2015 presidential contest: Obasanjo intensifies plot against Jonathan

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Jonathan, Mark, ACF, govs sue for peace at Easter *Terrorists are brainwashed pawns of international terrorism – President

BY OUR REPORTERS

God for mankind and urged Christians to always emulate Jesus Christ and imbibe the virtues of love and forgiveness.

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HE need for peace in the country, sacrifice and love by the citizenry dominated the messages of Nigerian leaders to Christians as they celebrate Easter today.

Easter Sunday marks the resurrection of Jesus three days after crucifixion about 2000 years ago.

Godswill Akpabio

Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State described Easter as the most important event in the Christian calendar, maintaining that that lesson of the celebration should not be lost on all Christians.

The governor, in his message, urged Christians to learn a lesson from Christ’s sacrificial death, and be more committed to service to humanity.

Goodluck Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan called on Nigerians to re dedicate themselves to living together in peace and harmony and resist the antics of international terrorists and the local collaborators who he described as the “brainwashed pawns of international terrorism.”

In his message to the nation, the president said peace and security are germane to the development of the country, vowing that security agencies would ensure that peace in the country is sustained. ”As we celebrate this year ’s Easter therefore, I urge all Nigerians to rededicate themselves to living in peace and oneness with all members of their communities no matter their ethnicity, religious beliefs or places of origin,” he said. ”On your part, dear countrymen and women, I urge you to continue to exhibit restraint and understanding in the face of seeming provocations. Those who mindlessly and indiscriminately attack churches, schools, health workers, motor-parks, banks and ordinary road users must be seen as they truly are: the brainwashed pawns of international terrorism. ”They do not represent any true religion or section of the country and we must never play into their hands by succumbing to their nefarious ploys to incite religious, ethnic hatred and division among us”.

David Mark

Senate President, David Mark, called on Christians to exemplify Christ’s life by continuing to live in peace and harmony irrespective of faith.

Mark, in his message, through his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan,

Theodore Orji

President Goodluck Jonathan(left) condoling with Mama Hilda Awolowo over the death of her son, Chief Oluwole Awolowo, publisher, Nigerian Tribune Newspapers, in Ikene, Ogun State, yesterday. Photo: State House. reminded that “Christ died on the cross of Calvary as a sacrificial lamb and for the forgiveness of sins of mankind” and urged Nigerians to use the season of Easter as a period of reconciliation with each other as exhibited by Jesus’ death.

Ike Ekweremadu

Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, in his message, said: “A praying nation is a winning nation, but we must match our prayers with good work, fervent patriotism, and unconditional love for others so as not to squander Christ’s Sacrifice”.

Babatunde Raji Fashola

Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) of Lagos State asked the people to work in the spirit of oneness, tolerance and restraint.

“The season reminds us of the selflessness, love and tolerance of Jesus Christ throughout His earthly sojourn. It was a difficult period but He persevered”, he said in his message..

“It is a season when we should pause and reflect on our individual and collective roles towards promoting and sustaining that foundation of love, peace and harmony in our society”.

Adams Oshiomhole

SOLUTION

In his own message, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State said Nigeria will attain her full potentials when her citizens resolve to live a life of sacrifice and righteousness.

In the message signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Peter Okhiria, Oshiomhole said: “As we commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who gave his life as a sacrifice for mankind, I enjoin the Christian faithful to toe the footsteps of their progenitor and emulate his spirit of peace, love, sacrifice and righteousness”.

Kayode Fayemi

Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, urged Christians to see Easter as an opportunity to offer a better service to God and mankind.

In his message signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Olayinka Oyebode, Fayemi said Jesus Christ who died for the sins of mankind paid the supreme price for the salvation of man.

He charged Christians to emulate the sacrificial nature of Jesus Christ by committing themselves to serve their Creator and fellow human beings better by exhibiting piety and love.

Emmanuel Uduaghan

Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, urged Nigerians not to despair in the face of the challenges confronting the country.

In his Easter message, he urged Christians to reflect on the import of the celebrations in their dealings, not only with other Christians, but also with people of other religions. He said Nigerians must eschew bitterness and all forms of violence, stressing that the progress, peace and security of the nation are anchored on good neighborliness and peaceful coexistence

Rotimi Amaechi

Rivers State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, enjoined Christians to pray fervently for the nation and its leaders and take advantage of the Easter period to show love and forgiveness.

Amaechi, in his message signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. David Iyofor, said the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ was a clear indication of the love of

Abia State governor, Chief Theodore Orji asked Christians to use the occasion to pray for peace for the nation.

Orji who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Ugochukwu Emezue, in his Easter message, explained that “one of the greatest solution to the nation’s security challenges remains prayers, so that God will touch the hearts of those who are bent on destroying lives and property to have a change of heart”.

Reagan Ufomba

T he APGA governorship candidate in the 2011 election in Abia State, Ochiagha Reagan Ufomba ,in his message, wanted Nigerians to reflect on those virtues for which Jesus Christ came and died on the cross, saying that is the only way to make the Easter celebration m e a n i n g f u l .

Bukola Saraki

Senator representing Kwara central in the National Assembly, Senator Abubaka Bukola Saraki, in his message, urged Nigerians to “emphatically pray for peace in our nation and all those who work for peace and reconciliation in various parts of N i g e r i a ” .

Emeka Ihedioha

Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, called on Nigerians to remain steadfast in prayers for the unity, peace and progress of the country.

The deputy speaker, in his message, also expressed optimism that challenges facing the country will give way to breakthroughs in several facets of national life when Nigerians do not relent in prayers, hard work, diligence and patriotic contributions to nation-building.

Ola Makinde

The Prelate, Methodist Church Nigeria, Dr Sunday Ola Makinde, pleaded with Christians to reflect true love and genuine concern to the plight of others.

In his Easter message, he charged Christians to seize the occasion as a true reflection for sacrifice for a better country.

Isaac Ayobami Olawuyi

The Bishop, Diocese of Lagos West, Methodist Church Nigeria, Rt Revd Isaac Ayobami Olawuyi, demanded a road map for improved economy, stemming from the sacrifice of the experience during the 40-day fasting.

The cleric, in his message, called on the leaders to rule with the fear of God and to genuinely access the masses, who elected them to power.

ACF

Arewa Consultative Forum, in its message, asked Nigerians to use the spirit of the time and resolve to love one another with patriotic courage and in hope that a united Nigeria inhabited by a peaceful society that is socially diverse,economically empowered and politically active is within reach and holds lot of promise for Nigerians.

“All that is required of Nigerians is to pray for God to enable all of us make consciously directed efforts at making what we collectively desire and share possible and then actual. The socio economic and political challenges Nigeria faces now are temporary because they are not beyond redemption. With God all good things are possible”, the northern leaders group said in its Easter message to the nation.

Pope Francis marks first Easter Mass …reaches out to ‘Muslim brothers’

BY SAM EYOBOKA with Agency reports

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OPE Francis is expected to mark the first Easter Sunday mass of his papacy today few hours after he celebrated his maiden Easter vigil yesterday just as he prayed for peace in the Middle East and stronger Christian-Muslim dialogue at a torch-lit ceremony for Good Friday.

The newly-elected Argentine pope yesterday presided over a mass at St. Peter’s Basilica from 8.30 p.m. local time, baptising four adult converts—an Albanian, an Italian, a Russian and a US national.

The ceremony effectively wrapped up a series of intensive preparations leading up to Easter Sunday—the holiest day

in the Christian calendar—by the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather today for the Easter Sunday mass when the Pope will issue a special blessing from the same balcony of St. Peter ’s Basilica, where he appeared on the night of his election.

Giovanni Maria Vian, editor of the Vatican’s official daily Osservatore Romano, said seeing the new Pope during Easter helped explain the timing of his predecessor Benedict XVI’s resignation.

Meanwhile the Argentine Pope reached out in friendship to “so many Muslim brothers and sisters” during a Good Friday procession dedicated to the suffering of Christians from terrorism, war and religious fanaticism in the Middle East.

PAGE 6—SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 31, 2013

Obasanjo intensifies plot against Jonathan Continued from page 1 Presidency are pressing for decisiveness on the part of Mr. President, with a view to clipping Obasanjo’s wings.

The latest indication about the former President’s moves is what sources described as the “series of meetings and consultations between Obasanjo and traditional rulers in the North”.

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former state governor familiar with the surreptitious movements of Obasanjo in the last one month told Sunday Vanguard: “The former president has been moving round the North under the guise of being a special guest at functions; but the real reason for his visits to the North is the series of consultations he is holding with traditional rulers across the zones – save, of course, North East geopolitical zone where the dreaded Jamaatu Ahlil Sunna Lidawati wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, holds

sway”.

It was learnt that Obasanjo’s latest moves are “ with a view to pacifying the North which heaps on his head all the blames for the loss of its hold on power as occasioned by the death of late President Umaru Musa Yar ’Adua, a death which paved the way for the enthronement of Jonathan as president.

“What Obasanjo has come to realize is that even most of those he considers his traditional friends and confidants poke disdain at him for his role in the imposition of the late Yar ’Adua and Jonathan as presidential candidate and running mate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 2007, and he is very desperate to make it up to ‘his people’”.

“The meetings are centred on how best the North can present a united front against the aspiration of Jonathan.

And because of his vast network of friends across the country, Obasanjo is cashing all his cheques

because of this project”.

Sunday Vanguard can also report that the offand-on relationship between Obasanjo and former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, has again engaged the ‘ON’ mode.

“When you see Obasanjo and Babangida coming together again with their interests coalescing, then you know something is in the air”, our source said.

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nother source – a former presidential aide - that is very familiar with the scheme, said, “It is not so much of what Obasanjo wants from the northern traditional rulers but what the rulers want from him. Yes, I can confirm to you that he has been all over the place and he has been holding series of consultations. The agenda is to work against the 2015 aspiration of President Jonathan”.

Asked about the

r u m o u r e d rapprochement between Obasanjo and his exde puty, for mer Vice

President Atiku Abubakar, the source was emphatic in saying that “the two have not sat down to meet one on one but there are behind the scene consultations with a view to ensuring that happens”.

In addition, Obasanjo is also said to be in consultation with a few PDP state governors who are very loyal to him, specifically Sule Lamido of Jigawa State and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State.

Indeed, sensing this emerging threat, PDP Board of Trustees, BoT, Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, launched a counter offensive.

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lready, the BoT Chairman has held talks with Lamido, Kwankwaso, Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, and Governor Mukhtar Yero of Kaduna State, among others.

His rescue mission is to “ensure that a proper

reconciliation is engendered between the President and the state governors”, a very dependable source told Sunday Vanguard.

The talks, which are continuing, are said to be “ yielding very positive results”.

On his part, Jonathan himself held talks with a section of Yoruba leaders three weeks ago in Lagos.

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unday Vanguard learnt that the meeting, which had some elders in the land as well as a very strategic traditional ruler in attendance, explored ways of pacifying the S/ West geo-political zone which is increasingly becoming vociferous about its claims of marginalization under the Jonathan administration.

The Yoruba leaders, who do not appear to be on the same page with the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, or its intended successor party, the All Progressive Congress, APC, are to

hold another round of talks with the President at a later date.

Interestingly, even as the President patience is being taxed by Obasanjo’s scheme, some hawks in Aso Rock Presidential Villa are of the view that the former President’s wings should be clipped.

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Presidency source told Sunday Vanguard:”It is because President Jonathan is mild-mannered; if not, are we not living witnesses to how the fo rmer President

deployed state power to haunt those he perceived as capable of stopping him from achieving his failed Third Term agenda?

“That he is walking the streets of Nigeria free does not mean he is a saint, especially the way

he’s been carrying on. Is it not the mess that he created after eight years in office that this administration is still battling to clear ”?, the Presidency source quipped.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 31, 2013 — PAGE 7

BRIEFS

NDDC streamlines contracts to end abandonment of projects

BY LEKAN BILESANMI

he Board of the T Niger Delta D e v e l o p m e n t

Commission (NDDC) has streamlined the complex contract system in the commission which “in the past had spawned sev eral ‘toxic projects’ – projects that were awarded without budgetary provisions.”

“And considering the plight of innocent contractors choked with these toxic projects, the Board has passed resolutions empowering the Managing Director to act on them. The process is on-going,” a source told Sunday Vanguard yesterday, while saying the Board had worked quietly since it was inaugurated, leading to landmark achievements.

“Second, issues of payment ,procedures which had led contractors to slow down or abandon projects have been addressed. The Board has reviewed the Accounting Manual and reformed the payment procedure.

Now contractors ,have some stability of expectations as interim payment certificates are to be paid between 1020 working days. The Board has also empowered the Managing Director to fast-track

some very important projects like the University Hostels and road construction and they are going on satisfactorily,” the source stated.

“Finally, at the last Board Meeting, in order to further improve service delivery, the Board has created a “Work-sanitation Day”on the last Wednesday of every month during which every employee must clear his or her desk, and the SERVICOM has been empowered to monitor compliance. Servicom has also been empowered to monitor file movements in every office and report on a regular basis to the Managing Director who will report to the Board.”

Politicians rally for Oshiomhole @ 60

From left; Gov. Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko of Sokoto State; Vice President Namadi Sambo; Secretary General, Muslim World League, Makkah, Saudi Arabia, Dr.Abdullahi Bin Abdul-Muhsin Al-Turki; the Sultan of Sokoto ,Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar and the Speaker , House of Assembly , Aminu Tambowal during the international conference on Islam and the fundamentals of peaceful co-existence in Nigeria held Sokoto weekend

Gunmen kill policeman at daughters’ wedding

BY NDAHI MARAMA, Maiduguri

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policeman was killed by unknown gunmen at the wedding of his two daughters in Damboa town in Damboa local government area of Borno State, local sources said yesterday, saying the incident hap-

pened on Friday.

Residents told our correspondent that the deceased policeman was shot dead in front of his house while conducting the wedding Fatiha of his daughters shortly after the Friday congregation prayer(Jumat). It was gathered that the

policeman ran from the town for months following death threat sent to him by unknown persons only to return to the town last week in order to marry out his daughters. ”He came back last week to marry out his two daughters but was shot dead on Friday after

KWARA POLICE COMMISSIONER’S ASSASSINATION

We have recorded 90% success on investigation — AIG

BY ANAYO OKOLI

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HE new Assistant Inspector General of Police [AIG], Zone 9, Umuahia, Abia State, Mr. Tambari Yabo Muhammad, has called on the governors in the zone to set up security trust fund to assist in providing logistics for security agencies in the zone.

Muhammad, who spoke to journalists shortly after meeting with police commissioners in the zone, urged the governors under his jurisdiction, comprising of Abia, Anambra, Enugu and Imo states, to emulate Lagos State by setting up security trust fund in the states.

He said the initiative to be funded by

*Seeks ‘the Lagos solution’ to insecurity in S/East corporate bodies, among others, would help the states as the governors may no longer dip their hands into state coffers to provides logistics for security agencies in their area.

The AIG also disclosed that the police investigation into the murder of former Kwara State Police Commissioner, Chinwike Asadu, has recorded 90% success, and hinted that, before long, the investigation would be concluded.

According to him, he came to the zone with renewed vigour to fight crime, but would require the assistance of the people to succeed. He said that the people

CORRECTION |In our 24-Hour Report of last Sunday, headlined, ‘On the Road with Kano Street Kids’, we inadvertently, in one of the pictures, referred to Mr. Tayo Oni, a lecturer at Child and Almajiri Empowerment and Support Initiative, CAESI, as an Almajiri. The error is regretted.

– Editor

could help by providing information on crime and assured of the protection and confidentiality of informants and the information.

“We really need their [governors] support in the area of logistics.

Police are doing their best within the meager resources available to them, but I believe that with support from the governors, we will do more,”Muhammad said.

“Almost everything is anchored on security, without security there will be investment. So we are appealing to the Governors of the zone to come the assistance of the security agencies to do more. I suggest that they set up security trust fund in their states like in Lagos so that money can be raised to buy equipment for security agencies. Lagos State has up to 300 patrol vehicles and every place is covered”.

The AIG also promised to resuscitate Police

Community Relations Committees across the zone to encourage the people to volunteer information.

Jumat while the wedding was going on”, a resident who did not want to be named said.Our reporter learnt that the deceased officer was from Michika local government area of Adamawa State but resident in Damboa. In another development, a telecommunications network mast has been burnt down in Ajigin village, an outskirts of Damboa local government area.

Locals said that the Airtel’s mast, was just repaired Thursday,was burnt for the second time.

No official statement on the two incidents and efforts to get the Borno police spokesman,DSP Gideon Jibrin, weres not successful as at the time of filing this report.

Okorocha regrets losing former deputy *Successor sworn in CHIDI NKWOPARA,, OWERRI

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he new Imo State Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere, was, yesterday, sworn-in by the state Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Benjamin Ahanonu Njemanze.

The ceremony, which took place in the Sam Mbakwe Extended Executive Council Chambers of Government House, Owerri, attracted several dignitaries, including the President, Customary Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice Pius Ifeanyi Okpara, lawmakers and traditional rulers.

Addressing Madumere, Governor Rochas Okorocha warned that “in this job, you must hate the idea of primitive accumulation wealth, as well as be guided that this job must end one day ”.While saying that

swearing-in of the new Deputy Governor was ordained by God, Okorocha, however, expressed regret that he lost his former deputy, Sir Jude Agbaso.

Free medicare in Delta

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eo Black Movement of Africa, Delta Zone has carried out free medical checkup for traders in the Warri Main Market, Warri, Delta State.

The programme was part of activities to mark the one year memorial of one of its leaders, Mr. Believe Erovwo, who was murdered a year ago in Warri by unknown gunmen.

The traders, whose blood pressure and sugar level were tested, were given medication according to their test results.

Comrade Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, turns 60 on Thursday, April 4, 2013.

To mark the event, a symposium titled, ‘ Deepening Democracy and Enhancing Public Welfare,’ will hold at Imaguero College Hall, Sapele Road, Benin from 11 am.

Speakers are, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal ; Governor of Niger State, Gov. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu; former Governor of Lagos State and national leader, Action Congress of Nigeria ( CAN), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; and former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili.

The occasion will be chaired by the chairman, Arewa Consultative Forum ( ACF), Alhaji Aliko Mohammed.

Vanguard will on April 4 have a special publication to mark the Comrade Governor ’s birthday. Be a part of it.

Omisore condoles with Akinfenwa over his wife’s death Senator Iyiola Omisore has condoled with Senator Akinfenwa over his wife’s death “I received with rude shock and regret the transition into eternal glory of the wife of Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenenwa”, Omisore said in a tribute.

According to him, Mrs. Bolanle Akinfenwa, during her lifetime, was a pillar of support to her husband.

“There was no one who is close to the the Akinfenwas who would not attest to the good spirit of the departed,her caring heart and the warmth she radiated”, he added.

Diya, Arthur Eze, Tejuosho, others for church dedication The newly completed Cathedral of the United African Methodist Evangelical Church, Abule Ijesha will be dedicated on April 6 under the chairmanship of Chief Arthur Eze while Oba Adedapo Tejuosho, the Osile of OkeOna Egbaland, and the Alaye of Odogbolu, Oba Adedeji Onagoruwa, are the royal fathers of the day.

The Prelate, Methodist Church Nigeria, Dr. Sunday Ola Makinde, will deliver the sermon at the event, which will be coordinated by the Baba Ijo, former Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Oladipo Diya (RTD), the Iya Ijo, Chief Mrs. Mabel Kehinde Komolafe, the Otunba Baba Ijo, Chief Folorunso Oladepo, the Otun Iya Ijo, Chief Mrs. Patience Olarewaju Adeleke, and Senator Anthony Adefuye, among others.

PAGE 8—SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 31, 2013

Chinua Achebe, a celebration Achebe died?” We were at the Marriot Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina, at the annual conference of the African Literature Association (ALA) when the news came. A great pall of silence had descended, then began the celebration of a great and magnificent life. Achebe chose a symbolic moment to pass: the gathering of the writers and scholars of the literature of the African world in a city which itself has significance in the transatlantic movement of Africans through the middle passage. Chinua Achebe magnified the African story in the 20th century.

The significance might now slightly be lost to those who now regard African literature as given, but before Chinua Achebe, there was no African literature; not because Africans were not writing; not because there was no tradition of imaginative expression in Africa by Africans; it is simply because, in the words of the great Nigerian critic, F. Abiola Irele, Chinua Achebe’s writing, for the first time provided an “image of Africa [that] was quite unprecedented in literature.” After Achebe, Africa was no longer that “area of darkness” de-

nuded of human consciousness. Achebe restored its coherent institutional fabric and its “universe of meaning and values.” To put it quite simply, Chinua Achebe’s importance is

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HERE is the Igbo story of the wood pecker who proclaimed without doubt that he would honour his father in death by pecking down the great Iroko tree. But the day came when his father died, and the woodpecker suddenly grew a boil on its beak. I feel like the woodpecker. Chinua Achebe’s death last week left me tongue tied.

Not because I thought he would not die; I was in fact at the last Achebe Colloquium at Brown last November, and I felt in the chill of the New England winter, a slight premonition. It is just that men like Achebe transcend death.

They seem immortal and timeless. They occupy a zone of reality that is between myth and legend. So, the announcement of his death felt like a great pillar had shifted underneath the earth and nothing feels the same or is likely to stay in the same familiar balance. An era had come truly to a close.

Eustace Palmer, the Sierra-Leonean critic of African Literature said so much, that Achebe’s passing is such an earthshattering event that years from now it would be asked, “ where were you when the great

I read Arrow of God, the first of the Achebe novels I encountered, as a nine-year old in 1975.

I was haunted by the story. The powerful story of this priest who tried to wrestle with Time in the name of his god, and was found in the end with his mind turned.

It is true that many critics have compared Achebe with another of his creations, the thoughtful and introspective Obierika, the thinking man; Okonkwo’s alter-ego in Things Fall Apart, but Achebe had reminded me more of the high priest Ezulu, equally thoughtful and

Chinua Achebe’s importance is that he restored the dignity and humanity of the African, pillaged for over five hundred years in antinomic imagery and stories circulated across the world without the challenge of a counter narrative

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that he restored the dignity and humanity of the African, pillaged for over five hundred years in antinomic imagery and stories circulated across the world without the challenge of a counter narrative. It was a historic task and only a man of Achebe’s genius and powerful introspection could achieve it. He wrote with crystalline power and authority.

introspective, committed and principled, with a capable and philosophical mind, and endowed with a quiet, dignified and stubborn will. For instance, while his friend, the poet Okigbo, lived and wrote with the urgency of a meteorite; a star in the ascent, much like Obika, Ezulu’s son, Achebe wrote with the calm and measure of deliberate truth, even in the

face of personal tragedy.

Chinua Achebe arrived this world as the stars aligned; no wonder therefore his parents named him Chinualumuogu.

There is much to a name and his “Chi” indeed fought for him. Born on November 16, 1930, Chinua Achebe shared the same birthday with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, another lighted torch of that century. C. C. Momah, former Librarian of the United Nations and Achebe’s best friend and classmate from the Government College Umuahia to the University College Ibadan has written about how the famous school master, Mr. Okongwu, Dr. Chu S. Okongwu’s father, then headmaster at the St. Michael’s school in Aba in the 1940s had warned them of a boy at Ogidi who “ would make the rain that will beat” them in the competitive entrance into the Government College Umuahia in 1943.

It was there they all met in January 1944, at the Government College Umuahia – “Eton of the East” – where Achebe indeed showed his mettle. Unlike Okigbo or Momah at Umuahia, he was no athlete; I even have a picture of V.C. Ike as cricket scorer for Umuahia with Wole Soyinka scoring for Ibadan on the opposite side in 1948, but Achebe took swimmingly to academics. He made by all accounts, the best results in the Cambridge exam and the entrance to the new University College Ibadan in 1948, where he arrived to study medicine, but soon found him-

No one can fast-track our mama’s death — Awo family *Jonathan says he will adopt children of the deceased

BY DAUD OLATUNJI rs. Tokunbo Awolowo M -Dosunmu, one of the surviving children of the

matriarch of Awolowo family, Mrs. HID Awolowo, has asked those who might have been wishing their aged mother death to stop that, saying, no one could fast track her death.

Awolowo-Dosunmu stated this, yesterday, while welcoming President Goodluck Jonathan to their family house in Ikenne on a condolence visit over the death of their late brother, Chief Oluwole Awolowo.

While disclosing the circumstances that led to the death of their brother, the woman said, “I recall with gratitude that when our brother’s illness turned for the worse, the statement I was told you (President ) made, I’ll never forget, was that you will do everything to make sure mama doesn’t grief again and unfortu-

nately our prayers were not answered but God knows best. “This is a terrible time for us in this family, our brother passed away exactly two weeks to the second anniversary of my sister and so, for mama, we can’t even imagine what will be going on in her heart, but we are people of faith and we believe we will never understand everything in this side of the divide. “ But a time will come, then, we will all be there and see God and He will tell us why he did this and then we will understand but my prayer as bad as this situation is, whatever that God is saying to us that we will hear, whatever lessons he wants us to learn, we will learn and that at the end of it all, some good will come out of this. “As for mama, we pray for long life for her, her time

will come whe n it will come, there is nothing anyone can do about that. We know for a while it will be tough on her because it is tough on us that are her siblings”.

The President was joined by ex-governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, ex-Chief of General Staff, General Oladipo Diya (rtd), to pay the condolence visit to the matriarch of the Awolowo family.

Responding, Jonathan announced plan to adopt the children of the deceased, who died in London hospital as his children.

Jonathan, who arrived Ikenne in a presidential chopper disclosed that he decided to pay his personal condolence to the matriarch of the Awolowo family and other members of the family because he had been integrated into the family.

Above: L-R Nicholas Okoh, Primate of Anglican Church of Nigeria; Emeka Anyaoku and wife, Bunmi; Gen. Yakubu Gowon after the thanksgiving service in honour of Anyaoku who turned 80 at St. Andrew Anglican Church yesterday.

Below: Former Commonwealth Secretary General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku,welcoming the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal,during his 80th birthday anniversary celebration at his country home of Obosi, in Anambra State, yesterday.

self more interested in the Humanities from which he took his degree in 1954. It is the happiest of accidents for African literature because from Ibadan to life in broadcasting at the Nigerian Broadcasting Service, and to the publication of Things Fall Apart in 1958, we have the seeds of the Achebean imagination.

Chinua Achebe’s life is by now too well known and needs no easy rehash. So, let me say this appropriately to sum its significance, for it was a magnificent life: Chinua Achebe’s life was a miracle. It was a miracle of love and a miracle of endeavor. He was a wellloved man, at both the public and the private spheres. After his accident in 1990, when he became paralyzed from the waist, his true love, his wife Christie, gave up her own life to care for her love.

The image of Christie Achebe pushing Chinua Achebe everywhere on a wheel chair was shorn of tragedy, but became the picture of true and perfect love. Of endeavor, no sturdier shoulder has borne the weight more easily of the story of a world. On Achebe’s shoulder lay the weight of the African story in the modern era – an era that will henceforth be known as “the age of Achebe.”

He was the greatest philosopher of his age in Africa, and in his death has ascended the pantheon of the world’s greatest thinkers of any age. Chinualumuogu: the gods spoke through him.

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013, PAGE 9

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

Decreasing food production in the country Dear Sir,

T

HE decreasing food availabili ty has been a terrible problem in our country since the last decade. The production of food grain per person has gone down. The average person has fewer calories per day than he or she had ten or fifteen years ago.

Worse still, the havoc caused by the recent flood that devastated the crops nation wide has continued to under mind the efforts of our farmers. Even though the government quickly intervened by donating food, money and other essentials to the affected victims nationwide, efforts should be made to avert such disaster in future.

There ought to be a political mechanism for consulting the farmers and allowing them express their views to know when to assist them before things get out of control. One farmer by name, Musa, said “ Did I not know that the government controls seeds, fertilizer, tractors and other equipment and these things are not readily available to the farmers.

This demoralizes the farmers. He said before the advent of oil boom, agriculture was the mainstay of our economy and source of our foreign exchange. Regrettably, various governments no longer pay enough attention to agriculture. Farm settlements have been abandoned since the end of the civil war.

Government should provide mechanisms to ensure abundant and

healthy food supply. The so-called loan to farmers often end up in the hands of claimers not farmers. The young people of this nation should be encouraged to join the food and agriculture industry. It is a great place to work. Government should encourage all Nigerians who go into agriculture. These should be incentives.

For those who want the country to be move forward, I challenge you to join the food and agriculture industries to ensure that there is enough food supply. Incentives should be given to people who teach agriculture and

agric students. This is a wake up call to those states that had since abandoned farm settlements, rice mills and rice cultivation. Adoption of modern technology has brought great change.

Increased mechanization has allowed farms to become larger and farming methods have increased the production output in most advanced countries. It is not enough for our government to say “Rice importation would stopped without effort to back up the production locally.

Farming alone can help reduce unemployment since hired farm workers in forestry, fisheries,

agricultural services and extension amount to almost 2 million nationwide.

There also those who are employed primarily at non farm jobs. These do seasonal farm works to supplement their non farm earnings and students do farm work for only few weeks during the year to earn extra money.

It is imperative for the government to set their priorities right, by investing in the agricultural sector. If this is sincerely done, most of our unemployed youths will be off the streets.

Mr. Cletus Okereke, a public affairs analyst writes in from Anambra State.

Why our country is down on her knees Dear Sir,

P

OLITICS is presently the most lucrative venture in our country, the quickest avenue to instant wealth and a life time of comfort without sweat and that is why our greedy politicians regard it as a door-die affair!

The era of good governance and selfless service to our fatherland, ended with the demise of the 1st Republic on 15/1/66 and since the 70s till date, those that served in both the military and civilian regimes, came into power to amass wealth and not to render selfless service to our fatherland. Dishonest civil servants

and those in the private sector that do business with government, joined the bandwagon. All these people who have become richer than our country, have succeeded in bringing her down on her knees with their filthy itching fingers!

Our country will never develop rapidly with its abundant resources and the masses will continue to be denied the basic necessities of life and subjected to suffering in the midst of plenty, as long as our ruling class, dishonest civil servants and business men and women in the private sector that do business with government, continue to regard our country as one

fat cow to be milked to death and if they do not emulate our founding fathers who rendered selfless service to our fatherland and left enduring legacies without stealing our country blind and amassing mind-boggling wealth!

Let us keep our fingers crossed to see if such group of Nigerians will ever emerge to be at the helm of our affairs in our life time.

Ifeka Okonkwo, Plot 44, Ahocol, Housing Estate, Phase II G.R.A, Awka.

PAGE 10—SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013

I

spite the fact that we suspected that it was all a con game.

Then a month after her arrival, Madam suddenly announced that she had indeed been at death’s door all the time she was abroad. According to the new version of what happened during those four months of absence, she now claimed that she even spent seven whole days discussing with St Peter, at heaven’s gate, whether she could come in or not. In the end, she was sent back to the hell called Nigeria. Pity.

By now, Unijankara staff and students were alerted that something suspicious was about to happen. So we took her statement to our forensic laboratories for analysis. Lo! And behold, we found the clue.

Madam had, during her revelation, spoken about her properties being sold off by people she trusted, who thought she was dead.

We wondered why Madam did not simply call in the IGP and the Attorney General to go and get those who stole the properties. At least that is what any other person whose property had been misappropriated by others would do. One bright faculty member, speaking on condition of anonymity, provided the answer to that puzzle. According to the fellow, who

Ode to the Bard “It is the storyteller,who makes us what we are, who creates history. The storyteller creates the memory that the survivors must have - otherwise their surviving would have no meaning.” Chinua Achebe HINUA Achebe, the international ly celebrated Nigerian author, statesman and dissident who gave literary birth to modern Africa with Things Fall Apart, has died.

He was 82. I was in my office when I heard of the passing of our elder, Chinua Achebe. The news shook me to the core, then I scrambled to the nearest computer pot. I was stunned there was no mistake, it was true that Chinua Achebe was no more.

I had to call my son, who although at 23, had never been on Nigerian soil, but read Things Fall Apart at his secondary school. When I told him the news, he paused and then he said of how lucky we were to have read his books.

I tried to think why I

C

was bereft, I felt I lost someone close. Then I realised I have. Through Chinua Achebe’s novels we in our individual ways caught a glimpse of the man and his mastery.

Chinua Achebe had influenced many a writer and Nelson Mandela said how reading his novels made the walls of the prison invisible. Many of my nonNigerian friends had read Things Fall Apart and many were converts of his novels as a result. Many of the UK newspapers carried his passing and all were very complimentary of the man. And so they should, after all many had read his books and some had been present at some of his talks .

Things Fall Apart has sold more than eight million copies worldwide and translated into more than 50 languages. The novel has been a staple of many schools the world over. He was a critic of Western literature, of that he said:”

Now after a N2 billion St Joe’s Cathedral and a N6 billion Deaconry, in a bush somewhere, all we need is for one contractor, to go and donate a shoe factory

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nation N500 million. General Gowon was there; so were the liars who told us Madam was only relaxing for four months at, perhaps, the French Riviera. One of them once worked for a newspaper whose motto is “Conscience nurtured by truth”. At Unijankara, we know definitely that “it was a swindle, as simple and sweet as any really beautiful swindle is”.

Oh well Life goes on.

ment. Since Bayelsa State has not yet passed the law making rumour mongering a crime, let me tell you a rumour. The Super Special Perm Sec, who was engaged less than one year ago, went away for four months and for a long time the government of Bayelsa State knew no more about its Perm Sec’s whereabouts than the man on the street.

Come to think of it; what sort of a government is that,

Until Lions write their own history, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter “ and he was right, our history can only be told by us and not from an outsider’s clouded view of the then colonial’s terminology of the “savages”. He was vehemently critical of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, which was a standard reading for millions around the colonised countries. He set a standard and blazed a trail; without a doubt has been responsible for founding and developing African literature by an African.

“Nobody can teach me who I am. You can describe parts of me, but who I am and what I need - is some-

Republic(CON) on the basis that the Nigerian government was riddled with greed and corruption. “The reasons for rejecting the offer when it was first made have not been addressed, let alone solved. It is inappropriate to offer it again to me,” he said when it was offered the second time.

He said at the time how he had watched events in Nigeria with alarm and dismay. He said “I have watched particularly the chaos in my own state of Anambra where a small clique of renegades, openly boasting its connections in high places, seems determined to turn my homeland into a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom” and “ I am appalled by the brazenness of this

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“A sucker [fool] is born every minute”. P.T. Barnum, F it takes God’s Own Country a whole minute to produce a dunce, then Nigerian mothers must be dropping them every second. At Unijankara, we are getting fed-up delivering lectures to Fellow Compatriots who refuse to learn street wisdom – which is our 100 level Course. Like the suckers they are, they fell for two stories, on the same subject, both for the marines.

First, the wife of the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Incorporated disappeared, into thin air, for several weeks, giving rise to speculations that she was seriously sick.

The Chairman/CEO immediately got his two echoes, called Special Assistants, to disclaim the story about illness. No, we were told, Madam is quite fine; just resting somewhere; but nobody was allowed to see her. So far so good; even when we all knew they were lying again. Lying has become official policy number one this time around.

Four months after, Madam returned, looking quite fine, as a matter of fact.

Immediately, the echoes told the suckers, “see we told you she was all right”.

Again, so far so good de-

,

Thanksgiving or a raid on the treasury?

is a future Dean, the wife of the Chairman did not call the cops because she did not want Fellow Nigerians asking how she obtained the properties in the first instance.

So, the next thing was “how do you recover the properties?”. Answer: hold a fund raising party; but call it thanksgiving. That way, Nigeria Incorporated foots the bill and cool cash tumbles in to replace the lost properties. Sources, speaking under conditions of anonymity again, said that the fund raising, sorry thanksgiving party cost the

MEANWHILE LIFE ALSO WENT ON AT BAYELSA STATE “The more you look the less you see”, Professor Peller, the Magician.

Most Nigerians have probably forgotten that the Madam, who went AWOL for four months, in addition to her other public duties, is also a Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa State.

She, a few months ago, swore in the Governor, or was it the Governor swearing in the Perm Sec. Ordinarily, the Perm Sec stands while the governor seats.

The Perm Sec, along with Commissioners and other Perm Secs would go to the airport to meet the Governor. And, the Perm Sec will send in a medical report and ask the Governor for permission to go for treat-

Achebe came with a purpose and he did more by writing. He changed the way Africa was portrayed by the colonials and the outside world

thing I have to find out myself.” - Chinua had said.

Until his death, Prof Achebe was the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown, New York.

He twice rejected being named a Commander of the Order of the Federal

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clique and the silence, if not connivance, of the presidency,” continued Achebe .President Jonathan responded that Achebe’s claim “clearly flies in the face of the reality of Nigeria’s current political situation” and he expressed hope that the writer would “find time to visit home

where a Perm Sec is reported by her husband’s trusted spokesmen to be having a good time abroad, for four months, and she was not sacked? Even a state government in a banana republic can do better than that.

The hapless governor was also invited to the fund raising, sorry again, thanksgiving party, after the story about holiday turned to treatment abroad.

If a man fools you once; shame on him; if twice, shame on you”. You fell for the sob story, “I have no shoe” in 2011; I am sorry for you. Now after a N2 billion St Joe’s Cathedral and a N6 billion Deaconry, in a bush somewhere, all we need is for one contractor, to go and donate a shoe factory. After that, it will be time to bid our friend goodbye.

LAST LINE: Given a choice between Obasanjo and Jonathan, as the only two candidates, I will vote Jonathan. At least, the Church, the Deaconry, the University and the Airport, at Otuoke belong to the people – even though funded by donors who may have their motives. By contrast, the Presidential Library and Bell’s University, established by Obasanjo, belong exclusively to Obasanjo and his descendants. That is SELFISHNESS! Baba Iyabo has no lesson to teach GEJ on ethics.

Chairman of the PDP has finally made clear, what clear-eyed observers of the political scene had long realized. The PDP is not a political party established to foster the welfare of the people of Nigeria. Instead, right from the start, it has been a conspiracy to raid the national treasury for the benefit of its members.

Bamanga Tukur, an octogenarian, who cannot be taught any new things, is strongly wedded to the belief that a political party should exist only for the benefit of its members.

Frankly speaking, they don’t give a damn about the rest of us.

And there is another old man, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, BOT, Chief Anenih cares only about how his party.

We must say ENOUGH.

CALLING IGBOBI COLLEGE 58-62 SET

“PDP is all about entitlements; we compensate those who lose elections”, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Chairman of PDP. For those who had made the mistake of believing that PDP and Jonathan are two different entities, the

Tempus fugit, and, if you have not completely buried your Latin under mountains of eba, amala, booze and other things best left unmentioned, still means, “time flies”. We all left dear old Igbobi College, fifty years in December. So our class’s 50th Anniversary comes up in April. Please contact Segun George, KSJW, our class President to find about the arrangements. More to the point, we need your donations, starting from N100,000.

Segun’s number: 08033013349.

P.S. Condolences are in order on account of our dear late ELIJAH JOE, aka Deacon Ayo Ositelu, who was a member of the planning committee for this event until the end. May his soul rest in perpetual peace. www.delesobowale.com

soon and see the progress being made by the Jonathan administration for himself.” I guess Achebe knew enough and he said that ”Nigeria is what it is because its leaders are not what they should be”.

I’ve had trouble now and again in Nigeria because I have spoken up about the mistreatment of factions in the country because of difference in religion. These are things we should put behind us,-Chinua Achebe once wrote.

As Achebe told The Associated Press in 2008, that “age was respected among my people, but achievement was revere”. As the elders said, if “Storytellers are a threat. They threaten all champions of control, they frighten usurpers of the right-to-freedom of the human spirit — in state, in church or mosque, in party congress, in the university or wherever.”

Achebe was irascible and he defined himself as a protest writer, with restraint.

Whatever the restraint he had he managed it well with grace and aplomb . Like an astute observer he noted that he feared what could become of his beloved country, Nigeria, that should a leaderless uprising took over what was a bad government will only be replaced by one much worse. He was right. If the word should side with the people against the “ the Emper-

or” that oppresses his or her people.

The last word: when asked how he felt being seen as the founder of African Literature , he said “I resisted that very, very strongly. It’s really a serious belief (of mine) that it’s risky for anyone to lay claim to something as huge and important as African literature… the contribution made down the ages. I don’t want to be singled out as the one behind it because there were many of us - many, many of us”.

Chinua Achebe left his work, his legacy and for every child, adult that open up Things Fall Apart or any of his other books they will not be alone, they will in fact be opening up to a world from the past and complex characters who can be from anywhere in the world. Achebe came with a purpose and he did more by writing. He changed the way Africa was portrayed by the colonials and the outside world. He was always uncompromising and he, indeed wrote what he wanted and he did not want his life to be dictated to by anybody but him. We are indeed thankful to have had him in our midst and for him to have been one of our own. We will always be accompanied by this ebullient imaginative, creative purposeful, patriotic African soul.

TWO OLD MEN AND A BOAT.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 31, 2013, PAGE 11

Edo teachers and their Governor election bid of the Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in the July 14, 2012 Governorship elections in the State.

That sounds incredible considering that the Governor reportedly won the election in all the local government areas in the State including the traditional strong-holds of the opposition. Would it not be absurd for him to seek to penalize the few persons who may not have voted for him? To this question, there is a rath-

,

U

NTIL a few months ago, the topical issue in my State - Edo - usually centred on the beautification of major towns in the State. The story-line appears to have changed as a new topic has since taken over. These days, the matter of the moment is the directive of the State Government to teachers to produce their primary school certificates. So, what makes the directive so significant?

Should a teacher - a person who is trained to train others - find it hard to produce evidence of his qualification? Any analyst who thinks the issue is a simple one would no doubt be amazed to hear stories of how Edo teachers have some time now been running from ‘pillar to post’ in search of their basic certificates.

If so, how were they in the first instance assessed, appointed and placed on their respective salary grade levels?

The stories on the certificate issue are numerous. To some teachers, the issue is no more than political vendetta because in their own view, many teachers were not well disposed to the re-

ed in the primary school certificates of teachers who are mostly National Certificate of Education (NCE) holders and university graduates?

Another teacher complained that many of his colleagues have no rest of mind these days as the Governor and his Commissioners now operate like spies monitoring the movement of teachers so as to dismiss them with the slightest excuse. Interestingly, the rat and cat game between the

Our teachers should no longer be subordinated to their colleagues in the civil service.

They too deserve to enjoy regular promotions and rise up to the highest levels

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er humorous answer by one teacher who alleges that the Governor himself has no genuine academic qualification hence he evolved the current operation show your certificate to prove that even teachers are not better than him. If not, why, the teacher asked, is the Governor more interest-

teachers and their Governor appears to be a good omen because it has served as a wake-up call for teachers in our public schools to become more alive to their responsibilities. Oh yes, for longer than makes sense, many teachers have shown crass irresponsibility in their gen-

PhD, Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos,

The trouble with Nigerians (2) tivated Murtala Ramat Mohammed and Theophilus Y. Danjuma to execute the bloody revenge coup of July, 29, 1966. But there is nothing inevitable about Sobowale’s prediction; it is quite possible that the northern President who would be elected after Jonathan might be a wise and enlightened leader deeply committed to genuine national rebirth and reconciliation.

The main problem with ethnic bias in official appointments is not the possibility of revenge, although that in itself is deplorable.

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HEREFORE, in my opinion, the most important challenge for Jonathan is not ethnic inequality per se in the distribution of key positions, but to justify his choices on the criteria of excellence and performance in spite of ethnicity.

From the not-too-encouraging performance of his government thus far, it is fair to say that, ethnic bias or not, Mr. President, in most cases, did not choose the best caliber of Nigerians to occupy several crucial positions in his government. The situation is worsened by his increasing tendency of allowing egoistic considerations to overshadow merit and national interest in decision-making processes. According to Sobowale, with his lopsided appointments the President is unwittingly creating problems for us. Sobowale claims apocalyptically that if political “power swings back to the north, in the near future generations unborn from the south will pay the price for the actions of President Jonathan with his attitude to appointments and governance.”

Evidently, that prediction is predicated on the “ revenge mentality” of some prominent northerners, the type of mind-set which mo-

ever origin, individual citizens as well as the nation itself are victimised.” The recent state pardon granted by President Jonathan to some Nigerians found guilty of various offences is an avoidable miscalculation which has generated heated debates in the country and abroad.

Critics of Jonathan argue, and I concur, that pardoning convicted criminals like Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, former governor of Bayelsa state, and Mohammed Balama, erstwhile managing director of Bank of the North, is immoral

Every action of a leader must be judged on its own merit, irrespective of whether it has or does not have a precedent elsewhere

Instead it is the denial of merit and excellence which is a type of social injustice that harms the individuals directly involved and, ultimately, the entire society.

As Prof. Achebe correctly observed in his latest and highly controversial book, There was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra, “ whenever merit is set aside by prejudice of what-

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and a complete negation of the war against corruption.

However, Reuben Abati and Doyin Okupe, Jonathan’s mouth pieces, insulted the intelligence of Nigerians by arguing, inter alia, that (1) critics of President Jonathan’s action are suffering from “sophisticated ignorance,” (2) that the issue is purely a matter of law, the exercise of the prerogative

eral disposition; acting as teachers by profession and as entrepreneurs by occupation. While many have trading companies to which they devote utmost attention, others are occasionally in school mainly to hawk their wares. Indeed, some of our teachers live abroad.

Thus, the allegation of political vendetta is hard for me to comprehend just as I never understood my brother, Igodomigodo’s “delicate equipoise between the unfolding centrifugal and centripetal socio-political proclivities” in our State.

In any case, if any teacher who has been sacked attributes it to his refusal to vote for the Governor; he still deserves ample blame for creating the loophole for the sack by not having a certificate or by being irregular at work. This verdict would however change when there is evidence that some teachers who were similarly found wanting were spared because they are supporters of the ruling political party. Until then, our teachers must become more dedicated and result-oriented. On this score, we commend those teachers who have not been found wanting and urge them to encourage their deviant colleagues to purge themselves of idle talks and go back to the classrooms to teach our children.

Teachers and indeed all professionals have a duty to give back to a society from which they have

made gains. In earnest, they need to appreciate that they are educated because their own teachers did not derelict in their duties.

Accordingly, the Edo State Government must go beyond perusing certificates and marking attendance registers; that alone cannot rescue our decaying school system.

One visible challenge which stares our education managers in the face is the abandonment of appropriate supervision which in the past, was premised on close marking of school performances. Unfortunately, many States and even the federal government have for awhile left substance in pursuit of shadows like ‘education summits’ where the ills of our school system are subjected to unending debates without action. Edo must shun such wasteful talk-shops and deal with the core of its dilemma.

Consequently, it must as a matter of urgency, revamp the Inspectorate Division of its Ministry of Education to systematically monitor our schools.

As few as 20 well trained inspectors can visit 400 schools in one month with one inspector visiting one school a day and 5 schools a week. The workings of the Inspectorate must be well organized with an inspector ’s manual into which a check list to guide the inspectors should be incorporated. The goal should be to weed out unqualified and non-per-

forming teachers; return the high standards of education of old to our schools and ensure that our teachers earn rather than receive salaries.

At the same time, society must always remember that a citizen, who is expected to do a first class job, deserves a first class ticket. To this end, Edo State needs to stimulate job satisfaction in the teaching profession.

Our teachers should no longer be subordinated to their colleagues in the civil service. They too deserve to enjoy regular promotions and rise up to the highest levels. It is therefore unnecessary to elevate a teacher to the position of a permanent secretary; instead, every principal of a ‘Grade A’ school should enjoy all the privileges of a permanent secretary including salary for life. In view of the special role of education in national development, government should as a matter of deliberate policy organize other packages of motivation for teachers. Lagos State for instance, has an Annual Education Merit Award to honour teachers who distinguish themselves in their jobs.

Last year, the event was celebrated with two brand new cars which were presented to the Best Teachers in both primary and secondary schools in the state. Edo should emulate this. Irrespective of who wins elections in the State, every teacher should teach well.

of mercy vested on the President by the constitution, and (3) Jonathan has done nothing wrong since some American Presidents also pardoned American citizens who were guilty of various offences. Sycophants tend to go to absurd lengths just to please their paymasters, especially when the material rewards are huge. To claim that there is a lot of “sophisticated ignorance” among critics of the state pardon is to commit a mistake the Austrian philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein, called “language on holiday.” Frist, the meaning of “sophisticated ignorance” is unclear. Second, critics of Jonathan, including experienced lawyers and intellectuals, know very well the procedures for granting state pardon as stipulated in the 1999 constitution.

Therefore, Abati and Okupe are arguing against the straw man by pretending that the issue is just about legality and procedure simpliciter. The crux of objections to Mr. President’s illadvised action is that pardoning convicted felons, especially Alameyeseigha and Balama, at a time when corruption at the topmost levels of political and corporate governance is crippling the country and when the current administration is purportedly fighting a war against corruption will encourage corruptionminded Nigerians to go ahead with their plans in the hope that, even if they are caught and convicted at a later date they will be pardoned by a “compassionate” President. Hence, the consequences of the pardon transcend mere legalism.

Significant issues of morality, of deterrence, of repercussions on the war against corruption are also involved. The questions Mr. President and his sycophants should ask themselves are: what is the likely impact on the fight against corruption if people convicted of stealing billions of naira are pardoned so easily? How will our benefactors such as the United States and United Kingdom respond to the tacit endorsement of corruption by the Nigerian government? Is being the political benefactor of Mr. President sufficient reason for granting a criminal who jumped bail in a foreign country state pardon? We have already stated that Jonathan’s decision will encourage VIP thieves to go ahead with their plans.

On the second question, an official of the American government has already hinted that the US might cut of development aid to Nigeria this year estimated at $600 million. Britain would likely do the same for a good reason, because Alamieyeseigha, who was detained in London in September 2005 for money laundering charges and later released on bail, jumped bail and eloped back to Nigeria. Concerning the state pardon granted by American Presidents to some compatriots, Jonathan’s sycophants are incredibly disingenuous to use that to justify what is unarguably a terrible misjudgment by the President – it is a case of mixing bananas with oranges. For instance, when Richard Nixon was pardoned by Gerard Ford, the

offense for which he was found complicit and for which he got pardoned was not part of a major systemic problem in America the way official corruption is in Nigeria – the burglary of an office belonging to the Democratic Party was an aberration, a one-off occurrence.

More importantly, that American Presidents did something does not automatically make what they did right, to the extent of becoming a universal standard for other leaders to emulate. Every action of a leader must be judged on its own merit, irrespective of whether it has or does not have a precedent elsewhere.

It is even insulting to suggest that Nigerians should accept President Jonathan’s selfish and unpatriotic state pardon simply because former American leaders did so; that is a silly endorsement of colonial mentality and self-abnegation that has been militating against the attainment of authentic selfhood and independence in Nigeria particularly and in sub-Saharan Africa generally which must be rejected.

From the foregoing the conclusion is clear: President Jonathan erred by misusing his powers to pardon criminals. But that is not the end of our troubles: it is highly probable that as election time approaches, Jonathan would be preoccupied with decisions that would bolster his chances of reelection, not with the much more important task of improving the lot of Nigerians.

To be concluded.

PAGE 12 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 31, 2013

How to handle plain friendship Dear Rebecca

I

am a nineteen year old boy in love with a girl who said she does not want a relationship with me. I suggested that we should at least be friends. I am afraid that if she agrees I wouldn’t know how to handle it or what to say .

Segue REPL Y REPLY

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hen a sensible girl this girl is!

If she agrees to ordinary friendship, just develop with her, a relationship

like the one you would normally have with a boy.

Chat, exchange clean novels and magazines, and treat her like a sister. Be quite relaxed about the friendship .

Sometimes we may desire a romantic relationship with someone but later find that just plain friendship is better and more satisfying .Make friends with other girls too .Amongst them, there is bound to be one who will want a romantic relationship with you. If you behave like a gentleman, are clean, responsible, respectful, polite and humorous, girls are bound to like you.

He’s like a butterfly!

Dear Rebecca

I

am eighteen years old and still in sec ondary school. My boy is twenty, a businessman.

I started dating him two years ago. He is also my first boyfriend. Problem is that he keeps a lot of girls.

I’ve met some of them and he doesn’t apologize for this attitude.

I buy him things I feel will make him happy but he never does so to me.

Instead he takes from me but spends on other girls.

The truth is, he is a flirt and this makes me jealous. I decided to end the relationship, realizing that he is irresponsible and that in future, I will meet somebody, who will love me and care for me.

Now, this guy has come back begging to forgive him. I am so confused.

Rose, Lagos REPL Y REPLY

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he sensible thing to do is to end the relationship, but if you are still fond of him and want him back, then have him on your own terms. You re not married to him, so you do not have to tolerate his misbehavior and suffer emotionally. Tell him exactly what displeases you in the relationship and hear what he has to say.

Then watch for improvement; if there is none, then break off the

relationship.

Actually, at your age and still at school, you should have several boys as friends and be involved very lightly in romantic relationship while concentrating more on your studies.These should not be moopoly and ownership at this stage. That should come later in a serious relationship when you are ready to settle down. All you should do now is study boys so you could know the type you would want to date later. It is not wise for a girl to shower gifts on her boyfriends, even if she is very rich; usually such a girl is not appreciated by the boyfriend who would think that she is desperate to have him, and is willing to buy his friendship.

He would get puffed up and treat her badly.

Meanwhile he would spend on other girls so they would want to remain his girlfriends.

You feel hurt and cheated because you have been spending on him, and yet he goes after other girls. That’s life.

Sincerely, you should put all your efforts into your studies. Having a boyfriend while still in secondary school, is a very bad distraction, as you won’t be able to face your studies well, and you may fail your examinations.

Her family doesn’t want me!

Dear Rebecca am a nineteen year-old boy in love with a girl of 19 who is still in school.

Our relationship is two years old.

My problems with her are muilt-demensional.

She has a sister who does not want see me at all. She always embarrasses me whenever I visit their house. In spite of this, I always create the impression that all is well.

Somehow, people around always tell her what her sister does to me . One day, she invited me to her place.

Her uncle who has always welcomed me before now told her to tell me to leave. I heard, and told her I will never come to her house any more. She pleaded with me not to take it to heart, and because I love her I stayed in the relationship. I have proposed to marry this girl.

I hear that when couples don’t live in harmony, their children will follow in their footsteps.

I plan to marry her in future. Do you think this will happen to our children? She has also invited me to her house again. Is it wise for me to go?.

Chi, Owerri.

I

REPL Y REPLY

I

would not advise you to continue vis iting her at home when her people are against such a thing.

The nightmare of most parents or guardians of

female teenagers who are still at school, is their educational career being cut short due to an unwanted pregnancy.

Hence they do their best to shield their girls from such disruption. Anything can happen when

you and your girl find yourself constantly alone whether at your place or at hers. Even if you are not alone you will begin to look for opportunity to have some privacy. A kiss, a hug, and things may get out of hand. So,

understand this and respect your girl’s people’s wish. Both of you can always meet for chats outside your places.

I would not advise that you should get serious about the relationship and start thinking of marriage.

At nineteen and eighteen, you are both too young to want to settle down in the next couple of the years. You both need to complete your studies first. Get jobs and be in a position financially and emotionally before you think of marriage.

You need to interact much with members of the opposite sex, and know the type you want as wife, before thinking of marriage.. By the time you are ready to settle down,, you may find that you and this girl have drifted apart and don’t consider each other the ideal marriage partner.

Only time will tell if you will become man and wife, so, I advise you keep on with the relationship but in a light manner, while you both concentrate on your education or training. Actually, that should be more important to you now than having girlfriends.

Is this man interested in me?

Dear Rebecca

I

am 22. Although I’m not a virgin, I try to keep away from men and relationships. A few months ago I became friends with a man, who always advises me to keep away from men. He has not yet expressed interest in having a relationship with me.

Should I ask him what he wants from me or think of a relationship elsewhere?

Worried girl REPL Y REPLY

I

understand how you feel. You are obviously ready for marriage although you did not specify whether you are a student or a worker. When a man who seems to be in a position (age and finance) to take a wife starts to date a girl, she is naturally anxious to know what he has in mind. No

girl wants to waste her time with a man she is unsure of. And if other men observe a man coming to her, they would assume he is serious, and they would keep away even though they are interested in her, and may want her for a wife. Very few men with serious intention like to date a girl who is having a serious relationship with another man. Men who just want fun and then move on to other girls don’t mind doing that. They can even date a married lady.

Many girls miss serious and perhaps good suitors while in relationships with men who are not decisive.. You wait and wait, while he continues to tell you that he loves you. In the long run he may propose to another girl that he had been courting in secret all along. Again some

men may tell you they want marry you, just so that you may remain with them, and perhaps allow them sex. At the back of their mind they know that they don’t want you for a wife.

I do not advise a girl asking a man point blank if he wants to marry her .That may frighten even a serious suitor away , and it would show you up as a girl who is desperate for a husband .That’s not good for your pride .Since this relationship is only a few months old ,be patient and study the man very well .You will be able to tell whether he is serious or not, or whether he is actually the sort of man you want for a partner. If at almost two years he has not mentioned marriage and his intention to meet your people, end the relationship and let other men date you .

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

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Ditch your lover by getting hubby into shape!

A

FTER a couple of kids, it used, to be understandable that a woman let herself go because she’d packed on .some flab from nurturing her kids.

In the last few decades though, quite a lot of women are fighting tooth and nail to gain control of their weight. They look and feel good. They are happy. But can the same be said for their husbands? Now take a look at the man in your life. If only he could take more care of himself, couldn’t he see how your marriage has gone off the boil? That his belly blubber is the reason? All he does most evenings, when he is home, is sit in front of the telly with snacks and his favourite tipple balanced on his massive tummy!

A few of us ‘girls’ recently decided to have a look-in at a younger friend’s housewarming party. The site of younger men with their rippling muscles did send shivers down our spine. There they were, tight-arsed and flirty. It was such wicked fun seeing the man in the older women’s eyes. Ropo, a ravishing beautician who is in her 40s made a beeline for Olumide who’d just landed a juicy contract and was game for any-

thing to help him celebrate. By the end of the evenings, they were all over each other.

I was happy for Ropo, she’d complained over the years that her husband had taken his passion for pounded yam to a dangerous level. “He doesn’t care about his health,” she used to moan. He brags he’s a typical native man and must have pounded yam with all its accompaniments every day of the week! The first question I asked any house help is if he could pound yam.

Some had stayed the period, a few had complained and left!

“Now, after almost 20 years of marriage, he’s turned into a slob of a husband. Whereas he’d been a slim, trim hunk when I’d said ‘I do’ to him all those years ago.”

So, whilst Ropo had become a health fanatic, husband kept on his pounded yam binge:only the portions kept on growing bigger and bigger. Was it any wonder Ropo was now seriously attracted to Olumide’s lithe figure, with those pelvis now grinding into hers most effectively?

What followed was inevitable. Mide and Ropo began a torrid affair that hubby didn’t suspect was on - as long as he

had his gluttonous meals, burping offensively at the end of each food.

Only, the unimaginable happened.

Muyideen, Ropo’s husband suddenly decided he would want to join his wife at the gym! “I couldn’t believe what I heard”. Roro said. “Had Muyi cottoned on to my affair? I didn’t think so and I realised he was a bit sheepish as he admitted to being over weight and could do with losing a few pounds for ``health reasons’. He has a very competitive job and the young managers in his office mut have made him take a good look at himself.

“I was very happy with his decision. We have few

healthy children and the two eldest were already savouring most of their dad’s delicacy - a dangerous precedent. From then on, it was wholesome food packed with fruits and vegetables. I didn’t completely throw out pounded yam - he had it twice a week.

Which made it worth looking forward to. And he had smaller portions.

As I concentrated on slimming down my man, I realized my marriage was having a boost too.

Muyi’s weight gradually reduced but it wasn’t easy. He groaned at some of the healthy meals I served but he ate them.

At the gym, his flabby face’ fell as he puffed and panted. He was only happy when his waistband reduced.

“As he got healthier, he got back his sense of humour and our love-life improved. It was then I started questioning my motive in plunging into my affair with Mide when all I’d needed to do was put some efforts into my marriage. I wasn’t really the unfaithful type – just frustrated.

I got some irritated as Mide harassed me into going out on more ‘ dates’ with him. I had to lie to him that someone had snitched to Muyi about our affair - that we should cool things a bit.

With his physique and wealth, he would have no problem fiding replacements ...

“Now my marriage is back on track and Muyi is a hunk all over again the children are even healthier! Once in a while, I worry that someone might squeal to Muyi about my affair: that would really kill him ... “ I quickly assure her not to even give it a thought. Affairs are so common - place that no one would worry their pretty heads about squealing to her husband. This is for you readers who’re trying to put more umphs into your love-life. Like I’ve always stressed, you get rewarded when you put in more efforts working at what turns your part-

ner on. ‘ According to popular findings, it would be in a man’s favour to cleanso shave! Beard stubble feels like sandpaper.

Don’t pinch your lover’s nipples as most women simply don’t like it - a lot of men erroneously believe they do! When a woman says ‘that’s it’, she means just that. She doesn’t mean do it harder!

So follow her lead women often touch where they want to be touched. The pressure she uses indicates how firm or light she’d like your touch to be. Don’t forget to slow it downteasing is very sexy!

It is not all down to the men though. Women should learn to be patient and not go to the action spot fIrst-make him wait! This will turn him on even more. Once in a while, consider asking him if he’d like to watch you because men are visual creatures.

Sucking on a mint before pleasuring him provides a tingling sensation many men love. It’s a fact that most men love being touched more fIrmly than women, so a little bit of scratching in a wavy motion around important bits could help. Lastly, why not trim his pubes from time to time as part of foreplay?!

delivery. And, he would put all that down to their practice of Yoga.

After a few weeks of Yoga classes, I once told a group of ladies that one of the benefits of the head-to-knee posture was that of painless periods and one of them said, ‘’no wonder, I

have not had to take pain relievers for some time now during my periods. I see,’ I want the reader to know that this was an honest-to-God incidence.

For a good posture, which means an absence of a round back, the following exercise is to be practised.

Lie flat on the back raising the legs vertically and making sure the small of the back remains on the ground.

Now, while you breathe in, bring down the right leg to the right side of the body to touch the floor. Exhale and raise again upwards. Thrice in all.

Repeat with the left leg to the left side of the body.

For the stronger individuals doing the exercise with both legs at the same time is encouraged. This exercise will strengthen the spine and expel fatigue in the small of the back.

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Good posture through the years

M

Y yoga teacher was of the opinion that old age sets in when one throws away good posture to the winds. He would say “do your exercise regularly to avoid that sort of stiftness which starts from the nape to the neck down to the heels of the feet.’‘ I, myself, have found out through the years of teaching Yoga to others that even a little boy of less than six years could be incapable of doing the head-to-knee posture, whereas, someone of 30 who exercises regularly has no problem with the same posture.

That fact drives home the point that the deteriorating of the tone of the muscles can occur even while a child is growing up. Loss of muscle tone will not C M Y K

wait till you have attained the same age as Methuselah.

This means that we owe it to ourselves to start to keep the body healthy very early in life. Parents should, therefore, realise the importance of fitness not only for themselves but also for those that they bring into the world to delight their days on earth!

Parents do not have to breathe down the necks of their children to get them to exercise.

Children almost always learn by example. Seeing their parents exercise will in most cases inspire them to follow lead. Typical of this situation was what existed between my own Yoga teacher and his children.

He would tell me that because his children thought most of the ex-

ercises were funny, they would want to join in the fun by doing them too. The end result being that his children of both genders became very good at doing the exercises, en-

joying all the therapeutic benefits of the practices.

He would tell me, for instance, that none of his daughters suffered from period pains or had problems at child

* Leg Raise

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

PAGE 22 — SUNDAY VANGUARD,MARCH 31, 2013

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Declining family affinity & decadence in the society

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NCE upon a time, not so long ago, family was everything to us. Parents, siblings, family members, all came first in our lives.

You couldn’t do without them. They were the first you turned to in adversity and in sharing of good news. The family had so much influence on the individual that you thought twice before you engaged in any act of misdemeanour, as a list of dos and don’ts had been drummed well into you right from childhood, and you were raised, to know that you must not do anything that would bring dishonour/disgrace to the family. You were loyal to your family and you chose your confidants from among the members.

Having them behind you gave you the confidence you needed to face the world, until you have a family of your own, and you and your spouse become members of two extended families.

All this was irrespective of whether your family was polygamous or monogamous. Most heads of family took their responsibility seriously, not only by providing for the welfare of members, but also by ensuring that everyone stayed connected to the family.

Family was dear to every one, irrespective of distance or social level.

Sadly, that affinity seems to be disappearing fast as among young people of this generation.

I must say I was shocked while listening to a contributory programme on radio, when quite a number of listeners who contributed said that they would rather confide in their friends than in family members. The question was, ‘Who comes first for you; your siblings, your relations or your friends’?

When the first caller said that he would rather go to his friend, I dismissed it as a joke, coming from someone who wanted to shock other listeners, knowing the importance of family in our culture. . What sort of African, especially a Nigerian, would put a friend first before his relations? Look at the way many people rush home every December to spend the Christmas period with their kith and kin. Look at the way they take their dead to go bury in their family compound!

Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but the thought that that caller could prefer his friends to his relatives didn’t make sense to me. However, as more callers expressed that view, I began to realize that this could be the trend now, as some of our young people join their western counterparts in putting family on the back burner. The anchorman who was a young person himself laughed at this view, and asked several of them why they would rather go confide in friends rather than members of their own family.

‘My friends understand my vibes’, claimed one. ‘A friend is always there for one without criticizing’, said another one. ‘Don’t you like members of your family?’ asked the anchorman.

‘Sure I do, but I would rather go ask my friends for advice when I have a problem, than go to family members.’

Hm!That’s unfortunate, isn’t it? A few listeners did say that they would rather go to their relatives with their problems than go to friends, but from their voices, I deduced that they must be older than the other lot.

I asked myself how and when our society has degenerated to this sorry state of affairs. Is it the influence of

View-Point

Helen Ovbiagele Woman Editor

Religious leaders have a role to play in ensuring that parents raise their children by good example. They should preach more on how to raise godly children by example, than on how to get wealth foreign media; particularly of showbiz people and other celebrities? Or, is it due to the stress of living in this country which makes parents too worn out to have the time to forge a healthy relationship with their wards? It’s a sorry state of affairs because, even though there could be friends who would give good advice, but these are few, and even then, only the very godly would give you advice that would make your situation better than theirs.

Also, due to inexperience, advice from friends on many crucial issues of life, are likely to be the wrong ones.

People come from different backgrounds and upbringing. Some have good values and choices taught them, while others don’t at all. A parent who thinks it’s alright to steal public funds, ask for bribes, cheat in business, spend money entrusted to his/her care, is very unlikely to bring up children who won’t cheat in examinations, who won’t engage in internet scams, and would show themselves honest citizens.

Those parents who feel that having good moral values are meant for characters in fiction books on religion and not for real life, are unlikely to raise children who know right from wrong on the issue.

Children brought up by parents who are uncouth, disruptive, and who settle scores with violence, cannot advise their friends to be calm and law-abiding citizens. The list goes on.

The imagination boggles at what advice the offspring of these sort of parents can give to their friends who choose them as their confidants, instead of members of their own family. Any wonder that we are living in a decadent society, and shocking criminal activities continue to be committed?

Young people will, at a point in future, take over the reins of governance and run this country. A frightening thought, isn’t it, given what some of them engage in? To make matters worse, many adults of this generation are not good role models.

We know that by divine intervention, some children from these backgrounds can turn out to be honest people with integrity, have good morals and a high sense of responsibility, but we all know that this is not the norm, unless we parents see the need to discipline ourselves and raise our children to be of good character, by our own example. Family ties have become so slack that some children raise themselves; with the friends they prefer to confide in as their role model.

Many things on raising children fall on us the parents. Giving them enough attention and loving care would help ensure that they regard us and their siblings as friends. Hopefully with the help of God, this may pay off and our children will always have confi-

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dants among members of the family, and they would be guided the right way. When they have their own homes, they and their marital partners would raise their own children the same way, and would lead to having more well-adjusted citizens to run the affairs of this nation in a way that would bring us respect.

Religious leaders have a role to play in ensuring that parents raise their children by good example. They should preach more on how to raise godly children by example, than on how to get wealth. Poverty is not a desirable state to be in, but not everyone is destined to be a billionaire, so, the focus of messages from the pulpit shouldn’t always be on how to acquire wealth. Programmes can be run by religious organizations to empower people to have a better life.

Constant messages on more money and more property, only make the poor dissatisfied with their situation, and this could push them into criminal activities.

The government too has an important role to play in order to ensure that children are raised well. Qualitative education, healthcare, transportation, housing, and basic social amenities should be affordable to all citizens. No child should be without a vocation, and more jobs should be created so that parents can take good care of their children, and also for young people to be gainfully employed on completion of their studies.

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 31, 2013, PAGE 23

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Love yourself, know about your health status — Professor Akinsete compare ourselves with the developed world. One thing we must also know is that government cannot do everything. When we understand that we ourselves need to be involved, then we will begin to see significant changes. One of the ways you could get involved is by finding out things about your body so they don’t reach a stage of no-repair when you begin to call for government’s intervention.

BY JOSEPHINE IGBINOVIA

A 1963 Scotland-trained medical doctor, Prof.(Mrs.)Ibironke Akinsete is one of the few Nigerian women who have engraved their names on the sand of local and international medical practice. Currently the Chairman of PathCare Medical Laboratory, Prof, as she is fondly called, is a Haematologist of great repute. A former Chairperson of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS and Presidential Adviser on HIV/AIDS, she sits on the board of several organisations. Prof Akinsete who will be seventy-five in May stresses the need for preventive healthcare in this interview.

There seems to be a hike in cancer related diseases these days unlike in the past, why is it so?

What it means is that there is better diagnosis and greater awareness.

When these two are in place, you identify diseases more easily. Any cell in your body actually has the potential to become cancerous.

THERE is an increase in cases of sudden deaths in recent times; could there be a remedy?

What I advise is that everybody should keep a record. You should know your weight, height, body mass index, blood pressure, and all. You should know how frequently you do your exercises, you should know your diet, you should know if you’re obese or not, etc. We’re talking about prevention nowadays, so, everybody should know all these. What screening test have you done?

When last did you check your cholesterol level? When last did you have your pap smear done? How often have you done it?

Do you know your blood glucose level?

When last did you screen for HIV? If you’re a man over 50, when last did you have your prostrate screened? It is only when you have a jotter or book to record of all these that you can observe when there is a deviation from the normal in your health status. If you’re a woman, when last did you have your breasts screened? As a parent, have you vaccinated your teenage daughter against the Human Papilloma Virus? You need to know about yourself! You don’t like yourself if you do not know anything about yourself!

Why is it so important for us to be knowledgeable about out health?

It is important because if you have a deviation from the normal, you could correct it early. That’s what we mean when we say prevention is better than cure. It is better than waiting until when things have gone haywire before you start running around.

But our public healthcare centres have a very poor administrative system that makes things difficult for people to visit regularly…

You know what you want to prevent and what screening needs to be done. There are so many places you can have health screening done now in Nigeria. Even if you go to the general hospitals or private hospitals, you can specifically tell them what you want and it will be done for you. So, it is up to you to find them.

As a medical expert, how would you assess our healthcare system?

Our primary healthcare system still needs a lot of intervention. It is not yet as good as we want it to be because when you have good healthcare system at the local government level, people can go in and have their check-ups! There also needs to be a lot of awareness creation for the populace.

Looking back to your early days in the medical field, what has changed about the practice?

Ohh...things have improved. In those days, we could only measure things using body fluids like blood and urine, but now, so many more things can be measured because of thousands of scientific discoveries. Diagnostics are much better now than when I qualified so many years ago. There are so many instruments.

Prof.(Mrs.)Ibironke Akinsete

I was very interested in biology and I’m a very curious person. I’ve always been interested in finding out about the human body and how it works. The human body is however very complex that even now, we do not know everything about it People should always know where to go when things happen and when they are not happy about something. But in spite of that, there are still things you can do to know your health status.

In general, what’s your assessment of healthcare delivery in Nigeria?

It can be better, and I’m happy they’re working at it. We cannot

Considering these developments, do you agree with some people who still believe there is a fall in the standard of practice?

I don’t think there is a fall in the standard of practice. It depends on what you’re measuring, your expectations, outcomes and your indicators.

Let us deviate a little to your personal life as we round up; have you always wanted to be a doctor?

Yes. I was very interested in biology and I’m a very curious person.

I’ve always been interested in finding out about the human body and how it works. The human body is however very complex that even now, we do not know everything about it. For instance, only very little has been known about the brain and how it functions. There are so many things yet to be discovered.

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P AGE 24 —SUNDAY Vanguard , MARCH 31 , 2013

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He promised marriage to two women: Would he get away with it?

G

ET TING en gaged is sup posed to be a euphoric feeling; the man you love wants to spend the rest of his life with you and you couldn’t be happier. Your darling mother, who’s been at your back to settle down is over the moon that she can now instruct her master weavers to start churning out the Aso Oke her friends and invited guests will dorn.

You and your friends are talking bridemaids and the presents you’re bound to cart home at the end of the ceremonies.

So, why is it that more and more women are getting the engagement rings but are not making it to the altar? The answer is simple - one of the couple is keener than the other on marriage.

Usually, it’s the woman.

Rafatu, a seasoned textile dealer was in her early thitties when she discovered she was pregnant for the first time.

Naturally, she was ecstatic and Kingsley, her boyfriend and a divorced father of two, shared her enthusiasm. Recalling the bewildering experience that followed, she said: “Kingsley, said he was glad he was the one to make me pregnant. I had met him just under a year at the Ports when I went to clear some of my goods.

He was around around to take delivery of the spare parts he ordered and was actually helpful in the speedy clearance of my goods. We exchanged contact addresses and phone numbers. Within weeks, he got in touch and we started dating.

He confessed that his wife left him, because

she thought he was a chronic womanizer. That had nothing to do with me. Years of being disappointed by the antics of various men I’d dated had made me thickskinned to all their shenanigans. But I wanted a child badly and now that my prayers had been answered, Kingsley ’s enthusiasm about marriage was like the icing on the cake. “‘We had the traditional engagement ceremony and were planning the big wedding when a friend of mine visited.

After the usual pleasantries, she told me she had something to tell me and couldn’t find an easier way to do it. My Kingsley was involved with another woman and she too was heavily pregnant. I knew he was a chronic philanderer but to have hopped from my bed straight to another woman’s bed, impregnating the occupants as he went, was a devastating blow for me to bear. I felt so humiliated but I told the friend I didn’t mind, that the wedding would go on as planned. The friend shifted in her seat. The other woman was planning a big wedding too and Kingsley was actually living with her! My friend said she wouldn’t have bothered to tell me if she wasn’t certain one of us girls was going to be left at the altar.

“After she left, Kingsley’s strange behaviour lately started making sense. He wasn’t coming as frequently as he used to and discussions about preparations for the wedding always bored him. So, a few days later when he showed up, I told him of the news I heard. By this time, I’d

Y

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

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

My Love

If I should be given one naira in every second that I think about you, before the end of the day I will

done a bit of home work myself to discover that the story was true and that he’d been going out with the other woman for more than two years, long before he met me. Kingsley assured me that it was because he loved me he didn’t tell me about this other woman in his life.

That she was the one to first get pregnant only for me to announce my pregnancy a few weeks after. I shouldn’t worry, he assured me, it was me he would get married to. So why was he living in her flat! He said I knew he still had his flat and the fact that he visited the wouldbe-mother of his child didn’t mean he had moved in permanently. ‘’’After we had our talk, I didn’t see him for some of the appointments we both scheduled. A week passed and there was still no word from him. I went to his flat but he wasn’t there - it was a few weeks to the wedding. His mobile was permanently on voicemail and he was never in his shop. In the end, I traced him down to the other woman’s house.

She took one look at me,

obviously recognised me and let me in.

Kingsley was livid when the heavily pregnant woman showed me to the living room. We had a real shouting match and I asked him to choose who of us he was getting married to.

“He sneered he wasn’t getting married to anybody and that we should both leave him alone.

When he wanted to be physical, I quickly left.

My unborn baby was more impoIiant than life with this charlatan. My blood pressure went up and my doctor warned me to take things easy.

I was admitted a few days to my delivery date. The birth was induced and I was given an injection to begin labour. In the end, I had a caesarian operation and was the proud mother of a pretty girl.

“I sent words to Kingsley about his new daughter, but he did not show up for the naming ceremony. It was months later that I saw him - after I’d heard from the grapevine that the other woman who

become a millionaire. Each time I start thinking about you i wish it never ends, thought of you gives me eternal bliss, peace and unquenchable desire to love you more. baby, I cant stop thinking about you, even as you are reading this message, I'm still thinking about you. i love you.

Kelechi Ndubisi kconeofafrica@gmail.com, 08032900530.

The kindest

The kindest display of humanity is when you are trying to take away fear of someone off something for which you are twice as much

also had a daughter had kicked him out of her flat. I told him if he ever darkened my doorsteps again, I would call the police. I was amused when he kept on pestering me that I had no right to stop him from seeing his daughter. He obviously saw her as an alternate meal ticket! In the end, I sat him down and gave him all my hospital bills. If he wanted access to his child, he should refund all the money I’d spent. I haven’t heard from him since then.”

Is his life worth the bother? (Humour) A woman accompanies her husband to the doctor’s. After his check-up, the doctor takes her to one side and says: “Your husband has a very severe illness, combined with stress. If you don’t do as I suggest, your husband will surely die.

Each morning, be pleasant and make sure he’s in a good mood. Prepare him three delicious meals everyday and don’t burden him with chores.

Don’t discuss your

problems with him, it’ll only make his stress worse. And most importantly, make love often and satisfy his whim, if you can do this for 12 months, your husband should recover completely. On the way home, the husband asks his wife: “What did the doctor say” she looks at him and says: ‘“‘You’re going to die.”

Naija man and sex (Humour) Spaniard: “”When I finish making love to my girlfriend, I gently tickle the back of her knees and she floats six inches above the bed in ecstasy.”

Frenchman: ‘’’That’s nothing. When I fInish with a girl, I kiss her all down her body, then lick the soles of her feet and she floats 10 inches above the bed.

Naijahman: "When I’m finished with my woman, I just wipe my willy on her clean sheets and she goes through the roof!”

Should the good time stop? (Humour) An elderly Italian man

goes to confession and says: “Father, during World War II, a beautiful woman knocked on my door and asked me to hide her from the Germans, so 1 hid her in my attic.” The priest replies: “”That was a brave and wonderful thing you did.

You have no need to confess.” ‘’’But father,” says the old man, “I was weak and told her she must repay me with her sexual favours.” “God in His wisdom and mercy will balance the good and the evil and judge you kindly. You are forgiven,” answers the priest. ‘“‘Thank you father,” says the old man, ‘“‘but should I tell her the war is over?”

scared yourself.

The most large-hearted exhibition of friendship is accepting them in your boat when theirs has sunken even if that means yours might subside with the overweight too.

The sweetest presentation of care is when you do them a guard outside their hideout when they are fast-asleep. The biggest challenge of mouth is holding your peace in times of toleration and anger.

The loudest outcries are those that for you inside are trumpet-like yet on the outside they produce no voice.

Chris Onunaku 08032988826

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013—PAGE 25

Sent away from home by grandma, I fell into the rapist’s hands — Girl,12 •’Assailant gave me N20 transport fare after the act’

By Uju Mbanusi “Go and bring the money you stole from my purse. If you do not get it, I will teach you a lesson today”. With this threat, 12-year-old Nofi(other names withheld) said she bolted from her grandmother ’s apartment in Aiyenero, under Ajeromi local government area of Lagos State, two weeks ago. Time was 4pm.

Unsure of where to go to get the money, Nofi reportedly boarded a bus , heading for her aunt’s place in Omokomaiko.

But trouble, as gathered, started for the girl on reaching Okokomaiko, as she found she had no idea of the exact area her aunt was living. By then, it was already 9pm, as she was delayed in the unending gridlock along Lagos/ Badagry expressway.

Looking confused, Nofi, who was left without a dime, reportedly demanded for money from passers-by, most of whom shunned her.

At that point, it became glaring that Nofi was in serious trouble. “ At that instant, I broke into tears, as negative thoughts ran through my mind. I stood at the bus-stop; and not knowing what to do at that point, I slept on a table in front of a supermarket that had closed for the day”.

While asleep, she said, someone tapped her at about 11.30pm. And when she opened her eyes, a young man, who showed concern about her predicament, invited her to spend the night in his house.

Apparently seeing the visitor as her messiah, Nofi followed him home where, to her dismay, the visitor, later identified

Above; Nofi.. raped Below: Suspect as Salawu Waheed, turned out to be a rapist. The victim narrated: “He said he would like to see if I had hair in my private part and I pulled my pants for him. Before I knew it, he applied some lotion in my private part and forced his way into me and, even when I attempted to shout, he held my mouth.

“By 6am, he gave me N20 for transport and asked me to go back to where he picked me”.

But as she left Salawu’s house, some members of a vigilante group in Okokomaiko accosted her, suspecting she could be in need of help. She

was, thereafter, taken to the traditional ruler of Shibiri where she claimed her aunt lived, and attempt to get the said aunt failed.

The community leader was said to have advised that she be taken to the police station from where she disclosed all that had happened to her.

A source at the Human Rights section of Ilemba Hausa Division told Sunday Vanguard: “Immediately she was brought here, we saw some dry substance later discovered to be semen on her laps. Even when we asked what it was, she said it could

be pap. But, on further investigation, she told us how she was raped. To confirm her claim, we took her to the the Badagry General Hospital where a test conducted on her confirmed forceful penetration and broken hymen”.

Following the confirmation, 22-year-old Salawu was arrested. But, in his statement, he denied having carnal knowledge of Nofi, maintaining he only offered her a place to sleep until the next day.

However, when asked about her parents, Nofi told the police they were dead. “ She told us she was an only child and that she ran away from her grandmother ’s house whom she accused of maltreating her ”, the source said.

To confirm her claim, security operatives reportedly took Nofi to her grandmother ’s place, only for them to discover she had told a lie concerning the 80-year-old woman.

“On sighting Nofi, the grandmother rushed towards her and hugged her, thanking God at the same time for seeing her. When we asked about her parents, the old woman told us her mother was dead but that her father, a bricklayer, was alive. To confirm her claim, we asked her to send for the father, who later showed up at the station.

We also discovered that Nofi was the fourth child”.

Meanwhile, Salawu, as gathered, could be charged to court.

Mistress burns maid’s buttocks for being ‘promiscuous’

BY EMMA UNA,

Calabar

Otobong... attacked with hot electric iron

C M Y K

A 14- year-old house maid, Otobong Edet John, had her buttocks seared with hot electric iron by her mistress, simply identified as Ekaette, on the suspicion that she was promiscuous.

Narrating her ordeal, Otobong said she was receiving a call on her phone when the madam operating a canteen asked her who was on the phone and she said it was one of her friends. “But madam did not believe me and started beating me. So I ran and stayed somewhere with my friend”,she stated.

According to her, she remained in that place until about 10p.m. when she went to sleep in a church close to their

shop and the next morning “ when I was about coming to the shop, a neighbour saw me discussing with a customer who was asking me where I was coming from so early in the morning and went to tell my aunty that I spent the night with the man”.

The madam, she said, went to the police station at nearby Atimbo Road, Calabar and reported to them that the man abducted her housemaid.

But after the police interrogated the man, they let him go and this infuriated Ekaette following which she allegedly dragged Otobong to the shop, plugged the electric iron and when it was red hot, she used the scorched parts to sear the maid’s body including her buttocks and right arm.

Not done yet, she allegedly put a basin of banana on the girl’s head, asking her to go to town and sell even as her arm and buttocks were bleeding. “It was a customer who wanted to buy banana that saw that

my arm was bleeding and asked me what happened and, when I showed him my buttocks, he shouted and took me to the police”, she said. The mistress, while being interrogated by the police at Akim Police Division for causing bodily harm to a minor, justified her action by saying that Otobong was a rude and wayward girl. “When she told me it was Mary that called her, I called back that number and it was a male voice that answered and she then changed the story that she did not know what the man wanted after she had discussed with the man for over two minutes”,Ekaette said.

She said there were instances when the girl had gone from home to stay with men even as she had repeatedly cautioned her to change her ways. “That girl you are seeing is a very wayward girl and, if I tell you her story, you would marvel”, she said.

PAGE 26—SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013

ARRESTED TWO-MONTH-OLD

Father is daredevil robber; the mother, gang armourer—Police T

his is bizarre but true.

A two-month -old girl was arrested and paraded in lieu of her father who was suspected to be a daredevil robber. The mother was taken into custody along the toddler identified as Oyinkansola. It happened in Ogun State.

Policemen stormed the residence of the alleged armed robber, Ismail Adeosun, at Ago-Ika in Abeokuta North local government area and, because they could not find the suspect, they arrested every Adeosun available.

Oyinkansola was celebrated with wide media coverage, but in a grotesque manner.

Tongues are wagging over the propriety of the action of the police. Many are asking what offence the baby committed to warrant the treatment. .

Little Oyinkansola was among six suspects paraded by the Ogun State Police Command at its headquarters in Eleweran, Abeokuta, the state capital, in connection with alleged armed robbery and murder cases which have claimed the lives of no fewer than six people.

Justifying the action, the police said Oyinkansola’s father, Ismail, 26, who was at large, was identified as the ring leader of an armed robbery team.

The mother,Fausat, 19 , was said to be the armourer of the team, Oyinkasola’s uncle and aunt, Tobi Adeosun, 15, and Iyabode Adeosun respectively, were also not spared as the whole family were cooling their feet in police custoC M Y K

dy. When challenged on the allegation leveled against her by the police, Oyinkansola’s mother denied the knowledge of her husband’s robbery business but said that he (Ismail) operated a film house in Igbo-Ora area of Oyo State.

She told Sunday Vanguard that when she noticed that a gun was brought to the house, her husband threatened to kill her if she informed anybody about it. “On Sunday, he came

wo Muse, were arrested by the police when, according to the state police commissioner, Ikemefuna Okoye, the police stormed the residence of the suspects where locally made guns and other ammunition were recovered.

Okoye explained that his men acted on information provided by a member of the gang who had earlier been arrested and stormed the residence of the suspects where

Little Oyinkansola was among six suspects paraded by the Ogun State Police Command at its headquarters in Eleweran, Abeokuta, the state capital, in connection with alleged armed robbery and murder cases which have claimed the lives of no fewer than six people

,

BY DAUD OLATUNJI,Abeokuta

Above: Suspected robber’s sister and brother. Below: Baby Oyinkansola carried by her mum.

to me and I asked him whether he had removed his gun from my house because we don’t live together but he said he and his friend, Danladi, were around to pick the gun, I never knew he was a thief until he brought the gun to my house”,she said.

“He asked me whether I had told anybody and even threatened to kill me if I had informed anybody and that he will run away and leave me to suffer on his behalf, but I told him I never informed anyone.

“Unfortunately, the police came on Monday and asked me about the gun but I told them his brother had taken the gun away. That was how I was arrested,” she said.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that two other members of the gang, Danladi Musa and Tai-

,

Oyinkansola and others were arrested.

The commissioner said investigation was on and that the suspects would be charged to court upon completion of the investigation. “This woman has been keeping gun for her husband and his 15- year- old brother is also the armourer of the gang,” he said.

Speaking with Sunday Vanguard, Ismail’s younger brother, Tobi, narrated that it was his brother who the police were looking for before they arrested all the family members including the two months old baby. But the police commissioner insisted that Tobi is the armourer of the gang while Ismail’s wife has also been keeping her husband’s arms and ammunition before luck ran out on them.

Tobi, who was

allegedly arrested with some ammunition in his possession,wassaid tohave confessed to the police that it was Ismail’s wife that had been keeping the gun for her husband, adding that he was only brought to the scene to relocate the arms when the police invaded the house. “It was his wife who has been helping him to watch over his guns. That day when the police came, his wife, Fausat,called me to hide the gun behind a block beside the house, it was wrapped inside a cloth and, when the police came, I told them everything and even took them to where the gun was hidden,”he said.

“At first, I lied to the police because I was scared and I had never experienced such, I never knew my brother was a thief until that day.”

One of the two suspected members of the gang in police net, Danladi, confessed his involvement in some robbery cases, while he further narrated that no fewer than five people lost their lives during the operations.

When asked how he was caught by the police, the suspect said it was in the process of stealing a car in Sango area of Ogun State. He said he was introduced into the business about a year ago.

“I am here because I stole a Golf car at Sango area of the state, I am an armed robber, a friend introduced me to the work in January last year”,he

said “I have mistakenly killed someone in the process of my work, it wasn’t my intention to kill the person but he was dragging ammunition with me and i mistakenly fired the shot.

It was the same person who introduced me to the work that gave me the ammunition. His name is Ismail but he is at large.

“I didn’t know the person I killed but he was dragging the ammunition with me, probably he thought the gun was empty. We were in the same car in November last year when the incident happened. I have stolen about five cars and the driver of our gang by name Abati was the one in charge of the cars. I don’t know where the cars are now but Abati has also escaped.”

The other member of the gang who was also nabbed by the police, Taiwo, confessed that no fewer than five people had been killed during the operations in which he participated. He said that all his effort was because of N30, 000 promised by the alleged gang leader, Ismail, that made him to join the group.

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013, PAGE 27

At last, digitalised service delivery for Ondo residents

S

mart card technology, the world over, is pre cisely 38 years old. It has been deployed by several governments for specific purposes. Have you ever imagined, however, a multi-purpose smart card powered by the social democratic mantra of democratizing access to all the good things of life, through which citizens can access and enjoy dividends of democracy, a card that makes it impossible for the people to be cheated? Welcome to Kaadi Igbe Ayo (KIA), Ondo State’s latest in digitalised service delivery.

KIA is deployed to facilitate strategic planning and development, efficient record keeping, human resource monitoring in the public sector, anticorruption drive and solutions, while enabling a higher level of qualitative/quantitative service delivery in the health, education, transport and agroallied sectors.

Unique, isn’t it? But wait.

Actually, KIA does far much more: it facilitates the systematic development of database for efficient security and surveillance purposes, the categorisation of citizens for employment, taxation and financial palliatives, the use/management of public facilities (public transport, subsidized consumer products, even fertilizer). You can even advertise your goods at the back of the card, That is why the renown man of the arts, Jimi Solanke, had no patience with those spreading rumour about the KAI project: “Kini won wi?

Kini won so? Awon olote!”

(What did they say, what words did they speak?

*Why we initiated Kaadi Igbe Ayo —Mimiko

Gov Mimiko

,

BY ROTIMI MATINS

We want to know our own people. If we say a bag of rice per person, you cannot collect it without that card. If you have collected your own bag and you return to collect another one, that card would tell you that you are a thief

,

Rebels). The occasion was the launching of Kaadi Igbe Ayo at the Gani Fawehinmi Arcade, Akure, on Tuesday.

Solanke’s charge to Mimiko: Continue your work. Ignore the wilfully blind.

The Ondo State Cultural Troupe added more colour to

the occasion attended by the Deji of Akure, Oba Adebiyi Adesida; the Osemawe of Ondo, Oba Victor Kiladejo; the Zaki of Arigidi, Oba Yisa Olanipekun, and many other royal fathers from across the state; Information Minister, Labaran Maku; the state deputy governor, Alhaji Ali Olanusi and his wife, Bejide; Governor Olusegun Mimiko and his wife, Oluwakemi; a former governor of Ondo State, Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua; the speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Hon Samuel Adesina and members of the assembly; the state Chief Judge, Justice Olaseinde Kumuyi; the President, Customary Court, Justice Folasade Aguda-Taiwo; Dr Olu Agunloye, members of the immediate past cabinet; market women, the many pregnant women clad in T-shirts, the artisans and members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), among others .

In his welcome address, Chief of Staff to the governor, Dr Kola Ademujimi, observed that the card was for good governance in the state. On his part, Tunde Yadeka, Chairman of the Ondo State Information Technology Agency (SITA), took a global inventory of smart card technology, saying the residency card would serve as an interface in all transactions

between the government and residents, allow all residents equal access to government’s social and welfare services and allow government to monitor the distribution of such services even to the remotest parts of the state at every point.

Maku easily electrified the gathering. Describing Mimiko as a pace setter in governance in the country and an unparalleled disciple of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo who had, through revolutionary programmes in health, education, urban development, job creation, agriculture and commerce, among others, tackled poverty and improved the wellbeing of the majority of the people.

I

n her goodwill message at the occasion, the Min ister of Communication and Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, who was represented by Dr Ola Ogunneye, said her Ministry would support the project through the provision of infrastructure.

Mimiko, in his speech, alternated between English and Yoruba. The Kaadi Igbe Ayo initiative, he said, was in fulfilment of his 2009 inauguration promise to provide efficient service delivery to the people. To him, the continued success of the government’s programmes in different sectors meant that it was essential to better manage, expand, and improve on the planning and execution of the programmes. “As a concept, Kaadi Igbe Ayo is a project to facili-

tate sustainable government service delivery to citizens of the state. The project will ensure that integrity, accountability, data collection and reporting, analysis and research will be possible in the planning and execution of benefits and entitlements schemes by government”, he said.

The governor detailed the welfare-based, benefits-driven governance which mandated the prioritization of certain people-oriented projects in the last four years, including the Mother & Child Hospitals; Abiye Maternal Care Centres; Mega-Primary Schools; over 650 purpose-specific and state-wide community projects and countless such other efforts in road reconstruction, urban renewal and city beautification. The project had gulped only N900 million, the cheapest in the world considering the wide range of its deployment, he said.

Now, Mimiko told the people in Yoruba, “We want to know our own people. If we say a bag of rice per person, you cannot collect it without that card. If you have collected your own bag and you return to collect another one, that card would tell you that you are a thief. A banker cannot remove his tie and go and collect fertilizer meant for farmers. If you don’t pay your tax, the card will show us that and we will ask your children to go back home when they come to attend the mega schools. What will facilitate good living is for us all to do the things that we are supposed to do.”

All set for Fayemi’s return to the classroom

P

lans by Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, to return to the classroom as an academic appear to be at the final stage as the Vice Chancellor of Ekiti State University (EKSU), Prof Dipo Aina, presented to the governor documents on the establishment of the Institute of Governance as passed by the Varsity Council.

Fayemi is billed to lecture at the institute when it takes off next session, thus becoming the first sitting governor in the country to serve as a university teacher.

The Governor, who had severally expressed interest in impacting knowledge in the students of peace and conflict studies in the state-owned University was presented with the documents at the opening session of the 7th international annual conference of Society for Peace Studies and Practice held at the EKSU Campus in Ado Ekiti.

Fayemi, who holds a doctoraste degree in war studies from King’s College, London, said the instiC M Y K

tute will help to analyse the situation of the nation’s democracy; even as he stated that it is the duty of all to guarantee peace in the society.

He stressed that peace cannot be guaranteed in the absence of justice and development. He then called on Nigerians to work towards peaceful co-existence among all interest groups in the country.

“Peace”, he stated, is a “necessary ingredient in nation building and development”.

“We should move from empty sloganeering to concerted efforts at restoring peace to the society. And the university system can play a significant role through teachings and research in peace and conflict studies.”. While speaking on the nation’s democratic experience, the governor asserted that alternation of power is the surest way to consolidate democracy; adding that

Nigeria has not witnessed any transition since it is still the same regime that is in power.

Dr. Fayemi, while citing Ghana which has held five general elections since 1992 with the ruling and opposition parties alternating power, stated that Nigeria only has democracy in form but not in content, stressing that so many factors that characterise democracy are still lacking in Nigeria.

He however exGovernor pressed optimism that Fayemi the conference will help to augment the “quality and texture” of democracy in Nigeria even as the term is already abused.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, also at the

PAGE 28, SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013

is to jump from one person to another. However I do not want the bacteria to survive. I want to kill it.

Mentorship I am from France and I worked at the Pasteur Institute. I had a very bright mentor - George Canetti. It was 50 years ago, and we were absolutely convinced that with the new drugs, we were going to win t h e war against TB. I remember a friend of my mentor who warned us not to win theoretically, but win practically. But we were so sure of victory. If my mentor, who died long ago, was alive today, he would be very sad that with all the weapons we have, we have not been totally successful against TB. It is surprising because TB is curable and can be eliminated. However the problem of organization is m o n u m e n t a l .

Implementation can be better. It is a worldwide phenomenon, not just here in South Africa. It is everywhere. Every patient can get TB drugs free of charge, but that is not the problem. There is lack of strong political statement against TB infection without which success will be difficult. Organisation is key to defeating TB.

Professor Jacques Grosset.... Many patients stop taking their drugs before they’ve completed the full treatment course

SCOURGE OF TUBERCULOSIS Infection marked a turning point in my life – Prof Grosset (Expert on the cure of tuberculosis)

I

N the mid 1950s, just as he was completing his medical studies, fate played a cruel trick on Professor Jacques Grosset, the world renowned tuberculosis researcher. He was just 25 when he was struck by the deadly tubercle pathogen which causes tuberculosis (TB). The occurrence was ironical because the young scientist was infected right in the same hospital where he was undergoing his clinical training.

It was a drug-resistant strain of TB, and there were few antibiotics at the time, so the infected parts of his lungs had to be removed.

That incident decisively marked the end of his dream to become a surgeon. Ever since, he has nursed a grudge against TB. To extract his pound of flesh, Grosset dedicated his life to fighting TB to the finish. Today, at 82, the famed scientist relentlessly pursues his ambition to eliminate TB permanently by killing the tubercle bacteria.

For several years, he was at John Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA. Currently, he is Scientist in Residence at the Kwazulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH), Durban, South Africa, where he is developing and testing new drug candidates to help shorten TB treatment and find new medicines to confront drug-resistant TB. Grosset is also aiming to break the unholy alliance between TB and HIV.

In this encounter, the legendary TB researcher tells Sunday Vanguard about his personal vendetta against TB. Excerpts: Personal Enemy I got tuberculosis when I was young and, since that time, I have had a personal enemy. You should not know me because you may not like me because I am a killer. I kill the TB bacteria. My fight against TB is personal. People who do not like me call me ‘Jack the Ripper’.

So you should not know me. I was infected with TB in the very hospital where I trained. It was a drug-resistant strain of TB and

,

BY SOLA OGUNDIPE

War in the lab

I am fighting in the laboratory.

In the laboratory, we culture the bacteria and see if it is drug resistant and all that. We have facilities for rearing mice, then we infect and test the new drugs on them. I was at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, using mice to test new drugs for tuberculosis. Now I’m here at KRITH, and I still work with mice to find better drugs to treat TB. There are two main reasons for finding new TB drugs - to shorten treatment and to find ways to treat drug resistant TB. TB is a curable disease now, and is more

Multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis is a major problem.

The length of treatment is also a problem. Today, treatment for non-resistant tuberculosis lasts six months

there were fewer antibiotics at the time — the mid-1950s— and the infected parts of my lungs had to be removed. I was 25 and had been planning to become a surgeon, but I changed my mind.

I am from France, so I went to work at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, to take revenge on the bacteria that causes tuberculosis.

Years ago, we had already won the fight against TB. Compared to what it was before the antibiotics came, we did win. We succeeded in Western Europe and North America because, at the time when the antibiotics came, there were plenty of sanatoriums and it was easy for the patients to take their medicines, but the problem is now to organise the Directly Observed Treatment (DOT), which has nothing to do with the people coming or not.

Excuses It is like this, when people have cold, they take drugs and, after a few days they feel well, they stop taking the drugs. Because people are the same, people with TB begin to take their drugs and, after one month of treatment or so, stop taking the drugs because they feel well. This is just part of the problem. There are plenty of other reasons and excuses.

Human beings are human beings, and what is right for TB is right for HIV and diabetes, it is difficult for these people to comply with their drug r e g i m e n s .

Treatment problem

,

opportunistic than it is intelligent. It takes advantage of our poor defenses and so it remains difficult to treat.

Challenge

TB curable, but…

The challenge of the opportunistic effect of TB is very significant. One person coughs and others get the bacillus. That was the way I got TB in the hospital. I was a medical student.

The bacteria wants to survive and the only way to do that

Multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis is a major problem.

The length of treatment is also a problem. Today, treatment for non-resistant tuberculosis lasts six months. When I got infected, treatment took up to two years. Now, even at six months, treatment is still a burden. The biggest problem is with compliance. Many patients stop taking their drugs before they ’ve completed the full treatment course, which puts them at risk of a relapse—often, with a drug-resistant strain.

Many people are infected with TB and HIV in Durban, where K-RITH is located, than any other place in Africa.

Research Since the beginning of my career under the mentorship of George Canetti, my research has

focused on improving the treatment of mycobacterial infections, mainly tuberculosis but also leprosy, Buruli ulcer, and MAC (Mycobacterium avium complex) infections in the immune competent and immune deficient host. I am currently involved in the development and testing of new drugs and new drug regimens active against both fully drug susceptible and drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium ulcerans.

Objective

Scientifically, my main objectives are to test the potential of new drugs and new drug regimens for shortening the duration of the current sixmonth drug regimen for drugsusceptible disease; offering a shorter alternative to the long treatment duration for multidrug resistant (MDR) TB, and discovering the drug regimens that would be able to successfully treat patients with extremely drug resistant (XDR) tuberculosis. The great challenge of this endeavour is to identify the right in vitro and in vivo experimental models that will allow us to know that our results are accurate predictors of a true clinical response.

HIV/TB

alliance

The co-infection of HIV and TB requires that we understand how to deliver treatment and how to avoid drug resistance in immune-deficient patients. This explains why my lab is testing the value of mice with different immune backgrounds, including the athymic nu/nu mice. Similarly, I aim to compare the response of strains of different lineages of M. tuberculosis, as well as specific d r u g - r e s i s t a n c e mutant strains, to different treatment regimens. For these strains, we are not only determining the natural prevalence of drug resistant mutants but also their genetic b a c k g r o u n d .

Research

My research on drug activity against TB has led to the identification of the strong synergistic effect of rifampin and pyrazinamide, the potent bactericidal activity of moxifloxacin and daily r i f a p e n t i n e , the antituberculosis activity of PA824. It is noteworthy that we demonstrated the synergistic activity of combination PA824 with pyrazinamide and moxifloxacin. This combination has the potential to be used for the treatment of MDR-TB patients because it contains no rifampin and no isoniazid, the two first line drugs for which resistance is most c o m m o n .

I want to emphasize the translational nature of my work.

My lab will not limit its activity to in vitro work and work with mice. It will be directly involved in the testing of new drug regimens in patients, particularly by conducting early bactericidal activity (EBA) studies and investigations of drug resistance.

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013 — 29

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PAGE 30—SUNDAY

Vanguard , MARCH 31, 2013, 2013

EXCLUSIVE nature of the card itself. The second is the nature of the procurement.

By Jide Ajani L ast

week, Sunday Vanguard published documented evidence as obtained from Nigeria’s Election Management Body, EMB, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that Registration Area Officers, ROAs, would be expected to manually and comprehensively register voters from house to house. In this report, you will read details of the type of PERMANENT VOTER’S CARD that INEC has decided to use for the 2015 elections, a card that cannot satisfy the yearnings of Nigerians for a free and fair election. Yet, Professor Attahiru Jega, Chairman of INEC, is going about his job with messianic alacrity which suggests an agenda that is at once unclear to other national electoral commissioners, Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, as well as some very senior officials of the Commission. This report merely attempts to clear the fog of misinformation that a permanent voter’s card, especially the one INEC has awarded its contract, would solve Nigeria’s age-old problem of election rigging. The prognoses are very dangerous.

Like President Mohammed Morsi, C M Y K

2015 ELECTIONS ENDANGERED (2)

INEC’s Permanent Voter’s Card Or Rigging Card? the Islamist Muslim Brother, who has taken Egypt by storm, Professor Attahiru Jega, is also taking INEC by storm. This is by way of Morsi’s decree which vested him with immunity from judicial oversight and his ordering of the country’s assembly to draw up a constitution within a day, a work that would have taken all of 30 days, with a view to producing a draft ready

for referendum. Mind you, Morsi has, in an attempt to court the military, has promised that the portfolio of defence ministry is its.

For Nigeria, the much vaunted permanent voter ’s card that Jega’s INEC is proposing to use for the 2015 general elections may not put a stop to Nigeria’s romance with election rigging for two reasons. The first is the

THE IMPERMANENCE OF A PERMANENT VOTER’S CARD INEC’s permanent voter’s card does not have the potentials to put a stop to Nigeria’s rigging problems because it is merely card-reader enabled.

Very senior sources at the Commission confided in Sunday Vanguard that a card-reader enabled voter ’s card would not in any way do much to put a stop to the sophisticated rigging schemes of Nigerian politicians.

What the card would simply do, according to the sources, is that “on voting day, the card would make it easy for the official on election duty to identify the card holder as the owner of the voter ’s card. When the prospective voter goes for accreditation on the day of election and presents the card, the card would be inserted into the machine and it would be certified as an authentic voter’s card bearing the name of the card holder ”.

Except last minute modifications have been made to the earlier specification for the production of the voter ’s card, Sunday Vanguard has been made to understand that the card would not have added feature of photograph identification.

“As has been proposed, the card reader would not display the photograph when the card is inserted; but this is just a minor flaw because the card identifies the holder as the owner of the card.

“Now, when the card is inserted into the PSO machine which would read it and register it as having been used for voting, it would not display the photograph as contained in the register. In Ghana, that was not the case.

The card displayed the photograph and the card was polling unit specific.

“That brings us to the real flaw which is that the card holder can proceed from that point to another voting centre and re-use the card for the same election because the card is not polling unit specific – that is, a voter’s card that can only be used at one polling unit and one polling unit alone.

“What this means”, the very senior INEC source continued, “is that were the card polling unit specific, it would only have the capability to be used at only one of the 119, 973 polling units scattered across the country”.

The contract for the card has already been awarded.

The experience of Ghana and, lately, Kenya, where such cards were used is that in those two countries, the cards were polling unit specific – the cards were only enabled for use in only one polling unit in each of those countries.

Now, the only aspect where the card suggests a capability to ward off rigging is the requirement of a paper trail having been used. What this means is that there must be evidence that the voter ’s card has gone through the card reader because of the need for serial registration to register the number of cards that have been able to pass through the machine.

As was earlier stated, it would not take divination to see through it that the “visit (to) voters and prospective voters in their homes” for the purpose of “MANUALLY REGISTERING THOSE WHO REACH THE AGE OF 18, SIX MONTH BEFORE ANY GEN-

Continues on page 31

SUNDAY

2015 ELECTIONS ENDANGERED (2)

Adoke...Chairman not INEC’s Accounting Officer, there can be no one-man show

ERAL ELECTION” as well as “TO COMPILE COMPREHENSIVE VOTERS LIST WITH A VIEW TO CAPTURE THEIR BIOMETRIC DATA AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME, AT LEAST TWICE A YEAR” constitute a recipe for electoral fraud. Just as the recruitment exercise that INEC is looking to see through, as well as the alleged skewed promotion exercise that has just been concluded, along with a voter ’s card that is not polling unit specific, all suggest a pattern – intended or not.

WHY OPT FOR SUCH A CARD Just as bad, Sunday Vanguard was informed, that an Information and Communications Technology, ICT, delegation was sent from INEC headquarters to China Their mission was to go and learn about and prepare for the eventual use of the type of permanent voter ’s card that the EMB has opted for.

Curiously, there was a disagreement among members of the delegation.

The source of the disagreement was and remained that this card reader type of permanent voter ’s card is not the best for Nigeria within the context of the sophisticated rigging regime that politicians are wont to enthrone.

The questions to ask are: Are the authorities aware that there was a disagreement even among members of the delegation sent to China from INEC? If the authorities are aware of such a disagreement, have efforts been made to uncover the source of the disagreement?

If they are not aware of the second, have moves been made to find out?

The disagreement majorly hinged on the fact that “not being polling unit specific, the card would still be open to compromise”.

What some members of the delegation preferred was a card that would be customized in such a way that it can only be used for voting in only one of the 119, 973 polling units scattered across the country.

The practice in Nigeria is that when you register in a place, that is where you go and vote.

It was the self-same INEC that foisted this on Nigerians during the last exercise and it was with a view to eliminating rigging and mass migration preparatory to rigging.

Once a voter ’s card is customized to a polling unit, it cannot be used elsewhere.

Now, the contract INEC has awarded, because of the plethora of the under-aged people in the voters’ register that are yet to be cleaned out, is C M Y K

like preparing more grounds for rigging.

CONNECTING THE DOTS The nexus between the needless recruitment of staff by INEC, a recruitment which a consulting firm has pooh-poohed (INEC is in fact said to be perhaps the only EMB with the largest number of needless staff because of non-utilisation of capacity) on the one hand, the manual comprehensive compilation of voters register from house to house with a view to capturing biometrics later and the use of a voter card that is not polling unit specific.

It was Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River State, who said that on the day of election, the adhoc staff that are used at polling units are supplied by politicians and, therefore, eliminating rigging may not come easy. Sunday Vanguard gathered from sources within the Commission that the recruitment drive by INEC enjoyed the unpleasant benefit of politi-

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Continued from page 30

Vanguard ,

to store up voter ’s cards illegally – as can be made possible by the proposed manual comprehensive compilation being proposed by INEC – hijack and confiscate a voter ’s register booklet and run as many cards as possible through the machine.

That way, with cards in hand and a register to boot, the paper trail needed would be generated, just as the cards can be used as many times as possible and votes counted and recorded for the party of choice.

If INEC is serious about safeguarding the 2015 general elections, the entire national commissioners must be seen to be equal and must operate on a collegiate basis decisions must be collectively taken.

The use of committee to take very important decisions of the Commission to the exclusion of national commissioners would not help, just as the issues of determination of who goes for monitoring of elections, determination of the posting of RECs or who participates in elections – which are all concentrated and vested in the chairman today – should be jettisoned.

But how did INEC come to this?

JEGA’S QUEST FOR MORE POWERS It all started when the Commission’s Chairman decided to launch a power-grabbing voyage. To get the legal backing for this acquisition of powers, Jega wote a letter, dated June 19, to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, SAN, asking for clarification on who should be the accounting officer of the EMB. Jega noted: “Since our assumption

The use of a voter’s card that is not polling-unit-specific can be compromised by political parties with access to the card reader

cians and National Assembly members nominating people into the exercise.

In fact, some national commissioners and RECs are calling for an outright cancellation of the recruitment exercise because they claimed it was “shoddily carried out”, alleging sectional favouritism.

What this would engender is a further bastardization of the voting process because if INEC is complaining about NYSC members who were used as ad-hoc staff and could not be 100% trusted, how can the Commission that has recruited nominees from politicians and politicians or ex-this and exthat as and who would become permanent staff hope to trust politicians when entrusted with overseeing elections?

But some officials who appear to have the ears of Jega INEC said “there is already a budget for the recruitment of staff and, therefore, the hoopla about needless recruitment is misplaced”.

The use of a voter ’s card that is not polling unit specific can be compromised by political parties with access to the card reader. All that a politician intent on rigging needs to do is

,

of office as a new Commission in July 2010, having regard to the fact that neither the Constitution nor the Electoral Act defined the role of the Secretary to the Commission as the Accounting Officer, I have considered myself as such, relying upon provisions of the Procurement Act, particularly Sections 18, 19 and 20 of the Act and Regulations issued by the Bureau of Public Procurement to the effect that in an MDA/Corporate procuring entity, the Chief Executive is the Accounting Officer.

“I have also done this, given the weighty personal liability which the Procurement Act places on the shoulders of the Accounting Officer. The tradition in INEC had been that a Permanent Secretary was posted as the Secretary, until 2008, when INEC, having regard to the provisions of the Constitution and Electoral Act appointed its Secretary. The functions/ roles of the Secretary as specified did not say or imply that he is the Accounting Officer ”.

The INEC boss told Adoke that the clarification was necessary in the light of the restructuring and reorganisation going on in the Commission as it

MARCH 31, 2013,

PAGE 31

prepares for what he described as “better, effective and efficient service delivery towards 2015 and beyond”.

He insisted that it was “pertinent to seek this clarification for the avoidance of doubt and in order to put lingering matters to rest.”

The “lingering matters” Jega spoke about, it was learnt, might not be unconnected with what a source described as the frosty relationship between the Chairman and other commissioners over the Chairman’s powers.

YOU CAN NOT RUN A ONE-MAN SHOW, ADOKE TELLS JEGA In a July 26 reply to Jega’s reply, Adoke declared categorically that the Chairman is not the accounting officer of INEC. Adoke said: “I have examined relevant provisions of the law particularly, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, the Electoral Act, the Public Procurement Act and extant Financial Regulations in order to determine whether the law has expressly provided for the position of either the ‘Chief Executive Officer ’ or ‘Accounting Officer ’ of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). “Regrettably, it would appear that no such terminology was used in the statutes examined. Item 14(1)(a) of Part 1 to the Third Schedule of the Constitution only provides that the Chairman shall be the Chief Electoral Commissioner. The provision does not state that the ‘Chief Electoral Commissioner ’ is the ‘Chief Executive Officer.

“I have similarly examined the functions and powers of the Commission as provided for in item 15 of Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the Constitution and sections 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the Electoral Act and wish to observe that these are functions and powers that can only be exercised by the Commission and not by the Chairman or any individual Commissioner except as may be delegated by the Commission under Section 152 of the Electoral Act or item 15(h) of Part 1 to the Third Schedule to the Constitution. “Consequently, in the absence of any clear donation of the powers of a Chief Executive Officer or Accounting Officer by the relevant statutes, and in the absence of any evidence to indicate that these functions and powers of the

Commission have been delegated to the Chairman, I am unable to come to the reasoned conclusion that the law contemplates that the Chairman of INEC shall be the Chief Executive Officer or Accounting Officer of the Commission.”

The Attorney General added that the Electoral Act confers on the Secretary enormous administrative powers akin to those of Directors-General, who are “statutorily the Accounting Officers and Chief Executive Officers of their various Commissions”.

He pointed out that this is what obtains in similar Commissions, such as Police Service Commission, National Population Commission and Federal Judicial Service Commission.

But the dissenting views in INEC are being waved off as mere rants. The electoral body, as presently operated under its incumbent Chairman, decisions are taken by him, in consultation with his Chief of Staff, one Dr. Dr. Mahmud Magaji (he’s alleged to have usurped the powers of some national commissioners).In an earlier conversation with Mr. Kayode Idowu, Press Secretary to Jega, he said “some of the things being published by some people in that regard are laughable because the decisions taken at the Commission reflect a collective, hinged on consensus”.

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Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013 — 33

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PAGE 34—SUNDAY

Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013

NIGERIA AND THE DRONE IN THE SAHEL:

The good, the bad and the bizarre

W

ILL the drone be used in the Sahel?

Put differently, will the United States order drone strikes on terrorist cells in West African states? That is the big question that confronts states and non-state actors in the on-going war against AlQaeda and its local affiliates in the Maghreb and Sahel regions.

But the reputation of the drone for causing collateral damage when in action remains a concern about the usefulness or otherwise of the unmanned aircraft especially in fighting the invisible enemy.

Yet there are other uses of the drone that recommends it to nations and organisations for crime fighting.

When news filtered in that the United States had reached agreement with the Republic of Niger to set up a drone base in the West African state, there were concerns about the location of this war machine, especially the possibility of violating Nigeria’s territorial integrity and internal security.

Nigeria and Niger Republic share borders and essential demographic features, particularly in northern parts of Nigeria. The move especially unsettles the security and intelligence communities in Nigeria about the implications of having such equipment that can gather sensitive information about the country, but Prof.

Fred Aja Agwu, a senior Research Fellow at the C M Y K

Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, told Sunday Vanguard that Nigeria has been weakened by its own internal crisis, that it could not utter a word on such brazen act the could compromise its intenal security. Agwu said the activities of Boko Haram and other terrorists groups show that insurgency in region has been internationalised.

According to him, the local insurgents have been infiltrated and the “Nigerian security and intelligence communities have proved incapable of coping with the situation”, so they need external help.

The activities of Boko Haram

,

By Hugo Odiogor, Foreign Affairs Editor

of defending its territorial integrity and upholding the security of its citizens.

Drone Technology The drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle that is used for surveillance and targeted attacks on suspected terrorists and they have been used by the United States which developed the technology.

The drone is remotely controlled and has visual sensors that allow those operating it to focus on intended targets. It carries different types of weapons.

For instance, the MQ-9 drones can employ four lasser guided Hellfire missiles and time sensitive targets.

The local insurgents have been infiltrated and the “Nigerian security and intelligence communities have proved incapable of coping with the situation”, so they need external help

and Ansaru show that Nigeria is an area of interest for drone surveillance, whether in Niger or in Nigeria.

Prof. Ogbabe Oche, echoing Agwu, said the presence of drones in Niger Republic may serve as a deterrence to terrorists but its implications for national security cannot be overlooked. He explained that the drone option has become necessary because Nigeria is not showing that it is capable

,

Former US President George W. Bush was the first to order drone strikes in 2008 in Pakistan during his last days in office. There are various types of drones namely the MQ-IB predator which is used for medium altitude long endurance mission.

It performs intelligence gathering and has what the military call munition capabilities. The second type is the MQ-9 reaper which is used

primarily for hunting and killer mission. It also has the capacity for intelligence gathering. It is designed to find, fix, track, get, examine and assess against high value, fleeting and time sensitive targets.

Former CIA Director General Leon Panetta described the drone as “very effective” as it “has achieved high level of precision attacks on targets. Military experts believe that the US drone has changed the nature of modern warfare because it is surgically precise and high effective.”

Drone in War fare Until 2008, drones were used for intelligence gathering in Pakistan. But, in that year, the US fired the first missile from a drone at a terrorist target in Waziristan. The US used the stealthy UAV RQ-17 drones to fly over Osama Bin Laden compound in Pakistan, to monitor the compound before the advance of the Navy Seals that killed him on May 2, 2011.

The US secret drone campaign against Al Qaeda ;and its affiliates has changed the face and nature of modern warfare. It has become a key weapon in US arsenal against suspected terrorists and the prospects of using it in the Sahel cannot be ruled out as Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb continues to grow in strength and presence in the region.

Only US, UK and Israel have launched drone strikes against their enemies.

According to reports from Pentagon, the US has about 8,000 drones and it has

carried out about 349 drone strikes in Pakistan, 61 in Yemen while it is estimated that between 1,500 to 2,500 persons may have died from this modern form of warfare.

The casualty rate is believed to be high among noncombatants and non-terrorists but many people also argue that this is the propaganda of terrorists who want to draw sympathy to themselves and increase the criticisms against the use of drones to hunt them.

Global Drones Race Israel has, over the years, led the world in developing unmanned aerial vehicle system (UAS). According to America Aerospace Study (2011), there are about 680 of UAS. And about 70 countries including China, UK, Australia, Russia are known to have such technology. Even Iran, which claimed that it it brought down one US drone, has acquired the technology.

China revealed in 2010 that it has 25 drone models. Today, there are more countries lining up to acquire the technology and usage of drones either for domestic or military purposes. In the US, the police use drones for law enforcement duties, especially to gather intelligence.

The Obama administration, which has been secretive about the use of drones, is known to have ordered more drone strikes against suspected terrorists outside the shores of the US than its predecessor.

The administration is now faced with the responsibility of mobilising a global consensus on the use of drones. In the US, there have been debates within government and Congress on legal justification for the use of drones especially targetting US citizens on American soil or abroad if they are found to be involved in acts of terrorism. There is increasing public demand for information on how the drones are used.

Apart from the issue of regularising the drone programme, it has become necessary to draw a guideline.

There is, therefore, the need “to ensure that the future use of drones conforms with existing international and humanitarian laws”.

Under the international law, terrorists are considered civilians and killing them is only legal if they are caught in the act of committing an attack. Some experts argue that drones create more terrorists than they kill them.

Apart from military uses, drones have been used for search and rescue operations, tracking of weather disasters, especially after storms, hurricanes, earth quakes, etc.

The Ol Pejeta conservancy in Kenya wants to use drones to monitor wild life to deter poachers.

This is an experience that could be useful to Nigeria in tracking incidence of pipeline vandalism.

SUNDAY

Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013, PAGE 35

By Hugo Odiogor, Foreign Affairs Editor

A

security.”

His wife, Azuka, who hails from Enugu State and married the MEND leader in 1999, obtained a degree in education (finance) from the University of Benin, Benin City. She lived with him in Jo’ Borg, South Africa. She believed that the trial of her husband was political and he was being sacrificed to appease some powerful individuals and corporate interests in Nigeria. Two Lagos lawyers, Femi Falana,(SAN), and Mr. Festus Keyamo, as well as MEND have denounced the jailing of Okah in South Africa, believing that it was more of a political trial than legally justifiable.

t 46, Henry Okah, a visible face in the struggle in the Niger Delta for equality and social justice, is to spend 24 years in jail in South Africa. Unless there is an intervention that favours him at the appellate court, what this means is that he will become a free man in his 60s.

To the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) which Okah leads, this is a hard blow to their morale and the display of good faith in their acceptance of the amnesty programme of the Federal Government. And to the relatives of those that lost their lives and the injured at Eagle Square on October 1, 2010, the event in South Africa means that justice has been served to the leader of the militant group.

The worst came for Okah on March 26 when Judge Nels Claassen convicted him of 13 charges of terrorism, including the bombing that killed 12 people in Abuja on October 1, 2010.

In reaching his decision, Claassen said, “I have come to the conclusion that the state proved beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused, who claimed that he knew nothing of any of these bombings, especially in Warri and Abuja”.

Nigeria’s golden jubilee celebration was disrupted by the attack within the vicinity of Eagle Square, which MENDS claimed responsibility for. The group had earlier claimed that it disrupted the March 2010 Post-Amnesty Dialogue Conference organized by Vanguard Newspapers in Warri, Delta State.

Whether the group was posturing or not, what is known is that Okah was opposed to the idea of the amnesty offered by the Federal Government to militants willing to lay down their arms, in a bid to end attacks on oil companies and their installations.

MEND emerged in 2006 with the goal to attack the interests and operations of foreign oil in the Niger Delta.

The establishment of MEND redefined the nature and character of the struggle in the Niger Delta, as the militant group mounted a sophisticated media campaign to support its rebellion. It embarked on acts of sabotage, and kidnapping of foreign oil workers. On several occasions, it claimed responsibility for attacks on oil companies whom it accused of exploiting the local populace. The attacks on oil infrastructure reduced Nigeria’s daily production to about one quarter of the normal production.

O K A H Between politics

and justice

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The travails of Henry Okah Okah, first arrested in Angola and deported to Nigeria in February 2008, and charged with 62 counts of treason, terrorism, illegal possession of firearms and arms trafficking, faced the death penalty. But on July 13, 2009, Judge Mohammed Liman declared him a free man. Liman declared: “Having reviewed what the attorney general said, you have become a free man at this moment.” The trial, which began in April 2008, was held in private, because C M Y K

The Okah family had hoped their member would be acquitted in South Africa as against Nigeria where the Federal Government seemed determined to make scapegoat of people considered to have challenged the authorities

,

the late President Umau Yar’ Adua argued that open trial would “jeopardize national

Okah...an activist and a controversial trial

In Nigeria, there has not been any conviction of key suspects in the series of terrorist attacks. There has also not been any headway in the high profile murder cases.

Former Information Minister, Professor Walter Ofonagoro, believes that the handling of security issues in Nigeria has been tainted with tardiness, indolence and corruption, as can be seen in the handling of the prime suspect of the Madallah Christmas day bombing, Mr. Kabiru Sokoto, who was arrested and escaped the first time and when he was re-arrested, the prosecutors appear to be tardy in preparing charges against him. He said in the same way, the prosecutors of the suspects in the murder of Engr Funsho Williams, a Lagos politician, had been unserious in the way they handled the case in the past six years, yet the country seems to be giving the impression that it is serious about fighting terrorism. Director General of NIIA, Prof.

Bola Akintrinwa,on his part, is of the view that it is ridiculous for some people to think of amnesty for terrorists in Nigeria, especially those who have been apprehended for the crime, while Okah has been jailed in South Africa.

PAGE 36—SUNDAY

Vanguard ,

MARCH 31, 2013

2015: PDP’s fear of defeat is real —Tom Ikimi

zSays rival APC is ruling party’s official project zReveals how Abacha chased IMF, World Bank out of Abuja zOn Boko Haram: What Jonathan regime can learn from history Chief Tom Ikimi is a former Foreign Affairs Minister and one of the leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the forefront of the formation of the All Progressive Congress (APC). In this interview, he speaks on the controversy the issue of registration of the new party has generated.

He also speaks on the government of President Goodluck Jonathan. Ikimi notes the criticisms against the late General Sani Abacha under whom he served as minister,saying the former military leader did his best in the upliftment of the economy of the nation contrary to what Nigerians are experiencing today. Excerpts:

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

T

here seems to be some confusion as regards the registration of the APC by the INEC.Would you say it is part of the PDP - led government’s plan to frustrate the take- off of your new party?

The emergence of the APC on 6 February, 2013 when the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and a major section of the All Progressive Grand

Intellectual Property We are reliably informed of the roles of some highly placed persons in the establishment currently financing willing political jobbers and agents provocateurs whose assignment is to cause mischief, precipitate chaos, mess up the democratic space in a manner reminiscent of the Association for Better Nigeria, ABN, which, in 1993, succeeded to irredeemably truncate the IBB transition program.

Since 6 February, 2013, when we addressed a world press conference announcing the decision of our parties

,

Alliance (APGA) decided to merge to form a mega party in Nigeria, to provide a viable alternative political platform in the country seems to have created a major stir in the Nigerian political firmament. The successful merger of such large opposition parties would instantly transform the country into a two- major party state as is the case in other major successful democracies in the world. This prospect, which serves notice of the end of tenure to the PDP, has shaken the very foundation of the PDP which, over the past several years, has operated across the country with reckless impunity. The option of a strong alternative party has been overwhelmingly welcomed by the generality of our people.

The so- called African Peoples Congress has not scaled the first basic hurdle for registration as a political party and has no place in the prevailing political atmosphere when more serious groups are being deregistered

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to merge and adopted the name All Progressive Congress (APC), the name and acronym not only became our intellectual property but has since received very wide publicity in the print and electronic media. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has acknowledged this through her spokesperson several times in the press, received our correspondences on the matter long before some sponsored busy bodies approached them on 28 February, some twenty two days after we announced our name, to seek the registration of the so- called African Peoples Congress. I watched the shameful television display, on Thursday,14 March, of a hired crowd, clearly recruited from nearby markets, streets and bushes, assembled in a first floor flat in a building in Apo Village Abuja, hurriedly provided by their handlers, purporting to be the

promoters of this charade. Nigeria, in my view, has moved away from this kind of disgraceful gimmicks well known to be associated with some of the expired barons of PDP now surviving on emergency heavy doses of Abuja oxygen.

The revelations of the past couple of days provide irrefutable evidence that the series of fake APC is a PDP official project. I certainly hope that Professor Jega’s INEC would steer clear from this obvious mine field. I understand that Professor Jega was away in far away China when these developments were taking place and hope that he has received accurate briefing upon his return.

The process of merger is quite different from the procedure of registration of new parties. Merging parties, being already registered political parties, do not need to obtain and fill any forms! We are, therefore, diligently proceeding with the merger

process. I understand that the young lawyer, one Nwokorie Samuel Chinedu, who reportedly made the application to INEC now bitterly regrets his role in the plot.

The so- called African Peoples Congress has not scaled the first basic hurdle for registration as a political party and has no place in the prevailing political atmosphere when more serious groups are being deregistered. The show of shame they put up that Thursday brandishing questionable INEC documents is serious enough for our security agencies to descend on them and save our country from further corruption of the democratic process.

But why would be the PDP be afraid of a party that is yet to take off?

Since 1999 when the departing military government installed General Obasanjo and the PDP, OBJ, who was the beneficiary, proceeded to decimate the opposition with the sole purpose of establishing the PDP as the ruling party in a one- party state over which he was to preside as life president. I happened to have been a founding member of the APP and one of the main reasons I left that party was because I could not understand how and why, after the bitterly fought general elections in 1999, our national

Continues on page 37

SUNDAY

Vanguard ,

MARCH 31, 2013, PAGE 37

`Rival APC is ruling party’s official project’ Continued from page 36 chairman, the late Mahmoud Waziri, would abandon his party with nine state governors to take office as political adviser in the government of a party that defeated him. OBJ, who successfully lured him in order to weaken the APP, went further to organize the registration of over sixty other parties to be in the opposition most of them not worth more than their registration certificates. A good number of them were, for a small fee, always willing to play one role or the other for the PDP against the opposition.

What should Nigerians expect from the APC if, at the end of the day, you succeed in dethroning the PDP? In 2006, I was among twenty three leaders who broke away from the PDP on the same day to link up with some others from the AD to found the AC and eventually ACN. Some of my colleagues, who left with me then, included the late Abubakar Rimi, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Ghali Naaba, Alhaji Lawal Kaita etc. I proceeded to Edo State in 2006 to link up with a number of others to establish the ACN there. I dare say we have been successful in uprooting the PDP in Edo State, which ran that state aground. Edo State happens to be the home of some of their most boastful leaders now roaming other parts of Nigeria dispensing havoc and instability. We have established in Edo State an ACN government that has been highly successful. The first ACN government in the country was that of Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State whose brilliant

* Ikimi ... Anxiety for change is palpable performance has been a benchmark in the country. His colleagues in the ACN refer to him as their class prefect.

Change of Baton In summary, the present governors of the opposition are progressive governors who are leading progressive governments with clearly distinctive achievements. A change of baton in the centre and the enthronement of a liberal democracy with crystal clear vision would ensure the positive refocusing of our nation state.

The APC will be a totally new party. The first draft of the constitution and manifesto have just been presented for our discussion and vetting. Among other things, the constitution will establish an acceptable level of party supremacy, will ensure the creation of a broad- based political party whose membership will cut across all strata of our

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Perpuation in Power The role they played was always crucial in ensuring the perpetuation in power of the PDP. For the past several years, desperate efforts have been made by concerned members of the opposition to unify the opposition parties in order, not only to provide an alternative viable platform for Nigerians but also to make the PDP more accountable. Those efforts failed for various reasons including personality interests, PDP’s successful manipulations, the activities of moles and bad timing. It is now, however, clear to the PDP and the establishment that our current effort is well calculated, being systematically well pursued in national interest and backed by the overwhelming people support, pointing towards the inevitable change of baton which many of them have difficulty in contemplating. That is their fear. The PDP has held the country hostage and plundered it since 1999.

They have ruled with impunity, established massive corruption as a way of life and so the fear of stepping down is real. One of their recent national chairmen openly boasted that the PDP was to rule Nigeria for one whole century. Those at the helm of affairs today believe that nonsense and so are operating recklessly. The day for them to account for their stewardship is knocking at the door!

They must all faithfully execute the party manifesto which constitutes the solemn pact that we make with our people who vote us into power.

Consequently, the party will subject its various executives from the local government to the Presidency to regular periodic open conferences to discuss their performance and compliance with our manifesto. In this regard, our core commitments to education, eradication of corruption, uninterrupted power supply, full and gainful employment, eradication of poverty, affordable local fuel price, sound healthcare delivery, abundant food supply, sustained industrial growth, efficient mass transit system, and an elaborate housing program,etc, will be watched closely by the party.

This process does not exist in the PDP

A change of baton in the centre and the enthronement of a liberal democracy with crystal clear vision would ensure the positive refocusing of our nation state

society permitting equality of membership of all Nigerians willing to join and who will enjoy the full measure of internal party democracy. A transparent method of congresses and conventions will open up the democratic space for all to aspire to any level of their God’s given personal ability.

The enthronement of discipline in our society must commence from our party and so proper safeguards for discipline is being enshrined in our new constitution with a guarantee for adequate access to justice by all members without prejudice. Confidence in politicians and the political system needs to be urgently restored.

A detailed and robust manifesto will soon be published which will guide all our governments from local government to the Federal Government. We will not entertain ridiculous jokes of personal point agendas by any head of government at any level.

Solemn Pact

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that has “captured” Nigeria for the past fourteen years!

Monumental Corruption

Unfortunately, what we have witnessed in these past fourteen years is the enthronement of monumental corruption at the very highest level of government. Today, people of dubious and questionable character are celebrated with national awards while the few who are “mistakenly” convicted are granted state pardon. That is the pitiable level to which Nigeria has descended.

Critics of the APC insist that there is nothing new in the convergence of those behind the party, saying that it is a conclave of desperate people hustling for power. How right are they?

Nothing can be farther from the truth.

I already drew your attention to the sterling qualities of the governors of the states controlled by the opposition parties; I have also given an insight into the painstaking processes that have gone into the production of the party constitution and manifesto.

What we offer Nigerians is a blueprint that is borne out of a clear vision with the will to drive the process by the enthronement of a focused and well grounded government as against the clueless and visionless apology now offered by the PDP. Frankly, the situation in our country must not be allowed to get worse than it is today.

National infrastructures have suffered the calamity of a colossal decay which include the disastrous condition of the roads, a demise of the railway system, virtually non- existent power supply; the health care system has so deteriorated that plane loads of helpless Nigerians depart every day to far away India and other similar destinations to seek basic healthcare. The issue of insecurity has viciously gripped the country and thrown 155 million citizens into perpetual fear, while unbridled corruption has brought the nation to its knees. The once pleasant environment enjoyed just before and after independence has vanished! Millions of Nigerian youths are jobless while the education system where available is receding into Stone Age levels forcing those who could afford it to send their children to Ghana and other neighboring countries or elsewhere to seek higher quality education.

Anxiety for Change The anxiety for change across the country is palpable to such an extent that everywhere one turns today there is an overwhelming yearning for a rescue mission.

There has never been a political party merger in any form in our country’s history. This is the first of its kind and, apart from the four parties earlier advertised, several other parties as well as groups, civil society organizations and individuals have freely approached us to join the merger. We are definitely on an urgent rescue mission. So far, I have heard not a whisper from any individual in the merger arrangement suggesting any personal interest for one position or the other. I am convinced that it will not be business as usual Boko Haram is a faceless group. Would you say the call to negotiate with the group is misplaced? As a former Foreign Affairs Minister, do you think government should negotiate with the group? There have also been calls for the granting of amnesty?

The activities of Boko Haram have turned out to be one of the most serious security problems in the country today and responsible for the loss of hundreds of innocent lives in

Continues on page 38

PAGE 38 — SUNDAY

Vanguard , MARCH 31, 2013

Continued from page 37 parts of the country including the Federal Capital, Abuja and environs.

One of my saddest days was the Christmas day bombing of a Catholic Church near Abuja. Apart from making some states in the North particularlyKano,Borno and Yobe to become virtually no- go areas, the Boko Haram insurgency has portrayed our country to the world to be an unsafe destination for tourists and business people. Anyone therefore so fortunate to be the ultimate leader in the country must see it as a priority to find a lasting solution to this security situation. I have heard of the existence of some rather reckless individuals lurking in the corridors of power peddling careless comments to the effect that Boko Haram is a northern problem which should be left to the northerners to solve. But this problem has not only advanced to the Federal Capital but is also creeping southwards with vigor. Even if not,is the North not part of Nigeria ? It was indeed a welcome development that the president decided to pay a visit to Yobe and Borno after the progressive governors visited Borno. His visit was the first he has made since 2009 when the problem began. Yes, I am aware of several examples of such insurgency problem that occurred in other parts of the world from which those who advise Mr President can draw useful lessons.

election, being a Yoruba man, the general temperature in that region was substantially brought down with his ascendancy to the Presidency. That high temperature, for similar reasons, has now shifted to another region!

* Ikimi ... Abacha faced difficulties

How Abacha chased IMF, World Bank out of Abuja, by Ikimi

The Sultan on Boko Haram

How to engage sect No option must be discounted in the search for peace and security.

As I make this response, the shocking news has arrived of the gruesome

suicide bomb attack in a Kano motor park claiming dozens of innocent lives and setting ablaze several luxurious buses preparing to ferry passengers down South. Newspapers carried reports that northerners in Awka, Onitsha and environs are now escaping in fear of reprisal attacks. It should be recalled that the convoy of the revered monarch, the Emir of Kano, was recently attacked and suffered unfortunate fatalities. The people’s confidence in the government

,

I recall the RUF, Revolution United Front, that unleashed terror in Sierra Leone during my time as Foreign Minister. Its leader FodaySankor took refuge with his faceless terrorists in the deep jungle of Sierra Leone. We approached the resolution of the menace by a method of the carrot and stick.

Eventually we persuaded Foday Sankor to come out from the forest and we brought him to Abuja. Negotiations became more effective. I believe the Foreign Ministry has good records.

The Sultan of Sokoto’s call for amnesty for Boko Haram should not be disregarded or taken lightly. The Sultan’s high standing in the country, particularly in northern Nigeria and in Islam, supports this view. He must be in custody of information that could be helpful in the direction of his suggestion. Security agencies have in their possession several individuals they have arrested over time as the sect members. Ample opportunity has been so presented to obtain useful briefing on the menace.

OBJ visited Borno State sometime back and had discussions with persons reported to be leaders of the sect. The press has published photographs of various individuals named as Boko Haram leaders. The immediate past governor of Borno State is well known to have had some long and sustained interactions with the sect during his tenure. I am therefore a bit concerned with the president’s unfortunate statement during his recent visit in Borno State to the effect that he was not prepared to engage “ghosts”. As it was possible to send high level contacts to the creeks in the Niger Delta to engage the militants there, I believe similar engagement with Boko Haram is possible and necessary.

moments, reflect and look at matters with hindsight. Sometimes they may beat their chest with a satisfying smile of satisfaction for their past actions, but it is not unusual for them to habor some regrets. It is a well known fact that General Ibrahim Babangida was one of the authors of Obasanjo’s 1999 candidacy and ascendancy to the Presidency. Only IBB can testify today whether or not his decision was the right one. It is also a fact that the poor

The highest amount received per barrel for crude oil during Abacha’s regime was $8 but our currency retained a strong value throughout the period

to handle this obviously escalating crisis is now badly shaken.

The kolanut, cattle and other usually flourishing trade between the South West, South East and the North has in recent times suffered a terrible set back.

These developments make it imperative for the government to urgently engage Boko Haram one way or the other.

What do you make of the statement by the former head of state, General Ibrahim Babangida, to the effect that Obasanjo’s 1999 presidency saved Nigeria from break - up, given the fact that he was the architect of the annulment of the 1993 presidential election which snowballed into a national crisis?

It is not unusual for leaders to sit down from time to time and in their quiet

,

handling of the events leading to the June 12, 1993 presidential election as well as its aftermath are issues that should engage IBB’s reflection for a long time to come. There are many things I dare say he should have done differently.

The reaction of South West Nigeria to those events in the aftermath of June 12, particularly their various political wings, including the very powerful NADECO, needed an appropriate response. Following divine intervention, IBB,, aided by a handful of others, seized the moment and chose a former military colleague from the South West.

Nigeria would not have broken up as the South West leaders know the history of “Biafra”, but Nigeria would have been in continuous political stress. Although General Obasanjo was not a South West choice, having lost his ward in the

But are you not scared that the country may still be heading towards a break up with what is happening today?

IBB and most of the core individuals who plotted and executed the coronation of OBJ lost control of the man almost as soon as he ascended the Presidency in1999. The PDP became more or less OBJ’s private property and he was responsible for initiating the aberration that the president was the leader of the party. The independence of the political party has, therefore, since been compromised. OBJ, having failed to secure a third term Presidency, and being the anointed head of the ruling party, he proceeded to interfere with the internal party democratic process for selecting his successor which led to the emergence of the late President Umaru Yar ‘Adua and eventually President Goodluck Jonathan. Needless to say, the outcome of all that is the unbearable heat pervading the nation today. All that might have taken a back burner if the government now in power was performing well. But that is clearly not the case. Consequently, we are now in a situation in which the agitation for change has become nationwide. The PDP has displayed a total lack of consistency in its affairs and seem to have no qualms in moving the goal post left, right and centre all the time when serious decisions are to be taken. The revelation by the governor of Niger State which he holds tenaciously to,that an agreement exists between the PDP governors and President Jonathan to end his Presidency in 2015 is a case in point. That seems to reinforce the northern claim to the next Presidency in the PDP. How would you compare the leadership under the late head of state, General SaniAbacha, and those that followed?

I am not an apostle of military governments but General Gowon, perhaps the longest serving military ruler, is very well regarded in the country today. One can safely say that the regime of military rulers pervaded Africa in the 70s 80s and early 90s. Nigeria had its fair share. Military rule is no longer elegant or fashionable and that may be one good reason Nigeria is still enjoying civil government no matter its condition. The entry of General Sani Abacha immediately after June 12 and the shaky regime of Chief Shonekan was bound to face unprecedented difficulties.

While I am not discussing the Abacha regime in this response, I must state that the man was a courageous leader who addressed the nation’s problems astutely. Unfortunately the man is not around now like some others to speak for himself. There are many who have paraded themselves as democrats and held juicy positions over the past 14 years of PDP rule but were very much inside the engine room of Abacha administration.

The highest amount received per barrel for crude oil during Abacha’s regime was $8 but our currency retained a strong value throughout the period. A lot of projects were executed around the country.

To be concluded next week

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 31, 2013, PAGE 39

We don’t feel the impact of SURE-P, Labour tells FG *‘Further fuel subsidy removal is uncalled for’ THE pronouncement by President Goodluck Jonathan on a new strategy by the Federal Government to remove fuel subsidy has sparked another round of controversy.

While some stakeholders say the money allocated for fuel subsidy in the budget must be channelled into agriculture, housing and other sectors to reposition the economy for rapid growth and development, others warn government against the removal. The Western Zonal Chairman, National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, speaks on the need for government to avoid any issue that may further worsen the security situation in the country, which, according to him, any attempt to remove the remaining subsidy on petrol portends.

T

HE president recently declared that government will not continue to waste resources meant for the Nigerian people to pay fuel subsidy, which, government says, benefits the affluent and the middle class more than the masses. What is your position?

To start with, government should not be talking about fuel subsidy now, when the economy is dwindling due to perennial security crisis and increasing rate of poverty in the country. The issue of fuel subsidy now is not encouraging, because it can further provoke the people.

Government should focus on economic transformation in the areas of providing security to stop incessant killings of innocent citizens, creation of jobs to tackle the alarming rate of unemployment in the country, especially among the youths, and infrastructural development. This is what Nigerians want to hear.

Tokunbo Korodo Government should avoid anything that will pave the way for a strike action because that may even worsen the security situation in the country.

Have you also considered the explanation from government that subsidy money goes into the hands of few individuals to the detriment of the masses that you are trying to protect?

Well, the leakages in the system in terms of corruption, misappropriation of public funds and subsidy money going into the hands of few influential individuals in the country must be blamed on the inefficiency on the part of government to check the excesses in the economy. So, government should not blame its inefficiency on the people. For instance, government has been advocating the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) which, they said, is designed to enhance immediate socio-economic status of our economy with resources realised from the partial removal of subsidy in January 2012, yet, we cannot feel the impact. We could recall that by January 1, 2012, government took everyone by surprise, when they removed the subsidy without due consultation with the people and representatives of labour unions.

They increased the pump price of

,

BY UDEME CLEMENT

fuel from N65 per litre to N141 but the week-long mass protests compelled government to shift ground by reducing the price to N97 per litre, which is still too high for some people to purchase.

Government should be able to tell the people how they utilised the money that was removed from the subsidy to improve the economy for better productivity. What I mean here is the partial removal of the subsidy money.

Millions of Nigerians remain unemployed. We are still witnessing infrastructure decay and epileptic supply of electricity.

Even few companies that are absorbing the work force now are using casual workers. We have a situation in this country where many Nigerians are employed as casual workers without any benefit. Also, our roads are so terrible. The state of the roads is posing a serious challenge to distribution of petroleum products across the country. For example, many of our members have lost their lives in fatal accidents due to bad roads.

Instead of subsidy removal to further impoverish the people, government should turn attention to power failure, which has also become a major issue in the country. The lingering power crisis is not good for a developing economy like Nigeria . We may not achieve tangible economic growth and development with erratic power supply that is almost crippling every sector of the economy. Even the operators of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country need constant electricity to remain in business. Now, government is talking about Vision 20:2020, when the power sector is not generating sufficient capacity to meet the demand of electricity consumers in the industrial sector and for domestic use. For government to achieve its Vision, it must tackle power failure pragmatically and holistically

Government is talking about Vision 20:2020, when the power sector is not generating sufficient capacity to meet the demand of electricity consumers in the industrial sector and for domestic use

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within a stipulated period. The security situation must also be given attention, if we must move forward.

The report on fuel subsidy scam revealed that over $6bn was looted from subsidy funds in the past two years. Why is government not proactive about prosecuting individuals behind this fraud?

Well, they say the matter is in court already but let us see what will be the outcome. We have similar cases of people defrauding government and, at the end, nothing tangible came out of it. I hope the subsidy case will not go the same way. We are watching to see what will be the outcome.

At present, the official pump price of fuel remains N97 per litre. Why are some service outlets selling at N100 and above?

The reality is that our economy is not stable. As such, the prices of

goods and services are not also stable. For instance, the pump price is N97 per litre, but the scarcity in the system makes if difficult for people to get the product at uniform price. Aside that, you know Nigerians with their attitude. When a product is scarce in the market, it must be made to attract increase in price.

This is exactly what is happening.

This is the more reason we do not want to hear anything about subsidy removal now. This is because such a pronouncement can even trigger artificial scarcity and panic buying. Some people immediately they hear fuel subsidy removal can begin to store petrol in their houses.

Beyond that, some of the people selling above the official pump price may also be getting their product through the black market rate. For instance, if some are buying between N97 and N100 per litre, what do you expect them to do? In business, people must make profit at least to improve their margin in order to stay afloat. So, you cannot also blame.

What we are saying is that government should create an enabling environment for price stability and availability of product at all times as well as putting measures in place to find lasting solution to insecurity in the country, instead of subsidy removal.

Do you think that the Department of Petroleum Resource (DPR) is doing enough to check the problem of underdispensing of product by the service outlets?

The DPR is doing its best at the moment, but the approach of sealing the filling stations across the country is not the solution to the problem. Rather, it may further aggravate the situation and increase the rate of scarcity in the system. This implies that the level of scarcity may increase and people can resort to patronising Jerry-can black marketers.

Sapele revels in centenary celebrations of Nigeria’s oldest club *Mark, Uduaghan, others to grace event celebrating. ‘’The club is the oldest in the country. It was founded around 1905 and 1906, but the official record we have says it was officially launched in 1913. The

P

ERHAPS when colonial expatriates were setting up the European Club Sapele, in 1913, primarily for recreation, they didn’t know that a historical monument was also being established.

But 100 years down the line, what started as a centre for expatriate workers of the then multinational companies and colonial administrative officers has become a historical legacy.

Though originally known as The European Club Sapele, the end of colonialism and birth of Nigeria’s independence was responsible for its present name, Sapele Athletic Club ,SAC. Ever since, the club has literally become a melting pot for all manners of professionals, which cut across race and colour.

It is in recognition of the historical essence of SAC that its

Chief Faith Gbagi members have concluded plans to celebrate its centenary.

The one-week event, tagged: Age is Beautiful, is expected to attract top government functionaries, captains of industry and other stakeholders.

Speaking to Sunday Vanguard on plans ahead of the celebrations, the Chairman, Anniversary Committee, Chief Faith Gbagi, noted that being the first club in the country, its 100year anniversary was worth

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BY CHARLES KUMOLU

100 years down the line, what started as a centre for expatriate workers of the then multinational companies and colonial administrative officers has become a historical legacy

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club came into existence before the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914. It was known as the Sapilo Golf Club. It was later christened

The European Club, because it was mainly an expatriate affair then. But, on June 28, 1919 after the First World War, another golf tournament was played there,’’ he noted.

In addition, Gbagi said, ‘’The activities lined up are enormous.

It is starting on November 3, 2013. We are going to have interdenominational service and also prayers for Muslims. We will also have symposium and anniversary lectures to be deliverd by someone of great repute. ‘’ Accordingly, the club chairman said, ‘’we will also launch a book by our committee on our history and documentary. We will have football and golf tournaments in addition to other sporting activities. We have taken the opportunity of the centenary to find ways of facelifting the structures in the club. The facilities that the white people left are aged, we actually started admitting people after independence.’’

He however disclosed that the highpoint of the event is a public lecture and dinner, adding that the Senate President, David Mark, is among those expected. ‘’The highpoint of the celebration is going to be the public lecture and dinner. We are thinking that the golf tournament will hold for two days, while the ceremony will be closed with a gala night, ‘’ Gbagi said. ‘’We are making arrangements to get the Senate President, Sen David Mark, who is a golfer, to come and declare the golf tournament open.

The tournament is going to involve professionals and armatures. We are using the opportunity to develop most of the facilities in the club. Clubs cannot start going begging, but we are using the opportunity to invite people to partner with us. We are talking to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan and also made a presentation to our grand patron, the Orodje of Okpe. So, a lot of companies will be involved.’’

PAGE 40 — SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013

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sameyoboka@yahoo.com

EASTER: Clerics sue for peace

By SAM EYOBOKA, WOLE MOSADOMI, CALEB ANYANSINA & OLAYINKA LATONA

C

HRISTIAN lead ers across Niger ia have urged Christians and non-Christians in the country to reflect on social injustice this Easter, especially persons killed or displaced by sectarian violence in parts of the country, those living in poverty on our streets or struggling with one disability or the other.

The leaders including the National President of CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, Prelate,

Methodist Church Nigeria, Most Rev. Sunday Ola Makinde, Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martin, his Anglican counterpart, Most Rev. Ephraim Adebola Ademowo, have all admonish-ed Nigerians to imbibe the virtues of love and peace with all men.

Pastor Oritsejafor, in a statement in Abuja urged Christian faithful to use the Easter celebration “to reflect on their lives and make the most of the resurrection of the Jesus Christ”.

A statement signed by his Media Assistant, Kenny Ashaka, urged Nigerians, saying; “remembering how He died for our sin is a call to rededicate ourselves to the reason why he died for us”.

He urged all Christians in Nigeria to be calm and to watch and pray for God’s intercession in the face of all challenges.

In his own message, Makinde said the sacrifice exhibited by Jesus Christ was to lessen the burden and suffering of the poor by bringing hope to the hopeless.

"But today, the hopelessness of the hopeless is deepening and the gap between the rich and the poor is widening more-and-more. Suffice to say that Jesus Christ in spite of his own pain and anguish while on the cross heard the cry of the penitent thief that hung by his side when the latter cried out for forgiveness, but our leaders today are not moved by the cries, agony and grief of the hurting masses whom they claim to be serving.

"That is why thousands continue to die on bad roads and preventable diseases because of lack of drugs in our hospitals, parents and their wards die of bad water and poverty because of lack of good food.

"No doubting the fact that if we love ourselves the way Jesus Christ did which was the fundamental reason why he laid down his life to save us from perishing; we would not be embezzling and mismanaging our collective resources which were given for us

by God to make life meaningful and abundant for all.

"It is pertinent to ask if we do care for our neighbours as ourselves. How does one explain religious intolerance in some parts of the country which is taking an alarming dimension and poses a

*ORITSEJAFOR

*MAKINDE

*MARTIN

dangerous threat to our peaceful co-existence as a people if it continues unabated. I still believe that Mr. President should not grant amnesty by proxy. Those who are killing, maiming, and destroying properties should show their faces and tell the nation their problems, dialogue, and drop their weapons before amnesty is contemplated," he stated.

The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos described Easter as the focal point of the Christian faith, adding that it is the fulfillment of prophecies made in the Old Testament and the promises Jesus made.

"The recent presidential pardon granted some Nigerians who were indicted for one form of offence or the other has created some passionate argument," the

past few weeks, particularly the spate of insecurity in the land, leaves much to be desired. "We are all witnesses to the renew surge of violence being perpetuated by those who claim to be members of the Boko Haram sect against some of our brothers and sisters, particularly in the northern part of the country.

"Every day we wake up in fear and trepidation, wondering whose turn it would be to be blown into bits by the messengers of death who have come to steal, kill and destroy. How long are we going to continue to endure this near state of anarchy whereby human life has come to mean little? Enough is enough.

"We cannot continue to fold our hands and recoil in the comfort of our air-conditioned offices and homes and pretend that all is

He also called the attention to the army of unemployed youth roaming the streets across the country, a situation he noted contribute to the crime wave in our society.

According to him, “unemployment is a keg of gunpowder that can send this country in the direction that we never imagine. It requires urgent and immediate attention. To address the problem, it is important for the government to have a second look at our educational programme. Instead of the prevalent white collar jobs that our graduates are prepared for, a second look should be given to inculcating vocational training into our school curriculum, and this should start from secondary school education.”

Presiding Bishop of TREM, Dr. Mike Okonkwo called on Nigerians to remain hopeful and grateful to God because the mes-

Every day we wake up in fear and trepidation, wondering whose turn it would be to be blown into bits by the messengers of death who have come to steal, kill and destroy. How long are we going to continue to endure this? archbishop said, "while it is not out of place for the President to exercise his prerogative of mercy as entrenched in the nation’s constitution, it is only right that he should be guided by some moral dictates in deciding those who are truly deserving of such pardon.

"The legal propriety is not enough, the government need to also consider the moral implication of its decision to exercise the prerogative. We hope that government will be more careful and principled in granting pardon," he said.

To the electoral body, Martin said the journey to the 2015 election has already commenced with our politicians already jostling for attention, aligning and re-aligning. This is the hall mark of democracy.

He appealed to INEC to be proactive and alive to its activities by ensuring that all possible legal/constitutional impediments to the conduct of a free and fair election are resolved in the shortest possible time.

According to him, events of the

well. As we commend the security operation that led to the discovery of the lethal bomb-making materials and ammunition in Lagos, we appeal to all our people to be vigilant and pay attention to people events and activities around them. Landlords should pay attention to those they hire out their properties and everyone should be security conscious," he added.

In a similar vein, the Spiritual Father of Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church, Worldwide Ayo Ni O, Most Rev. Samuel Abidoye called on the Federal Government to be more responsive to the security of the country and take a decisive step over the constant loss of lives and property of innocent Nigerians through the Boko Haram insurgencies especially in the northern part of the country.

In his Easter message, Abidoye noted that where over 3,000 lives have been lost to various insurgencies by the Boko Haram sect especially in the North call for more attention of government.

sage of Easter is all about ‘Hope to humanity’.

"I specially call on every Nigerian to continually pray for the peace of our nation because no meaningful development can take place in an atmosphere of violence and insecurity. We must all join hands together as stakeholders to ensure that we dwell together as one people in spite of our political, tribal and religious differences.

"To the nation, let me assure everyone that in spite of the seemingly difficult challenges that

stares us in the face as a nation, we must hold on, because God will turn it around for our own good. Nigeria will again take her place in the committee of Nations. Let us remain hopeful as the change we have always dreamt of is becoming a reality," he assured.

No date has been fixed for Obadare's burial

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HE family of the world renowned televangelist of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) worldwide and founder of the World Soul Winning Evangelistic Ministry (WOSEM), Apostle Timothy Obadare who died on March 21, 2013, said no date has been fixed for his burial.

However, a memorial fund raising committee had been set up to enable people and organisations that want to contribute to the burial of Obadare do so.

Addressing newsmen in Akure, the first son of the deceased, Dr. Paul Obadare denied that a particular date has been fixed for the burial of their father, noting that the family and the church would meet to decide on the date of the burial as well as the place where Obadare would be laid to rest.

Dr. Obadare said: “As for the burial arrangements, please be calm. When all details are finalised, we will pass the information. As you know, Apostle Obadare was an international figure, thus, the

preparation will be all inclusive. Please be patient”.

He equally said that their father was committed to the unity of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) contrary to speculations in some quarters.

Speaking on behalf of the family, Dr. Obadare said “there was the need for the family to let the whole world know that Obadare was committed to the unity of the church while he was alive.”

According to him “our family was ready to support and cooperate with any move aimed at bringing back unity into the CAC. “We use this medium to call for the unity of CAC worldwide in the tradition of our motto, one fold, one shepherd.

Let this medium start the movement of solidarity to the oneness of this great mission.

“This is what our father lived and worked for, he has always been in the fore front of the moves to ensure unity in the CAC, he wrote letters to the authorities on the need to bring the church under one authority”.

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013, PAGE 41

BRIEFLY...

Adeboye intercedes for pregnant women THE GOD WHO DOES NOT EXIST

A

T university, I was a student of Philoso phy. You had to be, if you studied Political Science. I therefore find it highly amusing that, in a discussion about the existence of God, Douglas Anele tries to dazzle me by dropping the names of philosophers like David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and Bertrand Russell. But I need no such shenanigans in order to confound Douglas’ atheism. I will only present here a token of my relationship with the God Douglas foolishly says is non-existent.

I feel very sorry for people like Douglas Anele who maintain God does not exist

“Non-existent” meeting I was standing in the parking lot of the building where I lived in Lagos, talking to Bimbo Dada, now Director of Library, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, when a man walked through the gate and came to talk to me. He said he worked for an oil-company but had recently been posted out of town. There was a lunch-hour fellowship meeting every week in his house and he was at a loss what to do about it now he was leaving. So he had been asking the God Douglas says does not exist for guidance.

On that particular day, the “non-existent” God told him to stop praying.

He told him to go out of the house and walk down the road. When he got to our gate, the “non-existent” God told him to go in. Then he said to him: “You are to hand over the lunch-hour fellowship to that man talking to the lady over there.” So the man said to me: “The Lord says I should hand over the lunch-hour fellowship meeting in my house to you.” After getting the confirmation I required from the God “who does not exist,” I agreed to take over the fellowship. That was how I inherited a 20-man lunch-hour fellowship in 1994.

Soon, I rented a flat in Victoria Island for the fellowship from Chief Olisa Metuh, now PDP National Publicity Secretary. Two years later, the God “ who does not exist” told me he has given me an entire building. I jumped to the conclusion he had given me Olisa Metuh’s building. As a Christian then schooled naively in the sacrificial system, I concluded God would sacrifice the landlord’s interests for my sake.

I got a prayer group to surround the building and quickly claimed it in the name of Jesus, according to the principles of Joshua: wherever the soles of my feet tread, I take possession.

(Joshua 1:3). I don’t know if someone quickly alerted Olisa Metuh he was in danger of losing his building to a determined prayer-warrior. Or perhaps he received a warning about me in a vision or a dream. But shortly after I embarked on these ungodly prayersessions, the landlord gave me summary quit notice and I had to move out.

Hand of God

When I started looking for alternative accommodation, my estate agents, Diya Fatimilehin, first took me to a big dilapidated building in the same Victoria Island. I did not like it and rejected it out of hand. But later that evening, the “non-existent” God told me the building I despised was the one he had given me. Therefore, I went back the next day to take a second look.

I discovered my “Promised Land” was formerly occupied by the Palestinian Embassy and, significantly, it has quite a number of fruit trees.

I

moved into the building in 1997 and spent a small fortune reno vating it, confident it belonged to me. In 1999, at the expiration of my lease, the landlady, Eniola Vanderpuye, offered to sell the building to me through her lawyers, Abiola Morgan & Associates; even though I never asked to buy it. I later discovered she had never even seen it before. It had been willed to her by her late father. But she lives in Chicago with her American husband and has no desire to return to Nigeria.

The realtor she hired to value the building turned out to be Pastor Seinde Adegbonmire of RCCG, a good friend of mine. He asked me how much I could afford. We finally agreed on a price convenient to both the landlady and me. Moreover, I was allowed to pay unconventionally; in instalments over four years. Nevertheless, after four years, I was still unable to complete the payment for the building.

God’s bailout One day, Mrs. Nike Shonibare, a woman I had never met before came to see me. She was then Head of Commercial and Community Banking at MBC International Bank. She told me her bank would like to encourage me to buy a new car. I would deposit onethird of the cost in their bank and they would finance the rest. She told me to go to Coscharis Nigeria Limited to choose any car I liked.

I

went there and chose a Land Rover Freelander. But while the deal was still being negotiated by my lawyer, Pastor Tokun Pedro of RCCG, the “non-existent” God told me he did not send Mrs. Shonibare so I could buy a car. He told me he sent her so I could secure a loan to pay off my outstanding debt to Eniola Vanderpuye.

Accordingly, I borrowed N10 million from MBCI (now First Bank) to pay off my former landlady. I serviced the debt and brought it down to N5 mil-

lion. But then I fell on hard times and it grew back to N10 million.

Then the “non-existent” God appeared to me in a dream and promised to send me money “from Canada.” Within eight days, I received miraculously a number of unsolicited gifts totalling N11 million. One friend I had not seen for years, walked into my office and said: “The Lord says I should give this to you.”

He placed a cheque on my table face-down.

When I turned it over, it was for N6,300,000.

I asked for a meeting with MBCI and insisted they should knock N2.5 million off my debt since I was prepared to clear it outright. They agreed to knock off N2.1 million.

Thus, I completed the payment for the building, while still leaving me with a generous balance of nearly N3 million.

Foolish atheists In effect, the “non-existent” God gave me a lunch-hour fellowship.

He then gave me a big building at 12 Babatunde Jose Street, Victoria Island, a prime location in Lagos, in which to have the fellowship. He then arranged a loan for me to finance the payment for the building. Then, he arranged for gifts to enable me clear my debts. Today, barely nine years later, the value of the building given to me by the God who is “nonexistent” is now over 15 times the purchase price.

You can now see why I feel very sorry for people like Douglas Anele.

They use Philosophy to negate the existence of God. People like Douglas are victims of their own conceit. Since they don’t know God, they conclude he does not exist instead of humbling themselves in prayer and asking God to reveal himself to them.

Jesus says: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.

Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight.” (Matthew 11:2526).

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S part of the desire to have 171,000 children within the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) for his 71st birthday, the General Overseer of the church plans to hold a special prayer session for pregnant women and those waiting for the fruit of the womb; reports OLAYINKA LATONA. Speaking at a media briefing, Pastor Goke Aniyeloye, an assistant pastor-in-charge of Social Responsibility, said the special prayer session would be an opportunity for God to sustain His blessings for the country.

Pastor Aniyeloye said the event is scheduled for Sunday, April 7 at the national headquarters of RCCG in Ebute Metta, Lagos. Time: 8:00 a.m.

According to him, “the programme is a manifestation of God’s great vision for the country.

One of the major challenges in marriage today is lack of fruitfulness which is also called bareness.

"In Africa, we place high premium on marriage and procreation, and we need God-fearing offsprings to succeed us, people we can leave our inheritance to," he added.

Continuing, he said: “Medical reports have written certain off, but there is nothing too difficult for God to do and through prayers every reproach will be taken away and through this programme God will open every barren womb.”

Aniyeloye noted that prayers should be included in ante-natal cares for safe delivery of pregnant women.

Recalling barren women whose prayers were heard in the Bible, the man of God said such cases are about to be replicated during the programme.

“Our pregnant women should deliver safely like the Hebrew women of old, who gave birth before the attendants or midwives came. Waiting mothers also have to be prayed for, so that God will open their wombs. No man or woman is permitted to be barren," he noted.

The cleric said Nigeria would certainly experience a turnaround in her fortunes, stressing that prayer was the only means of attaining a breakthrough.

NOSCEF faults Nasarawa gov over creation of emirates in Christian areas

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By SAM EYOBOKA

HE Christian Elders Forum of Northern States, NOSCEF, has reacted to recent creation of chiefdoms in Nasarawa State, saying that injustice cries to high heaven as the state governor, Alhaji Umaru Tanko Al-Makura has created emirates in predominantly Christian areas.

Chairman, Northern States Christian Elders' Forum (NOSCEF), Evang. Matthew Owojaiye in a statement said Christian communities like Akwanga, Nukun and Ngha by the new creation are now emirates.

“Since only Muslims can be made emirs, how does the governor intend to subjugate Christians in their own land?” Owojaiye asked, calling on the Federal Government to call the governor to order in what he described as “this provocation.”

He also used the occasion to commiserate with the Akwa Ibom State government and the people of South South in general for the boat mishap that led to the loss of about 168 lives. “May the Almighty God comfort and provide for the families,” he prayed, while also expressing “our outrage over the bombing in Kano and other parts of the North. We know the Kano State governor is working hard on security. Some people are bent on dragging Nigeria into a civil war.

“We hereby send our condolence to our Igbo brethren who are mostly affected. The Igbos have suffered with the Northern Christians in our afflictions. Nothing can separate the Northern Christians from their Igbo brethren. May God comfort and provide for the bereaved families,” Owojaiye stated.

PAGE 42—SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 31, 2013

BANK-BRANDS: Brand building & re-branding systems. Functionally, they impact on the brands operative within their related industries/ market segment, fundamentally.

So, while brands in travel and tour will be very careful at structuring brand messages that must of essence help them build profitable customer base, Bank-Brands can only be generous to drive brand management for customer base growth. The degree of competitiveness varies along the line of industry peculiarities and differences.

For the purpose of this paper, we shall concern ourselves with the commercial banks in our local market, as we consider brand building, management and re-branding, in the banking industr y.

Considering BUSINESS SYSTEM as fundamentals of brand building and management for competitive advantage, in direct relation to Bank-Brands, it is instructive to play up some of those component parts of brand management, especially brand-target market relationship management.

As noted earlier, it is not characteristic of banks’ business system to be truly competitive for competitive marketing advantage in this market. We also did state that bank brands have assumed a larger-than-life image because their essence and offer as businesses and brands are made essential and mandatory for those at the market place.

Consequently, they do not, as a matter of fact, take deliberate step towards customer relationship management.

Evidently lacking among the banks is innovativeness, strategic marketing

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M

OST times and i n a d v e r t e n t l y, people tend to be distant from the fact that banks are brands in a defined market, much as the individual brands in the alcoholic beverage market, for instance, as in other markets. As brands, banks are challenged in every respect, to generate, grow and sustain a positive image for competitive advantages. This is an indirect consequence of the larger-than-life image of bank brands in underdeveloped and poorly developing economies.

In Nigeria, for instance, banks posture as “the source of money” not as a statement of fact, but as a derivation from institutional role, occasioned by statutory backing based on traditional pattern. Just like we now see being rejuvenated in the insurance industry, those at the bottom of the pyramid are compelled to use the banks. Research studies have shown that the banks do not have any attraction for those in the low income bracket (in under-developed economies such as ours). So, because bank-brands are rather compelled, as of essence, over 85% of their customers are forced to depend on them for survival – instead of the banks depending on their customers for market survival.

That brings us to the issue of business systems.

From the perspective of brands management, fundamentally, business system is a procedure, process, method or cause by which certain operation is conducted for specific result.

In relating the above definition to structured business, a system is an aggregate of the essentials or basic elements imperative for any given business to operate successfully. A business system will consider elements such as attributes, design, people, operation theory/ philosophy, ethical and/or professional standard, quality control, and financial policy, etc. business systems are based on structural and procedural framework within which a given business runs.

As of nature, they differ from industry to industry.

If we place these elements of a business system within the context of a product or service development and offer, they clearly capture those properties underlying market and marketing – concept and practice. Suffice, therefore, that business system, for brands, is instrumental in brand building and brand development/management.

So, what advertising and marketing communication strategists call brand-world peculiarities are otherwise, business systems defined by industry related peculiarities.

These peculiarities are the distinguishing factors among

they offer are essential and compelling for their customers, consequent upon which is the size of patronage and customer base. In some of these banks, they call their sales activities “deposit base drive marketing”, when in actual fact, they are trying to be relevant as brand managers.

B r a n d s / c u s t o m e r relationship is built on contact.

Ultimately, the relationship between a brand and its target market is a direct consequence of the “initial contact”. So, in a truly competitive market, therefore, brands invest time and resources to prepare for this initial contact for a profitable after-effect.

Generally, the contacts

In a truly competitive market, therefore, brands invest time and resources to prepare for this initial contact for a profitable after-effect.

communication and compelling brand management thrust.

In addition to the statutory support upon which their operation and survival rest, bank-brands’ predominant offer is commission-based service delivery. Sometime in the early 1990s, some of them attempted what they saw as product development in form of money transfer, but in real sense, those offers were mere repackaging of commissionbased offer, with an infusion of marginal technological advancement. The services

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opportunities open to brands include (but not limited to) product package, logo, shelf presence, price, promise, positioning, quality of representative persons (sales team, for example) and shelf presence (place in market). A purposeful consideration of all of these elements forces the engagement of experts in brands management, marketing and marketing communication, from conception through every point of the Product Life Cycle.

Marketing and brands management is a deliberate

and consistent investment for brand’s success.

Of the contact opportunities open to a brand as listed above, the only one the bankbrands concern themselves with in this market is identity building - name and logo development and application.

In their ignorance, most of these bank-brands pride themselves in spend hundreds of millions creating their brand logo. The craze among them at the introduction of bank mergers, was commissioning logo developers from South-Africa.

The annoying thing is that those expensive logos are actually empty in brandspecific concept. Those huge investment in logo generation, were without concern for the task of marketing and customer connect and relationship building, and the brand’s over-all competitive advantage.

The recent re-branding of DIAMOND BANK Plc. has thrown up a lot of reaction from members of the public, drawn concern from professional brand managers and stirred some level of confusion from a cross-section of its customers.

An aggregation of the various reactions establishes the question WHY? 75% of respondents to our research on this development do not know what the change of logo and total image of the bank mean. Of this figure, one out every three respondent is gainfully employed. The study covered Lagos Island/Ikoyi/ Victoria Island, Ikeja, Surulere and Ikorodu. The study was designed to help us track the general public’s reaction to the new image of Diamond Bank Plc., and how the new image impact on their perception of the bank.

From the perspective of a marketing communication/ brand management

practitioner, what happened to Diamond Bank brand is REBRANDING. Therefrom, one tends to not hurry into judgment. At some point in the life of every brand, there comes a need for review and over-haul. Depending on the extent of brand personality review, a given brand could undergo REBRANDING! It seems DIAMOMOND BANK went through the process of re-branding: new logo design, new brand icon, new personality, and new image and by implication, new positioning. In reaction, the market is broadly divided in reaction to the new Diamond Bank, along the following question lines: 1. Why did the brand owners tamper with the brand at-all?

2. What could be the rationale for this change 3. Is the new image a true representation of the natural diamond 4. What does the Diamond Bank brand stand for, as it is now?

Our concern here is not as much as it relates to the controversy as much as the lear ning. We know our readers will like to know more about this change, especially from the owners of the brand, as such will open new ideas for the future, good or bad. So, we at MC&A DIGEST have written to the relevant authority on the client’s side for an interview session. We shall publish the conversation on this page, if and when it happens, for the interest of the brand and our readers including students and advertising practitioners. But until that happens, we like the owners and managers of Diamond Bank brand to note the following as immediate fall-out of their re-branding exercise: 1. The old Diamond Bank logo is stronger and more impressive than the new.

2. The old image elicited belief, trust and friendliness from the target audience/ customer, the new one does not 3. The old image built seriousness, sincerity, strength of personality and focus around the brand, the new one took all that away from the brand.

Above all, the ordinary man and woman on the street knows that the diamond in its natural form is colorless, reflective of the color of light that falls on it; diamond does not come in the colors of the new Diamond Bank. But we at MC&A DIGEST knows those behind this change should have a rationale for all that happened to the Diamond Bank brand, and we hope to get that enlightenment through to our readers after meeting with the communication experts and the brand’s owners/managers.

SUNDAY

Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013, PAGE 43

Oil blocs: Why Jonathan must step on toes – Ayemi-Botu, N-Delta monarch PARAMOUNT ruler of Siembiri Kingdom in Delta State, Pere Charles AyemiBotu, aka Lion of the Niger, is one-time national chairman of the Traditional Rulers of Oil Mineral Producing Communities of Nigeria, TROMPCON. He had once called on President Goodluck Jonathan to review the allocation of oil blocs in the country. In this interview, he reiterates why Jonathan must urgently heed the call, saying Niger-Deltans and, indeed, Nigerians, would not forgive him if he failed to act decisively. He also argues that northern leaders are not doing enough to stamp out Boko Haram and challenges former heads of state from the North and leaders to end the insurgency by the sect.

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VER the years, you have championed the call for the revocation of oil blocs by the Federal Government on the grounds that the allocation is lopsided.

It was a contentious matter recently in the National Assembly.

What do you say?

Under the aegis of the Traditional Rulers of Oil Mineral Producing States of Niger-Delta, TROMPCON, and one-time national executive chairman, we had a lot of problems coming from oil production in these areas and we noticed that in spite of all the problems, we were able to contain the percentage of oil being produced. However, it was discovered that for all the oil that is being produced, a section of the country is benefiting most, especially as oil now seems to be blood money.

They do the manipulation mostly at the political level where everybody wants to become a head of state or president because when you are there, you control the economy.

Therefore, from the past years, we found out that North has ruled for close to 40 years and, during the period, the heads of state or presidents that came had the prerogative to issue out oil blocs and they were not dispassionate there was disequilibrium and they were giving them to their own kith and kin. We noticed that an oil bloc owner is having not less than N4 billion monthly and that money goes to a private purse and, in Nigeria, we have what is known as federal character.

Whatever that is done, we do it with equity, the issue of equity, fairness and justice is not applied in terms of the allocation of oil blocs because most of the leaders came from

the North and it was given to them.

I can remember March 23, last year, when Vanguard interviewed me, I reminded President Goodluck Jonathan that the allocation of oil blocs is the prerogative of the president or head of state, and so he had to look into it unemotionally and ensure that the lopsidedness in the allocation that had bedeviled the oil industry is corrected.

Nevertheless, since the time I made the call, nothing has been done, and whenever there is the issue of 13 percent derivation or PIB, as we saw now, it is the North that will come and cry wolf, whereas they are the people who have been benefiting. Unfortunately, the principle of derivation has to do with a percentage going to where the oil comes from and I am saying, with every sense of reasoning, that President Jonathan should not spare a moment to address the anomaly as regards the allocation of oil blocs. That is, 83 percent of oil blocs are owned by northerners, their names should be published and he should revoke them and ensure that, as we have six geopolitical zones, 50 per cent should come to the Southsouth based on derivative.

The rest has to be distributed to the other five geo-political zones. It is only then we will know that federalism is being truly practised in our federal system. I have said it often

His Royal Majesty, Charles Ayemi-Botu, Pere of Seimbiri kingdom in Delta State. and sundry have seen it that his predecessors allocated these oil blocs to their own kindred irrespective of the fact we are operating a federal character system and that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. If they have done what is seen to be foul, why must he not correct it if we want Nigeria to remain as one entity? In the time of cocoa, groundnut and all that, the South- south was not benefiting; some sections owned it all, the North and West used it to develop their areas and nobody complained. Now, it is the time of petrol- dollar, and we have acid rain, ecological problems and we, in

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By EMMA AMAIZE

Nigeria should realize that all the problems we are having today is because of oil and blood money; whether it is Boko Haram, whether it is from the Niger-Delta, it is all about oil

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times, President Jonathan should be courageous - he should step on toes, he should not be seen as being unable to redress what his predecessors - Babangida, Abacha, Abdulsalami , Obasanjo, Yar ’Aduahad done w r o n g . Posterity and the people of Niger-Delta will not forgive President Jonathan if he does not take up this matter with all the seriousness it deserves to ensure revocation and re-allocation of oil blocs.

You said he should step on toes. Do you not think the toes may consume him?

No. It is an anomaly and all

turn, do not have a commensurate amount realized from all the sufferings and the money is going to those who do not bear the hazards. How can you say it is fair and, mark you, the North that is crying to r ule this country, by crook or hook, it is all because of oil and the oil economy is lopsided because, when they came as presidents, they gave to their people.

Therefore, it has become a vicious circle, but once what is equitable and fair is done, nobody will see oil blocs as the reason to battle to become president. That is why Jonathan should step on toes.

Nigeria should realize that all the problems we are having today is because of oil and blood money; whether it is Boko Haram, whether it is from the Niger-Delta, it is all about oil. As Jonathan is doing everything possible in the power sector to see that there is uninterrupted power supply, he must go the extra mile to redress the imbalance.

Take for example, the Nigeria Petroleum Development Fund is in the North, like we have Petroleum Training Institute in Effurun, Delta State, the one for the senior cadre is in the North, how are you carrying all these institutions to a place that does not produce oil? Are we now going to create human capital development for a people who do not have oil? You are clearly asking them to come and lord it over us? A northerner was a petroleum minister for almost three or four consecutive times and, today, he is an oil bloc owner and he does not know the adverse effect of exploration and exploitation on the people from where this oil is taken. However, he is taking away all these billions and he is living in affluence and opulence in far-away Austria.

The president refused to grant Boko Haram members amnesty on the grounds that they are ghosts, but the northerners have strongly challenged his stand. What is your take?

Iit is an irony of fate that the governor of Borno State; Dr. Junaid Mohammed and all these other people are making such comments. Let us call a spade a spade. While I condemn the call by the Sultan, he is my personal friend, for saying that we should grant amnesty to Boko Haram, it is because what he said sounded very disheartening. Boko Haram is not ready for peace, these are

people who kill school children, bomb school buildings while children are in class, bomb churches, bomb mosques and they say they do not want western education .

Moreover, just recently, the leader of Boko Haram, Abu Shekerau, not up 72 hours after a faction called for dialogue and amnesty, came out to say that they never asked for dialogue or amnesty; that they did not even ask for dialogue and it is a fight to the finish. Now, three days later, his eminence came out to say that government should grant Boko Haram amnesty. I know the Sultan would not have made such a call, many people could have mounted pressure on him, but it sounds like a story told by an idiot, full of sound and fury. Unlike the struggle of the Niger-Delta youths that had focus, that of Boko Haram is purposeless.

We have come to know Boko Haram as a faceless group with link to Al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, which abhor western education.

Their agitation has no moral basis and should not be compared to the Niger-Delta struggle in which the youths took up arms for equity in the distribution of wealth from oil explored in their domain. The focused struggle by the youths of N-Delta affected oil production and government, having noted the point of their agitation, opted to grant them amnesty. The reason was very succinct but that of Boko Haram is vague and they are faceless. You can see the Boko Haram has continued their bombings and killing more people in Kano. What kind of group is that and these are the people that they are saying amnesty should be granted to.

Can you really say it is a faceless group when you just mentioned its leader who came out to reject amnesty?

Where did you see him, on the pages of newspapers, on the television or on the streets ? Do you know him as you know Tompolo and others? It is what we read in the newspapers or told the international media, which the Nigerian media quote. Let me ask the Sultan, who has he identified as members and sponsors of Boko Haram that he wants Federal Government to grant amnesty? If government concedes to such bogus request, will he be able to name those that will be granted amnesty?

Alternatively, is amnesty to be granted to masquerades and Islamic fundamentalists from Mali, Algeria and AlQaida? Who is government going to dialogue with? What

Continues on page 44

PAGE 44, SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013

‘Why Jonathan must step on toes’ Continued from page 43 concrete efforts have the Sultan and other leaders of the North made to stem the violence by Boko Haram before calling for amnesty for the terrorists, who abhor western education, but speak and send emails in English language?

As I said, I read that the leader of Boko Haram, Abu Shekarau, said it is a fight to the finish. So, from whose authority or where did the Sultan become the mouthpiece of a faceless group? Boko Haram wants to Islamize Nigeria and scrap western education.

Therefore, it is premature to call for any well-meaning Nigerian to call for amnesty for the group. On the contrary, Nigeria should declare a war against Boko Haram, as France did to Malian insurgents. The Federal Government should address its own problem before sending troops to Mali.

Northern leaders are unhappy that Jonathan asked them to fish out Boko Haram members which, to them, is like he (president) abdicating his duty?

Do you not know that the president asking for this moratorium was himself given 60 days from August to October, 2009 to end the Niger-Delta revolt? Let me ask you, when Tompolo, Ateke Tom, Boyloaf and others were doing battle in Niger-Delta, was it Yar ’Adua or Obasanjo that fished them out? These people, if they are really fighting a just cause, why are they faceless? The monarchs from the South- south, religious leaders, etc, and himself, all stepped into the matter.

Our governors and leaders like Chief Edwin Clark moved into the creeks.

A meeting of the leaders of the militant groups was convened, all of them, including Tompolo, DokuboAsari, Ateke Tom, were there to agree on the way forward. On our part, the royal fathers resolved that they should be a ceasefire and they should give peace a chance. What are the efforts of the governor of Borno State and leaders to prevail on Boko Haram to stop the carnage? What have the northern leaders discussed with the Boko Haram people and what is the way forward from their discussion?

This is how elders and leaders should act in a situation like this. Do they want Jonathan to come to the North and commend them for not talking to their boys and arriving at the way forward? They should fish them out, we saw when former President Olusegun Obasanjo went to the North on his own volition with a view to appeasing them to drop arms.

I have not heard that the Sultan did such a thing and you know this Boko Haram started immediately when President Jonathan contested for the 2011 election and the likes of Muhammadu Buhari came up to say that he would make Nigeria ungovernable if Jonathan wins. Votes were still being counted when some places started catching fire in the North and, right from that time till date, these things are happening.

Remember that before then, some northern leaders declared Aso Villa a no- go area for Jonathan;so, to an extent, Boko Haram has a political dimension, it is all with a view to making Nigeria ungovernable for President Jonathan.

The Federal Government asked Boko Haram people to come out for dialogue; nobody came out, so why are people blaming Jonathan for saying that they are faceless. Why

have people like Alhaji Shehu Shagari, General Buhari, Babangida, Abdulsalami not gone to the Boko Haram members, wherever their headquarters is, to meet with their leaders and tell them to sheathe their sword? The Sultan is the head of the Muslim body in Nigeria, he is the supreme head and Boko Haram says they want to Islamize Nigeria from the North to the West. Are the Boko Haram members not living with them? I think what the North wants to do with Boko Haram is to chase away Jonathan so that they will come back and continue with their perpetuation of the oil wealth. Those who are sponsoring Boko Haram do not mean well and Jonathan said the home truth that they are lackadaisical in tackling it because, they feel Jonathan will be run out of Aso Villa with the violence. If this crisis escalates the more, they are calling for disintegration of Nigeria, I have said it before, we are likely going to have an Oduduwa Republic, Republic of Biafra, Ijaw Republic and all that. To avoid that, the federal government should declare a full-scale war on Boko Haram, appoint military administrators in the affected states and let soldiers go house to house and fish out the Boko Haram members since they do not want to point them out.

You are concentrating energy on the sharing of oil blocs, but the North is saying that South- south governors are squandering the 13 per cent derivation that is already coming to you people?

It is another story that sounds so funny, It is not the responsibility of northerners to be crying wolf that the money is not being well spent just because they want to stop the PIB. In the late fifties and early sixties, the principle of derivation was 50 per cent to the producing area, 50 per cent to the Federal Government and that was agro economy. Did anybody from the South cast any aspersion against the North or South-west on how they used their money to develop their respective region?.It is not their business, it is not their duty. During the time of agro economy, we were benefitting only from the 50 per cent that got to the Federal Government, the 13 per cent derivation we are talking about now is a tip of the ice berg. I was in the group that met with the late General Sani Abacha and discussed that the hitherto 3 per cent oil derivation be jerked up to 50 per cent. The general of blessed memory said he was going to give us not less than 13 per cent as at that 1994 and there was a proviso that 25 per cent will be given in subsequent times, until we make the 50 per cent because what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

If at any time in the history of this country, a people or certain sections were benefiting from the principle of derivation vis a vis agro economy and now, God has turned the table round for oil to be the mainstay of the economy, we should also benefit. 13 per cent compared to 50 per cent cannot be said to be up to 33 per cent of that 50 percent. So, frankly, the North has no say about how the South is spending the money because the inherent problems we face here, such as water and airborne diseases, are not borne by them. 13 per cent is not enough to cushion the effects of the problems the people face here, that is why we are asking for 50 per cent and 10 per cent in the present PIB of whatever accruable should be given to the actual oil-bearing communities.

SUNDAY

Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013, PAGE 45

•Abuja Park

ECHOES OF KANO PARK BOMBING

New security rules at Abuja Motor Parks

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU & ALICE FESTUS

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ear rules here. The signs are everywhere. Any vehicle that comes around to drop passengers intending to catch a bus out of Abuja is looked at with suspicion. And unlike the former practice, touts here no longer run after approaching vehicles as they scout for passengers.

They allow the vehicles to stop and the passengers out before meeting them. Indeed the fear of suicide bomber operating in a vehicle has become the beginning of wisdom for touts at the Jabi Motor Park, Utako, Abuja since the bombing at the Sabon Gari Motor Park, Kano which claimed scores of lives. The Kano bomber reportedly drove a Golf car.

Many touts were said to have been victims of the attack as the bomber detonated his device while the touts ran after his vehicle. The Kano incident only signifies the level to which motor parks in the major towns and cities are prone to terror attack. The operators of the Jabi Motor Park, one of the major facilities from which people travel out of the Federal Capital to other parts of the country, now carry out their activities with that mindset.

An operator told Sunday Vanguard

that the Kano park bombing prompted them to remove abandoned vehicles from the vicinity of the Jabi Park. This makes sense as experience shows that terrorists often explode bombs in abandoned vehicles. The personnel employed by the park operators use metal detectors to frisk passengers for weapons before allowing them to board vehicles to proceed on their journeys. This practical predates the Kano bombing.

But the other side to the security situation in the park is the charge against the management of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), which oversees the park, that it had done nothing to uplift the park since it was established not to talk of securing the users. Instead, a member of the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), said AMAC had been creating mushroom parks to make money.

The NARTO member, who spoke in Pidgin English, said, “Oga, make I tell you the truth; security is a big challenge to us here. AMAC does not do anything to make this park function properly. They provided office but no police to check who comes and wetin they carry. We have no protection here, na God dey protect us “This park is dirty, smelling, people are urinating every where, people carry any kind of thing here, anybody can bring in bomb here. The

last ThisDay bombing affected the buildings here. When the park was functioning, there was police here, but now nobody searches anybody before entering the park. This place is supposed to have fire service and police but nothing. We have complained to AMAC many times but nothing was done,” he said.

But officials of the National Union for Road Transport Workers, NURTW, at the park, who said it was established over 20 years ago by AMAC, disclosed that the union had put in place measures to monitor the movement of people and vehicles in the area. They added that since the Kano bombing, there had been presence of members of the Department of Security Service, DSS. The union, however, was mute on the kind of security put in place to protect the park users against attack.

At the Luxurious Bus Section of the park, the Administrative Manager, Mr. Emmanuel Okoli, said they had in place a security network and that the police come to monitor movements especially between 7pm and 11 pm when activities at the park are at the peak because the luxurious buses mostly operate night journeys.

Okoli said, “After the Kano incident, we sanitized the park by removing abandoned vehicles. When buses are loading in the night, we don’t allow any vehicle to come into the park. We are trying to put iron gate so that in the evening, whoever

is coming will be searched. We have three metal detectors which the security operatives use here to check if any one is carrying a weapon”, he stated.

The manager also disclosed that the management of the park recruited 15 persons to mount surveillance day and night, saying, however, that everything done was through the money donated by members.

Efforts made to talk to the authorities of AMAC did not yield any result as the staff said it was only the chairman that was competent to talk on the security situation in the parks, while the AMAC chairman himself was not available when Sunday Vanguard visited his office.

However, the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in charge of the Jabi Park, Usman Umar, a Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP, said that before the Kano incident the police were not resting on their oars.

Umar said, “We have been partnering with members of the public within the district so as to monitor them effectively through the PPRC, the Police Public Relations Committee. And following the attack that happened in Kano, the commissioner of police invited the leadership of the various unions within the park , we sat down with them and brainstormed on how to effectively police the various motor parks within Utako with particular emphasis on the Jabi Motor Park which is the major motor park in the FCT. “The operators need to partner with us because they are the ones using the park. It is their investment; the role of the police is to protect lives and properties, but they are the ones operating there, therefore we want them to partner with us. And they should be extra vigilant knowing people that are coming in.

“On the part of the police, we have deployed men, some carrying metal detectors to frisk people coming in with emphasis on people driving in so as not to carry anything. We have sensitized them, and asked them to be more proactive by asking people that have no business being there to leave. “Vehicles that are abandoned should be taken away because you will agree with me that bombers can use such vehicles”.

The DPO added, “If you check the various gates at the park, police men are there and what is expected is for them to cooperate with passengers and the leadership of the various unions within the park to also cooperate”.

Umar further explained that emphasis was on people driving as the police are not oblivious of the fact that suicide bombers for example don’t mind dying along with others.

“We are talking about people carrying IED, now we emphasis on people coming, we screen them but that does not mean that luggages cannot be screened; vehicles going out will also be screened.”

To ensure that there is no untoward activity during the Easter period, the DPO said the call for partnership between the police and the park operators had become necessary.

But despite the statements of the DPO, there was virtually no presence of the police at the Jabi Park and the other motor parks in Utako when Sunday Vanguard visited.

PAGE 46—SUNDAY

Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013

.... CRIME AND NATIONAL SECURITY

PLATEAU

Death toll hits 100 zAs displaced ‘enemies’ take refuge under same roofs in Ganawuri

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ostility among some communi ties in Plateau State in the last two weeks spreading across about four local governments has again thrown up the issue of the effectiveness of the current security arrangement in the country . Many are wondering why the gale of violence has continued to escalate rather than abate.

At the last count, renewed violence in different parts of Plateau State has claimed close to 100 lives. From Riyom and Barkin-Ladi local government areas, which have been trouble spots for some time, the violence has spread to Wase LGA and lately Bokkos LGA. The genesis of the skirmishes appear similar in many respects even though with peculiar circumstances - A disagreement between a local and (more often than not) a Fulani herdsman or other tagged ‘settlers’ degenerates into a sectarian dispute resulting in a cycle of violence. The side initially at the receiving end mobilizes for reprisals, then counter- reprisals, and so it continues. The common peace message - “violence begets violence - is thus having a free expression.

Expectedly too, the protracted violence, which has spanned over a decade, would seem to have increased the propensity towards violence. Supposedly in the quest for self-protection and the seeming failure of the security arrangement to safeguard them, many communities and individuals are believed to have acquired weapons which they deploy at the slightest opportunity. The sitC M Y K

uation is compounded by the growing army of ethnic militias which, buoyed by increasing youth unemployment, provide easy recruits for the prosecution of violence.

As in many parts of the country, the Fulani herdsmen, who are famed, rightly or wrongly, not to allow any aggression against them un-revenged no matter how long it takes, had settled in many parts of Plateau State for almost a century in some cases. However, the antagonism between them and the indigenous groups appears to be worsening. Various reasons have been adduced from different quarters,

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By Taye Obateru

on governors of states in the North to come together and discuss ways to end the growing violence. The group in a statement signed by its president Melvin Ejeh said this had become imperative because of the socio-economic and other toll the situation is exerting on the region.

Despite repeated attacks on communities in Riyom local government area for some years now, a part known as the Ganawuri area inhabited by the Aten ethnic group seems to have enjoyed relative peace. It has become a reference point of peaceful co-existence until violence spread

Several peace advocacy programmes by government, traditional rulers, non-governmental organizations, religious bodies and even the Special Task Force (STF) deployed to maintain peace in the state have not done the magic

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not least is the mutual suspicion and hatred generated by previous crisis.

Several peace advocacy programmes by government, traditional rulers, non-governmental organizations, religious bodies and even the Special Task Force (STF) deployed to maintain peace in the state have not done the magic. Rather, the problem appears to be spreading to areas hitherto seen as peaceful.

Concerned by the situation, a youth group, Northern Advancement of Peace , Harmony and Development, called

to the area recently. Ironically, those displaced by the crisis from both sides are now living together in the same homes among the Aten people! Sunday Vanguard spoke to the President of the Aten Development Association, Mr. Chom Bagu, on what went wrong. His perspective provides another insight into the problem.

His words: “Ganawuri has been spared the violence that has been part of Plateau State since September 7, 2001. This was not by accident as the Ganawuri people have certain

Mr. Chom Bagu values and traditions that discourage violence. We don’t allow the shedding of innocent blood on our land, we don’t take booty during war, we don’t kill women or children or even the aged. Working with a body known as Community Action for Popular Participation (CAPP), our royal father, the Atar Aten, organized a series of peace activities five years ago to consolidate the peace using road shows, rallies and dialogue.

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e also established peace committees to report any tension, rumour or threats to the peace. We are blessed with a traditional leader who believes in peace and dialogue and who has responded to every threat of violence by actively supporting dialogue. ”This has worked very well till last Thursday March 21, 2013, when some people imported violence from Fadan Atakar in Kaduna State into Ganawuri. When they burnt Fulani houses that sad Thursday, the Atar Aten invited the STF, the local government

chairman, the Atakar and Fulani to help get to the root of the violence and find a peaceful way of ending the violence.

Yet the very next day, the violence escalated. Presently, we are hosting both the Atakar and Fulani internally displaced persons (IDPs_, feeding and caring for them. ”What is very worrisome to the Aten people is the amount of arms displayed during this violence by both sides. Even the STF took some time before they could approach the theatre of this senseless war. The question we are asking is , were these arms meant to wipe out the Aten people or what?

The world must know that the Aten people have been under tremendous pressures from their neighbors to join the violence, which we have staunchly refused because we truly believe that this violence is avoidable and will not help anyone. We are serious farmers and have no influence in government. Because of our small population, it has been easy to ignore us, so we take our farming very serious and we know as a fact that violence will not serve our interest. ”The Aten people have resolved to remain neutral in this conflict. First because we do not know the source or the justification for this violence, second, both the Atakar and Fulani have begged us to stay neutral. So who do those urging us to plunge into this senseless violence represent and whose interest are they serving? Must the entire Plateau State collapse into violence? We thought Ganawuri was showing the way to make the peace and return prosperity to the state, so why the gang up, why the scheming to flood the Ganawuri peace valley with the blood of the peace loving people of Aten?”

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SUNDAY

Vanguard , MARCH 31, 2013, PAGE 47

OYERINDE’S MURDER:

Our story, by police

This is the concluding part of the police report on the investigation into the murder of Mr Olaitan Oyerinde, principal secretary to Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, presented at the public hearing of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions STRENGHT OF THIS INVESTIGATION Recovery of Deceased telephone handset through Forensic information.

Systematic reconstruction from scene to suspects that led to the arrest of all the suspects.

Recovery of face cap of Auta Umaru Ali identified by himself and gang members.

Identification of three suspects out of the four that raided late Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde’s house by Mrs Funke Oyerinde.

Recovery of a single barrel locally made cut to size gun belonging to the gang.

Video capture of the scene reconstruction that revealed the role each suspect played at the scene.

Confessions of the suspects that have been attested to by Superior Police Officers in line with the law and practice.

Uncovering of other crimes namely Murder of Alhaji Ismaila Aliyu Attempted Murder of Alhaji Badamasi Saleh and his Deputy.

Involvement of Moses Asamah Okoro in the raiding of Agenebode Police Station in late 2010 Recovering of telephone handset of High Chief (Dr) Vincent Ifada in the house of Garba Usman Maisamari.

Recovery of over 20 telephone handsets from Girei in Adamawa stolen from Benin City.

Recovery of 23 SIM cards from Garba Usman Maisamari’s house.

Recovery of six wrist watches from Garba Usman Maisamari’s house.

Additional information to Police intelligence bank about sources of arms/ammunition to this elaborate gang and identities of other gang members.

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•IGP Abubakar

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Mohammed Ibrahim Abdullahi, Raymond Origbo Chikezie admitted knowledge of Saidu Yakubu alias IMAM as a receiver of stolen property at Ring Road Benin City. Raymond Origbo admitted knowledge of Sani Abdullahi Abubakar as a receiver of stolen property especially telephones.

ARRAIGNMENT OF SUSPECTS Arising from this painstaking investigation and based on the quantum of evidence, the suspects were arraigned before an Oredo Magistrate Court, Benin City on 31st August, 2012. (See Document 9 in Appendix 3 for charge sheets) Three charge sheets were presented to the court namely= Charge No. MOR/326c/2012 Charge No. MOR/327c/2012 Charge No. MOR/328c/2012 LEGAL ADVICE The Police forwarded Duplicate casefiles with respect to the above charges to the Federal Director of Public Prosecutions for vetting and advice on the 11th of September, 2012 in our letter No. CR: 3100/X/LEG/ FGQ/ABJ/VOL.3/123 Surprisingly on the 9th November, 2012, the Edo State DPP rendered advice in a paid advertorial published in the Nation Newspaper C M Y K

POLICE INVESTIGATION: The three suspects identified by the Department of State Services as the suspects who murdered late Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde namely Mohammed Ibrahim Abdullahi, Raymond Onajite Origbo and Edeh Chikezie were variously interrogated.

They admitted being armed robbers who usually operated as a gang of six made up of themselves, one Sani, one Ali alias Smally and one Ishiaka –all at large.

They also admitted to various armed robbery escapades in Benin City promising to take the Police to the locations but denied any involvement in the armed robbery of 4th May, 2012 at No. 65, 2nd Ugbor road, GRA Benin City at the house of late Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde. § They also admitted that in their operations they were usually armed with three cut to size single barrel guns provided by Ishiaka- a Fulani nomad who is a member of the gang.

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claiming it received the duplicate casefile from Oredo Magistrate Court Benin City on the 5th of September, 2012 (See Document No. 10 in Appendix 3) The controversy in this matter was generated by the unsolicited advice of the Edo State DPP. Even at that, the Edo State DPP posited that six of the ten suspects have cases to answer, he expressed doubts about two suspects based on misplaced facts and discharged two suspects for want of corroborative evidence.

The Police had responded to the Advice of the DPP on 19th November, 2012 (See Document No. 11 in Appendix 3) In response to our letter to the Federal DPP, legal advice was rendered on the 21st of January, 2013 (See Document 12 in Appendix 3)

CASE OF SEVEN SUSPECTS TRANSFERRED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE SERVICES ABUJA ACCUSED OF INVOLVEMENT IN THE MURDER BACKGROUND: On or about the 1st of August, 2012, the Department of State Services paraded six suspects in a televised press conference. The SERVICE announced that they arrested the suspects for the murder of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde and stealing from his house.

Similarly, the DG SSS followed up with a letter dated 1st August, 2012 to the Inspector-General of Police and requested the Police to take over the six suspects for prosecution. (See Document 13 in Appendix 3) On the 23rd of August, 2012, the Department of State Services transferred seven suspects which now included LAWAL Abubakar (See Document 14 in Appendix 3).

The Department of State Services did not transfer ANY CASEFILE be it Original or Duplicate to the Police.

The Department of State Services did not transfer any Investigation Report-be it interim, preliminary or final report to the Police.

The Department of State Services did not handover any complainant, witness or suspect’s statements; enabling documents like search warrants or attestation by investigating officers to the Police.

None of the exhibits transferred by the Department of State Services to the Police related to any of the items stolen from late Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde’s house. One of the victims Adeyinka Oletubo has confirmed this position after viewing the items.

The Police wrote to the Department of State Services requesting for information/interface which may lead to successful investigation but no response. (See Document 15 of Appendix 3) Police had no choice than to perform its statutory responsibility of Criminal investigation hence a full investigation.

ohammed Ibrahim Abdullahi posited that when his house was searched, only one hammer, one matchet and two kitchen knives were recovered by Department of State Services operatives and denied knowledge of 1 No Europa Magnum Pump Action gun and 2Nos Russian Double Barrel guns said to have been recovered from him. § The suspects claimed that they were never taken to the scene of crime and that the late Comrade Olaitan’s house was shown to them from a Black Berry telephone by their interrogators. § Mohammed Ibrahim Abdullahi, Raymond Origbo Chikezie admitted knowledge of Saidu Yakubu alias IMAM as a Receiver of stolen property at Ring Road Benin City. Raymond Origbo admitted knowledge of Sani Abdullahi Abubakar as a receiver of stolen property especially telephones. § Hassan Bashiru admitted being a receiver of stolen property and also admitted knowledge of Sani Abubakar and Lawal Abubakar. § Hassan Bashiru admitted that he bought telephone handsets and laptop from one Garba Usman Maisamari and he sold one of the telephone handsets to Lawal Abubakar. Bashiru Hassan also admitted that he had sold several telephone handsets to Hassan Babete Aliyu in the past.

MOVEMENT TO BENIN CITY The suspects were taken to Benin City on identification of crime locations and checking the credibility of their statements.

ARRAIGNMENT Based on the preponderance of evidence adduced in the course of this investigation, the suspects were arraigned in Court at Oredo Magistrate Court 1 on the 1st of November, 2012.

They were all remanded in Prison custody. The Duplicate casefiles have been remitted to the Federal Director of Public Prosecutions for vetting and advice. (See Document 16 in Appendix 3)

SPECIFIC RESPONSES TO THE ALLEGATIONS (i) The petitioners had argued that two of the suspects arrested by the Police in the course of investigation were in Police Custody when Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde was murdered. THIS IS NOT TRUE. Suspects Danjuma Musa ‘m’ and Muritala Usman ‘m’ were arrested on the 24th of May, 2012 and not 24th of April, 2012. The duo of Danjuma Musa and Muritala Usman were arrested by good Nigerians on the

Continues on page 48

PAGE 48—SUNDAY

Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013

OYERINDE MURDER: OUR STORY - POLICE Continued from page 47 24th of May, 2012 and handed over to the Divisional Police Officer, Oba Market Police Station Benin City who in turn handed them over to the

Special Anti Robbery Squad, Edo State Police Command on the same day for an offence of unlawful possession of cartridges. In the course of diligent investigation in the late Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde’s murder the operatives of the Force CID Abuja took over the suspects on the 27 th of June, 2012. The statements made by the two suspects and witnesses who were present during the arrest elucidated this fact. The letter we wrote to the Edo State DPP on 19 th November, 2012 stated the date of their arrest clearly and for purposes of emphasis is partly reproduced below: -

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C M Y K

•Ita Ekpenyong, DSS DG

Our job as police Investigators is to bring the facts disclosed by investigation to the fore.

Our duties cannot include to falsify, alter, change or even forge facts for whatever reasons. We are satisfied that this gun was recovered through the sequential narration of Danjuma Musa and formed part of the arsenal of this gang.

gang. Meanwhile the said gun has been forwarded to the Forensic Laboratory for Ballistic examination. iii We wish to state for purposes of clarity and public records that the assertion by the Edo State DPP in his Legal Advice attached to the Civil Society Organization petition under reference “that he is aware that the casefile of some persons who reportedly made confessional statements have been handed over to the Police by the SSS is false in its entirety”. We challenge him to show proof. Apart from the documents referred to as Documents 13 and 14 in Appendix 3, the Police did not receive any other document from the Department of State Services. (iv) We also wish to point out that in the same Legal Advice under reference, the DPP had opined that a prima facie case of Conspiracy to commit armed robbery, armed robbery and murder is made out against Usman Adamu amongst others. We do not know Usman Adamu and he was never investigated by the Police.

this gun was one of the guns they used for the armed robbery operation in Comrade Olaitan’s house. According to him this gun was recovered by his land lady and handed over to Esigie Police Station Benin City after the landlady ’s children stumbled on the gun in the course of their play where he Danjuma Musa hid it. Following the revelations of Danjuma Musa, the said landlady was contacted and she admitted the incidence but posited that she called a Police Corporal who lived nearby and it was the Policeman who recovered the gun to the Police Station. Investigation was extended to Esigie Police Station Benin City where the gun was finally recovered by the investigating team. The documentation in the crime diary at the Police Station showed that the gun was received on the 24th of April 2012. Our job as Police Investigators is to bring the facts disclosed by investigation to the fore.

Our duties cannot include to falsify, alter, change or even forge facts for whatever reasons. We are satisfied that this gun was recovered through the sequential narration of Danjuma Musa and formed part of the arsenal of this

CONCLUSION: (a)In conclusion, we wish to state that the unfortunate incident of 4th May, 2012 which resulted in the death of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde received an unprecedented attention from the Inspector-General of Police IGP Mohammed Abubakar CFR,FCE,FCPA,FCAI,NPM,mni who is satisfied that the Deputy InspectorGeneral of Police ‘D’ Department (FCID) and his investigators discharged their responsibilities diligently and with utmost sense of integrity. The Investigating team displayed quality leadership and gave the assignment their best shots. If the petitioners “believe strongly that there are elements pulling weight to cover the real killers of Comrade Oyerinde” as alleged, they should name them without further delay. Since the petitioners believe that the real killers of Comrade Oyerinde have not been arrested, they should name them. He who asserts, proves same. (b)In the wake of this avoidable controversy, the Police as an Organization has been disparaged, her Senior Officers maligned, humiliated and embarrassed for

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e wish to unequivocally state that the duo of Danjuma Musa and Muritala Usman were arrested on the 24 th of May, 2012,”REPEAT 24 th of May, 2012 AND NOT 24th of April, 2012”. The respective statements they made to the Police contained in the Duplicate case file which the learned DPP vetted contained this fact in pages B5a, B6d and B6f. Furthermore, the statements of eye witnesses to the arrest contained in pages A14 and A15 of the same casefile elucidated this fact. The Police investigation report clearly stated the date of arrest as 24 th of May, 2012 in the following paragraphs and pages:(i) Paragraph 3.9, page 7 (ii) Paragraph 3.10.9 (x) page 23 (iii)Paragraph 3.10.9 (xi) page 24 (iv)Paragraph 3.10.9 (xxv) page 41 (v)Paragraph 3.10.9 (xxvi) page 45 (vi)Paragraph 4 xxix page 85 We admit a printer ’s error in the investigation report where 24/04/12 was typed in page 78 paragraph 4 (viii), line four instead of 24/05/12. We also posit that in no other part of that report did such an error or such a meaning was conveyed. Similarly, we ordinarily thought that the learned DPP was actually vetting the duplicate casefile which included the investigation report and not the investigation report alone and would have taken into consideration the statements made by the suspects, witnesses and all other circumstances/ ramifications of the matter before the opinion”.

From the foregoing, it is very clear and obvious that the date of arrest of Danjuma Musa and Muritala Usman was 24th of May, 2012. Any other insinuation to the contrary is not only mischievous but frivolous and aimed at diverting attention from the real issues. (ii)The petitioners also posited that the gun used for the murder of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde was earlier used for armed robbery and recovered by the Police. And that by Police record this gun was already in Police custody when the murder took place. Again this is just simplistic and misleading. The four suspects who robbed and murdered Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde namely Danjuma Musa ‘m’, Muritala Usman ‘m’, Auta Umaru ‘m’, Moses Asamah Okoro ‘m’ used three guns for the operation and took away one Double barrel gun from the Deceased’s residence. In the course of investigation Danjuma Musa ‘m’ told investigation that he usually custodied one locally made cut to size single barrel gun belonging to the gang. He equally stated that

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carrying out a statutory assignment.

This case is not about the Police or the Civil Society Organization. This case is about ensuring that the killers of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde are brought to justice. The Criminal justice system requires robust synergy from all stakeholders and all hands must be on deck to ensure that justice is done for both the victims of crime, the State and the suspects. (c) In the conduct of this investigation, the Police has carried the complainants along at every stage viz Mrs. Funke Oyerinde and Mr. Adeyinka Oletubo. It is therefore very surprising that the restlessness associated with this matter is coming from Quarters other than the persons who reported this matter. Who is crying more than the bereaved! (d) The scope of this investigation so far was very extensive; the conduct required diligence and commitment, the approach needed integrity; the analysis/documentation required painstaking humility and dedication; the Investigating team displayed these qualities. We must learn in this Country to appreciate what we have – our own-and continuously encourage them. We did not need to be called criminals, we did not need to be dismissed for doing a job that both the Edo State DPP and the Federal DPP have already said has tremendous merit. As mortals, we felt pain but in God we shall always trust. (e) We also wish to point out that all the Security Agencies in this Country are doing a commendable job towards crime reduction as there is no known crime free society. The Department of State Services by their arrest of seven suspects contributed immeasurably in the fight against crime and criminality. These suspects are by their confessions and follow up investigations carried out by the Police habitual criminals who have terrorized Benin City Metropolis.

Police investigation has been able to link them to specific acts of criminality with the locations and victims positively identified. We are satisfied that the evidence disclosed by our investigation will sustain the charges for which they have been arraigned. (f) The petitioners must always avoid by their comments, utterances, inferences and opinions to put in jeopardy a case that its prosecution in Court is yet to begin. To do so would amount to making them Investigators, Prosecutors and Judges in this matter. By the unnecessary controversy generated in this matter, witnesses are continuously being tampered with through intimidation and inducements, the Judges who will try this matter are reading the controversies in the media and as human beings may form preliminary opinions before trial commences. Legal Advisers to the prosecution are already playing visible roles as Defence Attorneys while Defence Attorneys just listen and laugh. This can only lead us to an unfortunate exercise of Recycling criminals through the intentional or inadvertent conspiracy of the Elite. ( g ) Finally, we have by our transparency compromised the identity of most of our witnesses, victims, investigators and other characters in this investigation including classified documents.

THIS IS IN REALIZATION OF THE FACT THAT PARLIAMENT ALL OVER THE WORLD HOLD THE KEY TO QUALITY OVERSIGHT THAT REVEALS TRUTH AND MAKE TRUTH SACRED. It is our plea Mr. Chairman that these victims, witnesses and investigators be protected within the privileges inherent in your powers.

CONCLUDED

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013 — 49

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PAGE 50, SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013

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SUNDAY, Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013, PAGE 51

F

Prince Bola Ajibola @ 79

ormer Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Prince Bola Ajibola, was the cynosure of all eyes,penultimate Saturday, at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, when he marked his 79th birthday with public presentation of a book titled, ‘’ The Attorney General ; Chronicles and Perspectives’’ by, Law Pavilion. Entrepreneur extraordinaire , Dr. Oba Otudeko, took charge as the Chief Launcher while Ajibola’s old friend, and Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tako Mohammed was the Chairman of the occasion. Photos by Kehinde Gbadamosi

From right; Prince Bola Ajibola, Justice Ibrahim Tako Mohammed, Mr Kola Awodein [SAN] and Prof Yemi Osibajo, [SAN] From right: Alhaja Ramat Bola Ajibola, Prince Bola Ajibola, Dr. Oba Otudeko, and Justice Ibrahim Tako Mohammed.

R-L: Hajia Fausat Bakare, Chief (Mrs) Marlies Allan, Chief Mrs Bola Latinwo, and Mrs Hairat Balogun,.

Mariam and Sidiq

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ikai marriage ceremony of Mariam Ibidun, daughter of Mr and Mrs Wakilu Olowu, and Sidiq Adeoye, son of Prince and Mrs Oyebanjo Oyelaran, took place at Anglican Primary School, Isawu Agric, Ikorodu, on Saturday March 23rd. The occasion was graced by family and friends.

Photos by Shola Oyelese

From left; Chief Demola Seriki, representing Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Prof Lawal Pedro [SAN] and Mr Ope Gasa

Sor optimist Int ernational holds ‘F riendship Ev ening’ Soroptimist International ‘Friendship Evening

The couple: Mr and Mrs Sadiq Adeoye Olowu

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oroptimist International, Lagos State Chapter, penultimate Friday hosted members of the international Body from across the federation at Ikeja, GRA, Lagos. The ‘Friendship Evening’ as it was tagged takes place three times a year before the Annual General Meeting of the organisation.

Soroptimist International is a worldwide organisation for women in management and the professions and is a global voice for women through awareness, advocacy, partnerships and global networking. Photos by Akeem Salau

From right (front row): Cordelia Barber ,President, Funlola Buraimoh Ademuyewo, National President,Nonma Jackson Steele,Past National President,Anne Efeyini, Past Secretary, S.I Eko , Treasurer , S.I Eko,Lady Ololade J. Oki and Doyin Akin-Bankole with other members of the club.

L-R: Dr Ekwe, Princess Egbo, Cordelia Barber and Doyin Akin-Bankole

L-R: The bride’s parents: Mr and Mrs Wakilu Olowu, with groom’s parents; Prince and Mrs Oyebanjo Oyelaran

L-R: Anne Efeyini, Shade Disu and Doyin Akin-Bankole

L-R: Mr Richard Okotie of Vanguard with the bride’s father, Mr Wakilu Olowu C M Y K

PAGE 52, SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013

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SUNDAY

Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013, PAGE 53

PDP: Claims of govs’ looming defection amid a challenging reconciliation *Anenih’s BoT to the rescue

BY HENRY UMORU

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Bamanga Tukur: Sobriety dawns on NWC birth to the yet to be registered, All Progressive Congress, APC, signified that the ruling party must put its house in order if it must continue in power beyond 2015. Added to this is the claim that some of the aggrieved PDP governors may dump the party and join forces with the APC ahead of the 2015 polls.

Even within the NWC, there are crises which have already consumed some members.

The members include the sacked National Secretary and former governor of Ogun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; the former National Auditor, Chief Bode Mustapha and the National Vice Chairman, South West, Engr. Segun Oni, all believed to be loyal to former President and past Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo..

Tukur, for one week, embarked on what was described as a ‘ national reconciliation and consolidation tour,’ across the six geo-political zones of the country,culminating in the grand finale in Abuja.

Topping the issues were lack of internal democracy, m a r g i n a l i z a t i o n , discrimination on the basis of gender, lack of patronage to party members and something close to used and dumped after election, just as many members said there was need for peace and unity in the party as that was the only way PDP could maintain its position not only as the ruling party, but also to attract greater development to Nigeria.

But the question on the lips

Chief Anthony Anenih: On a rescue mission

of many observers was, would the tour achieve the purpose or will it be a smoke screen to shield public attention from the real issues in the party?

The question came up following the absence of some senior stakeholders in the

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HEN the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, came on board on March 24, 2012 alongside the present members of the National Working Committee,NWC, but with two gone before the NWC marked one year in office, it was very clear that what the party required was reconciliation.

The self- acclaimed largest party in Africa really needed that trouble shooting especially against the backdrop of the irreconcilable differences that emanated from the congresses, primaries and even the National Convention held at Eagle Square, Abuja, venue of the emergence of Tukur and his team. The story of how they came in, the story of how many aspirants were forced to step down, the story of how the aspirants did that reluctantly and how tears almost rolled down the faces of old men who had to withdraw from the race against their personal conviction, all is now history.

Realising the enormity of the problems on ground which saw aggrieved members dumping the party and others adopting a siddon-look approach without making significant inputs to the development of the party, it became imperative that if Tukur must succeed, total reconciliation, even if it means crawling and begging, was the way forward.

For this reason, the PDP boss started with the promise of carrying out total reconciliation.

He came up with an agenda of Triple R, codenamed Reconciliation without vengeance, Reformation without revenge and Rebuilding on the basis of equity and justice, to bring members of the party together.

According to him, the Triple R agenda was intended to transform the party into a vehicle for national development in consonance with President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda.

However, achieving this intention seemed a big challenge because of the deep-seated animosity in the party.

And to make matters worse, the marriage of All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, and Congress for Progress Change, CPC, which gave

groups from Anambra State, Prince Ken Emeakayi and Chief Oguebego; among others, stayed away from the meeting. Governor of Ebonyi State, Chief Martins Elechi; Govertnor Sullivan Chime of Enugu; however attended

The marriage of APGA, ACN, ANPP, and CPC, which gave birth to the yet to be registered All Progressive Congress, APC, signified that the ruling party must put its house in order if it must continue in power beyond 2015

zones. In the South-West, some major players like Obasanjo; Chief Richard Akinjide; former Ogun State governor, Chief Gbenga Daniel; Chief Bode George; Chief Ebenezer Babatope; Minister of State, FCT, Olajumoke Akinjide; former Speaker, Dimeji Bankole; former Oyo State governor Alao Akala; Oyinlola; former Ekiti State governor, Engr.

Segun Oni, among others were absent at the meeting.

In the South-East, notable politicians like former Senate President Ken Nnamani; former Vice President Alex Ekwueme; Chief Chis Uba; Professor Chukwuma Soludo; Arthur Eze; Senator Jim Nwobodo; Chinwonke Mbadinuju; Adolphus Wabara; Senator Anyim Pius Anyim; Dr. Sam Egwu; leaders of two factional

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while Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State was represented by his deputy. Also in attendance were Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu; Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo; and Professor Chinedu Nebo.

In the South-South, it was the same story as notable PDP members were also not there while in the North-East, party leaders like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Minister of Education, Professor Jubril Aminu; among others, were absent and it was the same situation in North-Central and NorthWest where the governors were absent.

To top it all was the grand finale which took place in Abuja and that was the anticlimax of the event and also an opportunity for the NWC to celebrate its one year in office. The event, which took

place at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, witnessed a low turn out of governors with only two governors-Idris Wada of Kogi and Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom- in attendance as well as the deputy governors of Rivers, Katsina, Niger and Gombe.

President Jonathan was represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo; while the Secretary, BoT, Senator Walid Jubrin, stood in for his chairman, Chief Tony Anenih.

Senate President David Mark; Speaker Aminu Tambuwal; Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu; Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha; and ministers were also not at the event.

The absence of these major key players from the zones and that of Abuja may have suggested that all is not well and the leadership of the party must take a second look at the reconciliation move.

But, in his defence a day after the Abuja event, Tukur explained that majority of the governors were outside the country when it held and that, that explained why they were not at the Abuja grand finale of the reconciliation tour.

According to him, the reconciliation meetings across the zones and Abuja were designed for members, most especially those who were estranged, and not necessarily for state governors who, he said, had played their parts meaningfully in the reconciliation agenda at the zonal level.

Tukur however boasted that the PDP would never succumb to blackmail coming from those he described as virulent opponents, particularly on their desire to paint a picture of a PDP being at war with itself.

He stressed that the PDP had always been in accord with its governors, as evident in the encouraging outcome of the reconciliation tours across the federation, even as he described the reconciliation initiative across the zones and Abuja as a huge success.

The PDP leader, however, appealed to the media to show deep understanding of the party ’s efforts to promote democracy, inclusiveness and a sense of harmony among members, as, according to him, the party remained the best political instrument for deepening democracy in Nigeria.

“This is the first time in the history of democracy in Nigeria that the NWC of a party would embark on a nationwide tour on reconciliation drive. This is the first time that the leadership of the party went out of comfort to have a feel of what has been happening to our members at the grassroots. This is the first time that we are making conscious efforts to return the

Continues on page 54

PAGE 54 — SUNDAY

Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013

I have no problem with PDP govs – Tukur *‘My findings on the multiple crises in ruling party’

BY HENRY UMORU

Alhaji Bamanga Tukur is the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. He was General Manager, Nigeria Ports Authority. In 1983, he was elected governor of old Gongola State, now Adamawa and Taraba States; in 1992, he was a presidential aspirant of the National Republican Convention, NRC; and also a former Minister of Industries and President, Africa Business Roundtable.

In this interview, Tukur bares his mind on the insecurity in the country, his reconciliation agenda for the PDP, and relationship with the PDP governors. Excerpts: How far will you say you have gone in your reconciliation efforts in the PDP? Unity, stability, peace, oneness can co-exist through information. You all know we are in a difficult situation and that is the reason I will appeal to you, the media, to really be objective in the way we

zones we visited, the turnout of our members was so fantastic. But the concern is the insecurity in the country.

We are wor ried about insecurity. We are worried about the number of young men and women who are out of job. Security and economy come to play, but we cannot

,

Bamanga Tukur.... We need to develop through peace and unity

present issues to the nation.

I was very much disturbed when I went to my village in Ganye and I saw the damage done through evil. Today, in this nation, we witness people bombing churches, bombing mosques, bombing United Nations, bombing car parks, bombing markets. To me, they are national attacks and we know all the reasons they are telling us this kind of phenomenon is taking place.

And, under my watch, the PDP is interested in filling all the elective positions. If you search anywhere, my members are affected. So I became worried.

I believe that maybe we start thinking about how to face that evil. The good always chases away the evil. We are capable of doing that.

I believe all of us, what I call the coalition of the willing, can do that.

I am obliged to give you my own understanding of what we have done and I am happy; those who accompanied me on the tour are also here, they are NWC members. I was surprised.

The turn out in the South West for example, you hardly could see a free hotel, it was so full.

Similarly in Enugu, Port Harcourt, Bauchi. So all the

It is not about the PDP or President Goodluck Jonathan; this is a matter that should be of concern to everybody irrespective of political, ethnic or religious affiliation

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run the economy unless security is on ground.

It is one of the cardinal principles of our party. We need to develop through

peace and unity. I believe that all manner of people, government apart, they don’t need PDP to lead the way.

ACN, CPC, Labour, we must come together to fight the evil of insecurity.

In my village they burnt the police station, killed policemen, burnt houses of individuals with no cause.

They broke through the prisons and released the inmates. What kind of society is that?

Let us settle down and look for the cutting edge in terms of fighting that evil.

As the Chairman of the ruling party, if you are to advise the president as far as insecurity is concerned, what will you tell him?

It is not about the PDP or President Goodluck Jonathan; this is a matter that should be of concern to everybody irrespective of political, ethnic or religious affiliation: the opposition, the labour movement, religious leaders, traditional rulers. We all have to come to fight the evil that is now manifesting every where in our land; those perpetuating this evil are within us in the society, it is

Continues on page 55

Anenih’s BoT to the rescue party to the owners; the ordinary members,’’ he stated.

“Who should appreciate these efforts if not you people in the media? If we are making efforts to promote peace in national interest, no right thinking person or group of persons should make attempts to promote hate and cause disharmony. I think the media should not join the pseudo-democrats, the demagogues and the treacherous fellows who always love to reap from chaos and crises. This is why we require the media support in our desire to re-invent politics and recreate Nigeria”.

According to him, during the tours, the PDP realised that imposition of candidates during elections had been the root cause of misunderstanding within the party, adding that it was against this backdrop that the party had been fashioning out agenda to promote internal democracy and transparency in future elections as a means of earning the confidence of members.

Tukur said the need to transform PDP into an agenda-setting and issuebased party more from

election winning alone had been the reason it entered into bilateral relationship with the African National Congress (ANC) in South-Africa, the ruling parties in Ghana, Sierra Leone and other African countries.

But Akpabio, while defending the governors absence at the Abuja event, noted that the state chief executives were not duly informed of the programme, adding that even him as the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum got a late invitation.

The Akwa Ibom governor, who was one of the two governors who attended the event, said, “The PDP launch was not well publicised. I had a meeting with the PDP Publicity Secretar y, Olisa Metuh. Many governors were not aware of the ceremony.

Metuh mentioned to me if I will be at the International Conference Centre and I said for what? And he said for the grand finale of the zonal meeting of the National Chairman and I told him I was not aware of it. And somehow, I was receiving the Super Eagles in my state.

“I still said let me struggle to get to the International Conference Centre to represent the governors of the

PDP many of whom were not aware that the event was going on. I knew that if the governors were not there, Nigerians will think they boycotted the meeting. It was more or less a slightly rushed affair. It was not well

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Continued from page 53

There is no rift between me and our governors. The governors are the commanders of our party in their respective states working along with the Chairmen for the progress of the party

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publicized, so you cannot blame any governor that was not there. I was even surprised that the governor of Kogi State heard about the function that morning and he managed to be there.”

From Tukur ’s and Akpabio’s statements, it will appear there is a communication gap in the PDP family.

Also at his residence on Wednesday while speaking with journalists, the PDP National Chairman dismissed the speculation that there was a rift between him and the governors elected on the platform of the party, adding that his relationship with the governors was 100 percent cordial.

He said, ‘’’There is no rift between me and our governors. The governors are the commanders of our party in their respective states working along with the Chairmen for the progress of the party; there is no competition between me and them, our common goal is to win the next general elections.”

Anenih’s trouble shooting mission

Sensing the implication of the low turnout of governors and stakeholders at the zonal meetings and that of Abuja and the coming on board of APC, the BoT Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, a strategist and one who knows

when to strike politically as well as penetrate, has begun a trouble shooting mission to Jigawa and Kano states where he met with the governors, Sule Lamido and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso respectively.

Anenih’s team had to meet with them to plead that they stay back in the PDP. On the team are Ken Nnamani; Chief Ebenezer Babatope; Walid Jubrin; former PDP National Chairmen; Dr. Ahmadu Ali, Senator Barnabas Gemade and Dr. Bello Halir u Mohammed.

Also on Wednesday, Tukur disclosed that the NWC will soon commence a tour of the states having concluded that of the zones. The visits may have afforded the NWC the opportunity to know that all is not well in the zones and Abuja; they may also have given Tukur and his men the opportunity to appreciate the logjam and to know that the problems vary and would require different formula to solve them.

However, the NWC needs to move fast to prevent the opposition from taking advantage of what is presently on ground to upstage the PDP from the Presidency in 2015.

The leadership must use the findings from the tour to plan, strategise and forge ahead.

SUNDAY

Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013, PAGE 55

‘My findings on the multiple crises in ruling party’ not a matter of Mr President or the PDP-led Federal Government alone.

It is not a kind of thing that we go and target somebody.

My advice is, all of us, all Nigerians, all hands must be on deck to fight the evil.

The PDP NWC just clocked one year in office. What would you identify as your major land mark?

When I came in, we had a template which is our 12-point agenda. After one year, I went round the states, the people out on a mission for reconciliation, reformation and rebuilding. I spoke about the Triple E which is, Environment Sustainability, Education, Energy and Security. The third is Triple D which is, Defence, Dialogue and Diplomacy. And the remaining three is the consequences if we do what we pledge to do and accepted by our people.

If we reconcile, we get peace; you get peace to get security. You get security, you get investment. It is a circle, they all work together. I found out that our people are still on the ground, with their party. As far as I know, they are patient, they understood what happened and they voiced it out.

They voiced out security, they voiced out economy, etc because the idea of having the 3 Ds, if you educate your people, they take care of the elements of the environment.

The environment of sustainability Iam talking about, I am also talking about three things: land, water and people. That is God-given to every nation. But if you give them education, they will take care of these elements. They will turn water to hydroenergy, they can turn it to get energy, they can cut wood and boil water and get energy.

You have to educate them. If you do that, all these will be ready.

During your reconciliation tour, most stakeholders and governors did not attend and your statements also conflicted with what the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum said.

What really happened?

The notice given to governors to attend the Abuja grand finale was very short.

It is not true that they did not come because they don’t believe in reconciliation. They were ready for reconciliation and attending the Abuja event because if you met somebody in Bauchi, why should that person came to the finale in Abuja? But if you don’t come really, we don’t believe it is because it is a repetition of what took place in your state.

So I can categorically tell you that no governor of the PDP is at variance with the reconciliation.

One of the major agenda of

Bamanga Tukur your administration is reconciliation. You’ve been embarking on such across the geo-political zones. But you just marked one anniversary in office and we know that some of the people that contested with you for the national chairmanship of PDP were not actually happy with the process. Have you tried to reconcile with these contestants?

I believe if you come to our meetings, you will see them.

They are there. It was a contest. But there is no illfeeling with those who contested with me. And we are working together. We consult each other. I talk to them, they talk to me. If I call them, they come. So what else can one ask for?

Having heard from the people during the tour and having ruminated on what you have seen and heard with members of NWC, what is the next line of action?

First of all, you cannot solve a problem unless you know that the problem exists. The fact that we work up to 1 a.m today says it all. I am happy because all my NWC members were there. They are my team. We are looking at what our members in the

zones told us to find the common denominator and try to find a solution.

Secondly, we wil go to the states.

After Easter, we are going to embark on individual state visits and I hope that you will also have the opportunity to come with us to see what we need to do. And you know that anywhere we went, we told them “the party is yours.

We are bringing it back to you. No imposition. Send to us your representatives.

“Our own is to process what you believe is your own choice, then we can work.

What I intend to do now is to give us all a clear indication again to all to really have our programme of action in terms of solutions”.

Having been in office for one year now, what would you say are your major challenges? And you said the other time that the NEC meeting will hold after the election of the BoT Chairman. Now that, that has been done, when are we expecting the NEC meeting?

NEC is the overall body of the party. It is like the supreme body. You don’t go to NEC like that. You go to NEC also by giving them all the information so that you can ask them what you believe they should do.

When I came in, I gave them the 12-point agenda.

Now I am going to call the NEC and tell them this is what I want and suggest to them the solution and ask for their approval.

Ahead of the 2015 elections, what plans does your party have for women to ensure that more women are actually encouraged and given the opportunity to fill elective

positions?

PDP is gender sensitive. And PDP under my watch is fair to everyone because, yes, God has given us two hands which means we should work together, men and women. In the PDP, it is our agenda to encourage women, that is the reason we say we exempt them from payment for forms.

But you can take a horse to the water, you cannot make it drink. It is an opportunity given to them. There is no imposition. They should go

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Continued from page 54

I am 100% with my governors. They call me. There is no place we went, that the governors did not come out to say specifically that they are in support of me and my NWC

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and fightfor election. But what we can say is that if you want to be our member, elective post, don’t pay.

I think women, to a certain extent, also like to follow men. Which is a normal thing to do. The aggressive ones are Prime Ministers, Presidents, but others are still cooking for their husbands.

What is the party doing to check some of the excesses by some members, especially with their remarks on the move to address the problem of indiscipline?

We don’t tolerate indiscipline. It’s work in progress. A party is a “family” actually. Why should you go out and tell a stranger you

couldn’t get justice or whatever you feel within the “family ”. So it is all these areas that I said work is in progress.

Some ministers are not always on ground in their states especially states where PDP does not control the government and you will need them to complete your reconciliation move to be in touch with the people. What is the party doing in this regard?

We are a party and a party should give what we call patronage. That is what it is actually; we are a family.

People who work in that family should be looked after. But it has happened to that extent and it is one of those complaints made and we are looking into it.

What is your relationship with the governors of the PDP? I am 100% with my governors. They call me.

There is no place we went, that the governors did not come out to say specifically that they are in support of me and my NWC. The governors, all of them, respect me. They came out. What the papers mentioned, they tried to correct it. I can remember in Port Harcourt, Amaechi took a decision and they say oh, which is not true. We work very cordially.

They are our commanders.

The state chairman has his own governor as his commander. The only thing the chairman has to do is to strengthen his followership in his state to support the governor so that in the next elections, the PDP wins. There is no dissention. How can we have any dissention anyway?

A PDP governor and a PDP chairman, are we competing on anything? No! We are complementary to one another.

There is no competition between the chairman and the governor and, therefore, there is no element of dissention; it is just an imagination.

Yero’s 100 days: Self-kudos amid knocks

BY LUKA BINNIYAT

A

motley crowd of largely unruly youths carrying screaming banners hailing Governor Mukhtar Ramallan Yero of Kaduna State took over the Murtata Sqaure, Kaduna, on Tuesday, at a ceremony m a r k i n g Yero ’s 100 days since becoming governor of a state equally shared by the Muslim North and the Christian South.

Kaduna State is perhaps where religion and ethnicity count very much in all spheres of governance.

Yero, ensconced by top guns of his government, watched

Mukhtar Ramallan Yero and listened to drummers, dancers, praise singers and beggars all blaring different songs from their megaphones at the same time, to create

what looked like a perfect state of cacophony.

But the most colourful of the groups were those that looked like the official scumbags of the governor, or “Yero Boys”.

They wore fine adire flowing gowns with a hue of green, over which a huge good looking face of the governor stared out. Their trousers were white, with green and red long strips from the waist to the edge. But the trade mark of Yero was the green velvety skull cap which they wore.

And, indeed, that seemed to be the governor’s political

signature headwear – the green cap.

All his commissioners, local government chairmen, even members of the state House of Assembly and important guests wore the green caps, except Yero, and his deputy, Ambassador Nuhu Bajoga.

Once a while, a VIP, happy with the outing of the the “Yero Boys”, would throw a wad of cash to the crowd. They would momentarily suspend their performance and dive at the cash, rolling and tearing at themselves amidst profane languages in Hausa from the

Continues on page 60

PAGE 56—SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 31,, 2013

chimeena@yahoo.com 08056180157

Achebe’s language sells his stories to Stage…

Adaji, Artistic Director I

n this short conversation, Artistic Director of the National Troupe of Nigeria, Martin Adaji takes a look at the dramatic and theatrical potentials of Achebe’s works and concludes that the master story teller’s deft and creative use of language accounts for the successful adaptations of his two of seminal works: Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God. He spoke to McPhilips Nwachukwu.

C

an you talk about Achebe and the dramatic and theatrical resources for which his imaginative writing provided for the stage, theatre and the movie?

As a young boy growing up in the village, my first encounter with literature began with the works of Chinua Achebe, especially Things Fall Apart. My Dad , who passed on in January this year, was an ardent lover of Achebe’s books and talked about Things Fall Apart so passionately that even at that young age in primary school I had to read the book.

And unknown to me, reading the book then looked to me as though he was speaking my language.

Achebe had this craft of manipulating the word. If he was speaking English using the English language you would think he was speaking Igbo to you. You would begin to think about what he said in your own language. He spoke English with the fluidity of the Igbo language.

Take for instance when he makes a statement like : “ proverb is oil with which words are eaten.” It doesn’t register in the English sense because words are not eaten in the English sense. But if you translate that expression from the colloquial sense in which it made, it brings out the aesthetic nuances of the personality of Achebe.

It is therefore that kind of craftiness, and that pitch of translation that makes Achebe and his books profound and has equally made it possible for him to be translated to over fifty languages.

Things Fall Apart is one of the most translated works in recent memory. And because of the relevance of early

missionary activities with the African continent, not just in Igbo land, the narrative therefore becomes a symbol of what everybody experienced.

And if you are living a lived experience with those similar to other people’s experiences, it captures all the experiences that you have gone through yourself in your own environment and community.

So, when you look at the works of Achebe, specifically, with reference to Things Fall Apart, the effect of colonialism in West Africa, the translator of Ichoku, a television character drawn from that narrative become all translations that come out from the book.

Achebe was profound as an artist and the fact that he cuts across made him become more popular that many of his peers.

He spoke a language that many people understood. He was not speaking to select audience. Unlike his counter part, Wole Soyinka, who wrote in the form of verse, poetry and grandly rooted in the traditional backing. Soyinka spoke the language of ifa and all the Yoruba gods. And you can’t even blame him for that because the language of the gods is not plain languages.

How do all of these nuances help in the theatrical and dramatic interpretation of Achebe’s works ?

When you look at theatre, language is a very important segment of theatre practice.

After all, the aim of theatre is not only to entertain , but more importantly to communicate.

If the language of a play is wildly known, it endears it more to the viewers. If one decides for instance to go into pidgin performance, one will

Given Achebe’s immense contribution to the development of literature and theatre, don’t you think, the Troupe as an agency of government can use the opportunity of his death to stage Things Fall Apart as a kind of fare well play in his memory?

One thing is clear.

Achebe is not just a national hero. He is in fact, a pan Africanist.

have more followers than when one decides to go for Queens English performance.

Achebe’s language was down to earth and was easy for the common man to understand.

He also spoke in proverb for the elders to understand. And fundamentally, he communicated about events that outlived human memory.

I

f by your account , this experiences are peculiar to the home reader, do you think that his narrative will draw the same sense of dramatic appeal from the foreign reader ?

Oh, definitely. Because you can actually think about the aesthetic of Achebe in your own tongue and actualise it.

Look at what late Bassey Effiong did when he

,

•Achebe

Emeka’s own. But attention can also go to A Man of the People, Ant Hill of the Savannah, No Longer At Ease or even Chike and The River.

•Martin Adaji story and do a film script out of that novel.

Which other of Achebe’s works do you think should be turned to into a movie?

Arrow of God is there.

Yes, Prof. Emeka Nwabueze

Achebe was profound as an artist and the fact that he cuts across made him become more popular than many of his peers

,

translated Things Fall Apart.

It was so profound that you would think you were reading the novel while watching the adaptation. That novel can be anything. A good film script writer will break down the

of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka did something about that with his production of stage adaptation titled, When the Arrow Rebounds during Achebe’s 60th birthday?

Ok, I don’t know about

He may not have been fulfilled in one respect because he did not get the kind of dream he wanted Nigeria to be.

Every artist has his own goal and definitely, and if he did not succeed in that… yesterday, I was reading about his village, Ogidi, and I read about how bad one of his Uncle’s felt because he could not get the kind of leadership he wanted in his community.

That kind of feeling is frustration in the life of an artist. But I can tell you that as far as the National Troupe is concerned, we are going to give a thought to that kind of thing. If we can not do it now definitely in future during his anniversary. We have a lot to celebrate about that man Achebe.

Chinua Achebe: Call for Paper

F

ollowing the sudden exit of Chinua Achebe, doyen of African literature, founding editor of the African Writers Series and one of the founders of the Association of Nigerian Authors, the National Executive Council of the Association of Nigerian Authors is organizing a cross-country Tribute by all its chapters of the federation in honour of her departed grand trustee.

Each chapter is hereby directed by the National EXCO to organize sessions of

tribute to Chinua Achebe between the 1st and 15th of April, 2013 where writers who have encountered the novelist in academic, communal, literary or other contexts would render or submit tributes to the memory of the departed Icon of African literature in English.

The tributes would subsequently be featured in a national publication by the National EXCO of the Association of Nigerian Authors.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 31,, 2013, PAGE 57

Chinua Achebe: From Story to Set

•A scene from Biyi Bandele’s adapation of Things Fall Apart

appreciation of one the greatest prose narratives of the last century, Things Fall Apart.

Ofonogaro’s decision to commission the television shooting of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart surprisingly turned out to be one of the finest and most effective business decisions that transformed the entire entertainment turf.

And this decision was driven by one factor. The existence

BY MCPHILIPS NWACHUKWU

W

hen the Babanginda administration appointed Dr Walter Ofonagoro the Director General of Nigerian Television Authourity NTA, little was it known that, that simple policy decision by the new helmsman was going to inaugurate a revolutionary trend both on stage, movie and in the entire literary

BY JAPHET ALAKAM

PRESENTA PRESENT ATION

T

HE memories and life of late Afrobeat music leg end Fela Anikulapo Kuti came alive last week when friends , family members and followers of the revolutionary social crusader gathered at Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island for the public presentation of a new book about him entitled Kalakuta Diaries written by a friend and former personal aid to Fela, Uwa Erhabor.

The launch of the book which can be described as a personal narrative of events and characters that propelled and defined an African social-political setting in the heart of Lagos, Nigeria was graced by many notable Nigerians among whom were; Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi who chaired the occasion, Fela’s long standing lawyer, Femi Falana, Human Rights Activists,Yinka Odumakin, Keith Richards, MD of Cowbell, Mrs Bose Kuti and Fela’s sons Kunle and Seun.

In his opening remarks, Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi who described himself as Fela’s earliest musical soul mate said that he counts himself extremely honoured to chair the event. He recounted his long standing relationship with Fela which dates back to the secondary school days down to when they leftd for academic studies in London.

He narrated the series of encounters he had with Fela during their secondary school days and pointed out that it was impossible to have lived in the 50s,

of a good story. The story of one man, a genius. That man was Chinua Achebe, who in an attempt to tell the story of clash of culture and civilization succeeded in telling a universal story that resonates with truth and emotion.

Achebe’s novel, written from the hindsight of history challenges the prevailing Darwinist theory of superiority imposed on Africans by Eurocentric writers and anthropologists.

Writing from the conviction such much espoused in his essay, The Novelist as a Teacher, he tells a very beautiful story that captures the beautiful soul and mannerism of the black world.

Through his own engaging narrative powerdomesticated English language that carries the syntax and rhythm of the native language- Achebe tells the story of a generation in a way that it can longer be ignored even by the real owners of the English language.

Achebe, Martin Adaji, Artistic Director of the National Troupe of Nigeria

observes, “had this craft of speaking and writing the English language. If he spoke English, using English language, you would think that he was speaking Igbo to you. You would begin to think about what he spoke to you in your own native language.

He spoke the English language with the fluidity of Igbo language.”

It is perhaps the depth of Achebe’s use of language, the simplicity of his prose and the communicative power of his proverbs that attracted theatrical and stage interests on the entire gamut of his creative oeuvre.

Therefore, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation started off the journey in 1961 with a radio/ television drama called Okonkwo which was said to have featured Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka.

Also in 1987, the book was made into a very successful miniseries directed by David Orere and broadcast on Nigerian television by the Nigerian Television Authority.

It starred several established film actors, including Pete Edochie, Nkem Owoh and Sam Loco.

Abami Eda’s Portrait from Kalakuta Diaries

Interestingly, It is some of these early cast of television set of Achebe’s famed Things Fall Apart; Nkem Owok, late Sam Loco and indefectible Pete Edochie that became some of the pioneer and poster faces of Nigeria’s commanding movie industry.

The successful adaptation of the novel by Nigerian Television Authority also encouraged some other Nigerian scholars and theatre practitioners to look at Achebe’s others works.

In this regard, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka professor of Theatre and Dramatic Arts, Emeka Nwabueze as part of Achebe’s 60 th year birth day anniversary in 1990 adapted Arrow of God. It titled, When the Arrow Rebounds.

Besides, Nigerian Television Authority’s shooting of Things Fall Apart, Nigerian born and British based scholar, Biyi Bandele Thomas also adapted Things Fall Apart for the stage.

The stage attempt at interpreting Achebe’s narrative of the colonial encounter has not only helped to deepen the postcolonial discourse, but more fundamentally, aided in the popularization of both the authour and the text.

help us to remember Fela today.”

Falana, who was Fela’s lawyer in his characteristic way bemoaned the current political realities in Nigeria where corruption is highly celebrated and argued said that these are are most of these things that Fela spoke against when he was alive. He mentioned one of Fela’s song Authority Stealing recorded in 1988 which captures the essence of the current state of corruption in the land. According to him, Fela was talking about the celebrated pen robbers that stole millions then as against the armed robbers that stole hundreds.

Voice from beyond

H

Late Afrobeat King Fela Anikulapo Kuti •Late Fela Anikulapo Kuti 60s and 70s without being infected by Felaism. “The life as a school boy then without Fela was not complete” He said.

Continuing, the famous art patron also told the audience how Fela entertained them with his Koola Labito band at Pancreas Hall, recounting that he used to play as a Jazz trumpter at Maharani hall, but that it was his mother who challenged him to play his own music instead instead of playing the Oyibo music.

He also narrated how Fela fought many battles till the time he fell ill and later died and described the late Afrobeat King as an important individual that one can not do away with.

A

ccording to him, “Fela was a great mind, a wonderful human being, who made great impact on all who know him. We must thank the author for doing a great job that will

e described Fela as a prophet, and stated that even from the grave Fela’s voice still echoes to impact on current issues. Finally, he praised the author for bringing the tangible book on Fela at this time, adding that Fela was a big donation from the Kuti family to the \ African project.

Yinka Odumakin on his part praised the Kuti’s family for being a valuable asset to the country. Recounting how he saw Seun perform Fela’s Sorrow, tears and blood very well at age six and how he has been doing now, he said, “Fela has done his duty for generation’s yet unborn.”

Keith Richards, the Managing Director of Cowbell who was the Chief launcher described the late Afro beat king as the real role model for people. Richards who pointed out that Fela was one of the three peoples he regretted not meeting during their life time. “I never met Fela for one day, I lived in Nigeria for years but I regret not having met him when he was alive.” He added.

PAGE 58 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 31, 2013

Misdirected anger over Alamieyeseigha

BY DANIEL ALABRAH VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF Pardon for ex-governor of Bayelsa on a tripod

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RITICS of President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Council of State over the pardon granted former Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, are standing on a rickety tripod for their vituperations: one leg says it is immoral for the President to officially forgive a man that had been found guilty of corruptly enriching himself with state funds and jailed after being removed from office.

The other leg insists that Jonathan displayed crass insensitivity to the mood of a nation that has accepted corruption as its arch-enemy.

Thirdly, are those who see the pardon as part of a grand plan to return the President to power in 2015 and make way for a Senate landing for Alamieyeseigha.

Without doubt, the naysayers of the action agree that Mr President did not contravene the provision of the Constitu-

tion he swore to protect but aver that in observing and exercising his powers, he “must at all times be (on) the side of natural justice, equity and good conscience.”

The moral school critics therefore argue that the issue is beyond a constitutional matter. It is chiefly a moral affair.

Even at that, we still cannot fault what the President and the NCS did as it is morally wrong to refuse clemency to a remorseful person after years of his transgression. The Holy Writ, which the moralists subscribe to, does not permit that you hang a judgment of everlasting guilt on somebody that has been punished and who has atoned for his errant deed.

If the President and the respected National Council of State, in their wisdom, are clear in their mind and decision that truly the former governor has since his prison term been rehabilitated to the point that he has been helping to stabilize the hitherto troubled Niger Delta region, it would be mischievous to question them and continue to see Alamieyeseigha in his old garb. Of course, this is not to suggest that crime pays or should not be punished. But

only cynical citizens would read evil in the President’s move.

The second leg of the tripod of the critics is also wobbly in the face of the argument that corruption, in the wider sense, is only symptomatic of some more malignant malaise. We cannot therefore charge Mr.

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VIEWPOINT

idency as U.S. presidents do.

But why wait for that long to perform a patriotic service?

Why deny the nation what is profitable to it now?

The third leg the pardon opponents are standing on is the most fragile and laughable: the link of Alamieyeseigha’s pardon to the fortunes of

We still cannot fault what the President and the NCS did as it is morally wrong to refuse clemency to a remorseful person after years of his transgression

President with ‘crass grasp’ of the issue of corruption in granting pardon to a man that had been convicted of graft.

His critics also say the timing of his action is wrong.

Pray, is a good deed a perishable commodity? Of course not!

Some of the critics have suggested that Jonathan should have pardoned the ex-governor at the tail end of his pres-

,

Jonathan for re-election in 2015 (if he chooses to seek nomination). The President, as we all know, needs the votes of the majority of Nigerians and not the endorsement or vote of one man. You may talk of the influence a prominent person exerts on politics.

But in the long run it is the ballot that determines the candidate’s fate. So it would amount to electoral reckless-

ness to sink your hope in one person during a poll.

One can similarly dismiss as irrational the view that the pardon was granted to prepare the ex-governor for a Senate seat in 2015. It is also preposterous to assume he did it so Alamieyeseigha can get a vice-presidential take if the President is not considered as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in 2015. What riotous imagination! Right thinking people would condemn this position the same way Nigerians should rise against the interference of the United States of America in the pardon affair. They have no right to meddle in Nigeria’s internal affairs.

Also condemnable is the call for the impeachment of the President over the matter when the fact remains that due process was followed in granting the pardon to Alamieyeseigha and the seven others.

Let critics of the action not create the impression that they are giving the President a bad name in order to hang him.

Clearly, that is the way it appears. · Alabrah is Head of Media and Communications, Presidential Amnesty Office, Abuja.

Erediauwa: A nonagenerian on the Benin throne turbulence that confronted Akenzua II due to the exposure of the new elites to representative Native Administration in the 40s and the introduction of party politics in the 50’s could only have been surmounted by a ruler of Akenzua’s experience, patience, courage and subtle diplomacy.

In his time, traditional rul-

BY AMBROSE OSAWE TRIBUTE IN BRIEF Celebrating the Omo N’Oba

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S a young prince and heir apparent, Oba Erediauwa was known as Prince Solomon Aiseokhuoba, Igbinoghodua Akenzua, crowned on March 23, 1979 as Omo N’ Oba Erediauwa, Oba of Benin at the age of 56, is about 90 years old.

He had the throne as his cradle. Apart from the usual traditional palace tutorials which begin at birth, he went to Government School, Benin after which he proceeded to Government College, Ibadan in 1939 and obtained in flying colours – his London Matriculations which qualified him to gain admission into Yaba College in 1945. After the course at Yaba, he was admitted into King’s College, Cambridge to study law and administration. He returned to Nigeria to join the Eastern Nigeria Civil Service as a District Officer (D.O.) in 1952. He transferred his services to the Federal Civil Service and rose

Oba Erediauwa to the position of Permanent Secretary. He retired from service in 1973 and became the regional representative of Gulf Oil Company. He was appointed Commissioner for Finance in the military administration of Major-General Innih in 1975.

His early retirement from the service was to have time to expose him fully to the intricacies of the administrative challenges that would confront him in the performance of his duties as Oba of Benin.

His father, Akenzua II, also in his time, was Secretary to Eweka I, his father. This made him to have a first hand knowledge of traditional issues that arose from the Native Administration.

The political

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TRIB UTE TRIBUTE

Eguobase Gaius Obaseki, the ninth child of Agho Obaseki.Nevertheless, Erediauwa N’ Oba has used his office to influence the welfare of his people. He is an unmoving pivot around which the lives of his subjects revolve.

Over the years, he discharged his responsibilities with much worldly wisdom and with dauntless courage.

Since his ascension to the ancient throne, he has given effective leadership to his subjects

ers could be members of political parties.

Akenzua II was in the forefront of the creation of the Midwest State.

He formed a political party for this purpose – Benin-Delta Peoples Party in 1953. OtuEdo was formed to defend his person against the political onslaught of the Ogboni/Action Group under the leadership of

,

Since his ascension to the ancient throne, he has given effective leadership to his subjects. On his coronation day, he pledged to unite all Edo speaking people including those in diaspora. His main focus was to establish the great Edo culture and tradition in line with acceptable norms of a modern society.

For the Binis or the Edos, there is always a great need

for the celebration of their values. They celebrate the institution which was once in travails. On occasion like this they also recall the unfortunate and unpleasant events of 1897: The era of the interregnum, the embattled 1914 restoration of the monarchy and the enthronement of Eweka II; then of course, the triumph of the monarchy during the glorious reign of Akenzua II 1933-1978. In essence both father Akenzua II and son Erediauwa were products of colonial Nigeria’s transformational growth of renewal or rebirth of a new nation.

The age of an Oba does not matter to the Edos as you cannot separate the Oba from his throne or his subjects. That is why their usual prayer is that the Oba should reign and live long (Oba ghato okpere), if possible live for ever. While they celebrate their Oba in their various rituals they are indirectly celebrating continuity, survival and stability of an institution which for about 1,000years remains undaunted. Uku Akpolokpolo Omo N’ Oba N’ Edo Erediauwa is only 90 years old this year.

Oba Ghato Okpere. Ise * Osawe, is a journalist, historian, former member of the House of Representatives

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 31, 2013, PAGE 59

Akpabio and the veiled media attacks

BY EDWARD EKPENYONG VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF In defence of a governor’s donations.

T

HE continued out pouring of media attacks on Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State for his kind gesture aimed at the symbolic uplifting of deserving Nigerian stars, specifically Mr. Innocent (Tuface) Idibia, may soon find its way into Guinness Book of Records. The sustained momentum of the attacks, obviously effectuated by series of exasperated desperation traceable to the unfolding ‘do or die’ politics of 2015 elections being unabashedly fermented, is something else for the history books. It is between the latitudes of the desperate bids for 2015 elections and pure mischief to destroy the patent goodwill by Akpabio that the orchestrated media attacks can be best situated.

With little recourse to

genuine civility and integrity, it is unfortunate that these hired media hatchet-men have continued a chain of avaricious fibrous-rooted arguments against Akpabio’s marriage gift to the best internationally known and recognized music icon in Nigeria

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VIEWPOINT

cial management of the people’s resources to an obscene level… and a display of profligate culture. “In the same editorial feature, it is stated that “Akpabio, who once gave a cash gift of N10 million to the national Under-17 football team – the Golden Eaglets-for

There is no denying the fact that Akpabio is being intentionally marked for mudslinging by his media attackers and their sponsors. In this regard, the today. In a pitiable orchestrated format, select personal and editorial columns are being dedicated to an unbridled dissipation of time and media space to demean a very noble cause quite worthy of emulation by right-thinking members of the society, especially media opinion leaders.

In one of the obviously sponsored media missiles being unjustly hurled on the governor, he was said to have engaged in “taking finan-

,

beating Mali in a first leg African Under-17 Championship qualifier in Calabar went ahead the same weekend to hand out a cash of N6 million to the six SouthSouth PDP at the party’s reconciliation meeting in Calabar.” But, apart from the fact that these donations are not out of place constitutionally, it is puzzling why they are being blown out of commonsensical proportion by a section of the most respected Southwest

press.

It is even more puzzling that only Akpabio’s donations are being lampooned in this regard. In November last year, governors from the Muslim Nigeria and other eminent Nigerians including the Governor of the Central Bank, openly donated generously towards the building of the mosque in Olusegun Obasanjo International Library that against the N350 million being sought for the building of the mosque, more than N370 million was realized in a single day, and none of the media do-gooders and ‘public watchdogs’ remember to talk or write about it.

Not too long ago, the most respected Highlife living legend, Dr. Victor Abimbola Olaiya, was honoured with the latest model of Toyota Avensis car by Governor Fayemi of Ekiti State to mark his 80 th birthday. This gesture was applauded by the same media crucifying Akpabio for the same worthy and historic move. Recently too, a political leader of the southwest extraction celebrated another phase of his birthday milestone and five state governors

from the region and Edo were alleged to have donated generously towards the success of the event and no media columnist or a newspaper criticized the donations just as the N54 million donated by Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos never attracted any media odium.

There is no denying the fact that Akpabio is being intentionally marked for mudslinging by his media attackers and their sponsors. In this regard, the attackers have unprofessionally constituted themselves to the accusers, defendants, judges at the same time in attacking the gestures that are purely humanitarian, and in the real sense, are out of the orbit of the series of the hundreds of unreported outlandish ‘Naira Rain’ in celebration of vagueness like birthdays, funerals and other social engagements with no positive import on the nation’s socio-economic advancement by many notable political leaders in Nigeria generally.

Returning to the vexed issues of N50 million endowment funds he instituted to honour talented or exceptional actors

and actress in Nollywood; his gift to Tuface Idibia and others, what the media missile-shooters probably did not know is that the expenditure of the governor is captured in the Akwa Ibom State Budget 2013 Under Section 467 Subsection 169 (Other Activities of the Governor Hospitality and Donations.). This, in effect, is where Akpabio derives his constitutional power for the humanitarian gestures being mischievously attacked.

It is bewildering that any right-thinking Nigerian should pray that Tuface Idibia should become a victim of the callous culture of honouring our stars only when there are in the valley of shadow of death by Nigerian leaders. It is a most embarrassing thing to note that the token of love by Akpabio, which is nothing much for the musician to personally acquire giving his stupendous wealth, could become a very ridiculous media issue.

*Dr. Ekpenyong is a US-based medical practitioner and public analyst.

Real estate firm Deltans urged to support reports FCT minister to Jonathan Demolition of N240m property:

By Chris Ochayi

F

OLLOWING the dem olition of property worth over N240 million, a real estate firm, Faplin Nigeria Limited, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to sack the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, who it accused of disobedience to a court order to demolish the housing estate.

The Project Manager of the firm, Geoffrey Onwubuya, who made the call in Abuja, however, threatened to file contempt proceedings against Mohammed for demolishing three structures in his estate.

Onwubuya alleged that the FCT Administration demolished part of its estate at Dakwo District Cadastral Zone, Abuja, on Tuesday, in violation of an order by Justice O. A Musa of the FCT High Court, dated January 23, 2013.

Onwubuya, who put the valued of the estate at N240 million, including the fence, while showing the court order, explained

that the minister and the director, department of development control and other FCT agencies in charge of land matters were parties to the suit.

According to him, the

certificate of judgement was also obtained and served on the respondents who he said ignored the order and went ahead to pull down part of the estate.

The manager stated that

his firm got the allocation for the land through the appropriate channels, adding that the property had no encumbrance and it was duly approved by the minister.

Anambra guber: Why we back Obiogbolu – Stakeholders

By LEKAN BILESANMI

A

S the next gover norship election in Anambra State hots up, some stakeholders have endorsed Dr Alex Obiogbolu. Obiogbolu is the only Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, member to have publicly declare to run for the election.

A stakeholder in Anaocha local government area, Dr. Enendu, while promising the support of the people of the area for the aspirant, said the people are now poised to correct the mistakes of the past whereby multimillionaires are given the mantle of leadership

only for them to turn around and trade away the soul of the state by seeing everything in terms of Naira and Kobo and total disrespect for the welfare of the Anambra people. He expressed the local government’s preparedness to see that the aspiration of Obiogbolu becomes a reality so as turn the state around for the better.

In his own contribution, Hon. Chibuzor Oli declared that the stakeholders had realized that Obiogbolu is a good product who can easily be sold to all the senatorial zones in the state.

Chief Emma Oguaju

pleaded for unity among the PDP members and stated that there was need to back up the aspiration of Obiogbolu.

The story was the same at Njikoka local government area where the stakeholders who attended a meeting tried to outdo one another in extolling the qualities of the aspirant.

Obiogbolu, while thanking the stakeholders for the confidence reposed in him, said that he is the answer to Governor Peter Obi’s prayers that whoever that will take over the mantle of governing Anambra after him must be a selfless person.

ijaw for governor

D

E LTANS have

been urged to support the Ijaw nation to produce the next governor of the state.

Making the appeal in Port Harcourt, Coordinator, Delta Youths, based in Port Harcourt, Mr Bussa Fullpower, said other ethnic groups in the state should back the Ijaw to have the slot this time, stressing that the Ijaw had not held the position of governor or deputy since the creation of the state over a decade ago.

According to Fullpower, the Urhobo produced the first executive civilian governor of the state, in the person of Olorogun Felix Ibru and the second Chief James Ibori, stating that the people of Anioma had also produced deputy

governors, Evangelist Simeon Ebonka, Chief Benjamin Elue and also host the capital city of the state.

He said in this republic, the sitting governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan is of the Itsekiri stock while his deputy, Prof Amos Utuama is from Isoko, appealing to Deltans to support Senator James Manager, who the youths would want to be the candidate of the Ijaw nation in the election.

He further recalled that Senator Manager when he was Commissioner for Works in the state made sure that all sections of the state felt the impact of governance. According to him, he constructed roads, bridges and opened villages to modern civilisation in the entire states.

PAGE 60—SUNDAY

Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013

Delta govt needs support of the people to deliver on promises – Tebite FESTUS

AHON

OLOROGUN Taleb Tebite is a member of Delta State House of Assembly representing Ughelli South constituency.

In this interview, he speaks on the administration of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan and other issues.

Excerpts: How will you rate the performance of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan as a member of the Delta State House of Assembly?

Speaking as a Deltan that I am, Governor Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan is one governor to beat in the Nigeria of today. He is one governor that has coordinated projects in all aspects of human endeavour.

Since he assumed office in May 2007, he has kept faith with his three-point agenda.

In the area of infrastructure, Uduaghan is doing well; in the area of health, Uduaghan is doing well; in education and agriculture, he is doing exceedingly well. You are very conversant with the state; take a drive across Delta, and what you see is massive construction of township roads completed and on-going in Asaba, Agbor, Sapele, Jeremi and other major towns in the state.

And I want to commend the state commissioner for works,

Mr Solomon Funkekeme, for the quality of roads and drainages being constructed. I also commend the effort of the state commissioner for special duties (infrastructures), Mrs Orezi Esievo.

In the area of education, ninety percent of our primary and secondary schools are undergoing reconstruction. As we speak, our schools have been given a major facelift. Schools are being renovated with modern facilities. Besides, government is paying enrolment fees for our JSS 3 and SSS 3 students. Let me use this medium to commend our commissioner for basic and secondary education, Prof Patrick Muoboghare, and commissioner for higher education, Prof Hope Eghagha, for bringing their wealth of experience in education to bear in the discharge of their duties.

Our children in tertiary institutions are also being paid bursary and scholarships. The state government has several scholarship schemes. There is a scheme for those doing first degree, second degree and Ph.D. There is another one for first class students to proceed on their master ’s programmes in universities of their choice in the world.

Our rural communities are

every part of the State has projects in the appropriation bill. Better days await the people and I wish to appeal to them

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BY

Taleb Tebite being connected to the national grid. Transformers are being installed. The commissioner for power and energy, Mr Charles Emetulu, also needs to be commended for the work he is doing particularly in our rural communities; even our riverine communities are being linked.

How will you describe the relationship between the executive and the legislative arms of government in the state?

We have a very cordial working relationship. The House, under the leadership of Mr Victor Ochei, is vibrant and focused. We have passed several bills that have direct bearing on gover nance. This year ’s appropriation bill is a bill for rapid development of the state;

Better days await the people and I wish to appeal to them never to relent in their support for Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan

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never to relent in their support for Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan. Uduaghan holds the development of the state close to his heart and is determined to accomplish his vision for Delta before the expiration of his tenure in 2015.

Let us look at the Asaba International Airport; how has it affected the economy of Delta since it commenced flights last year?

The airport, apart from its economic gains, has given Asaba, the state capital a facelift.

People are now building around the airport; the capital city is

developing towards that direction now. The airport is a very busy one and you can imagine how it will be when it commences international flights with cargo planes landing there. Anambra people come here to catch flights to Abuja and Lagos. So you can see that the economic benefits of the airport are enormous; government needs the support of all Deltans to deliver on its promises.

How do you rate the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan?

President Goodluck Jonathan has shown to Nigerians that the people from the minority groups can govern well if given the opportunity to rule this country.

This is the first time somebody from the minority ethnic group is governing this country as elected president and he has made us proud.

I want to thank Governor Uduaghan for the support he is giving President Goodluck Jonathan. He has every reason to support Jonathan and I want to urge all Niger Deltans to support Mr President to succeed.

Your constituency was ravaged by the last flood, which wreaked havoc in the country.

What is your assessment of the federal and state governments intervention in that regard?

We thank God for the life of Governor Uduaghan who God is using to bless us in this critical time in the history of our dear state. Governor Uduaghan was driven by love; he took personal interest in those affected by the floods.

Yero’s 100 days: Self-kudos amid knocks losers.

Street urchins or Alamajiris, as they are known here, also had a good fill as they became emergency PDP boys.

That kind of spectacle was uncommon under the late Governor Ibrahim Yakowa, who managed to rule without a battery of hoodlums, and screaming faithful disrupting public functions as was the culture with his two predecessors, Senator Ahmed Makarfi and Arc Namadi Sambo.

Yero was an accountant in the Nalado Enterprise, owned by Sambo. When Sambo became governor in 2007, he brough in Yero to be his Commissioner for Finance. Yero became deputy governor after Sambo was elevated to Vice President in 2009, rising to be governor after the demise of Yakowa last December.

“If there is anything that you must give to Yero ”, said a reporter with a foreign based broadcast company who does not want his name mentioned, “it is that he has returned the unruly PDP boys to their jobs.”

But, Yero and his team said there was indeed a good reason to celebrate the governor ’s one year in office.

And it was evident that day.

Spread under the scotching sun, about 500 metres from the stand of the VIP behind the

excited rowdy crowd, were N869 million worth of goodies for the poor on loan: 15 luxury buses, 35 mini buses, 40 taxis and 700 tricycles all under the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P) purchased by the late Yakowa, who died before sharing them out.

And that was not all.

According to the Director General, Media and Publicity to the Gover nor, Alh. Ahmed Maiyaki, “the governor has met with both Christian and Muslim leaders including traditional leaders seeking sustained peace in Kaduna State.

“He has also concluded plans to empower 6,000 unemployed women in the 23 local government areas of the state.

The governor has improved the health care system in the state.

In the 2013 budget, there is a provision to construct 30 new health facilities in the state, in addition to genuine commitment towards the eradication of polio and measles.

“The governor has also kept his word to run an all exclusive government”.

To the last one, however, the Southern Kaduna Progressive Youth Movement, led by Mr Caleb Samuel Abbott, felt very differently.

At a press conference, Abbott alleged that there was not a single Christian in Kaduna State Government House that held any viable responsibility, accusing Yero of transferring or

sacking all Christians he inherited.

According to the group, only Muslims serving under Yakowa survived the alleged purge to make present occupants of these offices all Muslims: Chief Security Officer to the Governor,

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Continued from page 55

In the last 100 days, the Yero administration has not done enough to convince the populace that it is indeed a continuation of the Yakowa administration

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Chief Detail, Aide de Camp (ADC), Police Orderly, SSS Orderly, and Private Principal Secretary (PPS).

Others include the Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff, Secretary to Kaduna State Government, Director General, Media, Director, Finance/ Accounts, Government House,

Senour Special Assistant, Media, Senior Special Assistant Public Affairs.

The rest are: Director Admin/ Supply, Transport Officer, Chief Driver, Government House Cashier, and Director of Works.

“We have it on authority that even long serving domestic and staff in Government House who are not Muslims were relived of the jobs and replaced by Muslims”, the group said.

But Maiyaki defended Yero, this saying, ”It is the tradition at all levels of government. The appointment made so far was done without malice. His Excellency has repeated this over and over again. He does not have any problem with the people of Southern Kaduna and he has promised to carry all citizens in the state along”.

He said that the accusers of the government forgot to include that the Protocol Officer to the Governor, Mr. Ibrahim Kure, is a Christian, even though the Director of Protocol is a Muslim.

“Even the Head of Service, Mr. Nathaniel Hayab, appointed under Yakowa is a Christian. If the governor wanted, he could have removed him. But he did not do that because he believes in fairness”, he added.

The governor got another damming assessment from an expected quarter - the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

On Yero’s 100 days in office, the state Chairman of the ACN, Mohammed Sani Soba, in a press statement on Tuesday,

said: “As the administration of Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero marks its 100 days in office, the Kaduna State Chapter of the ACN wishes to make the following observations: “Yero administration has not recorded any meaningful progress in its 100 days in office largely due to the absence of a clearly defined direction and poor information management mechanism which keeps the people of Kaduna State in suspense.

“The administration came with a lot of goodwill and sympathy considering the circumstances surrounding the tragic death of the former Governor Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa. However, in the last 100 days, the Yero administration has not done enough to convince the populace that it is indeed a continuation of the Yakowa administration.

“Instead, the Yero administration has so far proved to be an off-shoot of the Namadi Administration that was well known for its exclusivism, suspicious implementation of projects that have no direct bearing on the lives of the citizens of Kaduna State such as the new Governor ’s Office that gulped over N10 billion (and still not utilized) and award of fictitious contracts like the provision of uniforms for Primary School pupils which are still being paid for, years after the departure of the Namadi Administration even though no one could see the uniforms.

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013, PAGE 61

B

osun Oladele, Principal Partner/Chief Executive Officer of Oladele & Oladele Solicitors, Lagos, was Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s first Commissioner for Information and Orientation in Oyo State. He was relieved of his appointment on the 6th of November, 2012 along with two other members of the cabinet. But while many received his sack news as a rude shock, Oladele described it as a routine event that must happen in the life of man.

Hard-work and service.

These, according to Oladele, are his stepping stones to success. He is not only comfortable today as a professional, he is also relevant in politics.In the politics of Oyo State, Oladele is on ground.

He was a die-hard member of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) such that while others fled the party for fear of the unknown in the eight years that the PDP held sway in the state, Oladele remained a consistent youth leader and saw the party through its transformation from AD to Action Congress (AC) and later Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

He says the road to success was rough. The fourth in a family of five explains that but for the grace of God and the disciplinarian attitude of his parents who taught him and his siblings the virtues of good character and hard-work, it was hard to believe that the beginning of his success could come at the time it came. No surprise he took the hard-working attitude to office as commissioner.

“I would say that if not for God, everything about me

and, having been trained as teacher, I, ordinarily, should go to the classroom and start teaching. But by the virtue of my own nature and the kind of things that our parents taught us never to say die or quit, I always struggled to put in my best; aspiring, hoping and working towards it”,he started off as we sat down for this interview.

“I attended St. Agnes College of Education, Oyo. I was supposed to go to university to complete my

,

BY BASHIR ADEFAKA

If not for God, everything about me today would not have been possible because everything I have achieved came to me at that stage that human beings would say it’s rather becoming late

,

today would not have been possible because everything I have achieved came to me at that stage that human beings would say it’s rather becoming late.

Starting out from tertiary institution, I was trained as a teacher in the first instance

studies so that I could have a degree in education. Along the line, I also put in for JAMB, took the examination to become a preliminary student, that is, year one in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. And at the point I matriculated to read law, to

me, I would say I was probably one of the oldest in that class regarding the fact that I had had experience in a tertiary institution before then as an undergraduate.

“And graduating from OAU and through the Nigerian Law School, I wanted to learn, I wanted to be a practising lawyer and I wanted to be a good one. So, I decided to team up with a law firm of, then, a young man that was busy and also amiable to me.

I undertook my Youth Service there and I’m talking of Ade, Adeyeye & Co in Lagos here.

Barrister Adeyeye would tell me that he’ is a lawyer, a professional like you and that there is no way a lawyer can adequately pay a lawyer ’s remuneration but that the best thing is to learn to be able to make this money yourself ’ .

And I was doing that without getting salary but if brief came, I would work on it and get a fraction of it.

“So, that encouraged me to learn harder because I believed then that it was sweet and it could be sweeter making your own money and having a chance over your money and how you want to spend it or how you want to manage it.”

Just for the aim of attaining after-school knowledge of the

practice,Olad ele spent 15 years in the law firm without earning salary but, through the knowledge of making selfmoney taught him by the owner of the chamber, he began to ride a brand new car before leaving to set up his own law firm.

“By the time I was leaving him to set up my own law firm, I had already started riding a brand new car, bought out of my own sweat. I had already become a partner in the law firm and head of chamber. I was able to handle things on my own and I left to form Oladele & Oladele Solicitors in 2008.

“Meanwhile I believe that none of the stretch was easy.

As a lawyer, you want to stay in a place in the name of learning and spend ten years, talk less of fifteen years? But I have no regrets that, today, if I have to do it again, I will do it all over. Because, it wasn’t just a commitment; it wasn’t the desire to learn; it wasn’t the aspiration to be able to hold my own but it was a virtue that I developed over time: patience and steadiness. Staying with somebody in his own law firm for 15 years before you have your own, everybody would say that was rather late. But, to me, that’s the way it was destined to be.”

C M Y K

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 31, 2013 --PAGE 62

League Reforms versus Corrupt Strongholds

By HARRY IWUALA

I

t didn’t come as much surprise the surreptitious attempts by some group to engineer confusion and derail the planned reform of the Nigeria Professional Football League which only recently emerged from years of the worst kind of self-inflicted disruption. As one who has extensive knowledge of the infighting that ruined the management of the league these past four years, the appointment of the 13-member Interim Management Committee was an insightful step towards resolving the league crisis. I found myself agreeing with the Honourable Sports Minister and dropped my suspicion of his earlier motives for insisting on the sacking of the Chief Victor Rumson Baribote-led Board of the now defunct Nigeria Premier League (NPL) or is it Nigeria Football League (NFL) Limited Board.

While the membership of the committee seems unwieldy, the quality and pedigree of the persons can hardly be faulted.

The significance of their resource capacity can be gleaned in the report published recently detailing their destination and roadmap.

For the first time since the inception of what has been tagged Premier League in the country, a direct attempt at administering football as a commercial venture has been presented. But it is natural to resist change especially by a few who has held the system hostage and feeding filthy fat on the sweat of young Nigerians.

Let us examine the issues that seem to have been contentious starting with the alarm raised over the incorporation of the League Management Company (LMC). What emerges from most of the submissions made on social media is the question of ‘who granted the promoters of LMC the mandate to hold shares in trust for the clubs’?

The second that has been raised is about the ownership of the LMC. The recent clarification made through the release of a detailed report of their ‘reason d’être’ and activities so far by Mr. Ndukar Irabor, exposed a huge gap in knowledge by

most of those who have been commenting on the structure of LMC and their approach to managing the league. But some are also strictly out of mischief aimed at retaining the status quo.

Some persons have also contended that the clubs ought

“

Change is usually hard to absorb especially in a clime where people have gotten used to doing things in a particular wrong but selfish way.

to have come together to approve the incorporation of LMC and this flies in the face of the fact that it was the clubs in the first place that came together to dissolve their former executive committee. If recent development in the organization of the league has run counter to expectations of the clubs, it is incumbent on the ‘Club Owners’ to take a common position and challenge the LMC. Incorporation of a company does not require a crowd and the reason for given mandate to anyone is for such persons to take decisions that will foster objectives of the mandate giver. But we are yet to hear complaints from the club, instead they have been participating in the 2013 season under the supervision of the LMC. It has been a surprise to read and hear arguments to the effect that Mr. Irabor and his team have hijacked the collective property of the clubs through the LMC. This position arose from incorporation document that showed that as Chairman of LMC, he facilitated the registration process by assigning 20% of the paid-up capital to hiss name. This obviously was an interim measure to secure the incorporation and more so avoid the legal challenges that

Nduka Irabor led to the judgment to unwind the NFL. You can only become an active shareholder or director by making equity contributions in cash, service or machinery to the capitalization of a business.

What most of those crying wolf have missed is that the league has turned a phase to operate as a business and not the usual multi-purpose come-grab affair. As seen in the ruling by the respected Justice D. O. Okorowo of the Abuja High Court in the case brought by Dr. Sam Sam Jaja against the NFF, NFL and some other individuals, “that the incorporation of the 1st Defendant as a company with the 1st and 2nd Defendant as the only subscribers to its Memorandum and Articles of

Association is tantamount to incorporation by one person and thus illegal and void in so far as the 1st Defendant was not a legal person at the time of the subscription to the Memorandum and Articles of Association.”

Perhaps those who are worried about the stake of the clubs in LMC have failed to realize that the company has only been 25% capitalized going from the document recently circulated. What happens to the remaining 75%? Isn’t it obvious that this is the time to properly dimension football ownership and open the space for businesses to own stakes in football management through private placements and subscription. The clubs and

individuals are free to buy up the remaining 75% and then we will hold the LMC Promoters accountable for returns on the investment over an agreed period of time.

Change is usually hard to absorb especially in a clime where people have gotten used to doing things in a particular wrong but selfish way. Why would anyone resist the withdrawal of the league franchise from an organization which has been declared as not known to law? At this point in time, we should be analyzing the business objectives of LMC to see how it can profit domestic football, especially the players through their clubs.

At this point that we seem to have gotten the management issues of the league on the right pedestal, the clubs can be helped by making them take a queue from also taking the right steps towards commercialization. We should be speaking the right language of franchise presently and not bothering our heads over what constitutes a league. We could have called it by whatever name that can be sold so far it attracts sponsors. It does not matter if it is called the Nigeria Football Conference or the Nigeria Football Club Challenge, etc but what matters is the perception we have of it.

Harry Iwuala, a Sports and Media Consultant, a former Sponsorship Manager at Globacom Limited wrote from Lagos.

Heineken presents UEFA Champions League trophy tour in style

W

hile the vast majority of global audience still has to wait till May 25 to behold on television, the most coveted and keenly contested club trophy in the world, Heineken, global sponsor of the UEFA Champions League again brings fans closer to the holy grail of football with the UEFA Champions League trophy tour.

This is the seventh consecutive year that Heineken has undertaken the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour .In 2009, it presented the trophy to millions of Nigerians as it toured various locations over a three day tour in Lagos.

Over 7,000 fans were at the open day event in Victoria Island before the trophy left for Egypt. The tour gave Nigerian fans a rare opportunity to be much closer and have a feel of the trophy.

This year Heineken and the revered UEFA Champions League trophy will be visiting Brazil, Congo and Indonesia to give fans the unique opportunity to interact with the famous trophy, the ultimate prize of the world’s most prestigious club football tournament.

Two

internationally renowned football greats, Bebeto, who won the FIFA World Cup with Brazil and Clarence Seedorf, a Heineken ambassador and four-time winner of the UEFA Champions League trophy were present at the first leg of the tour at the Casa Miranda Lagoon in Rio de Janeiro last weekend.

Still to come are two Heineken ambassadors, Marcel Desailly on April 6 and 7 in Kinshasa, Congo,

followed by Freddie Ljungberg on April 13 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The UEFA Champions League Trophy tour presented is a true example of the globalization of both Heineken and the UEFA Champions League.

“The UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour is an annual event powered by Heineken and it takes place in different continents during the knockout phase.

UCL TROPHY... Celestine Babayaro (L) and Ruud Gullit at the unveiling of the UEFA Champions League trophy during the tour to Nairobi, Kenya last year.

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013 — 63

Dropped overage athlete targets world junior championships

By BEN EFE

J

unior athlete Ese Brume watched from the standards of the Warri Township stadium as the events of the African Youth Athletics championships unfolded yesterday. She was one of Nigeria’s brightest hopes for a medal, but sadly she was dropped at the last

minute for being over the age limit.

The University of Benin undergraduate flashed a smile when she was approached for her comments. For her it was like life goes on, but she regretted that she was dropped from the team.

“I don’t know why they dropped me. If it is because of age, I am sure I am not the

only athletes in camp over the age category.

“However, I am not bother I am out of the championships even as I badly wanted to compete.

“But this is not the end of the road for me. I will train hard for other junior championships,” said the long jumper who is eying to make Olympics history like Chioma Ajunwa and Blessing Okagbare.

Athletics Federation of Nigeria member and camp commandant of the Nigerian team Jide Josiah stated that the athlete was not eligible to participate in the championships.

“She came into the team because she was allowed to participate at the trials. She was screened out at the 2012 D.K Olukoya championships. We have to drop her even as some people wanted her in because she can win gold for us.

“We do not want to win by default,” said Josiah adding that all other athletes in the team are under the age category.

Cross River grassroots athletics second to none, says coach

By BEN EFE

C

ross River athletics coach, Nelson Etung Godwin has dismissed insinuations in certain quarters that the State’s grassroot sports development programme was a waste.

The coach is here in Warri with five of Cross River athletes who are in Team Nigeria for the Africa Youth Athletics Championships. The Athletes include Emmanuel Agbeba, Akpo Edwin, Edidiong Offonime, Stella Sunday and Phebian Edoki who are products of the Cross River grassroot sports programme.

Coach Godwin stated that the programme coordinated by Bruce Ijirigho was yielding positive results and those trying to cast aspersions on the programme and those in charge of affairs are only doing so because they felt left out.

“It is not true that the programme is a waste. We are getting positive results, people who felt they ought to be running the programme are the ones fighting.

“What is happening is that there are certain older athletes whose career is on the brink.

Dr Bruce advised them to think of some other things to do like coaching, going back to school to carve out a future outside track and field.

“This is because we have junior athletes who are coming up to take their places. The young ones are the top priority of the programme and these athletes are being taken care of reasonably. They are paid allowances, which they use to transport themselves to school

and training venues.

“It is those who feel that the

money should be coming to them that are belly aching,” said the coach.

Nigeria must revive schools sports, says Olympics veteran

By BEN EFE

V

eteran Nigerian Olympian, Sam Igun declared that for there to be another boom in sports in country, all efforts should be made to revive school sports.

Igun, a jumper was among the first set of Nigerian athletes that participated at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Italy and then followed up with other appearances in Tokyo, Japan 1964, Mexico 1968 and Munich, Germany in 1972. He stated that though there was modern infrastructure in Nigeria today, there has not been a commensurate performance from Nigerian athletes compared to his days when there were no tracks and other equipment for them to use.

Igun who was born and breed

in Warri, Delta hosts of the maiden African Youth Athletics championships said athletics development has taken a nose dive because school sports have been neglected.

“From what I have seen here at the AYAC I know that we have a lot to do, if we are to make these boys and girls future champions.

“Grassroots development now is different from what we have then. It was Games masters that brought us to national schools competitions. But now you see national coaches coming with the athletes.

“We have to revert to the way we use to organize school sports in Nigeria. We have so many talents in the country and if we don’t give them the opportunity to express themselves, then it will all come to a waste,” said Igun who is in his late 70’s and still looking agile.

NSB Host 18th Visually Impaired Inter-house sports

T

HE Nigeria Society for the Blind, NSB under the chairmanship of Mrs. Abiola Agbaje is organizing the 18th inter-house sports billed to hold on April 4, 2013 at the University of Lagos sports complex, reports Olayinka Ajayi.

Speaking at a press briefing recently held in Lagos Mrs.

Agbaje stated that the essence of the sport is to stimulate healthy body and mind through physical activities and social interaction by boosting their confidence level.

Among the games that will be displayed are March past, 50m male and female, 3 legged race, Skittle games, shot put, Tug of War, among others.

*Ese

ZENITH BANK LEAGUE: First Bank, First Deepwater make clean sweep of phase one

By Eddie Akalonu

A

rch rivals, First Bank and First Deepwater basketball clubs of Lagos have shown top form by winning games with wide margins in the Phase one of the women’s basketball league in Abuja. First Deepwater crushed new comers, Coal City Queens of Enugu 197-28 in one of a four match winning streak that also affected GT 2000 of Kaduna, whitewashed Taraba Hurricanes 84-10, and Nigeria Customs to announce its readiness to grab a fourth straight title. On its part,

First Bank posted similar wide marginal wins over the IGP Queens-70,38, and 7834 Delta Force and Nigeria Immigration ostensibly to state an intention to dethrone the reigning champions.

Fi r s t B a n k h o w e v e r, sweated profusely before securing an 83-63 win over Dolphins also of Lagos.

Although it may look a two h o r s e r a c e f o r n o w, stakeholders have hailed the standard of the league pointing out that some of the new entrants have displayed an attitude of competitiveness over the more entrenched teams.

Arsenal kiddies thank Gov. Ahmed, seek sponsorship

T

HE manager of Kwara Arsenal Kiddies FC, Mr. Soni Omo Ahamioje, has dedicated the team’s success at the just concluded Oba Erediauwa YSFON organized National U-13 boys soccer competition to God. In a chat with journalists after landing in Ilorin with trophy that has eluded Kwara state for 22years , Mr. Ahamioje thanked the government and good people Kwara state for their love and support for Kwara Arsenal Kiddies.

“I want thank God for this

victory and also the good people of Kwara state for their prayers and wonderful support.. We are particularly grateful to our hard working, dynamic and sports loving governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed for his financial assistance and support for the kids. Equally, we want appreciate the big daddy of Arsenal kiddies, his excellency, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki for giving us the first opportunity and sponsoring us to participate in the tournament in 2010,” Ahamioje said.

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 31, 2013

FIFA U-20 World Cup: Obuh plans to overhaul ‘fumbling’ F/Eagles

By JACOB AJOM, Algeria

F

LYING Eagles coach, John Obuh has said the team that has just sécured à ticket for the FIFA Junior World Cup, Istanbul 2013 could still witness changes before the tournament.

In à chat with Sunday Vanguard sports at the team’s Eden Hotel camp of the Flying Eagles, Obuh said the team will resume camp for the FIFA U-20 World Cup soon. ‘’In camp, we usually go “30 or 32 players, and we are here with just 22. So that tells you that it is not only those that are in Algeria that will fight for shirts for the World Cup team,’’ Obuh said.

He disclosed that his World Cup programme would soon

submit his World Cup programme to the NFF. ‘’What I normally do is that I use my last competition to prepare my programme. I combine the programme with the review of the competition and that is what I am going to do as soon as we arrive home from Algeria.,’’ Obuh said.

The sweat merchant said during the pre-World Cup camping, he would like to take his players beyond the African continent. ‘’I want us to go on a playing tour of Europe because we are going to the World Cup where we will be meeting teams from other continents. We need the exposure,’’ he said.

He called for support from well-meaning Nigerians. ‘’All hands must be on deck as we need the support of every Nigerian.’’

CELEBRATION... Nigeria’s Odiong Edidiong Ofonime (l) who won the 400m gold and Junaid Abimbola, silver medalist celebrate their victory in Warri.

I want to bring back boxing’s lost glory — Davidson

BY ISAAC OLAMIKAN

N

IGERIA’s latest boxing pride Davidson Emenogu (aka King Davidson) has promised to lead the fight in ensuring that the sport regained what he called its lost glory in the country.

Curtain draws on Warri 2013 as Egypt maintain lead leaving closest rival, Nigeria respectively to complete a

By BEN EFE

F

OUR days of competition at the African Youth Athletics Championships comes to an end today at the Warri Township Stadium with Nigeria striving to tilt the medals table to her favour even as Egypt is looking to finish tops.

At the close of yesterday events, the Egyptians brought their medals haul to seven

with five gold medals. Egypt swept most of the field events medals, but today things might take a different shape as the finals of the 200m and the relays will be concluded, these events will likely decide which country will emerge champions of the maiden Africa Youth Athletics Championships.

Devine Oduduru and Deborah Adewale are in good frame to win the boys and girls 200m

CROSS WORD PUZZLE ACROSS DOWN 1.Nigerian state (4) 1. Nigerian state (7) 3. Niger-Delta tribe (8) 2. Middle Belt tribe (5) 6. W. African country (5) 3. Nigerian tribe (6) 8. Wind instrument (4) 4. Distending (7) 9. Vast (8) 5. Examine (7) 11. Meadow (3) 7. Stockpile (5) 12. Smallest part (4) 10. Seize with teeth (4) 13. Unemployed (4) 14. Engine part (4) 14. Have ambition (6) 15. Cereal (3) 16. Attachment (5) 17. No (Scottish) (3) 18. Spy (5) 18. Enquires (4) 20. Hangs around (7) 19. Pen tip (3) 22. Irritate jokingly (5) 21. Maiden name (3) 24. Nigerian state (5) 22. Businessmen (7) 26. U.S. currency unit (4) 23. Hang (7) 29. Insects (4) 25. Isles (7) 30. Orb (4) 26. U.S. currency unit (4) 31. Sailor (3) 27. Sportswear firm (6) 32. Hoped for (8) 28. Go in (5) 33. Smooth (4) 30. Makes beer (5) 34. Tox (5) 35. Sun-measuring equipments (8) 36. Consolidates (4)

1

sprint double. They are also expected to anchor the 4x100m relays, which practically has the name of Nigeria written on the gold. The 4x400m relays will also be swinging the way of Nigeria.

“We wait to see what the last day of event will be. Right now I am not very happy the Egyptians are leading the medals tables,” said a top official of the Athletics federation of Nigeria.

2

3

6

4

According to Davidson, a Commonwealth bronze medallist, boxing which used to be the leading sport in the country has lost its place to football hence he wants it revived.

“Right now boxing is dead in Nigeria. So, I intend to give back to the country what I have benefited from it. I want to lead the fight to revive the sport. It used to be the number one sport in the country so I want it to regain its lost glory which it lost to soccer.

“I want to do this by coming to Nigeria to stage the defence of my crown (WBO International Light-Middle Weight World champion). This is to enable fellow Nigerians see first-hand what I have been doing over-

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9

10

11 12

13 14

18 20

22

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Egypt Nigeria Kenya Ethiopia Gambia

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24 26

27

25

28

29

30 31

32

33 34

35

Medals Table

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16 17

seas. How I have kept the country’s flag flying high wherever I go,” he told Saturday Vanguard sports.

The pugilist stated that his feat was made possible as a result of the tough regiment his father, Christopher, a former Nigerian Bantam Weight champion, who is his major mentor, put him through while he was training him.

Davidson disclosed that he has maintained the discipline of training twice daily, not smoking and drinking and keeping his sight focused on the big picture of being the best boxer in the world. He lists Sugar Ray Leonard, Mohammed Ali and Evander Holyfield as some of his role models “because they are boxers and entertainers and not fighters like Mike Tyson.”

The Imo State-born pugilist has won 12 bouts on knockout, four on points and lost one on his way to winning five professional belts namely: WBO International Light Middleweight world champion; IBF Light Middle Weight champion; Australian Light Middle Weight champion; WBO Africa Light Middle Weight champion and Pan Asian Boxing Association PABA) Light Middle Weight champion. He was also voted the best boxer in Australia in 2009.

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SOLUTION on page 15

•Davidson

RESULTS Sunderland 0 Man Utd Arsenal 4 Reading Man City 4 Newcastle S’hampton 2 Chelsea Swansea 1 Tottenham West Ham 3 West Brom Wigan 1 Norwich

1 1 0 1 2 1 0

G

7 5 4 2 1

S

4 6 2 6 0

B

0 8 0 4 0

Egypt win Egypt yesterday beat Ghana 54 on penalties after a 1-1 draw to lift the African Youth Championship trophy

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