REPORTERS DISPATCH WEB EDITION OF APRIL 16-23, 2013 VOL 1 NO 21

PDP: I pray we do not self-destruct – Senator Adamu

PDP stands no chance to rule Nigeria again — CPC Deputy National Chairman, Mustapha Salisu >> Page 6

>> Page 7

Vol. 1. No. 21.

April 16 — 23, 2013

How Ghost Vessel was used To “Import” N1.5 Billion Fuel

Alhaji Saminu Rabiu & Jubril Rowaye

A

prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of Alhaji Saminu Rabiu, Jubril Rowaye, Alminnur Resources Limited and Brila Energy Limited who are alleged to be involved in a N1.5billion Subsidy scam, Tolu

Olanubi on Monday April 15, 2013 told the court that MT KRITI, the vessel allegedly used by the accused persons in shipping Premium Motor Spirit to Nigeria in 2011 had ceased to exist since 2010 a press release by the EFCC

and signed by Wilson Uwujaren, the acting head, Media & Publicity has said.

Led in evidence by EFCC counsel, Sylvanus Tahir, Olanubi, an investigator with the EFCC told the court that, in the course of the investigation, a relationship was established between the EFCC and Lloyd’s List Intelligence, an organization that provides information on vessels, ownership of vessels, movement and location of vessels. She said the EFCC subscribed to the website of Lloyd’s List Intelligence where it was discovered that MT KRITI which was purportedly used to ship in Premium Motor Spirit on June 14, 2011 had ceased to exist and CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Reactions trail Sacking of Rivers PDP Exco

V

aried reactions have trailed the sacking of the executive committee of the Rivers State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party [PDP] loyal to Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

Reacting in a phone chat with reporters dispatch Mr. Alwell John Ibama said it is only history repeating itself as the judiciary has always come to the rescue of River people who had been cheated in elections like in Governor Amaechi ‘s case.

Also in a telephone chat a caller who simply identified herself as Chinwe Ogundu said it was a case of the hand of Easau and the voice of Jacob.She however advised all parties in the case to ensure the interest of the Rivers people remains paramount. An Abuja

Place

High Court has sacked the chief Godspower Ake - led executive committee of the Rivers State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party [PDP].

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Nigeria’s first free newspaper

Asari-Dokubo warns against religious war in Nigeria, says amnesty is a fraud

A

Niger Delta activist, Alhaji Mujahideen AsariDokubo has warned against any form of religious war or crisis in Nigeria as he described the granting of amnesty to Niger Delta militants as a fraud.

Asari-Dokubo, who was fielding questions from State House correspondents in Abuja on Monday, frowned at the reported threat by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to attack mosques and Hajj camps.

MEND is one of the largest militant groups in the Niger Delta region of the country.

Asari-Dokubo stressed that there was no religious war in the country and warned that nobody should introduce such crisis as its consequences would be far-reaching.

“I want to say that there is no religious war in Nigeria and nobody should try to throw Nigeria into a religious crisis that will be far-reaching; the consequences will be farreaching.

“For instance, in Yoruba land, how are going to fight? In some families, the family is divided.

“The mother is a Christian, the father is a Muslim, the children are divided, there are pastors, there are missioners of Islamic organisations or in Edo State; even in our area, in my family, out of my father’s children; of my siblings, I’m the only Muslim and my 18 children are also Muslims.

“So, how are we going to fight and kill each? So, I don’t think

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it’s possible and I don’t think anybody should be foolhardy in introducing that agenda into the crises we already have.”

On the proposed amnesty for members of the Boko Haram sect, Asari-Dokunbo, an ex-militant, described the amnesty programme for Niger Delta militants as a fraud, saying granting of amnesty to militants was against the law of the land.

He said the granting of amnesty to ex-militants in the Niger Delta was a mistake by the Federal Government, saying government could only pardon those found guilty of an offence.

“I have always said that if you make the first mistake of granting amnesty to people.

First amnesty is a fraud, it is not known to Nigerian law.

“The government can only put in two things - exercise prerogative of mercy after a person is convicted or when a CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Alhaji Mujahideen Asari-Dokubo

here

Page 2

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Perspectives

2015: Conversation With Usman L

By Prince Charles Dickson

aifi’n babba, rowa, laiii’n yaro, kiwuya. (The boy complains that his master is stingy, the master that his boy is lazy.)

Usman, that’s his name, he is responsible for the yam we eat in my house, we all call him mai doya (yam seller).

He doesn’t possess your typical classroom education, but he’s well versed in the yam business, the seasons, costs, and types of yam.

He’s equally a jolly good fellow, you wouldn’t know that he’s brother was killed by miscreants fighting for ‘god’ in one of those ethno-religious skirmishes.

We are both of different faith and educational status, but you can’t take away from Usman mai doya, the common sense that iya Yemisi who sells amala and Uche that we buy cooking gas from have in common. They all are aware and from them often I have picked life lessons regarding why the Nigerian conglomeration has refused to run fairly smooth.

So what was my conversation with Usman that I want to share with us. Recently after our yam transaction I asked Usman jokingly what he thought about the current administration and if he would vote GEJ come 2015, and indeed a few allied questions and his answers romped home the reality of the Nigerian state.

On voting Jonathan, Usman said to me “Oga Charlie, hmmmmmmm, do I really care, I am from Gombe, I am Fulani, Buhari stopped Shagari, IBB did me no good, Abacha wasn’t any better and Obasanjo just came like a wind and was gone, leaving us with Yar’adua. At least these ones I know very well sir...”

He continued “I dey think of school fees, house rent, money to send to village in Dukul for Gombe, no be when I survive today, I go plan for tomorrow. If business is good I plan for one week or a month. But politicians, they live on lies that’s why we never finish 2013 sef and they are killing themselves for 2015".

I jokingly asked him but “Northerners don’t want Jonathan...”. He quickly asked me, “sir, have you refused to eat the yam I sell because I am Fulani?

To which I answered, no. He continued “...on most occasions the tubers come from

Benue or the East. Sir, Northerners have failed the North, Ibos have failed Ibos, and Yorubas same thing too, minorities have failed, we have failed ourselves and he added, sir, to an extent nobody slaps you without your consent, we are our own problem”.

I nodded as he spoke—”Oga Charlie me I no go makaranta (school) but I understand small.

This Boko Haram for example, is business for some, and though I want peace, did you notice that all the big men want amnesty now because the killings are affecting them”.

I listened as he gesticulated, inherently it is not a case of a people that hate each other but that of a people used by their politicians/leaders.

Usman continued, “all of them are liars, the North had power and did nothing other than steal for most of it, and today the South are doing same, sir, Jonathan has not done much because taba ta banbanta da gari’n gero meaning (Tobacco and the flour of millet are very different things)”.

He added and the ABC as he calls it instead of APC are the same difference. I smiled at his crude but native intelligence. Idan gora tana rawwah, ba chikka ne ba. (If the bottle is shaking it will not be filled). The problem is the Nigerian mind, it is unstable, Usman added.

To the ordinary man, its about the basics, not free things, but available things. Usman mai doya buys water, has a small ‘I pass my neighbor power generating set’. Add that to the quasi-private school his children go to, the money he pays on healthcare, yet he pays some tax to government and he still is a government on his own, having to provide security through payment of some sort to some vigilante.

Usman is my friend, he’s the yam seller but in a system like ours he’s easily open to manipulation by religion or faith. Some of us openly joke calling him Boko Haram and he jokes back, the bomb is with him. I am equally unable to defend him. But he’s no different for those that voted Jonathan and not PDP. We are on a blame-game golf course while the architects of our un-palatial circumstances feed fat on us with our subtle approval.

Usman told me that in his small village in Dukul, the governor promised them pipe borne water, the local government caretaker chairman promised same and his councilor too.

The same pipe borne water was campaign promise of the Senator representing them and

The mission of reporters dispatch is to place in the hands of every Nigerian the power of information and knowledge.

To promote spontaneous reading in a conscious effort to increase the declining reading culture in Nigeria.

To empower Nigerians through the provision of facts in an informative and entertaining manner with a view to enabling the populace take decisions and make choices

Mission Statement

the House of Representative man collected constituency grant for pipe borne water. The state legislator promised same. He then revealed his village is not so far from a big cement factory that also promised same but in 11 years no pipe, no borne and no water.

I then asked him, so what did you community do, to which he said I will tell you a short story.

Once upon a time in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10.

The villagers seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them.

The man bought thousands at $10 and as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort. He further announced that he would now buy at $20.

This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.

Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms.

The offer rate increased to $25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $100!

However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his servant would now buy on behalf of him. In the absence of the man, the servant told the villagers. Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $75 and when the man returns from the city, you can sell it to him for$100 .”

The villagers squeezed up with all their savings and bought all the monkeys. After they did, they never saw the man nor his servant, only monkeys everywhere!

From Sokoto-Abeokuta, Onitsha-Minna, Jos-Uyo, Yola-Abakaliki, Ibadan-Dutse, the boy complains that his master is stingy, the master that his boy is lazy.

These are the two faults which masters and servants respectively find most objectionable. It’s monkeys everywhere we go and we are talking 2015 when the men and their servants have left us the deficit— only time will tell.

- Prince Charles Dickson is the Editor, burningpot.com

based on facts rather than rumors and propaganda from spin doctors.

To contribute our quota towards the making of a street-wise populace capable of holding their own anywhere in the world.

This newspaper shall be provided free in order to reach the masses who form the most important segment of our society. reporters dispatch is a masses newspaper for the Nigerian masses.

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Page 3

News

Around Nigeria

How Ghost Vessel was used ...

Flood victims in Benue return to flood-prone areas, despite warning Contd. from Front Page

Many victims of last year’s flood disaster in Benue have returned to the flood-affected areas, in spite of the State Government’s warning for people to stay away from areas, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

An investigation conducted

by NAN correspondent recently revealed that the victims were yet to benefit from the funds released by the Federal Government five months ago.

The victims, who are yet to benefit from the N500 million approved by the Federal Government for the flood victims, said they had no alternative than to return to the flood-affected areas.

The victims expressed dissatisfaction over the delay in the distribution of materials provided by the State Government.

One of the victims, Mr Dennis Igbana, told NAN that the victims had no other option.

“Our situation is that of the abandoned child, we are treated as if we do not belong to this state or country, we are being abandoned as if we choose ourselves to be affected by flood.

“Before the flood, we were living happily even though we did not have much as a people, we were eating and drinking from the little that we had.

“Now some people in government are making jest of us, they took advantage of our situation to enrich themselves while we live in abject poverty, they are constantly praying for yet another flood because of what they stand to gain.

“We cannot question God

Benue state governor, Gabriel Suswam why we are citizens of Benue State, other states in the country such as Edo State, had released additional funds and shared to the victims, but in my state, our government officials have decided to take away even the little one Mr President had given us,” he lamented.

Since the victims were forced out of the camps on Nov. 24, 2012, majority of them now used uncompleted buildings and makeshift tents as temporary settlements.

The victims of the disaster had continuously suffered untold hardships in the process of trying to make new homes, due to lack of support.

Victims may be in for another disaster should they continue to stay in uncompleted buildings and makeshift tents during the

raining season.

Another victim, Mr Tyoyame Torkula, said that he had already completed planting his yam along the banks of the River Benue.

“I have completed my yam farm, the one affected last year was bigger than the one I have planted this year, life must continue and we have to eat too.

“My house, farm lands and everything I had was submerged by the flood. We were staying in the camps but were later forced out even when the government knew very well that we had no place to stay.

“We are going to remain here, even though we are suffering, we do not care, after all nobody cares about us.

“We want to move on with our lives, people who are not affected do not understand what we are passing through now,” Torkula stated.

Mr Theophilus Adzaagee, the Chairman of the Benue State Committee on Flood Disaster Relief Management, attributed the delay in resettling the victims to a lack of comprehensive data.

Adzaagee said that the Benue Government would not politicise the exercise at the detriment of the victims.

Five months after the close of the camps for the victims, fire had gutted relief materials meant for the victims at the Local Government Education Authority in Wurukum, Makurdi.

Deadly attack a fresh sign of trouble in Nigerian oil region Continued from back page But in the days before the April 5 attack, a statement purportedly from MEND threatened fresh violence over the conviction in South Africa of one of its alleged leaders, Henry Okah, for 2010 car bombings in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

Another purported statement last week from MEND — the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta — claimed the attack in Bayelsa, also the home state of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Those statements have been met with scepticism.

Nigerian authorities and private security consultants believe that MEND is essentially defunct and that the attack was due to a dispute between the exmilitant leader recently hired by the government and his followers.

“MEND is for all intents and purposes dead and has been for

quite some time,” Bergen Risk Solutions, the Norway-based security consultants, wrote after the attack.

Former top militants also issued a statement to local reporters dismissing purported MEND statements.

The source of the dispute that led to the violence, according to police, was amnesty money. It would not be the first time such a dispute has spilled over.

Followers of the ex-militant, named Kile Selky Torughedi but widely known by his militant moniker Young Shall Grow, alleged that he was not properly distributing money to them, Omire said.

Young Shall Grow had also recently been appointed an adviser on “marine waterways security” to the Bayelsa governor, the governor’s press secretary Daniel IworisoMarkson confirmed.

The attackers believed he was in the boat they opened fire

on, but the former kingpin was in another vessel in the convoy further ahead and made it unscathed to his mother’s wake and burial, said the police commissioner.

According to Omire, “over nine” boats carrying security forces were escorting Young Shall Grow and others at the time of the attack. Smaller engines plus motor trouble caused the boat that was attacked to lag behind, he said.

Iworiso-Markson said the accusations regarding amnesty money against Young Shall Grow were unproven.

He defended the governor’s decision to hire him as an adviser, saying he knew the gang members in the swamps and could help bring them around. He disputed the idea that the hire had backfired.

“Amnesty will not just address those problems in one day,” he said.

“I think to a large extent we underestimate the sheer magnitude of the problem.”

declared “Status: Dead.”

She also told the court that the last place of location of the vessel was Gadani Beach in Pakistan. “It is not possible for the vessel to have sailed into Nigeria on June 14, 2011 since it was reported dead on 17th April 2010”, she further told the court. She also told the court that the vessel had changed its name from KRITI to AKIT before it ceased to exist.

She later demonstrated to the court, using a projector and a Laptop Computer attached with an internet modem, how she arrived at her facts.

However, Ajibola Oloyede, counsel to the 2nd and 4th defendants, challenged the admissibility of the documents saying it was generated through a computer. He alleged that the documents did not meet the procedure of tending such documents as stated in the Evidence Act. “It is not for the witness to say it was printed from the computer, the document printed should have all the information of how it was produced”.

However, counsel to EFCC objected, saying the documents are relevant and that enough foundation was laid in compliance with the Evidence Act. “The documents speak for itself. The date

and time the documents were printed is on the face of the documents. As to the issue of certification, the Evidence Act did not prescribe the form or mode of certification. So the way it is certified should suffice,” he declared. Justice Adebukola Banjoko upheld the documents.

Justice Banjoko had earlier dismissed an application by the 2nd accused person in which he sought to have his travelling document returned to him on the grounds that he wanted to travel abroad for medical treatment. Justice Banjoko in his ruling said though there was a letter purportedly written by a medical practitioner backing the accused that he had a complicated heart problem, there was however no sufficient proof that the case cannot be treated in Nigeria.

The EFCC had on October 17, 2011 arraigned the quartet for allegedly defrauding the Federal Government of Nigeria by submitting forged document and making false claims from the Petroleum Support Fund, as subsidy payment to Alminnur Resources Limited.

They were said to have conspired to obtain the over N1.5 billion from the Federal Government of Nigeria as subsidy for the purported importation of 19,000 MT of PMS.

Asari-Dokubo warns against religious war in Nigeria, says amnesty is a fraud Contd. from Front Page concerned, the amnesty proposed to whether it is Boko Haram or any organisation. As far as it has been given to one set of people, it should be given to all.”

He alleged that money meant for the amnesty programme was being diverted to private pockets.

“Many people were paid money through this amnesty and instead of paying their followers they pocketed much of the money for themselves and these followers are angry that the N65,000 monthly stipend that was supposed to go to them, did not get to them,’’ he said.

Asari-Dokubo also condemned the recent killing of 12 police officers by a militant group in the Niger Delta.

person is under trial to put a Nolli Prosequi, but you cannot see somebody and declare him a criminal and give him a pardon.

“It is very wrong, it’s a mistake we made the first time and if you have made a mistake once, you continue to make it.

“If you give amnesty to the Salafist movement, I don’t know them as Boko Haram, other people will come and maybe I will form a group and ask for amnesty and they will give me, so the vicious circle will continue.

“I cannot in one breath see that some other people are sitting at home and receiving N65,000 monthly and say that others should not, I cannot say that.

“It will be inconsistent with what I stand for. As far as I’m

Reactions trail Sacking of Rivers PDP Exco Contd. from Front Page In a case brought by chief felix Obuah and Prince Ibibia Walter against the PDP National executive committee, INEC and PDP Rivers State Convention Committee with chief Godspower Ake and Adokiye Oruwari as defendants, an Abuja High Court presided over by

Justice Bello ruled that the Chief Felix Obuah- led executive be immediatly inaugurated as the duly elected executive of the Rivers State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party [ PDP].

Justice Bello said failure to inaugurate the chief Obual-led exco will be viewed as contempt of court.

Page 4

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Business Nigeria has 1.2m tons of unmet demand for meat

D

r. Joseph Nyager, the Director, Livestock Department, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, has said that Nigeria has 1.2 million tons of unmet demand for meat.

The figure represents more than 70 per cent of the total of 1.7 million tons of unmet meat demand in the West African subregion.

Nyager made the disclosure in a paper titled: “Improving Milk and Meat Production in Nigeria’’, presented at a diary and meat summit in Jos on Thursday.

The summit, which was organised in collaboration with the Plateau State Government, is part of the strategy towards successful agricultural transformation in Nigeria.

The director, who is also the chief veterinary officer in the ministry, added that there was equally a wide gap of 700,000 metric tons between domestically produced milk and internal demand.

“These deficits are met by importation which is detrimental to the growth of the industry because a large percentage of the rural poor earn more than 50 per cent of their income from livestock.

“As a result of these developments, the

meat and dairy value chains has been identified as a priority area of the intervention by the Federal Government.

“The intervention will increase production and productivity, reduce dependence and improve the income of actors in the value chain, particularly the small holders.’’

Nyager explained that to be able to achieve this, the Federal Government was focusing on the development of six priority value chain of meat from cow, pig, sheep, goats, poultry and diary.

He said the ministry had recently directed the inclusion and commencement for the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) into these value chains to provide a cushion for farmers.

“These could be done through the provision of critical livestock inputs such as supplementary feed and salt licks at a discount rate in order to improve production and productivity.

“The Federal Government has also engaged the services of a reputable consultant to develop a comprehensive strategy for the transformation of the meat industry, particularly beef, into a valuable venture,’’ he added.

Nigeria's Dangote Group seeks debut $3.5 bln syndicated loan

T

he seven-year loan for Nigeria's biggest cement producer is split equally between Nigerian and international lenders via lead banks Guaranty Trust Bank, Standard Bank and Standard Chartered, the sources said.

No one at Dangote was immediately available to comment.

International lenders are weighing up the risk associated with a relatively long-term jumbo loan for a debut Nigerian borrower.

Dangote's position as a leading company in one of Africa's more

economically stable countries is expected to appeal to deal-hungry emerging market lenders who faced a shortage of such sizeable loans in 2012.

"If any international banks want to make a new play for Africa then this is the deal to join," one of the sources said.

Dangote forecasts a 38 percent rise in net profit to 81.5 billion naira for the first quarter compared with a year earlier, it said in a filing with the Nigerian Stock Exchange in late December.

The company's full-year results are expected shortly. -Reuters

Indians to establish Textile Institute in Kaduna

T

he Indian Government on Friday said it would establish a textile institute in Kaduna State.

Dr Milan Sharma, Head, Africa Initiatives and Industry Research of IL&FS Cluster Development Initiative Ltd., has said.

Sharma said this when a delegation led by the Secretary, PDP Board of Trustees and Chairman Textile Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Sen. Walid Jibrin, paid a courtesy visit to Gov. Mukhtar Yero in Kaduna.

She said the institute would provide opportunity for Nigerian youths to acquire skills in operating textile machines and to manufacture textile materials.

According to her, once the state government provides a plot of land, the institute will commence a six-month training programme with an initial intake of 30 students.

She said the Indian Government would fund the establishment of the institute. Sharma stressed the textile potential in the country and its recognition as a renowned producer of cotton and a base of textile industries.

She said that the choice of Kaduna State was due to its “reservoir of textile

industries” and the gradual return of peace and stability to the state.

Other members of the delegation included the Vice President of NLC and President of National Union of Garment and Textile Workers of Nigeria.

Responding, Gov. Mukhtar Yero assured the delegation of the support of the state government.

He urged the group to immediately go into discussion with the Commissioner for Lands and other government officials to decide on how the state government could collaborate with the Indian interests.

“Kaduna State is reverting back to its normal position as one of the safest and most secured states where you can do business in Nigeria.

“Kaduna has always been a textile industry town most of which are closed down due to problem of power, but the Federal and State Government are working hard to produce enough power for the industries.

“Kaduna State also grows cotton, so we will support you.

“Kaduna State Government will provide space for your project because it will provide job opportunities for our youths,” Yero said.

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Page 5

News More reactions trail INEC’s 10-year permanent voters’ cards

M

ore reactions on Monday trailed the approval granted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to produce permanent voters’ cards ahead of the 2015 polls.

Some politicians, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), lauded the initiative, saying it would help to curb electoral malpractice.

Others, however, believed that it would give room for corruption in the country.

NAN reports that the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, had on April 10 disclosed that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved N2.1billion for INEC, for the printing of 33.5 million permanent voters’ cards.

The minister said the card, which would have a life span of 10 years, would contain unique biometric features that would help to identify the voter.

In 2012, FEC also approved N2.6 billion for the printing of the first phase of 40 million out of the 75 million permanent voters’ cards needed in the country for general elections.

There are 73.5 million temporary cards awaiting replacement.

Chief Olatunji Shelle, the Lagos State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), described the idea as laudable.

“Permanent voter’s cards will help to curb electoral malpractice, such as multiple voting and other frauds.

“Anybody who has such a card, which will also serve as a national identity card, can only have one card and not multiple cards.

“It cannot be used by another person to vote,” he told NAN. Alhaji Yahaya Ndu, the initiator of a political group— the Peoples Movement for a New Nigeria (PMNN), also supported the idea.

He said:“I think it is a very good idea; we have been calling for such initiatives.”

Alhaji Musa Umar, the Protem Deputy National Chairman of the Merger Support Group of the All Progressive Congress, also gave his support for the project.

“It seems the project is a good idea. It will encourage and empower Nigerians to participate in the electoral process.

“It will also save the country of yearly expenditures on issuance of new voters’ cards before elections.’’

Chief Winston Odum-Ojobi, the Deputy National Chairman of the deregistered United Nigeria Peoples Party of Nigeria (UNPP), endorsed it ‘’if the permanent voter’s cards would serve as identification cards and prevent multiple voting’’.

Mr Sunny Moniedafe, a former FCT Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), said he preferred that a national identity card with security features like photograph barcode, micro-text and fingerprints, could be used as voters’ cards.

“We need a permanent card that can be used for voting and identification.

“If the voters’ cards are not properly done it will give room for replacement.

“This is not good for our democracy and it may give room for corruption,” he also told NAN.

Around Nigeria 9 best pupils cannot write their names – Akwa Ibom Commissioner

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kwa Ibom state state Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Eunice Thomas, has said that nine pupils from the state public primary schools who had distinctions in First School Leaving Certificate examinations, were unable to write their names following a later test conducted on them.

Mrs Thomas made the revelation as the state Governor, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, had directed all heads of schools to select the best pupils from FSLC examination, one in each of the

31 local government areas of the state to a designated school, where they were re-examined.

Speaking through the Permanent Secretary, Mrs Thomas said beside the nine, many others could not score 5 per cent in the test.

“We conducted a pre-test and say let’s introduce subjective questions, and not objective questions that one person will stand in the exam hall and just call out A or B to the candidates and they all will shape or thick the correct answer.

“At the end you realise that the child that scores 100 per cent cannot, if tested properly score 5 per cent.

“How did we discover this? In 2011, Akpabio directed all heads of schools to take the best pupils from FSLC examinations, one person per local government areas of the state.

“We sent them to school – honestly, out of this number sent, nine were unable to write their names, while many others beside the nine could not score up to 5 per cent in the test,” she said.

Boro’s Remains Exhumed For Reburial At Bayelsa Heroes Park 45 Years after

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he remains of late Major Isaac Adaka Boro, were on Saturday, exhumed from the Ikoyi Cemetery, Lagos,on its final journey to his ancestral home state, Bayelsa, where he will be interred at the Heroes Park, Yenagoa, forty-five years after he was first buried.

Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson had declared that the Heroes Park will be the final resting place for all heroes with a search for legends of the state and a search for the resting place of fallen heroes already commissioned.

The late National Security Adviser, Gen. Owoye Azazi, was buried in the park.

The tomb of late Boro, the hero of the Niger Delta struggle and symbol of Ijaw struggle , was located and exhumed, Saturday, after a long search which commenced January.

Bayelsa State Government delegation to the exhumation was led to the Ikoyi Cemetry by Dr. Felix Tuodolo, Commissioner for Culture and Ijaw Affairs Others who witnessed the solemn event include Niger Delta activist, Annkio Briggs, Mr. Joseph Evah, National Co-ordinator, Ijaw Monitoring Group; Regent Youmor, President, Ijaw Community, Lagos.

The Boro family was also represented

by Elder Gelelhope Boro, his children,

Esther Boro, Debby Boro, Bunmi Alangierefe Boro and Apostle Felix Boro, his son.

Dr. Tuodolo revealed that Boro’s remains were exhumed for DNA test and that the reburial ceremony is scheduled for Isaac Boro day anniversary next month.

Joseph Evah, said the exhumation was made possible after a long search with Lagos cemetery records.

“As I join other patriots at Ikoyi cemetery with Boro’s children/family singing choruses to exhume the body from the grave, I saw the smiling teeth of Boro, who was killed during the civil war. We are taking his remains to Izonland.”Evah declared.

national security and other matters that affect the corporate existence of the country, but for now, the details are not for public consumption,’’ Anenih said.

He, however, said PDP was unperturbed by the on-going merger attempts by some political parties, adding:

“PDP remains the party to beat and when the time comes, we will do what we know how to do best.’’

Those at the meeting included Gov. Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Sen. Ahmed Makarfi, the former governor of Kaduna and Alhaji Abdulahi Adamu, the former governor of Nasarawa.

PDP: Anenih,Governors in closeddoor meeting with Obasanjo

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hief Tony Anenih, the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) of the PDP, on Monday in Abeokuta held a closed- door meeting with his predecessor, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

The meeting, which was held at the hilltop residence of the former president, was also attended by Alhaji Walid Jibrin, the Secretary of the party’s BOT as well as some incumbent and former governors.

Anenih, who addressed newsmen after the meeting, said he was in Abeokuta to pay homage to Obasanjo and to discuss with him on how to ensure victory for the party in the 2015 general elections.

“I am here to pay my respects to my leader and indeed I am here with some of my colleagues in our party to discuss some issues that affect PDP,’’ he said.

Anenih, who described the meeting as fruitful, said the details were not for immediate public consumption.

“We had fruitful deliberations as you can see that I and my leader are smiling because we are quite happy about the outcome.

“We even discussed issues on

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Page 6

Interview

PDP stands no chance to rule Nigeria again — CPC Deputy National Chairman Mustapha Salisu is the Deputy National Chairman of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). In this exclusive interview with UDE EJIKEME in Abuja, Salisu said he don’t believe that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stands the chance of ruling this country again, because if there is a free and fair contest, PDP will not win a seat anywhere as nobody would be happy to vote in a government that has kept them in perpetual poverty for over 13 years now. The CPC chieftain also spoke on the on-going alliance discussions between CPC and ACN as well as some strategies his party will employ to defeat PDP in 2015 presidential election. Excerpts.

CPC is barely three years old now but waxing even stronger than some of the older opposition parties. What is the secret behind this? t is because we know where we are coming from. We have sat down as a group of people of like minds. We have been able to strategise and itemize how we want to operate. Most important thing is that we don’t have the kind of money that other parties have especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as well as the number of seats or governors they have but what we have is integrity, which you can’t buy in the market. What we are using is integrity and discipline. That is what Nigeria lacks for today, which is the bane of the whole problem and corruption we have now.

Our brand like you know is integrity.

Retired General Muhammadu Buhari represents that integrity and people who really believe and are optimistic about the future of this country, all they want is leadership by example with somebody that has that integrity to lead and lay this foundation. You see, lies can only be there temporarily but the truth can always shine forever and that is why you see we continue to wax stronger because we are built on a solid foundation of integrity.

You had earlier pointed out your plans to floor the ruling PDP come 2015 elections. How do you intend to achieve this?

It will be premature for me to start telling you a lot of our strategic plans now. As a strategist, it will be suicidal for me to start telling you that. But the truth is that you can see from the body language of things that are happening or from the handwriting on the wall.

We are working with other opposition parties of like minds.

First and foremost, we must first of all come together, understand our differences so as to be able to work together to see how the modus operandi will be. These are the first stages we will first of all at least be able to achieve. By the time we achieve this, I can assure you that people will be remembering that once upon a time, there was a ruling party called PDP. So, for now, some of the main strategies we are going to use, it will be premature for me to let them out now because they are still in the formative stage but as you can see, we don’t have any problem with some

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Mustapha Salisu of the major opposition parties especially the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and we will definitely work together to see that we defeat PDP. It ‘s unfortunate that we have learnt a bitter lesson and this time around, all hands must be on deck to see that we push out this government of anti-people.

Are you confirming it is no longer a rumour that CPC is forming an alliance with ACN against PDP in 2015 elections?

It is no longer rumour because from what you have seeing from the public outings, you can see the two leaders are working closely together. They have been visiting each other. These are part of the process to see that there is a very formidable relationship existing between ACN and CPC. So, I repeat, it is no longer a rumour. Definitely, we will work together and it can come in any form. So, it will be premature for me to say this is what it will definitely give birth to, but the issue of working together is certain to push out this antipeople government.

Sir, do you think such an alliance will have the capacity to oust PDP from power?

The truth is that PDP has never won any election in this country. This last election you heard how the ACN themselves described the election, that it was systematically rigged. If you go through most of your reports after the election, that was what ACN said. We on our side, the CPC, we did not even measure what took place as an election because the parameter to measure it as

an election was not there. We went to the court to even compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to bring the materials they claimed they have been able to gather to declare PDP the winner.

For us, PDP has never won any election.

If there is a free and fair contest, PDP will not win a seat anywhere because nobody will be happy to vote in a government that has kept them in perpetual poverty for over 13 years now. For us, defeating PDP, by God’s grace, will be a thing of the past, by the time election comes, so we are definitely working together to see that we defeat them and we don’t believe PDP as a party stands the chance of ruling this country again, because they will only put Nigeria in more crisis. From what we are experiencing now, nobody will ever say that PDP is doing well. These are practical things from score card now on ground. Nobody can score PDP 25% with what they have on ground. Infact, when I say 25%, I am just being too generous.

Nobody will score PDP now with 15% performance.

You can see the level of insecurity, the level of poverty, every day, all you hear is theft left and right either some pensioners are dying on the queue and some people are busy embezzling money, the next thing, they are on bail even challenging people. The next thing you hear again is about how people are being bribed or bought over on issues that affects all of us. For CPC, it is a wake-up call for Nigerians, civil society organizations, the political class, and political parties to see that we push out this anti-people government that will represent the people for the people.

How would you appraise INEC’s performance from 1999 till date?

It is so unfortunate that what has been happening in the past is the more we go into the future, the more they (electoral body) come out with sophisticated means of rigging and manipulating things. When Abel Guobabia was there, because of the handover from the military rule, some of the things were not perfect and the score card then was not excellent, people complained and we thought the coming of Professor Maurice Iwu, things would be better. Iwu came and it was like everybody was crying that it was the worst election ever experienced. But with Iwu, you know where you stand because he never hid his own. You know he was campaigning for PDP. And now

came a man, who disguised himself like a saint and took everybody by surprise.

With Iwu, some of us were comfortable because you know what you should expect from him, so you know how to prepare yourself, but now came a man (Jega), who was preaching and deceiving everybody that he was coming to do justice to the electoral process, serve as fair and credible umpire to us, not knowing that he was going to be the worst. I mean, Jega is the worst of them all. Yes, I said it.

Professor Attahiru Jega has disappointed everybody because the box stops on his table. Whatever excuse he wants to give will not be accepted by anyone of us. Immediately after the election, he went out to launder his own image visiting some countries trying to give lectures on what? On election that he just finished and people were saying that the elections were characterized by irregularities? He can’t give any excuse that people manipulated him. There are so many things we said before that election and it has come to pass.

For CPC, Jega was a catastrophe to have made INEC Chairman, because he has only pulled us back, not even preparing Nigeria for a better future outing. When they came up with the issue of DDC machines and all that, if you have these DDC machines and you claim you are able to do data capturing, then what stops you from providing these records in the tribunal. If people ask them for these records, they (INEC) will start avoiding all these things. As I am talking to you now, if you ask INEC to bring out those things, they don’t have it. It doesn’t exist. This is even worse than what Iwu did. That is why you ask some of us, we don’t even know how to qualify Jega because we believe what he has done is like taking Nigeria 20-30 years backward again.

In your assessment, did you say Professor Iwu was far better than Professor Jega?

For your information, Jega was one of Iwu’s consultants when he was there.

So, what do you expect from somebody who was consulting for somebody we all condemned. What I said is that with Iwu, you know where you stand. But with Jega, who deceives you, give you a wrong impression. That is why we said he is a catastrophe. If somebody is bad, Jega is bad. Jega gives you a human face that has a very monstrous or deceptive mind of what he wants to do.

Thank you.

Page 7

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Politics

PDP: I pray we do not selfdestruct – Senator Adamu Sarkin Yarki Keffi, Senator Abdullahi Adamu represents Nasarawa-West Senatorial district in the Senate. He spoke to UDE EJIKEME in Keffi on national issues among them his love for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where he vows to remain with until death. The former governor also indicated that it is time to return the presidency to the North. Excerpts.

Sir, can you give us an insight into how it has been since you were elected Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?

Well, thank you very much and with gratitude to Almighty Allah, I have been a Senator for over two years now and it has been quite an experience. I love the experience; one has been through some level of apprenticeship if you permit, because no matter your background, no matter the past experiences you have, once you get into new callings, you must learn the ropes to understand how things are done. But the most fundamental thing, the parliamentary tradition and practice, if you don’t get to be in tune with them you will be surprised that you may not be able to make the kind of mark you ordinarily will desire to make.

So for us, those of us who are first timers, it’s been a period of learning and we are learning but not withstanding that, we have been able to make contributions where the situation permits and I feel that one could have done more but in a house with about 108 equals, under the supervision of one person, each time there is a debate, you count your stars if you want to make a contribution and the eyes of the president is able to see your desire and your hand before you are given the permission to make contributions. Sometimes, you get identified, sometimes you may not, because not every person will get to talk on one issue.

It’s been a very worthy experience for me. I have made new friends and I have seen that this 7th Senate is the richest that the country has had in this dispensation, in terms of experience and party background. There are (former) military and civilian governors, senior advocates, captains of industries. So there is quite a good mix of persons and for me today. I thank God that I am there, we are learning.

Sir, internal party wrangling within the PDP has the potential to dim the fortunes of the party in future and some upcoming parties are seen to be cashing in on the situation.

How do you react to this?

I have warned, I will work for PDP to the tail end. I will not forget, at the formative stages of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), I had the opportunity of serving at the constituent assembly that produced the 1979 constitution and when the parties were being formed, we were the young set and to the older statesmen then, we were the errand boys for them but we were involved effectively. And I remember writing a letter to Mallam Aminu Kano because I was more inclined, it was my first to go for Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) that was my natural inclination. My parents were NPN to the root, my parents, grandparents were traditional rulers and I had difficulty shaking off what is in me. But at the same time, as a politician in the making, my attraction towards Aminu Kano, his brand of politics, I was in the meeting and I personally felt he was insulted when he was asked to become the publicity secretary of NPN. I later went to Kano to see him. He was

campaigning in some villages, you know Belgore, when you pass through Saminaka from Jos, near the tributary of Kogin Kano a large fishing community. He said “my prayer for you is that you should go and continue to be with them (NPN) and stay there like the rock of Gibraltar”. I will never forget that.

So, I will tell you that with PDP, I am there until either death do us part or Nigeria political development do us part. But as long as I am in PDP, I am PDP inside out. I will continue to work for PDP irrespective of the problems that we encounter. The problems, yes, the noise you hear, yes, it is part of it. I call it the sound of democracy. But my only appeal is that the leadership of the party should not self-destruct, we must not destroy the party from our own doing or misdeeds, we must not contribute to its failure. Before we talk of discipline, we must see discipline from the highest level of the party down, because there is no point, you talk of discipline, and you are not disciplined yourself. It does not make sense.

When I was governor of Nasarawa state, if I go to any branch, when I was chairman or secretary of NPN in Plateau state, when I talk of discipline, I must be disciplined myself. So the leadership of the party must help in the inculcation of the spirit of leadership, they must be people of their words, they must set examples believe that the present set of national officers (of PDP) intends good and we will make it possible for them to do good for the party. We will wait.

There is a lot of noise in Nasarawa state, a lot of noise in Akwa-Ibom, Maiduguri, Borno, Sokoto, Kebbi, Kaduna, Kogi, Kwara states, everywhere you go, but for me, it is a natural phenomenon for political parties but sometimes, we take all these things too far.

When we see parties doing wrong, we tolerate them to do wrong but when some

other party does wrong, somewhere else you punish, it doesn’t make for good followership.

So my hope and prayer is that the leadership will help by doing good to ensure that there is discipline in the party and that we do not self-destruct.

But me, you can count on me, I have just done a programme today, I am doing so to promote PDP and because before we stood election, we had manifestos and did what we said during the campaigns. We “work our talk” that is the key.

There are some former governors who are agitating for Rabiu Kwankwaso to be the next President of Nigeria. Sir, if PDP gives the ticket to the north in 2015, are you going to support him?

That is not a fair question. Has Kwankwaso said he wants to be president?

But PDP has no choice than to give the north (in 2015). I want to believe in that Kwankwaso is more than a friend to me, Kwankwaso is my brother, we started with PDP together, we were governors together, he had some misfortune midway in his governorship, he didn’t win his second election. He became a Minister of Defence, he has been elected again in Kano after eight years he is back in the saddle, and he is doing a good job. But if he comes out to say he wants to be president, let’s wait and see if he says so.

I don’t cross bridges until I reach them. I believe that everybody is the same thing (a north Presidency in 2015), I believe that the north should have a crack at it again. I believe that, it is no sin. We have a right to it like everybody has.

Agitation for the creation of more states, what is your take on that?

To be honest with you, I was part of the agitation for the creation of Nasarawa state. I thank God we got Nasarawa state and I thank God that we were able to realise an ambition

which we believe held the promise for the actualization of our dream as a people in the context of the Nigerian family. We now stand among the comity of states of the 36 states of the federation and the federal capital territory.

But I know for a fact that yes, it is the struggle between an identity and ability, if I can reduce it to that. But you pause sometimes and ask yourself about our states as we have them today. Everyday people open newspapers to hear governors say the state is broke.

Governors in some states are unable to pay salaries. So the question now is, will we do the right thing? I am a Senator, I don’t want to pre-empt the National Assembly 9NASS0 because we have an ad-hoc committee on constitution review, they are coming out and I don’t want to pre-empt what we should do or should not do. But I believe very strongly that we need to take a more serious look at the growing agitation. Often, people get beclouded by wanting to stand and beware of those things.

There was a time I could be counted among those kind of people. I have been through it, I know what it means, I headed Nasarawa state when we were at the rock bottom of the ladder of revenue allocation in this country. When I became governor, Nasarawa was mobilizing under half a million naira of internally generated revenue, the records are there.

Under one Million naira and I had a work force of over 10,000 civil servants. We inherited foreign loans of between N20 to N22 Billion naira, from our days in Benue Plateau State to Nasarawa. We were able to do what we did and to stay afloat. But with what is going on today, with the threat (of total dependence on oil), we have some level of peace in the Niger Delta but everybody now is virtually being held hostage because they have oil and Nigeria is limping on that one foot called oil and gas, everybody is being held hostage and if tomorrow the militants strike and production goes down, we are in trouble, I don’t see the country being held hostage more than that and that is reason for me supporting any serious look for agriculture.

So the states are having a very hard time at the moment and given that there is no attraction in my view, there is little or no attraction for creating more problems, it will be unfair for me to stand here with you and say, no more states should be created, there is demand and some demands may be genuine. So it is not for me to say yes, there should be or there should be no states, but I can only give an analogy of the situation at hand.

Sir, on the issue of state police, some people have argued for and others against. On which side of the divide do you stand and why?

Well, I don’t know, but I think the issue is now becoming an issue for blackmail, so I don’t want to discuss it because it is now becoming an issue for blackmail. We have no tilted off reason, it is now blackmail.

If you say you want state police, you are labeled whatever, if you say you don’t want state police, you are labeled.

I don’t belong to that school of thought.

Thank you.

Page 8

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Metro

City, Crime & Justice FCT administration wants officers due for retirement to proceed on leave immediately

By Charles Olili

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o fewer than 50 staff of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Secretariats, Departments and Agencies penciled down for retirement this year are yet to proceed on the three months mandatory pre-retirement leave.

Investigation carried out by reporters dispatch revealed that those affected are in the cadres of Directors, Deputy Directors, and Assistant Directors.

Those affected by this Federal Government policy are those who have served in the capacity of Directors for eight years, having attained 60 years of age in office or who have put in 35 years of service.

Particularly disturbed by this development the FCT administration has issued a circular directing all affected officers to proceed on leave accordingly.

The circular dated 2nd April, 2013 titled “Compulsory 3 months pre-retirement leave” and it reads in part “it has been observed with dismay that officers due for stator retirement do not comply with the extant regulation on 3 months preretirement leave. To this effect I am to inform

all heads of SDAS to ensure that all staff for retirement comply with this regulation.

The circular added that all the affected officers are required to hand over their schedule of duties to their immediate subordinates before proceeding on the 3 months, leave.

According to Federal Government

drastically from what used to obtain in the past.

After the 2007 elections, there (were) about 1600 various litigations that emanated from the elections. But after the election of 2011, we had less than 600 litigations. As we speak, almost all the cases have been decided and if you investigate well, you will find out that INEC was vindicated in about 98-99% of all the cases.

That alone will show you that we have recorded an improvement. I am not saying there were no flaws; I am just saying we have witnessed tremendous improvement compared to previous elections.

The biggest challenge remains how to keep on improving and also reflecting on the errors observed with a view to avoiding them in subsequent elections. That is what is facing us and that is what we have been trying to do at the commission at the moment.

However, since it is all about the people, one must take advantage of every opportunity provided to explain to them so that the wrong perception they had over the conduct of the election may be corrected.

I know that you cannot please all human beings so we just accept things as they come and continue to do the right thing and also, as I say, explain to Nigerians whenever the opportunity is presented. Your question is very difficult to answer but this is as far as I can say. It is difficult to explain why people appear to have a change of perception. To my understanding, it may be as a result of politician’s inability to accept an outcome different from what they expect.

Where it is clear we played a role in someone being cheated, of course, they have a right to come out clearly and state this is how they were cheated and this is the role INEC played. To the best of my knowledge, we have done justice to everyone involved in the last election. Whenever an issue we considered wrong occurred, we have promptly ensured that we stopped it and the right thing was done. Even if we got to know after the offence has been committed,

showed that it is only the legal services secretariat where one of the affected officer has proceed on a one month pre-retirement leave. Our reporter reliably gathered that the officer politely declined to carry out an official assignment before going on leave saying that her time “to disengage from the service has come”.

Former MD of The Mint arrested Over Bank Notes Bribery Scam

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igeria’s anti-corruption police the EFCC has arrested former managing director of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, Ehi Okomoyon, over his role in the Australian Securency banknotes scandal.

Mr. Okomoyon is facing interrogation for allegedly receiving bribes for the printing contract awarded to an Australian company during the tenure of former Central Bank governor, Charles Soludo. Mr. Soludo was briefly arrested and grilled in January by the EFCC.

Ehi Okomoyon

Buhari lied against INEC - Jega CONTINUED FROM BACK PAGE

public service rules 2009 states inter alia “officers are required to give three months’ notice to retire from service before the effect date of retirement. At the commencement of three months, officers should proceed immediately on the mandatory one-month pre-retirement workshop or seminar.

A visit to some of the affected secretariats

we made sure that the culprit is punished.

On the whole, if one looks at the conduct of the elections, and how some people are alleging that they were cheated, God knows that is not the case.

Q. Some people are of the view that you have something to say but are being constrained to say it at the moment. For instance, many say after you announced that the commission is ready for the election, you later suspended it therefore something must have happened that you don’t want to talk about now; any explanation?

A. I thank you for this question, but honestly, there was nothing that stopped me from speaking and I have on several occasions explained what happened. Truth is we have promised the world that the election will be held strictly based on the guidelines of the elections. We promised to conduct it freely, fairly and credibly.

However, we realised on Election Day that in some parts of this country- some parts, not all- a particular contractor that was supposed to supply some documents such as the election result sheet did not supply them. You know, they were printed outside the shores of this country and we gave out the contracts to several companies and we were distributing them as soon as they arrived.

(The) contractor, due to some reasons he gave which I have explained in the past, though it did not go down well with some people because it brought delay and some form of discomfort, said the goods did not come on time. At first, they said the goods will arrive by 9 p.m. and the Nigerian Air Force had given us about 14 aircraft- if they had come in by that 9 p.m., we would have distributed them but they said we had to wait till 12 a.m. If they had arrived by 12 a.m., we would still have distributed them.

Still, they said the goods will now arrive by 2 a.m. and even at that (time) we were determined to distribute them. In fact, even if the goods had arrived by 7 a.m., we would have distributed them. And since we were determined to conduct a credible election,

you will not hasten into taking a decision until there is absolutely nothing you could do.

As God will have it, the materials did not arrive until 9 a.m. on Election Day. By the time the materials arrived, people were already on queue being accredited. It would not have been possible for us to distribute and circulate them to be used for the election on that day. We were faced with a big challenge, what should we do? We have promised the world to conduct a credible election and if we were to achieve that, results must be written down in the right document.

We were aware that in the past, elections were even held with nowhere to write the results on and they were only announced.

But we had promised to do the right thing and even if there is a case in the courts, they can rely on the results sheet provided by INEC. That is why we decided instead of giving some people the chance to rubbish our vow to conduct credible elections, it will be better to hold on and I took responsibility for that error. If you remember, that is what I told Nigerians.

I am the leader, we have put strategies in place but due to some unforeseen circumstances, things could not go as planned. So, I have taken responsibility but we took the decision we felt was the right one at the time.

If we had gone ahead with the election on that day, it would have meant all the promises we made of conducting credible elections will be in doubt. That is why we stopped the election, as unpalatable as the decision was, because a lot of money had been spent and the rest.

Q. So what did you do to the contractor?

A. You know all contracts have guidelines and scope of responsibilities, so we explored all the terms and agreement of the contract and we acted on them by sanctioning him appropriately. Since it is a contract, we imposed a fine on him which he paid eventually. But all this happened after the elections. However, we have learnt from that incident and we would be careful next time not to engage such contractors again.

Honestly, we did all within our powers to conduct the election on that first day but

Mr. Okomoyon was picked up Sunday and remains at the Abuja offices of the EFCC as at the time of filling this report. He recently resigned from the mint after several billions of N1000 banknotes worth N2.1 billion suddenly disappeared under his watch.

EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the arrest but did say when and if Mr. Okomoyon and Soludo will face trial for the bribery scam. as God would have it, we could not. We really felt we had a genuine reason to postpone the election, if we were to truly conduct a credible election.

I read somewhere recently where someone was saying that we postponed the election on the first day because their party was leading and is likely to win the election and so we had to stop the election so that they cannot win.

I swear to God, that is not true, it is complete falsehood. I can’t fathom why someone will just sit down and create all sorts of lies and communicate (them). I don’t know what they hope to achieve by spreading such lies.

Q. We know you are referring to Nasir El-Rufai’s book and the party in question is CPC but even the leader of CPC was recently quoted alleging that the PDP and security agencies are already merged with INEC, how did you feel when you saw that report?

A. I heard the report but I simply assumed General Buhari could not have made that statement because I also read a lot of things in the papers which are credited to me and which I know I did not say. So, I honestly don’t think he made those statements but if he did, it is definitely not true. God knows, INEC is an independent entity; so also are security agencies and the government.

All we are trying to do is to ensure we are fair to all and to also make sure we don’t dance to the tune of any candidate or political party. We are holding office in trust and only God and of course myself know the truth of all these things. I will just continue to do my best while acknowledging that people are free to raise all sorts of allegations.

Whenever we get the chance, we will explain to the people the true position of things otherwise, we will just leave everything to God. But definitely, what was credited to the General is not true and I don’t think he made those statements; but if he did, it is unfortunate because it is not true.

Q. Recently, the same General Buhari was reported to have told a gathering in London recently that INEC leadership is corrupt; although, CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Page 9

Peoples Parliament Lack of political will by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to fight corruption, should we blame it on poor funding?

Nigerians are getting more enlightened daily as Abuja street parliamentarians has told UDE EJIKEME that the anti-graft agency is an instrument of political vendetta – “do me, I do you”.

They also advocated that the country needs strong personality with strong character and integrity to head EFCC. Excerpts.

Adamu Abubakar e should not be surprised if nothing is working in Nigeria.

Whether you fund the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent

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Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) or you merge them, to me, it is not going to bring any result. The mistake is not in institution, rather it is the ability and willingness to deliver justice of whom justice is deserved.

Fund EFCC and ICPCP more, they will produce more corporate corrupt practices.

But what usually comes after the arrest and prosecution process, you will discover that it is always frustrated. Then what leads to frustration should once be eliminated. In this society today, all that we are saying is that the government is not sincere. There is no sincerity from the government to fight corruption.

Noble Agbanze What we should look into in this matter that is more important is who appoints the Chairman of the EFCC? That is very important even more than the funding. Because from the very beginning, I see EFCC as an instrument of political vendetta, because of what happened in my state, Abia. I look at it that they used EFCC to make sure that a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in my state wins election when the former governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, founded the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), and Chief T.A. Orji, the present state governor emerged as the PPA candidate. They had wanted the EFCC to ruin the credibility of Chief Kalu in my state.

Though, the present governor thought that Chief Kalu would be in castrated and Onyema Ugochukwu would emerge as the governor.

Because of this, I really see the EFCC as a direct weapon used for political vendetta. If we don’t revisit the issue of who appoints the EFCC Chairman, there cannot be credibility in their operation. This is even more important than the funding.

Amanze Uzoka Is it funding that EFCC require to fight corruption? Is it funding that EFCC require to fight Farouk Lawan, Elumelu, among other corrupt Nigerians living big on the sweats of innocent Nigerians? Personally, I am disturbed when people we expected to fight corruption were no longer doing their jobs. These EFCC people

EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Larmode

are from one security agency or the other. Most importantly from the Nigeria police, who are professionals and well trained to investigate crimes.

Despite the fact that EFCC personnel have been going abroad for trainings, surprisingly, they were unable to try Chief James Ibori here in Nigeria. If there was that, his case would have been different. Let us continue to nuture the anti-graft agency. But for the EFCC demanding for more fund is for what? If EFCC is demanding for more funds then Nigerians would expect the Nigerian police to do what?

And how much is the budget of the Police? The issue of appoint its the chairman of EFCC, I think, there must be an issue of check and balances. But my question is how many people here have been successfully prosecuted by EFCC before they can raise their heads up to say we have done this or that?

Enough of that noise. If EFCC personnels cannot do their job, the best option is for them to resign so that other people can be appointed to do their job.

Samuel Omoregie Underfunding of the EFCC is not the problem with the agency. The major problem with them are the powers that created the anti-graft agency in the judiciary and their personnel.

With the powers given to them by the constitution, they cannot be able to fight the war in the good books. Don’t put round pegs in square holes and think that Nigerians are blind. Chief

Ibori was a saint in Nigerian judiciary but a criminal in the United Kingdom.

Nigerians, let’s face the reality and stop chasing shadows.

Tina Batuta I think that we should not miss the points. Nigerians should be sincere to tell Mr. President that, look, those that looted, we watched them move so freely. If it is not because our antigraft agencies are rendered crippled, they would have done the right justice, and these people would have been dealt with according to the law.

Nigerians like to live the lives of comfort. But we are all frustrated by the kind of ugly experience we are having. Whether you fund EFCC or you do not fund EFCC, merge them or you do not merge them, believe me sincerely, if these institutions are given full independent, then we would not have corrupt fine Nigerians.

Dr. Kassim Ibrahim EFCC cannot be blame on want of funding. The anti-graft agency should rather be blamed on lack of political will to put the chairman of the commission on his toes to perform.

The days of Nuhu Ribbadu, it was seen as being used as political Bull dog. It was even better then, because all the people that were so have been victimized on this vendetta, their hands were not clean and therefore could not come to equity. Of all the people that ruled and claimed to have been corrupt, their hands were not clean.

The unfortunate thing also is that Nigerians were told then that out of 36 state governors, over 22 of them were corrupt. And as I speak to you now, non-have been successfully prosecuted. Majority of them are in the Senate. But the question is, I think, because all the chairmen of EFCC usually comes from the police. The challenge that had bedeviled the successful performance of the Nigerian police system had been carried over to the EFCC. We need to look more closely at this and allow the use of the EFCC Act and the appointment of a credible person who has passion to fight corruption, who will not use the agency as an enforcement tool, is the answer. We have lawyers in EFCC and police, let such cases of prosecution be taken care henceforth by them. The problem of EFCC is not funding. Today, any government organ that failed to perform its necessary duties would be blame on lack of funding. What a shame.

Sanusi Samaila Funding or under funding of EFCC will not make any difference. I think it is the commitment from the Executive and Judiciary is the answer to this monster called corruption.

Barrister Hassan Omolowo I think what we need in this country now is the creation of special standard bearing for some leaders.

This is because anybody that finds himself on top, must have to perform.

That is the standard bearing we have to look at it now if we want to fight corruption as much as possible in Nigeria. We have to be ready to spend as much funds as possible. In other to perform credibly, EFCC needs at least N60 billion from what I have seen. We don’t need one legged policeman to pursue an athletic and healthy case. And that is what is happening in Nigeria. The legal department of EFCC must have to be over hauled. They should send their personnel for periodic trainings.

Nigerians should mobilise by sending first class information to EFCC. Taye Onagoruwa I want to say that funding is not their problem, but rather we need strong institution and not person. I would advocate for a strong institution that is independent oand a very tangible funding of EFCC so that we will not have a crippled anti-graft agency.

Page 10

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Special Report

How Amaechi gets away with everything

By Stanley Azuakola

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remember when I first noticed the Rivers governor, Chibuike Amaechi, in a TV interview. It was in 2005 or 2006, and he was speaker of the Rivers state assembly then. My first impression of him was: Ah, what a childish man!

He had shifty eyes and looked restless – fidgeting nonstop, flying from one point to another before the first had been well made, and at different times during the interview, I noticed how he played unconsciously with items on his desk in his office where the interview held.

“And this is the man who wants to govern Rivers state?” my brother said to me.

“We are finished,” I responded.

We were certain the PDP candidate would become governor, and at that time Amaechi was the runaway favourite, so we were resigned to fate.

Then things happened quickly.

Olusegun Obasanjo, the president at the time, suddenly realised that Amaechi’s candidacy had “k-legs” and he was unfairly kicked out of the ticket. When he was disqualified, I felt no sympathy for him. By then, my mind was made up anyway – after 8 years of enduring Peter Odili’s reckless rule, I would sooner have voted for a cow than a PDP candidate. My vote in that election went for someone else, although the PDP’s Celestine Omehia – Amaechi’s cousin and usurper – was declared winner

by Maurice Iwu’s INEC. We know the story of Amaechi’s defiant fight and how he snatched an improbable judicial victory in the nation’s highest court. I was ambivalent about it all. I admired the tenacity, the discipline to go against the grain despite the entreaties to compromise. But I remembered how the Rivers assembly which he led for the 8 years of Odili’s misrule was just an appendage of the governor’s office, never going against the dictates of the Brick House (Rivers government house), and I shrugged.

But Chibuike Amaechi surprised me.

Yes, my expectations were very low, but as governor from 2007 to 2011, Amaechi led a hardworking government, recording achievements in primary education, health care, agriculture and security.

Rivers people cheered his every stride; we even cheered his excesses.

Oh, there were many excesses, but who didn’t have those, we asked. He was authoritarian and could show an inhumane side like his slums demolitions project done without adequate notice or compensation, but these things needed to be done if progress is to be made; government was run as if on a whim, but that’s his unique style; he seemed to be doing everything at once, with no mind for structures or systems, hence unleashing chaos, but at least something was being done, nothing else mattered.

We defended him at every turn. Our governor is a maverick, he would follow his

guts and damn the cost, we loved to say.

In 2011, I was not in Rivers state during the elections. I would have voted for Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi if I were. Even though my family in Port Harcourt was divided on the choice of a presidential candidate to support, every one was Team Amaechi.

Performance-wise, Amaechi has declined considerably since his re-election.

His mind seems to have moved on past Rivers onto his 2015 ambitions. His every action seems to be with an eye for a bigger stage, he acts nowadays like one auditioning before a national audience.

Port Harcourt roads continue to be an eyesore, despite his repeated assurances. In fact during a guided tour of projects in the state last August together with some other youths, his information commissioner hemmed and hawed when asked about roads. We were shown those lovely accomplishments of the governor – the model primary and secondary schools (befitting), the primary health centres, the maxillofacial clinic, the Kelsey Memorial hospital (grand), the Songhai farm (ingenious), and others. The thing is that most of those were first term achievements – we continue to await the promises of the second term.

Now, concerning the strain in Gov. Amaechi’s relationship with President Jonathan, the interests of the two men just do not align presently. The president’s handling of the matter in recent times has been bizarre – instigating divisions within the Nigeria Governors’ Forum; unleashing his surrogates (like the minister of the Niger Delta and the minister of state for education) on Amaechi; and allegedly – if a report by the Leadership newspaper is to be believed – placing Amaechi under constant surveillance. Unbelievably desperate moves by Aso Rock!

READ: The 7 Deadly Sins Of Governor Rotimi Amaechi However, Amaechi bears a chunk of the blame. I see the creeping rise of the governor’s churlishness, that pettiness which tarred my first impression of him eight or so years ago. But he has been fortunate. He is self serving and lacks a sense of proportion, yet we all – especially the media – continue to cut him so much slack.

Last week in Ekiti, he spoke at the Symposium for Young and Emerging Leaders, and all his excesses were on full display again. It was a painful thing to watch.

Amaechi was unprepared – he said so himself. But whereas for others, that might have served as a cautionary marker to watch what comes out of their mouth; for him it was a licence to run amok.

It is unbecoming of the governor to use every given opportunity to throw barbs at the president.

Hear him: “On fuel subsidy, what have we done? A lot. That’s why they want to remove me as chairman of the Governor’s Forum. They face a radical chairman that’s

why they want me removed.”

Interestingly, in 2012, when they meaning President Jonathan – took the bold, mistimed, callous decision to remove subsidy on fuel and the whole nation was about to combust, all the fingers pointed to Aso Rock. Amaechi and the other governors in the NGF from all parties, the instigators, remained strategically silent, allowing the president take the hits on their behalf.

To be clear, Amaechi never said he was opposed to the removal, but no one heard him come out to speak forcefully in backing the president. When labour leaders met with him during the Occupy protest in Rivers, he said, “Please let’s bear with the president, we have only one country.”

Then in the midst of it, he announced a N4 subsidy, slashing the price from N141 to N137 in Rivers, and asking that motorists cut fares which had increased following the subsidy removal.

And that’s exactly how he does it – by playing both ways. On the one hand he announced the laughable N4 subsidy and the bus fare slash, small gestures intended to show that he was making motion; securing his ‘lovability.’ Behind the scene however, he maintained pressure on the president to stay firm and not budge to the people’s demands, and he was at the forefront of the hawks who clamoured for soldiers to be deployed to Ojota (he mockingly said so himself at the symposium.)

Let’s hear more quotes from Amaechi: “Because government is the biggest enterprise in the country, that’s why when the president enters, everybody catches cold, so that’s why I keep getting advise ‘Amaechi don’t talk again oo…’” and “I went to Turkey with the president and that’s the last trip I went with him. They don’t like taking me to travel with them…” and “They’ve threatened me with the EFCC, they’ve hunted me, there’s nothing they’ve not threatened me with… If I was not a governor with immunity, they would have taken me down.”

Did I mention that people cheered him on? But of course! We love the “me” vs. “them” stories which Amaechi tells so well.

His “David” vs. “Goliath” epics, in which he is always the “David” with his tongue for a

sling and haughty words for stones, felling every giant in sight.

But while he ‘photoshops’ his narration of his records, he cannot photoshop our memories. And we remember that it was he who pushed for the noxious Rivers Governor and Deputy Governor Fringe Benefits Bill last year which entitles all Rivers ex-governors and their ex-deputies to two houses in Rivers and Abuja, three new vehicles to be replaced yearly, 300 per cent funding for any furniture of their choice, pension equivalent to the annual basic salary of the incumbent governor or deputy, amongst other benefits. These bills of course would be footed by the Rivers taxpayer.

The assembly members couldn’t dare oppose the bill. You see, part of Amaechi’s ‘maverism’ is that he doesn’t tolerate dissent.

Imagine if it was Jonathan who had proposed and signed such an obscene law – Verily, verily I say unto you, the nation would have known no peace.

When you hear Amaechi describe Jonathan as a “dictator”, you wonder if it’s not the same Amaechi who sacked 11 duly elected local government chairmen because they failed to attend a meeting at the Governors’ Office. When you hear him claim to be a Marxist and a radical socialist opposed to the ‘greed of capitalism’, you wonder if it’s not the same guy who six months ago blew $45 million to procure a new Bombardier jet. Oh, and by the way, in Ekiti, when he saw a small reference to the absurdity of his jet purchase in an Enough is Enough (EiE) flyer which was distributed at the event, he simply accused the executive director of EiE, Yemi Adamolekun, of “trying to incite people against me. Tomorrow when you come and ask me to carry you in my jet, I won’t.”

“Hahahahaha,” roared the audience.

Our maverick has spoken.

So in essence, Amaechi has a blank cheque – he can say whatever he likes (“kidnapping can be seen as a form of redistribution of wealth”), change positions whenever he likes (“Orubebe is an incompetent minister”/January 2013; “Orubebe is a transformational leader”/March 2013), and still have everyone in his corner. What a charmed life!

He’s the only one who can condemn oppression and claim to be an oppressor while making the same speech, and be applauded both times because he is just being himself, he speaks his mind, and he is a maverick. No, no, no, he is a politician, people! He should be judged on a case by case basis and the press should not be too quick to make excuses for him.

The governor is not incompetent and he is by no means a failure. If any comparison is made between him and the president, only the deliberately mischievous can claim that Jonathan has been a better performer.

But it’s time to tell him that he hasn’t done anything extraordinary, that he is taking his eyes off the ball, that his double speak and double mindedness would not go unchallenged henceforth and that for some time Rivers people have been reaping thorny fruits of his neglect. It’s time for someone to tell Gov. Amaechi that he talks too much, that he needs to tone down on his self-serving arrogance and that next time he feels the need to criticise President Jonathan, he should go right ahead, but only after removing the Iroko trunk in his own eyes.

This article was first published in TheScoop.

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Page 11

Special Report Cleaning up Nigeria’s toxic playgrounds

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n a remote region of northern Nigeria the signs of a lead poisoning crisis caused by small-scale gold mining are still visible especially among children, despite a four-year clean-up project.

Four-year-old Umaima stares into space, seeming detached from all that is going on around her in the small village of Sumke.

She has not been able to talk or hear since she was two. For some months she was unable to walk until she received medical treatment.

“I feel lucky, because a child next door died of the same illness,” her mother says.

The contamination in Nigeria’s Zamfara state is seen as the worst case of lead poisoning in the world.

I’m never going to stop this work because it’s the only way I can earn a living around here” Zamfara gold miner More than 460 children have died since 2009, and the health of thousands has been affected.

The lead is a deadly by-product of the small-scale gold mining industry in Zamfara.

The government says the mining is illegal, but in this rural Muslim region of north-western Nigeria it has been going on for generations - and it was a discovery of greater deposits that has led to the recent boom in digging for gold.

Dangerous work At the Darata gold mine, a group of men gather around several deep dark pits, waiting for their colleagues who are several dozen feet under the ground hacking away at the rock.

It is dangerous work and some are down the pits for several days at a time.

“I’m never going to stop this work because it’s the only way I can earn a living around here,” says one of the miners as he emerges from a deep pit.

“I know some people have died from poisoning, but not from my family and even if anything were to happen it would be a sign of God’s will,” he tells me.

Village dust The sacks of rock which are brought up from underground are carried on the backs of motorbikes to a nearby processing site.

Children are most vulnerable to the lead contained in the dust Here dozens of men and young boys work under the 45C (113F) heat hammering rocks, operating grinding machines and sifting for gold.

The danger is in the dust. It is full of toxic lead, and is carried to the workers’ homes on their clothes and tools.

Most at risk are the children because the dust turns their villages into a poisonous playground.

Their young bodies are vulnerable to the effects of the toxins.

This crisis began in 2009. The government has not stopped the activity, though it says it will introduce safer mining practices - which are yet to be seen on the ground.

President Goodluck Jonathan pledged $4m (£2.6m) in May 2012, however, the money was not released until January.

It took an online and media campaign by local and international organisations to get the funds released.

Mercy Abang, a journalist and activist from Citizens Platform, was part of that drive, and says it is not enough for the money to be released but it also has to be used appropriately.

“It’s not news that we have a history of misappropriation of funds in Nigeria,” she says.

Removing the contaminated soil has been a painfully slow process “The money has to pass through several stages to get down, and it is necessary for us to follow the money at

each stage.”

Bagega village is the last of the eight affected communities to be cleaned up over the last four years.

Using shovels, workers dig up and remove all the contaminated soil and replace it with clean earth - in some cases the walls of these mud buildings have to be plastered afresh.

It is a painfully slow process, and is not helped by the fact that the equipment promised by the government has not arrived.

No children in this village can be treated for the effects of the poisoning until this clean-up is completed.

Long-term fears In Sumke village, where the toxic soil has been removed, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) runs a treatment clinic where mothers bring their affected children to receive medicine.

It is a complicated, drawn out process, which for some children could last up to 15 years.

E i g h t communities have been affected by the lead poisoning But the aid agencies will not stay that long.

MSF’s Zackaria Mwatia worries that the government might not be able to take over from them.

“The main challenge we face is we don’t see [the] federal ministry of health on the ground,” he says.

“We would like them to send the doctors, the nurses, the laboratory scientists so that we build their capacity.

“They would have built their skills and they will be able to handle this programme successfully.”

Health Minister Dr Muhammed Pate said MSF had no reason to worry.

“This is a man-made disaster; it is not a natural disaster - illegal mining is the underlying reason for this lack of awareness is behind it,” he says.

“We can’t sit behind and… not take action. Government will continue to take all steps to protect the lives and well being of its people.”

But as the blame is traded, thousands of children in these villages face a difficult future.

As the mining continues it is they who will pay a high price.

- BBC.

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reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Around the World Venezuela’s Maduro named election winner, opposition protests

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icolas Maduro, a former bus driver who became Hugo Chavez’s protege, was declared the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election on Sunday,but the opposition refused to accept the result.

It also demanded a recount of all the votes to eliminate all doubts surrounding the poll.

Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles said he did not recognise the official results that gave Maduro 50.7 per cent support versus 49.1 per cent for him, a difference of just 235,000 ballots.

“Maduro, if you were illegitimate before, now you are even more loaded with illegitimacy,’’ Capriles said, adding that his team had identified more than 3,000 “incidents’’ during the voting.

Capriles’ refusal to accept the result raised fears of political unrest in Venezuela, an OPEC nation with the world’s biggest oil reserves.

The National Electoral Council earlier said that more than 99 per cent of votes had been counted and that Maduro’s victory was “irreversible’’.

Government supporters immediately gathered to celebrate outside the Miraflores presidential palace, where Maduro paid an emotional tribute to Chavez, the socialist leader who named him as his successor in his last speech to the nation before dying last month from cancer.

“The fight continues’’ Maduro 50, told the victory rally.

“This was the first time without the giant candidate, but he left behind his ‘son,’ who is now going to be president and is going to show he is worthy of ruling the fatherland.’’

Some opposition supporters in Caracas banged pots and pans in protest as Maduro spoke.

Zimbabwe has no money for elections: minister

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ash-strapped Zimbabwe is appealing for help to fund crunch presidential elections planned for later this year, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said on Monday.

“It’s self-evident that treasury does not have the capacity to fund elections,” Biti told parliament.

He said the country needed $132 million (100 million euro) for the elections which veteran President Robert Mugabe’s party wants held as early as June.

However Biti said government would not borrow this money from local firms as it did for a March referendum on a new constitution which paved the way for the polls to be held.

“This ministry of finance has no intention to emasculate the economy for this event which will

President Robert Mugabe happen on one day. As far as we are concerned the international community must come to assist.”

Biti said apart from appealing for funding through the UN, the government recently wrote to South Africa and Angola to ask for loans.

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the elections,” the minister said.

Tsvangirai’s camp has accused Mugabe’s ZANU-PF of pocketing diamond revenues.

“We essentially raped the economy for the referendum,” Biti said adding that the funds borrowed for the elections could have been lent to companies to increase production.

Zimbabwe is expected to hold elections later this year at the expiry of the power-sharing government formed four years ago

by Mugabe and long-time rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. There is no agreement yet on the date of the elections with Mugabe targeting elections before June 29, while Tsvangirai wants the elections later in the year to allow for reforms to ensure a fair vote.

LSE claims students threatened over BBC’s N. Korea film

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tudents from the London School of Economics who made a field trip to North Korea have received threats from the regime after it emerged that the BBC used the visit to make an undercover film, the university said on Monday.

LSE Director Craig Calhoun said some of the students had received threatening letters following the revelation that an investigative reporter had posed as one of them during a field trip last month to the highly secretive communist state.

“We have received complaints from North Korean authorities, and some of the students who went on the trip have received threats.

They have received letters,” Calhoun told The Guardian newspaper.

The BBC had no immediate comment on the threats, but it earlier refused the LSE’s request that it cancel the film, due to be broadcast on the Panorama

investigative programme on Monday.

The prestigious university said the “subterfuge” was “reckless and irresponsible”, pointing out that if the North Korean authorities had discovered the journalists then the whole group could have been detained.

However, the BBC said in a statement that “the public interest in broadcasting this programme is very strong indeed” at a time when North Korea is keeping the world guessing over an expected missile launch.

The week-long trip was organised by Tomiko Newson, the Japanese wife of experienced BBC investigative reporter John Sweeney and herself a recent LSE graduate. She and her husband made the trip along with a BBC cameraman, with Sweeney apparently claiming to be an LSE doctoral student in history.

BBC director of programming Ceri Thomas insisted that genuine

George Orwell’s Indian birthplace to become Gandhi park he long-neglected birthplace of British novelist George Orwell in eastern India is to be developed into a memorial — just not one dedicated to the writer, officials said Monday.

Instead, the land attached to Orwell’s house in Bihar’s Motihari city will be developed in memory of independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, said local officials who laid a foundation stone at the site over the weekend.

The U-turn caused consternation among fans of the writer of such novels as Animal Farm and 1984, who said they could not understand the decision.

“It is strange to develop it as a Gandhi memorial instead of an Orwell memorial,” Deo Priya Mukherjee, who heads an Orwell commemorative committee in the state, told AFP. Orwell, born as Eric Arthur Blair on June 25, 1903, lived in Motihari for a year as a child before leaving for England in 1904 with his mother and sister.

He said “all is not well” with Zimbabwe’s economy, battling to recover from a decade-long downturn marked by galloping inflation which at one point peaked at 231 million percent.

This has since stabilised and while the economy is growing, at five percent last year, public finances remain in disarray.

“We are already under pressure. We are being suffocated even before we include the elections of 2013,” Biti said.

He said the government received no revenue from diamond mines in January and February and only $5 million in March against a target of $15 million.

“If there was honesty from diamond revenue we would not be asking for money from anyone for

His father, Richard W. Blair, worked for the Indian Civil Service during the time of British rule over the subcontinent.

For years, the family’s simple white colonial bungalow has been left to decay.

It was damaged in an earthquake in 1934 and has since served as an occasional home to stray animals, and more recently Orwell’s statue at the site of the house was vandalised.

In 2009, the state government announced a makeover for the site but nothing was done.

Then at the weekend, Prakash Asthana, chairman of the local municipal council, announced a park would be developed at the site to commemorate Gandhi.

Gandhi loyalists said they were also surprised by the move.

Razi Ahmad, secretary of a museum housing Gandhi memorabilia in Patna, said using the birthplace of Orwell to honour Gandhi would be contrary to the ideals of the Indian freedom

fighter.

“Land which has been long associated with the birthplace of George Orwell should not be disturbed to develop a park in memory of Gandhi,” he told AFP. Orwell wrote admiringly of Gandhi in his 1949 essay “Reflections on Gandhi” but also criticised his famously spartan lifestyle.

“No doubt alcohol, tobacco and so forth are things that a saint must avoid, but sainthood is also a thing that human beings must avoid,” Orwell wrote.

George Orwell

students on the trip were informed beforehand that a journalist would be travelling with them, and knew the risks.

“We think the risks as we explained them to the students were justified,” Thomas said, adding that there were individual and group briefings before they left for Pyongyang.

“But I need to be absolutely clear that if we had any suggestion that lives were at risk or anything approaching that — either the BBC team’s lives or the lives of the students — then we wouldn’t have gone anywhere near this.”

He added that the “North Korea Undercover” programme had been authorised at the highest level of the BBC, saying: “This went right to the top.”

In an article on the Times Higher Education website earlier on Monday, LSE director Calhoun warned that the investigation had left the university’s students and staff, and academics generally, “in a very difficult, if not dangerous, position”.

“The subterfuge was employed, ironically, because the North Korean government considers BBC and other independent journalists akin to British spies,” he wrote.

“The danger now is that the North Koreans, and governments in equally sensitive parts of the world, will think the same of LSE staff and students.

“The entire enterprise was reckless and irresponsible from start to finish, as well as deeply dishonest.”

Calhoun said the trip to North Korea appeared to have been planned entirely to facilitate the BBC programme, saying it was not organised or sanctioned by the university, although it was advertised by an LSE student society. The BBC said it never intended to make reference to the LSE in the programme, and the faces of three students who have since complained will be pixilated in the film. But Calhoun said details of the trip were always going to leak out.

Pakistan’s Musharraf ‘ready to face jail’

F

ormer Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf, facing a barrage of legal cases over his time in power, said Monday he had done nothing wrong but was ready to go to jail if the courts ordered it.

The retired general, who returned to Pakistan last month to run for parliament in the May 11 general election, is accused over the killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and a rebel from the region of Baluchistan.

Lawyers are also trying to have him put on trial for treason for subverting the constitution by imposing a state of emergency and sacking judges in 2007. A hearing in this case on Monday was adjourned to Wednesday.

At the launch of his All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) party’s manifesto held amid tight security

at his farmhouse near Islamabad, Musharraf said his conscience was clear. “I have a conviction in my heart that I have not done anything wrong,” he said. “The only thing in my heart was to save Pakistan and now I am here I have the same commitment, that I will save Pakistan.” Asked what he would do if he lost the cases and was sentenced to prison, Musharraf told reporters: “If that is the decision, I am ready to go.”

The 69-year-old, who has had death threats from the Taliban, is standing for parliament in a seat in the remote northern district of Chitral, close to the Afghan border.

Last week he told CNN that he had authorised some US drone missile strikes on Pakistani soil during his 1999-2008 rule but on Monday he said he was now “totally against” them.

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Page 15

Around the World Kuwait opposition leader jailed for ‘insulting’ ruler

A

Kuwaiti court sentenced key opposition leader Mussallam alBarrak to five years in prison on Monday for insulting the emir, in a ruling likely to breathe new life into a flagging protest movement.

Barrak, a nationalist former MP, was charged with making statements offensive to the ruler of the oil-rich Gulf state, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, at a public rally on October 15.

Criticising the emir is a crime in Kuwait that carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail.

“The court has sentenced the defendant Mussallam al-Barrak to five years in prison with immediate effect,” said judge Wael al-Atiqi in a half-full courtroom in Kuwait City.

In the written verdict obtained by AFP, the court said it was convinced that the statements made by Barrak “insulted the emir ... and undermined his authorities,” both major violations of the law.

The verdict dictates the jail term must be implemented immediately and police could arrest the opposition leader at any time.

Barrak later told supporters at his residence that the “ruling is illegal but I will give myself up to police if they come to pick me up.”

But when a number of high-ranking police officers arrived in the afternoon to arrest Barrak, lawyers asked for an official arrest order which they did not have and police had to go back empty-handed.

Hundreds of opposition activists and former MPs rushed to Barrak’s residence in Al-Andalus, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) southwest of Kuwait City, to express solidarity with him.

The activists agreed to stage a demonstration later on Monday and urged Kuwaitis to join them.

One of Barrak’s lawyers, Abdullah alAhmad, said “the ruling is null and void because it violated legal procedures and for failing to provide the defence team with sufficient guarantees.”

“We will appeal against the ruling in the appeals court,” he told AFP outside the courtroom, but the defence team had not filed the challenge when their offices closed on Monday.

Last week, Barrak’s defence team walked out of court after the judge refused requests to hear defence witnesses who included the Kuwaiti premier and two former opposition MPs. Barrak had asked Atiqi to postpone the trial until he found a new lawyer but the judge refused and insisted he would proceed with the case on Monday.

The verdict was issued amid tight security inside and outside the Palace of Justice.

Kuwaiti stocks dived over 100 points or 1.4 percent immediately after the ruling was announced but most of the losses were recovered later.

Former liberal MP Abdulrahman alAnjari said “the ruling is purely political ... far away from the principles of justice.”

The verdict came two days after the Kuwaiti opposition threatened to stage street protests and call for civil disobedience if Barrak was denied a fair trial and jailed.

Independent political analyst Mohammad al-Ajmi said he expects a serious escalation of opposition-led protests after the verdict.

“I believe that escalation of protests is inevitable because of Barrak’s heavy political weight and as he is considered an important symbol for the opposition,” Ajmi told AFP.

World’s first womb transplant woman pregnant

T

he first woman ever to receive a uterus from a deceased donor, is two-weeks pregnant following a successful embryo transplant, her doctors said on Friday.

The 22-year-old Derya Sert was revealed to be almost two-weeks pregnant in preliminary results after in vitro fertilisation at Akdeniz University Hospital in Turkey’s southern province of Antalya, her doctor Mustafa Unal said in a written statement.

“She is doing just fine at the moment,” Unal said.

Sert was described as a “medical miracle” when she became the first woman in the world to have a successful womb transplant from a dead donor in August 2011 at the same Antalya hospital.

The groundbreaking news of her pregnancy will rekindle hopes for thousands of childless women across the world who are unable to bear their own babies.

Sert was born without a uterus, like one in every 5,000 women around the

to be performed in the world, the first being in Saudi Arabia in 2000 from a living donor, which failed after 99 days due to heavy clotting.

Doctors had to remove the organ.

The baby is expected to be delivered via C-section and the uterus to be removed from Sert in the months following the birth to avoid further complications and the risk of rejection.

The young woman had started to menstruate after the transplant, which her doctors had said was an important signal that the womb was functional.

Experts however warn world, and her doctors waited 18 months before implanting the embryo to make sure the foreign organ was still functioning.

Hers was the second womb transplant

the pregnancy carries several health risks to the patient as well as to the baby, including birth defects due to the use of immunosuppressive drugs as well as preterm delivery.

another domestic manufacturer's formula was found to be contaminated with carcinogens, despite official pledges to clean up the industry.

Breastfeeding rates in China are low -- only 28 percent according to a 2012 UNICEF report -- due to time limits on maternity leave and aggressive marketing of formula.

But buyers are sceptical of any products sold in China, including foreign brands packaged for the Chinese market.

China is "by far" the world's largest market for formula, says consumer research group Euromonitor.

"Chinese young parents perceive international brands, especially imported brands in original packaging, to be healthier," said analyst Vera Wang.

The Chinese websites charge hefty mark-ups, sometimes approaching 100 percent, on the retail price, such as German brand Aptamil advertised at around 220 yuan ($35) for a 600g (21 ounce) box.

Shipping fees can double those prices again, while customs checks and import duties in China can add another 30 percent, according to Chinese reports.

In contrast, a central Beijing supermarket sells Chinese-made Yili formula at 150 yuan for 900g.

The rising Chinese demand has led to shortages across Europe.

One German exporter posted a picture of empty supermarket shelves online writing: "I counted with the shop manager, there were eight metres of empty shelves... all bought by Chinese people."

German media have seized on photos of shop shelves stripped bare, with Bild, Europe's highest circulation newspaper, announcing in January: "Angry mothers stand in front of empty Aptamil shelves... because Chinese buy up our milk powder!"

Milupa, which makes Aptamil, apologised for the shortages, citing

"exports to Asia" as the reason.

"We don't encourage these exports and we don't sell to Asia. These customers buy directly from German supermarkets," it said on its website.

Closer to mainland China, anger about visitor purchases in Hong Kong saw the city ban travellers taking out more than 1.8 kilograms of formula, with banners at the border warning of HK$500,000 (US$64,000) fines and two-year jail sentences for offenders.

European stores have also begun to limit sales, with German pharmacy chain DM banning customers from buying more than three boxes of Aptamil at a time.

In Britain, major supermarket chains are reportedly limiting customers to two cans of formula per day at manufacturers' requests, with Milupa's parent company Danone saying the move was to prevent bulkbuying for "unofficial exports to China".

A Chinese customer was recently forced out of a branch of a British supermarket after staff said he had bought more than 100 boxes of formula in a single week, according to the 21st Century Business Herald, a Chinese newspaper.

In Australia, a major run on Karicare formula reportedly linked to an influx of Chinese tourists over Christmas saw some supermarkets and pharmacies introduce rationing and purchase limits in January.

In Germany, a vendor based near Frankfurt echoed others across the country when he told AFP: "It's becoming much harder to buy milk powder. Last time I went shopping I could only buy 12 boxes, so I've stopped trading."

But Shao said the shortages and restrictions would not stop her.

"If one supermarket is sold out, I'll walk to another," she said. "I do it for the mothers, and for the children. As a mother myself, I know how important milk powder is."

Got baby milk? Chinese dealers strip shelves worldwide

By Tom Hancock (AFP)

B

lamed for empty shop shelves from Europe to Australia, networks of baby formula traffickers are shipping milk powder to Chinese parents fearful of local products, and working ever harder to meet demand.

Chinese parents haunted by scandals involving poisoned baby milk will pay premium prices -- three or four times as much as domestic brands -- for formula from Europe, where stores are limiting sales in the wake of the shortages.

Even the Chinese buyers are complaining. "Its getting harder to find milk powder, for each box I have to walk further," said a woman surnamed Shao, who lives in Germany and advertises baby formula online.

She is one of a small army of vendors working from homes across Europe, emptying shelves and causing shops to impose limits on purchases.

China's equivalent of eBay, Taobao, has more than 4,000 listings for milk powder products from Germany, with a similar number from Britain and nearly 3,000 from France.

"I started off sending the powder to family and friends," said Shao, a stayat-home mother who says she makes a "small amount" from the business.

"Mothers usually order six to eight boxes at a time, because it takes a month to arrive and they want to keep a constant supply," she told AFP. Other vendors contacted by AFP ran larger-scale operations, with one Chinese company owner surnamed He boasting that he employs 10 German staff.

Demand is driven by memories of a 2008 scandal over Chinese baby formula tainted with the industrial chemical melamine which killed six children and affected more than 300,000 others.

Distrust was fortified last year when

Page 16

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

News Buhari lied against INEC - Jega Contd. from Page 8 he did not mention your name or any other official.

But I am also aware that the General did not come out to deny both the earlier allegation and this one, so it is safe to assume that he did raise those allegations, are you taking any action? How do you feel?

A. I heard this one too but as I said, it is not everything I read that I regard as the truth. He may or may not have made the statements and in Nigeria today, one cannot come out to deny a statement saying there is corruption in a particular agency. But if the goal is to stop it, it will be better to have come out and say this is the corrupt act and these are those who are responsible. Knowledge of that will enable administrators do the right thing and if they fail, then it means they condoned what is going on.

All I know is that in the election we conducted, I have not come across anyone who committed a corrupt act or something of that nature that I did not take action. We don’t have any evidence or knowledge that someone has collected money in the name of the election we conducted.

I can assure you on that. But if anyone knows someone who did, we are always ready to listen; besides, there are anticorruption agencies such as the EFCC. To my knowledge, we have taken action on all issues that came to our attention.

Even the Youth Corps members that we used in the election, who has helped us tremendously to improve the conduct of the election, some of them found to have been compromised were punished. Some were fined while others were even jailed for between three to six months. This is common knowledge but people hardly take note and appreciate all these.

Corruption does take place and until the government stand firm, anyone that gets the chance will indulge in corruption but here in INEC we have tried to do the right thing and we are still doing so. We always take action on anomalies.

But I keep reiterating that if anyone has information that I or any of my staff were involved in any corrupt act, they should, please, bring it out. No one can be protected once it is established they have erred. So, I cannot say what he stated is false but I am not aware. But if he has any evidence, let him bring it out so that we will see what action to take.

Q. You have taken your time to explain how you have tried to improve the conduct of elections but it is generally believed that our elections are still fraught with rigging. How can that problem be solved?

A. There are many ways of rigging elections; thankfully, we have identified a lot of the ways in which rigging takes place even before the last general election and we have taken measures to block a lot of them. For example, when we say we will conduct election with a ballot paper that has no serial number, you know that we are not being truthful.

So, we ensured that all ballot papers used in the election have serial numbers. In the past, ballot papers had no serial numbers. Apart from that, we also introduced colour coding to the ballot papers. Before, you can, for instance, divert ballot papers meant for Enugu to Sokoto if it is easier to get at Enugu.

So, we introduced different colours such that one cannot divert ballot papers from one state to another- e.g. from Enugu to Sokoto- but even within Enugu, you cannot take a ballot paper meant for a particular local government to another local government and use it because the colours are different. Apart from that, all the ballot papers we used right from the 2011 elections up to the recent governorship re-run elections contain some security marks that are known only to me because I put them there. If you want, I can show you now from some of the remnants we have. So, the issue of someone bringing in a different ballot paper does not arise because no one knows that mark that is on all the ballot papers except me.

However, one thing we failed to address adequately is the issue of the purchase of voter’s cards by politicians.

Some of them buy and burn them in areas where they feel they are not strong or distribute them to their supporters to go and use them to vote. We have taken a stand to ensure that each voter is identified from the picture on the voter’s card but you know in this country sometimes people come and threaten electoral officials or they (the electoral officers) are overwhelmed by the magnitude of voters in a particular voting unit and so it is difficult to identify each and every voter from their picture.

But for the 2015 election, we want to give every voter a permanent voter’s card which will be read via a chip in the card at the point of accreditation. The card reader will highlight both his picture, name and finger prints. So, even if someone purchases a card, they cannot use it. We are trying to ensure that all the loopholes identified in the last election are corrected before the next one.

We are also aware that sometimes thugs come and

disrupt elections, so we are strengthening our collaboration with security agencies for them to really appreciate and understand these problems so that they will find a way of arresting and prosecuting everyone involved.

The major part of the problem is that unlike what obtains in other parts of the continent; our politicians here are always devising new strategies of rigging elections. While you are trying to tie the loose ends, they will continue to untie the ones you did previously.

So, while they continue to device new strategies to rig, we will also continue to device means by which to stop them. The goal is to ensure that we have a more improved election in 2015.

Q. If you say everyone must thumb print, what happens to lepers and others equally physically challenged- who are unable to use their fingers?

A. Even during registration we have taken data to indicate one is a leper or challenged. Besides, everyone is known in their polling unit.

Q. When CPC went to court to challenge the presidential election, part of their prayers was to examine electoral materials at which, INEC directed their lawyers to oppose the move.

A. Honestly that is not the case. You have mentioned CPC so I will call the name. What they asked for is not electoral materials- which we would have given them- but they said everything must be gathered and brought to Abuja and we disagreed. We told them that all election materials are left in the states the elections are held. So, we advised them to come up with a schedule to travel with our lawyers to all the states they want to go to inspect the materials to go and inspect whatever they want, we have no problem with that.

But the problem is that we have equipment here that has the data of all the persons that were registered in the country; and that is what they wanted us to give them.

But we told them that both the constitution and the Electoral Act did not make provision for that. Both the constitution and Electoral Act made it mandatory to protect the secret of voters because it has the addresses and names of all voters. What we have in the equipment involved peoples’ home addresses and telephone numbers. If we were to give this to anyone, they can easily go to constituencies and know who voted for who because the names are there.

Election results and ballots have no names but the equipment has names. So, with it, it would have been easier to say go to a particular place and ask who so and so person is at so and so house, he voted for so and so.

So, we said if they really want that, they should argue with the court to see if it will order us to give them. What happened? They approached the court and it gave an order asking us not to give them. What is being bandied about is not true.

Q. In spite of INEC being referred to as ‘independent’ many are of the view that the agency is not independent since it depends on the government for almost everything. So how would you convince readers that you are independent?

A. In most cases whenever an agency is referred to as independent, two things come into play: the first one being how was it established and the second one is how is it funded?

How it is established is based on five major principles which many countries when compared to ours follow. The first is to ensure that the government either plays no role at all or play very little in setting up the agency. Muhammad Lawal Uwais committee has given recommendation on how Nigeria should set up an Independent Electoral Commission.

In terms of independent funding, most countries simply do one thing; the commission’s budget goes to the Assembly and once approved by the legislature, the executive has no power to temper with it. In Nigeria today, the funding part has been solved and so INEC can be said to be Independent in that regard. This is because once the National Assembly approves our budget; the executive cannot do anything about it.

There may be little delay at times but eventually, what is due to us comes to us. What is left is to look at the recommendations of Uwais committee that says government should play little role in appointments into the Commission. What I want people to understand is that just because the government appoints you does not mean you cannot do anything other than what it wants. That is not the case. You find out that some persons may be appointed by the government but they know they have come to serve the nation and not those in government.

People should take note of this, it is wrong to generalise. As for me and those I work with here, we are always focused on working for the good of the nation and not the government or any political candidate.

I can swear to you that since our appointment our preoccupation has been the fatherland, not the government or any individual politician. We just work according to the constitution and the Electoral Act. Unfortunately, a lot of people just make statements they know nothing about.

Q. Based on the law, political parties are the ones expected to name their candidates to elective offices but during the 2011 elections, INEC named some candidates in some states, why?

A. Give me example of any state that…

Q. Like in Katsina state for instance…

A. What happened in Katsina state has to do with differences among the aspirants in the political party. The party was factionalised into two and each faction was claiming to be the right one to produce candidates for the party. So, we simply followed what the rule says, and that is to identify the ones that followed the due process in selecting their candidates. How was it supposed to be done?

That is what we used. Those who felt short changed went to court. In the end, what happened? At the end, they came back to the position we took. The same thing in Kano.

Wherever you see these problems, they are caused by the political party itself. Let me tell you something, I swear to God, there was a party that presented a candidate in which fake documents were brought- someone that is supposed to be arrested- and we reported the matter to the police because we knew it was not right.

All these parties making these allegations, that is what they do. Section 31 of the electoral Act said we should accept any name presented to us by a political party without verification. As a result, some people did not even signify intention to run, they did not participate in primaries yet, someone’s name is removed and his own is presented to us.

If we decided not to accept that name, it would appear as if we are arrogating to ourselves powers we don’t have. Ours is just to follow the rules and reduce the high rate of allegations of bias against us. Whether we are right or wrong, people will definitely raise allegations of bias. We just tried to eliminate room for errors on our part. It is definitely not true that we imposed any candidate on any political party.

Q. Some say INEC’s inability to have control over security agents is also a contributory factor, that is why some are suggesting that you get UN to send in independent troops during election. Are you thinking along that line?

A. In the first place, we don’t have to go to the UN for troops; the country disallows that except if it is in a state of war. What we need to do is to improve our security situation such that we will do the job perfectly well. We can learn from some countries such as India and the rest. What they do there is to say that on Election Day- or even a week to the election, it will be announced that all the military or police are under the electoral commission. They only carry out the orders given by the head of the electoral commission.

But can I dare do that in Nigeria? Already so many allegations are flying around. So if that happens, even the orders I did not give will be attributed to me.

Truth is, there is a way to improve the security situation.

Right now, we have an excellent cordial relationship with the Inspector General of Police and other heads of the military on how to improve the security situation as far as elections are concerned. We have recorded success in Ondo and Edo. It was only in Kano that we faced a little challenge during the by-election held recently in Gaya and Garko constituencies. Honestly, we were not happy with what happened. There were security lapses which if not taken care of will create unnecessary damage. We are determined to ensure that such does not repeat itself. Thankfully, there was an election two weeks ago in Gombe and there was adequate security measure such that what happened in Kano did not repeat itself.

What happened in Kano is like we are back to the old days. Thugs were brought to polling units and they prevented people from coming out to vote and they undertook all sort of rigging right in front of the security agents who did nothing. Perhaps, it was because they were overpowered or they felt if they decided to act, it could degenerate to a total breakdown of law and order. So, I call on governors particularly that of Kano to take steps to ensure that such an ugly episode does not repeat itself because it is like taking us backward again.

Q. What assurances do you have that the election of 2015 will be acceptable to Nigerians than that of 2011?

A. My hope and promise to Nigerians is that if we are able to conduct the election of 2015, we will come out with strategies and will be more determined to make sure that we organise an election that will be most acceptable to Nigerians. However, conducting election is not the responsibility of INEC alone; everyone has a role to play, ranging from traditional rulers, clergies, and other eminent Nigerians. We all have to be determined and show and act that we want to change things for the better, everyone should contribute his quota. With proper understanding among the people, issues that many assume it’s only INEC or security agencies that can handle them, may end up being handled by the people themselves.

We are therefore, calling for the support of all Nigerians and we pray God will continue to help us all so that we can make progress in the conduct of elections in Nigeria.

If we want Nigeria to develop, we must first develop the conduct of credible election.

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Page 17

Science & Environment Man versus wild

By Navesh Chitrakar

I

was on my way to cover another assignment when I got news of a leopard that had wandered into a town. Without wasting any time, I turned my motorbike around and rushed toward the scene. When I reached the area, I saw a huge crowd of people, most of them with big sticks, pieces of bamboo or farming tools, but I couldn’t see a leopard anywhere.

I asked one of the men standing near me and he pointed to the bush and said that was where the leopard was hiding. At that point, a policeman with a gun entered the bush and climbed up a small tree. I heard a big bang as he let off six rounds of gunfire – the sound was really loud. Was the leopard dead? Was it going to come out?

The gun had been fired to scare the animal and make it emerge from its hiding place, but the plan didn’t work. Up until that point, there had been no trace of the beast, only people making fun of it, shouting, looking toward the bush and cracking jokes. The policeman walked out of the undergrowth with his gun.

After a while, all of a sudden I heard a big roar and there it was: a big leopard darting like the wind out into the open.

It attacked a police officer before it came out, but everything happened so quickly that even though I had my camera pointed in the right direction, I only managed to get a picture of it crossing half of my frame. I was late by a fraction of a second.

I ran out from the house where I was standing to take pictures as everything suddenly became blocked. I had covered stories of leopards wandering into towns before, but usually the animal would be trapped inside a room where it would be tranquilized. This time was nothing like that. There were no barriers between the beast and the people, it was literally a case of man versus wild. But the villagers and the leopard shared something in common at that moment – in both of them I saw fear.

The leopard was desperately trying to escape, running from one side to

another, but there were armed people surrounding it from every angle. Finally, the

beautiful beast was cornered and beaten to death.

My heart was pumping

vigorously. After all the running and pushing I was out of breath, but still trying to catch up with the crowd who continued beating the animal even after it had given up. The people looked very proud after they killed the leopard. Some of them were pulling the fur on its face to take away as a souvenir, some were busy taking their picture with the beast.

For me, it was really sad to witness how it was killed. I thought it would be tranquilized and released somewhere safe.

I came back home after finishing one more assignment, and thought as I was lying in bed: was it the beast who encroached on our home, or is it us who have been expanding day by day into its territory? Why didn’t a professional handle the situation? People killed the leopard out of fear, and it died trying to escape. -Reuters.

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Page 18

Your Health Dangers of Shaving your Pubic Hair?

By Dr. Mercola

A

ccording to a recent survey, a large percentage of US college students remove some or all of their pubic hair, 1 as does a sizable portion of the rest of the population.

It’s a growing trend that may actually have ancient roots, as pubic hair removal was thought to have been practiced among women in ancient Greece, Egypt and Rome.2 In modern times, both men and women use a variety of methods (shaving, waxing, clipping, lasers) to remove pubic hair, and describe various motivations for doing so.

Among women, the most popular reasons include the belief that it looks better in a bathing suit, increases feelings of attractiveness, feels more comfortable and the belief that it’s cleaner.

Ironically, this latter reasoning may be contradictory, as new research suggests shaving your pubic hair may actually increase your risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease (STD) known as molluscum contagiosum.

The Viral STD Risk of Shaving Your Pubic Hair Shaving or waxing can cause irritation and micro-trauma to your skin that increases your risk of contracting a viral infection.

Researchers of a new case study observed that the number of cases of molluscum contagiosum have risen along with rates of pubic hair removal.

To look into the link, they observed 30 patients at a private skin care clinic in Nice, France, all of whom were infected with the molluscum virus. Nearly all of them had removed their pubic hair, the vast majority by shaving, followed by waxing and then clipping.

The finding supports the researchers theory that hairless genitals may provide an opportunity for sexually transmitted diseases like molluscum to take hold, with shaving showing the strongest association.

Molluscum contagiosum is spread easily, and the researchers suggested the virus may have spread primarily through self-infection caused by scratching skin irritated by shaving.

Other skin issues were also noted among the study participants, which may also have been related to the pubic hair removal. These included: · Warts (the researchers suggested shaving your pubic hair may also increase the risk of genital warts caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV)) ·Bacterial skin infections ·Scars ·Ingrown hairs What is Molluscum Contagiosum?

Despite its prevalence, molluscum contagiosum is one of the lesserknown STDs. A type of pox virus, molluscum is actually most common in children, although it also affects adults with weakened immune systems and can be spread through sexual contact. The virus causes firm, pearl-like bumps on the skin, which, though painless, can become easily red and inflamed.

If the bumps are scratched, the infection spreads easily person-toperson as well as through contaminated objects. Shaving over the bumps can also cause the virus to spread. In most cases the infection will resolve within six to 12 months with no treatment, so keeping your immune system strong is important.

The bumps can also be removed to help prevent spread of the infection.

Other STDs and Infections May Also be Linked to Pubic Hair Removal Is the spread of viruses like molluscum contagiosum and the human papillomavirus the only downside to removing your pubic hair, or are there other consequences? Quite possibly, yes.

Last year, a family physician called for an end to the “war on pubic hair,” claiming the practice of removing pubic hair increases risks of infection and sexually transmitted diseases. As reported by The Independent:3

“As director of the health centre at Western University in Washington State, US, she has seen the consequences. ‘Pubic hair removal naturally irritates and inflames the hair follicles, leaving microscopic open wounds. Frequent hair removal is necessary to stay smooth, causing regular irritation of the shaved or waxed area. When that is combined with the warm, moist environment of the genitals, it becomes a happy culture media for some of the nastiest bacterial pathogens.’...

In her practice it is not unusual to find patients with boils and abscesses on their genitals from shaving as well as cellulitis, an infection of the scrotum, labia or penis from shaving

or from having sex with someone infected. Herpes is also an increased risk ‘due to the microscopic wounds being exposed to virus carried by mouth or genitals.’ ‘It follows that there may be vulnerability to the spread of other sexually transmitted diseases as well,’ she says.

Does Pubic Hair Have a Purpose?

The hairless ideal sought by so many people is in truth both unattainable and probably not entirely healthful. Body hair will

always grow back (even laser hair removal will only subdue hair growth and thickness by 50 percent or so with repeated treatments), and each time you remove the hair you’re causing some damage to your skin.

Plus, hair does serve important functions, including in the genital region, such as: ·Protection: helping to prevent foreign particles like dust and pathogenic bacteria from entering your body ·Temperature control: hair captures the air surrounding your body to reduce the loss of heat ·Reduces friction, which prevents skin irritation, abrasion and injury ·Promotes touch reception So there are some arguments for keeping your pubic hair, and it’s likely that a reduced risk of sexually transmitted infections is one of them.

Of course, the best way to prevent the spread of STDs is to follow safe-sex practices, or wait to have sex until you’re in a committed relationship.

Then, keep your immune system in tip-top shape, and it will be better able to fight off any viruses that do come its way. That said, if you’re in a committed relationship in which the threat of STDs has been removed, then there is probably little harm in shaving your pubic hair, if that is your preference. (And there is one potential benefit that we haven’t discussed: a much lower risk of pubic lice.)

Rechargeable Electric Shaver Bikini

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Page 19

Living & Style 22 Things Happy People Do Differently

By Dr. Mercola

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any people spend their lives waiting to be happy. You may think, “if only I had more money,” or “could lose weight,” or you fill in the blank, then I would be happy.

Well here’s a secret: you can be happy right now. It’s not always easy, but you can choose to be happy, and in the vast majority of circumstances there’s no one who can stop you except for yourself.

The truth is, happiness doesn’t come from wealth, perfect looks or even a perfect relationship. Happiness comes from within. This is why, if you truly want to be happy, you need to work on yourself, first.

22 Positive Habits of Happy People What’s the secret to being happy? You can learn how to do it, just as you can learn any other skill. Those who are happy tend to follow a certain set of habits that create peace in their lives; if you learn to apply these habits in your own life, there’s a good chance you’ll be happy too.

The featured article compiled 22 such behaviors that you can use to enhance your life and your happiness: 1 1. Let go of grudges Forgiving and forgetting is necessary for your own happiness, as holding a grudge means you’re also holding onto resentment, anger, hurt and other negative emotions that are standing in the way of your own happiness. Letting go of a grudge frees you from negativity and allows more space for positive emotions to fill in.

2. Treat everyone with kindness Kindness is not only contagious, it’s also proven to make you happier. When you’re kind to others, your brain produces feel-good hormones and neurotransmitters like serotonin and you’re able to build strong relationships with others, fostering positive feelings all around.

3. Regard your problems as challenges Change your internal dialogue so that anytime you have a “problem” you view it as a challenge or a new opportunity to change your life for the better. Eliminate the word “problem” from your mind entirely.

4. Express gratitude for what you have People who are thankful for what they have are better able to cope with stress, have more positive emotions, and are better able to reach their goals. The best way to harness the positive power of gratitude is to keep a gratitude journal or list, where you actively write down exactly what you’re grateful for each day. Doing so has been linked to happier moods, greater optimism and even better physical health.

5. Dream big Go ahead and dream big, as you’ll be more likely to accomplish your goals.

Rather than limiting yourself, when you dream big you’re opening your mind to a more optimistic, positive state where you have the power to achieve virtually anything you desire.

6. Don’t sweat the small stuff If the issue you’re mad about will be irrelevant a year, a month, a week or

even a day from now, why sweat it?

Happy people know how to let life’s daily irritations roll off their back.

7. Speak well of others It may be tempting to gather around the office water cooler to get and give the daily gossip, but talking negatively about others is like taking a bath in negative emotions; your body soaks them up. Instead, make it a point to only say positive, nice words about other people, and you’ll help foster more positive thinking in your own life as well.

8. Avoid making excuses It’s easy to blame others for your life’s failures, but doing so means you’re unlikely to rise past them. Happy people take responsibility for their mistakes and missteps, then use the failure as an opportunity to change for the better.

9. Live in the present Allow yourself to be immersed in whatever it is you’re doing right now, and take time to really be in the present moment. Avoid replaying past negative events in your head or worrying about the future; just savor what’s going on in your life now.

10. Wake up at the same time every morning Getting up at the same time every day (preferably an early time) is deceptively simple. Doing so will help regulate your circadian rhythm so you’ll have an easier time waking and likely

others’ approval It’s important to follow your own dreams and desires without letting naysayers stand in your way. It’s fine to seek others’ opinions, but happy people stay true to their own hearts and don’t get bogged down with the need for outside approval.

14. Take time to listen Listening helps you soak in the wisdom of others and allows you to quiet your own mind at the same time.

Intense listening can help you feel content while helping you gain different perspectives.

15. Nurture social relationships Positive social relationships are a key to happiness, so be sure you make time to visit with friends, family and your significant other.

16. Meditate Meditation helps you keep your mind focused, calms your nerves and supports inner peace. Research shows it can even lead to physical changes in your brain that make you happier.

17. Eat well What you eat directly impacts your mood and energy levels in both the short and long term. Whereas eating right can prime your body and brain to be in a focused, happy state, eating processed junk foods will leave you sluggish and prone to chronic disease. My free nutrition plan is an excellent tool to help

feel more energized. Plus, the habit of rising early every day is one shared by many successful people, as it enhances your productivity and focus.

11. Don’t compare yourself to others Your life is unique, so don’t measure your own worth by comparing yourself to those around you. Even regarding yourself as better than your peers is detrimental to your happiness, as you’re fostering judgmental feelings and an unhealthy sense of superiority. Measure your own success based on your progress alone, not that of others.

12. Surround yourself with positive people The saying “misery loves company” is entirely true. That’s why you need to choose friends who are optimistic and happy themselves, as you will be surrounded with positive energy.

13. Realize that you don’t need

you choose the best foods for both physical and emotional wellness.

18. Exercise Exercise boosts levels of healthpromoting brain chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, which may help buffer some of the effects of stress and also relieve some symptoms of depression.

Rather than viewing exercise as a medical tool to lose weight, prevent disease, and live longer – all benefits that occur in the future – try viewing exercise as a daily tool to immediately enhance your frame of mind, reduce stress and feel happier.

19. Live minimally Clutter has a way of sucking the energy right out of you and replacing it with feelings of chaos. Clutter is an oftenunrecognized source of stress that prompts feelings of anxiety, frustration, distraction and even guilt, so give your

home and office a clutter makeover, purging it of the excess papers, files, knick knacks and other “stuff” that not only takes up space in your physical environment, but also in your mind.

20. Be honest Every time you lie, your stress levels are likely to increase and your selfesteem will crumble just a little bit more.

Plus, if others find out you’re a liar it will damage your personal and professional relationships. Telling the truth, on the other hand, boosts your mental health and allows others to build trust in you.

21. Establish personal control Avoid letting other people dictate the way you live. Instead, establish personal control in your life that allows you to fulfill your own goals and dreams, as well as a great sense of personal self-worth.

22. Accept what cannot be changed Everything in your life is not going to be perfect, and that’s perfectly all right. Happy people learn to accept injustices and setbacks in their life that they cannot change, and instead put their energy on changing what they can control for the better.

A Healthy Lifestyle Naturally Enhances Happiness You may have noticed that some of the habits of happy people are one in the same with those that are essential for leading a healthy lifestyle – exercising and eating right, for example. Once you adopt a happiness mindset, and even before you do, embracing healthy habits will help keep your mood elevated naturally even in the midst of stress.

Happy people tend to be healthy people, and vice versa, so in addition to healthy food and exercise, the following lifestyle strategies can also help to support emotional wellness: · Proper sleep: Sleep deprivation is linked to psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and bipolar depression, while getting the right amount of sleep has been linked to positive personality characteristics such as optimism and greater self-esteem, as well as a greater ability to solve difficult problems.2 ·Animal-based omega-3 fats: Low concentrations of the omega-3 fats EPA and DHA are known to increase your risk for mood swings and mood disorders.

Those suffering from depression have been found to have lower levels of omega3 in their blood, compared to nondepressed individuals.

Krill oil is my preferred source of omega-3 fats. ·Regular sun exposure: This is essential for vitamin D production, low levels of which are linked to depression.

But even beyond vitamin D, regular safe sun exposure is known to enhance mood and energy through the release of endorphins. ·Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT): If difficult life circumstances and the negative emotions they create are making happiness hard to come by, try EFT, which is a form of do-it-yourself psychological acupressure.

This simple technique can help clear your body and mind of negative emotions so you can implement positive goals and habits more easily in your life.

Page 20

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Students’ Corner

Nigerian degrees not worthless - Okojie P

rof. Julius Okojie, the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), on Thursday advised Nigerians not to cheapen the country’s educational system by saying that “its degrees are worthless”.

Okojie said at the presentation of a report on Labour Market Observation on Nigerian Graduates in Abuja that Nigerian graduates were not underprivileged and unintelligent but good with great skills.

He said people tend to describe Nigerian degrees as worthless because the demand for them was less than the supply of graduates into the labour market every year.

Okojie said the notion came about because of the unemployment rate in the country, adding that it should not be the yardstick for measuring the quality of the graduates.

“The problem is that there is no balance on the sides of demand and supply. It’s just that the supply is so much and the demand for the graduates is less.’’

He said the Nigerian education system was good “as it produces intelligent graduates’’.

“The onus is in understanding the peculiarity of the economy and moving

Prof. Julius Okojie in that direction to produce the right graduates.’’

Okojie explained that NUC initiated the survey to understand the needs of the labour market and prepare the students to meet those requirements through proper training.

“I keep hearing that our certificates are not acceptable abroad. Who has given that impression in this country?

“I have been in the university system since 1978 and I can tell you that our certificates are honoured abroad.

“The Federal Government gives scholarship to the best 52 youth corps members to study abroad every year.

“Some of them have third class honours; some are even HND holders and they do so well that they are asked to stay for their PhDs. “So, where did we get the idea that our degrees are worthless? All the graduates need is the opportunity to practice. So, we must not kill our education system by saying our degrees are worthless,’’ he stressed.

Okojie said the obligation was to learn what was in vogue.

“For example, ICT has come to Nigeria and there is need to build capacity in that aspect.

“We must look at the labour market and its requirement and we must also bend our training needs in that direction.

“With that, I am convinced that we are in the right direction and confident that we will get it right.’’

Earlier, Prof. Ignatius Uvah, the Consultant for the survey, said it was initiated to create awareness on the labour market among stakeholders.

Uvah said it would guide the training of graduates for effective performance.

“It will also help in putting in place national and institutional structure for polices on the labour market information system. “This will help the suppliers and consumers of labour to understand the peculiarities of the market and align themselves to it.’’

Poor reading habits, vocalisation are products of poor education foundation

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oor reading habits and vocalisation are “products of a truncated process of learning to read’’ in the kindergarten, primary and secondary school levels, Prof.

Julius Okojie, has said.

Okojie, who is the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), spoke on Monday while declaring open a three-week Reading Instructors Certification Training Programme for Nigerian universities in Abuja.

The workshop was organised by NUC in collaboration with the Maximum Impact Solutions and Systems Ltd., consultants in the education sector.

“The implication is that the universities are inheriting problems not created by them,’’ Okojie, who was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Commission, Mr Akinbode Agbaoye said.

According to him, the training is a rescue operation at the university level intended to eliminate the bad habits of slow reading and vocalisation while replacing them with the good habits of silent fluent reading.

He said that this would be characterised by enhanced “brain-

eye connection which improves movie-making ability of the individual.’’

“We are all aware of the reading challenges faced by students generally and the attendant consequences reflected in high failure rates in most public examinations.

“This training will provide an enduring and sustainable structure within each university to ensure that the products of our university system internalise and retain efficient reading skills,’’ he explained.

Okojie said the rescue operation would be powered by “the Reader’s Edge’’, a reading software that would guarantee reading speed,

comprehension, retention, recall and reading pleasure.

Earlier, the Chairman, Maximum Impact Solutions and Systems Ltd., Prof. Emeka Okoli said that government would only be investing funds in the education sector without results if there was no commensurate investment in efficient reading skills for both educators and students.

Okoli said that a reading revolution was required now and could not succeed without the relevant reading tools.

“The training which ends May 3, is designed to educate, equip and empower participants to drive the reading revolution process,’’ he said.

NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIPS FOR NIGERIANS

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he International Office is delighted to announce 5 Newcastle University Nigeria Scholarship (NU Nigeria Scholarship) awards. These are available for high achieving Nigerian students applying for entry onto postgraduatetaught degree or research programmes listed above. These are available for students commencing their studies in September 2013.

AVAILABLE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMMES *. Newcastle University Law School *. Newcastle University Business School (NUBS) *. Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering (SAgE) *. Faculty of Medical Sciences Faculty (FMS) ELIGIBILITY FOR THE SCHOLARSHIP You could be eligible to apply for a NU Nigeria Scholarship if: *. You are a Nigerian national and have been assessed as international/ overseas for fees purposes. *. You have a Second Class Upper degree from a recognised Nigerian University and satisfy all other requirements *. You intend to register to start your studies during the 2013-14 academicyear *. You are a self-funded student and not in receipt of other University or external awards SCHOLARSHIP BENEFITS Each scholarship will have a value of £3,500 (£3000 was offered last year), payable towards the first year of tuition fees.

Get Full Details and Begin Application at: http://scholarships4africans.com/ blog/2013/04/newcastleuniversity-scholarships-fornigerian-students-20132014-2/

Undergraduate arraigned student over alleged possession of cocaine

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he National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has dragged a student of Enugu State University of Technology (ESUT) before a Federal High Court over alleged possession of cocaine.

The student, Gerald Ugwu, was charged at the Federal High Court, Enugu, on Monday for being in possession of 105 grammes of cocaine in his house.

He is facing a two-count charge of

being in possession of 105 grammes of cocaine and being in possession of such substance without the authorisation of NDLEA. The prosecutor, Mr Moses Anyaji, said that the accused was arrested in his house at Enugu by some police men and brought to the NDLEA office on July 4, 2012.

Anyaji said that his client tested the substance with their substance testing kits and confirmed that it was

cocaine.

He said that his client issued the accused with the certificate of testing which he signed and thumb-printed.

The accused lawyer, Mrs Patricia Igwebike said that she has no objection after presenting the cocaine before the court by the plaintiff.

The presiding Judge, Justice M. L Shuaibu, adjourned the case till May 29 for further hearing.

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Page 21

Youth Arena How To Know When It’s Time To Make New Friends Edited by Ariel Babble, Claire, Teresa, LimeUnicorn and 11 others

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ustaining a close-knit group of friends can be challenging at the best of times, as each of you tries to ensure that different personality types are happily incorporated into the group. With a good combination of personalities and lots of openness and willingness to forgive and tolerate, a group friendship can be amazing and long-lasting. On the other hand, when things take on a negative edge, competitiveness and side-lining within a group can take root, causing some members of the group to feel left out or even victimized.

Such negative behavior can be subtle or overt, and it may not even be directed toward you; regardless, it can still leave a sour taste in your mouth as to the direction this group friendship is taking.

And while occasional disagreements or slight disharmony in a group friendship are par for the course, if belonging to a group of friends leaves you feeling depressed, anxious or second-guessing yourself a lot of the time, this is a clear sign that the group has ceased to be supportive and may well be harmful to your well-being.

Steps 1.

1 Consider how you feel after being with your group of friends. The biggest sign that something needs changing is that you feel consistently upset or unhappy after spending time with your group of buddies.

They may all continue to espouse the BFF virtues together but if there are cracks in the cohesion, you may be wondering if you really belong to this group. *Do you feel negative after spending time in your group of friends? Is this an occasional feeling or is it happening most times you all meet up? *Do you feel any sense that comments or actions are being directed toward you as a way of keeping you on the outer edge of the group? *Does being in the group leave you feeling moody or upset? Did you start the day feeling happy and positive but then end up feeling upset after being with this group of friends? *Does the group seems to thrive constant drama or put-down antics? If so, it’s likely that the group has transformed into a hotbed of competitiveness and distrust.

2. Think back to how or why your group friendship formed and try to figure out what’s happened since. This can be fairly complicated because, unlike a single friend, group friendships tend to morph over time, as a friend is added here and there. However, seeking to understand what brought you together as a group friendship can enlighten you as to whether or not that reason is still there and, if not, whether its loss means the group no longer functions as a healthy source of friendship.

While the reasons may be complex, here are some common possibilities for changes in group friendships: *A group friendship that formed in childhood, maintained through later school years and into adult life: In this case, although the bonds can hold for life, they can also easily fall apart with major life changes. Since people tend to evolve in the face of new pressures like career, moving across the country and marriage, new perspectives and ambitions can strain a childhood group friendship over time. *A group friendship from work: Sometimes it’s just easier to hang out as a group in the workplace context.

Unfortunately, this can disguise deep differences if the friendship group is taken beyond the workplace context. Or, it can disintegrate when one or more of you

changes workplaces or career trajectories, leaving little common ground with the rest of the group. *A group of friends through your children: As you’re raising children, you meet other moms and dads and bond over commonalities from diaper rash to college applications. Group friendships formed on the basis of being a parent can be very supportive and cathartic ways to learn about parenting issues and to offer support to one another. Equally, such a group friendship can be wrought with difficulty, as differences of opinion about parenting styles crop up, competitiveness over raising children falls into the mix and even arguments over how one child is treating another can become a little too personal.

And most commonly of all, when the kids grow apart, so can the group friendship. *A group friendship formed over a common interest, be it a hobby, faith, education or other sources: In time, this type of group friendship can become strained where some members lose interest in the original reason you came together or change their whole ideas about it, as they mature and discover new interests.

3. Consider whether you’ve changed. It can be one thing to think that it’s everyone else who is changing and quite another to realize that it’s actually you. This has both positive and negative aspects–– while it is part of every human’s journey to grow internally and mature throughout life, sometimes other people just fail to grow with you, or cannot accept you for who you have become. Whether you’ve changed for better or worse, the group friendship might have started to feel like a hindrance, a noose around your neck or just a tiresome bore.

Do you find that you’re more negative in this group, or do you get annoyed or stressed easily around them? Perhaps you think the group friendship has stopped enhancing your life and you feel it’s is holding you back from achieving or being what you really want. A good way to find out how much you’ve changed is to raise a discussion about topics that are now of interest to you and to see how responsive your group of friends are––if they seem disinterested, flippant or evasive, then it’s probable that they’re not willing to come along on your new journey. *If your current set of friends is creating sadness, pain or confusion for you, or you feel left out most of the time, realize that it’s not your fault. First, internal change is healthy and for most, inevitable. Second, influenced by changes and peer pressure, sometimes group friendships change too, turning into something different from what they once were, and perhaps you just no longer fit what the group has evolved into.

Rather than getting swept up into situations that you don’t want to be a part of, or feeling

down around these now-uncertain friends, accept that it’s time to take action that will make things better for you.

4. Consider whether your group friendship is having a demeaning or demoralizing impact on you. At one time, this group friendship may have been a source of both support and enjoyment.

However, if you feel pressured to act in ways that don’t represent who you are or you feel used up, the values underlying the group friendship have clearly changed in direction. If, for whatever reason, the group has become negative over time, this can result in behaviors that harm each member of the group even though everyone may think their behavior is “normal.” For example, snitching, complaining, blaming, spreading rumors, indulging in doom and gloom and finding flaws in others all the time can be a sign that the group friendship mentality has turned totally negative and is feeding off itself. Things to consider include: *Does time spent with this group of friends cause you to turn gossipy and judgmental toward others? After spending an hour or two with these friends, do you find yourself judging others more harshly and freely, especially when being judgmental is not in your nature? In your overall impression, does your group seem to have developed a sneering attitude toward anyone outside of the circle? *Do you feel stressed and overwhelmed?

Although friends should be there to support each other, do you feel as if you have turned into a sort of sounding board for the woes of your group of friends? Absorbing negative emotional energy from the group can drain you. *Do you feel that when you’re part of this friendship group that you’re pressured to not adhere to your original ideals or morals? Do you feel pressured to conform to a way of thinking that’s against what you really think? *Do you find yourself making your decisions based on how your friends act and feel? Do you no longer feel as if you have control over how you act or the decisions you make? Do you feel judged if you differ from your friend or the group? *Does being part of this group cause you to shun other friends and family members due to pressure from the friend(s)? If the group’s attitude pushes away the core support individuals from their life, it’s toxic.

5. Determine if you care more about your friends than they do you.

You might be the sort of person who continues to give and give, generous to a fault. In a supportive group of friends, your friends will not only appreciate your willingness to give them support and help but they’ll also refuse to take advantage of you, even pointing out where you need to

take more care of your own needs instead.

In a toxic group friendship, your generosity will not only be taken advantage of but you’ll also find that it soon becomes all about “them” and never about “you”. Being heavily vested in their wishes and wants above yours remains a no-win situation for you and isn’t true friendship. Signs this might have happened to you include: *You lose a pet and your group of friends is either dismissive or even callous. They may fail to bother contacting you at all to give you condolences. If you aren’t feeling the love from your group of friends when a significant event occurs in your life, they’re not interested in your well-being. *Your friends only ever want to discuss their problems––when it comes to your life, they don’t want to hear about it. By being a personal therapist to your friends, they’ve forgotten that you have feelings and needs too. *Your group of friends ditches you on your birthday or completely forgets your birthday. Any true friend should acknowledge important dates, so if you’ve been ditched on your birthday or any other significant day by you group of “friends”, it shows utter disregard on their behalf.

6. Look for reasons to remain in this group of friends. This is a matter of selfhonesty as well as combining the answers you’ve derived from the steps above. If you can list good, sound reasons for remaining, then perhaps it’s worth giving the group another try. But if you’re struggling at this point to come up with anything more than “it’ll be embarrassing to no longer be a part of that group”, then it’s time to grow some courage and depart from their company. *Because “we’ve been friends forever” isn’t a concrete answer. Being friends for a lengthy amount of time doesn’t cut the mustard because people change and grow over time. *Reasons that revolve around so-called friends being your neighbors, co-workers or fundraising pals are not convincing.

Friendship by virtue of being in others’ presence for some shared activity or for reasons of geography is a matter of convenience but it isn’t the bond that makes friendship real. If you need to spend time with these people for the sake of achieving something you’re all working on together, at least stop kidding yourself that it’s about real friendship and simply see it for what it is. *If you come up blank with any reasons why you are friends with this group, it’s a total red flag. What’s holding you back from moving on?

7. Take it slowly in forming new group friendships. After experiencing deep challenges with a group friendship, you might feel wary about forming another one.

At least give yourself time before seeking this style of friendship again. Nurture the close friendships you have with one or two individuals to help rebuild your trust and sense of support. And don’t be too concerned if you don’t ever form a group friendship again in your life––sometimes being part of a group friendship is a temporal thing, bound by a particular situation in your life that has long since passed.

Tips ·Instead of just breaking the relationship off with all of your friends, consider if there are one or two of the friends you’d like to remain friendly with outside of the group context. If so, invite this friend to coffee and discuss how you’ve been feeling and see whether it’s possible to maintain a friendship beyond the group. It may not be but it is often worth a try. ·Figure out the best way to reduce contact with your friends; consider being “too busy” or dodging calls. Never be nasty or rude when reducing or cutting off contact.

Page 22

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Potpourri

Gists, Events, Parties, Entertainment, Tourism and Relationship

First printed book in America to be auctioned

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translation of Biblical psalms that was the first book ever printed in what became the United States goes on auction this November, with an expected price tag of $15-30 million, Sotheby’s said Friday in New York.

The book is one of the best of the 11 surviving copies of “The Bay Psalm Book,” which Puritan settlers from England printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1640 — before the United States even existed.

The settlers, who were seeking religious freedom, wanted chiefly to issue their own preferred translation from the Hebrew original of the Old Testament book, rather than the one they had brought across the Atlantic.

However, the volume took on even greater significance, David Redden, the head of Sotheby’s

books, said. “‘The Bay Psalm Book’ was not only the first book printed in America, and the first book written in America. This little book of 1640 was precursor to Lexington

and Concord, and, ultimately, to American political independence.

With it, New England declared its independence from the Church of England,” he said.

Selby Kiffer, with Sotheby’s

special projects department, called “The Bay Psalm Book” “not simply one of the great icons of book history, it is one of the greatest artifacts of American history.”

No copy from the edition has appeared at auction since 1947, when a different copy fetched $151,000 — a record at the time for any book, including the Gutenberg Bible or Shakespeare’s First Folio. “‘The Bay Psalm Book’ is a mythical rarity. Unseen on the marketplace for more than two generations, it has become too rare to collect,” Redden said.

The book is being sold by the Old South Church in Boston to benefit its work in the historic city’s area, Sotheby’s said. The same church possesses another copy of the “Bay Psalm Book.”

Karu council honours Danjuma, Baikie with traditional titles

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he Council of Traditional Rulers in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State on Saturday in Karu honoured Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd.) and Prof. Adamu Baikie with traditional titles.

The Esu of Karu Mr Luka Baba, while conferring the titles on the duo said the conferment was for their outstanding contributions to the Gbagyi community.

Danjuma and Baikie were conferred with the traditional titles of the Jiji and Gbasi of Karu respectively Buba later praised the “uncommon contributions’’ of Danjuma and Baikie to the development of the people of Karu.

He said while Danjuma had continued to response to the needs and development of the people through his foundation, Baikie was noted for the educational development of Karu sons and daughters.

“Danjuma’s foundation has

Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd.) reached out to many Nigerians through the provision of health facilities and services in different parts of the country.

“His historic footprints in the Nigerian Army and his courageous contributions to the unity and development of the

country are there for us all to see.

“Baikie is an educationist of good repute and one of the most accomplished academicians the country has produced,’’ the Esu of Karu said.

He said the title of the Jiji of

Karu as conferred on Danjuma recognises him as a symbol of defender, protector and the shield of the Karu people.

Buba also said the title of the Gbasi of Karu as conferred on Baikie makes him the star and a light to be emulated by the Karu people.

“The honour admits Danjuma and Baikie as members of the Karu traditional council,’’ he said.

Responding on behalf of the duo, Danjuma thanked the traditional council and the people of Karu for the honour given to him and Baikie.

“I want to express our profound gratitude to the traditional council and the people of Karu for the honour done to us in recognition of our contributions to the Karu people,’’ he said.

The former Minister of Defence praised the simplicity of the Gbagyi people and pledged his continued support for the people.

Two million-year-old creature had mix of ape, human traits

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2 million-year-old ancestor of man had a mixture of ape and human-like features that allowed it to hike vast distances on two legs with as much ease as it could scurry up trees, according to research published on Friday.

Discovered in cave near Johannesburg in 2008, the fossils of a species named “Australopithecus sediba” have given researchers clues about the evolution of man and which traits in our ancestors fell by the wayside.

Standing about 1.3 metres (4 ft) tall, sediba had a narrow rib cage similar to apes but a flexible spine more similar to that of a human. Its long arms and powerful torso helped in climbing, according to the research published in the journal Science.

Sediba’s small heel resembled a chimpanzee’s and it walked with an inward rotation of the knee and hip on slightly twisted feet with a flat-footed gait that would have helped it cover ground, the researchers said.

“It is the perfect compromise of something that has the need to walk on the ground efficiently for long distances. At the same time, it is a very capable climber,” said Lee Berger, project leader at the Wits Evolutionary Studies Institute in South Africa.

The researchers plan further studies to see how these fossils of early human relatives known as hominin compare to other remains, to help put together the pieces of evolution.

“We have more complete specimens of fossils than for any other early hominin species that has ever been discovered. What this means is that we can make assessments of the anatomy and behaviour of this species with a great deal of confidence,” Berger told Reuters.

Read your books, Fred Amata, urges youths

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popular actor in Nollywood, Fred Amata, has urged Nigerian youths to read books instead of spending most of their time on social networks.

Amata, who has also directed lots of films, said this in Lagos on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). ‘’We have to make children and youths read more books instead of watching more films and going on the Internet’’.

He said ‘’a film is like a book— it captures, tells our story; it tells of the past, it captures the present and it inspires the future, but it can’t be compared with books. ‘’That is what a book also does and even do more than films: it teaches, makes one learn tenses and understand the various things in English Language. ‘’It also inspires, tells the meanings of words but I know that a 400 page book cannot compete with one minute video film on the Internet. ‘’Because in one minute youths can get 10 different sources of information, instead of spending one week to finish a book’’.

The actor noted that the information often sought by youths on the Internet are always not good ones, as they often go to some sites that have only bad things to show.

“They can get better information on the social net works but they chose not to, and the question becomes: who monitors them while parents are busy looking for money? ‘’It is a major concern for me because reading maintains even the language itself’’.

Late night fire kills 80-year-old landlord in Aba

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n 80-year-old man has died in a fire which razed his house at No. 33, Glass Industry, Aba, Abia state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that the fire burnt down the 14-room apartment which also housed two shops.

The late landlord, Mr Iro Kalu, of Nkporo community in Ohafia Local Government Area, was said to have gone to bed around 11 p.m. on April 12 shortly before the fire.

Mr Ndukwe Kalu, one of his sons, told NAN in Aba on Monday that the family lost everything to the inferno.

“I don’t know where to start from. My certificate, laptop, books and other credentials were all lost to the fire. I lost my father too,’’ Kalu, a graduate of the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, who is waiting for mobilisation for the NYSC, said.

“No property was saved in the entire building. Our tenants lost their property and cash. What can I say, even the two tailors who rented shops in our building lost their property, including clothes given to them by their customers,’’ he said.

Kalu said that the fire started from his late father’s room before it spread to other parts of the building.

reporters dispatch, April 16 — 23, 2013

Page 23

Sports

Someday my winning streak will end - Nadal Rafael Nadal has admitted that his incredible 42-match, 10-year unbeaten run at Monte Carlo will end one day, but he is in no hurry to see that day.

The 26-year-old Spaniard, who last lost on the clay of Monte Carlo as a fresh-faced 16year-old when then-clay court king Guillermo Coria defeated him in straight sets in the third round, also claimed he is not the clear favourite he has been in the past.

Nadal is bidding for an unprecedented ninth straight title at the Masters event in the heart of the Cote d’Azur but says his recent seven-month injury lay-off means he cannot be treated as the all-conquering clay Cesar of old.

“I cannot say I’m the biggest favourite to win here again,” the Spaniard said on Monday as he prepared for his secondround start after a bye.

“This is not an easy event to win. I don’t want to lose perspective, but I don’t want to lose either.

“Everything in life finishes sometime.

Someday the winning will stop, not everything is forever.

“But I’m excited to be here, it is always a high motivation for me to play Monte Carlo.”

Nadal, who won the Indian Wells hardcourt Masters 1000 crown three weeks ago and then rested his troublesome knees on the advice of doctors, remains quietly confident of his abilities on clay, where he has dominated for a decade.

While missing seven months of ATP play during the last half of 2012 and well into 2013, the 26-year-old knows that he has the skills to step right back into his role as clay court master.

But he is not happy to be continually fielding questions about the state of his knees or his perceived form.

“I want to focus on the tennis day by day,” he said. “I don’t want to talk knees, if I’m here I’m here to compete.

“I will try my best and hope to play better each day. I had a fantastic comeback (two February clay titles in Latin America before winning Indian Wells).”

Nadal said that while standing fifth in the world he is

not prepared to complain about his ranking.

“You can’t be in the top four if you did not play for seven months,” he reasoned. “I’ve always gone day by day and just want to try and keep improving.

“I’m always excited to be back here and have the chance to work hard and try to win.

Now my job is to try and play well.”

Nadal’s unknown compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut earned a first-round upset win as he put out French 11th seed Gilles Simon 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) while Frenchman Benoit Paire beat Croatian Ivan Dodig 6-4, 6-4.

Qualifier Edouard Roger-

Feat of clay: Rafa Nadal wins his sixth French Open crown in 2011 Photo: REUTERS

U-17 AYC: Supporters Club urges Golden Eaglets to be focused

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he Nigeria Football Supporters Club has urged Manu Garba, the Golden Eaglets’ Head Coach, to remain focused in spite of the 6-1 victory over Ghana at the ongoing U-17 Africa Youth Championship (AYC) in Morocco.

Vasselin added a French victory as he beat Dutch qualifier Robin Haase 6-3, 6-2.

Finn Jarkko Nieminen defeated slumping Serb Viktor Troicki 6-1, 6-2 while Russian veteran Nikolay Davydenko dispatched German qualifier Daniel Brands 6-3, 6-4.

World No.1 Novak Djokovic was testing his injured ankle for another day after vowing to try and regain fitness in time for a Wednesday start at the event which begins the European clay season.

Djokovic hurt the ankle last weekend in a Davis Cup win but has made faster progress than he might have deemed possible and holds out hopes of taking his spot in the draw.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Golden Eaglets whitewashed Ghana, the two-time champions of the biennial tournament, in their opening encounter in Group B on Sunday.

The 10th edition of the

tournament started on April 13 and is expected to end on April 27.

Samuel Ikpea, Secretary of the supporters club, told NAN in Lagos on Monday that the team should not relent, but should be determined to win the competition.

“This victory has opened the worth of our team to other teams, who will be determined to work for our downfall. It will be good if the team remained focused.

“They should not allow this feat to enter their brain but be ready to face lots of oppositions before they will reach the The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria thumped their Ghanaian counterparts 6-1 in their final.

African Junior Championship Group B opening match in Marrakech on Sunday.

“We are very

impressed with the brilliant performance; however, we are hungrier to see them lifting the trophy’’.

Ikpea advised the eaglets to sustain the smartness of converting their scoring chances to goals.

He lamented the inability of the Flying Eagles to defend their title at the just-concluded U-20 Africa Youths Championship in Algeria.

“The team did not waste any of their scoring chances, unlike the Flying Eagles at the U-20 Africa Youths Championship in Algeria. They should sustain the same skill in all their encounters’’.

The Secretary of the club expressed confidence that the team would win the tournament.

The Golden Eaglets won the championship in 2001 and 2007 when it was hosted in Seychelles and Togo respectively.

The team would lock horns with Cote d’Ivoire and Democratic Republic of Congo on April 17 and 20 in the remaining group B matches.

Rancour in NFA could cost Nigeria World Cup ticket Onigbinde

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degboye Onigbinde, a former Head Coach of the Super Eagles, on Monday warned against the ongoing rancour within the Nigeria Football Association (NFA).

Onigbinde told the News Agency of Nigeria in a telephone interview that the rancour, if unchecked, may cost the country the qualifying ticket for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Speaking against the backdrop of a recent salary cut from the earnings of coaches in the federation, Onigbinde noted that the action would definitely affect the morale of the affected coaches.

“I don’t think that anybody needs to go into serious prophecy to appreciate that for a lot of reasons.

“This type of action will affect the morale of the Super Eagles technical crew, in their preparation for the World Cup,’’ Onigbinde said.

NAN recalled that Super Eagles Assistant Coach, Daniel Amokachi’s salary was cut from N3 million to N1 million.

Sylvanus Okpala and Valerie Hounandinuou, a Togolese, were also among the nine Eagles backroom staff relieved of their jobs.

Onigbinde, a former CAF and FIFA instructor, added that the NFA should work within its budget to avoid such recurrence in the future.

“That is just by the way, the first thing is how did we arrive in this type of situation, as a salary earner, you should plan your budget, know what you want to do and how to source money for it.

“I think that is the practise for any government in the world. You have a budget, there could be unforeseen situations, but it’s not supposed to be as serious as this,’’ he said.

He added that so far, the country’s national teams have not featured in any competition that had not been planned for.

The former coach also wondered why the budget could not accommodate its expenditures anymore, saying: “there is a basic fact now that our planning is faulty.’’

“We didn’t have any emergency that we handled, is it AFCON or the junior World Cup? There is something wrong and our administrators need to address this,’’ he added.

Super Eagles will be playing in Nairobi on June 2 for the return leg of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

VACANCIES

April 16 — 23, 2013

Vol. 1. No. 21.

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Deadly attack; a fresh sign of trouble in Nigeria’s oil region?

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group of men with AK-47s lay in wait for an ex-kingpin in the Nigerian swamps before instead opening fire on police — the latest sign of trouble in a vitally important oil region.

The April 5 assault in the Niger Delta killed 12 policemen, with attackers firing from a jetty before two speedboats carrying other assailants arrived and also shot at the officers, some of whom jumped in the water, police said.

Authorities say the real target was an ex-militant leader turned state government adviser being escorted by a convoy of security forces through the labyrinth swamps for his mother’s burial. He was not hurt.

“They were overwhelmed,” Kingsley Omire, the police commissioner for Bayelsa state, where the attack occurred, told AFP in his office in the

state capital Yenagoa a week after the violence.

The attack was yet another sign of the troubles underlying a 2009 amnesty deal in the impoverished Niger Delta aimed at ending years of unrest there.

The deal has allowed Nigeria to return to its status as Africa’s biggest oil producer, mainly through payments to ex-militants, but it has not addressed deeper issues of corruption and unemployment.

Many analysts predict those issues will one day lead to more violence and say this month’s deadly assault is an example of the risks.

Prior to the amnesty, militants claiming to be fighting for a fairer distribution of oil revenue as well as criminal gangs had attacked oil facilities

and carried out widespread kidnappings in the delta.

A return to such unrest would be a devastating blow to Nigeria, the continent’s most populous nation, with security forces already battling an Islamist insurgency in the country’s central and northern regions.

A government panel is currently looking at whether to offer amnesty to the Islamists as well.

Nigeria relies on the oil industry for around 80 percent of government revenue and nearly all its export earnings.

“The amnesty peace from day one was a peace of the graveyard,” said Esueme Dan-Kikile, a lawyer in Yenagoa who has worked on anti-corruption issues with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and whose clients include

Buhari lied against INEC - Jega T he Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission,Prof. Attahiru Jega, said former Head of State and leader of the opposition Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, Muhammadu Buhari, was not saying the truth when he said INEC has been merged with the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and security agencies.

Jega also described as incorrect the allegation by .

Buhari that the leadership of the electoral umpire is corrupt is also not correct.

Jega, a former president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and former Vice Chancellor of the Bayero University Kano,was speaking with a team of reporters from Rariya Hausa newspaper in his office in Abuja recently. Excerpts: Q. How would you compare your current job as INEC Chairman with the previous offices you have held before?

A. We are grateful to God for keeping us alive and giving us the chance to hold various offices just as you have mentioned. We are also grateful that we were able to do these jobs successfully and to have finished them well.

Honestly I cannot begin to compare my present job with the previous ones. The challenge in the present office is far higher than all the ones I held before. Our prayer is that we would also complete it successfully as we did the previous ones.

Truth is I used to think that there is no job as difficult as the headship of a University; that is because of the intricacies involved in dealing with students and even lecturers who are all scholars in their fields and can claim adequate knowledge of everything. But coming to INEC and being

Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) involved in running elections is a different ball game.

Dealing with Nigerian politicians is a herculean task but we are doing our best to understand the job and bring all the reforms necessary to improve the conduct of elections in the country.

We are also working to have a harmonious relationship between us and the politicians and all other stakeholders interested in credible elections. I never knew that conducting elections is such a difficult task until I was appointed. Thanks to God we are doing our best to ensure that everything goes according to the rules and we are able to chart a good course for the conduct of elections, unlike what obtains in the past.

By the special grace of God and the understanding and efforts of all concerned, I am confident we will have an

disgruntled ex-militants.

“Peace in the sense that you see people not talking, but there’s a problem ... My prediction is that when the amnesty ends, we will have an escalation of violence in this region because certainly the amnesty is not going to be forever.”

The main militant group in the Niger Delta, MEND, has been mostly inactive in the years since the amnesty, with most major leaders having accepted the deal.

There have been widespread reports of former militants further boosting their take through lucrative pipeline surveillance contracts and other means.

Oil theft has also flourished, robbing Nigeria of an estimated $6 billion yearly in revenue.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

improved and better election next time.

Q. When speculations emanated that you may be appointed INEC Chairman, many who know you said your appointment is a sign that the government is serious in conducting a credible election this time around, based on your pedigree, and when you were eventually appointed, almost everyone lauded the appointment. However, shortly after the elections, a lot of Nigerians started complaining, especially those who failed to win the elections; what do you think is responsible for this change in perception about your personality?

A. Like I said earlier, dealing with politicians, especially in Nigeria is difficult. We conducted that election to the best of our ability, with the fear of God. Of course, as human beings, we are not perfect so there may be little hiccups here and there but certainly nothing was done to short change or cheat anyone. Our politics is such that the winner will naturally be happy and commend the conduct of the election while the one that loses do not care whether the election was conducted in a credible manner or not; as far as he is concerned, he is cheated.

Because most of the politicians have supporters and followers who tend to accept whatever the politician said without caring to find out the veracity of the statement- I think that is the cause of what you mentioned.

The election we conducted may have its own flaws but compared to the ones conducted in the past, from 1999 to date- anyone who takes their time to compare (these) elections will know that there is a marked improvement. It may sound as if I am blowing my trumpet but the truth is anyhow one looks at it, they will know that we have improved the conduct of elections. For example, even the number of litigations after the elections has dropped CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

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