the way

she carries on.

By the way, an English woman who helps Nigerian billionaires spend their money was also interviewed.

And she told us that she has a client “ who literally has diamonds on the soles of his shoes...When he walks, you can see the soles glittering.”

Meanwhile, Alex Amosu, a humble and loveable purveyor of luxury goods (I’m glad he’s benefitting from the extravagance of others!), showed viewers a suit that had 22-carat gold pinstripes and cost £70,000 to buy and £2,000 to dryclean.

No matter how rich I was, I’d NEVER cough up that kind of cash for mere wearables! And I’ll be very interested to know whether any Vanguard readers regard such expenditure as reasonable for folks who can afford to splash out.

Civilized elections

L

AST month, I voted in the London Mayoral election. Today, I voted in a Referendum that will determine whether Britain stays within the European Union or leaves it to plough a more independent furrow (I voted for Britain to stay, for reasons I will explain when the outcome of the referendum has been revealed).

Having also voted in Nigerian elections – last year and on quite a few previous occasions – I never cease to marvel at the stark difference between the

manner in which Brits and Nigerians approach democratic challenges.

Here in the UK, everything is so civilized.

The polling stations are quiet and orderly. Electoral officials are relaxed, not harassed.

There are no political thugs hovering around, trying to loudly intimidate voters or snatch ballot boxes.

There are no ridiculous technical glitches. There are no overtly partisan police.

There are no tragic deaths or major rigging scandals.

The contrast is utterly

depressing.

I keep wondering whether we will become more like them in my lifetime.

Responses to: donzol2002@yahoo.co.uk or to 0802 747 6458 OR 0811 675 9752 (texts only).

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18 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016 THE Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on AntiCorruption, Professor Itse Sagay, put it aptly recently when he observed that our National Assembly members no longer fear Nigerians in the light of their recent moves to secure life pension for the principal officers of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

These are the President of the Senate, the Deputy President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives.

The Federal lawmakers canvassed the inclusion of this and the granting of immunity to the same officials in the ongoing constitutional amendment. The parliamentarians are also neck-deep in making constituency projects part of the annual Federal budgets. Already, they have arm-twisted President Muhammadu Buhari to approve N60 billion for the controversial projects in the 2016 Appropriated

Incessant demands of Federal lawmakers Act. It is instructive that many of the lawmakers pressing for these unacceptable demands to be included in the ongoing constitutional reforms were once state governors. Many of them had compelled their state Houses of Assembly to grant them stupendous severance packages, including lifelong entitlements. Some of them have been occupying high offices in the National Assembly for years and have developed a governmentdependency syndrome which they are unwilling to give up even after service.

We have so many grounds to say no to these demands. In the first place, the economy is not in any shape to absorb any more on-loading of official perks. We cannot accept the life pension demand in an atmosphere where the parlous economy has forced many companies to lay off thousands of workers with more to go, while others are forcing their employees to accept deep pay cuts in the midst of a steeply rising cost of living.

Secondly, immunity for elected officials has become generally unpopular, and the mood of the people demands the removal of the

immunity granted to the President and Vice President, as well as Governors of States and their Deputies.

Thirdly, the constitution amendment we envisage is tailored at cutting down the cost of governance, which these demands will surely exacerbate. We cannot support a constitutional amendment that will feather the nests of people in elected offices and grant them an opulent lifestyle that is far removed from the realities of grinding poverty and suffering that those who elected them face on the streets.

The Legislative arm of government is not just created to make laws. It is meant to act as a check on the Executive to prevent excesses and bad governance. It is meant to mirror the moods, needs and aspirations of the constituents at the grassroots.

Our lawmakers’ demands do not show they are alive to these responsibilities.

And this we find unacceptable.

OPINION A return to regional structure?

By Paul Orie

D

EFINITELY, we are at cross roads and perhaps at a cuI-de-sac. This explains why we have been vacillating over our choice of system of government, heated arguments over revenue sharing formula, creation of more states, more local government councils, resource control and so on. We become more incensed each passing day as we haplessly see our economy collapsing rapidly in addition to the massive decay of our infrastructure, the unprecedented plundering of our national economy by the managers of the economy who rail roaded their way to power either through the barrel of the gun or callous rigging of elections. Also, the raging violence on the land has conspired with all these to compound our problems.

These man made problems have placed us in a quagmire, constructing a way out becomes a major problem. This is why public commentators at various fora, proffer several solutions on the way forward. Even in beer parlours, offices, motor parks the debate continues endlessly as the frustrations of the down trodden slides deeper.

Reverting to the regional structure recently brought to the fore by Chief Emeka Anyaoku, a highly respected statesment and a patriot to the core, needs to be examined. Advancing his

reasons in nostalgia like others who had previously favoured this argument, recalled the tremendous achievements recorded under that arrangement, which was practiced in a very competitive and exciting years of Nigeria’s

A return to genuine and full federalism is the panacea that will extricate us from this quandary golden era of Federalism. He reminded us that the nation was developing better unlike under the present 36 states arrangement where many states remain unviable and unable to pay salaries of civil servants.

The former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, reasoned that the 36 states structure is burdensome because of the huge resources spent on governance catering for 36 states houses of assembly and 36 judiciary services. No one doubts the argument of our statesman, but returning to the former regional structure, will defmitely return us to the polemics of the past, the cry of marginaliation, the a gitation of more states that dominated the last decade of the struggle for independence.

Then as the nationalists, clamoured for independence, the northern and southern minorities were also agitating for more states coupled with the Niger Delta politicians asking

for a fair deal. These demands were the safety values the minorities asked for hinged on wider participation in governance.

With the 36 states created, there is wider participation in governance not withstanding some inherent man made problems. Going back to the huge success of the former regions before and after independence, we should not forget that the regions were allowed to legislate on the appropriate legislative lists approved by the constitution. The Federal Government then, legislated on exclusive list, the regions legislated on concurrent list along with the central government, while the local governments were left with the residual list.

The governments of the regions were resourceful, encouraged agricultural development and export of groundnut, cotton, hides and skin from the North, cocoa, timber, rubber, palm products from the west and East regions respectively. Revenue from these sustained their regions, universities; hospitals and several kilometres of roads were built by the regional governments. The funding of free education by the western region government was solely from cocoa export. The North also spent its resources to educate northerners in its strive to bridge the wide education gap between the North and the south. The local governments recorded resounding success, building and maintaining dispensaries, rural feeder roads, don’t forget PWD of that era. All these were possible when we had constitutionalism at work, not now when we have unitary

government masquerading as federalism. One can recall when late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the flag bearer of Unity Party of Nigeria and his rival, late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigerian Peoples Party replayed their rivalry of the past when Chief A wolowo boasted that his region had highest primary and secondary school enrolment in the country while Zik boasted his region built more kilometres of road.

That was Federalism at work. This is where the failure of the 36 states was planned and executed by the unpatriotic intrusion of the military in national politics, a development, the civilian regimes of the second Republic 1979 - 1983 and the current civilian regimes of 1999 to date have been unable to reverses for the good of the country.

The situation we found ourselves today is painful, a situation that truncated the orderly developments started by our founding fathers.

This is the making of our managers of resources, the visionless, the scoundrels and buccaneers in government who allowed the nation to careen. The state and local governments cannot generate fund, but go to the Abuja Santa Clause for statutory allocation which is far more than their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

A return to genuine and full federalism is the panacea that will extricate us from this quandary. Constitutionalism should be allowed to thrive for rapid growth of Nigeria.

*Mr. Orie, editor -in-chief , West Coast Trader, wrote from Lagos.

—19 VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016— Send Opinions & Letters to: opinions1234@yahoo.com I've got to have a Congress and I've got to have state legislatures and governors who are willing to work with me on this. I hope and pray that I don't have to come out

16 American massacres and the Dollar

I

T was the familiar, but unpalatable news from the United States,US. The unfolding horror, was not Hollywood, but an American reality; a gunman is holed up with hostages whom he is busy eliminating. This was June 12, 2016, and 29-year old American, Omar Seddique Mateen murdered a record 49 persons and injured 53 within three hours of entering the Pulse, an Orlando gay nightclub. The issue is not about the venue; it might well have been a school, church, mosque, synagogue or theatre.

The mix this time was homosexuals, terrorism, religion and guns. Some other times, it was children, school, and guns.

Other times it was a movie theatre, array of lives and guns. Whatever the mix, motive or venue, the gun is a common denominator it is that recurrent decimal, God’s Own Country seems unable or unwilling to do something about.

The Orlando massacre was the sixteenth in the eight-year Presidency of Barack Obama, one of the most resourceful, intelligent

and compassionate American Presidents in history. Before Obama, America already had a culture of massacres such as the April 16, 2007 murder of 32 persons in the Virginia Tech University. The ones under Obama began with the Friday, April 3, 2009 murder of 32 persons at the Citizenship class in Binghamton, New York.

Perhaps, the most heartrending was December, 2012 when 20 children aged between 5-10 years were gunned down, in addition to six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

But the bloodiest period was in 2015 when six massacres were recorded; an average of one massacre every sixty days. Tired of repeating himself and addressing the country so frequently on the same issue, a hapless Obama after the October, 2015 Oregon Massacre told his fellow Americans: " Each time this happens I am going to say that we can actually do something about it, but we're going to have to change our laws. And this is not something I can do by myself.

It is not Obama or those who call for gun control that are insane as the NRA suggests, but those who price profit far above human lives including those of toddlers

again during my tenure as President to offer my condolences to families in these circumstances.

But based on my experience as President, I can't guarantee that."

Perhaps, if the laws Obama talked about had been in place, the Orlando massacre might not have taken place because the shooter, Mateen who had been placed on the FBI terrorist watch list for ten months and investigated twice by the agency, would have been ineligible to buy the guns including the assault rifle, he used. In December, 2015, a bill that would have prevented a person like Mateen purchasing guns was defeated by 54-45 votes.

The reason for the defeat is not necessarily because of the gun

Buhari's isolation of Igbo: A blessing

By Clement Udegbe “Facing it , always facing it, that’s the way to get through. Face it” ---Joseph ConradMore.

I

GBOS have come to that point in the national life of Nigeria, where they just have to face it. They have to face the realities of these times. No one will develop the South East for them except they face it. No one will stop crime and kidnapping for them, except they face it. No one will spare their land from Fulani herdsmen, whether they play the politics or not, they just have to face it. No one will terminate the buds of islamisation from growing in Igbo land for them, except they face it. No one will stop the killings at the least provocation in the north except they face it. No one will stop shooting at unarmed Igbo Youths under whatever guise, except they face it. Some Igbos think they have money, but none of them is on the Forbes list of the richest 100 in the world, and none is on the list of the richest 100 in Africa, they have to face it. And to face these and many more, they must, if they will get the Igbo land they deserve from this Nigeria we live in today.

Igbos have to face the fact that as a people, they got it wrong after the 1996 to 1967 civil war. They have to face the fact that dispersing like the oil bean seed all over Nigeria while neglecting their own region, and blaming all others is not the way to push forward your agenda in the new Nigeria.

None of them will become President without a solid political base at home, and C M Y K

joining other peoples’ base will never help them.

The South East has many rich sons who started political parties perhaps just to access the money INEC was dolling out to political parties in those days. They had no intentions to develop their region politically, and they were not interested in forming any political base in that region.

Thus, their political parties died as soon as the free money from Federal government for parties dried up. These

Let Igbos begin to think and act regional, and let it be a pleasant surprise when Nigeria decides to re-integrate them properly Igbo men wanted quick money without power, and today they keep scheming to join and jostle for positions in main stream political parties that were formed by their colleagues who targeted power and money, and remained faithful to that cause.

The ACN from the South West, teamed up with CPC from the north to produce the APC using renegades from the PDP, to displace the PDP in the 2015 Presidential elections, while selfishness left APGA with only Anambra State in the South East,with some of the founding members and huge beneficiaries of APGA working hard to kill it.

The South East needs to review its foundations and definitions of success, and President Muhammadu Buhari may have

culture in the country or the December 15, 1791 Second Amendment of the American Constitution. In any case, the Supreme Court had in the United States v. Cruikshank ruled in 1876 that "The right to bear arms is not granted by the Constitution; neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence" and also in 1939 in United States v.

Miller, ruled that the right does not prohibit regulation of firearms by the Federal Government and the states if it is not related to a "reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia."

The defeat is primarily due to the huge profit in gun production and sales. Outside the mighty American military and security forces, there were 242 million privately owned guns in 2009 when Obama assumed office. In 2013, the American population was 317 million while the number of guns in private hands was 357 million; that is 40 million more guns than the populace. By 2009, the American gun-makers were producing 5.6 million guns annually, and in 2013, 10.9 million guns.

It is therefore the aroma of the dollar that prevails, rather than common sense and the need to protect innocent Americans. This was reflected in the responses to the Orlando shootings. For instance, President Obama noted that “the shooter was apparently armed with a hand gun and a powerful assault rifle. This massacre is, therefore, a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub. We have to decide

been sent to help open their eyes to some critical directions.

First, the Fulani herdsmen, and the subsequent Grazing Bill were supposed to open the eyes of Ndigbo, to their internal security arrangement, which they naively never gave any serious thoughts before now.

When in 2011, the idea of developing a data base of persons with criminal tendencies and records in the South East was suggested, they called it profiling of northerners, and killed it. Today, the South East states are grappling and groping in blind efforts to fight and control kidnapping, which has continued to mushroom, without any data base to work or start with.

Painfully, while other South East states are developing legislative and cerebral means to stem marauding Fulani herdsmen and stop the Grazing Bill, Imo State appears more interested in a piece of legislation that will empower the Governor to acquire land for ranching and other agricultural purposes etc, with the scary attendant risk of possibily handing such acquired land over for grazing!

Second, Buhari’s isolation of Igbos in his government is supposed to also open the Ndigbo's eyes to regional agriculture. Igbos have forgotten those things that they depended on for three years to survive the civil war.

We had a specie of cassava that we ate raw and boiled and ate like yam which is no longer in existence.

Every home had a small poultry farm in Biafra, which we have abandoned for frozen chicken with all the health hazards having to do with their storage as well as the use of accompanying chemicals!

We abandoned the long snake tomatoes, which should have been cross-bred for better taste, because it had bulk and

if that’s the kind of country we want to be.”

However, the reaction of the presumptive Republican candidate, Donald Trump, was in line with the illogical argument that the solution to gun violence is more guns. He said . 'If we had people, where the bullets were going in the opposite direction...

And this son of a b**** comes out and starts shooting, and one of the people in that room happened to have (a gun) and goes boom, boom (shoots the attacker)... You know what? That would have been a beautiful, beautiful sight, folks.” Trump added “President Obama is trying to make terrorism into guns and it's not guns, folks.

It is not guns, folks. It is not guns, this is terrorism.”

As expected, the American National Rifle Association,NRA, argued that guns had nothing to do with the Orlando massacre.

Chris W. Cox, the Executive Director of NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, the lobby and political arm of the association argued “repeating the same thing but expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.

Law-abiding gun owners are tired of being blamed for the acts of madmen and terrorists.”

It is not Obama or those who call for gun control that are insane as the NRA suggests, but those who price profit far above human lives including those of toddlers.

It is only Americans who can save themselves from profiteers and make their country safe. As it is, the United States is a high risk country and an international travel alert for all those going to that country, will not be out of place. God bless America!

volume.

Only a few Igbos remember our local, hardy, sweeter and stronger specie of the cow called Ehi Igbo, which we failed to ranch, and preferred this tasteless Nnama, called cattle, for which they want to own our lands by force!

Third, Igbo eyes should now be open to industrialisation of the South East, requiring a special electric power generation plan or strategy.

No government, Federal or State, no matter how manipulative should stop Igbos from working out an arrangement for a deep Sea Port with road and rail transportation system and network to serve that zone.

Fourth, the recent WAEC results where the South East came within the top ten in the nation, although Imo state performed poorly due to APC’s faulty education programmes, should tell us that Igbo children are ready to soar, if they can be empowered and encouraged, irrespective of who the President is. Hoping and trusting that Governor Okorocha will reverse that ugly trend, Igbos should look more inwards, than outwards. And since no known Igbo man owns an oil well, let the conquerors and owners of Nigeria keep their oil money, and let us seek for God's Agenda for our Land, and work very hard to achieve it by creating a region of bountiful successe.

No Igbo person should expose himself to the risk of being shot at by these blood thirsty soldiers, and police officers no matter what.

If indeed Buhari has achieved the National Confab Report, so be it. Let Igbos begin to think and act regional, and let it be a pleasant surprise when Nigeria decides to re-integrate them properly.

Mr.Udegbe, a lawyer, can be reached at ceeaai@yahoo.com.

20 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

Children endangered: Shocking stories of child abuse

By Elizabeth Uwandu T HE stories were as horrific and heartrending as they were incredible. Yet they were true, which made them all the more shocking. Indeed members of the audience could not help but gasp repeatedly in shock and anger as they listened to Christianah Akindolie of Christianah Fate Foundation tell stories of how children were subjected to different forms of abuse or encouraged to indulge in acts that expose them to abuse and harm.

“I have handled a case of a boy who had been exposed to pornography from age nine. He started practising sex with his younger sister who was five at that time. The boy, now 13 years old, was brought to me for counseling. When he began to talk, I realised that his now eight-year-old sister looks like a 15 years old adolescence with well-developed sexually explicit features.

“Again, a case was reported of a child who was sexually abused by an uncle. When she told her teacher that: ‘Aunty, Uncle is pushing his nail into my bum-bum and it is paining me’, all the teacher said was: ‘sorry’ .

“I also interviewed a young boy of seven who told me: ‘Aunty, I’m feeling sexy’. I asked why and he said anytime he watched Trace Channels after coming back from school and discovered his parents were not at home, the urge to have sex came upon him. I cautioned him, but was dumbfounded when I got home and watched the channel.

Emotional atmosphere “Another case was of incest between twins handled by a friend who got a post on Facebook. A male and female, they had sex for three to four years before they were caught,” Christianah narrated.

Her narration engendered an emotional atmosphere of alarm and pity for the raped or abused victims, as well as elicited condemnation by parents, teachers, health instructors and other stakeholders.

But she also advocated safety measures parents could adopt at home to protect their wards against sexual abuse and molestation.

Mrs Akindolie spoke along other guests such as Mrs Itoro Eze Anaba of Mirabel Centre, Pastor Wale Adefarasin and Mrs Laila St. Matthew-Daniel, founder of the ACT Generation and host of a seminar on child abuse, tagged: “It shouldn’t hurt to be a child.” Venue was the

Guiding Light Assembly Hall, Parkview, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The child-right advocate frowned at the culture of silence over child abuse in Africa and Nigeria in particular. Her words: “I remembered I spoke with a friend of mine who resides in Canada, and she told me that at the age of five, Canadian children are taught how to protect themselves.

They are locked in a room and a signal is triggered with a command that the children should scream and shout.

“But here in Nigeria, our children are usually scared and timid. This is because of the way they are brought up to respect every adult. And that is one thing that is affecting our children today” .

To correct this shortcoming, Akindolie advocates thus: ‘’We,

Mrs Christianah Akindolie, Mrs Itoro Eze Anaba, Mrs Laila St. Matthew-Daniel and Pastor Wale Adefarasin.

“Baby-mamas might raise a generation of dysfunctional children if care is not taken.

However, we, as parents, should invest everything we have to ensure that the generation after us are better than us. And there is no success without succession.”

Mrs Anaba, who touched on the issue of protection and reintegration of rape victims, opined that rape violates a person’s right and dignity. As such, adequate help and support is needed for the rape victim.

Punishment for rape

A sexually abused child as parents, have to teach our children how to be vocal and how to express their feelings.

And these can be done by following the safety measures I have proffered. These safety measures include, but not limited to: Empower your child, set clear family boundaries, set bedroom rules and set entertainment rules”.

Speaking on rule one, the founder of Christianah Fate Foundation said that “empower your children” imply teaching the child how to be confident and strong so that he will know what to do in the event of danger.

Steps towards empowerment, according to Mrs Akindolie, include: “Teach them the proper names of their private parts; educate the child on body privacy- this entails ability of the child to say no when he or she is being touched by an adult, or asked to touch an adult’s sexual parts. It also involves telling the child to avoid keeping secrets, as secrecy is the grooming

process of sexual abuse. Teach them also to be vocal and develop safety network for the child. By so doing the children

A mother’s natural instinct is to teach the children their right, while a father teaches the children how to be responsible can confide their feelings to teachers, counselors, etc, when their parents are absent. Let the child have at least two options of people the parents trust that they can tell their feelings.”

Pastor Adefarasin, who spoke

on the male and spiritual perspectives of sexual abuse, said that God expects parents to ensure that the destiny of their children are fulfilled by passing three essential tools to the children which included values, vision and experience.

The founder of Guiding Light Assembly also said that fathers have enormous role in children’s well being. Aside from being the head of the family, they are also the spiritual head of the home. His words: “Violence is not only physical, but it can take the form of mental, emotional and psychological turns. So, fathers must step up to their space. It is our responsibility to lead our children spiritually. A mother’s natural instinct is to teach the children their right, while a father teaches the children how to be responsible.”

The clergy also decried the trend in the rise of baby-mamas, saying that children ought to grow in the presence of the father and mother. His words:

The helmsman of Mirabel Centre used the opportunity to list facts on rape. These included that: Rape is never a victim’s fault; a child under 18 years can never give consent; there is no excuse for rape-it can never be justified; and the punishment for rape in Nigeria today is life imprisonment.

Mrs St. Matthew-Daniel, in her remarks, lamented the low turn out of people to the seminar, despite it being free. She, however, said parents have to come together to see that their children are protected against any form of sexual abuse or molestation. “Abuse of a child starts from a crack between the mother and father,” she submitted.

The ACT Generation founder also enjoined people to always report any case of abuse, assuring them of absolute safety and confidence. She also called on relevant authorities to support her NGO, a genderbased organisation that carters for the rehabilitation and healing of women and at-risk kids through advocacy, counseling, empowerment and reintegration.

Vanguard,FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

— 21

Shares allotment to founding members scuttles NSE going public

By Nkiruka Nnorom HE long awaited demutualisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, yesterday experienced a snag following its suspension by the National Council of the Exchange over the authenticity of list of founding fathers and other honorary members submitted to the dealing members by the NSE’s management.

Demutualisation is a process that will transform the stock exchange from a non-profit making organisation to a profit making organisation, and requires listing the shares of the Exchange on itself like any other public quoted company.

On demutualiastion, the dealing members and the honorary members, who constitute owners of Exchange, are expected to become shareholders through share allotment.

down the resolution to allow us certify the authenticity of that list.

An Extra-Ordinary General Meeting, EGM, will also be conveyed where we will consider the resolution,” the operator said.

Earlier in his address at the 55th Annual General Meeting, AGM, in Lagos, yesterday, the NSE president, Mr. Aigboje AigImokhuede, explained that the

Mutual entity

Council came to a conclusion to postpone the exercise after duly considering the processes involved and realised the need for further consultation with the stakeholders.

He stated that an EGM of the members would be conveyed to set a new time-line and modalities for the demutualisation without stating how soon the EGM will hold.

The NSE had set the demutualisation exercise as part of the spe-

T

Confirming this to Vanguard, a stockbroker who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that stockbrokers are not satisfied with the list of honorary members submitted to them by the Council members and have therefore requested for more time to verify the list.

He noted that considering long list submitted to the stockbrokers, the list might have been inflated. “You know that the Exchange as a mutual entity is owned by dealing members and the honorary members and all of them will become shareholders when the Exchange is demutualised.

The truth also is that the Exchange has submitted the list of founding member to us, but we have asked the Exchange to step

The Exchange as a mutual entity is owned by dealing members and the honorary members and all of them will become shareholders when the Exchange is demutualised

cial resolutions to be passed at the AGM on the notice of the meeting set out on page three of the Annual Reports and Accounts.

Extracts of the notice read: “That the National Council and management be and are hereby authorised to commence the process leading up to the demutualisation of the Exchange. That the National

Council and management be and are hereby authorised to do all such things and exercise all such powers as may be necessary or incidental for achieving the objective speciûed subject to applicable laws and regulations and obtaining the approvals of members and the relevant regulatory

authorities.”

Also in a bid to fast-track the entire process, the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, in 2015 stepped up efforts for the demutualisation of Exchange when it issued “Exposure draft rules on demutualisation of exchanges in Nigeria.”

Insurance consumers dump comprehensive covers for third party

By Rosemary Onuoha

D

UE to the high rate of inflation in the country coupled with the dwindling economic situation, many insurance consumers who ordinarily purchase comprehensive insurance covers have dumped them for third party policies, v a n g u a r d investigations can $139.20 2.25 reveal. $3,237.00 32.00 Also, because many c o r p o r a t e $ 19.05 0.01 organisations are having issues in posting positive bottom-lines, $50.59 0.71 corporations are jettisoning insurance. $49.76 0.63 Experts are of the opinion that this CURRENCY BUYING SELLING development will impact negatively on US DOLLAR 280.5 281 281.5 411.9423 412.6766 413.4109 POUNDS insurance companies’ 316.4882 317.0523 317.6165 EURO results at the end of 292.1266 292.6474 293.1681 FRANC 2016 financial year.

2.6822 2.6869 2.6917 YEN As consumers dump 0.4621 0.4721 0.4821 CFA 395.054 395.7582 396.4624 WAUA comprehensive covers 42.6237 42.7002 42.7766 RENMINBI for third party based on 74.79 74.9233 75.0567 RIYAL the fact that they are 42.5393 42.6151 42.691 KRONA compulsory, other 397.2441 397.9522 398.6603 SDR insurance policies that CBN Exchange rate as at 23/06/2016 are not compulsory are

C M Y K

Unity Bank partners NDLEA: From left, Director, Technical Services, NDLEA, Mr. Femi Oloruntoba, DG NDLEA, Mrs. Roli Bode George, Chief Compliance Officer, Unity Bank Plc, Umar Adamu, Director Training & Manpower Development, Dr. Lawrence Okpara at a public sensitization walk to flag off this year’s international Day against Drug and Illicit drug trafficking sponsored by Unity Bank in Lagos.

being jettisoned in totality.

Nigerians have always been averse to insurance; consequently, it is only when there is adequate disposable income that the average Nigerian will begin to consider insurance.

However, insurers are hopeful that the new flexible foreign exchange policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria will help the situation.

We are hopeful that the flexible exchange rate will prevent the gunpowder from exploding Managing Director of Risk Analyst Insurance Brokers Limited, Mrs. Funmi BabingtonAshaye who spoke to Vanguard said, “Individuals who insure comprehensively in the past, are abandoning comprehensive insurance for third party because

of the hard economic situation in the country. Also due to the inability of individuals and corporates bodies to access foreign exchange, insurers have not been able to meet up with their reinsurance agreement with foreign reinsurance companies.”

Investigations revealed that it has been very difficult to get forex to pay for insurance premium to overseas reinsurers for aviation and oil and gas businesses. Till this moment, a lot of companies have not been able to send reinsurance premium overseas.

Due to the fact that very small proportion of large risk insurance like oil and gas as well as aviation, is kept in the local market while close to 80 per cent are ceded abroad, insurers were not able to access foreign exchange for them to cede to the international market.

Consequently, a lot of premiums are stuck in the country. “As such, insurers were more or less sitting on a keg of gunpowder that could explode at anytime.

“We are hopeful that the flexible exchange rate will prevent the gunpowder from exploding” Babington-Ashaye said.

According to BabingtonAshaye, “ Claims are mounting

high due to inflation. “By the time you adjust claims in relation to the prevailing exchange rate, you just have to pay according to the adjusted figure and the prices have gone up. There a lot of big claims in the industry today because many organisations in the country are having big issues that are affecting their profitability.”

In the same vein, Director General of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, CIIN, Mr. Richard Borokini told Vanguard that a lot of local industries have closed shop because they could not purchase raw materials for their operations, hence insurance covers for such companies died with them, hitting hard on the sector.

Borokini said, “If the flexible exchange policy regime is well managed and people have access to foreign exchange, then most of the industries that closed shop will be revamped and then demand for insurance will increase. If the local industries are revamped and foreign investors come in, then capital is going to be available and this will jumpstart economic activities and demand for insurance will edge up too.”

22—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

Poultry farmers need government, banks support to meet capacity production

By Kingsley Adegboye

T

W

ITH a population orecast of the country to exceed 200 million by 2020, Nigeria has a rapidly growing demand for low-priced foods, which could be eased by the poultry sector through greater integration, higher performance and better marketing of live birds and branded chicken products.

And with the right environment and necessary support from both federal and state governments in terms of infrastructure provision such as roads and power supply on one hand, and from banks in terms of granting loans with flexible interest rates on the other hand, poultry farmers in Nigeria can meet the 1.5 million metric tonne-capacity of chicken being consumed in the country on daily basis.

Of this figure, only 300,000 metric tonnes are produced by Nigeria's poultry farmers while 1.2 million metric tonnes are being smuggled into the country despite the ban on importation of frozen chicken into the country.

The Group Managing Director of natnudO Foods, Ayoola Oduntan, a veterinary doctor and National President, Poultry Association of Nigeria PAN, who disclosed this last week during the media tour of natnudO Foods automated processing facilities in Awe, Oyo state, said there is every reason for poultry industry in Nigeria to attract government's attention because of its uniqueness.

According to the MD of natnudO Foods, producers of packaged eggs, processed chicken, fish and shrimps that are sold in malls and shops across the country, said the unique nature of poultry business is that “the industry is so unique because it can stimulate other economies down the line. That is why many countries around the world will actively promote their poultry industry.

Poultry industry “In doing that government will now need to provide infrastructure such as roads and power to farms, focus on the activation of maize, rice, soya, and wheat, farms, quarries, palm kernel and palm oil because all these items feed the poultry industry, thereby creating millions of jobs. So, you can imagine how much jobs will be created if government focuses on growing the industry.

“Right now, our local demand for poultry need is about 1.5million metric tonnes, but Nigerian farmers can produce about 300,000 metric tonnes. Our capacity as it is is between 700- 1 million tonnes and we can grow that capacity quickly as the government is willing to support the industry coupled with our determination to grow the poultry inC M Y K

Dizengoff: Making farming attractive in Nigeria through mechanisation

•Ayoola Oduntan

•Poultry dustry. “Our capacity utilization is about 46% but all that can increase within two years. There-

Right now, our local demand for poultry need is about 1.5million metric tonnes, but Nigerian farmers can produce about 300,000 metric tonnes fore, we will need to revive all the abandoned farms, use the existing major players as hubs around which we would develop smaller farming groups.

“In the area of training we shall mobilize, organized knowledge sharing platforms and government will of course come in with

infrastructural support targeted at farms. “A situation where most farmers in this country are borrowing money at 20%-30% is not encouraging. In most places where government is determined to turn agriculture around, farmers borrow money at between 3%6%. More farmers should have access to development finance initiatives.

“We believe that in 20 years, we will get to where we want to be.

If in 20 years, Brazil can become the largest exporter of chicken, and earning billions of dollars to its economy, Nigeria can do the same if necessary support is given by the government and banks.

The challenge really is lack of infrastructure and loans from banks to expand our business. We have taken loans to do roads to our farms and to provide electricity to our farms.

“In developed nations, it is the government that provides infrastructure for the people while banks grant loans to people to

execute their projects. But here in Nigeria, you will do everything as an individual. And even when the banks are willing to give loans, the interests on the loans are usually too high”, Oduntan lamented.

On his company's effort to improve on its current production capacity, he said with support from government and a little patient from Nigerians, natnudO has the capacity to produce enough poultry needs of Nigerians, stressing that “We are able and quite willing to spearhead this course because we are a Nigerian company and we have all our investments in this company. With all natnudO products ranging from eggs, chicken, fish, shrimps being produced by us, we are saying we have more than enough capacity to meet poultry sufficiency of Nigeria. All we need is government's support for local production of poultry products with enough protein for consumption.

FG, Tuns Farms sign N25 billion pacts on egg production ...as Farm to produce 50 million eggs

By Gabriel Ewepu

A

BUJA-THE Federal Government and Tuns Farms Limited, during the week, signed N25 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on National Egg Production Scheme (NEGPRO) in the next four years. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, signed on behalf of the Federal Government, while Chairman, Tuns Farms Ltd, Asiwaju Olatunde Badmus, signed on behalf of his company.

Ogbeh expressed optimism that the signing of the MoU will boost the protein nutrition of the school feeding programme just flagged off by the government. He said: “It is an interesting development, and today we are talking about a Nigerian successful farmer rather than a foreigner from a distant place to render service reached before now which very few were in position to render.

“It also shows clearly that we are growing even though there are challenges with the agriculture development and making progress. I know Tuns Farms Ltd and how big it is in Osun State, and now it is the single broiler producer in Nigeria.

“We are about to begin a huge school feeding

programme. We need to give every child at least three eggs per week if not an egg per day. We need these children to have greater sources of protein in their diet because to us we need them to develop mentally and physically because where the only diet of these children is carbohydrate it does this country no good.

“Let’s see how we can join hands to give Nigerians good nutrition despite being number one in egg production, Nigeria egg consumption is still very low. According to the Minister the scheme will help advance capacity to feed Nigerians and also increase economic activities in rural areas. The BoI has a role in providing finance for the take-off of the scheme.

Earlier in his speech Chairman, Tuns Farms, Olatunde Badmus, disclosed the company was saddled under the MoU to produce 50 million eggs and create employment for 1 million people.

His words, “The terms of reference of the MoU was that the Ministry appointed us as consultants and scheme manager, and they gave five terms.

One, to create 1 million employments through this scheme, then produce 50 million table eggs on daily basis from 2018. It involves three of us- Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Tuns Farms, and the Bank of Industry.

HE Cultivation of food in Nigeria is generally very labour intensive particularly with the small farmer holders. The manual work embarked by farmers and their families is very strenuous and time consuming and in Nigeria, this is a major constraint towards achieving an increase in agricultural production.

Also, the day to day labour of farming is a major contributory factor in the migration of people, particularly young people, from the rural areas to the urban in pursuit of a better life.

In Nigeria, a significantly high proportion of arable land is still been cultivated by hand tools, thereby making the farming profession unattractive even among young people. To ensure a significant growth in the agricultural sector and making it an attractive business both to families and the young people, efficient and adequate farm machineries must be deployed to farms.

According to the Commercial Manager, Tractor & Implements, Dizengoff Nigeria, Damisa Enahoro, “Dizengoff, through its Massey Ferguson brand of tractors is committed to providing high-quality machinery and appropriate technology to suit all types of farming operations in Nigeria”.

Farm cultivation Damisa further assures farmers that ‘’Dizengoff is truly a full-line supplier of farm equipment, providing solutions to farmers no matter what their farm size or type of operation is”.

Farm cultivation can be substantially increased through mechanisation, which is labour saving and directly increases yields and production. Inputs of hard labour by farmers and their families can be substantially reduced if they have access to or use carefully selected machines and equipment.

The labour invested can be used for other productive activities. Deploying the appropriate equipment to farms can also have a direct impact on yields and the area under production. Such technological interventions are commonly referred to as agricultural mechanization.

A mechanised farm with the appropriate machineries, take tractor for example, is able to sow 15 hectares a day, compared to if it is manually done with hoes, cutlasses and human labour- the best under a favourable condition is 1 hectare.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016—23

Operators worry over disbursement of new export loans

By Franklin Alli

By Naomi Uzor & Favour Efughi

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PERATORS in the non-oil sector of the economy are having sleepless nights over who gets portion of the N500 billion Export Stimulation Facility and the N50 billion Rediscounting and Refinancing Facility which the Federal Government approved for them to improve their operations and to diversify the economy from oil.

Vanguard captured the mood of the operators in the sector recently during a meeting with Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) in Lagos.

At the meeting, they lauded government for the new intervention funds, but worried that the money may not get to the real companies who needed it because of the stringent conditions set to access the facilities.

Kola Fashiru, Chairman, Cashew Producers Association, noted: “We are very excited. This is an answer to the cry we have made over times. However, the administration of the loan is very important. “To really make the intervention facilities work, I suggest that the Federal Government should identify 13 commodities for economic diversification and give a breakdown of what they want to give to each sector so that operators can be motivated topay back the money as each of these commodities grow.”

Welcome development Eke Ubiji, Executive Secretary, Nigeria Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME) said: “The money is coming at the right time; I can’t say it is very late but we have to be very careful it doesn’t fall into the problem other intervention funds had such as the Small and Medium Enterprises Equity Investment scheme, N300 billion Real Sector Support Facility (RSSF), etc, and we should ensure that the real stakeholders get this money.”

A representative of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, added: “The intervention fund is a welcome development and everything possible should be done to stimulate the non-oil exports.

He advised CBN and NEXIM to get MAN, LCCI, NACCIMA and other stakeholders involved in the disbursement of the funds.

Tunde Oyelola, Chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Export Promotion (MANEG), stated that since the special intervention fund was earmarked to boost the non-oil export sector, exporters, who have Negotiable Duty Credit Certificates (NDCCs) should be allowed to use their NDCCs as collateral to access the loan at the nine percent lending rate as deC M Y K

NECA demands passage of competition law

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*A cross section of participants during ‘Walk for Competition Bill’ organised by a coalition of private sector Membership Business Organisations (MBO) in Lagos. clared by the apex bank, CBN. “Furthermore, a window should be created through the CBN in-

Previous loans are running at very high interest rate and we want you to recognise existing loans and try to accommodate them tervention funds to accommodate our members who have borrowed from their banks earlier, so that,

they can benefit from the scheme and this will go a long way in advancing the economic diversification agenda of the federal government.

Similarly, Chairman of Cocoa Producers Association of Nigeria (COPAN), said: “We thank CBN and NEXIM for not being tired of us. Previous loans are running at very high interest rate and we want you to recognise existing loans and try to accommodate them.

“Our people bear the biggest brunt as existing factories are near bankruptcy because the facilities are old and need to be retooled.

While encouraging the new ones, don’t abandon the old ones because they need refinancing.”

On her part, Mrs. FatehUdo

Marvis, Assistant Director, Development Finance Department, DFD, of CBN, told the stakeholders that the new export funding scheme was government’s response to address the decline in revenue from non-oil products; this is to increase the flow of loans to operators in the sector in order to stimulate growth and attract more investments that would contribute to the diversification of the economy and increase contribution of exports to GDP, foreign exchange and jobs creation. Hope Yongo, Technical Adviser to MD, NEXIM, explained reasons for the existing and prospective exporters to beyond meeting collateral requirements for the loans.

Etisalat donates ICT, lab equipment to adopted schools

By Etop Ekanem

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TISALAT Nigeria recently reiterated its commitment to the development of education and youth empowerment with the donation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), laboratory and educational facilities to two of its adopted schools in Lagos State. The schools are Akande Dahunsi Memorial Junior and Senior High Schools in Ikoyi.

The equipment aimed at promoting an environment conducive for learning include: apparatuses for the biology, chemistry and physics laboratories, projector, laptops, a router and provision of free internet access to the senior school’s computer laboratory for 12 months in the first instance.

Others are the provision of furniture, repair of water treatment plant, reconnection of the schools to the general power grid, as well as other sundry repair works carried out in the schools.

Speaking at the formal handover of the equipment to managements of the schools recently, Director, Regulatory and CSR, Etisalat Nigeria, Ikenna Ikeme, said the gesture was part of Etisalat’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme under the Etisalat Adopt-A-School initiative.

He said: “Education is one of

our key CSR pillars at Etisalat, and we are very happy to be associated with developments in the educational sector.”

Director, Schools Administration, Lagos Education District 3, Ikoyi, Mr. Mudashiru Raji, thanked Etisalat Nigeria for the donation of the facilities, and said the gesture aligned with government’s conviction that the

provision of qualitative education should not be left alone to government.

Principal, Akande Dahunsi Memorial Senior High School, Mrs. Olayinka Badejo, on behalf of teachers and students expressed gratitude to Etisalat for their consistency and commitment to the schools since it adopted them in 2009.

EPA, pathway to Nigeria’s economic diversification — EU

By Naomi Uzor

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HE European Union, EU, has said the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) is a pathway to Nigeria’s economic diversification, integrationtoglobaltrade,economic governance and investment.

Head of Trade and Economics, European Union Delegation to Nigeria and West Africa, Mr. Fillippo Amato, stated this at the dialogue session on international trade organized by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

He said very few products were now made within only one national territory and value chains were increasingly global, adding that fragmentation of production increases with complexity of products.

He said the advantages for Nigeria businesses were export duty-free, quota-free to EU from day

one and benefit from lower import prices.

Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Lagos State, Prince Rotimi Ogunleye, said Lagos State was improving its business environment by institutionalization of a PublicPrivate Engagement Mechanism (PPEM) through the bi-annual Lagos Corporate Assembly, a platform for receiving inputs and feedback from members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) on Government policies and programmes.

ThePresidentofLCCI,ChiefNike Akande, said as many countries that have recorded sustainable growth and development through an export-led strategy, effective venturing into international trade were expected to also assist Nigeria get sustained growth at the rates needed to make a visible impact on poverty reduction.

HE Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) has urged lawmakers to match words with action and give the country a competition law before the end of this year.

Speaking at a one day walk for competition bill in Lagos, the Director General of NECA, Mr. Segun Oshinowo, said although the bill has passed the second reading in the House of Representatives, it does not give any room for cheers as some previous attempts to pass this bill even surpassed this stage before it was ‘abandoned’, so to speak.

“We therefore, urge the lawmakers to match words with action and give Nigeria a competition law before the end of this year. We also call on the Federal Government to revisit the Draft Competition and Consumer Protection Policy Document and approve it as a matter of urgency. It is this Policy that sets out the goal of promoting competition in the economy. We further call on the Federal Government to mainstream competition in broader areas of economic development such as trade and industrial policy, investment policy, privatization and deregulation policy, etc.,” he said.

He noted that with the ongoing reforms in the economy and the privatisation and liberalization programmes that have been pursued over the past few years, it is important that these programmes are supported with the appropriate regulatory measures and laws to ensure that they deliver real benefits to the citizens.

“One of such measures is the adoption of a competition regime. It is important to note that if Nigeria, which has committed itself to market liberalisation, through privatisations and deregulation of various sectors of the economy, does not have a competition law; it may unwittingly end up creating new economic dangers.

Indeed these are already manifest in some sectors and industries” The Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Lagos state, Mr. Rotimi Ogunleye, said the Lagos state has the same focus on consumer protection law which was enacted in 2014 and that they are trying to empower it so that it can become operational.

“Sadly, we were not given a copy of the bill prior to today, so I don’t really know the provisions there but from what you have said, it is essentially geared at protecting consumers, which is the same focus we have here.”

24—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

Looking within to reposition NCAA

By Lawani Mikairu

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HERE has been agitation among aviation stakeholders that there is need to make the leadership of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, more autonomous and assertive in the discharge of the agency functions. They contend that the current leadership of NCAA has not been able to free itself from undue interference.

The Civil Aviation Act 2006 empowers the Authority to regulate Aviation Safety without political interference, and also to carry out oversight functions of Airports, Airspace, Meteorological Services, as well as economic regulations of the industry. It also issues licenses to intending airline operators, regulates them and regulates pilots among other functions.

While some have acknowledged that NCAA may have achieved some milestones, like reducing the spate of air mishaps over the years, it needs improvements in areas like passengers protection, regulatory oversight on airlines especially private jet operators, local airlines protection and support, hiring of more technical staff, training and retraining of existing staff as well as staff motivation for optimal performance. And the current leadership does not seem to have the capacity to meet these challenges. The regulator’s capability, commitment to minute details and a knack for ensuring the strictest of standards without compromising could make the difference.

Regulatory capability There is a general consensus that an NCAA Director-General must have the strong will to be independent of political control and be able to implement programmes that will boost the NCAA’s regulatory capability.

Also the NCAA DG must be a thorough bred professional with the strength of character and capability to reposition the industry against all odds.

With the changes currently undertaken by the Minister of State, Aviation in the aviation parastatal, stakeholders have called on him to look within NCAA to get thorough bred professionals to reposition the agency for optimal performance. Some names have been thrown up by these stakeholders.

Some names like Engr. Benedict Adeyileka, the NCAA Director, Airworthiness Standards and one time acting NCAA DG, and Captain Abdullahi Sidi, the Director operations and training have always been mentioned in every discourse.

Adeyileka seems to be more favoured having acted once as the Director General of this same NCAA during which he distinguished himself. He currently oversees the Directorate of Airworthiness Standards (DAWS) a C M Y K

very critical directorate in the agency. He is a professional with trainings at home and abroad, and experience spanning over 32 years at senior level in the Aviation Industry in the United Kingdom, Asia, Africa and Europe.

His wealth of experience straddles across the industry in variety of roles like aircraft maintenance engiMinister of neering, design Sirika and manufacturing, avionics, quality systems, technical services. As a regulator in the civil aviation authority, he has worked both with aircraft manufacturers, Airlines and Maintenance Repair Organisations [MROs] in such prestigious companies such as BAE Systems Woodford UK, Scottish Highland Airways Inverness UK, Gill Airways UK and at Gatari Air in Indonesia. As a seasoned Engineer, he has successfully been involved with Airline start-up both in the UK and Asia.

As the then Acting DG, NCAA, he supervised and executed the process that fetched Nigeria Category recertification. Also during his tenure some NCAA staff got trained abroad and he made staff welfare a priority among other achievements. Industry sources tips him more for the job having acted successfully before in that capacity and his track records.

Other achievements by Engr.

It is believed that Adeyileka has the capacity to solve some of the issues, like the capacity gap in the sector, that aviation experts have consistently raised Adeyileka while he acted as NCAA DG include coordination of the successful curtailment of the spread of Ebola Fever communicable diseases through air transportation by issuing appropriate procedures and guidelines to airlines; successful certification and recertification of new air operators and existing air operator certificate holders; set up committee for review of scheme of

transport industry.

Retired Group Captain John Ojikutu, a member of the Aviation Roundtable, was recently quoted as listing the challenges of NCAA to include; “inadequate manpower; insufficient professionals as regulators and inspectors to enforce compliance of registrations on operators.”

He insisted “that rather than letting the government know what the NCAA challenges are, the leadership largely live in denial and give the government and public the impression that all is well at NCAA, a situation only a string committed leadership can address.”

State, Aviation, Senator Hadi

charges to boost NCAA revenue generation; continuous training of NCAA FSG Inspectors through liaison with International organisations like IATA and airbus; reorganisation and revamping of Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) Aeronautical Division and championed the enforcement of expatriate quota and development of Nigerian pilots and engineers in the aviation industry.

He also appeals to a large segment of the staff.

C a p t .

Abdullahi Sidi, the Director operations and training, NCAA, a pilot is also being considered.

He attended several professional course home and aboard.

He worked at the liquidated Nigerian Airways, Cabo Air, IRS Airlines, Aero Contractors among others.

He is said to enjoy the confidence of the current DG and had a charisma that appeals to a lot of his staff. He currently supervises the Directorate of Operations and Training (DOT) which is responsible for the effective oversight activities and setting of standards in all areas of flight operations and training in the Nigeria air

Stakeholders forum Also, Captain Roland Iyayi, the former CEO NAMA and President / CEO Topbrass Aviation Limited while commenting at the Aviation stakeholders forum in Abuja said, the CEOs in the aviation needs replacing as they are not supporting growth of the industry. “If we want to see through these wonderful ideas and grow the industry, I make bold to say, that we need to have the right competencies, in the right positions and at this time, at this point

in time, Hon. Minister, we don’t have the right competencies, in the right positions. If it is understood by those in the helm of affairs – the regulators and service providers – if they understand their responsibility to the industry, when stakeholders come to them and raise issues, it is important and imperative that they respond immediately” he noted.

“I give an example, I wrote an eight page letter to NCAA raising issues, it took the NCAA three months, for me to get a response. We had an FOE incidence in Abuja, we wrote to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), as I speak, we have not receive any responses to six letters and we have incurred a damage worth $268,000 on an aircraft and nobody says anything.

At the same time, the NCAA is telling on the things we need to do to get AOCs, we have complained yet they come back tell us you cannot operate. It is very sad. I’m an investor, a professional and entrepreneur but we cannot sustain our investments when we don’t have people with the right competencies’. That needs to be addressed” he said.

Should the President decides to yield to the calls and look within the NCAA for a DG, industry watchers and some members of staff have suggested the likely candidates could be Engr. Benedict Adeyileka as he has the ability to takle some of these issues raised by the experts.

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Let strike be your last option, Wike charges labour unions Says ‘strike in Nigeria are getting too many' P

By Jimitota Onoyume

ORT HARCOURT—RIVERS State governor, Mr Nyesom Wike has advised labour unions to use strike as the last option in trade disputes to stem the tide of development challenges witnessed as a result of the frequency of strikes in the country.

Governor Wike also said that the state government will collaborate with National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, as it develops a Tankers Village at Eleme with a view to taking tankers off the highways and generating revenue.

Addressing the National Administrative Council of NUPENG, led by its President, Igwe Aches at the Government House, Port Harcourt, yesterday, Governor Wike said that he believed that workers should be allowed to unionise so that companies and organisations will be encouraged to always consider their welfare.

He said: “I believe that strikes should serve as a last option for unions during trade disputes. The strikes in Nigeria are getting too many and efforts should be targeted at reducing them.”

He appreciated the leaders of NUPENG calling off their strike following his intervention, noting that the state government has already called on oil companies to reciprocate by recalling the sacked workers.

The governor urged unions to always work towards the development of money spinning ventures, to reduce

their dependence on check off dues for survival.

Expressing happiness that NUPENG was developing a tankers village/Tank farm in Rivers State, he directed the state Commissioner for Energy and the Special Adviser on Lands to work with the union to bring the project to fruition and ensure the release of

certificate of occupancy for the project site.

Governor Wike, however, said that the state will work out amnesty for criminals and cultists who lay down their arms and embrace peace.

Earlier, PresidentofNUPENG, Igwe Aches commended the governor for his development strides in the areas of infrastructure and welfare of workers.

LAUNCHING: From left—Guest Speaker and family physician, Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, BMH, Port Harcourt, Dr. Alali Dan-Jumbo; Marketing Manager, Arla Dano, Afousat Traore and Head of Dept., Home Science and Nutrition, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, and National President, Dietitians Association of Nigerian, Prof. Elizabeth Ngwu, at the official launch of Dano Milk “Health on Wheels” campaign in Port Harcourt. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi

N-DELTA: New militant group emerges, demands sovereign state

S

By Godwin Oghre

APELE—PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari’s recent efforts to bring succour to the crisis ravaged oil rich Niger Delta region may witness yet another hindrance as a new militant group, Asawana Deadly Force of Niger Delta, ADFND, emerged, yesterday, in the region, threatening to cripple the oil industry across the nine Niger Delta states unless the Federal Government grants them, “Niger Delta Republic in the next couple of days.”

The group in a statement by its leader, Commander Olomubini Kakarakokoro, a.k.a No Mercy, said that, “Except our demand for Niger Delta Republic is granted, without further notice to the Federal Government, we shall proceed to bomb Bonga field flow station, Asaba- Onistha Bridge, Third Mainland Bridge and other major bridges in the Southtern part of the country, just for a start.

“The Federal Government should as a matter of urgency, withdraw all the military check points from the riverside areas of the Niger Delta, else we shall proceed to match against any baby military formation in the region without further notice.

“We are most dreaded, deadly and dangerous group in Niger Delta. Our team is comprised of specialists in different fields of war, and is poised to win the struggle C M Y K

for a Niger Delta State. Our struggle is not for monetary benefit or the so-called monthly N65,000 amnesty stipend. It is for the liberation and the development of the Niger Delta region.

“We therefore, warn every other group or persons as regards the fake dialogue process embarked upon by the Federal Government to know that they are not doing that for us. We are taking over from our brothers, the Niger Delta

Avengers.

“As we speak all preparations and plans are on ground to strike and bring down the crude oil production to 0%, irrespective of the of the military presence in the region. The Federal Government will hear from us.”

COMMUNAL CLASH: Delta

community dismisses alleged imposition of N1m on male indigenes

By Ochuko Akuopha

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LEH—THE people of Igbide community, Isoko South Local Government Area, Delta State, have described as malicious and unfounded, media reports that a fine of N1 million was imposed on male indigenes of the community, who fled the area in the recent bloody clash with neighbouring

Okpolo-Enwhe over a disputed piece of land.

Reacting to the media reports, President of Igbide Union, Chief David Edegware, in a statement, yesterday, said “To further prove the point that Igbide community is not the aggressor in this conflict and that we have always toed the path of peace, on June 13, 2016, information came to us that an Okpolo-Enhwe man and his wife strayed into our

territory and were apprehended.

“Despite the tension, this information generated, the Ovie of Igbide and the President managed the situation to forestall the rise in tempers that may lead to another bloody clash. Thus, the man, Mr. Onowakpo and his wife were promptly handed over to the security operatives who took them in their vehicle to Enhwe.”

N-Delta youths urge Buhari to confirm Semenitari as NDDC's MD

By Davies Iheamnachor

P

ORT HARCOURT—A group of youths in the Niger Delta region, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to confirm Mrs. Ibim Semenitari as the Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. The youths who came together on the platform of

Niger Delta Youths, said that the call was as a result of the landmark achievement of Semenitari as acting Managing Director of the commission.

Spokesperson for the group, Mr. General Ebi, said that the call was necessitated by the performance of Semenitari as the acting MD. Ebi stated that since the

establishment of NDDC, that the current acting MD has performed better than past MDs of the commission.

He said that the confirmation will be for the further development of the oil rich region, adding that Semenitari was visiting every part of the region with meaningful projects.

Delta SSG mourns Kpogban

A

By Festus Ahon

SABA—SECRETARY to Delta State Government, Chief Festus Ovie, has expressed sadness at the demise of Chief Peter Kpogban, a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the state.

Speaking when the leadership of the PDP in Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state, paid a condolence visit to the family of the late Kpogban in Benin, Edo State, Agas said that the deceased was a founding father of the party, who worked assiduously in ensuring that the party won the 2015 governorship election.

Describing Kpogban as political icon who lived a good life and left behind, a good legacy, he advised the party faithful and all Deltans to emulate his virtues.

Earlier in his remarks, the party Chairman in Ughelli North, Mr. Lawrence Agbatutu described Kpogban’s death as painful, emphasizing that his contribution towards building and sustaining the party “will not be forgotten.”

Eruotor emerges as Okpara PDP leader

By Onozure Dania

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KPARA—THE Okpara Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Stakeholders and Leaders of Thought, in Okpara Inland, Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, have adopted Mr. Steve Eruotor as the new political leader of the community, following their unwillingness to continue with the leadership style of Mr. Love Ojakovo.

The Okpara PDP stakeholders, who also adopted Mr. James Akpomiemie to serve as deputy leader to Eruotor, said that the Okpara community decided to drop Ojakovo, since his leadership had brought setback to the party through his failure to convene meetings and his intolerance of political views and ideas of other political elites.

In a communiqué by Chief Andrew Majemite (Okpara Inland), Emudiaga Ishegbe (Okurekpo) and Chief Davidson Okparamidevi (Okpara Waterside) said that Ojakovo dual leadership as President-General of Okpara and others, that the people of Okpara communityhavelongbeenyearning forchangeonhowtoinjectnewbreed of political leaders into the community.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016—37

VANGUARD

CLASSIFIED

EBHONHON

ABEGUNDE

AFO AKU AFOAKU

IBE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Paul Vivian Isy, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Eminue Vivian Isy. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

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IT A-SAM ITA-SAM

ABU

ORJIEME

NMA

FELIX

EZEIGBO

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ita-Sam Rita Martha, now wish to be known and addressed as Miss Ita-Sam Rita. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

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OGUNNUBI

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BORUP

PAUL

SADIQ

EFFIONG

OCADECE

I, formerly known and addressed as Sadiq Hussaina Ovaioza, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Odeh Hussaina Ovaioza. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Udokang Grace Effiong, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Udo Grace Sunday. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Ms. Ogunnubi Blessing Abikemi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Omedomero Blessing Abikemi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Correction of Name This is to inform the general public that my name was wrongly written as Abel Akpoveghon Okpabeku, instead of Okpubeku Akpoveghon Abel.

All former documents remain valid.

Zenith Bank, First Bank and general public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Catherine Ifeoma Udeh, now wish to be addressed and known as Mrs. Catherine Ifeoma Oliver Urama.

EBSU, NYSC, AIFPU and the general public should take note.

BORUP-I, formerly known and addressed as Borup Mercy Oghenefegor, now wish to be known and addressed as Igbudu Mercy Oghenefegor .

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

CHUKWU

PAUL

AZEEZ

EMONENA

JON ATHAN JONA

LEGU

CHUKWU- I, formerly known and addressed as Chukwu Ikechukwu, now wish to be known and addressed as Ikechukwu Chukwu Sunday. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

PAUL-I, for merly known and addressed as Paul Marvis Jane, now wish to be known and addressed as James Marvis Jane.

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

AZEEZ- I, formerly known and addressed as Azeez Ayo, now wish to be known and addressed as Azeez Kazeem Akintunde.

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

EMONENAI, formerly known and addressed as Emonena Jennifer, now wish to be known and addressed as Emonena Ovuefe. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Correction of Name This is to inform the general public that my name was wrongly written as Ademosu Abayomi Jonathan, instead of Abayomi Michael Ademosu.

Thus, Ademosu Abayomi Jonathan and Abayomi Michael Ademosu is the same person. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Ikporere Victoria Legu, now wish to be known and addressed as Ikporere Victoria Ifeloju. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ISAAC

OPIAH

AWIANKEE

BAKARE

EGB UAGHA EGBU

EMENIKE

I, formerly known and addressed as Isaac Olutola Samson, now wish to be known and addressed as Oluwasusi Olutola Samson. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Opiah Chika Esther, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adamson Chika Esther. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Joyce Owen Awiankee, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Joyce Nkereuwem Umoh. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Bakare Halimot Shadiat, now wish to be known and addressed as Ogundimun Halimot Shadiat. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Egbuagha Chioma Charleen, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ikedimma Chioma Charleen. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Ifeoma Emenike Patience, now wish to be known and addressed as Onyinye Emenike Gift. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

IJEOMA

EDITH

OCHEI

KAYODE

EDUZALA

I, formerly known as Miss Ihevueme, Ijeoma Margaret, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ezekwe, Ijeoma Margaret . All former documents bearing my former name remain valid.

General public please take note.

IKUNE

I, formerly known and addressed as Edith Nkoyeh Omoroje, now wish to be known and addressed as Esther N. Omoroje. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Ochei Uche Mary, now wish to be known and addressed as Osemedualim Uche Mary. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Confirmation of Name This is to confirm that the name Kayode Eniola and Kayode Onaolapo, refer to one and the same person as Onaola Kayode Babatunde. Now wish to be known and addressed as Onaola Kayode Babatunde. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Franca Ikune, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Franca Oghenerume.

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

Confirmation of Name This is to confirm that the names Blessing Eduzala Aimayo, Eduzala Aimayo Iyangbe, and Aimayo Blessing refer to one and the same person.

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

38 —VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

NNAJI I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Chinenye Angel Nnaji, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Chinenye Angel Okonkwo. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OKONKWO I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Okonkwo Felicia Nkechi Cynthia, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Okafor Felicia Nkechi.

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

IYASELE I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ruth Iyasele, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ruth Akpovi Okudolor. All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

KUNU I,formerly known and addressed as Eyituoyo Timothy Kunu, now wish to be known and addressed as Eyituoyo Timothy Erebo. All former documents remain valid.

Local government service commission Asaba and general public please take note.

OSAROGIE

ANAYO

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Anayo Ayandoyin Eniitan, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ogunsiji Doyin Eniitan. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ANTHONY I, formerly known and addressed as Edith Chioma Anthony, now wish to be known and addressed as Edith Chioma Okororie. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

IGERE I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Igere Evelyn, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Wandogun Evelyn.

All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

GLORIA I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Etibensi Gloria, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Sunday Gloria. All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

NKWOCHA

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Osarogie Lizzy Uhunmwangho, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Osarogie Lizzy Imafidon-Okungbowa.

All former documents remain valid. Heritage Bank and general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ndidi Maryann Nkwocha, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ndidi Maryann Nkwo.

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

NANAKUMO

NENKWALMA

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Cynthia Okuboere Nanakumo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Cynthia .O. Nanakumo Austine Uche.

All former documents remain valid. National Insurance Commission (NICOM) and general public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Mrs Nenkwalma Hannatu Indosire, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Muhammad Hannatu Indosire. all former documents remain valid. general public please take note.

ABBAS I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Damilola Fatimah Abbas, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Damilola Fatimah Amaechi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

BLESSING I, formerly known and addressed as Blessing Osinachi Nwaokocha, now wish to be known and addressed as Princess Chinagorom Nwaokocha. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME PETER

I, formerly known and addressed as Peter Enobong Peter, now wish to be known and addressed as Peter Enobong Efik. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

KINGZONE I, formerly known and addressed as Ukachukwu Kingsley Kingzone, now wish to be known and addressed as Ukachukwu Kingsley Uchenna. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OKPAKO I, formerly known and addressed as Tameta Okpako, now wish to be known and addressed as Tameta Rachael. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

MENI Confirmation of Name This is to confirm that Meni Favour Bright and Menihu Favour Bright is the same and one person, now wish to be known and addressed as Menihu Anayo Paulinus.

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

OTITE I, formerly known and addressed as Otite Owenrode Monday, now wish to be known and addressed as Otite Owerode Owen. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

LUKA

IRIRI

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Jessica O. Iriri, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Jessica O. Ashasha. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ANEKE I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Patricia Aneke, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Patricia Aneke AnieIgba. All former documents remain valid. Lagos State University and general public please take note.

ANGELA

RICHARD I, formerly known and addressed as Richard Harrison, now wish to be known and addressed as Idolor Harrison. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

AGOFURE I, formerly known and addressed as Dr. (Miss) Agofure Bridget Ejiroghene, now wish to be known and addressed as Dr. (Mrs) Akpojivi Bridget Ejiroghene. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

Addition of Name I, formerly known and addressed as Ekejiuba Angela, now wish to be known and addressed as Ekejiuba Chika Angela.

All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

ERHIMU

Confirmation of Name This is to confirm that Erhimu Eyakade Priscilla and Eyakade Priscilla is the same and one person, now wish to be known and addressed as Erhimu Eyakade Priscilla. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

FATIMOH I, formerly known and addressed as Balogun Fatimoh Binaibi, now wish to be known and addressed as Balogun Gloria Benaebi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OBOMURE

Confirmation of Name My Bank Account bears Joseph Obomure, while others bears James Obomure. The Names Joseph Obomure and James Obomure as they appear in various documents belongs to me, and the same person.

NDA, IBTC, UBA, ECO banks should please take note.

AMROBORARE I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Cordelia Amroborare, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Cordelia Enakirerhi. All former documents remain valid. Local government service commission Asaba and general public please take note.

EHIZE

OFUEBO

MBAKA

I, formerly known and addressed as Ehize Francis Iseghohi, now wish to be known and addressed as Ehize Donald Iseghohi. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ofuebo Onome Nelly, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Oyiboruno Onome Nelly. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Mbaka Kelechi David, now wish to be known and addressed as Mbaka Elechi David. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

EDEM

AKE

HALIDU

I, formerly known and addressed as Imogu Peter Ake, now wish to be known and addressed as Okpewo Imogu Peter Ake. All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Asma’u Halidu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Asma’u Ogbadu. All former documents remain valid. University of Abuja, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and general public please take note.

I, formerly known, called and addressed as Miss Esther Queen Edem, now wish to be known, called and addressed as Mrs. Esther Queen Chukwuka.

All documents bearing my former names remain valid. General public please take note.

OBIOMA

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Rhoda Luka, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ezekiel Ashezi Rhoda. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Umechuruba Joshua Obioma, now wish to be known and addressed as Nathan Joshua Obioma.

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

JAFARU

OLUBIYI

I, formerly known and addressed as Mohammed Jafaru, now wish to be known and addressed as Jaeger Jafar John.

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

I, formerly known and addressed as Olubiyi Azeez Oriyomi, now wish to be known and addressed as Olubiyi Azeez Akanji. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

IBEMESI I, formerly known and addressed as Barr. (Miss) Ibemesi Munachimyi Chidimma, now wish to be known and addressed as Barr. (Mrs) Nwokeji Munachimyi Chidimma.

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

AMINA Confirmation of Name I am one and the same person

as

Amina

Galadima-Oshoniyi and Amina Okun. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

OYINLOLA Confirmation of Name I am one and the same person as Mrs Oyinlola Abimbola Williams and Mrs Oyinlola Fehintola Abimbola Williams but now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Oyinlola Fehintola Abimbola Williams. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OBIDIMMA I, formerly known and addressed as Obidimma Ugochukwu, now wish to be known and addressed as Obidimma Ugochukwu Anselam. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016—39

CHANGE OF NAME VIVIAN

EYET AN EYETAN

IJOMAH

IWET AN IWETAN

JOSEPHINE

AKENI

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Asiwe Isioma Vivian, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Jonathan Vivian. All former documents remain valid.

Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Eleje Eyetan Dennis, now wish to be known and addressed as Elete Eyetan Dennis. All former documents remain valid.

Zenith Bank PLC and the general public should please take note.

Correction of Name My name was erroneously spelt of some of my document as Sunday Ijomah instead of Sunday Ijeoma, now wish to be known and addressed as Sunday Ijeoma. All former documents remain valid.

Authorities concerned

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Iwetan Benedicta Selewarelade, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Nimughan Iwetan Benedicta Selewarelade.

All former documents remain valid. Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Josephine Ogbonna, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs.Uloma Josephine Njoku. All former documents remain valid.

Authorities concerned and the general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Akeni Okeoghene Juliet, now wish to be known and addressed as Eduje Okeoghene. All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

MA THIAS MATHIAS

TEJIRI

CHARLES

RAIMI

ANULUMADU

UMOLU

I, formerly known and addressed as Mathias Lesley Esukuside, now wish to be known and addressed as Young Mathias Lesley Eniye.

All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Tejiri Elvira Ojighodedjo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Tejiri Elvira Emuda. All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Eghwrudjakpor Charles, now wish to be known and addressed as Oghenevwakpor Charles.

All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Raimi Sulaimon, now wish to be known and addressed as Abdur-Raheem Sulaimon Waniyon. All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Anulumadu Ogechi Obiageriaku, now wish to be known and addressed as Okere Ogechi Obiageriaku. All former documents remain valid. Fidelity Bank Plc and general public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Umolu Chioma Lynda, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Okafor Chioma Lynda.

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

YAKUB

MASOJE

OVOR O ORO

IRUERO

OTEGWONO

OGBODO

I, formerly known and addressed as Winifred Yakub, now wish to be known and addressed as Winifred Ikpefan. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Julie Masoje, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Julie Masoje Omorogbe. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ovoro Martha, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Owhofasa Martha.

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

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Joy Ochuko Iruero, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Joy Ochuko Aideyan. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Loveth Otegwono Ighomrore, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Loveth Ighomrore Idedevbo. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Ogbodo Uyoyou, now wish to be known and addressed as Amagada Uyoyou. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

IT ABELE ITABELE

AGUNWOKE

BENJAMIN

ROSE

ARISE

AVI

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Itabele Onakome Jessica, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Okeruemu Oghenekevwe Onakome Jessica. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Agu Nwoke Benedicta Chidinma, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ekene-Iyeh Benedicta Chidinma. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as OrusheriKay Benjamin, now wish to be known and addressed as OrusheriKay Edewor Benjamin. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Confirmation of Name I, Paul Peremobo-Ere Rose hereby confirm that the name Paul Peremobo-Ere as it appears on some of my documents refer to one and same me. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Christiana Oluwadamilare Arise, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oluwadamilare Johnson Koiki. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Avi Chinyere Philomina, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Chinedu Chinyere Philomina. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OK ONKW O OKONKW ONKWO

ORJI

UBANI

UNAMBA

WOSU

OP ARA OPARA

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Okonkwo Florence Ifechukwude, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Abam-Moses Florence Favour Ifechukwude.

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

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Kalu Ijeoma Orji, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Lucky Ijeoma Blessing.

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

I formerly known and addressed as Ubani Nnenna Christiana, now wish to be known and addressed as Patrick Nnenna Christiana. All former Documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Unamba Sylvia Ijeoma, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Amadi Sylvia Ijeoma.

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

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Queen Ureh Wosu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Queen Ureh Agunya. All former documents remain valid.

The general public please takes note.

Confirmation of Name This Is to confirm that the names Izuchukwu Edwin Opara, Izuchukwu Jonathan Opara belong to one and the same person, now wish to be known and addressed as Izuchukwu Jonathan Opara. All former documents remain valid. The general public please takes note.

OFUDJE

OGBODU

THOMPSON

OKPULU

OBI

Confirmation of Name That the names on my National Identity card was erroneously written as Ofudjo Morriso Benjanama instead of Ofudje Morrison, now wish to be known and addressed as Ofudje Morrison. All former documents remain valid.

The general public and Eco- Bank please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ogbodu Roseline Ovuederaye, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Roseline Ovuederaye Idamatie. All former documents remain valid, Ministry of Education Asaba and the general public to take note.

Addition of name I formerly known and addressed as Thompson Ekerete now wish to be known and addressed as Umoren Thompson Ekerete. All for documents remain valid, Eco bank and the general public to take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Juliet Ebere Okpulu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ajabor Juliet Ebere.

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

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Obi Nkechi Maureen, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Okoloma Nkechi Maureen. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

MOMOH

EGHOMIE

EBOME

AJORGBOR

JAMES

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Happy Azunmi Momoh, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Happy Azunmi Uyi-Imade. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Grace Lucy Eghomie, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Grace Lucy Okolie. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ebome Rosemary Amauche, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Orji Rosemary Amauche.

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

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Omodame Ajorgbor, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. AsoyaAjorgbor Phina. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss James Ojortule Edith, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Igwe Ojortule Edith. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OGAH Confirmation of Name This Is to confirm that the names Ogah, Chiadikaobi and Ogah, Chiadikaobi Innocent, as appeared in my various documents refer to one and the same person now wish to be known as Ogah Chiadikaobi. All former documents remain valid.

The general public and Ecobank please takes note.

JALLAH I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Joy Kaliku Jallah, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Joy Kaliku Jallah Obiazi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

40 —VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

CHANGE OF NAME

UBIDO I, formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Peace Aruoriwo Ubido, now wish to be known and addressed as Peace Aruoriwo Imonikebe. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EGWU

ABUNA I, formerly known and addressed as Abuna Ahmed, now wish to be known and addressed as Ibrahim Ahmed Isah. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ONWUEMENE

NWAOBI Confirmation of Name This is to confirm that the names Nwaobi Emmanuel Emeka and Nwaobi Emmanuel refer to one and the same person, but now wish to be known and addressed as Nwaobi Emmanuel Emeka. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AYOGU

Confirmation of Name This is to confirm that the names Egwu Chioma Hannah and Egwuuka Aja Hannah refer to one and the same person, but now wish to be known and addressed as Egwu Chioma Hannah. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as O n w u e m e n e Osemedualim Emmanuel, now wish to be known and addressed as Nwannebuife Osemedualim Emmanuel. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

AYOGU - I, formerly known and addressed as Ayogu Faith Ogochukwu now wish to be known and addressed as Eze Faith Ogochukwu. All former documents remain valid. Ă˝ General public please take note.

OKENWA

OYIBOJOBA

DANIEL

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Oyibojoba Oghenetega Ruth, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Umukoro Oghenetega Ruth. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Patricia Daniel, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Patricia Oro Odjevwedje. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Okenwa Amarachukwu Mercy Chile, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. K u n l e - O b i y Amarachukwu Mercy Pearl. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

ALEX I, formerly known and addressed as Alex Ovie Godfrey, now wish to be known and addressed as Ogbeyeshiku Ovie Godfrey. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

BLESSING I, formerly known and addressed as Odjegba Ebruphiyo Blessing, now wish to be known and addressed as Odjegba Ebruphiyo. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AHMED

NWULU

I, formerly known and addressed as Ahamed Abdulwahab Ibrahim now wish to be known and addresed as Tijjani Abdulwahab.

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

Confirmation of Names The names Nwulu Christy Ifesi and Nwulu Christiana Ifesi refer to one and the same person, but now wish to be known and addressed as Nwulu Christiana Ifesi. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

EBI I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Bramor Ebi Edith, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ighalo Edith Bramor.

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

AKPUOYE I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Amara Jane Akpuoye, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Amara Jane Okeke. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

SPACE FOR SALE SPACE FOR SALE

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016 — 41

NIMC ACT: Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa (left), receiving the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, Act from the Commission's Director-general, Mr. Aliyu Aziz, at the NIMC headquarters, Abuja.

LAUNCH: From left— Partner Vice President, Schneider Electric, Ahmed Fateen; CEO, E. E. Obilly Wise International Company, Obiora Ekedum, who won the trip-to-France prize; CEO, Bolamark Engineering Limited, Alhaji Bola Azeez; CEO, Ortho Chibuzz International Limited, Anazodo Chibunna, who won the trip-to-Paris grand prize and semi-final match ticket to Euro 2016; and Schneider Electric Country President, Walid Sheta, at the launch of a new line of products in Lagos.

IT ASSEMBLY: From left— Executive Director, Hassan Alao; Executive Director, Mike Olajide, both of SIDMACH Technologies Nigeria Limited; an IT expert and council member, Obi Okonkwo, and Director, Technical Standard and Network Integrity, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Fidelis Onah, during the just-concluded Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria, CPN, IT Professionals Assembly in Kaduna State.

INDOMIE TEAM: From left—Coordinator, Indomie Fan Club, Mrs. Faith Joshua; Group Public Relations and Events Manager, Dufil Prima Foods Plc, Mr. Tope Ashiwaju; participant in the Indomie Team Yourself Up competition, Master Brijan Nzejideofor of Evangel Nursery and Primary School, Lagos, and Dufil's Marketing Director, Mr. Girish Sharma, at the competition's exhibition in Lagos.

T

General Diya’s son ties nuptial knot

HE former Chief of General Staff and former Ogun State Governor under the military regime, Gen. Donaldson Oladipo Diya (rtd), weekend, hosted dignitaries at his son, Babatunde Diya’s wedding to his longtime beau, Adesimbo Omololu-Adegbuyi, the daughter of a pilot, Captain Omololu Adegbuyi.

The ceremony held at the Archbishop Vining Memorial Cathedral.

The 72 years old former number two citizen could not hide his joy as he danced, in with his two wives, Otunba Folashade and the groom's mother, Otunba Josephine.

The classy ceremony was capped with a sumptuous reception at Haven Hall, GRA, Ikeja. Guests at the reception wore gorgeous traditional outfits from the best of Lagos fashion designers.

Story and pictures by Akinwunmi Ibrahim

President, LCCI, Chief Nike Akande (left) and Minister of Science and Technology, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu.

The couple, Adesimbo Omololu-Adegbuyi and Babatunde Oyetola Diya.

C M Y K

From left— Groom's step-mother, Otunba Folashade Diya; groom’s parents, Otunba Josephine Diya and former Chief of General Staff, General Oladipo Diya (rtd).

From left—Chief Kenny Martins, Chief Kessington Adebutu and Deputy Governor Ogun State, Mrs. Yetunde Onanuga.

Bride's parents, Captain Omololu Adegbuyi and his wife, Chief Abiodun.

From left—Former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel; Alaye of Odogbolu, Oba Adedeji Onagoruwa and Oshile Oke-Ona Egba, Oba AdedapoTejuoso.

42 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016—43

VOL. 1: NO. 17

By Ola Ajayi

O

YO State, the Pacesetter State as it is fondly called, is the South West political headquarters. It blazes the trail in so many things. Sometimes, many unimaginable things happen that actually confirm the state as an undisputable proponent of Amala politics.

The recent, seemingly sponsored pro-Ajimobi rally that shook the state to its foundation is one of those things that distinguish the state from other states in the zone.

It is no longer news that the leaderships of the Nigeria Labour Congress and Nigeria Union of Teachers are at loggerheads with Governor Abiola Ajimobi over the proposed education policy which has been variously termed as commercialisation, privatisation and participatory exercise.

In annoyance, the teachers who are protecting their interests but pretend to be fighting for the masses, after initial disruption of a stakeholders’ meeting at State Secretariat, took to the streets to protest what they described as unpopular policy.

Peaceful protest This was preceded by violent protests by pupils from primary and secondary schools when government property was destroyed. Definitely stung by the success of the last NLC peaceful protest which was joined by hundreds of thousands of residents in the sprawling city, the government, after going from one radio station to the other, then decided to sponsor a rally to counter that of NLC. Over hundred groups took off from the ancient Mapo Hall and went through Beere, Oje, Gate and finally ended at the Governor’s Office Secretariat, Ibadan where the governor addressed them.

Ajimobi who spoke with the solidarity train when it got to his office, said that the rally reflected government’s honesty and sincerity on various issues that came up for discussion at the recently held stakeholders’ meeting.

He said, “I want to appreciate the commitment and maturity of each of the groups present here displayed today during this rally.

In fact, it was a reflection of honesty and sincerity of purpose, openness and transparency.

“This rally is in support of our democratic commitment to people of the state and the promise we C M Y K

FRIDAY, JUNE 24 , 2016

OYO PROTESTS: Turning

the villain to hero

•Traders, artisans, students' unions, others troop out to rally support for Ajimobi's administration. made when we assumed the mantle of leadership for the second time. Democracy is about discussion, consultation and all of us must participate in it because there is no other way out other than to ensure the continued progress and development of our state and the country at large.

“Dialogue is the potent weapon in any dispute and that is what I have been advocating. It’s good to jaw-jaw instead of war-war. I am directing you to go back to your various climes and spread the information that the state has no intention of selling our schools but to partner willing members of the society like alumni associations, mission bodies and corporate organizations to rejuvenate our education system in the state.

“Even the free education policy of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo attracted interventions from private bodies. During former Governors Rashidi Ladoja and Adebayo Alao-Akala’s administrations, there was what they called ‘Adopt-a-School’ policy. So there is nothing new in what we set out to do. We have

nothing in mind other than the ultimate goal of re-invigorating our education system,” he stated.

The governor said that government would not shirk in its responsibility of providing qualitative education for those he

So there is nothing new in what we set out to do. We have nothing in mind other than the ultimate goal of reinvigorating our education system

called the future of the state.

Ajimobi called on people to always embrace dialogue and consultations on issues bodering on the progress of the state rather than unnecessary confrontation.

Similarly, the governor appealed to labour leaders and

the striking workforce in the state to call off the ongoing strike to give room for further dialogue geared towards finding lasting solutions to the issue of payment of salaries. He said it has become imperative for the labour leaders to call off the strike to enable workers resume work in their own interest and that of the state, while appealing to them to imbibe the culture of dialogue.

Ajimobi said; “I am appealing to them to imbibe the culture of dialogue. We want them to come because we are not quarrelling with labour; we have no dispute that might warrant labour leaders to direct workers to embark on strike.

“We don’t have problem with them, except for some that are being politically motivated. It is just a few who are using politics and are being influenced by failed politicians who want to get through the back-door what they failed woefully to get from the ballot box. The representatives of various bodies that spoke at the rally enjoined the labour union to embrace dialogue with the government in the interest of

IN THIS EDITION

Uneasy calm as militants invade Ikorodu communities •Page 44

How bride was abducted on wedding eve •Page 45

peace, adding that the governor had made it clear that he was not selling schools in the state as is being peddled by some misinformed people.

Expectedly, the All Progressives Congress in Oyo State and Accord Party are slugging it out as the leadership of the thumb party condemned the proAjimobi rally describing it as very disturbing.

Violence and civil unrest Some of them even alleged that the government paid all those who participated in the rally.

But, in a swift reaction, the Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, of the APC described the latest reaction from the opposition party as more evidence of its preference for violence and civil unrest as against the prevailing atmosphere of peace and harmony across the nooks and crannies of the state.

“It was even surprising that the leadership of Accord Party waited until Wednesday before voicing out their disappointment on the popularity of the APC government in the state as evident in the mammoth crowd that participated in the spontaneous rally despite its numerous spirited, but futile, efforts to bring down the Ajimobi administration for obvious reasons.

44—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

LAGOS STATE

Uneasy calm as militants invade Ikorodu communities

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

T

ENSION has gripped residents of Ikorodu in Lagos as some suspected militants have invaded the ancient town.

The invasion has led many residents of Ikorodu to call for the intervention of the state government to come to their aid.

However, in the wake of the planned threat of attack, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, was quick to douse the tension, saying residents should not panic but report any suspicious movement to the Police and other security authorities with an assurance of adequate security structures on ground to nip such incidents in the bud.

Consequently, a Pan-Yoruba group, Odua Defenders’ Union, ODU, described the threat by NDA as an insult to the Yoruba race. In a statement by its President-General, Rabak Anthony, the group warned that any attempt to launch any attack on Lagos would spell doom for the Ijaw militants.

Anthony said, "the Yoruba are ready to make the first move against the Ijaws in Lagos before their brothers will storm Lagos.

“We fought the Ijaws here in Lagos before because of this their arrogance and they know we are ready for them. They came here about five years ago also to attack the Atlas Cove where Naval officers guarding tank farms were killed," ODU warned.

Militants’ invasion The group boasted that its members were across the whole South-West and could deal with the militants’ threat.

Making-good their threat, the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Abdulmajid Ali, last week, confirmed the militants’ invasion of the state leaving scores dead in their wake. The group had earlier attacked a community in Ikorudu, within Ogun/Lagos boundary. The reason for the incursion of militants to the creeks in South West was hinged on the militants’ apparent difficulty in operating in the Niger Delta region, following an increased military deployment to check their nefarious activities.

Ali, while reacting to last Friday’s invasion of Imushin community in Ogijo area of the state by suspected militants, where over 15 persons were massacred, insisted that only three persons were killed when the rampaging militants invaded the community.

He maintained that if adequate measures were not taken, the C M Y K

militant's activities could have snowballed into an insurgency.

“The militants are finding it difficult in the Niger Delta and Ikorodu area of Lagos State. They are now moving to our side in Ogun. They are the ones involved in kidnapping and those sorts of crimes. These boys are becoming lawless. It is the same group that killed NNPC officials, DSS and Navy officers in Arepo. They are responsible for lots of criminal activities in the area. Honestly, they should be treated like Boko Haram,” Ali posited.

Residents flee community, shun water transportation According to eyewitness, Elegbete and Igbolomu communities of Ikorodu, Lagos, were the worst hit by the activities in the early hours on Monday, June 20, between 9.00am and 10.00am, dispossessing owners of their valuables from one house to the other. As sounds of gunshots reverberated through the communities, schools and businesses were hurriedly shut

ONDO APC:

•Suspected militants

to avert being caught in the crossfire. Following the dastardly act, residents where the attack took place and environs have started moving out in droves in fear of another attack by NDA. A resident in Igbolomu, identified as Alex Uche, said people have abandoned their homes, adding that schools, shops, markets and other business centres in the areas had turned into ghost towns as people deserted them.

Reports had it that parents were said to have hurriedly ran to schools to take their children home while the Police and Army tried to restore some tranquility in the area. An eye witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity said the militants invaded a school in the area, but allowed the children to go unharmed, warning them not to return to school again. Residents fleeing Elegbete area said they are doing so because they do not know

when the militants would launch another attack.

The fleeing residents were seen carrying their loads and mattresses. The militants were said to have gained access through the creeks and water bodies in Ikorodu. Also, investigations conducted by Vanguard confirmed that erstwhile high patronage on water transportation has sharply, dropped since the attack, as passengers have shunned that mode of transportation.

Discontent with Federal appointments

ONDO STATE

By Dayo Johnson

T

HE grumbling within the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ondo State over alleged marginalization in all the political positions and Federal appointments so far made by the present administration is becoming louder and louder.

Leaders of the party in the state are not pleased with the sidelining of the party members.

Aside the ministerial appointment which was reportedly given to an 'outsider who was not visible during the struggle', the other appointment is being occupied by a recent decampee to the party.

Infact the appointment of the Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs, Prof Cladius Daramola which is seen as belittling the status of the state has pitched him against some leaders of the party who see him as a sort of 'imposition'.

Vanguard gathered that the grouse of the leaders and party members was that the minister is not helping matters.

It was also gathered that he has failed to unite all the factions that exist within the party.

Furthermore, he has been accused of dividing the party. He recently had a squabble with the state chairman of the Party, Isaacs

•Kekemeke: Ondo APC chairman

Kekemeke.

However the recent nomination of 47 ambassadorial positions which did not include any nominee from the state, is causing disaffection within the party in the state.

Infact the members of the party in the state are disillusioned saying that President Muhammadu Buhari and the party have "used and dumped the state despite the votes garnered from the state during the elections."

Hard knocks were given to the two Senators representing the state, Robert Ajayi Boroffice and

Tayo Alasoadura for not showing concern and not rising to the occasion when the list was presented to the Senate.

While prominent citizens of the state kept wondering why no nominee that emerged is on the list, Senator Alasoadura told Vanguard that he has requested the Senate to intervene so that the state would not be shortchanged.

Alasoadura, who is representing Ondo Central lamented the non-inclusion of the state on the ambassadorial list being considered by the Senate.

Speaking with Vanguard in

Akure, the lawmaker promised to do all within his reach to ensure that the injustice is being corrected.

Alasoadura who said he had during plenary session observed the non-inclusion of any nominee from the state on the list before the Senate wondered why the name of at least one Ondo State career diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not included in the nomination despite the qualification of many of them Alasoadura called on the Senate to redress the omission which did not conform with the provisions of the Federal Character.

Also, a governorship aspirant of the party, Boye Oyewumi frowned on the exclusion saying the state is plagued with leadership challenges.

Oyewumi said: "When you look at the quality of people that had been put forward in the past they are such people that have no relevance in national politics, these are part of the reasons why we have a list of 47 ambassadors and there’s not a single Ondo state indigene there. We have a case of 36 Ministers and Ondo State the richest state in the South West in terms of resources and human capital was able to produce just a Minister of State.

Some board appointments had been made and there was no mention of Ondo State, we are not fairly represented at the center and that is the simple truth."

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016 — 45

C M Y K

46 —VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

Barka Jumah

Ramadan 19, 1437 A.H.

‘Unveiling the hijab': TMC replies critics

F

OLLOWING theeditorialsin some national dailies on the Osun hijab debacle, The Muslim Congress, TMC has relied critics describingthemasbiasedwriterswho cannot give what they do not have.

The council stated further that the write-ups were borne out of sheer intolerance,Islamophobia,selfishness, ignorance and lack of consideration for the religious rights of fellow men.

In a statement signed by its President, Dr. Luqman AbdurRaheemandsenttoVanguard, theCongresssaid:“LikeotherIslamic Organisations in Nigeria, we are disturbedbytheorchestratedattempts byasectionoftheprintandelectronic media to subvert the historic court judgement on Hijab in the state of Osun through sponsored write-ups andmisguidedNewspapereditorials.

Thesevenomouseditorialshavebeen strategically rolled out in succession, a trend which suggests that there is a grand plan somewhere to stifle the rule of law and court judgment in the peacefulstateofOsun.Theelements behind this diabolic agenda are also tryingtomakethestateungovernable through their intolerant actions and inactions.

Previous editorials “Themostrecentarticledesignedto malign Islam and the Muslims was the publication in The Guardian Newspaper on July 21, 2016 purportedlywrittenbyoneRayEkpu withthetitle‘UnveilingtheHijab’.The title and its content confirmed our presumption that previous editorials inthePunch,theNationnewspapers andseveralonlineplatformswerepreplannedandlaunchedtomisinform, gathersupportandelicitunderserved sympathyfortheChristianAssociation ofNigeria(CAN),Osunstatechapter.

WhatRayEkpuandhiscohortshave failed to tell the reading public is that CANOsunchapterhastakenthelaws into its hands by instigating innocent Christianstudentstodefycourtruling by wearing choir robes and other religiousgarmentstoschoolsinorder to heat up the polity. Are these instigators really religious leaders or spoilers?

“This dance of shame by the leadershipofCANintheStateofOsun ought to have been condemned and criticized by Ray Ekpu and other writers.Itisratherunfortunatethatthey attack the court ruling and Hijab despitethefactthattheMuslimshave sacrificed a lot for peace to reign for thepastthreeyears.Arethesewriters qualifiedtoplaytheroleofinterpreting thelawsandcourtpronouncements, a function reserved for the Supreme Court? We say boldly that this defiant behaviouriscapableofcompromising peaceandprogressinthestatethatis presently suffering the pang of economicdownturn.Theleadership of CAN and the foot soldiers in the media have clearly and shamelessly

shown their pathological hatred for Islam, the Muslims and the Hijab.

“Besides, it is regrettable that a respected body like CAN would descend so low to cause anarchy in reaction to a mere court injunction it considersunfavorabletoit,ratherthan explore the civil approach of appeal at a higher court. This unfortunate resort to impunity becomes more harrowing when it is considered that innocentChristianstudentsarebeing usedascannonfodderstopursuean unwholesomeenterpriseofprejudice, Islamophobiaandsheerintolerance.

“Thisinstigationofminorsisnotonly anexploitationoftheinnocenceofthe latter, but also constitute a disregard for the law court and a denigration of theessenceofthejudiciarythatislooked uponbyeverydecentandsaneperson as the arbiter of disputes and the last safeguard against anarchy and disorderliness.

“Mostdisturbingisthattheseminors arebeingtaughtfromtheirtenderage how to place little or no premium on the institutions of the society, some of which they may come to occupy in the future, and that self-help is a ‘nobler’ path to seek redress. The Osun state chapter of CAN ought to haveborrowedaleaffromtheMuslim Students’SocietyofNigeria(MSSN)

in the state of Osun. He stated arrogantly that”Recently the Osun StateMoslemcommunityfiledacase against the state government urging ittoallowMoslemfemalestudentsto usethehijabinpublicschools.Justice Jide Falola of the Osun State High CourtonJune3thisyeargaveaverdict that Moslem female students should be allowed to wear hijab in all public schools in the state because it is their fundamental human right. The Moslems gave the verdict a storm of applause.” The fact of the matter is that,theMuslimcommunityfiledand endured a legal battle for three good years. Is three years of filing and waitingforacourtjudgement“recent”?

For the avoidance of doubt, Ekpu shouldbeeducatedthattheHijabcase in the state was officially instituted by the Osun Muslim Community and the Muslim Students Society of NigeriainFebruary2013.Whyshould a veteran journalist murder a fact to pleasehisconstituencyandsponsors?

Pathetically, Ray Ekpu has also assumedthestatusofIslamicjuristand analyst. He wrote on Hijab citing Wikipediathat“thestipulationsofthe hijab were originally meant only for Prophet Muhammad’s wives and were intended to maintain their inviolability.

This was because Muhammad conductedallreligiousandcivicaffairs in the mosque adjacent to his home …. that during the Prophet’s life time no other Moslem woman wore the hijab.AslonsaysthatMoslemwomen started to wear the hijab simply to emulate Muhammad’s wives who were revered as “Mothers of the Believers”inIslam”.

See Hijab as commandment of God on Muslims, accommodate it and its wearers in government schools as important contributors to the Nigerian quest for greatness. For biased writers, we say what you don’t have, you cannot give

Islamophobic journalists

Lagos State Area Unit, which lost a similarcaseinacourtruling,buttook tothelegalinstrumentofappealrather than resort to anarchy and dance of shame!

Moreover, it is worrisome that journalists who are supposed to be theconscienceofthenationarebeing paidtoattackcourtjudgementbytheir religious constituency. In the article mentioned earlier, Ray Ekpu goofed professionally by making sweeping comments without having his facts rightonthedurationofthecourtcase

This poorly researched write-up is nothingbutgarbageandtrash!

To Islamophobic journalists, we advise that Wikipedia is not a reliable source for academic and intellectual discourseinIslam. Thethreescholars mentioned by Ekpu are Orientalists.

All write-ups by the orientalists including the one cited by Ray Ekpu are not inspired by the purest spirit of scholarlyimpartiality,andthesincere intention to educate and inform the public yearning to learn; rather such write-ups are dubiously put together with intention of belittling Islam and its adherents. Learned scholars have warnedthat“ArticlesinWikipediamay bewellwrittenandinsightful,butthey are not embedded in the world of scholarlydiscourse.Withoutknowing whowrotethearticle,itismoredifficult tojudgewhethertheauthor’swriting isworthyofconsideration,ortocritique hisorhermotivationsorqualifications.

Without a known author, Wikipedia articles cannot be considered authoritative” (Williams College Libraries,2016).

For the avoidance of doubt, Ekpu andhiscohortsshouldpleasenotethat Continues on page 31

Ramadan is much more than skipping meals.

It demands that we cherish Allah ever more, recite the Quran and be strong in faith. We must love one another, pray hard and bind ourselves to the doing of ceaseless good that begets Allah’s forgiveness and favors. ******************* Fasting is adoration of faith and the highest expression of fear of Allah in the doing of His will. For when we heed His commands, we beget His love and hugest favors. May our worships find the joy of real faith that will march us to peace here and perpetual bliss in Aljanna Firdaus. Our rectitude at Ramadan delightfully honour Allah the most. May Allah accept our worship and lend to us mercy, and protection always. Ramadan Kareem.

—Adewale Adeeyo, OON

IMA holds Ramadan lecture, 20th anniversary .As Ajibola’s wife dies in London

By Bashir Adefaka

I

SLAMIC Movement for Africa (IMA), held its annual Ramadan lecture, Sunday just as renowned comparative religion cleric, Alhaji Yusuf Adepoju praised IMA and its founder, Prince Bola Ajibola for the achievements the organisation has made so far. The event co-incided with the 20th anniversary of the movement and the death of his first wife who died in London, United Kingdom a few days ago.

Alhaji Yusuf Adepoju, who is also the Chief Lecturer of Academy of Islamic Propagation (ACADIP), dazzled audience with his presentation quoting copiously from the Qur’an and Bible. His presentation gave rise to nine persons (3 males and 6 females) declaring for Islam.

Adepoju, described Prince Ajibola as an enigma that has invested all his life achievements to the development of humanity particularly the needy, adding that Ajibola’s commitment to Islamic development was excellent and urged other Muslims in Nigeria to emulate him.

In attendance include the former Military Governor of Bauchi and Sokoto states, Navy Captain Rasheed Raji (rtd), Alhaji Caliph Balogun, Founder, Sa’adatu Abadiyyah Organisation of Nigeria any very many others.

From left: Prince Bola Ajibola, founder IMA; Alhaji Hamid Hussin, Olanrewaju Chief Imam IMA and Alhaji Yusuf Adenoju, Guest Lecturer, during 2016 Islamic Mission for Africa (IMA) Ramadan Lecture held at the IMA premises, Isale Apata, Abeokuta, recently. Photo: Wunmi Akinola

From left: Hafiz Abdul Semiu Zakariyau; Bro. Abdul Rafiq Alaka and Guest Lecturer, Dr. Saheed Timehin, during the Ramadan Tafseerul-Qurán in Lagos.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016—47

Ramadan 19, 1437 A.H.

Scholars war: It's Habeeb vs others •I challenge him to public debate — Imam Shaffi Ansar-ud-Deen, Qareeb, others reac •Ansar-ud-Deen, react

By Ishola Balogun & Bashir Adefaka MUSLIM scholars in Lagos gathered at the TMC Centre, Ijeshatedo, Lagos, Wednesday, to clarify what they described as massive error occasioned by grand ignorance of grandeur, the outburst of Sheikh Habeeb Adam Al-Ilory, Mudiru of Markaz, Agege, who purpotedly made a scathing comment on one of the sources of authentic prophetic traditions (Hadeeth) in Islamic World, Abu Huraira and the compiler of many of the traditions, Sahih Bukhari.

Explaining the issue, Sheikh Zhikirullah Shaffi, who is the Mufti of Council of Islamic Organisations (CIO) and Amir of The Muslim Congress (TMC), said it was great sin before Allah and Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) to speak ill of any of companions of the Prophet among whom was Abu Huraira.

Shallowness and unscholarliness He stated that such ill comment credited to Sheikh Habeeb Adam Al-Ilory smacks of ignorance, shallowness and unscholarliness noting that: "I have never heard this kind of comment before in my life from any known scholar of old and contemporary age, from Lagos to Ibadan, Iwo to Ilorin, across Nigeria, and even the world at large.

Shaffi who was visibly angry said real scholars are angry about this comment, adding that "we challenge him to a open debate

on this issue, so that the ummah will not be misled."

Describing the place of Abu Huraira in Islamic history, Sheikh Shaffi, said it was not possible to know Islam without the sunnah slammed whoever boasted to be out to condemn people for upholding the sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh), said, “Abu Huraira came from Al-Jaozih. He embraced Islam seven years after Hijrah. He was so close to the Prophet (pbuh) so much that the Prophet prayed for him and he never forgot any of of the hadith of the Prophet.

“As for Bukhari (the compiler of hadith most considered to be authentic), some people said Bukhari was a blind man. Yes, but his mother prayed to Allah to restore his sight and Allah answered her prayer by restoring the sight of Abu Huraira,” Sheikh Shaffi said ..

Earlier in his welcome address, the Chief Imam of The Muslim Congress (TMC) and Deputy Chairman, Council of Ulamas in Nigeria, Sheikh Abdul-Fattah Thani, told the gathering that the gathering was not intended to abuse anybody but to make clarifications on a scathing comment made against a companion of the Prophet of Islam (peace upon him) Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him).

Sheikh Thani said, "Our gathering here today, is like the sitting of faithful towards goodness. And Allah says we should cooperate with one another in carrying out good things and in enjoining ourselves to fear Allah because Allah warns us against conspiracy but this

gathering of scholars was meant to clarify the issue. This is the reason I congratulate all of you, scholars in Islam, who are here today because Allah commands that, 'Let there arise from among you a group of selected people who wil call unto goodness, who will forbid indecency and who will believe in Allah.' Allah says those that do this have benefitted immensely from the favour of Allah.

Speaking to journalists after the lecture, National Missioner, Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Imam Abdulrahman Ahmad, said, "The methodology of knowledge is well established in Islam. We cannot reduce Islam to mere academic exercise because, this has very far reaching implications. When you impune on the integrity of the most authentic source of Islam, you are calling the whole of the religion to question. But to be fair, there could be space for critic and the science for critic that is well established. But when you do not follow the principle of, for instance, Hadeeth criticism, which is age long science, then there is a problem.

"Imam Bukhari and Abu Huraira are our forebears. May Allah continue to be pleased with them."

Attitude of Muslim to message of preachings Sheikh Abdulrahman Ahmad said, "The attitude of Muslims to message preached by any preacher should be what Allah says in the Qur'an. Allah says, whenever news comes to you, make sure you find out, ascertain and establish the truth and live by the truth.

From right: Sheikh Bashir Ayolo, Imam Abdulrahman Ahmad, National Missioner, AnsarUd-Deen, Sheikh Dhikrullahi Shaffi, Mufti, Council of Islamic Organisations (CIO), Sheikh Abdul-Fattah Thani, Grand Imam, The Muslim Congress (TMC), Sheikh Abdul-Mojeed Ayinla, National Missioner, Nawarud-Deen Society of Nigeria and Sheikh Abdulrahman Adamgba, National Missioner, Al-Fatih ul-Quareeb Society of Nigeria, during the CIO lecture, in Lagos.

From left: Former Senator, representing Lagos Central Senatorial District, Senator Munir Adekunle Muse; Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa and Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Idiat Adebule during Ansarud-deen Society of Nigeria, Lagos branch Ramadan lecture

Hijab: TMC replies critics Continues from page 30 the Hijab is unlike a choir robe worn occasionallyintheChurchbywomen and girls. For the matured Muslim women,thedresscodeisnotcomplete until the Hijab is worn.

Thisisadivinecommandment.The Qurán is the authentic source for understanding Islam. We state with pride that Islam has strongly emphasized the concept of decency and modesty for women through the use of Hijab. The verse of the Qur’an that enjoins the observance of Hijab are many, but the following two are relevanttothepresentdiscourse.Allah enjoins: “Andsaytothebelievingwomenthat theyshouldlowertheirgazeandguard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what must ordinarily appear thereof;thattheyshoulddrawtheirveils overtheirbosomsandnotdisplaytheir beautyexcepttotheirhusbands,their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers,ortheirbrothers’sonsortheir sisters’ sons, or their women or the servants whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physicalneeds,orsmallchildrenwho have no sense of the shame of sex…(Quran24:31).

Theological foundation “OProphet,tellyourwivesandyour daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them (when they go abroad).

Thatwillbebetter,sothattheymaybe recognizedandnotmolested.Allahis ever Forgiving, Merciful.” (Quran 33:59) These verses and several others providetheologicalfoundationforthe useofHijab.Evenliberalsocietiessuch US,CanadaandBritainappreciatethe seriousnessoftheHijabdresscode.In thesecountries,thepublicandprivate schools permit the use of Hijab.

Whereas,thechoirrobesarenotworn nor are they allowed because they obviously would conceal school uniforms.

Apart from this, unlike the Qurán there is no known injunction in Bible compellingthewearingofaparticular attire, otherwise, it would have been accommodated in western liberal societies. Therefore inventing a choir robetocounterthehijabatthispointis an exercise in bad faith and a lack of considerationfortolerance,respectand peacefulcoexistence.

The Congress avers that both EQUALITYandEQUITYareessential to keeping the peace among multireligious groups in a complex society likeNigeria.Forinstance,thatNigeria

maintainstwoembassiesinItaly(one for state matters and the other for religion) is anchored on the principle ofequity–therecognitionandgranting of the need (s) of each segment of the society without prejudice to the rights ofothers.

It would therefore be untoward for Muslims to agitate for equality in that regard. We therefore frown at a decoy where ‘equality’ is invoked only as a meanstoprejudicetherightsofothers as CAN and its sponsored media consultantsarecurrentlyadvocatingfor Osun state.

Moreimportantly,itisourbeliefthat theworldhasgoneglobalandcultures are intermingling on a daily basis. A lookatsomeoftheadvancedcountries thatweemulateasapeopleshowshow hijab-wearingfemaleshaveprovision for them in public institutions in recognition of the need for citizens to balancebetweencivicobligationsand religious injunctions and Nigeria cannotbeanexception.

Religious rights It is worthy of note that anti-Hijab reactionsstagedbyCANandthepaid journalists/writers in The Guardian, The Punch and The Nation newspapers are borne out of sheer intolerance,Islamophobia,selfishness, ignoranceandlackofconsiderationfor the religious rights of fellow men.

It is sheer propaganda to label the Governor of the state, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as the harbinger of the confusion that is now raging in Osun state.

WithorwithouttheGovernor,those who see the denial of the hijab as a violationoftheirrightswouldstillhave gone to seek redress before the law.

Andwhenthelawspeaks,lawabiding citizens ought to sheath their swords.

Neither should the school reclassification policy of the state governmentbeheldincontemptasits aim is to accelerate the level of development of all public schools in thestate.If‘OponImo’isnovel,itcame out of the same genuine concern as there-classificationpolicy.

The Congress counseled those it describedas“IslamophobicNigerians” and media organisations that Hijab stands for peace, unity, tranquillity, decencyandcompliancewiththelaws ofAllah,urgingallstakeholdersinthe NigerianprojectincludingCANOsun chapter to see the Hijab as commandmentofGodonMuslimsand accommodate it and its wearers in government schools as important contributors to the Nigerian quest for greatness.

“For biased writers, we say “what you don’t have, you cannot give.”

48— Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

EFCC can freeze incumbent gov’s account —Asogwa

Group condemns forgery case against Ekweremadu

By Chinenyeh Ozor

N

SUKKA—THE Dean, Faculty of Law, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, Prof. Frank Asogwa, has said the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, has the constitutional right to freeze a personal bank account of any sitting governor if it contravenes the provisions of the laws of the country.

Prof. Asogwa, who disclosed this in an interview with

By Elizabeth Uwandu

T

HE CURRENT onslaught against the leadership of the Senate by the Federal Government has been condemned by Awgu Young Democrats.

Rising from a meeting at Awgu, yesterday, the group through its chairman, Mr. Stanley Ude, briefed journalists on the outcome of the emergency meeting, noting that what the government could not achieve through the trial of the Senate President, they now want to achieve through the back door.

As far as the Young Democrats are concerned,Ike Ekweremadu is the only voice of the Igbo in the political scene in Nigeria today, who has been very outspoken on issues pertaining to the recent killings by herdsmen across the country. The Young Democrats will mobilize all and sundry to ensure that this matter would not stand.

He wondered why the standing rule suddenly was forged when the same standing rule had been used to confirm appointments made by the Presidency, and the budget.

The chairman advised the Federal Government to face the problems of how to fix the country’s economy which had been in a very bad state.

journalists at Nsukka, said that the law allows EFCC to freeze any personal bank account of individuals under the investigation by the commission.

According to him such accounts could be frozen if they point to subject of investigation, including that of any sitting governor, suspected to have been used for money laundering and any other illegal financial transaction.

“EFCC has the right to freeze the account of any sitting

governor whose personal account was suspected to be used for money laundering and illegal financial transaction without the constitutional provisions of the law.

"If EFCC has proof that such account was used for money laundering, no matter the immunity clause, the law allows the commission to freeze such an account. The constitutional immunity for the president, vice president, governors and deputy governors only protect them from

NOUN introduces instructional tablet in Enugu

By Esther Onyegbula

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HE NATIONAL Open University of Nigeria, NOUN, seems to have finally found the missing formula for solving the endemic challenge of shortage of study materials in the university with the introduction of an electronic instructional tablet called i-NOUN. The vice chancellor of the university, Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu, made this known on Tuesday during his courtesy visit to the chancellor of the university, His Royal Majesty Igwe Dr.

Lawrence Chikezie Agubuzu, in his palace at Awene Ezeama-Olo in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State.

Adamu said that the introduction of the gadget which is at its advanced stage will not only put paid to the challenge of study materials shortages, but will also cut down fees payable in the university.

“The i-NOUN tablet which would be made available to all students will have all study materials needed by students of the university uploaded in it and would be updated regularly to

foreclose the possibility of those study materials getting obsolete," he said.

He commended his predecessor, Professor Vincent Ado Tenebe, “for taking NOUN from an evolutionary university to a revolutionary university,” saying he would work to sustain what Tenebe did.

Earlier, the host, Igwe Agubuzu, described Professor Adamu as being eminently qualified for his new job as Vice Chancellor of Nigeria’s largest university.

“When I read through his extraordinary curriculum vitae, I knew

Ebonyi records lowest in preschool enrollment in S'East —Group ...begins an enrolment campaign drive in 13 LGAs

By Peter Okutu

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BAKALIKI—THE survey carried out by Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 2011), the National Demographic Household Survey, NDHS, 2013, and Education Management Information System, EMIS of the Ebonyi State Ministry of Education showed that only 43 percent of Ebonyi state preschool children are attending any form of organized preschool system in the State.

This development made the United Nations International Children Education Fund, UNICEF in collaboration with Ebonyi State Universal Basic Education Board, UBEB to begin an Enrollment Drive Campaign across the 13 local government areas to tackle the ugly trend in the state.

The UNICEF Desk officer for the state UBEB, Christogonus Nweke, Mrs Maria Oselebe, Director Social Mobilization for UBEB and UBEB Desk Officer on Advocacies and Mobilization

Activities, Mr. Ogeh Kenneth who recently went on tour of the LGAs inaugurated an Enrollment Drive Committee with membership cutting across the Women's Group, Faith-based organizations, the Media, Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT among others.

Speaking during a training workshop in Abakaliki yesterday organized for the Enrollment Drive Committee members drawn from the 13 LGAs, an Education Specialist with UNICEF, Dr. Agatha Nzeribe charged the

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participants to give their best to the campaign as their contributions would ensure a better future for the children of Ebonyi state.

Nzeribe who called on the stakeholders not to relent until the enrolment drive of Ebonyi children rises above its present level admonished them to come up with a Work Plan on how to reverse the ugly trend and put Ebonyi on the road map of academic excellence across the zone.

By Bartholomew Madukwe (08051019450) nwamad@yahoo.com

PEOPLE SPEAK

is contributions to the growth of the law, particularly constitutional law and jurisprudence are awesome. There can never be another Niki Tobi again!

He was simply in a class of his own. May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace.

Amen. -Chief Emeka Ngige, SAN, Lawyer

prosecution in the law court, but not from being investigated.

“The constitutional immunity only shields the president and vice president together with the governors from prosecution while in office, but not from being investigated.

Freezing of account is a prelude to investigation.If the constitution allows investigation of a sitting governor, there is nothing wrong with freezing his account if there is enough evidence that his account is used for money laundering or other illegal financial acts. A sitting governor can be investigated, but cannot be prosecuted until his tenure expires before he can be prosecuted,” he said.

The dean also said that EFCC was not expected to inform anybody whose account was suspected of money laundering and any illegal financial acts before freezing such account as such information would create the opportunity to render such deficit balance, which would destroy the evidence against the suspect.

Recall that Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose recently revealed EFCC froze his account.

On death of former Supreme Court judge, Justice Niki Tobi

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he death of Justice Niki Tobi has dealt a major blow on the judiciary.

His death is indeed a major loss to Nigeria. We would continue to remember him, particularly his robust legal opinions, witty sayings and brilliant judgments. -Mr. Qudus Mumuney, Lawyer

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is deployment of fine and flowery prose in legal distillation and delivery, for which his other frontline peers of Chukwudipu Oputa and Kayedo Eso, both of blessed memory, readily provide unquenchable thirst and appetite for more thereof. Miss Orlietan Salamy, Judicial Staff

J

ustice Niki Tobi was an eminent man of law and a man of letters.

He was one of the Justices I admired so much.

May his soul rest in perfect peace and may God grant his family the fortitude to bear this huge loss. -Mr. Igwe Ndubuisi, Engineer

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ustice Niki Tobi was one of the best. He was regarded as the Lord Denning of our judiciary. His background as a professor of law before switching to the Bench was always evident in his sound and well researched rulings and judgment. -Mr. Adeniyi Jimoh, Judicial Staff

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e was truly learned, and helped sustain sanctity of the legal practice.

He contributed to the development of jurisprudence in Nigeria and would be remembered for his assiduousness in reviewing the draft 1999 Constitution of Nigeria. -Mr. Ralph Nwoke, Lawyer

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016 — 49

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50—VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

Sheriff should please go home PDP:

— BODE GEORGE •Ex-presidents should intervene in dispute between Senate and Presidency •Insists the rule of law should be applied in Fayose’s matter

CHIEF Olabode George does not mince words when it comes to national issues. George, a former Military Administrator of old Ondo State and former deputy national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in this interview, bares his mind on burning national issues ranging from matters around the embattled former national chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, the ordeal of Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and the face-off between the Presidency and the legislature. Excerpts: •George: Sheriff should have respect for the rule of law

By Dapo Akinrefon

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ENATOR Sheriff has described the Edo governorship primary as illegal.

What is your reaction?

My reaction to that is that first, as my friend is to appeal to him because I had known him even before I came into politics. I was much in the Navy when I knew him. That kind of statement portends two areas of concern for the party.

First of all, as a friend, I want to appeal to him that he should dance away from this political lunacy because there is a subsisting legal directive that he should not parade himself as chairman of the party. So, what other authority does he want? He should have respect for the rule of law.

Midwife and new born baby There was a directive from a court that there should be no election into the office of chairman, secretary, and auditor.

The party complied, and there was no election into those positions, but the convention, by our constitution has a right to set up a committee it deems fit.

So, legally, the Markafi committee is constitutionally established, and they have the right to manage the party until the next convention. Sheriff has ceased to be chairman of the party.

You cannot be the midwife and be the new born baby. He has ceased to perform any function; he is an ex-acting chairman of

the party, and he should please go home. The implication of what he is doing, as politicians, we know that we have elections in two states this year. He wants to make it look like the PDP is in crisis so that INEC would not take from A or B and so, PDP will not have any candidate.

I want to plead with him because he is less than two years old in the party, he is yet to imbibe the culture and norm of our party.

If his aim is to prevent PDP from having a candidate for the Edo and Ondo elections, Nigeria will not forgive him.

Let him remain on the path of honour, decency and go home.

As far as I am concerned, by the constitution of the party, he is a former acting chairman of the party.

Is this crisis not preventing the PDP from playing the role of a vibrant opposition party?

What he does not understand is that PDP is not ANPP. PDP is a formidable grassroots political party, and we have an incredible resilience. Of course, it is affecting our focus because of the court injunctions; political parties are not run that way.

I want to say also that we should take part of the blame because when this judicial rascality came into the party, there is a section in the party’s constitution that forbids any individual from going to court without exhausting all the avenues within the party.

So, most of these people that are headed to court, creating unnecessary diversion, should have been fired according to the party’s law.

Everybody kept quiet because

they didn’t want to offend anybody. So, if you don’t like heat, get out of the kitchen. This is a party that has rules and regulations which were conceived by the founding fathers. Yes, it is affecting us, but there is no problem in the PDP. Sheriff, who has just joined, should go home quietly.

There is this talk that the APC may have planted Sheriff in the

Let him remain on the path of honour, decency and go home. As far as I am concerned, by the constitution of the party, he is a former acting chairman of the party

PDP? What is your take on this?

I do not have concrete facts but if you look at the behavioural pattern, what would you conclude? They are all politics, and if you don’t put up the real story, rumours would start flying.

Whether it is true or not, I am advising him not to be a cannon fodder. He should not be used by others, what would be his benefit? Is that his intention? To decimate the PDP? He can’t achieve it! PDP is

deep rooted with the people. Yes, we made our mistakes, we have learned our lessons and we are ready to present new managers for the party. We must convince Nigerians that we are ready to manage them again.

The Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose had his personal account frozen by the EFCC. There have been comments for and against this action. What is your position on this?

I am going to be like an elder here. Ayo is my son, the first time he came to be a governor; it was impressive. Two wrongs cannot make a right. I read a presentation by a lawyer on the matter and I also read the EFCC version of the accusation leveled against Ayo. My plea is this as a concerned Nigerian; we still have the rule of law and everybody must subject himself to the rule of law. The EFCC cannot do anything to him because of Section of 308. They should be patient because the law is no respecter of anybody.

I have gone through my own experiences; the law is still there.

They want to fight him because they said Ayo made certain comments against the First Lady.

If it is proven that it is wrong, I know Ayo would be the first to jump up and apologise, but two wrongs cannot make a right.

The position of the EFCC was well stated in the newspaper but how many people would read that? So they should balance it.

Everybody agrees that there should be anti-corruption crusade, but when you start to fling the sword in every direction,

and only one side is being cut down, Nigerians would start to read meaning.

What is your reaction to the faceoff between the Senate and the presidency given assertions by the lawmakers that they are being taken for granted?

My take would be like a spectator because I am not directly involved. I think this is the time for some senior Nigerians, former presidents, and elders to get involved.

Leaders of the party The government is a tripod if one leg is wobbling, then there is instability, if two legs are wobbling, then the instability is increased. Now, of course, the judiciary won’t talk even if they are aggrieved.

It does not matter whether it is party A or party B. Recently, the president had a meeting with the National Assembly people during his one year anniversary.

I believe something should be done. If it were our government and our party, the Board of Trustees of our party would have waded in because that’s one of their functions. I don’t know whether they have a BoT or not, if they don’t have, they have elders.

When I listened to the language on the floor, I was a bit scared. Is it so bad? Where are the leaders of the party? If the Senate President and his deputy are being charged to court for alleged forgery, it gives me worry, and they should play it very gently.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016—51

How primary was scientifically manipulated

By Rufus Ike

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ASTOR Osagie Ize-Iyamu has formally congratulated Mr. Godwin Obaseki on his emergence as the candidate of the APC saying that he looked forward to an issue based campaign with him.

Ize-Iyamu in a statement yesterday also charged the outgoing governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to allow Obaseki speak up for himself noting that the comrade governor was acting as if he was seeking a third term.

Ize-Iyamu while affirming that he was ready for a total scrutiny of his past roles in government, teased his APC rival about the recently submitted petition lodged against him in the House of Representatives where Mr. Obaseki was charged with misappropriation of funds from the estate of a business partner of Obaseki. He said this indicates that the anti-graft agency should have an interest in the APC candidate.

Ize-Iyamu said: ‘’A week after Godwin Obaseki emerged as the candidate of the APC, it is interesting to note however that the outgoing governor, Adams Oshiomhole, still speaks as though he is the candidate

— Imansuagbon

By Clifford Ndujihe

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•Ize-Iyamu: PDP candidate

•Oshiomhole: Outgoing governor backs Obaseki

Allow Obaseki speak for himself, Ize-Iyamu tells Oshiomhole running for elections. Is Godwin Obaseki not a grown man? Why can’t he begin to speak for himself or is this a sign of things to come? ‘’We also note with interest, Oshiomole’s allusion to the EFCC as a tool to harass the PDP

flag-bearer, OsagieIze-Iyamu. Is Adams Oshiomole a staff of the EFCC or is the EFCC an extension of his office? The EFCC will do well to assert their independence as an anticorruption agency by disowning Oshiomole’s statements.

‘’We believe with the recent revelation by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions, that the EFCC has more work to do in the investigation of Oshiomhole’s puppet, Godwin Obaseki".

I've no N5.5 bn case at EFCC — OBASEKI A

PC candidate, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has denied having a case to answer with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, saying the assertions in the media were wrongly situated.

Obaseki, who spoke with journalists in Benin on Thursday, was reacting to reports that the EFCC was set to invite him in connection with the misappropriation of over N5.5bn belonging to a German company.

The Obaseki Campaign quoting the candidate said: “I do

By Gabriel Enogholase

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DO State Director of Poverty Alleviation Agency, Mrs. Evelyn Igbafe, yesterday blamed her political differences with the APC candidate, Mr. Godwin Obaseki for the attack on her in her Benin residence yesterday.

Mrs. Igbafe, a leading chieftain

not have a case with the EFCC. I read the story. I am on the boards of several companies.

This (report) is about a German company that owns rigs in Nigeria, and I sat on their board.

They had a partner who died many years ago and his estate has not been properly managed, unfortunately.

“His other businesses are bankrupt, and the company saw a petition from the children claiming that the company owed their father. You would see online the full agreement which the

company reached with the estate several years ago, where all that was due to that estate was paid from the debt of the man.”

Obaseki explained that the issue had nothing to do with him as he did not manage the company.

The APC governorship candidate congratulated the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, on his victory in the primary and called for campaigns devoid of hate speeches.

They're after my life 'cos of Obaseki — IGBAFE Police said the Governor said

of the APC remained undaunted, yesterday, insisting that Obaseki would not fly as the party’s candidate in the election.

Responding, Mr. Osarodion Ogie, Obaseki’s campaign manager said the issue was an internal affair which is being addressed as a family matter by

the reconciliation committee.

Giving details on the attack on her, Igbafe said, she noticed through her CCTV some strange elements who came into her compound with some policemen.

“I interrogated the policemen, gentlemen, what can I do for you?

They said the Commissioner of

••As Eribo wants her sanctioned

By Simon Ebegbulem

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HE member representing Egor constituency in the Edo State House of Assembly, Mr Crosby Eribo, has called for sanctions on APC members who pour insult on Governor Adams Oshiomhole over the loss of their preferred aspirants in the recently concluded governorship polls.

Eyibo spoke in reaction to assertions by party chieftain, Mrs.

•Obaseki: APC candidate

Evelyn Igbafe, that the governor had perfected plans to kill her because she refused to support Obaseki.

“That was very uncomplimentary and unacceptable. Of what political relevance is Igbafe to APC that will warrant the governor to kill her. Igbafe and others should see how Obaseki even congratulated Ize-Iyamu and that shows the kind of person he is, it shows he

is focused on how to serve the people and not fighting anybody.

“I have watched her comments and for me it does not make sense. We even learnt that she called the Esama of Benin who sent camera men to her house and she equally confessed to journalists that she had called the governorship candidate of the PDP, Pastor Ize-Iyamu that Oshiomhole brought people to kill her.

that they should come and pick your official car. I said official car? I replied by saying that the official cars were purchased by the tax-payers money. And all the structures he is going about doing, is tax-payers money and I can never give you the key to the cars."

Igbafe, wondered why the government had to engage the services of thugs demanding for her official vehicles when she was yet to been officially relived of her duties insisting that Governor Adams Oshiomhole has been misled by some unnamed individuals ahead of the governorship election.

“I am still standing by my words then; Obaseki is an unripe mango and unripe tomato.

Nobody will buy him. So, let them get ready to carry pump action and AK-47 rifle to come and meet me.

ARR Kenneth Imansuagbon, who contested in last weekend’s governorship primaries of the APC, is insisting on a fresh vote affirming that the last primary was scientifically rigged to favour Mr. Godwin Obaseki.

Noting that the exercise was not free and fair and could hurt the APC if not redressed, Imansuagbon who has lodged an appeal with the Opeyemi Bamidele led election appeal committee said: “There must be a forensic examination of the ballot papers.

That is the only thing I can accept,” he said, arguing: “The election was not free and fair as people are being made to believe.

It was scientifically and electronically manipulated.

Watermark technology was used to manipulate the election. You will not see it during the day. You will only see evaporated ink that will vanish in two minutes.

“One should ask why despite the fact that accreditation finished around 2 pm, voting was delayed till around 7 pm. Under the floodlight, they had allocated the votes to Obaseki. We had heard that he was going about saying he was going to win with over 1600 votes, but I considered it a mere rumour, that the margin of victory for anyone who would win should not be more than 20 - 30. Even if Oshiomhole himself ran, he could not have polled that much in an election that has the deputy governor, who also controls the party structure, contesting.

Imansuangbon said talks about post-primary reconciliation is an exercise in futility as the only option is for the party to reverse the governorship primary or test the popularity of other aspirants at the general election.”

“We are praying them to cancel the election and do a fresh primary. If they don’t do it, we will take our protest to the court of the people. When Anenih rigged me out in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, I told him he would lose, and the party lost.

So, the Bamidele committee should cancel the election on the grounds of immorality.”

•Imansuangbon: Peeved

52 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

Adulterous men could face jail in Cameroon Women already face and would send more

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EN who commit adultery could be sent to jail under a new law being debated by parliament in Cameroon.

The law has the backing of President’s Paul Biya’s party and so might be approved.

•Democrats in the US House of Representatives on Thursday observing a daylong sit-in at the chamber to protest the lack of action on gun control measures.

US Supreme Court blocks Obama’s migrant plan • Democrats end House sit-in over gun control

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HE Supreme Court has announced it is split on President Barack Obama’s plan to shield millions of undocumented immigrants living illegally in the US. The divide comes as a blow to President Obama’s 2014 executive action, in which he bypassed Congress in order to protect immigrants from deportation.

Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan applauded the news, saying only Congress should write laws.

But the president said the deadlock was “heartbreaking” for millions of people. “They are Americans in every way but on paper,” he said at the White House, adding

that reform will happen, sooner or later.

“Congress is not going to be able to ignore America forever,” he said. Texas led 26 Republican-led states in challenging the programme, which would have given the right to work to millions of people. Its legal-

UK votes in historic EU figures from the referendum provisional Electoral Commission.

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OTING is taking place in a historic referendum on whether the UK should remain a member of the European Union or leave.

A record 46,499,537 people are entitled to take part, according to

Colombia, Farc rebels sign historic ceasefire

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HE Colombian government and the Farc rebels have signed a historic ceasefire deal, bringing them closer to ending more than five decades of conflict.

The agreement is expected to pave the way for a full peace deal.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Farc leader Timochenko shook hands at a ceremony in the Cuban capital.

The longest-running insurgency in the Western Hemisphere has killed an estimated 220,000 people and displaced almost seven million.

Thursday’s announcement caps formal peace talks that started three years ago in the Cuban capital.

The agreement includes a timetable for laying down

ity will now be assessed in a lower district court.

Meanwhile, Democrats in the US House of Representatives on Thursday ended a daylong sit-in at the chamber to protest the lack of action on gun control measures, Representative Steny Hoyer said.

arms and a number of guarantees for the security of the guerrillas when they disarm. It establishes temporary transition zones and camps for the estimated 7,000 rebels. It also says the UN will receive all the group’s weapons.

Polling stations will close at 22:00 BST with counting throughout the night.

It is only the third nationwide referendum in UK history and comes after a four-month battle for votes between the Leave and Remain campaigns.

The referendum ballot paper asks the following question: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?”

Whichever side gets more than half of all votes cast is considered to have won.

The weather forecast for polling day is mixed.

There have been thunderstorms in London and south-east England which caused flooding overnight.

German police shoot dead hostage taker in cinema

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MASKED and armed man barricaded himself in a German multiplex cinema with dozens of people inside before being killed by police, officials said.

No hostages were injured at the complex in the western town of Viernheim, 75 kilometres (50 miles) south of Frankfurt, Hesse

state interior minister Peter Beuth said on Thursday.

“The assailant moved through the cinema complex, according to the information we have now, and appeared confused.”

“There were hostages inside and there was a struggle (with police) until in the end he was dead,” he said.

Asian millionaires top wealth rankings

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SIAN millionaires now control more wealth than those in North America, Europe and other regions, according to a report from finance firm

Capgemini. Driven by China and Japan, Asia’s millionaires saw their wealth jump by 10% in 2015, the firm’s World Wealth Report found.

Millionaires held

nearly $60 trillion (£40 trillion) worldwide last year, four times higher than 30 years ago.

That could rise to $100 trillion by 2025, Capgemini said.

being jailed for between two to six months for having sexual relations outside marriage and men would face the same punishment.

Bar Association head Ngnie Kamga said the law would “take Cameroon backwards

people to prisons”.

“Men having children out of wedlock should be punished because that is evidence of adultery,” one member of parliament, Tomaino Ndam Njoya, is reported to have said during the debate.

Uganda to withdraw troops from the US, UK and Somalia’s Amisom force including Turkey have been training

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GANDA will pull its soldiers out of the African Union mission fighting Islamist group alShabab in Somalia, its military chief has said.

Gen Katumba Wamala said the decision to withdraw Ugandan troops

by December 2017 was taken because of frustration with the Somali army and military advisers from US, UK and Turkey.

Uganda provides the biggest contingent of soldiers to the AU force, Amisom.

Amisom has helped push al-Shabab out of most of Somalia’s major towns.

But the militants continue to mount deadly suicide bombings and guerrilla attacks.

Uganda joined Amisom in 2007 and has just over 6,000 troops in the 22,000strong force.

Gen Wamala told the BBC’s Catherine Byaruhanga that it was time for the Somali army to take over its own security, but that it was not happening. Countries

Somali soldiers and police officers.

Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Burundi also have troops in Amisom.

In May, Kenya also threatened to withdraw its troops from Somalia if the United Nations did not offer funding to support the mission.

Our correspondent says some have questioned Amisom’s effectiveness because it has struggled to secure areas outside of the big towns and has been plagued with accusations of corruption.

•Kenya's president, Unhuru Kenyatta signing an Anti-doping Amendment Bill into law on Thursday,

Kenyan president signs anti-doping measures into law

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ENYA’S president signed an antidoping amendment bill into law on Thursday, after the World AntiDoping Agency (WADA) said Kenyan legislation passed in April needed further changes if Kenya was to be declared compliant with WADA codes.

“Signed the AntiDoping 2016 (Amendment) Bill into law this morning,” President Uhuru Kenyatta said on his official Twitter account.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach had said on Tuesday that competitors from Russia and Kenya, given their

countries’ recent history of doping, would have to be screened individually before

being allowed to participate in the games in Rio de Janeiro.

Pistorius says murdered girlfriend would want him to go free

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SCAR Pistorius said that Reeva Steenkamp, the girlfriend he was convicted of murdering on Valentine’s Day 2013, would want him to go free, in a television interview due to be broadcast on Friday.

The Paralympic athlete, who shot Steenkamp dead through a locked toilet door, told British broadcaster ITV she would want him to dedicate his life to charity, not waste it behind bars.

The 29-year-old gold medalist, known as the

“Blade Runner ” for his carbon-fibre prosthetics, is awaiting sentencing for her murder on July 6.

Prosecutors have asked for at least the minimum 15year jail term.

Steenkamp’s family have not commented on his decision to give his first television interview since her death - though prosecutors have questioned why he felt unable to give testimony but was willing to talk to journalists, accusing him of showing no remorse.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016 — 53

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54 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

End in sight for Kogi Assembly crisis As feuding factions move to reconcile

By Boluwaji Obahopo

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O K O J A — I N D I C AT I O N S yesterday emerged that the crisis rocking the Kogi State House of Assembly, might be over soon as the feuding factions agreed on templates for reconciliation with factional leaders of the assembly including speakers expected to vacate their positions.

This was the fallout of a reconciliation meeting that started Wednesday on the auspices of a self appointed 11man Peace Committee headed by Nihi Oladele of the ‘Peace Ambassador’ group.

Though details of the terms of agreement were not made public, the meeting is expected to continue today, as the factions otherwise known as G5 and G15 groups, met for about four hours at the Government House.

The meeting which had in attendance Governor Yahaya Bello, Deputy Governor Simon Achuba, Chief of staff , Edward Onoja, Special Adviser to the governor on Legislative and Assembly Matters, Yusuf Haruna; some commissioners and all the 23 Assembly members apart from G5 Factional Majority Leader, Friday Makama; was held behind closed-doors.

However, the Speaker of the G15 group, left the meeting frowning and did not participate in the group photograph at the end of the day.

Speaking with newsmen after the four hours meeting, Leader of the reconciliatory group, Nihi Oladele said, “The crisis degenerated to the level that the good image of the state was being battered, with elders of the state not showing interest at reconciling

the warring factions, hence the youths stepped in to do the reconciliation.”

Speaking, the governor said he still believed there was no crisis in the assembly, saying what happened was a misunderstanding, expressing satisfaction that the members had decided to mend fences.

Spokesman of the G15, Mathew Kolawole who spoke after the meeting said the two factions had

WIDOWS DAY: From left; Mrs Gloria Laraba Shoda; Vice President, National Council of Women Societies; Mr Felix King, founder, Felix King Charity Foundation; Hon Elizabeth Ativie, Speaker Edo State House of Assembly/keynote speaker and Mrs Aderonke King during the 2016 International Widows Day, with the theme; ''The Right of a widow'' organized by Felix King Charity Foundation at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos yesterday. Photo by Akeem Salau.

Mark raises alarm over killings, kidnappings in Benue

By Henry Umoru

F

ORMER President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, yesterday raised alarm over the spate of killings,

Dufil launches Indomie Bellefull pack

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UFIL Prima Foods, makers of Indomie Instant Noodles, has added a new SKU in Chicken Flavour, Indomie Bellefull, to its growing range of noodle products in the Nigerian market.

Dufil Prima Foods Plc has made a remarkable impact on the Nigerian culinary landscape with its Indomie Instant Noodles range of products which appeals to every demographic group and this has led to the company’s meteoric growth in the Nigerian market.

Unveiling the new product, Head, Marketing, Dufil Prima Foods, Mr. Girish Sharma, who referred to the new product as a brain child of an extended consumer research and survey, said, “We are launching the new Chicken flavour product from Dufil Prima Foods called Indomie Bellefull for our valued consumers, and it is borne out of the brand’s effort in catering for

agreed on some templates for the total resolution of the crisis, insising however that there was nothing that was permanent.

Though the two groups did not divulge the templates, but Vanguard gathered that part of the templates are for both the embattled speaker, MomohJimoh Lawal and Factional Speaker, Umar Imam, to lose their Speakership positions along with other principal officials in the new

arrangement.

According to the source, the G5 will produce the Speaker while the G15 group will produce the remaining six principal officials.

“The only fraction in the new template is the body language of the governor who still wishes Umar Imam continues as Speaker while the other legislators are pushing for a neutral person.

Also, the Majority leader of the G5 who has been the anchor man of the group does not want to lose his position. His absence at today’s meeting give credence to this assumption”, the source added.

the growing need of the family and easing the hassle associated with purchasing multiple packs of already available Indomie SKUs for meals on the home front.”

According to Girish, the new product is made from the best quality wheat which will boost energy in no time after consumption.

kidnappings and gangrelated activities in parts of Benue State.

Mark lamented that the sad and unfortunate incidents had claimed scores of lives and properties in recent times.

Reacting to the death of a Catholic Priest, Reverend Father John Adeyi at the hands of kidnappers who abducted him for the past 60 days, Senator Mark said the upsurge in criminal activities had reached an intolerable level.

In a statement by his Media Assistant, Paul Mumeh, Senator Mark wondered what a harmless Catholic Priest would do to deserve the kind of dehumanization and eventual

murder by the kidnappers.

The former Senate President urged the Catholic Community, especially the bereaved family to take solace in the fact that Adeyi was a true servant of God who gave his all to win souls for Christ.

Mark noted that even as he mourned the death of Adeyi , news filtered into town that another of his constituents and a Catholic Priest with Kano Catholic Diocese, Reverend Father Julius Inalegwu was abducted in the early hours of yesterday in Kano State.

Senator Mark implored the Inspector General of Police and other security operatives to do all that was needed to bring the perpetrators to justice forthwith.

How to tackle unemployment — NDE

By Oboh Agbonkhese

N

ATIONAL Directorate of Employment, NDE, has said for unemployment to be effectively tackled, innovative programmes and schemes must be regularly injected into the economy through skills that are demand-driven specific, relevant and community-based.

According to NDE, this will reduce poverty by stimulating income generation and wealth creation.

Co-coordinator Lagos NDE, Mr.

Adebowale Ologbenla, spoke at the graduation of 50 constituents of Lagos Central senatorial district, trained in photography, video recording, catering, small chops, mobile phones repair, hairdressing, barbing and smoked fish business in a community-based training programme.

Ologbenla urged other stakeholders to emulate Senator Oluremi Tinubu (APC, Lagos Central), who collaborated with NDE on the skill acquisition scheme.

Earlier, Senator Tinubu said a virile human resource development scheme was essential to developing the full economic value in a society, making skills acquisition integral to a nation’s growth.

According to Tinubu, “the Federal Government is passionate about youth empowerment. But the task is for everyone. That is why government should fund and empower NDE so that more of this kind of collaboration will be executed for full economic growth.”

9.2m poor Nigerians benefit from IFAD programme

By Peter Duru

M

AKURDI—AN estimated 9.2 million rural poor Nigerians are reported to be direct beneficiaries of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, programme in Nigeria.

Benue State Project Coordinate of IFAD-Value Chain Development Programme, VCDP, Mr. Emmanuel Igbaukum, made this known at the Flag off of the distribution of inputs to rice farmers by the Olam Group at Tse-Terzar in Guma Local Government Area of the state.

Quoting reports of the Independent Office of Evaluation, IOE, Igbaukum said “the infrastructural and agricultural projects supported by IFAD-VCDP in the rural communities have gone a long way to improve the livelihood and food production capacity of the benefiting rural dwellers. ''While we commend the Olam Group for partnering the programme in Benue state we are happy to state that Benue is the first under the IFAD-VCDP to embark on dry season rice farming which is currently being harvested.”

NAFDAC to commission local manufacturers' facility

A

CTING DirectorGeneral of National Agency for Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mrs Yetunde Oni, will next week commission the multimillion Naira production facilities of the Association of Animal Health and Agrochemical Producers (Nigeria).

The event holds at Ijegun area of Alimosho Local Government, Lagos on June 30, 2016, according to the National Chairman of the Association, Mr. Tunde Adewoye.

Adewoye said over 35 animal and agro-allied products of international standard had been produced by members of the association and registered

by NAFDAC. He said eminent personalities in the industry, government and NAFDAC officials are expected to grace the occasion.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016 — 55

AAC: Nigerian athletes’ prospect for gold haul fading •Cote d'Ivoire sweeps men/women 100m

By Ben Efe

D

AY two of the African Athletics Championships in Durban, South Africa had little prospect for Nigerian athletes, even as Cote d’Ivoire’s Ben Youssef Meite and Murielle Ahoure clinched the gold in the men’s and women’s 100m event decided yesterday.

It is highly unlikely that Nigeria that in the past dominated the sprint events with a 1,2,3 win in both categories, will produce a podium performance in Durban.

There was no Nigerian sprinter in the men’s 100m clinched by Meite with a 9.95 seconds run.

Mosito Lehata of Lesotho won silver with 10.04 secs while Akani Simbine of South Africa received the bronze with 10.05.

In the women’s race Nigeria’s Gloria Asumnu was out-classed by the race favourites. Ahoure topped the field with 10.99 seconds, she set a championships’ record in the process. South Africa’s Carina Horn clocked 11.07secs to finish second and Africa Games champion, Marie Jose Talou took the bronze with 11.15 seconds.

Asumnu finished fourth with 11.45 seconds.

Nigeria’s best sprinters Blessing Okagbare, Ogho-Oghene Egwero and Seyi Ogunlewe skipped the championships.

Also yesterday Patience Okon George and Regina George made it to the final of the women’s 400m. But they must beat Zambia’s Kabange Mupopo and Kenya’s Margaret Nyairera who had better qualification times in the semi-final.

Nigeria’s Chidi Okezie will run in the men’s final.

He posted a 45.8 secs in the semi-final.

So far Stephen Mozia’s two bronze medals in the men’s shot put and discus throw are the only medals in Nigeria’s name.

Mozia a prechampionships favourite threw 59.16m in the event won by South Africa’s Victor Hogan with 61.68m. Compatriot Russel Tucker was second with 61.44m But as the 4x100m

relays are decided today, it is expected that Nigeria will be on the podium to at least get a silver or bronze.

In today’s events; the pressure will be on Ese Brume to repeat the 6.83m jump she did recently as the final of the women’s long jump comes off the ground.

Uhunoma Osazuwa will also be in action heptathlon today and based on her performance at the Africa Games in Congo, she is a sure bet for gold in the event. Chinwe Okoro will compete in the women’s discuss throw and she is one of the top contenders for the gold.

J

AMIE Vardy has rejected a move to Arsenal and is poised to sign a new four-year contract with Leicester City.

The England international has opted to stay with the Midlands club after his goals played a major role in the club’s remarkable Premier League title success of last season and will be rewarded with an improved deal.

Arsenal triggered the release clause in Vardy’s contract at the start of the month and held talks with the England international but the 29-year-old has decided against joining

HE Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, Lagos Chapter, has called on the Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, to institute investigations into the circumstances surrounding the nonissuance of visas to the national U-17 female basketball team to the FIBA U-17 Championships in Spain and the disqualification of the national female boxing team to the Rio 2016 World Qualification Competition held in Kazakhstan.

The Spanish Consulate recently refused to issue visas to members of the national basketball team to the championship in Spain despite clearances by FIBA and the Spanish Basketball authority reportedly on the

Continues from BP the entire situation related to the seeding, the ranking announced by FIFA on 7th June 2016 will be adhered to.

This means that the pots remain: Pot 1: Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Tunisia Pot 2: Cape Verde Islands, Egypt, DR Congo, Nigeria, Mali Pot 3: Cameroon, Morocco, Guinea, South Africa, Guinea Pot 4: Uganda, Burkina Faso, Zambia, Gabon, Libya After Egypt protested its placement in Pot 2, Nigeria

•To earn £100,000-a-week Arsène Wenger’s side in a £22m transfer. Although the news is a blow to Arsenal, Wenger said in a recent interview with Chinese television that he suspected Vardy would remain at the King Power Stadium.

Leicester will be delighted that Vardy has agreed to stay andalsohopethathisdecision torejecttheopportunitytojoin Arsenal can strengthen their chances of holding onto two of their other leading players, N’Golo Kanté and Riyad Mahrez, as they try to keep

together the side that were crowned champions last month.

•Vardy

Mourinho lines up stunning £50m bid for Arsenal’s Ramsey Dortmund will dig in over

J

•Ahoure

OSE MOURINHO will make a shock bid for Aaron Ramsey — if he fails to lure Borussia Dortmund star Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The Special

Lagos SWAN petitions Dalung on botched U-17 basketball, female boxers trips

T

Vardy rejects Arsenal move

grounds of non-clearance

by National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP) and possible late submission of visa applications.

The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), the Spanish Consulate and

NAPTIP have all denied responsibility for the failure of the trip with the NBBF explaining in a recent release that it duly informed and got responses from the customs and immigration authorities but NAPTIP failed to respond to it.

One is ready to wind up bitter rival Arsene Wenger by targeting the £50million-rated Arsenal star.

Welshman Ramsey, 25, is taking the Euros by storm and Mourinho wants him to be Manchester United’s answer to Frank Lampard.

Mkhitaryan, 27, remains his top summer target, but Dortmund are playing hardball over a fee for their attacker. United have tabled an improved bid of £28m for the Armenia captain, after an initial offer of £19.3m was rejected.

But boss Mourinho fears

a player who last season bagged 19 goals and provided 24 assists.

The German giants have already lost Ilkay Gundogan to Manchester City and Mats Hummels to rivals Bayern Munich.

Now Dortmund chief Hans-Joachim Watzke fears losing Mkhitaryan would send out the wrong message to stars Marco Reus and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Mkhitaryan only has a year left on his current deal, but could be forced to see out his contract and leave on a free next summer.

Ronaldo, Bale to sign new Real Madrid contracts

C

RISTIANO Ronaldo and Gareth Bale will pen new Real Madrid contracts after Euro 2016, according to reports.

The star duo have both been putting in top performances for Portugal and Wales respectively at the tournament in France, and their Bernabeu futures are set to be sorted once they return from

Anxiety also fired a protest, stating categorically why she deserved to be in Pot 1 ahead of Egypt and Tunisia.

In the FIFA letter of Wednesday, 22nd June, signed by Deputy General Secretary Marco Villiger, the FIFA Emergency Bureau stated, inter alia: . The FIFA letter dated 5th April 2016 did not specify that the ranking would be calculated on 8th, 9th, or 10th June 2016 but that it would be released around those dates. The special ranking that was released on 8th June 2016,

•Ronaldo international duty.

Bale is set to be handed with the date 7th June 2016, fully served its essential and unique purpose of integrating all the official CAF AFCON qualifying matches that were played up to 5th June 2016 ahead of the draw. . This ranking – 7th June 2016 – remains thus valid for the 3rd qualifying round draw. Therefore, the FIFA letter dated 15th June 2016 suggesting a ranking on 21st June 2016 shall be deemed null and void.

Please take note that this decision is final and binding and not subject to appeal, as per article 3, paragraph 4 of the Regulations for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia.

a ‘deal for life’ after becoming a key player for Zinedine Zidane.

Real broke the world transfer record to sign Bale from Tottenham in 2013 and he is now ready to extend his stay until 2023.

The 26-year-old already earns £300,000-a-week, but he can now expect a salary to match the world’s bestpaid players this summer.

Spanish newspaper

Marca claims Bale will sign on when his time with Chris Coleman’s squad is up, and add that club superstar Ronaldo will follow suit.

The Portuguese ace has been attracting interest from Paris Saint-Germain – as well as former club Manchester United – and has just two years remaining on his current contract.

Eagles coach Continues from BP Nigerians are expecting a tough draw following the lowly seeding of the country by FIFA. The Super Eagles who failed to qualify for two consecutive Africa Cup of Nations will likely face Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal or Tunisia from Pot 1.

“We may not be one of the top seeds for the qualifiers, but that does not mean we are not good enough to qualify for the World Cup,” Yusuf said.

“We cannot afford to dwell on not qualifying for next year’s Nations Cup because that is now history

and football is about now, about seizing the moment.

“Our recent matches beginning with the Nations Cup qualifiers against Egypt have proved we have the quality and a bright future, which we only have to build on.

“It now means we have to beat one of the top seeds to be in Russia and to do that we must have the right mentality and believe in ourselves and the team that we can do that,” said the coach.

Nigeria have featured at the 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014, reaching the knock-out stages of the tournament thrice.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016

Vardy rejects Arsenal Details inside

Mourinho lines up £50m bid for Arsenal’s Ramsey

EVER READY : Ahmed Musa awaits Nigeria’s opponents today.

Vardy

Ronaldo, Bale to sign new Real deal

Anxiety as 2018 FIFA World Cup draw holds in Cairo •Nigeria back in Pot 2 T

SUPER STARS — Bale and Ronaldo

T OD AY'S PUZZLE ODA

HE draw ceremony for Africa’s final round of qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup competition will hold at CAF Headquarters, 6th October City, Egypt today.

Following the decision of the FIFA Emergency Bureau for the FIFA World Cup qualifiers on Wednesday evening, which stated that “protests from several associations” had necessitated a review of Continues on Page 55

YESTER DAY'S YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

Eagles’ coach preaches self-belief

S

UPER Eagles interim coach Salisu Yusuf has said Nigeria can qualify for the 2018 World Cup, only if the players believe in themselves.

The draws will be held today in Cairo, Egypt and Continues on Page 55

•WINNER: Murielle

AAC: Team Nigeria fumbles in 100m men, women in SA — Pg 55 QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS 2 Conceit (5) 7 Beach (5) 8 Laud (5) 10 Dismay (5) 12 Taxi (3) 13 Dish (5) 15 Readable (7) 17 Disclose (6) 19 Entrap (3) 20 Confined (7) 23 Note (4) 25 Dreadful 4) 26 Theft (7) 30 Fruit (3) 31 Objective (6) 34 Firearm (7) 37 Tearful (5) 38 Stray (3) 39 Bath (5) 40 Refute (5) 41 Elicit (5) 42 Shabby (5)

DOWN 1 Mammal (5) 2 Babble (5) 3 Rescind (6) 4 Transaction (4) 5 Aroused (7) 6 Peer (5) 9 Tag (3) 11 Merciful (7) 13 Cost (5) 14 Benefit (5) 16 Obtain (3) 18 Medicine (7) 21 Lament (5) 22 Trivial (5) 24 Pet (7) 27 Mat (3) 28 Gaped (6) 29 Encourage (5) 32 Prompt (5) 33 Era (5) 35 Sphere (3) 36 Title (6)

FRIDAY'S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS: 2, Eject 7, Daub 8, Option 9, Blast 11, Pod 13, See 15, Rein 16, Egg 18, Atom 19, Avarice 20, Data 22, Tart 23, Unknown 25, Can 27, Tan 28, Zero 30, Tub 31, Ran 33, Stand 36, Future 37, Ogle 38, Treat.

DOWN: 1, Canoe 2, Ebb 3, Era 4, Tot 5, Sty 6, Rodeo 10, Saga 11, Product 12, Disturb 13, Steamer 14, Emotion 16, Event 17, Grown 18, Act 21, Ant 24, Oast 26, Augur 29, Rally 32, Mud 33, Set 34, Age 35, Dot.

How to Play Sudoku

P

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

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

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

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