Binder1

News

P.8

Jonathan’s attack, misdirected aggression —NADECO

    

Vol. 5 No. 6

Sport

P.45

Siasia unleashes Dream Team VI on Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles

Politics

    

P. 8

Apprehension as APC, PDP rallies clash in Ekiti today

N150

Saturday, January 24, 2015

We’ll stick to election timetable —Jega P. 9

•INEC prepared to go ahead as scheduled Multiple auto crash in Lagos

Military plots final battle against Boko Haram

Scene of a multiple accident on Ketu-Ikorodu Road in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

(Story on Page 7)

P. 7

mi wu a Om P. 28

... Joins forces with neighbouring countries

... as DHQ blogsite is hacked Sealxk T

P. 7

10 crucial tips for first date kissing

P. 32

Top Stories Two Page

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

January 24, 2015

Robbers return stolen INEC PVCs in Edo

• ‘The commission took delivery of the cards following anonymous calls about their return from the robbers’

T

he Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that a total of 983 Permanent Voter’s Cards stolen in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State have been returned by the robbers.

Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr Mike Igini, made the revelation at a stakeholders’ forum held at the National Orientation Agency (NOA) office in Benin City, the state capital on Friday.

The event was attended by representatives of security agencies such as the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Security, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Road Safety Corps etc; civil society organisations; NOA and the National Youth Service Corps amongst others while leaders of the various political parties including the All Progressives Congress (APC), the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP) and others signed a pact for violence-free elections at the event.

Igini explained that the recovered cards were among the 3, 661 PVCs stolen in 18 polling units in the local government areas and added that the commission took delivery of the cards after he received “anonymous calls” about their return from the robbers.

Igini said, “I received anonymous calls saying that they were going to return those permanent voter’s cards. As I speak to you, as at yesterday, we have received a total of 617 from Orhionmwon

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State

Local Government Area. That is good news.”

Igini, however, did not elaborate on whether the robbers were apprehended and whether INEC would make effort to track, arrest and prosecute the robbers of the returned PVCs through the telephone lines that were used.

Igini further explained that while 661 cards were recovered from Urhonigbe North, 322 cards were retrieved

from Urhonigbe South polling units. He, therefore, called for the return of the remaining stolen PVCs that were yet to be recovered in order to enable the original owners regain their right to vote in next month’s elections.

Igini further revealed that the commission was also set to receive 1, 426 PVCs from inter and intra state transfers and added that the process of distributing the PVCs for persons who took part in the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise would commence as soon as the they arrive next week.

On the level of voters’ participation, the REC said that a total of 1, 046,960 PVCs have so far been distributed to eligible voters even as he stressed that the challenge before INEC was not the collection or distribution of PVCs but how to mobilize the over one million eligible voters in the state to participate in the polls.

He further disclosed that a total of 1, 861 card readers have been received for the elections in the state and assured that the application of the card readers would ensure that only accredited voters are allowed to vote. He added that an eligible voter should complete accreditation in less than a minute using the card reader that has a 14-hour battery capacity.

Particularly, the state REC expressed displeasure that none of the political parties in the state have made effort to register their agents for the general elections since they were notified about a year ago.

Facebook near tragedy update:

Right groups task police on tracking down culprits —Say govt. should demolish uncompleted building PATIENCE OGBO

T

wo human Rights groups based in Lagos, Society for Love and Justice, SLJ, and Rural Urban Development Initiative, RUDI, have called on the police authority to set up a special team to investigate allegations by a 17- year –old girl, Ada Mba Agbazue who fell off from the fifth floor of an uncompleted building while trying to escape from would be rapist cum ritual killers in Lagos state.

Saturday Mirror exclusively reported Agbazue’s miraculous escape from death after falling from a dizzying height of five floors of an uncompleted building at Ajangbadi area of Lagos. Mba Agbazue was lured to the abandoned storey building on December 26th by a man she purportedly met on Facebook as exclusively reported by Saturday Mirror.

According to the young lady, she is alive to tell her story from her sick bed to teach others to be careful of who they make friends with on social media.

According to her, a Facebook friend she identified as Michael lured her through Facebook to the abandoned building.

Agbazue, on that fateful day, got dressed for a date with Michael. Narrating her ordeal, the young girl stated that she got a call on her mobile phone. On the phone a man said he wanted to speak to her. She claimed that how the

man got her number was a mystery.

Agbazue had ignorantly gone to meet the man at the Ile -Nla Bus Stop which is a busy place.

Agbazue said she became alarmed at first because the man did not look like the Michael she knew on Facebook.

The said Michael whom she claimed she met on Facebook. Michael allegedly took her to an 18 floor storey -building said to belong to the federal government at the Ajangbadi area of Lagos state on December 26th 2014, only for him to attempt to rape her.

Following the newspaper publication, Dr. Adeolu Olusodo, president, SLJ and Mr. Ishola Agbodemu of RUDI expressed concern over the plight of the young lady and urged government to take practical measures to prevent such ugly incident from happening again.

The human rights leaders also berated the police over the way they are treating the case. The group is piqued over police’s failure to track down the suspect(s). For them, it is a case of double injustice for the girl and the society because the suspect and his gang pose a great risk to women and young girls in the community.

Dr. Olusodo said, “Happenings like this is not welcomed and should not be allowed to continue. Buildings that are abandoned by the government or individuals and have become a den for criminals should not be in a modern society like ours. It is incumbent on government to ensure that such buildings do not exist at all and they should be converted to public use and government should maintain

it and put it into good public use.

Olusode further charged police to track down the perpetrators of the heinous crime that nearly resulted in the death of young girl. “There was use of phone calls so the police should be able to use the phone to track the man and I believe that if that man is left in the community, that man is a danger to the young girls and women in the community and the society. So the police should brace up and ensure that the man is arrested and made to face justice. On our part, we will be petitioning the police high command for them to set up a special team to visit that girl in the hospital and hear her out once again.

It is not enough for the police to say that the girl is not cooperating. The girl has provided information. Have the police visited the building to check out her claims?” fumed Olusode.

“What about the diagrams and the human head that she said she saw in that building? Have the police gone there to investigate before they came up to say that she is not cooperating? What we are saying is that the police can act on the information she has provided for them to investigate and fish out the man and others behind this dastardly act,” added the activist.

On his part, Mr. Agbodemu stated that RUDI, in collaboration with the SLJ will collaborate with the Community Development Associations, CDA, in the Ajangbadi area to prevail on government to keep all abandoned building free from criminals.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

3

January 24, 2015

Vicious cycle of fire:

How can we stop these outbreaks?

With the harmattan came cold and freezing breeze from the Sahara, a harbinger of sudden inexplicable fire outbreaks in markets, homes, offices, even on farmsteads and forest reserves. Over the years, in major city hubs, devastating conflagrations almost always attends this period, leaving hapless victims in its trail. Are relevant authorities also hapless in containing these fires? Or are victims necessarily to blame? NICK UWERU asks.

T

oday, Jaiye Oba, 57, a motor mechanic, knows just how incendiary a butt of cigarette could be. Early in the month, he had flicked away a smouldering butt of what he hoped was his last cigarette for the day on a dry patch of grass near his home. He gave the butt no thought at all until some fifteen minutes later when commotion from outside his home drew him out. His neigbours in Bala, a remote settlement in the outskirt of Ilorin had spotted the fire on time, luckily for Oba.

The dry patch of grass had acted as fuel and catalyst turning the small embers of fire into a raging inferno

and steadily making towards Oba’s bungalow.

The fire leaped on the slim plastic pipe that housed wiring in the house and was making straight for the roof.

By the time Oba and his neighbours managed to put out the fire, a section of the roof was already gone.

Much of the house was spared though. But not so for the farms in the vicinity. “It was like a bad dream. Even though life was not lost, the damaged caused by that fire is immense,� stated a very sober Oba, earlier in the week.

For much of last week, Lagos was on fire, literally speaking. And even so, other parts of the country.

Shopping malls and complexes, markets, residential houses and many other edifies came under the rages of inferno that both taxed and baffled fire fighters.

At the end, lives, properties and livelihood were lost.

More still are expected going by expert opinion on this phenomenon, at least given that the country is currently witnessing the harmattan period.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

4

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘Lagos was on fire last week’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

What set the tone for this series of misfortune may have been the incident at Okobaba, a slummy settlement of Lagos. A woman had left a burning candle and gone to the bathroom to have a bath. In no time, the fire burnt her room spreading to other shanties. Residents in the area believe that candle light must have given birth to the fire which led to the conflagration. Also known as a major sawmill hub in Lagos with most of the surrounding houses built with woods, the fire spread quickly. By the time help came to contain the conflagration, the damage was already done. Four people, including three children, were reported killed in the fire.

The public was yet to recover from this disaster when firemen were called to task at three warehouses at Kirikiri, also in Lagos.

The storehouses were used to warehouse combustible materials like tire. Though the fire fighters managed to put out the inferno without loss of lives, there were damages to properties worth quite a fortune.

But while the fire was raging, another rescue effort had been opened on another front at Marina Lagos. This time, the fire service men attached to Lagos State were battling to put-out fire a raging inferno at the high-rise buildings at the Eko/Berlin Market area, Lagos.

No clear cut causes were available as to what led to the fire outbreak. But by the time fire and smoke cleared, no fewer than 500 shops have been razed.

This particular incident was particularly traumatic. The market is one of the largest of its type in the country. Though estimate as to the worth of what was burn is not yet out, authorities put the loss at millions of Naira.

Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Rasak Fadipe, said the shops were constructed in rows and occupied about two acres of land in the area.

Fadipe explained that more than five fire trucks loaded with 10,000 litres of water each, from different divisions of the agency had been deployed on the scene. Not that the waters were not enough, fire service officers say that accessing the place of conflagration is usually herculean because of structural inhibition occasion by building plans.

Most of these shopping complexes were not built with access points in case of fire emergencies. “Lack of accessibility to the shanties caused serious obstacles to the operations of the fire service and emergency workers,” stated Ibrahim Farinloye, spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, South-West.

Not only that. Scenes of fire incidents, especially in a commercial hub, attract hoodlums who look out for opportunities to loot properties. Farinloye, added that fire fighters had difficulty accessing the

Agony of some victims of fire outbreak

A woman had left a burning candle and gone to the bathroom to have a bath. In no time, the fire

burnt her room, spreading to other shanties area due to this form of obstacle.

“A fireman from the state fire service was injured after some urchins dragged the hose with him,” he said. But these were not the only incidents in Lagos.

Barely some days after these series of inferno, another section of Balogun

Market in Lagos, went up in flames. The market, located behind the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, Marina, Lagos Island, was known for sales of second-hand clothes and shoes. Despite concerted efforts by the state fire service to confine the fire to the immediate environment,

According to figures from the Lagos State Fire and Safety Services, properties valued at N54 billion have been lost to fire in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic centre, in the last three years

the fire totally razed the wares of traders. Goods estimated at millions of naira were lost.

While traders and other victims of the fire incidents in Lagos were licking their wounds, a certain chief Gibson Chukwujindu, director, Gibson Interlink Nigeria Limited, a firm into tailoring and clothing materials, was having his lifetime investment wiped out by fire.

His company was a two storey building at No. 9 Nweje Lane in Odoakpu area Onitsha. By the time the fire which started at 1.30 pm, that fateful day ebbed, goods and property worth over N300 million had been burnt down.

The Chief Operating Officer, Okpoko Fire Service Station, near Onitsha, Mr Ikechukwu Nzegwu, told news men at the time of the incident that only the occupants of the building escaped unhurt but that the entire structure was reduced to ashes. ``We were able to save a three-storey building by its side, belonging to a widow, Mrs Theresa Ekwunife, which had already caught fire as well as other buildings in front of the burnt and collapsed one,’’ Nzegwu said.

But unlike the dispatch with which the fire men in Lagos acted, the Onitsha fire fighters were slow in responding to the call for help by hapless Chukwujindu.

According to Ekwunife, some people contacted the Onitsha Main Market Fire Fighting Station but the officers CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

5

January 24, 2015

‘We receive 30 fire calls every day’ Collins Elechi, spokesman for Federal Fire Service, in this interview with JULIET UMEH, says that fire outbreaks are heightened during the dry season and urges caution on the part of all.

What would you say is responsible for the fire incidents in the country recently?

If you look round you will discover that the harmattan season is very much with us and of course you will appreciate the fact that everything even our skin are very dry. So people should take adequate care of anything that can result to fire disaster.

People don’t have to hoard fuel, you don’t have to allow children to toy with matches candle and the rest of them, you don’t even need to be tempted to go burning bushes because when such happen, you don’t know the extent to which fire could go considering that harmattan with its wind nature will always extend however small, it will burn into inferno that will engulf the entire forest or farm land. So all these things one ought to take caution of them.

Should this precaution be taken in the markets too?

Of course when you are in the market too, you do not store combustible things and of course when you are doing anything that can result to fire outbreak, you must take adequate care to ensure that when you are doing anything within the market, you have your portable extinguisher around.

You realize that several areas you have low water hydrant you hardly have anything like reservoir and not when there is fire outbreak in our market, you tend to see fire engine and appliances very far away and of course turning back inferno that doesn’t wait for anybody.

In our market, in accessibility of these infrastructures has been a problem to fire fighters, talking about Balogun, the whole place was filled with illegal constructions and caging of these environment to the extent that when fire incident arise there wouldn’t be access even to the building or the infrastructure. So such was an encounter with Balogun fire.

So these are the things we are advocating that access should be created so as not to jeopardize the effort of fire fighting forces.

Can you give an estimate of fire occurrences in the country per year?

If you look at Lagos alone we tend to receive 30 fire calls in a day and when you quantify that in the country, you tend to be getting too much fire outbreaks, especially at this hamattan period. You know some of these incidents are not reported and of course you know the effect of that. Several fires occur but statistics are not gathered and you wouldn’t really know but we in the fire service have been getting series of calls.

There have been insinuations that fire prevention measures are not incorporated in our plans in the country. What is you response?

My response is that in recent time, there has been a creation by federal fire service in collaboration with relevant agencies including building agency and so on and so forth who came together to create a national fire safety code and this code is within us and of course the implementation and enforcement before the federal fire service and other fire services across the entire federation of Nigeria is today being enforced. And I want to say here that this national fire safety code contain the minimal safety that owner or occupier of infrastructure in this country, when key into and of course, will ensure that safety of life and property is ensured. And the advocacy today is that people should key into this very creation that is within our reach here to ensure that all our infrastructures including even cars and the rest of others things are protected against fire disasters and other related disaster including flooding and so on.

This code is a thing that would assist us in terms of fire prevention because ideally it is better to prevent than to fight fires or to mitigate fire that you cannot ascertain or imagine the length at which it could go in terms of destruction of lives and property.

Having said that, you realize that fire outbreak comes in three ways – our careless act, natural or accidental causes and arson. If you look at the three causes, you want to key into the fact that Nigerians, so many of us are very careless in handling of combustible materials

Elechi

If you look at Lagos alone, we receive 30 fire calls in a day. And when you quantify that, you tend to be getting too many fire outbreaks which equally goes to say people go to hoard fuel when they don’t supposed to. If you are going to Abuja, you don’t need to carry along a cage of fuel, you buy the one you will be able to use and when you get to a certain stage you refill.

In that regard too, people tend to cover up certain things that is to say arson. When they have done one thing wrongly or the other, in order to cover the aspect they will set ablaze an infrastructure that in inhabits or a custodian of that very fact.

Of course, talking about the accidental, you are talking of energy source and the rest of them. Some of these things like thunder storm could result to fire outbreak. And of course, when you see a car having an accident, it could result to fire outbreak. But if you look at that critically, in most cases today some of these areas are

minimal compare to our careless acts and attitude, negative mind set to combustible materials.

Why is arson difficult to prosecute in Nigeria?

When you talk of litigation in this part of the world, it is a relative thing it is neither here nor there; neither the judiciary nor the police and of course the forensic analysis to unravel what has caused the fire is usually very difficult.

So in this regard when you put all these things together you will want to appreciate our difficulties. But nevertheless, there is certain glaring aspect when of course the investigation has been done and whatever that lead to fire outbreak is discovered I could inform you that such would be reported accurately.

‘Fire scars victims for ever’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

Apart from the Okobaba instance where three people died, woman in Warri, Delta State, said to be a sex worker may never recover from the loss of her child to fire which she unintentionally started. As gathered, the woman had left the home late in the night to visit a secret lover. She had accidentally left a burning candle in the home with her sleeping baby. It was the commotion resulting from trying to put out the fire that brought her back to her house. But by then, things were already

did not come because they complained that their vehicle was grounded. These incidences of fire outbreak are not confined to cities alone. Rural areas, farmsteads, grazing reserves and entire forestry across the country have been touched by conflagration. Apart from loss of lives, the fires are harbingers of monumental loss of properties, means of livelihood and source of post traumatic experiences that scar victims for life.

Another fire incident at Port Harcourt

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

6

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘With harmattan, there is high possibility of fire’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

out of hands. Apart from her house and her child that went up in flames from the candle, other shanties in the vicinity had paid the price for her carelessness. Fire incidents could be as damaging as this.

In commercial hubs like Lagos, Onitsha or Port Harcourt, the material losses are incalculable.

Properties valued at N54 billion had been lost to fire in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic centre, in the last three years, according to figures from the Lagos State Fire and Safety Services. According to the breakdown of the figures, it shows that the losses were higher in 2012 compared to 2013 and 2014. According to the statistics, in 2012 alone, properties valued N39 billion were destroyed. But with the rate with fire incidents are happening especially this year with dry season still some four months or so from ending, 2015 may record high losses from fires.

This is because with the harmattan, there is every possibility of fire on account of the dryness of the breeze and its ready propensity to fuel fires once there is a spark from as much as cigarette butt, dying candle, open and naked fire close to combustible items

Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State governor

Okebiorun, Controller-General, Federal Service

like curtains, foams woden chairs and so on. “So people should take adequate care of anything that can result to fire disaster. People don’t have to hoard fuel, you don’t have to allow children to toy with matches candle and the rest of them, you don’t even need to be tempted to go burning bushes because when such happens, you don’t know the extent to which fire could go considering that harmattan with its wind nature will always extend it however small. It will

burn into inferno that will engulf the entire forest or farm land. So all these things one ought to take caution of them,” explained Collins Elechi, public relations officer of the Federal Fire Service.

The Federal Fire Service office, for instance, estimates that fire services in Lagos alone records no less than 30 distressed calls relating to fire especially at this period. For this reason, governments and experts have raise worries a notch higher this year.

Since the New Year, Lagos has seen major fire incidents with substantial losses in human and materials resources. Although the losses are yet to be calculated by the state fire service, Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, the general manager of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, described them as huge.

But Ayodapo Shoderu, president, Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, NCRIB, is more worried at the devastation that these fires do to the average market woman or business man. Most of them don’t have their businesses insured. He said, “market women and men are prone to diverse risks that daily threaten their existence. The most significant of these, are theft and fire outbreaks and these risks could be borne on their behalf by the insurance industry.”

Chronicling the instances of devastating market fire disasters in Nigeria, Shoderu observed that such perils had left gory tales for their victims and increased poverty levels in the country.

He said that even though government and concerned individuals sometimes give some form of succor to victims after such incidents, such assistance was usually monetary and could have been more long lasting through insurance.

According to him, market women and traders constitute a significant segment that must be mobilised to secure their

She had accidentally left a burning candle in the room with her sleeping baby. It was the commotion resulting from trying to put out the fire that brought her back to her house.

But by then, things

were already out of hands

One of the buildings on fire in Cross River State

businesses by taking up insurance policies.

Shoderu said insurance brokers were in a better position to assist the market women in view of their numerical spread across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria and their vast knowledge, which they could deploy to assist clients in profitable insurance placement and claims payment when losses occur.

Government, especially at the state is not unaware of these risks and losses.

Only last week, Lagos State government installed 50 new fire hydrants to boost fire fighting operations. This was in addition to the 350 existing hydrants being reactivated. ``We have completed the installation of the 50 new ones and out of the 350 old ones, 250 had been reactivated so far, said Dipo Fadipe, head of Lagos State Fire Service. ``The old hydrants were installed underground, but we are now bringing them out to prevent low water pressure when drawing water from them,’’ he said.

He said that the hydrants would be put to use after completion of the rehabilitation. Fadipe listed places where the hydrants were located to include Opebi/Allen Avenue, Governor’s Road, Alausa, Secretariat, Awolowo Road and Isaac John Street, Ikeja GRA. The fire fighting facility is also installed at Demurin Street, Alapere; Ajiboye Estate, Fadiya Street and Ogunshowobo Street, Ketu. There are some at old Oko Oba, Alaramimu Street, Onike, Agege/ Ipaja Road and Iyana Sachi Saw Mill.

He said that dearth of funds had delayed the completion of reactivation works on some of the old hydrants.

Fadipe warned motorists against parking in front of any fire hydrant, while shops should not be erected to obstruct the use of the hydrants.

But for the building experts, fire prevention should start from the building of a house. Akinlolu Akinola, Chief Executive Officer, WNM Limited said Nigerians are losing millions of naira to fire outbreak and there is urgent need to find a lasting solution to the problem. For him, the answer is the use of composite materials because they are fire resistant. Composites are made are made from fibre glass materials and wood composites. The advantages of these composite materials as against traditional materials like concrete, wood, metal and steel are not readily combustible. According to Tijani Abdusalam of System Technology, Nigerians will gain immensely if they use composite materials. “Composite materials can be used to clad buildings to prevent fire outbreak or during the cause of fire, the building can withstand the flames. The composite materials are fire resistant and durable.

All good plans though. But the big question is: how do we stop this yearly vicious cycle of fire?

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

NATIONAL NEWS

January 24, 2015

7

Boko Haram: Military commences decisive action against insurgents YY Says end of terrorism is near YY Joins forces with neighbouring countries

Ubong Ukpong ABUJA

P

lans by the Nigerian military has reached its final stage to conduct a comprehensive and brutal operations to eliminate the Boko Haram terrorists in the North East and all boarders of neighbouring countries.

Saturday Mirror learnt that the military of all neighbouring countries were now joining forces with Nigeria in a resolve to give the insurgents a final fight.

The resolve followed the increasing manouvres of the terrorists laying claim to Nigeria’s territories as well as extending their criminal activities to neighbouring countries.

Information available

suggests that areas presently under Boko Haram occupation could already be as large as Belgium.

Top military sources disclosed in Abuja that political authorities now feel so disturbed by the activities of the terrorists especially after viewing the latest video release from the terror group, which claimed that it already had enough weapons to take on Nigeria and its neighbours.

The required authourities have endorsed the military plan and expressed full support for it.

According to the source, the determined onslaught has also received the assurance of cooperation and support of Cameroun, Niger and Chad, which have now realised the danger posed by continuing to allow terrorists free movement across the borders.

The source disclosed that, “Nigerian military is reviewing its strategy in the combat against terrorists to accommodate joint and combined operations with neighbouring military organisations.

Massive deployment of air and amphibious assets are expected to feature in the operation.

Preparatory to this mission, the Defence Headquarters has changed the General Officer Commanding the 7 Division which is the leading formation in

the counter-terrorism campaign.

“The deployment for the mission is expected to facilitate the elimination of safe havens and escape routes of terrorists in or out of Nigeria. The arrangement has enlisted the support of the military forces of neighbouring countries towards ensuring that the plan to effectively block the terrorists for elimination while they are being pounded in the ongoing counter terrorism campaign is effectively

attained”, the source disclosed.

It was also reliably gathered that the operations will commence very soon and is expected to terminate well before the February 14 elections so that Nigerians living in every part of the country can vote in their towns and villages.

The operations Saturday Mirror learnt promises to be very brutal in the terrorists’ haven, which will witness the death and capture of scores of the insurgents as well as restora-

tion of peace.

Speaking on the safety of innocent citizens, the source said it is expected that innocent citizens living in the areas where the terrorists presently operate are expected to have temporarily vacated any area infested by terrorists for safe towns away from the theatre of operations.

When confronted with this report, the Director of Defence Information, DDI, Maj- Gen. Chris Olukolade, was unwilling to give details.

Nigeria’s economy to grow at 6% annually for 20yrs –Chidoka Olusegun Koiki

T

he Minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka, has projected that the country’s economy will continue to grow at six per cent per annum for the next two decades.

This is as he assured that the country holds great opportunities for her citizens despite present challenges and difficulties, which had overwhelmed it in recent time.

Speaking at the 44th Convocation Lecture of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, where he was the Guest Speaker at the weekend, Chidoka insisted that the country had highly skilled, hardworking people with huge natural resources and massive population that makes it a big market for goods and services, which he said are the key areas that would

serve as stimulant to her economic growth.

The title of the lecture he presented was, “Rebuilding the Nigerian Dream: Mapping the Building Blocks.”

Chidoka explained that despite some challenges bedeviling the country today, her economy is still regarded as the largest in the continent with an annual growth rate of six to eight per cent, stressing that the country today has one of the largest mobile phone markets on the continent.

He added that nearly 40 per cent of the country’s population has access to the internet, which is almost that of South Africa that is just at 47 per cent and far higher than Indonesia at only 16 per cent.

He expressed that Brazil despite her perceived development has only managed to connect 53 per cent of its population online.

L-R: Special Adviser to the President on Agric Hajia Baraka Sani; Agric Minister of State, Mrs. Asabe Asmau Ahmed; President Goodluck Jonathan and Agric Minister Dr. Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina, during the Opening of the One day AGRIFEST in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

…DHQ’s blogsite hacked Ubong Ukpong ABUJA

The Defence Headquarters, DHQ, yesterday, said that its information blogsite, “defenceinfo.mil.ng”, was hacked into in the ear-

ly hours of yesterday.

A statement through its Director of Defence Information, DDI, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, in Abuja, said that the site was defaced at the front end.

“However, the hackers could not infiltrate the da-

tabase of the site. Preliminary investigation shows that the attack was from the end of the site’s host.

One “ImaSadiq who posed as the hacker has been knocked off and normal activities on the channel has resumed.

“Apparently, the blogsite was targeted because of its role as a major channel for disseminating information on military and security activities in the nation’s counter-terrorism campaign”, the DHQ stated.

Two die, five injured in Lagos road accident Patience Ogbo

T

wo persons lost their lives in road accident along the Mile 12 -Ikorodu Road by Ketu bus stop in Lagos State.

It was gathered that the

accident which occurred at about 5 a.m. on yesterday was caused by a container truck which had a brake failure and ran into a commercial bus.

It was gathered that the container truck fell on two persons, crushing them on the spot while five person

were critcally injured.

Lagos State Police spokesperson, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed the accident.

He said, “One Mark truck with registration SMK96XE driven by an unknown driver and a Tata Vanagon bus with registra-

tion number KH318KRD were involved. The truck failed break and ran into the Tata bus from the rear.

Two lives of yet to be identified victims were lost .

Meanwhile investigation continues. Five injured ones have been taken to hospital for treatment.”

8

NATIONAL NEWS

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Apprehension as APC, PDP rallies clash in Ekiti today Obiora Ifoh ABUJA

T

here is apprehension in Ekiti State over a possible face-off between members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State following a clash of the rallies of the two parties.

While the presidential campaign rally of the APC is holding in Ado Ekiti today, another rally is also scheduled by the governor of the state to hold at Fajuyi Park in the state capital for

his party.

At the he Peoples Democratic Party’s parallel rally, the party will market all its national and state candidates, including Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, for the office of the president.

Already stern looking policemen and other security agencies have taken over the state, obviously to forestall any breakdown of law and order.

Ahead of the possible clash, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned Governor Fayose against disrupting or interfering in any way with the APC presidential campaign rally in Ado-Ekiti.

In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party wondered why Fayose scheduled a rally for today at Fajuyi Park, which is a major route to the venue of the APC presidential campaign rally. ‘’This is nothing but a deliberate act of provocation, and it is a dangerous game by a Governor who has now become notorious for making incendiary statements and taking irrational actions. He should be told in clear terms that being the governor of a state demands huge responsibility, not brazen rascality,’’ it said.

APC wondered what point the governor was trying to prove by seeking “to set the supporters of his party, the PDP, against those of our party,” which is basically what he is planning to do by organising a parallel rally along a major route to ours at Ado-Ekiti on Saturday.

The party said its members and supporters, in line with their peaceful nature and the ethos of APC, neither disrupted nor interfered with the PDP presidential campaign rally at Ado, and finds it difficult to understand why the governor would be plotting to trigger chaos and disrupt

the APC presidential campaign rally. ‘’There must be a limit to mischief and waggishness, especially from a governor that almost set Nigeria on fire with an irresponsible, incendiary and repugnant advertisement wishing our presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, dead. ‘’Since everything points to the fact that the governor lacks the capacity to understand the implication of his actions, it is high time his masters called him to order before he sets the country on fire. A good starting point is to warn him against holding a parallel rally at Ado on Saturday.

‘’The security agencies should also advise the governor against actions that are capable of triggering violence and disrupting public peace. If the governor fails to heed the voice of reason, then he should be solely held responsible if there is any breach of peace or a disruption of the APC presidential campaign rally at Ado-Ekiti on Saturday,’’ it said.

The campaign rallies between the two leading parties could engender chaos.

The entire state capital has since been completely taken over by stern looking policemen and other security agencies.

CNPP berates Dasuki over calls for polls’ postponement Olajide Omojolomoju

C

L-R: IFES Country Director Mr. Shalva Kipshidz; Chairman INEC Prof Attahiru Jega and European Union First Secretary Mr. Alan Munday, during the Project launch of IFES Mitigation of Violence in Election (MOVE) in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

Jonathan’s attack, a misdirected aggression –NADECO Lekan Adejuwon

T

he National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) has taken a swipe at President Goodluck Jonathan over his comment that chieftains of the groups are hypocrites.

The group described the president as embarking on a misdirected and transferred aggression.

The President had penultimate Monday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, lambasted some former NADECO leaders in the South-West.

Speaking at the presidential campaign rally of

the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the ancient city, Jonathan said the actions of some of the active participants could not be justified with what they once professed.

His words, “I did say that the South-West reminds one of the days of National Democratic Coalition. But I am convinced that some of the NADECO actors were hypocrites because they cannot justify what they are doing today.

“The South-West believes in human rights and social justice. No SouthWesterner will pray that someone, going through proper trial, will be jailed for 300 years and above. If

they are not hypocrites, they couldn’t be doing what they are doing today but I don’t want to go into that now. If they are not hypocrites, they will not be talking about not empowering women”.

But in its reaction, the group, in an exclusive interview with Saturday Mirror said the president’s remark amounted to a ‘’misdirected and transferred aggression.”

The group, according to its General Secretary, Mr. Ayo Opadokun, who spoke with our correspondent, also accused him of not being a part of the struggle for the restoration of democracy in the country.

His words: “I just regarded it as one of those avoidable misdirected speech that people do make. There is what they called ‘transferred aggression’ I though President Jonathan was not just being fair to himself and the office he represents.

“But come to think of it, where was President Jonathan when we were laying down our lives for the restoration of democracy in Nigeria? Where was he in his village? He does not carry along credible profile. He was not part of us in the trenches. He didn’t know clearly what we fought for. So he will not even understand.”

onference of Nigerian Political Parties, CNPP, has expressed outrage over the statement made by the National Security Adviser, NSA, Colonel Sambo Dasuki, at the London think-tank, Chatham House, calling for the postponement of the February 2015 scheduled election.

In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, CNPP said its outrage was based on the reason the NSA adduced, which it described as “puerile, bare face lie and a dummy,” which purpose was to deceive the international community, portray Nigeria in bad light and scuttle regime change.

It challenged Dasuki to tell the world where the 30 million Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, he bandied is located adding: “Without

holding brief for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, it is common knowledge that over 60 per cent PVCs have been collected nationwide, by anxious Nigerians who earnestly yearn for regime change.”

Expressing worry that the NSA had joined some anti-democrats and less than patriotic groups CNPP said: “Dasuki’s statement clearly exposed his gross incompetence on his primary mandate to secure the country; hence the Boko Haram insurgents escalated since his appointment on June 22, 2012.

“The NSA should tell the world what happened to the billions of naira budgeted for defence in the past three years under his watch, since he has turned the Office of National Security Adviser, ONSA, into procurement agency of the Ministry of Defence.”

Abuja doctors demand payment of arrears Adeola Tukuru ABUJA

L

eaders of Abuja Resident Doctors (ARD) have called on the federal government to effect full payment of the practitioners’ arrears from January 2015, including adjustment of their salary structures.

President of ARD, FCT chapter, Olubanjo Akerele, said during an interview with newsmen in the nation’s capital recently that doctor’s workforce in public hospitals in the FCT had

been too low because of poor welfare from government.

Akerele stated that the agitations of his colleagues were increasing daily as, according to him, they had already set a 21-day ultimatum for the government, after which they would declare industrial action if their demands were not met.

“I am of the opinion that the strike action will not be the best since we didn’t join the national body and we believe that the authority will do the right thing at the right time”.

W

ith less than a month to the next general election in Nigeria, the General Secretary, Communist Party of Benin Republic, Prof.

Philippe Noudjenoume, has said that it would be in the interest of all Africans to pray for a peaceful, free, fair and transparent elections in Nigeria.

He said the whole of Africa might not be able to handle it if crisis erupts in the country during and after the polls.

According to him, the huge population of the country might make it hard for other countries in Africa to accommodate Nigerians who might want to leave the country in the event of war.

“If trouble starts and 500 Nigerians enter Benin at a go, there will be problem”,

he said Noudjenoume, who made this declaration while receiving a delegation of African Global Development for Drastic Change, a Lagos-based non-governmental organisation, which paid him a courtesy call during his visit to Nigeria said corruption and sittight syndrome of African leaders remained the bane of the continent’s development “We are for unity of Nigeria; we are against destabilisation of Nigeria. In the West African sub region, Nigeria is the largest and should lead by example.

Our prayer is that there should be peaceful election and mostly that the people in Nigeria should realise that they should stay away from corrupt politicians because we have seen what these people are doing with the wealth of Nigeria”, he said.

Ohanaeze rejects call to postpone February polls

T

he Caretaker Committee of the apex Igbo socio-cultural group in Nigeria, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has rejected the call by the National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki, for postponement of the February general election, to give the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) more time to distribute all Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) to registered voters.

Speaking to journalists, the chairman of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Caretaker Committee, Chief Ralph Obioha, said that under no circumstances should the date of the general election already scheduled for February 14 and 28 be changed.

His words: “The purported statement made by

the National Security Adviser in London, suggesting a shift in the date of the elections would make Nigeria look like we are not serious nation. The last election was held four years ago and we had four years ahead to plan for another general election.

“Nigeria is easily polarised at the moment and any postponement in the date of the election would be misinterpreted by the critical mass of this country. So, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Caretaker Committee takes a serious exception to any suggestion that the date of the election, which has been fixed should be change in any way, manner or form. The elections should hold as stated and dated.”

Bode George backs postponement of elections AYO ESAN

F

ormer Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olabode George, has thrown his weight behind the National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki’s (rtd) call for the postponement of the February 2015 general elections.

Speaking at a media parley on Friday in Lagos,

George said he believed that the National Security Adviser saw things deeper than most other Nigerians and as a result he was throwing his weight behind him as regards the postponement of the next month’s general elections.

“You know when you say the National Security Adviser said something, he sees things deeper than most of us will see them”, he said

9

We will stick to electoral timetable —Jega OMEIZA AJAYI

T

he Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has restated its commitment to the conduct of next month’s general elections, saying it has never contemplated tinkering with the election schedule.

INEC said since it rolled out the electoral timetable about a year ago, it had consistently done everything possible to stay on track, expressing its preparedness to go ahead with the

polls as scheduled.

Chairman of the commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, stated this yesterday in a keynote address titled, Mechanism in Place for Election Security and Violence Free Elections by INEC, at the launch of the project, Mitigation of Violence in Election, MOVE, organised by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, IFES, in Abuja.

Asked to clarify the position of INEC with regards to the call by the National Security Ad-

viser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, urging the commission to postpone the election, Jega said; “I do not want to comment on this, like every other person, we also read that in the papers.

“I myself, many things have been attributed to me which I know I never said.

So, until I can confirm and get clarification, it will be premature for me to start commenting on that.

“In any case, nobody would have communicated the Commission’s decision because the Commission has not sat and discussed

this matter; so has not taken a decision on it”, he stated.

The NSA had hinged his suggestion on the hitches being experienced with the distribution of the Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs. While the INEC boss conceded that the rate of PVCs distribution was slow, he added that over 50 million PVCs have been produced and over 30 million collected adding that there were still millions of PVCs waiting to be collected.

Jonathan in secret meeting with Olu of Warri, Oritsejafor THEOPHILUS ONOJEGHEN WARRI

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday evening had a secret meeting with Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse II and the National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, in Warri, the commercial nerve of Delta State.

Sources at the meeting told Saturday Mirror that the meeting was not unconnected with next month’s general elections and the controversial Export Processing Zone, EPZ, sited in Ogidigben, Warri South West Area of the state.

Jonathan’s visit is coming few days after a pan Itsekiri group, Itsekiri Leaders of Thought, ILT, vowed to vote against him if he fails to perform the groundbreaking ceremony of the $16 billion EPZ which its flagged off has been postponed on several occasions due to threat from the president’s Ijaw brothers in Gbaramatu Kingdom.

President Jonathan landed Osubi Airstrip at 16:45Hrs (Local Time) in aircraft Nigeria 001 with Military Augusta Westland (AW) 101 before being flown in with Nigerian Air Force chopper to Nana College, Warri South.

He had earlier visited Pastor Oritsejafor at his private residence in Warri GRA before arriving Olu of Warri palace exactly 5:39pm with Governor Em-

manuel Uduaghan.

The meeting which lasted 21 minutes, Saturday Mirror reliably learnt was majorly on the EPZ project. Our source said the president promised to perform the groundbreaking ceremony before Gov-

ernor Uduaghan’s tenure ends in May, 2015.

The source added that Jonathan profusely begged the Itsekiri monarch and his people to be patient while he liaise with the Petroleum Minister on a specific day for

the commissioning of the project.

Jonathan told the monarch and the Council of Itsekiri Chiefs that November 25th, 2014 earlier slated for the commissioning was not put-off over threat from his kinsmen.

In your refreshingly different

Oil theft: The bleeding continues Recent pronouncements by the Federal Government indicate that the nation loses over $1bn monthly to activities of oil thieves in the Niger-Delta region. The financial and environmental impacts of illegal, industrial scale oil bunkering in Nigeria pose a serious threat to the nation’s wellbeing and require urgent interventions by relevant stakeholders.

‘No corrupt government can Àght corruption’

Worship

2015: ‘Africa can’t afford crisis in Nigeria’ MUDA OYENIRAN

NATIONAL NEWS

January 24, 2015

Interview

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Charity: Ministering to body and spirit Despite the fact that some religious bodies, churches included claim that they have been involved in activities where they bring succour to members and others who need financial help in their immediate communities, agitations are still on in some quarters that these pastors who make a lot of money from offerings, tithes and other contributions from members of their church, have not been catering for the needy members.

‘I can’t do a role that would incite violence’ Spokesman of the All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, addresses some of the issues surrounding Gen Buhari’s health, the certificate sage and corruption in an interview with National Mirror.

Benue State-born Meg Otanwa started her acting career with roles in TV dramas: ‘Coffee Shop’ and ‘Atlanta’.

Ever since then, she has been in showbiz. In this interview with Adaeze Amos, she speaks about her lifestyle and her acting career, among others.

These and many more available tomorrow in your

10

NATIONAL NEWS

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Fire outbreak: Experts proffer solutions PATIENCE OGBO

E

xperts in building and construction industry have called on the government to seek alternative ways to prevent fire outbreak in the country.

Reports of fire outbreak in Lagos State have become almost a daily occurrence with millions of naira lost.

Six fire incidents were reported in Lagos during the week.

The experts spoke during a one day seminar organised by WNM Limited.

The experts said it was high time Nigeria began using composite materials instead of traditional building and construction materials like wood, metals, bricks and others that are combustibles.

Akin Akinola, the Chief Executive Officer of WNM

Limited, said Nigerians are losing millions of naira to fire outbreak and there is urgent need to find a lasting solution to the problem.

He said “Being innovative is what drives us as a business solution to find alternatives to traditional materials like cement, steel, metal, wood. Composite materials are fire resistant than the traditional materials. The event is meant to create awareness for the use of composite materials in Nigeria. These materials are made from fibre glass materials and wood composites. The advantages of these composite materials as against traditional materials like concrete, wood, metal and steel is that they are not attractive to vandals and thieves as they don’t have secondary market value.”

Civil society group kicks against shift of February polls OMEIZA AJAYI

T

he Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room yesterday expressed concern over calls for the postponement of next month’s general elections.

It specifically kicked against the suggestion by the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, that the polls be shifted.

Governor Bala Ngilari of Adamawa State had earlier in the week called for the postponement of the election in his state, citing the current wave of insecurity in parts of the state as reason.

Dasuki on his part had, at a briefing in Chatham House, London on Thursday, called for the postponement of the elections, which according to him, is to enable the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), distribute millions of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) to the voters.

The report also claimed that Dasuki had told the chairman of INEC that a postponement within the three months allowed by the law would be a good idea.

However, the Situation

Room described the call as an unnecessary interference in the independence of INEC as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution stating that dates for the elections can only be set by INEC. Prof. Attahiru Jega, in a recent meeting with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) assured that every effort would be made to ensure that intending voters collect their PVCs before the February elections.

“The Situation Room called on the political parties and civic groups including religious organisations, labour unions, etc to mobilise citizens to pick up their PVCs in the centres designated by INEC Situation Room called on INEC to put in place every measure to ensure unhindered and speedy distribution of any outstanding and uncollected PVCs. “We continue to urge INEC to update the public on PVC distribution in states that have been most impacted by delays”, the group stated.

It also called on Nigerians to go out en-masse to collect their PVCs, and prepare to cast their votes for candidates of their choice in the upcoming general elections.

L-R: Vice President Namadi Sambo; Governor of Benue Gabriel Suswam and Minister of Transport, Sen. Idris Umar, inspecting passenger coaches after inauguration of five 68-seater air-conditioned passenger coaches, during launch of Makurdi-Port Harcourt inter city train service in Makurdi, yesterday.

FG approves N26 billion for 2015 dry season farming ADEOLA TUKURU, ABUJA

T

he federal government yesterday approved the sum N26 billion towards the 2015 Dry Season Farming Programme in the country.

President Goodluck Jonathan, stated this during the 2015 AGRIFEST, in Abuja, saying that this was in furtherance of their rejuvenation and redefinition of Agriculture.

According to him, Nigeria’s national food production has expanded by 21 million metric tons within the past three years, adding that the country’s import bill declined from N1.1 trillion in 2009 to N634 billion in 2013 and continues to decline.

Jonathan said they end-

ed the corruption of forty years in the fertiliser sector as farmers now receive their fertilisers through the electronic wallet system using their mobile phones.

“Within the past three years, over 14.5 million farmers have been reached through the GES programme. Our farmers that previously begged for fertilisers or are given fertilisers in bowls, now receive 2-3 bags of subsidised fertilisers.

“The number of seed companies has increased from 11 to 134 within the past three years, allowing farmers to be reached with high quality seeds.

“I am proud of the Nigerian seed companies, who together have now increased the volume of

seeds available to farmers from 4,252Metric tons in 2011 to over 149,484metric tons today.

“Our fertiliser sector is booming with N900 billion naira ($5 billion dollars) of new investments that will make our nation selfsufficient in fertilizers and turn us into a net exporter of fertilizers.

“With N900 billion ($5 billion) of new investments in the fertilizer sector, Nigeria will soon become self-sufficient in fertilizer production, and turn into a net exporter of fertilizer.

“As this happens, the price of fertilizers will decline, and farmers will be able to afford more fertilizers to boost their food production.

Rice farmers across the country, according to him,

now has a new lease of life, due to the transformation taking place in the sector.

“Over 6 million rice farmers have received improved rice seed varieties, boosting domestic rice production by an additional 7 million metric tons,” he said.

He further explained that rice revolution is taking place across the country, from Kebbi, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Bauchi, Gombe, Niger, Kogi, Ogun, Ekiti, Ebonyi, Rivers, Anambra, Delta, Edo to Bayelsa State.

The president also said : “Our maize farmers are also part of this revolution. With our support, they produced 10 million metric tons of maize in the past three years”.

Jonathan mourns King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia ROTIMI FADEYI, ABUJA

P

resident Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has joined other world leaders in commiserating with King Salman Ibn Abdulaziz and the people of Saudi Arabia on the death of his predecessor, King Abdullah Ibn Abdulaziz.

The president said he received with great sadness, news of the death of Abdulaziz at the grand age of 90.

In a condolence letter to

the new Saudi monarch, Jonathan said that King Abdullah would be long remembered for entrenching the process of progressive reform in his country.

A statement issued by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said the president expressed confidence that the existing cordial and mutually-beneficial relations between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia would be maintained and further strengthened un-

der Salman.

“On behalf of the Government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I wish to express my heartfelt condolences at the sad loss of this illustrious monarch and revered leader. Our thoughts go out to the people of Saudi Arabia and, particularly, the Saudi royal family at this time”, the President said.

Jonathan said Abdullah would be remembered for entrenching the process of

progressive reform, enduring stability and economic consolidation in Saudi Arabia, while preserving the Kingdom’s place as the universally acclaimed centre of the Islamic faith.

“While the Government and people of Nigeria share in your loss, we are hopeful that you and the entire people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would be comforted by the enduring legacy of selfless service that King Abdullah leaves behind.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

11

January 24, 2015

I deserve to be re-elected — Mulikat Adeola-Akande

Hon Mulikat Adeola-Akande is the Leader of the House of Representatives. The female lawmaker represents Ogbomoso South, Ogbomoso North and Orire Federal Constituency of Oyo State.

She was the preferred candidate of the PDP for the speakership position in 2011 when the position was initially zoned to the South West.

Hon Adeola-Akande spoke with WOLE OLADIMEJI during her declaration ceremony in Ogbomoso to contest for the House of Representatives seat in her Constituency. Excerpts What is the prospect of PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan in the coming election I think the prospect of PDP, my party, is very strong to win the coming election.

Mr. President has done a lot in all the sectors of the country therefore the party has the prospect of wining the elections and I am sure that people of this country can only say thank you to him by voting him back to office to continue the good work we have started. You have seen the various rallies which the party embarked upon and see the way people came out to hear from the president. In the country people are allowed to show their feelings when they. Are not happy but for people to gather together to receive Mr. President and celebrate with him showed that they are still very much in support of the party and that is just one way of showing support for the party. I feel that for any reasonable person, you have to look at what the party has done in the last for four years and in completing the several projects the party started, they need to have the party back. And if you truncate that now it, would result in abandoned projects because those projects that are ongoing would be abandoned. We have seen it other states where another party has taken over and you see them introducing new projects and abandoned the previous one started and that is not good enough. It is a waste of resources and this is not good for the country and you find a lot of abandoned projects. So I think the wisest thing for Nigerians to do is to return PDP in the next election to complete those projects started by Mr. President.

He has touched so many lives, he has affected so many sectors of the economy. I don’t think any other party would be able to what the president has done so far. I urged Nigerians not to waste their votes, not to throw away their votes but they should vote for Mr. President and also vote for all PDP flag bearers at all level of the government and in the states.

What is your take on the non violence accord signed by all the presidential candidates?

I think the peace accord is very important because one all the electorate and the aspirants have seen their presidential candidate signing the accord and the intention is for them to maintain peace during election, which is very important. It showed commitment on the part of all the political parties, as not only the

presidential candidates participated, it was signed before all the party chairmen and other party chieftain. It is a very serious accord. I think there is punishment for any erring party. And if the clause is not there, they find a way of including it in the accord. We all know that violence does not breed anything good at end of the day. A lot of people would lose their lives and you can’t stop what God has ordained. The party that is destined to win will win and those who have lost their lives can never come back to life, so why killing ourselves, why fighting ourselves.

The only way to fight for your party if you really want to show your commitment is through your vote, so go out and vote peacefully during election and your vote would be counted. So I am very much in support of the peace accord. I also preach non violence where ever I go and those who know me know that I don’t support violence at all, violence does not breed anything good.

The rate at which APC and PDP are attacking themselves, do you see them abiding by the decision of the peace accord It’s one thing to sign the accord but it is another thing is to impose punishment on anybody found wanting in this area. I think that they should be able to ensure that. Erring members of any of the party should be punished because the accord was signed before the international community and they should not continue to drag the image of the country in the mud. We should be able to do things honourably. So anybody that is found wanting should be punished and their names should be published so that Nigerians should know the party or individual who may have broken the accord. I think the electorate should have a rethink over this. While the government does a lot of sensitisation in this regard on television, radio and even print media to let them know that violence would not be tolerated this time around, they should also rethink the way they go about these things.

What are your chances in Oyo State considering the multi party nature of the state The chances of PDP is bright in Oyo State if the various factions can agree to work together, which we are working on.

Prior to now, I was not in the same camp with the PDP gubernatorial candidate.

Hon. Mulikat Adeola-Akande

Re-election declaration rally.

But now, we are working together. The interest of our party is paramount. We are trying to work on every aggrieved member to come together and work for PDP. Oyo state is originally a PDP state and we are poised to take the state back.

And to a larger extent, we want to ensure that all the PDP candidates at the National Assembly and the state assembly are PDP, so that there could be a complete PDP state at end of the day.

Are you saying that the influence of the former governor, Alao Akala and other strong parties in the state would not affect your chances The thing is that the various parties, yes they are strong but the interest is what we should look at. Most of the parties have a particular position. Every party would want to win the gubernatorial election in the state and am saying that PDP has always won the state and it is in the interest of the party is to win Oyo State. And the only way to win is by working together.

The aggrieved members of the party have to be placated so that all of us can come together to work for the party. Everybody has to be carried along. If we believe that power and position come from God, that whoever is destined to win will win, and that we can only try our best, there will be

no point killing ourselves for nothing. We need to work harder than we used to do in order to ensure that PDP wins in the state.

What have done for your constituency to deserve re-election I have attracted federal presence in Ogbomosho. There are so many empowerment programmes that I have introduced into the area which many people have benefited from. I have introduced scholarship programmes, built schools for my people.

In the past three and half months, I have secured employment for over 100 people in my constituency. Through poverty alleviation, I have empowered over 600 people by giving them deep freezers, sewing machines, motorcycles, grinding machines, power generators etc. I have also empowered over 150 associations. I have empowered 500 aged people. I gave bursary to over 500 students. I also gave four years scholarship to 25 students through Jokodolu Foundation in 2014. If am elected back into the House of Representatives, I will do more for them.

I plan to attract federal presence through the construction of roads, establishment of federal university and the connection of some the towns and villages in the constituency to the national grid for regular supply of electricity.

12

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Pictures of Hon. Mulikat Adeola-Akande’s declaration for re-election rally in Ogbomosho, Oyo State.

An effigy of President Jonathan

Hon. Adeola - Akande waving to supporters

Motorcycle and tricycle outriders

A sea of supporters

More supporters

...on the march

Politics Of campaigns, desperation and death wish Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

January 24, 2015

Lekan Adejuwon

B

arely one week after a non-violent agreement was signed by all presidential candidates in the February 14 general election, indications emerged that some politicians remain very desperate and not ready to stick to the rules of what many have termed “decency”.

This is in view of the rash of unprovoked attacks against the person of General Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), one of the critical signatories to the non-violent pact.

It started with a recent medical report purportedly from Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria, which went viral on the social media suggesting that the retired Army General is suffering from prostate cancer..

According to the report released by an unknown doctor: “The case of Pa Muhammadu Buhari is a serious medical condition as it has gotten to the levels of that of an elevated prostate specific antigen”.

The pandemonium generated by the alleged damaging report caused tremendous confusion in the polity as the embattled former Head of State denied having such ailment attributed to him.

He said the report on his state of health was orchestrated by some individuals not only to gain undue advantage, but to divert public attention from corruption which had assumed the front burner of national discourse.

“There were reports that I was to jet out for medical check-up, but here I am. I sincerely don’t know how they got the impression that I was sick. I had a cold, but it did not stop me from going through my schedule,” Buhari said.

Also the ABUTH authorities had flatly denied issuing the medical report saying the letter was forged and could not have emanated from it as Buhari was not on the list of the hospital’s patients.

But not done with the hospital denial, the PDP in quick reaction, said instead of denying the report, Buhari should jog round a stadium to prove to Nigerians that he is healthy enough to rule the country.

The party stated this at a news conference by its Director of Media and Publicity, Femi Fani-Kayode, who, insisted that the rumour of Buhari suffering from prostate cancer was worrisome.

“We are constrained to urge him to prove to the Nigerian people that he really is fit as a fiddle by taking a brisk walk or even jogging around the perimeter of the stadium before any of his rallies.”

As the dust raised by the ongoing controversies over Buhari’s health saga was about to be laid to rest, what appeared as the scene 2 of the attack on Buhari came to the open last Monday through a paid advertorial in some Nigerian newspapers sponsored by Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose.

The advert, which was meant to canvass votes for President Goodluck Jonathan in next month election, eventually ended up as ‘unkindest cut’ to some former Heads of State who died in office coming from a particular zone in the country. Coincidentally, Buhari also comes from that region.

However, not a few Nigerians have interpreted the said publication as not only ethnic inciting, but a death wish for the APC presidential candidate as it portrayed that what happened to the late former rulers might happen to Buhari if elected.

Fayose practically warned Nigerians that a vote for Buhari may plunge the country to another path of ‘state burial’ in the advertorial.

The advert displayed photographs of 3 Nigerian former Heads of State from the North-West who died in office with a fourth photograph of Buhari followed by his age, (72) with

Buhari

a question mark suggesting that he may go the same way of his predecessors.

“Will you allow history repeat itself ? Enough of state burial,’’ Fayose was quoted to have said in the advertorial.

What the advertorial failed to tell Nigerians, however, is that, except General Murtala Mohammed who died in a military coup at 38, the other two late leaders died in their 50’s, a confirmation that death has little to do with the age of an individual including the president of a country..

The publication has, however, generated widespread condemnations by a cross section of Nigerians who felt that politics of death wish for another fellow human being was an act of desperation carried too far.

Jimi Disu a public affair commentator and media executive in a radio programme last Tuesday, ironically went further to congratulate the APC for the negative advertorial as it may have unknowingly succeeded in boosting the soaring popularity of the party and its candidate in the forth-coming election.

He however urged President Jonathan to take a critical look at his handlers and supporters whom he suspected may have been working against his second term bid.

Echoing Disu sentiments, the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation has advised President Jonathan and the PDP leadership to take charge of their campaign for re-election before their surrogates plunge Nigeria into confusion and anarchy.

Reacting to the inflammatory advertorial, the APC campaign said, “This is the height of desperate tactics by the PDP, which is capable of degenerating into unnecessary bloodshed and destruction. They are choosing death for us.

This is not politics. We are therefore, asking our supporters to stay calm and be law-abiding.”

13

The opposition, in a statement signed by the party’s Director of Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, allayed fears over the safety of its candidate before, during and after the election.

The APC alleged that the on-going campaign on Buhari’s health, using forged medical reports, and now suggestions of death are reeking of plots to eliminate him (Buhari) before or after he wins.

The statement warns: “The whole world is watching and if anything happens to General Muhammadu Buhari before, during or after the elections, under the pretext of X, Y, or Z, we shall be left with no option than to conclude that the PDP and their surrogates are to be held accountable.”

On the non-violent Memorandum of Understanding recently signed by all political parties, Shehu explained that APC campaign remains faithfully committed to the peace accord signed by the country’s political parties under the auspices of Ambassador Kofi Annan.

He, however, alleged that “the PDP is paying lip service to this commitment by trying to stroke the embers of hate and smear campaign, which is inconsistent with the commitment to peace.”

Buoyed by the torrents of criticisms arising from Fayose’s death wish advertorial, the PDP had in what many have described as a belated reaction, washed its hands off the controversial publication on Tuesday when the party declared that neither the PDP nor its presidential candidate, President Jonathan, were privy to the controversial publication.

According to Fani-Kayode, the message portrayed in the advertisement was the personal opinion of the Ekiti State governor.

Describing Fayose as “distinguished leader of our party, a democratically elected governor and someone we have immense respect and affection for,” Fani-Kayode said the governor “released this advertisement in his own name and that represents his personal opinion which he is entitled to.”

The question is: What could have led to the campaign of calumny by the PDP? Could the PDP be jittery of losing to Buhari in the next month general election? The argument was advanced by Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Festus Keyamo, in a statement on Monday.

According to him, “All the personal attacks on the person of Buhari in the last few weeks have only convinced me that he is the best available option at this time.

“Anyone on the weaker side in any argument always resort to personal abuses and attacks. Have you noticed that on corruption, the only accusation against Buhari is that, he was too high-handed in fighting corruption in the past?

“In other words, nobody has accused him of lacking the courage, zeal and will to fight corruption.”

Fayose, in an unrepentant statement believed to be laced with fear of his party conceding victory to the APC candidate in the February poll, has restated that he has no apology for the controversial advertisement but the consequence of Buhari winning the election.

In a separate statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary Idowu Adelusi in Ado Ekiti, Fayose declared: “The APC should declare the state of health of Buhari. The same way Obasanjo said Yar’Adua was healthy but later died. Buhari is a spent force; he should display his medical and educational certificate if he is sure of himself.”

Meanwhile, one of the unexpected fallouts of the ongoing controversy was the reaction by a daughter of late military ruler, Sani Abacha, Gumsu Sani-Abacha, who said in a tweet: “When will our leaders learn to respect their predecessors?

‘I am utterly disgusted by this poster. Shame! I still cannot believe it”.

With the round condemnation that has greeted the campaigns of calumny against Buhari, it is not unlikely that others who may have had a similar notion may have a rethink. This will be to ensure that Nigeria is not plunged into chaos over the coming election.

14

POLITICS

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Buhari stands for what Nigeria needs now -Ayo Opadokun Mr. Ayo Opadokun, lawyer and General Secretary of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), in this interview with LEKAN ADEJUWON, examines the ongoing campaigns among the two major political parties. He also bares his mind on how Nigerians have fared in critical sectors under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan while throwing his weight behind General Muhammadu Buhari in the February 14 polls.

P

olitical activities are upbeat as Nigerians will be going to the polls in the soon. What are your observations of the electioneering campaigns so far?

For me, I think the campaigns have been a mixture of good presentation of programmes of action and some funny and avoidable bad language usage. But I have seen process of responsibility that it would appear particularly that the central government’s political party, the PDP, has been awash with falsehood. They’ve been making fantastic claims of the things they never achieved and it is worrisome. It is as if we are not in this country. They tell us that power supply is now 18 hours or something; they tell us they have built roads. Then I ask, which road? They tell us they’ve improved education in Nigeria and the reason for saying that was that they built universities in the states where there were none.

What is that supposed to mean for the quality of education? So, honestly, I have problem with the figures they have been reeling out. The APC elements have not been at the federal level but the state they are governing have sufficient evidence of credibility to the claims they are making in terms of delivery of services. There has been very strong reconfiguration in infrastructure in their various states. You cannot say that Rotimi Amaechi has not performed in Rivers State. There is evidence of delivery of services to the people, fulfilling the promises made to the people. Go and look at what is happening in Kano. Go and look at what the governor is doing in Sokoto State, not to talk about the states earlier governed by ACN. There are sufficient credibility to the figures they are reeling out in their states.

You are a hard critic of the establishment, and that may have informed your criticisms of the PDP government.

What is your reaction?

I like to do things with a clear conscience. I am talking of delivery of services. When we laid down our lives to restore democracy in Nigeria under Abacha regime, some of us lost our blood, some of us lost our liberties. Some even lost their lives. We felt that at the coronation of the civilian government, those who will govern will deliver on their promises and the lives of our people will be better off. Unfortunately, after 16 years of the so called civilian government at the federal level, I can say there is 70% failure in every way. That is why I can’t lie to myself. What is it they have done? What is the additional value they have contributed to make life better for the ordinary man since 1999? Obasanjo himself did not commence any road until he left. He spent N4 trillion of our money to restore railway system after a lot of discussions, but despite the huge resources he put in the thing, there is nothing to show for it.

Opadokun

Is it not a shameful thing that in this century Nigeria is still busy working with the old narrow gauge that cannot do more than 35 miles in an hour when the world community is already working on trains that can do 350 kilometers per hour? So, what do you want me to comment in that?

Some discussants in a television programme, a few days ago, said that there were some things Jonathan should be able to present as his score card. The one they talk about is agriculture and I cannot deny that they have tried in that respect. Dr Akinwunmi, the minister, has said that much, but I want to see food on the table of the ordinary man. That is when we know they are performing.

You have said so much about the PDP and President Jonathan’s administration. What about APC’s presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari?

Buhari stands for something that the Nigerian nation needs now. Corruption has become institutionalised from Babangida period to Jonathan. They don’t even ask any question. They deceive Nigerians when they say they are fighting corruption; they know they are not. The young man who was the chairman of so called Ad-hoc Committee, Police Pension, Assistant Director Maina was being probed by the House of Representatives to account for N29billion.

While the House directed the police to produce him, and he said he was not available, he was being escorted to the State House and to his quarters where everybody could reach him. What evidence of criminality or corruption can you call that one? What has Nigerian state done with Princess Oduah?

What has the Nigerian state done to the current Minister of Internal Affairs, Abba Moro, who deceived young unemployed Nigerians and brought in a so called company of their surrogates to invite unemployed Nigerians after collecting money from them only to kill quite a number of them in stampede at the recruitment centres. And that man remains in office. What kind of corruption has Jonathan not condoned?

Go to airports in Abuja and Lagos and see the number of private jets. Where did they make such money? We never know that their grandfathers were so stinkinly rich that they passed it to them. There are so many things going on in government that could make one to shudder.

So, when Buhari was the Military Governor of North Eastern State, nobody could recall that Buhari stole their money. As the Head of State with Idiagbon, is there anything anybody can point to in terms of corruption with Buhari? Once upon a time, some people said that while he was there, he stole 2.8 billion dollars and tribunal headed by Justice Irikefe said they were talking nonsense, it was a misunderstood figure that a character in NTA blew up.

Buhari, in all his life, for what he had done in the military as a Minister of Petroleum; governor, Head of State, built only one house with a mortgage that was allowed.

He sold that house, I think, in 2003 when he was contesting. Do you know that Buhari does not have a house of his own in Abuja?

When he came to Lagos here most times, he lives in Ibikunle Amosun’s house, the current governor of Ogun State. He has no house in Katsina except one family house in Daura, his home town. The truth of the matter is that Buhari never amassed mon-

ey from any circle. As the chairman of the PTF which was like a parallel government, with the buck of money allocated to it, Buhari did not leave that place with, even, a bicycle. So, he has something to offer. He can take on the evil called corruption and put an end to it instantly. When a leader is anticorruption and he is acting his talk, you have to watch your back. For the 18 months they were in governance did we have power failure for one day? Every officer of the state was very conscious of the fact that those governing them were disciplined and would take no nonsense. So, lawless Nigerians had to comport themselves to follow the path of decency. Buhari has something to offer.

There is also Professor Yemi Osinbajo, both an intellectual and a professional.

What Osinbajo did as Attorney-General under the governorship of Ahmed Bola Tinubu is a yardstick that Nigerian judiciary had had to copy in terms of the restructuring of the Nigerian judicial system, in terms of providing welfare for officers of the judiciary and the like.

But part of the allegations leveled against General Buhari by the PDP is that he is a highly vindictive person; that his regime was characterised by bare face brutality and draconian decrees. Now, they are harping on his age and alleged certificate scandal. Are these not enough to erode his anti corruption posture?

My reaction to that is that I do not know of anybody who is perfect. It may be that some of them don’t even know what the Nigerian law and the Electoral Act demands: it is equivalent of secondary school education. You don’t even need to pass. I don’t know why they are making a mountain out of a mole hill. That is one side of the story.

Number two, this is a man who had gone to the various highly valued military institutions. If some of them are thinking properly, my question is that would those institutions bend down the rule to accommodate him? These are just ranting of idle minds.

You also talked about vindictiveness. In military, when Buhari was Head of State, Buhari’s word, as a Head of State was a decree that has the force of law. Even a former Chief Judge in Lagos once said ‘almighty decree’. But it is a totally different experience that we are about to enter now. Buhari is now a politician. He needs the votes of every section in the whole country unlike in the military where he did not need your vote. That is why you have the legislature as the representatives of the people in the House of Reps and in the Senate. So, it has to be done that nothing in terms of draconian law you are talking about could happen under a civilian government. We have the Nigerian 1999 Constitution, despite the sharp disagreement we have with it, it remains the ground norm in our country.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

15

January 24, 2015

‘Lagos will be open for business 24 hours a day and seven days a week’

— Akinwunmi Ambode, Lagos State APC governorship candidate promising to boost the economy of the state if elected

I

n fact Lagos’ GDP is equivalent to the GDP of 19 African countries added together! I dare say that Lagos’ GDP could double the estimated amount, as these figures do not take into account the informal sector, which is believed to be just as large if not larger than the formal sector,” he said.

“Lagos will be open for business 24 hours a day and seven days a week, making it a true 24/7 economy. For a mega city to thrive, we must have a holistic plan to make the city attractive and investmentfriendly both domestically and internationally.

“The importance of Lagos and how its resources are managed have national implications, either positively or otherwise.

Lagos is the most populous city in Nigeria and the seventh fastest growing city in the world. We are home to approximately 21 million people, and we are the economic heartbeat of this great nation and indeed West Africa at large. It is in the interest of this country that we all jointly and collectively play our part in ensuring that Lagos remains prosperous.”

“How do we then reduce the present overhead cost of doing virtually all businesses in terms of power? 40 per cent of Business Operational Expenses go to alternative power supply. Your contemporaries in the West only spend four per cent of their OPEX on power. This shows me that you are 36 per cent at a comparative disadvantage on your balance sheet. The state government has set the pace by introducing IPPs that provide safe, reliable and sustainable power to some of its critical infrastructure like hospitals, water supply, schools, administrative buildings and streetlights.”

Talking

POLITICS

‘The issue in this campaign cannot be my certificate, which I obtained 53 years ago’.

—General Muhammadu Buhari Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress reacting to controversies surrounding his certificate

“I

only consented to address you this morning because of the genuine concern expressed by many supporters and other wellmeaning Nigerians that the issue be addressed. Otherwise, I would have dismissed it for what it is— sheer mischief and would not have considered it an issue worth the nation’s while.

“I had assumed all along that all my records were in the custody of the Military Secretary of the Nigerian Army.

Much to my surprise, we are now told that although a record of the result is available, there are no copies of the certificates in my personal file. This is why I formally requested my old school the Provincial Secondary School, Katsina [which is now known as Government College, Katsina] to make available the school’s copy of the result of the Cambridge/West African School Certificate. This will be made available to the press the moment this is avail-

able.

“However, before we obtain that, let me say for the record that I attended Provincial Secondary School, Katsina. I graduated in 1961 with many prominent Nigerians, including General Shehu Yar’adua, former chief of staff at the Supreme Headquarters, and Justice Umaru Abdullahi, a former President of the Court of Appeal. We sat for the University of Cambridge/WASC Examination together in 1961, the year we graduated.

My examination number was 8280002, and I passed the examination in the Second Division.

“And although the ruling party may want to wish this away, the issue in this campaign cannot be my certificate which I obtained 53 years ago. The issues are the scandalous level of unemployment of millions of our young people, the state of insecurity, the pervasive official corruption which has impoverished our people and the lack of concern of the government for anything other than the retention of power at all costs.”

‘The supposed peace we have is just the peace of the graveyard’.

— James Ngilari, Adamawa State governor, expressing doubt about election taking place in the state.

“I ‘When will our leaders learn to respect their predecessors’?

— Gumsu Sani-Abacha, daughter of the late military ruler expressing disgust at an advertorial disparaging her father

“W

hen will our leaders learn to respect their predecessors?

‘I am utterly disgusted by this poster.

Shame! I still cannot believe it”

n Adamawa, I can truly tell you that seven local government areas are under siege.

The supposed peace we have is just the peace of the graveyard. To say that the security situation in these local governments are sufficiently stabilised so that we can have these elections on the February 14, 2014, to my mind is fierce.”

“That is my position. Anybody is entitled to his views; that is our position. I am the chief security officer.

Even as I speak now, this morning Mr. Chairman, there was an attack on Uba

on the Borno side which directly affects us in Adamawa.

“Before last Saturday, this situation could be said to have been stabilised until this attack was unleashed on Gombi Local Government.

With that attack which completely reverberates across these seven local governments, of course, people would first and foremost be concerned about their dear lives.

“For the first time and about the same time, there was an attack on Biu which has never happened before. Experience has shown that they will go back and regroup and you can never predict when and where they would attack again.”

Jonathan has taken over Third Mainland Bridge

— Governor Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State governor

“W

hat Agbaje referred to as bold ideas in his campaign promises are bold ignorance and bold inexperience that cannot move the state anywhere.”

“If you look at the Third Mainland Bridge, you will see the posters of President Goodluck Jonathan.

“He has taken over the advertising spaces on the bridge, which LASA already allocated to those who paid for the spaces.

“The PDP took over the spaces without caring for the existing contractual agreement.”

“President Jonathan had broken every rule he has set, : “We fund the police but how many vehicles have they (Federal Government) bought for the police?

“Their inexperienced candidate is saying Lagos is indebted, forgetting that the state is very populated.”

‘This is not time for continuity; it is time for change in Lagos’.

— Jimi Agbaje, Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate at a campaign rally in Ikorodu

“W

e are saying that we have to take education more seriously even as Awolowo did. The amount budgeted for vocational schools shows a lack of seriousness. It is hard for skilled workers to get jobs because they have no certification. And we have determined to ensure that people acquire skills and certificates so that that they can compete globally.

“A government that has not delivered on health, housing, education and infrastructure, how can they now demand continuity? This is not time for continuity; it is time for change in Lagos.

“This is a government made up of those who will not carry out any programme except it will benefit them. They said the Bus Rapid Transit would replace Molue, but BRT has now turned to Molue. As we travel through Lagos roads, we see them breaking down all over the place. When you enter one, you pray that it will not break down before you reach your destination. The few ones that are on the road are being used to advertise their posters.”

“The project is being delayed because those in power in Lagos want to be the ones making money from it. We will complete it and inaugurate it for you. And in the next 10 years, there will be, at least, five more of these blue lines in several areas of Lagos.”

16

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Living

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

January 24, 2015

17

Homeless in Amsterdam

Augustine, a homeless Camerounian who roams the streets of Amsterdam, shared his story and the pathetic tales of other African immigrants with OSEYIZA OOGBODO

H

is name is Augustine. That was how he introduced himself to me when we met just outside Centraal Station in Amsterdam. I had just arrived at Centraal Station from Schipol Airport as the hostel I was to stay at was not far from CS. So I met Augustine because I asked him for directions to my hostel. Inside CS, I had firstly asked for the direction and the information officer brought out a map, pointed out where CS was on it, pointed out where I wanted to go, said I should walk out, turn to the right, and gave me the map to guide me.

But when I turned right, I realized his directions were not helpful. I looked at the map too. Also not useful. So I looked City of Amsterdam around for whom to ask for further directions and there was Augustine m fifty three now and have three children coming towards me.

And I decided to ask him because he was black like me in a white world. He two girls and a boy back home in ameroun was lighting a cigarette when I sought his attention. And when I told him my hey just know m in urope but don t know problem, he said he didn’t know the street, Nieuwezijds Armsteeg, that I how m suffering here sought, but he knew a hostel from where we could be directed to my hostel.

So I fell into step with him and of my hostel and the street, but she checked as I also expressed anger at the fact that course we got talking. He asked me where on her computer and said we had to go the Europeans we had asked so far, and I was from and I said Nigeria. And his out, turn left and the street we wanted especially the taxi driver who supposed reply was that we are brothers because was to the right and that it was a very to know all the streets, hadn’t been he’s from Cameroun and that his name is small street. definitively helpful so far.

Augustine.

So we went back, didn’t locate it, so we My anger was also from desperation Then he started warning me that now asked a taxi driver who replied that he because if I didn’t locate my hostel, I’m in Europe, I have to realize that the doesn’t know the street in particular but where would I sleep? On the streets with lifestyle is different and I have to be very he knew it was around there and that it Augustine? Was that what he wanted? So careful, especially of Nigerians, and that was a small street. he could take advantage of me? if I was to make headway, I have to have At this point, I started getting annoyed.

I began to move faster and started to ask connections and know people that will It was just about 6pm but everywhere more people. Confoundingly, annoyingly, help me. was dark like 11pm in Nigeria. And I they would consult their phones or maps, Without asking him, he told me that started getting annoyed because I had direct us and we still wouldn’t get the Europe is not a piece of cake, so much asked Augustine how long he had been street. Augustine was tagging along still so that he was even homeless and had in Amsterdam and he said ten years so and I knew he was definitely hopeful that nowhere to go and that was why he could I wondered aloud why he didn’t know I would give him some money as he had have the time to try and help me locate where I was going. told me he didn’t know how he was going my hostel.

And his reply was that Amsterdam is to have dinner that night.

When we got to the hostel he said he a big place, you can’t know everywhere And I was thinking to myself that if knew, the receptionist there didn’t know and the European mentality is different you want to get some money from me, is

I’

-

I

,

T

I’

I’

,

C

E

.

’

it not better you help me locate my hostel fast, because I had the impression that he was deliberately trying to impede my progress.

After some time, while he kept telling me to take it easy, I just walked away from him, believing I would do better on my own. I made better progress on my own, to the extent that a shopkeeper even helped me call the hostel and as I stepped out to follow the latest direction, Augustine surfaced again.

I knew his appearance wasn’t by coincidence, but I wasn’t really interested in him again as I felt he would just hinder me. I answered him cryptically when he enquired if I had gotten the direction and went into another store and just walked around so he would leave me alone.

When I eventually came out, he was gone.

But still, I still had to ask at another shop again and the shopkeeper there was the most helpful because after he consulted his maps, he was able to tell me definitively where my hostel was located.

So I got there at last. That was on Friday, January 16th. On Sunday the 18th, I ran into Augustine again. I was headed for the Red Light District and I met him in front of the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

18

LIVING

January 24, 2015

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17 We greeted cordially, even hugged and we got talking again as we walked the streets. “I’m tired of being here in Amsterdam,” he said. “What kind of life is this? No work, no house, nothing to eat, I just walk the streets all day and I have to beg to eat.”

Lighting a cigarette, he added that “without these cigarettes, I would have died. I just cannot imagine not having cigarettes.”

Yet even those cigarettes, he cannot afford, as he told me that “I beg for cigarettes too. Here, they don’t sell one stick of cigarette like in Africa. They only sell packs, and one pack is like seven euros because everything here is expensive.”

Speaking further, he said he’s sometimes lucky when he begs for cigarettes and money. When he’s very lucky, someone will give him twenty euros, but that’s once in a blue moon. And as for cigarettes, he smokes whatever he’s given so in his cigarette case, he can have six different cigarettes at the same time.

And he can’t complain because some people won’t even give him cigarettes but tell him to go and buy his.

And lamenting seriously that he wants to return to Cameroun because he’s sure he can never suffer there like he’s doing in Amsterdam, he said, “Europe is just name. There’s nothing here, my brother.

Africa is far better. There are still some places here you will enter and they will say you should get out because you are black.

“I’m fifty-three now and I have three children, two girls and a boy, back home in Cameroun and they just know I’m in Europe but don’t know how I’m suffering here.”

And on what he’ll do if he goes back to Cameroun, he said, “I’ll be a taxi driver.”

And on what he was doing before in Cameroun: “I was a gendarme.” And on why he even bothered to travel out in the first instance: “I had a political problem that forced me to leave.”

Saying the reason he hasn’t returned home is because of money, I asked him how he intended to get the money he needed. “I’m waiting for a guy to come from Switzerland. He’s going to give me money. When the guy was here for a week before going to Switzerland, I had a really nice time. I ate well every day and when he was going, he gave me a hundred euros and said since I hadn’t had a woman in a long time, I should go and have one out of the hundred euros and keep the rest.”

Maybe he was just happy to have someone to talk to, I don’t know, but Augustine kept telling me about himself with me just prompting him sometimes so he would know I was really listening.

“But having woman here is money oh.

Even the prostitutes are very expensive.

The really beautiful ones who are as fine

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘I’ve been in prison several times’

Augustine

as models are fifty euros and there are some you’ll get for thirty euros. And you can’t really enjoy them. You can’t touch their breasts or kiss them. Some of them won’t even allow blacks because they say black people are stronger in sex and they don’t want people who will waste time but just get in and get out fast.”

So when he said out of his hundred euros, he went to have a prostitute of thirty euros, I asked him why when he knew it wouldn’t be a satisfying experience.

“Wetin I go do?” he responded. “No be just to pour water?”

Complaining again about life in Amsterdam, he said, “I’m just back from prison. I was there for seven weeks.”

My recourse was to say that at least he must have had good food and shelter for that period.

“Prison is prison,” he replied angrily.

“There’s nothing like having your freedom. There they are giving you only rice to eat and the rice has been frozen for six months.”

He then warned me to be very careful so as not to end up in prison. “I was imprisoned for stealing train and tram.

You see these their trams and trains, you can keep entering without paying. But one day, you will enter and they close all the doors and ask for your ticket and if you don’t have, it’s prison oh.”

According to him, the fastest other way to prison was dealing in drugs. “That’s what most Nigerians living well here are doing. They wanted me to join them as well but I told them I wasn’t interested.

There’s money there but when they catch you, they give you a long sentence like one

I’m tired of being here in Amsterdam. What kind of life is this? No work, no house, nothing to eat. I just walk the streets all day and I have to beg to eat

I’m waiting for a guy to come from Switzerland. He’s going to give me money. When the guy was here for a week before going to

Switzerland, I had a really nice time. I ate well every day and when he was going, he gave me a hundred euros and said since I hadn’t had a woman in a long time, I should go and have one out of the hundred euros and keep the rest Nigerian guy they caught last year and sentenced to three years in prison.”

Since he admitted that he’s been in prison several times for ‘stealing train,’ I asked him why they didn’t deport him and he said it’s because he has his papers already and he’s just waiting for his Netherlands passport but he’s not sure he’ll wait for it anymore before he’ll return to Cameroun.

Another sore issue with him about Amsterdam is its women. “Be very careful of the women here,” he warned me really seriously. “They only use you and dump you. If you don’t have money, you cannot date their young girls who will prefer their young men. But the older ones who can no longer get married as their men will say they are already old, those ones will date you until they are pregnant, then chase you away as they don’t want you to have any rights over the child, and such a child they will make sure will never leave Amsterdam.”

Saying that one of them wanted to use him in such manner at one time but he did not flow with her, I asked him why, since he already knew her intention, he didn’t outwit her by dating her but using condoms when having sex with her, so she could just be taking care of him.

“How you go do that? If you no want wetin she want, then she tell you to go.

That means you have nothing together because she’ll say you shouldn’t use condom and you say you want to use, so obviously you can’t be together. And since na woman get mouth for here, you find your way fast.”

And when I tried to give him tips on how he could deceive such a woman, he said, “My brother, you cannot tell me about Amsterdam. You are new here and I’ve been here ten years. I know Nigerian guys are fast. I like them for being sharp, but you are still new here and I’m the one who can tell you what’s going on here, not you telling me.”

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

LIVING

January 24, 2015

19

How fake recruitment agencies fool, dupe anxious jobseekers asked me to complete a form. She then said they will get back to me in a few days.

“After waiting for two weeks, I went to the place again and I was given an appointment letter as an Administrative Officer to a firm in Ikeja. But on getting to the place, I learnt that the position had been filled two months back. So angrily, I went back to the agency where they told me to calm down; that they would get another place for me.

Unfortunately they are yet to get me a place after about four months now.”

Fred’s experience captures the harrowing experiences that unemployed graduate go through in the hands of fake recruitment agencies that dot the landscape these days. These agencies feed fat on the high rate of unemployment in the country, duping unsuspecting job applicants.

Muda Oyeniran

F

red, a 31 year old graduate of Sociology was walking across the street around Iju-Ishaga recently when he saw a poster advertising various positions including that of an administrative officer in an oil servicing firm. He was naturally excited to apply for the position, having been unemployed for five years after graduation. So he copied the address on the poster, which was somewhere in Ojuelegba.

The following morning, he went to a business center to update his curriculum vitae (CV) and off he went to Ojuelegba. The first shock he got was when he was asked by the receptionist at the place to register with a sum of two thousand naira. He recalls the episode: “After collecting my CV, I was asked to pay the money as registration fee/processing fee.

Later, the receptionist/secretary

Abba, IG

Wogu, Minister of Labour and Productivity

CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

20

LIVING

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘Most of them are dubious and dangerous’ When she got to the venue,

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19

Saturday Mirror gathered that some of the agencies even promised applicants overseas jobs, thereby extorting money from them without fulfilling their promise. “There was a case in the past where a recruitment agent even organised medical tests for some applicants as a way of eliminating some of them after they had scaled through the first stage of the interview, only for people to discover that the whole employment idea was a scam after all”, a source informed Saturday Mirror.

Some unemployed youths who have been victims of fake recruitment agencies in Lagos told Saturday Mirror that the agencies abound in Lagos. According to Semiu, another applicant, “There are quite a number of them located at Ojuelegba junction. There is a particular onestorey building that houses many business centres. They claim to be employment agencies. Day in, day out, they scam unemployed youths.

The most painful thing is that after paying so-called processing fees, they send you out to companies that have nothing to do with them where you will be embarrassed. But when you get back to them, they keep posting you until you get tired and give up.”

Samson, another applicant who has also had a bitter experience with the same agency says: “They took my three thousand last year when I finished NYSC and sent me to Victoria Island where the company doesn’t exist. I just pity one girl that came all the way from Abuja to be duped by the so called agents.

I almost scattered their office. They had to resort to begging me.

“I also know of a friend who was duped by a recruitment agent at Ifako Bus Stop, on Baale Street.

He was of duped of six thousand naira. Although he was given a letter of employment, he got there only to discover that there was no vacancy. To make the matter worse, the employers didn’t even know the agent. The second place he was sent to was a security outfit as a security officer.”

Tolu, another victim says: “I knew them years ago. They seriously take advantage of many job seeking Nigerians. They use the ill-gotten money to run their firm, and even place their scam advert in the dailies.

One has a building just by Ojuelegba Bridge, beside Federal Fire Service.

It’s like the same owner runs two of such companies in different names, duping hundreds of Nigerians on a daily basis. One just has to be careful with all these ‘money requesting

agents.’

Tolu continues: “Some of the agencies are into multi-level marketing of healthcare drugs, but would always lie to deceive people with different job vacancies, only to be told to even pay a particular sum.

They also have an office at Okota junction. I have had an experience with them but I was smarter. They called me for an interview but demanded a commitment fee of ten thousand naira. I took a walk.”

A new method adopted by these fake recruitment agencies is sending anonymous text messages inviting people for interviews for jobs which they did not apply for in the first instance.

One such text message, made available by an almost-victim, reads thus: “You are invited for our test & interview on 14th August 2014 by 2pm at No.15 Adekunbi Crescent by Oluwaleimu Street, off Toyin Street, Ikeja.08034786625.”

Another such text reads thus: “You have been shortlisted for an aptitude test scheduled on Monday, 13/08/2014. by 2pm at No. 15 Adekunbi Crescent, Off Oluwaleyimu Street, Allen Avenue, Ikeja , Lagos.”

Yet another one says: “You are shortlisted and invited for job interview 16b 3rd floor, Adesina street, behind Holy Trinity Hospital Ikeja Lagos, date 15th August, 2014 by 10 am.”

Saturday Mirror investigation, however, reveal that whenever the receiver of such messages got to the venue, it is either the address does not exist, or the place is under lock and key.

But a sinister dimension may have been introduced to the business of fake recruitment agencies, as some of them now allegedly use job advertisement posters to lure applicants into places where they hypnotise and abduct them for ritual purposes.

An Ibadan-based broadcaster, who declined to be named, narrated the experience of an applicant to Saturday Mirror. He said the victim got a telephone number from a job advertisement poster by the roadside and decided to call the number because of her eagerness to get a job.

However when she got to the venue, she was hypnotised and became unaware of her surroundings. She was only saved from being used for money rituals because she went with her friend who waited outside. It was this friend who raised the alarm when she noticed that something

she was hypnotised and became unaware of her

surroundings.

She was only

saved from being used for money rituals because she went with her friend who

waited for her outside. It was this friend who raised the alarm when she noticed that something unusual was going

on.

The men disappeared after the alarm.

unusual was going on. The men disappeared after the alarm and the lady was hospitalised as a result of the trauma,” he explained.

He advised job applicants to be wary of people advertising various

juicy jobs on posters, saying most of them are dubious and dangerous.

“If they must go to such places, they should endeavour to go with their friends or relatives.” he added

I knew them years ago.

They seriously take advantage of many job

Nigerians. They use the ill-gotten money to run their firm, and seeking

even place their scam advert in the dailies

Entervaganza The Saturday Mirror Magazine

Victoria

...New kid on the movie bloc

Relationships Should your partner be involved in your business? >Page32

Sex Talk 10 crucial tips for first date kissing >Page32

Fashion

Bold & casual >Page 28&29

22

ENTERVAGANZA

-Moty

Former UK based gospel singer, Michelle Oluwatoyin Aduragbemi, Moty, as she popularly known, is back in the country doing what she knows best. Born in 1967 and began singing at the age of ten, Aduragbemi, in this interview with MICHAEL OMOBORIOWO, travels back in time recalling her days offshore as she sang soul winning hits in churches and open fairs. Excerpts When did you decide that you will be a gospel singer?

I started singing at the age of ten at the Celestial Church of Christ, Akure. It was at the church that the Holy Ghost confirmed that singing is my calling. From there, I joined the church choir and since then I have been into music.

What inspired you to go into music and who influenced your career in music?

I would say it is divine. It’s a God-given talent from birth. I have always loved music right from childhood. I just naturally liked it and will always like to be around music. I am influenced by true worshippers and ministers of God. Why choose gospel music?

I chose gospel music because that is where God wants me to be. I have tried it the other way but I always knew it will never work out. God has His ways of bringing you back to Him. I had a very solid and sound Christian background. I thank God for who I am and I feel so comfortable and very excited doing what I’m doing now. Also I am very conscious of the message I convey through my music, the content and all. As a child, I grew up with gospel music and I have adapted to it so much. So to sing secular music will be very difficult for me to do. That is why I choose to sing real gospel music that I’m used to.

So how has the journey been so far?

Well, since I began, I have made some mistakes while performing and corrected myself. I have also met so many people and had a lot to learn. It was a sweet experience. I was beginning to live my dream.

I also went to so many places. I have been all over the world and churches worldwide, in the course of evangelizing with gospel music.

In your view, what is the role of gospel music in nation building?

If gospel music is spread across all communities, states, cities, towns and villages with songs loaded with great impactful and inspiring words, I believe the nation and society at large, would be a better place and people would be inspired to

January 24, 2015

join hands in building a better ter and reputarep putable nation. With God all things gs are possible. posssible.

We will make it happen through ugh the help hellp of God. Gospel music is going places.

Do you share the view that gospel artistes ospel artist tes don’t sing real gospel melody y again?

It depends on the artiste. Some artistes artiistes sing real gospel music, some Sing Juju gospel, some sing Fuji gospel and d so on. But Bu ut for me I chose to sing real Gospel. el.

Tell us about your music experience erience in the t UK? My music experience in the UK is very v good. I was always from one e church to o another, singing and celebrating ng Jesus in crusades, revivals and also celebrating brating people pe eople as well. I was invited to different erent churches churc ches to perform. That that was how it wass for almost seventeen years before ore I relocated reloc cated back to Nigeria.

Why did you return to Nigeria? a?

The reason why I came back to NigeN ria is mainly because my husband usband and an nd I had discussed years back that at when our ou ur children are done with their ir primary y school education, they will come ome back to Nigeria for their secondary ry education and learn the Yoruba culture.

And secondly, there is no place ace like home. And thank God that since nce I returned to Nigeria years ago,, I have been playing virtually every y week in programmes. Churches send invitation to me to come and perform in their churches. I could remember member sometimes last year, I got two wo invitations to play and the two happen ppen to fall on the same date. Then, I realised ealised that tha at my music is already known n in Nigeria.

Nigeriia.

So my husband and I decided ed to further furth her our careers in Nigeria.

Tell us about your latest album? m?

The title of my latest album bum is Opemi Opemi (My Thanks). Opemi was composed d to chronicle all my experiences, s, both the good g and the bad. The album is alll about my y ups and downs. I still need to thank nk God especially for giving me a chance to settle well in Nigeria and to see this New Year.

What are your plans to be a major force in Nigeria’s music industry?

It’s all about working hard, being yourself and being focused.

You must have self discipline.

Do you have any plans to collaborate with any of your fellow artiste?

Well, for now there is no plan for any collaboration but if they need to sing with me or collaborate with me, I am always available.

What’s the highest you’ve been paid for a show?

It is a difficult question to answer. But when working for God or whenever a church invites me to sing for them, what they normally do is to appreciate you with whatever they have. But nowadays every-

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

thing has g ha h as changed.

Att change ed. A times when wh w he en n you open n the th he e envelop you u may ma m ay see £ 300, £ 2200 orr 0000 o £100. At times iitt m may ma ay be just £50 and an nd you yo y ou must not reject itt but bu utt collect co ollle lec ctt it with joy.

Tell us your most memorable performance.

My

most memorable performance was the adult harvest programme that took place in the Celestial Church of Christ Clapham West London parish in 1995.

The church was so jampacked and I was the only artist performing, it was fantastic. ....And your worst performance ever?

The worst performance ever was when I went to perform at the adult harvest event in a parish in London in the year 2013. During the performance, someone put off the monitor, I could not hear my voice when singing neither could the congregation hear me too. Later I realized that someone did it out of envy.

Are your children taking to music?

Yes, all my children love music and

they can sing my entire album. They are music lover. But taking after me, I am not so sure about that.

How are you able to combine your family life with your music career?

It is very simple, since all my kids have grown up and are now in a high school and university. It is really easy for me to go on with my music. When they were at the tender age, my performance was strictly church alone and the whole family had to come with me at the right place and the right time.

Do you have any advice for young gospel artistes?

My advice for young gospel artist is to always be patience, love music and be hardworking because there are lots of gospels artistes that have been singing the word of God for years without being noticed but the love that they have towards music motivate them to continue.

Younger gospel artists of today should wait for their time and be patience.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

23

January 24, 2015

Victoria

Kimani shines in first movie C

hocolate City’s East African beauty queen and songstress Victoria Kimani has once again underlined her status as an on screen goddess in the 21st century with her latest project called “7 Inch Curve”.

Victoria Kimani features in a lead role in this movie which features a star studded list of celebrities; Wole Ojo, Gabriel Afolayan, Yvonne Ekwere, Uche Agbai, Ivie Okujaye, Baaj Adebule alongside herself. 7 Inch Curve, written and directed by Shola Thompson tells the story about an upcoming musician whose day takes a wicked turn. The movie will air soon on all cinema platforms across Nigeria and worldwide.

Victoria Kimani is currently promoting her hit single Show which has received massive airplay across major music platforms in Nigeria as well as Africa.

Kimani

DJ Cais unveils Ayo Jay debuts new single Think about me psycho music Visuals

2

014 proved to be a stellar year for the ‘boy wonder’ Ayo Jay, which saw the fast-rising Nigerian Pop star crowned the Most Promising Act to Watch by the NEA Awards, and release the hugely anticipated visuals for his hit single “Available”, with international support from the likes of BBC 1Xtra, MTV Base and Channel O among other tastemakers.

Ayo Jay’s two marquee releases “Available” and “Your Number” garnered over half a million downloads inxxxx the year, with a burgeoning fan base across Africa, America and Europe. He also brought the year to an end with the release of the E-Kelly produced “Taking Over” to rave reviews, as well as tour performances in New York, Boston, Detroit, and a special tour stop in Dubai.

With his new single “Think About Me”, produced by Young D, Ayo Jay is picking things right up exactly where he left them, and taking things up a notch for 2015! Taking a softer touch than “Taking Over”, “Think About Me” is a smooth and captivating love song, with lush high-life sensibilities

C

xxxx

and a gloriously infectious chorus, which you won’t be able to get out of your head.

With its official music video set to be released on February 1, “Think About Me” was premiered exclusively on Top Radio and Beat FM respectively earlier today, to early acclaim and rave reviews from fans and critics alike. Stream and download “Think About Me” below, and anticipate the official music video premiering in a matter of days, as well as two brand club bangers from Ayo Jay in this first quarter!

hocolate City’s superstar “DeeJay” DJ Caise opens his account for the New Year as he releases the visuals to Psycho Music. This features fast spitting and tongue twisting rapper Uzikwendu.

Psycho Music takes a fast paced and high tempo approach in a very fun and creative manner, it urges the listener to bump and turn up. The video was shot by teenage director The Kene, it consists of a lot of engaging visuals with masked men, graphic stunts, dancers with DJ Caise and Uzi looking dapper as always.

This release follows up DJ Caise’s club banger Buckle Up and it’s sure to keep the pace going with his recent successes on the streets and on the club scene. DJ Caise has continued work on other projects which he inDJ Cais tends to unveil very soon.

24

E-NEWS

January 24, 2015

Lanre da Silva and Daniel Amokachi battle continues on #GoFashion & #GoFootball in the Latest Episode

I

t is lots of fun and excitement in the entertaining Game On reality show as contestants in both Team Fashion and Team Football battled for the chances of winning the fabulous prize.

In this week’s episode, both teams, now with four members apiece, strove again to determine who would come out top in this engaging series powered by Malta Guinness to fuel the rise of the Naija passions. The contestants were challenged to uplift their community and show that passion can also impact on one’s environment.

For Team Fashion, the task was to refurbish a boutique, design and create ready-to-wear clothes as well as organise a runway show to show case the designs.

Team Football on the other hand, was divided into pairs and challenged to costume and coach two teams of amateur footballers into more disciplined sides as well as upgrade a football facility within the community.

Team Fashion got to work together with their captain, Lanre Da Silva Ajayi, putting out eclectic designs that became the framework for magnificent dresses.

They were assisted by some tailors from the community as well as models to showcase their designs.

Daniel Amokachi led Team Football to work on giving the Razak Balogun

pitch in Surulere a makeover and organised two sides that played an enthralling match with the players energised by the goodness that only Malta Guinness brings. The match ended 1-1.

Football fans, fashion lovers and other members of the Surulere community who turned out to watch both the runway show and the football match voted for the winner – but this time, it was a tie!

“The work both teams put in was so impressive and we are glad no one had to go home at this stage. Your enthusiasm is so infectious!” said Da Silva who was happy with the work her team put in.

The show airs Sundays on AIT and Spice TV 5-6pm. NTA 4.30 -5.30pm.

Watch also repeat broadcasts on ONTV, Thursday 6.30 – 7.30 pm and on Sound City on Saturdays 7-8pm.

All eight contestants go into next week’s grand finale with the chance of winning the fabulous prizes Malta Guinness has set aside for the winner.

Omawumi excited on her marriage

A

few months ago singer Omawumi had a low key engagement at her family home in Warri, Delta State, and just a few days ago the singer tied the knot with her hobby, Tosin Yusuf.

They held a quiet registry wedding and Omawumi is still pretty excited from the euphoria of the day.

According to Omawunmi, she kept mum about her rumored pregnancy but expressed her excitement on getting married, saying, ‘It’s the joy of every woman to be married to the man she loves. I’m very happy and grateful to God.’ Since ending things with her music producer boyfriend, Dr. Frabz, a few years ago, Omawumi has done everything to keep her personal life out of the limelight.

Omawumi and Tosin Yusuf have been together for four years. The white wedding is said to hold before the end of the year.

Omawumi

CLASSICAL LYRICS

BANKY W – JAIYE ORI MI Ah... Yeah... W... Go EMEzy... [Masterkraft on the beat] That aint easy Are they mad? Ah Ah... must be mad.

Cos if I die today, nobody go die with me Olorun maje o If I go broke today, I will never hear my phone ring Olorun maje o I no send nobody, amma keep doing my thing eh And if you feeling me now then, Let me hear you sing Ma jaiye ori mi X3 Mi o meyin ola o Ma jaiye ori mi X3 O dola kile to mo Dem dey ask me, How much money you dey carry You don old now, when you go marry You sure say na you wey sing jasi, And you sabi rap abi.

See gobe, everything cool with emezy Everything cool with you and wizzy I dey work, dem dey talk, but I wont stop Cos I got, too much money lapo No be my fault, Na baba God say so No be by force, Mo ma ra moto Of course, Baba ti fimi sipo

Lanre da Silva

Skales starts the New Year with two hot singles

F

Skales

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

ollowing the release of the hit track last year (Shake body and give it to me), the certified hit maker started the New Year on a high note with the release of two hot music “Je kan mo and I am for real”. The two singles was produced

by Jay Pizzle.

“Je kan mo” is an upbeat which is so obvious that is going to be a hit in the market, while, “I am for real” is dancehall music. According to Skales “he said these two single will be a serious hit in a couple of weeks.

Both tracks are works of his debut album which will be release in March under Baseline Imprint.

Ma jaiye ori mi Esu o le mu mi, lailai Ma soriire, soriire Jen rowo e loke... lets go Cos if I die today, nobody go die with me Olorun maje o If I go broke today, I will never hear my phone ring Olorun maje o I no send nobody, amma keep doing my thing eh And if you feeling me now then, Let me hear you sing Ma jaiye ori mi X3 Mi o meyin ola o Ma jaiye ori mi X3 O dola kile to mo See the comments For your mind now you think say you get talent Shey na only you dem go give endorsement I dey flex, dem dey vex, but I no send Oh eh, enemies cant stop me no way In the club I dey pop I dey trowey Make dem yarn, make dem talk, i will never never stop Cos I got, too much money lapo No be my fault, Na baba God say so No be by force, Mo ma ra moto Of course, Baba ti fimi sipo Ma jaiye ori mi Esu o le mu mi, lailai Ma soriire, ma soriire Jen rowo e loke... lets go Cos if I die today, nobody go die with me Olorun maje o If I go broke today, I will never hear my phone ring Olorun maje o

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

E-NEWS

January 24, 2015

25

Femi Kuti strikes his chords against corrupt politicians T o look away from a woman sitting beside an open gutter, carrying one child on her back and holding two others on each hand is a painful choice that most of us make because we think there is nothing else we can do. However, in Femi Anikulapo-Kuti’s new song, Politics na big business, he wants you to know voting honestly, counts as an effort towards healing a Nigeria that has been hurt by bad leadership.

A s someone born just 2 years after Nigeria’s independence, it must b e disappointing for F e m i Kuti to look out of his window to still see an uneasy balance of hopelessness and helplessness in the eyes of beggars on the street, or even worse, the violent hunger that most of us translate as “ambition”

Femi Kuti

or “hustle.” Usually, when I hear my cousin’s loud voice saying; “Hmmm, you have to hustle in this Lagos oh!

Na beans?” the words come out with an energy that makes the Nigerian hustle sound common sensical- like I have no other choice.

I agree that it is not beans. And, yes, I do understand that the hustlers are the survivors in Nigeria. Yet, I still do not understand why this hustle has become the norm. Obviously, everybody has their own definition, but if the word “hustle,” has to be a separate word from “earn” (i.e to be duly worthy), why should the survival of a new born Nigerian baby depend on the hustle game of his mother or father? Why do I have to push someone-roughly for that matter- to attain the happiness that we have been promised for 54 years?

Instead of finger pointing the culprits of corruption, Femi Kuti uses a passionate and strong vocal outcry to appeal to the masses that seem to have given up on the Nigeria of their dreams. His new song, Politics Na Big Business, reads like those old cautionary tales I would hear from my mother as she begged me to be a good girl on my own integrity while unsubtly warning that unwanted pregnancy would be a sure consequence if I fail. Bathed in cool and sprightly instrumentals, Femi Kuti repeats “Politics na big business;” these four pidgin words sink into the mind as friendly but elderly advice as he begs Nigerians to hold on to the worth of their votes.

Luckily for us, Femi Kuti’s concern goes beyond commentary: With all honesty, he calls Nigerians to ac-

Politics na big business Remix Featuring 2Face Idibia and Sound Sultan

A

fro Beat legend, Femi Kuti, releases the remix to his lead single Politics naa Big Business, off the album “No Place for My Dreams”. this remix features new school legends 2Face Idibia and Sound Sultan.

In the midst of the election season, Femi Kuti in his accustomed fashion, passes a strong message to Nigerians with the hopes of making them aware that the welfare of the country lies in their hands and that they should make informed decisions in choosing a leader who will put the people first and in the long term eradicate corruption.

2face and Sound Sultan show solidarity and share the same message in what they have highlighted to be a landmark to both their careers.

They rebuked the trend of voters choosing their preferred candidates on the terms who gives them a brown envelop or bags of food and encouraged more informed decision making in casting their votes.

Politics naa Big Business remix is uniquely composed and sees the best of both worlds as Femi Kuti delivers an Afro Beat masterclass with 2Face and Sound Sultan surpassing expectations composing their verses. This is Femi Kuti’s first release since penning down an exclusive management deal with Chocolate City last November.

2Face Idibia

Sounn Sultan

Femi Kuti

tion; “Abeg open your eyes open your ears, when you see politicians you better beware. Most of them they don’t really care. Na the groundwork of their business dem they prepare.”

On the record, Sound Sultan also drops some sound advice for the Nigerians that are infamous for selling their votes for a bag of Garri or a box of Indomie noodles. Sultan wants you to “tell them you are finding food for your soul.” So, next time Chief A or B approaches you with a bag of parboiled rice, you can use Sound Sultan lyrics to bind and cast those political monsters.

One of the major problems with Nigeria’s corruption is that it has found a home in the everyday culture of the common Nigerian. The truth is that corruption has a boomerang effect: Most times, many of us see the act of corruption as it happens but we cannot recognize the depths of its implications. It usually feels harmless until we become victims of the same corruption, held hostage by someone deprived by the same system. Femi Kuti’s song calls us to reflect: How do we allow the leaders fail us time and time again? Are the leaders failing us or do we sell our votes to failures? Femi Kuti, Tuface and Sound Sultan have teamed up to warn Nigerians of the lucrative political business. Without a doubt, those three understand that it is the emptiness of the stomach that stretches its hand to collect the tubers of yam we are offered. But the poetic Sound Sultan uses his words of encouragement to remind us of our human dignity: “Never let your mouth get in the way of your mind,” Sultan sings.

26

E-NEWS

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Neils mourns Muna Obiekwe, fast tracks health insurance scheme T he entire Nigerian entertainment Industry Lecture Series (NEILS), initiators of the Nigerian Entertainment Industry Health Insurance Scheme and Nigerian Entertainment Industry Health Trust Fund (NEIHTF) mourn the death of talented actor, Muna Obiekwe who breathed his last on Sunday January 18th, 2015.

Family sources revealed that the actor has been suffering from kidney ailment for a while but decided to keep it very private. Things however got worse when he couldn’t afford money for his dialysis anymore. Due to his great contributions to Nollywood, the news of his death was heartbreaking and devastating for the entire Nigerian entertainment community and Africa at large.

Just yesterday, too, a rally was held

in Kaduna to solicit financial support for a Hausa actor who is in dire need of financial support for surgery. His colleagues are however doing all what they can to raise money for the surgery as his condition is very critical.

A northern actress died under similar circumstance last year, days after she left a movie set as she could not afford her own medical bills.

To curtail future occurrences, NEILS has moved to fast track the kickoff of the Nigerian Entertainment Industry Health Insurance Scheme (NEIHIS) and the inauguration of the Nigerian Entertainment Industry Health Trust Fund (NEIHTF). The inauguration of the trust fund will also avail practitioners in the entertainment industry the opportunity of knowing the registered board of trustees.

The health insurance scheme will take care of general consultation, surgeries, evacuation, physiotherapy, Eye care and surgery, advanced Radiological Investigation, accident and emergency, hospital admission and many more. The health trust fund will take care of all terminal ailments including kidney diseases right from the dialysis stages. The enrollment plans will however be made public before the end of the week.

Nigerian Entertainment Industry Health Insurance Scheme (NEIHIS) is a private health insurance scheme with customized plans specifically for the entertainment industry. It is an initiative of Nigerian Entertainment Industry Lecture Series (NEILS) in partnership with National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Muna

Yaw, Akpororo, others set to storm Cowlso Retirement Villa for #DJFaceOff

W

azobia FM OAP, YAW in conjunction with Cowlso Retirement Villa has put together a-list performers including Alibaba, Korede Bello, Akpororo and others to thrill guests at DJ FACE OFF today, January 24th 2015.

The event, which is packed with exciting line up of activities ranging from DJ competition, comedy and thrilling musical performances, will hold by 12pm at Cowlso Retirement Villa situated at Lekki Phase 2, Off Abraham Adesanya Estate, Ajah, Lagos.

Over Seven disc jockeys including Dj Bond, Dj Bella, DJ Young Money, DJ Gabi Tee, DJ Royal, DJ Indo, DJ Xray will spin tunes, turn tables and battle it out during this face off.

Akpororo

Aside the DJ Battles, there will be musical performances by Mavin Acts, Korede Bello, Reekado Banks and Di’ja. Comedy acts, which include Alibaba, Funnybone, Koffi, Akpororo, Senator, Seyi Law, Elenu, Mc Abbey are also set to crack ribs at this fun filled event.

Yaw has also put in place Free BRT buses to transport guests to the venue. Buses will be available by 11am today, January 24th 2015 at the following location Unilag Gate, Obalende, TBS and Jakande (Ajah).

Cowlso Retirement Villa, Yawnaija, Big Timi, Wazobia fm, Metro taxi, Banquet Delite and Event Secure, proudly supports this event.

Yaw

Oby

Entertainment celebrities honour Jonathan

A

group of entertainment celebrities from film, music, comedy, writing and media, under the aegis, Saving Life for Africa Foundation has announced President Goodluck Jonathan as its 2014 Personality of the Year.

This is as a result of the proactive way the government fought and conquered the deadly Ebola scourge which hit Nigeria last year.

The group responsible for the Nollywood Health Convention which is in its fourth edition stated that the President is being honoured for the prompt way his government through the Ministry of Health tackled headlong the problem of Ebola which was a huge source of worry in 2014 in the country. According to the leader of the group, Obi Madubogwu, an actor and director, SLAD after careful evaluation of the impact of such victory felt the honour should deservedly go to the President.

“In SLAD, our primary concern is to draw attention to certain health issues with our celebrity status. During the 2014 edition of the Nollywood Health

Convention, the issue of Ebola Virus came up and we arrived at the conclusion that it was one of the greatest health issues in sub-Saharan Africa.

While there are a lot of other issues confronting the nation, SLAD thinks the issue of Ebola would have wiped Nigerians had there been no instant confrontation. While it is a thing of joy that we were able to conquer this scourge, we also deem it fit to recognise those who played very pivotal roles in making us overcome this. The President comes tops because the team he leads was proactive. At least we need to be alive to begin to enjoy the dividends of democracy. So we are honouring the President for making sure that Ebola did not wipe off Nigerian citizens” One of the partners of SLAD, Uju Ohanenye (Kenuj Shower of Love Foundation) praised the selfless efforts of SLAD. “I got interested in their activities because of the selfless nature of their campaigns. For us at Kenuj, there is nothing heartwarming than seeing these celebrities using their status in the service of humanity.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Chic and innocent from

I

27

January 24, 2015

f you are young and dare to look feminine in every letter of the word, then you must be ready to combine elegance with creativity.

This, according to Designer Pricilia Suchi Best, will give you a chic but innocent look.

Suchille, a fast growing female fashion brand in Nigeria has a different definition of glamour look. With designs inspired by the environment, African prints and the ever changing face of fashion, her pieces are made simple yet chic and innocent.

They are colourful but daring enough to redefine the female body.

StyGlelam and

an isi Adenirra with Yem

com n@yahoo.

1158) ydira (0803780

28

STYLE & GLAM

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Fashion frenzy

Fashion frenzy

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

STYLE & GLAM

January 24, 2015

F

29

resh, wholesome, effort effortless and wearable with tr tribal influences are some of the words you could use to desc describe what a fashionable girl‛s daily pie pieces should be. These pieces defini nitely will not be complete unless tthey daring. can be said to be bold and dar You ask me why? The respons response is simple. Whatever your age is, status and size, you will be said to be fashionable if you can appear in pieces that are a able to show some skin in very daring da places. And to complement this are accessories that features featu handbags in various crea creative modes such as the frilly type t and, of course, the moonmo shaped otherwise type otherw described as a hold-all bag. b A complete adoption of this style in various ways w will allow such women live life to the fullest. They T can be worn from business busin meetings to cocktails, allow a the girls to catch up on all the latest gossip, let tthem take the kids to the p park or even for that romantic roma heartthro walk with their heartthrobs.

You can include even your y own convenient choice like a bohemian style or a st screamingly daring stuff if you are the pre pretty s or adventurous style addict. Just check the models here up.

30

STYLE & GLAM

Fashion Guest

January 24, 2015

Interior Glamour

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

08038406671 , 07067730374 luxuryease@live.com

with Bukola Lepe

‘ I love escapades’

Divine Okunnuga is the brain behind Culture Gate Fashions.

She spoke with YEMISI ADENIRAN on her attraction to the business and her perception of Nigerian women where style is concerned. Excerpts:

W

hat attracted you to fashion?

The attraction is simply for the passion I have for colours.

I love beautiful but colourful outfits. I love it on people and I had always nursed the dream of making such outfits for people. I take pride in dressing people up in colourful ways, it excites me when I see people come out in beautiful outfits made by me and it really has a way of making me more creative on the job. I love escapades.

But there are many people in this business. How have you been able to make a way out?

If a business is worth the efforts, if it is making a good impression on people, definitely many more will join and that is exactly what is happening to the fashion industry. Nigerian women, even men are very fashionable. They love to appear in beautiful outfits and you cannot just get enough of them once you are good. The way I design my clothes has been standing me out and giving me an edge over others.

It has warmed me into the hearts of many

such that I have more customers than I ever envisaged when I was taking off.

I don’t just sew clothes, I design and create them. My outfits are not just the type you see anywhere. They are specially designed to stand you out everywhere you go.

What’s your perception of the fashion industry in Nigeria?

The Nigerian fashion industry has really grown and is still growing. It will continue to take the lead globally for as long as Nigerians remain fashionable and the designers creative. Designers keep coming up with designs that amaze even the international stage.

Of a fact, it is that we’ve got talents in Nigeria. I am always proud and excited about this.

What would you have been doing if not fashion?

I don’t think I would have chosen something else apart from fashion. It would have been nothing because the passion I have for it is stronger than any other thing.

So you think your home looks modern?

Think again!

A

modern home comes with very vital , significant features some interior designers do not even think about. Certain features like functionality, comfort over any other thing, space management and minimalism can’t be taken away from modernism.

If you are to consult with an interior designer for a modernized theme, here are features to expect :

Clean, clear, straight lines: these are to be expected with upholstery detailing.

Traditional furniture tends to create invisible upholstery lines by using threading same as fabric colour.

Oversized tiles: Oversized tiles are used for flooring options in modern designs in place of small tiles or mosaic .

Less solid wood: Medium density fibre boards (MDF) seem to have taken over solid wood. They are cheaper to produce , easy to couple and in most cases lighter in weight.

Space management: Small spaces are maximized and large spaces are put together to create more ‘leg room’. Modern homes are expected to be spacious and put together. Also less furniture is used . Modern spaces might used small sized sofa arrangements with other func-

tional furniture as recliners, footstools and nest of stools ( stackable) in place of scatter stools which might take up space.

Lighting: Lighting is one of the most essential features of a modern home. Modernism encourages use of adequate lighting which are professionally positioned according to space functionality. E.g floor lamps for living areas, retractable lighting for dining area, bed side lamps for the bedroom and reading lamps for home offices.

In which cases can be dimmed according to preference.

Embedded cabinetry Cabinets in modern homes are embedded in walls as opposed to protruding in other designs. Bookshelves, wardrobes, closets and in some cases , kitchen cabinets .

Bold accent colours: A modern home is expected to have at least one bold accent colour. There must also be a focal wall.

Accent pieces : Most accents pieces may not match but definitely work with the space. These include pieces like clocks, wall arts, rugs as well as vases.

So do you still think your home is modern? You definitely need to think again!

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

31

January 24, 2015

Male Essentials 9 tips for dressing ing ng man sharp as a young 08036961187

with Oseyiza Oogbodo kingseiza@gmail.com w

•

Models get paid to make goofy clothes seem reasonable. Don’t fall for it!

Tip 1: Classic footwear is just as important as classic clothing Appropriate-fitting footwear is the first step to dressing sharp. A traditional school of thought that’s still alive and well claims you can judge a man by his shoes. If you’ve never owned really good shoes before, brace yourself and get ready to pay a significant amount of money for wellmade, classic footwear. You may be shocked at the sticker price for well-crafted shoes, but the quality and comfort pay dividends down the road.

A good pair of dress shoes will last you years and stay goodlooking with nothing more than some light cleaning and the occasional shine. Quality leather footwear isn’t a luxury for the excessively rich — it’s a necessity for any man.

Tip 2: The way you dress is the way you are perceived.

If you’re still wearing clothes that scream “student days” you’re going to be treated like a boy with no experience in the real world. Ditch the schoolboy trend, age your look a little, and get the respect you deserve from older men.That means raiding your wardrobe and getting rid of the majority of your ultra-casual clothes: T-shirts, cargo pants, jeans shorts, sweatshirts and sweatpants, baseball hats, and athletics. Replace them with dressier clothes that speak to your maturity.

Tip 3: Main-stream fashion trends change too fast to make useful wardrobe staples.

Most young men don’t have the budget to buy new trousers every month or two — so stay away from trouser styles that are only presentable during an “in” season. Distressed or bleached jeans are a great example. Several different designer labels briefly managed to sell the image on the public, and then the fad changed and left a lot of people with very

maint e nance.

expensive jeans too beat-up to wear in public. Stick to classic clothing staples for the core of your wardrobe and avoid anything that’s too far out on the cutting edge — even if you see something that makes it look good.

Tip 4: Take care of your clothing.

Generally speaking, being young means having less money to throw around. If you’ve

shelled out for a few pieces of good, quality clothing — a custom suit, a pair of expensive dress shoes, what have you — it’s worth some more cash to keep the clothes in good shape.

That means using good hangers for your suits, shoe trees for your shoes, and a little tender loving care when washing your clothes. You could even try drycleaning. Just take care of your clothes and protect your wardrobe investments with proper

Tip 5: Have at least one good suit in the closet No matter what your job is, you’re going to need a decent suit at some point. If you’re in a field where you’re going to wear one regularly you should look for a variety of colors and styles. If you just need a single suit for infrequent dress occasions, stick with a classic single-breasted, two-button suit in charcoal gray or navy blue.

Tip 6: Build from white and blue shirts White and light blue cotton dress shirts are the backbone of a sharp wardrobe. Much of this lies in the fact both of these colours make up approximately 90% of the dress shirts sold worldwide and that either colour looks good on most complexions and body types. Patterns can liven up the basic white and blue color palette, and there’s nothing wrong with branching out into some other colors as your personal style evolves. Just have a good core of white and blue dress shirts. As long as you have one clean and hanging up in the closet, you’ll never be completely out of decent-looking things to wear.

Tip 7: Own dark fitted jeans and know when to wear them Jean styles are always chang-

ing: rips, tears, acid and bleach washing, distressed, stone washed, boot cut, wide leg, low rise, skinny, baggy, etc. Keep things simple by sticking to fitted jeans in a dark color, without fading or rips. You can wear them with a fitted T-shirt for a relaxed, casual look or dress them up with a buttoned shirt and a sport coat for a business-casual style.

Tip 8: Look beyond denim Well cut and classically styled trousers will make you look a little sharper at social occasions than jeans. They’re less common in a young crowd, so you’ll already be standing out. A good pair of slacks has a drape and crease that looks much crisper than denim. You can also get wool or cotton trousers much lighter than blue jeans.

Tip 9: Replace T-shirts with Polos and Sport Shirts Wearing T-shirts to the gym or when you are performing house chores is fine. But wearing T-shirts to social events or to work is a no-no, especially when the shirt is too big and made from a shoddy fabric advertising the company who gave it to you. A good polo in a simple, dark color is always presentable and always flattering if it’s fitted well. You can also opt for buttoned short-sleeved shirts. If you do wear a T-shirt, make sure it’s new, clean, close-fitted and in a solid, dark colour.

32

January 24, 2015

Relationships

Angle

Male

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

JIDE ANIMASHAUN 08034710902 JIDEMASHAUN@YAHOO.COM

Should your partner be in Tread softly

G

etting involved in other people’s problems even if it’s a financial business is definitely none of your business notwithstanding the fact that the other person is your partner is what I get daily when I tell people that I want my partner to be actively involved with what I do. It even gets worse when we are discussing with mutual family friends on my interest to know what my partner is involved in. People tell me that it’s only a man who doesn’t have something important to do that gets involved in their partner’s businesses. They go further to say that a woman shouldn’t know how much you earn or what you are making because your position as the head of the family will be jeopardised and you may even lose the respect your partner has for you.

It is an African thing basically to think that your close relationship notwithstanding, a business is a nogo area to mix business with pleasure especially if you’ve not been trained in that part of the business or it is your wife or girlfriend who wants to become involved in that business. Most men in this part of the world believe people, especially women, will always abuse the privilege of friendship or the closeness you both share when they go the route that should not be travelled by showing their partner what obtains in their business or to get this partner directly or indirectly involved in the business. They therefore will tell you emphatically if you ever ask them that business and relationships hardly ever work together.

They say that there’s just something about mixing the concepts of relationships and business that just does not jell anyhow we want to look at it. It is this concept that makes a lot of partners get left in the deep end of the ocean without a canoe and paddle when their partner dies without knowing what to do about the business they left behind.

Life is a funny thing though.

While we may say that our partner shouldn’t be involved with our business for those who believe in the scenario of the African male stereotype, I can categorically tell you that our partners know what’s generally

going on in our business. Unknowingly, we typically present our plans in a ‘in case you were wondering way’ and an astute partner will definitely get the true full picture of what is going on especially when we are very happy with the way the business is booming or sad when things don’t work the way we want. I know lots of entrepreneurs who have partners who are their de facto business partners. They rely on their partners to bounce ideas off and generally be another voice of reason. I have found out though, that having a business partner means that very often your whole life is a lot more involved in the business more than you think, which will in turn not give room for the romance part of the relationship to grow. The plus side is that we’ve got each other to help think things through though, apart from also having someone to discuss and debate with and to help work through problems and plans. If we get stumped, we also have a smart partner who will be enormously helpful in other areas of the business.

But every now and then, while being eager to involve our partner in all aspects of the business, we must remember that we may be living with a smart business person who really knows us insideout and even as we may be just crazy not to take advantage of their considerable brain power, we need to be careful because we also have to think far ahead to a situation where divorce may rear its ugly head. A divorce is stressful for most people, but can be even more so when one spouse owns a business and has brought in the other spouse to help make the business grow. Since all assets, including a business, can be up for grabs during a divorce, you should take steps to safeguard your business. You can start safeguarding your business even before you get married and continue to protect it throughout your divorce proceedings. It is with all these in mind that I’ll have to advice that you should tread softly when thinking of involving your partner in your business.

SEX TALK

This column is x-rated

10 crucial tips for first date kissing

T

he biggest worry for any guy who wants to kiss a girl is the dreaded moment when you pucker up and move forward, and she backs away! It just makes everything so much more awkward. And if she backs away from a kiss, things could just go from awkward to no contact! So if you do like a girl and desperately want to kiss her, don’t make the crucial mistake of getting the timing wrong.

The big mistake: Rushing into a first kiss There’s no feeling that’s worse than lunging for a kiss, only to watch your date make an awkward expression and back her body away from you. Her embarrassed smile or laugh will only make things so much more awkward!

If she likes you already, chances are, she may not oppose your kiss. But if it’s just a first date, and you lunge for a kiss, there’s every possibility that she may back away even if she thinks you’re a nice guy and had contemplated kissing you at some point during the date.

10 crucial tips for first date kissing Alone time. The most important thing you need to ensure is privacy. Kissing a girl for the first time is awkward for the first few seconds, until it starts to get perfect. But for that transition to be smooth, you need to avoid any kind of distractions.

Try to get some alone time with the girl, be it in your room, in your car after the date, or in a

quiet corner as you walk her home. It’s very important that you find the right place with a lot of privacy, or you may end up ruining all chances of kissing her.

Don’t talk about the kiss. If you know the girl already, chances are, you’ve spoken with her about the first kiss at some point of time, either while text flirting with her or over the phone.

But when you’re in the moment, in a quiet place where there’s no one else but the two of you, don’t talk about it. Don’t mention anything about wanting to kiss her. She knows both of you have discussed it and so do you. Don’t make the situation awkward by arm twisting her into a kiss because both of you have talked about it!

Take your time. There’s nothing like the perfect time to kiss a girl, especially when you’re the one who’s in control of the situation. Relax, sit down with her and just talk about something.

Help her feel at ease, because the more comfortable she is, the more the chances of her enjoying that first kiss with you. Just flirt with her, and talk about something both of you did that day.

Don’t ask her if you can kiss her. It’s true, girls love a knight in shining armor and she’ll love a guy who’s chivalrous. But asking her if it’s okay to kiss her isn’t a sign of chivalry, it’s a sign of awkwardness.

Don’t ask a girl if you can kiss her because her answer will almost never be in your favour.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

RELATIONSHIPS

January 24, 2015

Female

33

Angle

JACQUI IWU 08165049669 email: amiicaregroup@aol.com

nvolved in your business?

More negatives than positives

M

This column is x-rated If she’s really into you, she may accept to kiss you, even if she feels surprised by your ‘bold question.’ But in any other case, you’re setting yourself for a fall.

There’s one thing you can do though, you can kiss the girl gently on her lips, bring your face back a few inches, look into her eyes and ask her if you can kiss her. By doing that, you’re teasing her sexually, and she would definitely say “yes”, and it’ll actually make the first kiss a lot more intimate!

Get closer. The best way to warm her up for the first kiss is by cozying up with her.

If you’re sitting down, seat your butt closer to her so your arm can easily graze against hers. And if you’re standing, move into her personal space and just stand a few inches away from her body.

The second you get into a girl’s personal space, it’ll make her feel awkward. But don’t let her awkwardness scare you away. Talk to her and flirt with her, and don’t make it obvious that you’re coming closer to her. Instead, just pretend like you came in closer involuntarily, and didn’t even realize it.

Warm up the sexual tension. Touch her often. Use your finger and run it along her arm. Compliment her as you touch her, be it about her hair, her fragrance or her soft skin.

If she smiles or blushes when you touch her, it’s a sign she likes what you’re doing.

Speak softly in a low tone and avoid any sudden movements. Whisper in her ears, and run your fingers against hers playfully.

Make your intentions clear. Move in close until your face is just inches away from her face. You don’t need to stop talking though, just say something, but as you say it, look at her lips, and then back again at her

This column is x-rated eyes. She’ll know exactly what you’re looking at, and her mind would be racing just as fast as yours is!

Wet your own lips discreetly as you stare at her, but not in a murderous, oily, obscene or maniac kind of way. Licking your lips subconsciously sends the message across to the girl that you intend to come in for a kiss very soon, and moist lips are so much better to kiss.

The perfect time to kiss. If you use these steps on how to kiss a girl for the first time, you don’t really need to worry about the perfect time to kiss her because you’re the one in complete control of things.

But just to create the right cue, move in closer for the kiss when there’s been a bit of silence for a few seconds. Stop talking and don’t say anything. Just look into her eyes, and run your fingers along her arm. If she just looks back at you without saying anything, that’s the perfect moment you’ve been waiting for!

Take it easy. So yeah, you’ve just kissed the girl. But don’t get carried away and ruin the moment. When you kiss a girl for the first time, you need to be very gentle and delicate.

Place your lips on hers and kiss her lips softly.

Don’t try to use your tongue too early into the kiss. Instead, just relax, and try to enjoy the way her lips feel against yours. You have all the time to try new things later. But for now, just focus on kissing her gently, and don’t get pushy.

Don’t be overenthusiastic. When you kiss the girl for the first time, don’t let your hands wander too soon into the kiss, or she’s just stiffen up or push your hands away and that’s a terrible mood kill!

ore often we see situations where a very wealthy man/ woman shields away certain details or business transactions from his/her spouse and we ask why? You will also notice that such attitude happens mostly with partners who are successful and very wealthy in their spheres of business. If this is the case, it means, there are sensitive reasons why a spouse tells his/her spouse certain things about his/her business and decides to keep some details secret and when such secrecy is involved, it now means, such spouse does not want the other party to be fully involved in his/her business.

I tend to be on both sides of this topic because, i have seen where couples who feel they want to be nice, open and honest to their spouse spill every details of their job and get their spouse involved in the running affairs of their business but such good gesture backfires and creates sorrow for both of them. The spouse betrays the other for the trust invested on him/her so, if you think deeper at this angle, i would say- get your spouse involve but not deeply involved. Your spouse could be aware of what kind of business you do, the staff strenght and their documentation incase something tragic happens and you are not there, your legal documentations with your lawyer(s). Someone might ask what else remains if i let my spouse into all these i pointed out. A lot still remains.

These information would be related to your spouse without him/her having full control like you while you are alive. Again if you have probably, two lawyers handling your legal matters, get reveal only one and that one must not be the one who wrote your ‘will’.

If you have four solid bank accounts, tell her/him about two only. Hey hold it foks...do not eat me up yet...believe me relationships/marriages of today can not boast truthfully of the word’’trust’’ so if you really want to avoid being messed up by those whom you truly love and who claim to love you, you must keep certain things to your self.

This is not a breach of contract or sin but one just being careful about life.

This also does not mean you hate your spouse. Again, i personally do not beat about the bush when i am evaluating life issues but the more realistic we are in our life activities, the better for us and people around us. Somethings may

or may not favor you at a particular time or period but you must have to deal with it and make the best out of it.

On the contrary, if you chose to get your other half fully involved in your daily business, let us say- making your spouse your second in command.... be ready to also face the consequences that comes with it. Your spouse might not have the mind to do some backyard business with your business background and name but some people who have great influence on him/her knowing that she/he can pull some powerful strings to run some hefty affairs could force her/him to fall by the rules and ruin your business. Family members/relatives for instance can be very influential when it comes to such matters and by the time you discover what is happening, you are ruined totally. The only thing your spouse will do is to cry and apologize for his/her mistake but the milk is spilled already and you might have to start all over again to rebuild your business(if you have the courage/resources to do so).

Honestly, to be on a very safe side here is not to take any chances at all since the negative effects will always be more devastating than the positive. A lot of things have changed in our present generation and people should not be sloppy when it comes to heart and brain issues. The brain should always be incharge because the heart seems too weak to take courageous decisions like the brain.

There is absolutely nothing wrong in informing your spouse certain things about your business and keeping certain things hidden. This is not going to hurt him/her because the little he/she knows the less trouble and suspense. While doing this, also ensure that the areas you kept secret will still favor her/him when you are not there(unless your relationship is enstranged) and you want certain things not given to her/him. Being secretive could just be a measure to avoid some misunderstanding knowing the kind of spouse you have. Would it have been best, getting him/her involved and always facing conflicts and difficulties running your business?

People keep saying, keeping secrets especially in marriages is not fair. Can you handle and live with the secret comfortably when told?

34

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Woman ‘Women should make their interests top priority ’ Lynda Oge Ogechi e Duru is the Chief Executive Officer of Delicate Touch Events. She is particularly ly uncomfortable with the careless way most women handle their looks and h ealth. ““II a health. am not pleased with the way most Nigerian women handle themselves.

Women sh h should make their health and looks topmost priority. If we don’t, we are doing no one a ffa favour,” she told YEMISI ADENIRAN in this interview.

You look beautifu beautiful ul and attracbusy schedtive despite your b ule. What is the secret? se s God is the secret. secrr Like you have rightfully mentioned, I m am a very busy y person and by the nature naturre of o the event management mana ma nage g me ment nt jjob ob b that I do, I rarely have time e for myself beauty or any of those daily d routine that most women m The reason engage in.

T event is, as an even n manager, you have to be almost everywhere once on nc you have assignment an assignmen nt on your you are hands. Even when wh w sourcing for one, on n you want to be almost everywhere. e You to You have ha o supervise everything you need to get food d ready on time. You also have to a make the environment en e appealing ap ppe peal alin ing g and very classy such h that people will be impressed and you are sure of being called back by ca a this same person sa a and d any an n of his or her guests.

So, gu g the job jo is very demanding.

It is deman n time-consuming, time- c energy-sapping enerrg and tacticsand i nvo l ve d .

All the same, the fact that fa a one e is not in a position to p dress dresss gay-gay on most of the occasions is o not enough reason to appear tattered app

or ugly because looking good and smart is very important in this business. I try my little best to appear neat and smart even when the cooking is being done. However, God has been my backbone in all of these and so, He remains the secret of my good appearance.

In addition to this, I am someone who pays attention to anything that involves my body. I also eat good food and avoid junks. If you eat good food, it will definitely enhance your beauty. I adhere to my fashion tips and do what I am supposed to do at the right time.

What’s your view about Nigerian women and their attitude to fashion?

My rating of women in this wise, surprisingly is poor. No doubt, we are trying our best to look good, but I tell you, from my own findings, we are not doing enough. Just as the culture and tradition of the country is not fair to us, we are also unfair to ourselves.

How do you mean?

This is what I grew up to know. My mother and other women that I have come across tend to like or prefer other members of their families to themselves.

We look down on ourselves, cater least for ourselves and go the extra mile to please others at the detriment of ourselves. We bring our interest last. We eat last, sleep last and simply disregard our feelings by ourselves. Unfortunately, the people we are doing all of these to often don’t treat us better; they just take us for granted and treat us like irrelevant pieces.

What do you think should be done t improve on this?

I am really not pleased with the way most Nigerian women handle themselves.

Women should make their health and looks topmost priority. If we don’t do, we are doing no one any favour. Women should begin to appreciate themselves the more. I am not preaching selfishness but

we should try and elevate ourselves. We should handle our health well. Women who die untimely are quickly replaced by the men they would lay down their lives for. Some children that were abandoned by their fathers from pregnancies still grew to camp with their fathers when they came of age. In fact, members of families of men who decamped with other women would come and beg the same wife he abandoned to take him back when he suffered stroke or some ill health at old age. Their reason would be for the sake of the kids. So, women should make their interests top priorities because they are always at the receiving end of the game of marriage.

How profitable is the business of event management?

To be very honest, it is profitable if you calculate well and pay enough attention to your logistics. The business is a lucrative one; you have to be smart and up-to-date.

It involves a lot of extra work to get the desired result. I would advice anybody smart to get involved in the business. I derive maximum comfort and pleasure in making things happen for good. I feel that in my own way, I am contributing to the happiness business.

It is generally believed that the love of money by women is the main reason why marriages are collapsing frequently these days.

What’s your opinion?

That belief may be right in some instances and it may not be so in some.

The love of money, we all know, and as the Bible puts it, is the root of all evil.

This is not to say that it is a sin or a bad thing to have money. Without money I don’t think we can get things done anywhere. It becomes a sin when one becomes obsessed with the love of money.

Relating this to the problem of broken homes that is very rampant today, I would

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

say that it is major. In the first instance, men these days don’t go after women who cannot fend for themselves or who cannot assist them financially. This, in a way, has made most ladies also to be economically dependent such that they have no fear of having to stand on their own if the man decides to take his leave.

It has become very important today that women work also to be a financier in the home like their male counterparts.

Meanwhile, this has exposed women, to a large extent, to a lot of things and experiences that make them to operate very independently from their men. So, the love of money is not just a problem of women alone, it is also that of men.

Most men love to be married to women who are strong financially and equally influential. Unfortunately, it is these set of men that suffer inferiority complex when they go out with their wives. Money will break any marriage when basic things that need to be provided are not available. If a woman is left to shoulder the bulk of the financial responsibilities at home and for no justified reason, she may get tired at a point and opt out of such marriage. If a man also finds out

WE

BRING OUR

WE

EAT LAST ,

35

January 24, 2015

INTERESTS LAST .

SLEEP LAST AND SIMPLY DISREGARD OUR FEELINGS .

UNFORTUNATELY , THE PEOPLE WE ARE DOING ALL OF THESE FOR OFTEN DON ’ T

TREAT US BETTER ; THEY JUST TAKE US FOR GRANTED AND TREAT US LIKE IRRELEVANT PIECES that his wife believes in her career than the home and her husband, he may also decide to call it quit with his wife. So, it is neither here nor there.

Who then do you blame?

I blame the society for the incidences of collapsed marriages.

Why? It is the society that that has gotten rotten to the extent that men no longer see themselves as the main and only the breadwinner of their homes. But they want to lord themselves over their wives. The society is not frowning at the fact that women now go the extra mile to compliment their men’s effort. Some have even hijacked the role of their husbands financially from them. And that is why you see many women today saying they are widows even when their husbands are still living.

Should the society stop women from working?

I am not saying that. What I am saying

is that the society needs to go back to the practice of yesteryears where men are constantly told right from cradle that they should be the major provider in the home. If a woman works and earns money, hers is supposed to be an addition and nothing else. Well, this used to be in the past and I think if we are able to do something about this, the issue of broken homes might just be a thing of the past. And this can start from the home, the family which is the first society we all have contact with. Parents should drum this into the ears of their male children and stop telling them not to marry liabilities or encourage them to marry some girls from some rich homes. No one wants to be ridiculed, that is why women are also doing extras to be relevant in the society. If our men will begin to grow up with this consciousness, I believe the world will get better and will cease from having many lazy men around.

Let’s forget about civilisation and all of that; government at all levels need to be more up and doing. It should be a shame that our government don’t come home with anything good to copy and establish in Nigeria with all their trips round the globe. They just go there, have fun and probably save money for their children to come. Government should be in charge of the citizens as we have in other countries. Apart from this, it will also interest you to know that most men despite their exposure, education and positions in the society beat their wives. Some people think this was only common in those days, but no! It is not.

Men, these days beat their wives. What do you expect such a woman in that circumstance to do? She should leave the man, of course, otherwise, he will kill her and nothing will happen. At least, nothing will be able to bring her back.

In short, there are lots of reasons why homes are breaking these days.

What do you advise young women in marriage and those about to be married?

For those already married, my advice is that they should be prayerful, hard-working and be very sensitive.

Sensitive in the sense that they will be able to know when to stop nagging and when to run if the situation is getting out of hand. They should be submissive to their husband because it is only a mad man that will beat a wife that is submissive. For the unmarried, I will advise that they marry someone they love and that loves them genuinely.

They shouldn’t rush into marriage just because their friends are doing so. They should be convinced that they are set for the marriage, otherwise, they will not be able to endure all that it takes to remain married.

Do you support early marriage?

I don’t at all because it is nothing but a nightmare. It is good to allow oneself to be mature and be sure of what one wants rather than just settling for marriage at an unripe age.

How do you relax?

I love to sleep. I also eat well and watch good movies when I have the time.

Where do you see yourself in the next five years?

I see myself doing wonders in my field. I want to extend this gift beyond the shores of Nigeria.

Keeping ABREAST

Women ought to swim regularly —Study

A

lthough most women are scared of swimming, a report has shown that some health experts have discovered that swimming is one exercise that women need to embrace regardless of their ages and status. Below are some of their reasons.

It combats stress With hectic work and family schedules, women need more ways to unwind and relax. Swimming is low-impact aerobic activitiy that builds long, lean muscles and helps women maintain a healthy weight. According to a study, swimming may also help you cope with life’s stresses by increasing feelings of self-worth and accomplishment, taking your mind off worries and offering a means for more social interaction. Swimming can likewise combat the development of, and decrease symptoms related to, depression.

It increases flexibility Swimming engages most of the major muscle groups including legs, arms, back, shoulders and abdominal muscles while helping increase flexibility. Flexibility can help prevent injury. Swimming also increases flexibility, which helps prevent injury and builds cardiovascular health, which helps combat cardiovascular disease.

As part of a regular routine, women can successfully tone trouble areas such as the backs of the arms and the belly.

Maintains healthy weight The researchers recommend 150 minutes of weekly, light to moderate aerobic activity such as swimming to help maintain a healthy weight. Freestyle swimming at a light to moderate pace can burn 472 calories hourly for a 130-pound woman and 563 calories for a 155-pound woman, says the study.

Freestyle is the most common style and offers the most efficient stroke.

More advanced swimmers exercising at a vigorous pace can burn 590 calories hourly for a 130-pound woman and 704 calories for a 155-pound woman.

Promotes healthy blood circulation With water pushing on all sides of your body, the effect you get out of the exchange may improve circulation said to boost metabolism. In addition to promoting healthy blood circulation, water pressure forces abdominal breathing on your body that may mean a slimmer waist, just what you need to get rid of pot belly fat.

It combats depression Women are twice more likely than men to suffer from depression and associated symptoms such as anxiety and loss of sleep. Swimming releases endorphins and neurotransmitters, which make you feel good and help ward off depression. Exercise may also reduce immune system chemicals and help increase body temperature, which may have a calming effect.

Swimming is an appropriate exercise as it is easy to adapt it to your fitness level and preference. Swimming also provides a quiet environment with few distractions, which allows you to focus your attention.

It is a form of meditation Swimming can be a form of meditation, affording opportunities for contemplation that could leave you feeling more tranquil and at peace. All you have to do while swimming is to allow your mind to relax. Swim at a consistent, slow pace and focus on your breathing and swimming rhythm.

Culled from www.MayoClinic.com

Parenting

36

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression

How to detect a gifted baby

U

nless you have someone who is a professional look at your child’s ability, you may not be able to tell easily if your baby is gifted. At a very young age, there isn’t a way to look for traits that can tell you that your child is of exceptionally high intelligence. There are a few signs that appear more often in highly intelligent children and you can start by looking for these.

These signs that appear are possibly due to the actual physical makeup in the brain. Children who are gifted usually get this from both genetics and their environment. These two things have a profound impact on the development of the brain. When a baby has highly developed cognition, it is actually their own brains capability to utilise and retain information quicker than other children in the same age group. Here are some common signs that your baby may be gifted: Early milestones Babies who are gifted tend to meet certain milestones earlier than other babies. They will crawl, walk and even speak at younger ages than other babies.

Highly developed language skills Babies that are gifted tend to be very interested in what you are saying very early on. When reading to a gifted child they will comprehend and show interest in the book even as early as 6 months.

They will also speak in sentences

by at least 14 months and can follow spoken directions by at least 18 months.

Remembers well If your baby is gifted, he or she may have a remarkable memory form early on. They may remember where a hidden toy is or understand that the kitchen is for eating. You will notice they remember times and places better than other children.

Solves problems Babies that are gifted seem to solve problems that only older children should be able to understand. One example is babies that learn to escape their cribs or baby gates by stacking objects.

Artistic or good with numbers If your child seems to draw really well or can add numbers or subtract, there is high probability they are gifted.

Increased activity levels A child who is gifted may have high activity levels with a longer attention span. Children that suffer from hyperactivity as a condition, tend to have shorter attention spans. Gifted children seem to go and go on the same task until it is completed.

seeing your child acknowledge someone else’s refrigerator and ask for a drink.

Good perception Your baby may seem overly sensitive to changes in his or her environment. This may be a clue to advanced perception. If you cut your hair, take off your eyeglasses does your baby seem to notice? Or do they want to cuddle you when you are crying or wipe your tears? These are signs of very advanced perception in babies and should be noted.

Overly inquisitive or curious It is quite normal for all babies to be very curious during infant and toddler stages. Children and babies that have an extreme-

ly keen sense of curiosity may be gifted. Normal kids are curious about “kid” type things including their toys, books and objects that look fun. When a child is gifted they go a little further. They may instead take a toy apart to see what is inside or other things around the house. This can pose a significant safety hazard so make sure you keep small object out of reach or things that contain small objects like tiny watch batteries.

Prefers playing alone Children who are gifted seem very content playing by themselves rather than in groups of other kids. You may find your child sitting alone reading a book or just quietly playing with a toy alone.

Able to focus for long periods of time Most babies and toddlers lose interest in things pretty quickly.

You may begin to read a story and have your baby move to another task before you even finish, or if your baby is gifted they may sit and listen to the entire story. The same holds true with play.

They have certain behavioural and emotional signs Children who are above average tend to have more complex and intense emotions. They can tell how others are feeling and are more empathetic. Children on average are less sensitive to others emotions at a young age, so having empathy is a sign your child may understand more than the average child.

Baby seems very alert These babies connect with people and their surroundings very early on. Even gifted infants will turn their head when someone speaks and actually look into someone’ eyes as if they understand what is being said.

Imagination is overly vivid If your child is gifted, they may have an overly advanced imagination during play making up imaginary friends and situations that are very complex.

NAME: Baliks Adeola

Ability to connect situations Look for the ability for your child to make connections and situations and use them outside your home. One example of this is

Have you just had a baby? Send a picture of your bundle of joy to mirrorbabies@gmail.com

Advanced language skills Gifted children will use higher than average language skills. You may notice your toddler using

ParentingUpdate

T

big words and long sentences with older people, but change their language to a more simple tone when talking to other children.

emper tantrums, stealing and throwing toys around are forms of disruptive behaviour that many young children exhibit when growing up. However, if this behaviour is “highintensity,” it could indicate a psychiatric problem that predicts future antisocial behaviour.

While most children lose their temper from time to time, children with conduct disorder frequently display high-intensity antisocial behaviour.

The conclusion comes from a new study, published in The Journal of Pediatrics, in which researchers assessed the behavior of children at both preschool age and then school age.

Tiny Feet

BORN TO: Mr and Mrs Adeola AGE: 3months BIRTH WEIGHT: 3.5kg

A child’s disruptive behaviour may indicate psychiatric problem –Study

Conduct disorder refers to a range of behavioral and emotional problems that are experienced by children and adolescents.

The condition leads to youngsters having difficulty following rules or behaving in a manner deemed socially acceptable.

“Children who had high-intensity symptoms as preschoolers were likely to have conduct disorder,” said the lead author. “And those symptoms also tended to predict conduct disorder when they reached school age.”

For children exhibiting such symptoms, the researchers recommend that a mental health professional should be seen, in order for any potential disorders to be diagnosed and treated.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

LIVING

January 24, 2015

37

Who will rid the streets of child hawkers?

Street hawkers

Who will rid Nigerian streets of child hawkers? Government officials who are burdened with the task of ensuring that Lagos streets are rid of child hawkers often wonder why each time they think they have achieved some measure of success, these minors return to the streets in greater numbers, trading their futures away, reports GBOYEGA ADEOYE

M

oji, 15, is the eldest of the six children of Mr. and Mrs. Adeyanju who reside in Ipaja, a Lagos suburb. Both parents lost their jobs to the hurried liquidation of Nigeria’s flag carrier, Nigeria Airways, which finally kissed the dust at the twilight of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. It was a fierce battle between government and the resilient workers. But the battle was eventually won by government.

The family was living happily at the G.R.A. end of Ikeja until tragedy struck one chilly morning when some miscreants, supported by a handful of armed men, stormed their residence with a bulldozer and leveled their abode. The Adeyanjus happened to be among the few lucky ones to be allocated a flat in a GRA property of the moribund airline in its hey days.

But when this tragedy struck, life was no longer the same for this family who at a time had tasted the juicy side of life. All they managed to do after their ordeal was to gather all they had, including selling off some of their valuables, to secure a room and parlour apartment in Ipaja, a Lagos suburb, where they live to this moment.

It was not too unbearable at the start.

When their G.R.A. abode was mowed

down, Mrs. Adeyanju was running a fast growing canteen at the car park of the local airport. The opportunity to secure a space in such business friendly environment was as a result of her husband’s connection at the Lagos gateway, where he worked for about thirty years before he was shoddily

thrown out of the system.

Coping with life, however, became almost impossible when that same government again decided to close the car park to create more business space for the concessionaire that was awarded the building of the MMA2. He was to build a hotel, which to date, is still under

Daddy has no money and mummy said we should be doing this so that we can pay our school fees and buy good dresses like our friends construction. When arrangements were concluded to use the section to build the four-star hotel, it was glaring

Hawker inside the traffic

CONTINUED ON PAGE 40

38

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘His new wife is my brother’s ex-wife’ •I advised him not to marry my brother’s wife –Wife •I still love my wife –Husband •The plaintiff did not establish any prohibiting grounds that can make the court to grant her application to dissolve the marriage -Judge

A

‘My husband is irresponsible’ •My wife has been looking for excuses to quit this marriage -Husband •The marriage stands dissolved -Judge

A

n Ilorin Area Court has dissolved a sixyear marriage between Shade Jimoh and Jimoh Kudus over lack of maintenance from the husband.

Shade, 37, a resident of Amilegbe area, Ilorin, prayed the court to dissolve her marriage to Kudus because of his failure to take care of the family.

The petitioner told the court that her husband had been dodging his responsibilities as the head of the house since they

got married in 2007. ‘’Since my husband does not care for our welfare, I have been the only one sourcing for the family’s needs,’’ she said.

She told the court that her husband preferred spending for persons outside his family to members of his nuclear family.

According to her, the marriage was contracted in 2007 and has produced three children, Isiaka, Fausat, and Yinuza. ‘’My Lord, I want an end to this marriage because I am fed

up with my husband’s ‘I-don’tcare’ attitude,’’ she said.

The respondent, who did not object to the prayer of his wife, urged the court to grant the prayer of his wife without delay. ‘’My wife has been looking for excuses to quit this marriage for long, which she has finally achieved today,’’ he said.

The Presiding Judge, Mr. Ibrahim Abdulquadri, dissolved the marriage and issued a certificate of divorce to the petitioner.

25-year-old woman, Aisha, of Zamani village, Abuja, lost her bid to divorce her husband, Nasiru Yakubu, following his decision to marry her brother’s ex-wife.

Haruna Masanawa, the Presiding Judge of the Lugbe Area Court, said that Aisha failed to provide the court with substantial reasons to warrant the dissolution of her marriage.

Masanawa said that in Islam, “there is no law that forbids the plaintiff’s husband from taking a new wife, even her brother’s exwife’’.

“The plaintiff did not establish any prohibiting grounds that can make the court to grant her appli-

cation to dissolve the marriage.

“The marriage of the defendant to the plaintiff ’s brother’s exwife is legal.

“Therefore, the case is hereby dismissed for lack of grounds to dissolve the marriage,’’ Masanawa said.

Aisha had urged the court to dissolve her marriage following her husband’s decision to marry her brother’s ex-wife.

She said she had advised her husband against his bid to marry her brother’s former wife.

“I told him I cannot put up with such a sacrilege. I would rather opt out of the marriage and go back to my parents if he goes ahead to marry her.

‘I did not pay dowry on her’ •We have lived together for 12 years. I love and respect him -Wife

R

asak Sodehinde, a 60 year old driver asked the Alagbado Grade A Customary Court to dissolve his union to Nimota, of whom he says, “I did not pay any dowry on her.”

The couple, who do not have children, lived together for 12 years.

Sodehinde claims that Nimota is constantly fighting him and their co- tenants, and that she stops at nothing when she gets into fighting mode. He disclosed that she once attempted to smash a bottle on his head

during one of such fights. He added that Nimota is in the habit of leaving the house, sometimes for weeks, without disclosing her whereabouts, and that she does not have any respect for him or members of his family.

Nimota, however, denied her husband’s claims, saying that that trouble started when he brought another woman to the house. She said that she loves and respects his family members because they have been good to her and that she does not have any problems with them.

‘He bathes with black soap before having sex with me’ • She brings her lovers to our matrimonial space -Husband

M

uinat Bello of 36 Olaoluwa Street Ajasa, has filed for dissolution of her union with her husband, Azeez Bello at the Alagbado Customary Court, accusing him of being fetish.

The 40-year-old food vendor

contends that her husband uses black soap to bath before having sex with her. She also said that he was always bringing women to their matrimonial home under the guise of being his co-workers.

According to Muinat, Azeez does not contribute towards the

upkeep of the children and does not care about their welfare. She also said that he always threatens her life with charms and is always beating her. She wants the court to dissolve the union and grant her the custody of the children.

The respondent, a 66-year-old

Okada rider, said that all his wife’s claims are lies and that he is not fetish. He denied threatening her with charms and bathing with black soap before having sex with her.

Rather, Azeez claimed that Muinat was the adulterous one

was the adulterous one who was always bringing her lovers to their matrimonial space. He urged the court to dissolve the marriage and grant him custody of the children.

Azeez and Muinat lived together for 21years and have three children.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

DIVORCE COURT

January 24, 2015

39

‘My husband bites me’

‘My wife is mentally unstable’

M

•I don’t love him anymore –Wife •The mother will take custody of her two children and the father will provide N5, 000 monthly for feeding and general upkeep of the children. Apart from the monthly N5, 000 allowance, he will also take care of the educational needs and medical care of the children while they are in the custody of their mother -Judge

•I held his penis and he bit me on my face -Wife •Yes. She hits me with any object she finds, so I bite her –Husband any people laughed uncontrollably for several minutes at the Agege Customary Court when Mrs. Ruth Sunday told the court that her husband, Mr. Samuel Sunday, bit her twice on the face while both of them were fighting.

Ruth said that she was no longer comfortable with her husband because he had been beating and maltreating her since they were joined together in a traditional marriage. She was therefore seeking divorce because of lack of love, frequent fighting and other irreconcilable differences.

In her testimony before the court, Ruth said, “We have been fighting since we got married.

In 2005 while I was carrying my first pregnancy, she beat me and threw my things outside the house. We settled the matter and I moved back. When I gave birth, he continued the beating.

He continued the beating even when I was carrying my second pregnancy.

“He always fights me for

talking to people in the neighbourhood and in the church. He disgraces me in public and once dragged me out of the church naked. At a time, he stopped me from going to church. During one fight, he hit me on the nose with his shoe and blood was coming from my nose. He also bit me twice on my face. I held his penis and he bit me on my face. Anytime he beats me, I always borrow money to treat myself.”

The last straw for Ruth and Sunday, however, was a prophet’s message.

Says Ruth, “There was a day I went to a prophet and the prophet told me that the man I married is not my husband and that is why we have been fighting.

When I told my husband about the prophet’s message, he said I should go and look for my own husband since the prophet said both of us are not compatible for marriage.”

Sunday, who admitted to biting his wife on the face, said, “It is true that I bite my wife on the face. She hit me with something and that was why I bit her.”

Sunday showed the court a big stick with two nails, with which his wife attempted to hit him during their last fight.

Sunday, however, said that he is not ready to divorce his wife despite their differences, and that since his wife left his home and especially after receiving the court summon on the divorce suit, he has being doing everything to reconcile with his wife.

He said, “I don’t want to divorce her because I have vowed never to marry two wives. “It is true that I stopped her from talking or relating with some people.

That is because most of these people have broken homes and I don’t want them to influence my wife negatively.

“I also forced her away from the church that told us that we are not compatible for marriage because I don’t want any prophet to separate us. I believe that if there is any problem between a couple, the duty of a man of God is to help them to settle their differences and not to separate them.”

A

n Agege Customary Court dissolved an eight-year-marriage between a fashion designer, Mrs. Kehinde Babalola and her husband, Mr. Morufu Babalola, a butcher.

The court, in a judgement delivered by the Court President, Mr. Emmanuel Shokunle, ruled that Mrs Babalola will take possession of her two children and mandated Mr. Babalola to provide N5, 000 monthly for feeding and general upkeep of the children.

Apart from the monthly N5, 000 allowance, Mr Babalola will also take care of the education needs and medical care of the children while they are in the custody of their mother.

The couple had lived together for eight years and they have two children together, a seven-

year old girl, Basira and a twoyear boy, Basit.

Prior to the ruling, Kehinde Babalola had earlier pleaded with the Agege Customary court to dissolve her union with her husband and also grant her custody of her children.

She is seeking for the divorce because there is no more love in their marriage based on lack of care and constant beating.

During the proceedings Mr Babalola, told the court that his wife was not mentally stable and therefore, she should not be granted custody of their children.

He suggested that the children were better off at his step mother’s place. But the court thought it was unwise for him to take his children to his step mother.

76-year-old man seeks end of 5-year marriage •He does not give me money -Wife

A

76 year-old contractor, Saheed Kehinde, told the Alagbado Grade A Customary Court that his wife of five years, Yetunde, attempted to stab him with a kitchen knife because he refused to give her money to attend her sister’s child naming ceremony in Ibadan.

Speaking during court proceedings, Kehinde claimed that his wife was very disobedient, always keeping late hours and does not take care of him. He said that he recently ordered her to close her business activities and lock up her shop at 7pm during a carnival

on their street, but she refused to obey his instructions and stayed outside until 1am.

Kehinde contended that even though he married Yetunde to take care of him, he found no comfort in her, as she was a source of trouble to him by constantly nagging and fighting him.

Kehinde concluded that he had stopped loving Yetunde because of her attitude and wanted the court to dissolve the marriage.

The respondent, a 51-yearold hairdresser, denied all the allegations levelled against her by the petitioner.

40

LIVING

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37 that those transacting business around there should quit. Mrs. Adeyanju was a victim and there the sad tale began.

At the initial stage, the pride in men would not allow Mr. Adeyanju to accept the reality of his situation, as he insisted that the children should be kept in a private school despite his wife’s wise counsel that their realistic place was in the public school system.

However, when the capital base of the family began to nosedive, reality struck in the father of six. Another means and style had to be fashioned out to, at least, guarantee survival. One of these was to withdraw the children from their school to a public school.

With the lingering economic downturn, it took no time for the living standard of the Adeyanjus to further dwindle. To cope with the school fees, even in the public school became difficult while feeding the children was by the day becoming a Herculean task.

To device another means to forge ahead became inevitable, meaning a further drop in their living standard. At this point, it had dawned on the family that the Business Centre they jointly ran could no longer pay their bills.

Moulded to obedience by poverty and want, it took no time before the Adeyanjus prevailed on their children to engage in the business of selling chilled sachet water, (pure water) after school hours. Their mother would buy ice block and chill the sachet water (pure water) which the children, including four year old Tola, would hawk at points of traffic gridlock and at bus stops. Because Tola is young, she is not allowed to go as far as the older ones who sometimes trek as far as Cement Bus Stop (a distance of about 20 kilometers) or Iyana Ipaja (about 15 kilometers) as the case may be, to hawk their wares.

Tola was a pathetic sight when this reporter accosted her at the Low Cost Estate gate at Abesan, along Ipaja in Mosan Okunola Local Council Development Area (LCDA), of Lagos State. Holding firmly to a sizable plastic bowl on her head with water dripping profusely from her soaked dress, she moved from one commercial bus to the other. Her fragile, yet sonorous voice pierced through the rowdiness of the environment as she cajoled fagged out workers returning home in the commercial buses to “buy cold pure water.”

And she seems to be popular. Majority of the bus drivers and passengers call her by her nick name, “LARONDO” (Yoruba for short or diminutive) which she answers to with pride. Many of the passersby who spoke about the commercial activity of Larondo in that vicinity gave the impression that she is a kid with a business sense that transcends her little frame and age.

“One interesting thing about her is that she gets to this point at exactly 3:00pm and she would not leave until around 8:00pm. On weekends, be sure to see her here from 8am to 8pm,” an eyewitness testified.

“Daddy has no money and mummy said we should be doing this so that we

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘We hawk because daddy has no money’ Even when the children have inalienable rights to education and basic parental care, such laws seem to have been naturally subdued by the prevailing Street hawkers

Our senior ones hawk their wares at a far place where they make better sales.

But we can’t go too far

because we are still young can pay our school fees and buy good dresses like our friends,” was the tacit response this reporter got when Idowu, 8, Tola’s elder brother was asked what led them to hawking.

“Our senior ones hawk their wares at a far place where they make better

Street hawkers

sales. But we can’t go too far because we are still young,” he quipped.

The travail of the Adeyanju children is one of the many cases of seemingly unavoidable child labour cases in Lagos and other cities across Nigeria. Battered and bruised by the

poverty in the land collapsing economy, Lagos families are daily devising one strategy or the other to keep afloat in the face of the lingering instabilities. Being tormented by skyrocketing prices of essential commodities and the terrible housing problem in Lagos, many families have been forced to throw decorum to the winds and engage t in whatever could keep body and soul apiece, not minding the level of degradation and risk.

Even when the children have inalienable rights to education and basic parental care, such laws seem to have been naturally subdued by the prevailing poverty in the land.

Not long ago, there was a report of a thirteen year old orange hawker that was raped by three adults to a state of coma, at Itele area of Ogun State. The young girl would have passed out but for the timely intervention of a Good Samaritan who saw her wriggling in a pool of her own blood and decided to whisk her to a nearby hospital.

Many state governments have taken steps to curb the exposure of children and minors to the risky business of hawking on the highways. In Lagos State for instance, government officials go on periodic patrol of the highways to rid them of hawkers.

But trust Lagosians, the more government tries to curb the menace, the more they come up with ingenious ways to outwit the law. Government officials who are burdened with the task of ensuring that Lagos streets are rid of child hawkers often wonder why each time they think they have achieved some measure of success, before they know it, these minors are back on the streets, trading their futures away!

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

41

January 24, 2015

Doctor Talabi has answers to your health questions

Write him today at prettyprevent@gmail.com or text 09099346165 (sms only pls)

Prostate Problems Here is one thing women should be glad about. They have no prostate! So they do not need to worry about prostate issues. Not so for the men, as one of the things that make you a man is the possession of a functional prostate gland. The prostate gland is an organ with secretory ducts. It is located in the pelvis, and extends from the bladder neck down to the sides of the urethra.

It is shaped like a walnut and measures about 3.5x2.5cm in most men. The exact functions are not known but its secretions form most of the human ejaculate. These fluids are believed to help in maintaining the vitality of the sperm.

The three major problems a prostate can have are prostatitis, benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer. Let’s take a look at them

Prostatitis: This is an inflammation of the prostate, usually due to bacteria infection. It is the most common prostate problem in men younger than forty years old and is easily the most amenable to treatment.

Sensitive antibiotics taken over some days will solve the problem.

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (Bph): It simply refers to the enlargement of the prostate gland. Most men above 40yrs will start experiencing prostate enlargement, but only 1 in 10 may, after 50 years and above experience its symptoms. The reasons for this enlargement are not fully understood but there are causal factors that include; ageing, functioning testes -which is why it is rare in men castrated before puberty, a positive family history of prostate related problems and hormonal imbalance. BPH without symptoms rarely calls for concern beyond

regular checks to confirm that it has not progressed to cancer. It is good to know, however, that having an enlarged prostate does not automatically translate to you developing prostate cancer later on.

Prostate Cancer: This is the chief of all prostate problems. It is second only to skin as the most common cancer in men. It is a slowly growing, mostly asymptomatic cancer that seems to afflict more black men than their white counterparts. It is commoner in men over 60 years. Because it is slowly growing, not all men with prostate cancer die of prostate cancer. Think of a 65yr old who developed prostate cancer and died at 80 years of old age and before the spread of the cancer. For this reason, the treatment modalities for prostate cancer are highly individualised, taking into consideration the age, family history, symptoms etc.

Symptoms of prostate diseases: Problems with the prostate gland share many symptoms. There are two main categories of such symptoms. Irritative symptoms are due to the enlargement or inflammation of the prostate gland. Because of its close proximity to the bladder, an enlarged prostate will irritate the bladder and cause: Frequency of urination -incessant urination <2 hours apart Urgency - finding it difficult to postpone urination Nocturia - getting up frequently from the time you went to bed at night until the time you get up in the morning.

There are also obstructive symptoms which are due to the compression of the urethra. The urethra is the tiny tube that passes from the bladder through the prostate to the penis, helping to move urine out of the bladder and out of the body in the voiding process. It sometimes gets squeezed in-between when the prostate enlarges. This leads to symptoms such as Poor/weak urinary stream Intermittency i.e. stopping and starting again several times when urinating Incomplete bladder emptying or increased residual urine i.e. sensation of not emptying the bladder completely after youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve finished urinating.

Straining to begin urinating Hesitancy i.e. having to relax a while before urine begins to flow despite the urge to urinate In advanced prostate cancer, there may be weight loss, blood in urine and severe pain.

Treatment: Your doctor will guide you on the appropriate treatment of your condition, following laboratory and radiologic investigations. In prostatitis, a course of antibiotics is usually enough to resolve the symptoms. Benign prostatic hyperplasia most times requires no particular treatment but watchful waiting. When it is symptomatic, medications may be pre-

scribed to shrink the gland in order to allow free flow of urine. Otherwise surgery requiring prostate removal may be carried out. In very old men, the testes may be removed completely (What are they doing with it anyway!). Before this, however, as with treatment of prostate conditions generally, a lot of counselling by the medical practitioner is required to put the situation in perspective, and allay the fears of the client. It is known that even eighty-year-old men, have serious reservations about being castrated. Other options for prostate cancer especially, include radiotherapy or laser therapy to kill the cancer cells and prevent spread.

When appropriate treatment is instituted early, solutions are usually within grasp.

Prevention: Prevention of prostate problems may be primary or secondary. In primary prevention efforts are made through your lifestyle to keep your prostate healthy and reduce the chances of having prostate cancer. These include diet rich in vegetable /fruits, and low in fats, especially the unsaturated variety. Tomatoes have been found to be helpful in prostate health. In its raw, paste or cooked form, it is said to reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer by limiting tumour growth through an ingredient it contains-lycopene-. Though not proven, green tea is another substance that has been said to reduce the risk of prostate cancer, citing the very low rate of the cancer in Asians who are habitual consumers of the tea. To prevent prostatitis, good hygiene is key. Keep the penis clean and ensure always that your underwear is clean.

In secondary prevention, the aim is early detection to prevent complications.

The prostate specific antigen test (PSA) is the most popular test for this. It is used quantitatively to screen for prostate cancer in men with prostatic enlargement who are over 50 yrs of age. Before and after undergoing the test, you need to discuss with your doctor. This is to avoid emotional problems occasioned by over diagnosis and false positives. The rule is to screen men with family history who are above forty years annually and to screen other men at fifty years and above every two years. For men over seventy, screening is no longer recommended.

LIFESAVERS: uEat plenty of vegetables and fruits uIncorporate tomatoes into your diet uScreen for PSA at 50 and earlier if you have family history uScreen at least once every two years uMaintain good personal hygiene

Dear Mirror Doctor Dear Mirror Doctor, Please I need your help. I am having financial issues, which is making me stressed up and affecting my appearance, because I am losing weight. What should I do? 0817...........81374

Dear Anonymous, I am sorry about the financial issues you are having. I also believe you will soon get out of it. Every one of us has been in such situations at one time or the other.

If you are depressed because of this, it

may affect your eating and sleeping habit, leading to weight loss. This is not good for your health. What you need to do is to plan a way out of the financial mess, not minding if it is gradual.

Eat well, and pay attention to your

appearance. If you are still depressed, book an appointment with your family physician for psychotherapy and you will soon be on your way out of the situation. Best of luck!

42

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Enjoy nature’s allure at Ikogosi warm springs From the folklore of two irreconcilably jealous wives who were turned to warm and cold springs in a rustic town in Ekiti comes Ikogosi Warm Spring resort. Aside the big wonder of the naturally occurring phenomenon, the resort, what with the deft touch of Kayode Fayemi, immediate past governor of Ekiti State, remains a top tourism attraction

Ikogosi Warm Spring

T

here are many tales told explain away the natural phenomenon of a warm and cold springs flowing side by side in Ikogosi, a small quiet town in Ekiti West Local Government area of Ekiti State. One of such story is that the springs were wives of the same husband, whom, after much rivalry and fighting, were turned into water springs.

The first wife, being fieryill tempered wife, became the warm spring. The cool tempered

wife became the cold spring. It is also said that the surrounding hilly areas is what is left of the husband. Another myth has it that a powerful hunter, who was hunting for animals in the bush, discovered the warm spring.

After the discovery, the people living close by discovered that the warm water had curative properties, healing them of diseases.

The people began to worship the water. This was the situation

until the 1960s when the late Nigerian educator and author, Tai Solarin, heard about the spring and brought his students to the place for excursion.

Today, the spring is known as the Ikogosi Warm Spring. The spring is a source of life for the people of the town and a source of revenue for the Ekiti State Government. It has catapulted the sleepy town to national and international limelight.

Solarin started the publicity for the warm spring before Rev. MacGee of the Baptist Church arrived to establish a student camp near the area. It was Rev. Macgee who built a chapel (now the Conference Hall) and hostels (now Macgee Camp chalets) at the resort.

The volume of water coming from the springs remains constant and warm from morning till evening. A strong steam is noticed when one pays a visit to the warm spring source early in the morning.

During the Harmattan period (a dry period which occurs usually from November to late March, including the period of dry, dusty Harmattan winds in December), a fog is also noticed at the source of the spring.

Scientifically, the reason for the hot and cold springs is that the further water travels underground the warmer it becomes. If by chance the water is pushed through an earth fault creating a spring, the flow will remain relatively high. The cold water comes from an adjoining hill.

The warm and cold springs of Ikogosi flow parallel and meet somewhere down to form a confluence, with each maintaining its thermal quality.

This is the first of such an occurrence in the world.

The warm spring has a temperature of 70°c at the source and 37°c after meeting a cold spring. The meeting point

Ilashe Luxury Beach

of the warm and cold springs is a unique attraction to tourists.

The whole environment of the area is left untouched by the government for eco-tourism appeal, while the source of the warm springs have been provided a canopy so that tourists and visitors can relax underneath. The Ikogosi warm spring, according to tourism experts, is one of eight of such warm springs discovered in the world.

Adding to the natural beauty, there is a tree and a palm growing from the same source at the meeting point area of the warm and cold springs. Another attraction of the Ikogosi Warm Spring is that it is believed to be curative. Therapeutic powers have been reputed to help in treating rheumatism and guineaworm.

Ilashe, home of bewitching beach resort The far flung, unspoiled beach nestles on the sandy beach of Ilashe Island. It is biggest attraction is the Manga Luxury Beach Villas. It is a little piece of paradise located in Lagos, bordering the Badagry creek and surrounded by luscious and towering coconut palm trees.

The beach is just 15 minutes boat

ride from Ikoyi and Victoria Island.

La Manga beach villas are Spanish architectural designed villas with four tastefully furnished beachfront bedrooms with large sliding doors that opens to private balconies.

Each villa has lavished suite with rooftop Jacuzzi and private lounge, sizable swimming pool, massage room, beachfront living room with open lounge, furnished kitchen, bar and poolside barbeque grill area.

La Manga beach villas has all the amenities you would expect from an exquisitely luxurious home away from home where you can relax, listen to the uninterrupted sounds of the breeze and the gentle waves on the beach.

The tasteful fittings and furnishing surrounds you with the comfort and convenience that will enable you to fully savor the relaxing atmosphere of the beach setting.

La Manga facilities include open-air gazebo for dinning and lounging, beachfront bamboo canopies for relaxation, minigolf course, beach volleyball court, and quad bikes. Water sport activities such as jet ski and boat cruise can be arranged upon request.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

January 24, 2015

43

44

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

From the Civil Service Health workers’ strike fuelled by envy – NMA T

he All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has criticized the sack of the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Mrs Bimpe Aderiye.

The party said the manner of Aderiye’s sack through radio announcement amounted to disrespect for public service law and a throwback to the military era.

The party also asked the state Governor, Ayodele Fayose, to tell Ekiti State people why he denied collecting the refund of the money that former Governor Kayode Fayemi spent on the construction of Ado-Ifaki and Ado-Akure roads.

The government had through a public announcement on the state radio on Thursday directed Aderiye to hand over the property of the ministry in her care to the

next senior staff.

The government gave no reason for the sack.

The APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, said it was regrettable that Ekiti State had returned to the era of instability in the civil service.

Urging Fayose to explain to Ekiti State people what he did with the money refunded on federal roads, the APC said the people would also want to know how the governor has been spending billions of naira that have been collected so far by his government without paying workers’ two months outstanding salaries.

But the government, through the Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka, denied APC’s claim that the Federal Government had refunded money

owed the state.

The APC’s statement added: “We thank Adeyeye (Minister of

State for Works) for letting Ekiti people know that Governor Fayose had collected the money,

even though the governor had on several occasions denied collecting any kobo from the Federal

Government and so he had no money to pay workers their September salary.

Inspector General Suleiman Abba (4th left), DIG ‘a’ department, Mr. Danazumi Doma (3rd left) and other Dig’s, with the newly promoted DIG, AIG’s and CP’s during their decoration by the Inspector-General of police in Abuja, yesterday.

Amaechi pledges to pay pensioners’ entitlements

R

otimi Amaechi, Rivers State governor, has assured pensioners in Rivers State of receiving their entitlements before the end of February.

The state Governor, Chibuike Amaechi gave the assurance when he appeared live on a local radio station yesterday in Port Harcourt.

He blamed the backlog of stipends owed to the senior citizens on the dwindling state allocation, stating that the current wage bill of civil servants stands at N9.2 billion monthly.

Amaechi said “the pensioners are suffering but we will try and assuage their sufferings.”

The governor blamed the Federal Government for the dwindling state allocation, stating that unless the level of corruption at the centre is curtailed,

the country will continue to suffer economic woes.

Amaechi used the medium to comment on the recent outbreak of Cholera in Andoni Local Government Area and the bird flu in some parts of the state, noting that he has directed that all affected birds be slaugh-

tered in the affected farms.

Reacting to the Cholera outbreak, the governor remarked, ”our water scheme is robust in Andoni, but we have not been able to go to all the villages.”

Hinting of plans to construct boreholes in

some of the villages, Amaechi assured of government’s readiness to curb the menace.

Meanwhile, Governor Amaechi has picked holes in the recent slash in fuel pump price from N97 to N87 by the Federal Government last weekend.

In his view, the price needs to be further slashed to reflect the slump in the price of crude oil in the international market.

He maintained that the price of fuel is supposed to hover between N40 and N50, and there-

fore, called on the citizenry to demand accountability from the government.

The governor further urged the people to vote out the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party-led Federal Government in order to rescue the national economy from worsening.

Agric Varsity elevates 58 senior lecturers to professors

T

he Vice Chancellor of University of Agriculture, Makurdi (UAM), Prof. Emmanuel Kucha, said the university had promoted a total of 58 senior lecturers to the rank of professors within the last two years.

Kucha, who disclosed this to newsmen on Friday

in Makurdi at a pre-convocation briefing, said the promotions were aimed at boosting staff morale and promoting academic excellence.

He said out of the number, 18 were promoted to the position of professors, while 40 were elevated to the rank of associate professors.

He said the university was also working toward the improvement of infrastructure to enhance scholarship.

The vice chancellor said 41 projects had been executed during the last two years of his tenure to enhance infrastructure growth of the university.

He commended the

Federal Government for its intervention through Tertiary Institutions funding (TETfund), saying the school planned to execute series of projects using the funds.

He, however, regretted that the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the institution was at its lowest ebb owing to non payment of students’ charges.

Kucha said the schools’ portal which was still open, had few students patronising it due to paucity of funds.

He said if the situation persisted up to the time of examinations the school would have no option but to give a waiver to allow such students to partake in the examinations.

Sport

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

January 24, 2015

45

U-23 national team training ahead of today’s friendly match against Juinor Carthage Eagles of Tunisia.

Siasia unleashes Dream Team VI on Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles Ifeanyi Eduzor

N

igeria’s U-23 team will this afternoon meet their Tunisian counterpart in the first leg of their two legged friendly encounter, which will serve as a tune-up match for the team as they prepare for the forthcoming All Africa Games qualifiers against Gabon slated for the end of February.

Tunisian side known as the Junior Carthage Eagles will later take on Algeria U-23 side before playing the Nigerian side coached by Samson Siasia again on January 28 to complete the two-legged encounter.

The match is coming few days after the home-based Super Eagles exciting friendlies against Cote d’Ivoire and Yemen in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It

was initially planned to be played with the Egyptian U-23 team but was cancelled after the Egyptian FA pulled out of the clash.

In order to ensure that the team posts a good performance in Tunis, Siasia whose team is also involved in the Super 6 kicking off today in Abuja shortlisted 21 players for today’s cracker.

Prominent among the players who are mainly home-based are: Bendel Insurance left-back Obanor Erhun, who has trained with the Super Eagles, Ewenike Achibi Chibuike, Freedom Omofoman and Sunday Adetunji, all from NPFL clubs. Others in the team are Warri Wolves, Oghenekaro Etebo and Tiongoli Tonbara of Bayelsa United. Also in the team are Okorom Stanley, Obanor Erhun, Oduduwa Segun Tope, Sani Faisal, Amuzie Stanley, Sincere Muenfuh Seth,

Azubuike Godson, Effiong Etim, Obochi Eneojo, Godwin Amunde and goalkeepers Daniel Shinkut, Abiodun Asimiyu, Yusuf Mohammed.

As is expected, the two coaches will use the friendly matches to test some of the players they will use in future competitions as well as build a solid team ahead of both the All Africa Games and Olympic qualifiers.

It is also expected that Siasia who has been experimenting with many players since his appointment as the Head Coach, will give some of the players their first international exposure, to enable him assess their technical capability before making them permanent members of his team.

Siasia who once handled the Flying Eagles and the Super Eagles respectively is expected to bring his wealth of experience in

age group tournament in today’s match, while his approach to the game will help greatly in determining the strength of his squad.

Speaking before the team’s departure to Tunis on Thursday, Siasia noted that his selection was based on merit and that the players are capable of representing the country well in the North African country.

“My players are quite aware of what is at stake in Tunis and they are going to give a good account of themselves.

“It is true that it is not a competitive game but all of them are aware that such “Grade A” friendly match is important for both the technical crew and the team and as such they will take the game serious.

“I have confidence in the players I am taking to Tunisia because they were all selected on merit

considering their performance in camp,” Siasia concluded.

His Tunisian counterpart, Nizar Khanfir, who has already named the players that will start the match noted that the Junior Carthage Eagles are fully prepared to face the Dream Team expressing confidence that his players are capable of posting a good result against their visitors from West Africa.

“We are quite aware that Nigeria is a strong force at the age group competition having won the Olympic gold in 1996, but we are capable of defeating them in Tunis during the two- legged encounter.

“Although, it is not a competitive game, but we are going to give our best because a defeat will dampen the morale of the boys while a win will help in building confidence in the team.”

46

SPORT

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Basketball: Ujiri’s vision to dunk with youngsters PAUL EREWUBA

I

n recent times, the game of basket ball in Nigeria has witnessed tremendous growth and the followership increasing with each passing day. The popularity the dunking game enjoys has placed it among the most popular games in the country after football.

This development has also encouraged many corporate organisations and state governments to float basketball club sides that now compete favourably among their counterparts from other parts of the continent.

Not only has the country produced great basketball players like Hakeem Olajuwon and Ejike Ugboaja who have all gone to make their mark in the NBA, the crowning glory of the country’s basketball came when the country’s male team qualified for the London 2012 Olympics.

However, this modest achievement notwithstanding, the game like other sports apart from football, is still in a poor state in the country.

It is this ugly situation that made the General Manager of NBA team, Denver Nuggets, Masai Ujiri, to declare that Nigeria basketball would continue to be on the average, if sponsorship, adequate competitions as well as facilities and programmes that will lift the sport are not taken care off.

Ujiri, who runs the ‘Top 50 Basketball Programme’ in Nigeria and also a camp director for the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders Africa programme, explained that kids in Nigeria who have interest in the sport begin very late.

“As an NBA executive, I’m always looking for untapped potential. I believe that Nigeria is one of the world’s greatest resources in that area.

From the north, east, west and south there is so much size and athletic ability across the nation.

“Some Nigerians have an average height of 6-foot-6, which also happens to be the size of the average NBA player. People in Nigeria, Mali and Congo tend to be very big and physical. We need to build a strategy to go into these regions and cultivate the talent

Tunisia’s Makram Ben Romdhane (12) is defended by Nigeria’s Koko Archibong (10) during the first half of a preliminary men’s basketball game at the London 2012 Olympics, London, July

through infrastructure and instruction,” Ujiri posited.

“Not long ago, soccer in Nigeria and by extension Africa was almost the same way. It was untapped. Kids start kicking a ball when they are six or seven years old, if not younger. It’s like baseball, basketball and football in America.

If you’re talented, people will find you. That’s what happened with soccer.

“The number of academies has grown rapidly, and people are really into it. As a result, nearly every major soccer team has a lot of Nigerian and African players.

“Through my experience as a player, coach and now NBA executive, I believe basketball can follow a similar path. It starts with building facilities.

We need to start investing in outdoor courts and indoor gyms for kids to play.

“Most kids in Nigeria don’t start playing basketball until they are 13 or 14 years old.

This puts them at a disadvantage position because they lack the instincts and must

work harder to develop the skills and habits formed at an early age. With a tremendous assist from the NBA, Nike and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), we have been trying to provide opportunities for the next generation of Nigerian basketball players.”

Ujiri expatiates on the catch-them-young approach to develop the game.

“Every year, we conduct the Giants of Africa camp, sponsored by Nestlé Milo and Nike, as well as the NBA Basketball without Borders Africa elite camp. Nearly 100 campers have gone on to play college basketball in the United States, including Luc Mbah a Moute, who now plays for the Milwaukee Bucks.

“Mbah a Moute, a Camerounian is one of several African success stories. Serge Ibaka (Democratic Republic of Congo) is a rising star for the Oklahoma City Thunder and Luol Deng (born in Sudan) was an All-Star for the Chicago Bulls.

These guys are great examples Gowon

for young people in Affrica. Kids are beginning g to see the possibilitiess because of the exposure e of the NBA. “It was unfortunate e that Hakeem Olajuwon n (Nigeria), Dikembe e Mutombo (Congo) and Manute Bol (Sudan) -- three African giants -- came in an era before the internet, cable and satellite television. A lot of African kids have heard of these guys, but they don’t know the scope of their accomplishments. Deng, Ibaka and Mbah a Moute are trying to become giants themselves, but they can’t do it alone.

“What I’m saying in essence is that Basketball development in Nigeria will only grow faster than we expect, it can cover more ground in terms of sponsorship. I grew up there. I played there. I know how much talent there is. We have to concentrate on building facilities, establishing successful leagues and finding investors to help young players.

Masai-Ujiri

“We need more companies to help build courts and gymnasiums for kids to play.

Nestle Milo paid for a worldclass floor made in the United States. That’s what we use for my Giants of Africa camp.

For years, Nike has generously provided shoes and equipment for the players. That is the kind of support we need from influential investors in Africa.

“As you can probably tell, the push to develop talent in Africa is personal. America gave me the opportunity, but I truly believe Africa is going to be the next big thing.

It is going to be prominent in tapping basketball talent. I really hope I’m alive to see it happen. This much is certain: I will die trying,” Ujiri concluded.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

SPORT

January 24, 2015

47

Cape Verde seek creative spark to face Zambia C

ompetition outsiders, Cape Verde, will attempt to get pass wounded Chipolopolo of Zambia when both sides meet on January 26 to decide who qualifies for the next stage.

Zambia slipped to the bottom of Group B on one point and must now beat Cape Verde in their last game to keep their hopes alive.

Group B leaders,Tunisia, who are on four points will take on DR Congo on the same date in Bata.

Cape Verde coach Rui Aguas

believes his team’s draw with DR Congo was not a fair reflection on the game.

Cape Verde drew 0-0 in their Group B second match encounter at the 2015 Africa Nations Cup and Aguas believes they must up their level of play and score more goals, if they hope to get pass Zambia.

“The draw with DR Congo is not a fair result. It was a little bit a remake of our game against Tunisia. The first half went well, with three, four or five clear good scoring opportunities,” Aguas said.

“We ran a bit out of steam at the beginning of the second half but remained the most dangerous side especially with two very clear chances towards the end.

“I cannot criticise my players on the two games.

We are confident that our third match will be different and that we will reach the quarterfinals.

“We are disappointed but that’s life.

I was a striker and I know that when you don’t score the next ball is always more difficult than the previous one.

“I think that we will ultimately score in our third match. Zambia are a good team, one of us will probably be out.”

Le Roy predicts tough game against B/Faso

Aguas

Russia coach rates AFCON level high

T

Claude-Le-Roy

C

ongo Brazzaville’s head coach, Claude Le Roy has said that their last group A match against bottom placed Burkina Faso would be difficult.

The Frenchman, however, added that his players are getting in shape and will be ready for the Sunday game.

“We know the match will not be an easy one, but we are prepared and the players know what is at stake.”

He said he was not yet thinking of reaching the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) final as they are taking every game as it comes.

“We are talking about the last

eight now and am not thinking about the final yet,” Le Roy’, further explained.

Le Roy’s team are now top of Group A after their hard fought 1-0 win over Gabon at Bata Stadium. They settled for a 1-1 draw against hosts Equatorial Guinea on the opening day of the competition.

The coach explained that things have become easier now after they played against hosts Equatorial Guinea. “Since we played against Equatorial Guinea the bus is available and everything is moving on well.

All is well, added the French man.

Although the coach refused to rule out Cesar Dorlich Sidney Gandze for the next match, the player seemed to be in pain.

Gandze limped off after 30 minutes in the game against Gabon.

he assistant coach of Russian side, FC Anji Makhachkala has praised the level of play at the on-going 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Equatorial Guinea.

Sassi in an interview said that he was impressed with the level of play and tactical awareness in the competition.

“If you compare the Africa Cup 10 years ago to what is on the ground now there is a big difference. I think African players are working a little harder and are more disciplined now,” said Sassi who played for Club Africian in Tunisia several years ago.

The Tunisian born Coach who was also coach at FC Metellurg Donestk (Russia) where Manchester City and Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure started his career said he was very impressed by the standards

Sassi

he has seen in the matches played. “I will remain in Equatorial Guinea and watch more games because I also want to see which African players we can sign for our club,” added Sassi.

The Russian Club was purchased by billionaire Suleyman Kerimov and subsequently made numerous high-profile signings, including those of striker Samuel Eto’o and manager Guus Hiddink.

Bereaved Gourcuff misses mum’s funeral

A

lgeria head coach Christian Gourcuff opted to stay in Equatorial Guinea with his team for the Afcon rather than attend his mother’s funeral in France.

The 59-year-old was given the chance by the Algerian FA

to join up with his family in France following the death of his mother but he passed it up.

The Frenchman decided to stay on for the rest of Algeria’s matches at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Gourcuff received the news that his mother passed away

on the eve of their Afcon game against Ghana and the Algeria Football Federation president, Mohamed Raouraoua, asked him to leave the camp and join his family but the Frenchman insisted on staying on for the remainder of the Afcon with the North African team.

48

SPORTS

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

AFCON fallout: Supporters club counts losses Paul Erewuba

P

resident-General of the Nigeria Football and Other Sports Supporters Club (NFSSC), Rafiu Ladipo, has revealed that the incessant Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) crisis which led to Super Eagles failure to qualify for AFCON 2015, cost his club to lose millions of Naira.

It would be recalled that the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the AFCON 2015 in Equatorial Guinea due to the crisis that erupted during the team’s qualifiers.

“The NFF must put its house in order to avoid another crisis and what happened in the 2015 Nations Cup qualifiers”, Ladipo began.

“I urge members of the NFF

and football stakeholders to shield their sword and ensure that the Super Eagles qualify for the 2017 AFCON so that we can make up for our absence at the on-going 30th edition of AFCON. “The supporters club lost so much in terms of finance as a result of the Super Eagles’ absence at the Nations Cup. ``We were certain that the Eagles would qualify only to be disappointed at the last minute.

“Members of the club set aside huge sum of money and we produced souvenirs; Tshirts, caps and other materials which we intended to sell at the Nations Cup and make some profit for the club.

These souvenirs, I must tell you, ran into millions of Naira.

We lost out because the Eagles failed to fly to Equatorial Guinea.

Ladipo

NPL: Howard vows to return 3SC to glory days

Howard

Paul Erewuba

A

s Nigeria Professional Football League outfit, Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) resume 2014/2015 pre-season training at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan, head coach of the side, Franklin Howard, has vowed to return the Ibadan-based outfit to their glorious days.

The Oluyole Warriors were relegated to the Nigeria National League at the end of the 2012/13 campaign, but they made an

immediate return to the elite league.

The management of the club says it is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the team goes back to its glory days.

On the road to returning to the elite division, 3SC defeated Akwa Starlets of Uyo 1-0 in one of the last round of matches in the NNL, at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan. Sylvanus Ebiaku scored the all-important goal when he converted a penalty kick awarded the home team, after a foul on Okiki Afolabi in the second minute of the match.

Super Six kicks off today in Abuja Action recorded in Nigerian League

Ifeanyi Eduzor

F

ootball lovers in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and its environs will as from today treated to good football action as this year’s Nigeria Premier League Preseason tournament tagged “Super 6” kicks off this evening.

The tournament popularly known as Super 4 has the name changed this year following the invitation of national u-23 and U-20 teams to the tournament.

Premier League champions,

Kano Pillars will be joined by first and second runner up teams, Enyimba FC of Aba and Warri Wolves while Confederations Cup finalists Dolphins were invited too. The fifth and sixth teams are the Nigerian Under-20 and Under-23 teams.

The competition will see all the players facing each other in a round robin and will help in preparing the teams for their various continental championships.

Meanwhile Enyimba striker Chimezie Amanfor said the Super Six tournament will serve as dress rehearsal for the continental date against Beninese side Buffles du

Borgou F Amanfor said even if the team doesn’t win the competition, it will help them prepare for the clash against their CAF Champions League opponents Buffles du Borgou FC. “The LMC Super Six tournament will provide us adequate training for our continental date against Buffles du Borgou FC of Equatorial Guinea.

“It will be tough for us to win the tournament as we may not be 100% ready compared to our opponents who have had better preparations.

Kenka: ‘Why ITA trains Nigerian coaches in Dubai’ Paul Erewuba

A

s part of its contribution to the development of Nigeria tennis, the International Tennis Academy, ITA, has sent four Nigerian coaches to the Clarke Francis Tennis Academy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to update their coaching skills.

The coaches who have been at the Clarke Francis Tennis Academy in Dubai since last year are Bolaji Olawepo, Kehinde Alade, Ambrose Ajoga and Samuel Omoile.

Director of ITA, Godwin Kienka, who disclosed this to our Correspondent, said the idea was to ensure that these coaches can bring to fore their acquired skills and help Nigeria tennis attain the highest level.

Kienka, a former international official of the ITF, also disclosed that with the consistent rise of the juniors over the years, there is a huge need for skilled coaches who can take the youngsters to the next level.

“Sending Nigerian coach-

es to Dubai to sharpen their skills is just one of the ways we are trying to build tennis programme in the country.

“The junior players have been training and competing, and we have all noticed the improvements over the years.

However, you cannot train ‘players for the future’ with coaches that are not knowledgeable.

“Our partnership with Clarke Francis affords us the opportunity to send those coaches there, to enable them acquire a good knowledge of the game and come back stronger at some point as coach Babatunde Abe, who came back from the United States, has done to help with the building of tennis in Nigeria.

“You can see the difference that coach Abe made with Moses Michael, who won the Lagos Governors Cup last year under the Edmund Ajoge tennis programme”.

Kienka, a former journalist with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, added that for tennis in Nigeria to reach the desired height, a holistic approach has to be applied.

Gumel

Jigawa govt to honour Gumel Ifeanyi Eduzor

T

he government of Jigawa State will roll out the red carpet tomorrow, Sunday January 25, 2015 to honour its illustrious son and President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, Engr. Habu Gumel.

This recognition which holds at the NYSC Camp is being bestowed on Engr. Gumel

by His Excellency, Governor Sule Lamido, the Executive Governor of Jigawa State as a result of the giant strides that the astute administrator has made in Sports Administration (local and international) and Engineering practice in Nigeria.

49

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

January 24, 2015

Crime Watch

National Stadium turns crime den

... as rape, thuggery, drugs, robbery take over complex

PATIENCE OGBO

N

ational Stadium, Surulere, ‘Sports City,’ as the complex is fondly called is now home to anything but sports. On hourly, daily basis, reports of crime, ranging from the petty to the heinous and emanating from the stadium are made to law enforcement agencies. Robbery, stealing, rape, drugs, thuggery, name it. They have all found sanctuary in what used to be the country’s most hallowed complex for sports and relaxation.

Only earlier in the week, a middle aged man allegedly raped a 5-yearold girl near the National Institute of Sports, NIS, office, at the stadium.

A source stated that the girl was running errands for her mother, a petty trader in the stadium, when she was waylaid and lured to a hidden place by the unidentified man who allegedly raped her.

According to an informer, “The mother of the girl sent her on errands that day but on her way there she was accosted by a man who was a former

bartender at “Old Skool” drinking joint in the stadium. The man told her that he was going to help her and the girl innocently followed him only for the man to force himself on the girl and raped her. The mother of the girl noticed that she was in pains when she returned from the errands and after questioning her, she confessed that a young man raped her”.

Another source added that the police raided a vigil of a white garment church at the National stadium and arrested some of the church members for smoking marijuana and other hard drugs.

“Policemen were shocked that people who claimed to be going for vigil will use the cover of the church to commit atrocities in the name of worshipping God,” said the source to Saturday Mirror.

Our correspondent was also informed that in December 2014, an athlete who had gone to the stadium to jog got the shock of his life when after his exercise, he went back to where he parked his car at the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) office in the stadium but the car, a Nissan

Jeep had been stolen.

The case was reported to the police but the police is yet to recover the car.

Also during the APC governship campaign at the National stadium earlier in the year, it was gathered that some physically challenged persons were attacked by hoodlums while they were sharing money.

A source in the stadium while narrating the incident said, “During a campaign by the APC (All Progressives Congress) governorship candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode at the stadium, fracas broke out and some physically challenged persons were attacked when Mr. Ambode’s team gave N600, 000 to the physically challenged persons to share. A group of boys who were present during the campaign were bent on collecting the money. Some of the physically challenged persons felt cheated and this led to a fight where some people were beaten black and blue”.

Investigations further reveal that persons who go to the stadium for one event or the other allegedly loose personal effects like bicycles, bags and others to thieves.

A source said “Sometimes last year,a young man who came with his bicycle to the stadium tied it to the tree so he can jog around but before he came back , the bicycle has been stolen. The young man ran to the gate to wait for the person that stole his bike to pass but his effort was in vein as the thief has taken the second gate and absconded with the bike” Investigations also reveal that the insecurity in stadium can be attributed to the small number of security men in the stadium.

A source stated that six private guards, man the two main gates of the stadium while three policemen man the police post inside the stadium.

“The stadium is very big and porous. It has become a home to homeless people. When you enter the stadium You will see all sorts of makeshift buildings. People come here in the name of exercise and you see them making love and committing sin. Others are seen in the car making love, kissing and fuddling in the stadium.

There are some who sell in the stadium but they have made the place

Do you have a story for us? Contact 08138773277 or crimewatchmirror@yahoo.com

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

CRIME WATCH

January 24, 2015

their homes. At the moment, only six private guards are manning the gates.

The National Sports Commission personnel are only interested in collecting N100 toll fees from people driving into the stadium. Nothing concerns them about the security in the stadium. The private security company in charge of the stadium deployed forty guards to the stadium but they were not being paid which made the security outfit to recall them so at the moment, the security of that huge stadium is in the hands of six private guards who don’t patrol the stadium but you see them sitting in front of the gates and opening the gate for persons who have been cleared by the toll collectors to drive in after they collected N100 entry fee.

The CCTV camera at the stadium is not functioning due to irregular electricity supply so you cannot use the cameras to monitor persons coming in and out of the stadium. We are appealing to the Nigeria Sports Commission and the Federal government to look into this problem and put maximum security in place in the National stadium” It was further learnt that due to the poor security in the stadium, business owners have resorted to providing security for their visitors and customers.

At Ojez, one of the biggest drinking joints in the stadium, our correspondent was informed that Ojez provides security for his customers.

A business owner in the stadium

Minister of Sports, Tammy Danagogo

who simply identified himself as Mr. Timothy said “The stadium makes a lot of money from events ranging from church crusade, weddings, and all sorts of events but the organizers of these events are responsible for the security on the day of their event . The National Stadium has been turned into drinking joints and event centre but the rate of crime in the stadium is high due to poor security. The police from the Surulere police station are aware of the crimes going on here and the DPO is worried about the ugly incidents. He has taken measures to stop the nefarious activities going at the place. The DPO has also met with all the stakeholders in the stadium and they are mapping out a way of nipping the crimes in the bud.

50

Labourer found dead in block making factory

Aderanti

PATIENCE OGBO

F

or Homicide detectives attached to the State Criminal investigation Department at Panti Yaba, the mysterious death of a labourer whose corpse was found in a block moulding factory in Lagos State is one too many in the new year.

The deceased identified as Apretu Mathew a 42-year-old man is said to be a national of Benin Republic but worked as a labourer in a block moulding factory located at Layode Phase2 Imota Ikorodu Lagos.

According to reports made by the owner of the factory to the police at the Imota police station, the workers had reported to work as early as possible that day but were surprised to see that Mathew was not around and efforts to reach him proved abortive.

The workers said Mathew was looking hale and hearty after the close of work and when he left other workers after the day’s job to spend the night in one of the offices in the factory.

Workers at the factory told the po-

Gov. Fashola

lice at the Imota Division that they became worried after they did not see Mathew and desperate efforts led them to where he slept only for them to find his corpse in the office.

It was gathered that the owner of the factory one Alhaji Bello, in his statement to the police, said he was shocked when he found Mathew’s corpse in the room “I came to my factory about 2.30pm but I noticed that Mathew was not around.

I asked the supervisor if he had seen Mathew but he said no. The supervisor told me that he has been calling Mathew on his cellphone but the phone rang but Mathew did not pick his calls. I became worried and went to the office where he usually sleeps.

I knocked on the iron door but there was no response. I called his phone and I heard the phone ring from inside the room but there was no response.

I called his name over and other but there was no response. I decided to peek through the net window and I saw his legs. I went to report to the police and they came and forced the door opened and we saw the lifeless body of

Mathew on the mat “.

A police source stated that after the officers forced the door opened,they saw Mathew’s lifeless body beside the wall.

“The police saw the man’s corpse lying on a rubber mat. He was wearing a shirt and a short and he used an ankara wrapper to cover himself.

There was a big generator in the room apparently he conected an extension box directly to the generator to charge his phone. He was also charging a rechargeable torch and a rechargeable radio was also charging. The man must have switched on the generator in his room and left it on throughout the night. We suspect that the generator belongs to the factory and the deceased used it to charge his gadgets.

We suspect that the fumes from the generator killed him as he might ignorantly left the generator inside while he went to sleep. “ It was further learnt that the police removed the corpse and deposited it at the Ikorodu general mortuary while the case was transferred to SCID for further investigations.

BRIEF

House maid abducts employer’s daugher

T

he home of a couple in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, is devastated following the kidnap of their little girl by their housemaid and security guard.

The story, which is already trending on Facebook, said that the little girl belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Sepribo Whyte.

The little girl’s name was not given.

The husband and wife are members of Christ Chapel International Church, D/ Line, Port Harcourt.

The story, already on Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko’s Timeline, states: “The daughter was kidnapped by their house girl and gate man. They ran away with the couple’s daughter yesterday in

PH, Rivers State. Please pray for her and share this picture and be on the lookout!”

The picture of the little girl was also shared on Maureen Uduak John’s Timeline on January 15.

Some Facebook friends have also sympathised and reacted on the alleged abduction. Over 400 people have shared her picture from John’s Timeline.

Berty Nwawulu on Facebook suggested the Whytes should apprehend the person that gave them the maid and the gateman fast.

Nwawulu added: “God please save this Angel and send forth your Angels to protect the baby.”

Ifeoma Ndubuisi noted: “Lord have

mercy! Wickedness in the heart of men.

Just tell me what in God’s name this little Angel had done wrong to them? My prayers are with the family. She will be returned home in peace, in Jesus name.”

Chitu Omodu said: “Oh dear! The heart of man is desperately wicked. Who can know it but God?” Christy Shimba prayed that God should expose the wicked and save the child.

Kenneth Mokwenye said he believes “Almighty God and her innocence will release her very soon.”

Madunagu Emeka wanted God to protect her wherever she is and reunite her with her family soon.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

REGIONAL NEWS

January 24, 2015

51

SOUTH WEST

Disruption of rally: Ondo PDP candidates flay •Commend Jimoh Ibrahim security operatives Ojo Oyewamide AKURE

T

he Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), candidates from the northern senatorial district of Ondo State in the next month’s general elections yesterday condemned the disruption of their campaign by security operatives in Owo, last Thursday.

They accused Governor Olusegun Mimiko of being the mastermind of the disruption, just as they described the act as an embarrassing incident.

A former Minister of Power and Steel, Dr. Olu Agunloye, who spoke at a press conference in Akure, vowed to resist any attempt to disrupt future rallies of the candidates.

He said they were the authentic candidates of the PDP in the state having emerged from the primaries conducted according to the constitution and guidelines of the party.

Agunloye, who is the Ondo North senatorial candidate, wondered why policemen and soldiers should be deployed to stop the rally meant to shore

up support for the party.

He said the campaign was organised to sensitise the people in the senatorial district to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan and to plead with aggrieved members of the PDP not to quit the party.

Agunloye alleged that all the roads leading to Owo were manned by police and soldiers to prevent people from attending the rally by the armed security personnel..

The former minister said: “Instead of sitting down and complaining that some people have decided to destroy the party, we decided that we should do something. And to do that, we started with a senatorial rally.

“But to our surprise, approximately 140 policemen, 50 mobile policemen and 45 soldiers were waiting to disrupt the crowd.

In fact, so many of them had been turned back.

Those coming from Ose were turned back; those coming from Akoko were turned back. Those who could make it to the rally were those who decided to stand their ground. Some of them abandoned their buses.”

Agunloye, who lamented the defection of some PDP chieftains from the district to the APC, added: “Some of our members defected to APC. Most of them came from Ondo North senatorial district.

As a matter of fact, two of the former Speakers of the Ondo State House of Assembly and several former commissioners of Ondo State that have defected came from our district.

“A couple of our own supporters have also been

leaving the party. And the reason for this is because the kind of merger which we expected to give a boost to the party has started to show more negative sides than positive sides.

“We are not prepared to leave the party. We are also very much ready to go into election and win.

So, we decided that the most important thing for us to do is to have a sensitization programme, not only for ourselves, but more especially for the

PDP and more significantly for President Goodluck Jonathan.

“As you can imagine, President Goodluck Jonathan will come to Ondo state to campaign. As a matter of fact, he will not get to Owo; he will not get to Erusu; he will not be in Oke-Agbe; he will not be in Idanre. He is expecting that we should carry out this entire job for him. President Goodluck knows that one-day-stop

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN (3rd left) with the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (2nd left) and others during the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Campaign Rally at Ajegunle, Ajeromi/Ifelodun Local Government Area, Lagos, on Thursaday, January 22, 2015.

Aregbesola Vs Omisore: Osun tribunal reserves ruling indefinitely Boladale Bamigbola OSOGBO.

J

ustice Elizabeth Ekpejime-led tribunal panel yesterday reserved ruling indefinitely on the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Senator Iyiola Omisore against the outcome of Osun August 9, governorship poll.

Governor Rauf Aregbesola was returned elected by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), but the PDP candidate rejected the result and petitioned the panel seeking its declaration to be declared the winner of the poll.

After the adoption of final addresses by the parties yesterday, Ekpejime informed the parties of the

panel to reserve judgement without giving specific date when judgement will be delivered.

She said that the date of the judgement will be communicated to the parties.

Commenting on the issues raised in their final addresses, counsel to the first respondent (Mr. Rauf Aregbesola), second and third respondents respectively, (APC and INEC), Chief Akinlolu Olujinmi, SAN, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, and Ayo Ogunleye, respectively, posited that Omisore’s petition should be dismissed because it was filed out of time.

In their separate remarks, they insisted that the petitioner did not call witnesses in respect 116 out of 142 wards being

campaign in Akure does not cover the entire state.”

He commended a leader of the party in the state, Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, for his efforts to ensure justice and reposition the state chapter of the PDP. The candidates who attended the press conference were Dr. Olu Agunloye, Chief Femi Adekanbi, Adesola Olateru Olagbegi, Bunmi Adaramola, Agauns Tubosun and Yemi Ajonibode.

challenged in the petition.

They further explained that PDP challenged results in 939 polling unit but did not call evidence on 709 polling unit, stressing that “they have abandoned their case in respect of 709 polling unit. Even, if they had called evidence in all the units, the 1st Respondent would still have won convincingly with majority lawful votes”.

However, while expatiating on the issues in his final address, counsel to the petitioner, Alex Izinyon argued that Omisore should be declared winner of the governorship election, having polled majority of lawful votes.

He said the1st respondent had admitted in page six of its final address that the figure allocated to him

by INEC after the poll was wrong, going by the table, indicating the results provided in the address Izinyon said: “The total votes, remaining for the APC after deduction is 234, 971. This is an admission from the 1st respondent, which is different from the INEC result, indicating that APC got 394,684 votes. I urge your Lordship to follow their result.

There was substantial non compliance with electoral process and irregularities in the election”.

“Preponderance of evidence before this panel shows, respondents have no case to weigh on the scale compared to the petitioner’s case.

“The petitioner with what we have submitted in his unwavering evidence

should be so declared and returned as the governor of Osun state”.

Meanwhile, Osun state government has accused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state of creating confusion at the venue of the sitting of the tribunal.

“It is startling how PDP leaders, their members and sponsored hoodlums could go to town jubilating over a non-existent verdict. The parties to the petition only made final submissions to the tribunal”, the government said in a statement.

Group warns against violence at political rallies Nick Uweru

A

group, Concerned Oodua Coalition, has warned against violence in the form of hurling missiles at party candidates during rallies stating that such acts should not be brought to the South West.

Speaking on this, Tunde Ijapo, spokesman for the group, warned those in the habit of throwing stones at other parties rallies to desist from such actions, stating that such attack would be resisted in the South West.

Ijapo described such action as ‘cowardly,’ saying politicians with such tendencies should be likened to people with Ebola and must be quarantined.

“Such cowardly act has no place in decent society. All we are interested in is the manifestoes of each party. Let them come and tell us what they have for us and we will decide to follow them or not,” Ijapo said.

52

REGIONAL NEWS

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

NORTH

Shettima warns Borno indigenes to shun violence

YY …As Jonathan visits Maiduguri today Inusa Ndahi MAIDUGURI

I

ncumbent Governor of Borno State and governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Kashim Shettima on yesterday, made a strong appeal to his supporters and citizens of the state not to show any form of disrespect to President Goodluck Jonathan and his entourage during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Presidential and Governorship campaign rally in Maiduguri today..

Shettima made the call in a statement he personally signed in Maiduguri which was made available to Saturday Mirror yesterday.

The governor’s call came on the heels of recent attacks on President Jonathan campaign team in Bauchi and Katsina States where irate youths reportedly went wild against the President’s convoy, an act, Shettima described as ‘disrespectful, show of intolerance and extremely bad politics’.

His words: “From what

I have read or heard in the media, so far, there has not been any issue of such in any APC controlled states visited by the President and Borno should not be an exception. We have political differences and our differences are legitimate and based on the principles of our political parties and what we stand for. But we must remember that His Excellency, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and as citizens of this country, we have an obligation to

respect his office and his person.

“Our millions of citizens who support the APC in Borno State and our Presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari and anyone that supports me or any of our National and State Assembly candidates in the State, should shun any act of violence, intolerance and unlawful political behavior before, during and after the President’s visit and should remain law abiding citizens of Borno State as our laws, norms and values

YY

demand”.

The governor noted that any act of disrespect to the President would send a wrong signal to the ambition of APC presidential candidate.

“Disrespecting the President’s convoy will not help the APC and General Buhari in any way, rather, it will provide ample basis for his and our political opponents to blackmail him and the APC. Any true admirer of Buhari should translate his or her admiration to massive support for him when he visits Maiduguri to launch his Presidential campaign at a date that will soon be made

PDP intensifies campaigns in Plateau

...as hoodlums vandalise ADC secretariat James Abraham JOS

P Bauchi State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Child Development, Hajia Talatu Barwa (middle) inspecting exhibits, during the opening of skill acquisition workshop in Itas Gadau Local Government Area of Bauchi State, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Minister urges Borno APC supporters to be tolerant at President’s campaign rally Inusa Ndahi MAIDUGURI

T

he Minister of State for Power, Alhaji Mohammed Wakil , has urged members and supporters of the ruling opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) in Borno State to be tolerant during President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to the state as the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential campaign rally hits Maiduguri, the state capital.

Addressing newsmen yesterday in Maiduguri, the Minister urged the opposition ruling party (APC) and its members and supporters to be tolerant during and after the

President’s visit to Borno and Yobe states.

His words: “The President is for all, irrespective of party and religious differences in the country, where Borno state is part of it,” adding that the military and the police are on top of the security situation in the state.

He therefore; called on the good people and citizens of the state to come out en-masse in welcoming the President conduct his Presidential Electioneering Campaign Rallies (PECR) at the Murtala Square.

On the schedules of President’s visit, he said: “When the President is being received at the Maiduguri Inter-

national Airport, he will go straight to the Shehu of Borno’s palace to pay homage and make one or two pronouncements on how to move the country forward, despite this Boko Haram insurgency that has affected three or five

states in the North East sub-region of Nigeria.

“From there; he will go straight to Ramat Square and flag off his Presidential Campaign Rallies for his re-election on February 14, 2015”. The Minister added.

public. “ Buhari is not coming today as earlier planned due to some adjustments made to make his activities more successful. Supporters of Buhari and the APC should not be involved in violence but should rather ensure they all obtain and secure their Permanent Voters Card to cast votes for him and all candidates of the APC during the forthcoming general elections.

Shettima however, urged the people of Maiduguri and the environs to restrain from attitudes that will show disrespect to the visiting President.

lateau State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has intensified its campaigns strategy ahead of the forthcoming general elections, The campaign train which kicked off in Shendam Qua’anpan and Langtang South yesterday, moved to Wase,Langtang North and Mikang Local Government Areas where the party’s governorship flag bearer, Senator Gyang Pwajok assured the people of his readiness to move the state to greater heights if voted into power.

Speaking in Wase, Pwajok said::”I want to thank you for this massive turn -out. Truly, this election is about the people

“.We need to come together as one so that we can break the barriers of religion, so that we can break the barriers of ethnicity and geography”.

Continuing, the PDP governorship candidate said: “If not for God, it would not have been possible for me as a young man, to be counted among the 109 senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“This is 2015, and God is trying to prepare another way that I should be counted among the nation’s 36 Governors from Plateau.

“I want to promise everyone here that I will not betray the interest of Plateau State. We will continue to work with the young and the old: men and women because, it is only together that we can truly be greater” Pwajok stated.

FG has failed Kwarans –Gov. Ahmed Nick Uweru

K

wara State Governor, Dr Abdulfatah Ahmed says the Peoples Democratic Party controlled federal government has failed Kwarans as it has no tangible achievements in the State. Governor Ahmed made this assertion when the All Pro-

gressives Congress campaign train made a stopover at Patigi, Kpada and Lade towns in Patigi local government area of the state.

Governor Ahmed noted that the lack of federal government presence in the state in terms of the provision and development of infrastructure has become well pronounced in the last six years of the Dr Good-

luck Jonathan presidency.

The Governor therefore advised the people of the State to collect their Permanent Voters’ Cards before the end of this month in order not to vote a new but progressive government of the APC. During a courtesy call on the Etsu of Patigi, Alhaji Ibrahim Chatta Umar, Governor Ahmed said if Nigeri-

ans do not collect their PVCs they would not be able to effect the desired democratic change in the country.

He urged Nigerians to remain concerned about the future of the country, stressing that only an APC government with General Muhammadu Buhari as president is better placed to restore good governance in the country.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

REGIONAL NEWS

January 24, 2015

53

SOUTH EAST

Ihedioha promises mass employment for youths Chris Njoku OWERRI

D

eputy Speaker, House of Representatives and gubernatorial candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), in Imo State, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, has promised to employ 15 youths each in the 305 wards of state if elected governor.

He said this would be his first step to tackling unemployment in the state.

According to him, apart from establishing industries to employ more youths, the 10,000 youths that was sacked by the incumbent governor, would be re absorbed.

He made the promise when he visited Okigwe and Onuimo Local Government during his campaign trip to the areas.

Addressing a crowd of party supporters, Ihedioha said he would create the job opportunities in the 305 wards through the completion of power sub-stations

in Okigwe and Ohaji-Egbema as well as fast tracking the completion of the Federal Government multibillion naira grains silos at Okigwe.

Promising further not to fail the electorates, he said the destroyed local government administration, “desecrated traditional institution” and the comatose health sector would be restored.

The outgoing lawmaker also vowed to make a difference in style of governance, saying: “The dif-

ference between me and Governor Okorocha is that he does not respect the rule of law and does not follow due process in his handling of administrative and legislative matters in the state.

Expressing worries over the astronomical rate of indebtedness in the state, the governorship hopeful, indicated that it would take the state several years to get out of its present state of indebtedness occasioned by “reckless borrowing of the state govern-

ment and other debts owed the contractors.

“Every month, the state collects over N2 billion from the federation account to oversee the local governments, but rather than use the money to develop the council areas, the money is diverted to building private estate to the detriment of the citizenry.

I will correct all these anomalies when, by the grace of God,S I become the governor of the state,” he said.

He also appealed to the

electorates to vote massively for President Goodluck Jonathan and all other PDP candidates in the forthcoming general elections.

Ihedioha was in company with his deputy governor, Hon. Chuma Nnaji, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Chief Achike Udenwa, former deputy governors, Ebere Udeagu, Douglas Acholonu and Ada Okwunu including all serving legislators, senators, state Chairman, Namadi Anyaehie, among others.

Glo delights customers with bonus

N

igeria’s National Telecommunications Company, Globacom, has increased the bonus attached to the ongoing Overload promotion, giving automatic 400 percent bonus airtime for every recharge of two hundred naira in the repackaged promo, called Glo Overload Reloaded.

Glo Overload which has already produced 20 millionaires was one of the five mega offerings Launched

by Globacom late last year to reward its loyal subscribers and spice up the Yuletide and New Year celebrations.

Subscribers under the overload promo were guaranteed 200 percent bonus airtime for every airtime recharge of two hundred naira denomination and above.

With the Glo Overload Reloaded Promo, a subscriber who recharges with two hundred naira will get a total value of one thousand nairaautomatically.

Any airtime recharge of five hundred naira will automatically give the subscriber a total of N2,500; N1000 will give N5000; N2000 will give N10,000; and N5000 will give a whopping N25,000 value.

According to the company, billions of naira worth of free airtime and data will be given out in the course of the promotion.

The company said that subscribers will be able to use their main credit to call any network at any time of the day and the bonus airtime for Glo to Glo calls

and SMS between 10pm and 8am, depending on the validity period of the recharge denomination, ranging from three to twenty days.

The repackaged promo has also expanded the benefits for data subscribers.

Previously, Glo Overload gave subscribers 200 percent bonus data for new data plan or renewal from N2000 and above. For instance, a subscriber got 4.5GB for data plan subscription or renewal of N3,000. However, with Glo Overload Reloaded, a subscriber gets 4.5GB of data for data plan subscription or renewal of N2,500.

Additionally, subscribers on the Glo Overload Reloaded Promo platform will also have a chance to become one of the 120 millionaires that the promo will produce. In addition to the 20 millionaires who have already emerged, a total of 100 more winners will emerge in the weeks ahead.

Speaking on the reloaded promo, Mr. Ashok Israni, Globacom’s Regional Chief Marketing Officer, said over N30 million naira worth of gifts will be given out as embellishment prizes in the course of the promotion.

According to him, these include modems, Nokia Lumia Smartphones, LED TV, HP Dual core Laptops, iPad Air and iPhone 6 devices.

He said Globacom decided to enhance the benefits of the promotion following the outpouring of goodwill and commendations from the company’s teeming subscribers.

L-R: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) House of Assembly candidate, Okigwe LGA, Charles Ezekwem; State Deputy Chairman, PDP, Sunday Chikwe; former Imo State Governor, Achike Udenwa and Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives/PDP Imo State governorship candidate, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, during a campaign rally at Okigwe on Wednesday.

Abia Govt. awards N110m contract for solar traffic lights

T

he Abia Government said it has awarded N110 million contract for the installation of solar powered traffic lights at strategic junctions in Umuahia, the State capital.

The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chief Anthony Agbazuere, said this at a news conference on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting in Umuahia.

He said the traffic lights would be mounted at Okpara Square, Federal

Medical Centre, Isi-GateUmuwaya, BCA, Uzuakoli Road Junctions and the Government House roundabout.

He also said the inauguration of the proposed airport in Ikwuano would soon take place, adding that the peace meeting between the government and land owners was being concluded.

He said the Aba Mega Mall had been completed while about 2,000 shops were ready for subscription by interested traders.

On politics, the commissioner said the State Government had uncovered plans by some opposition political parties in the state to clone the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to rig the elections.

Agbazuere said the parties involved were already moving from house to house, attempting to buy the PVCs from the electorate. ``Government is aware of the ploy by some opposition political parties, going from house to house,

to buy PVCs from people for cloning’’, he said.

He advised Abia residents not to sell their cards and to resist such offers and safeguard their PVCs. The commissioner reminded eligible voters that their voter cards remained the only power they had to vote in the forthcoming polls.

Agbazuere warned those involved in the illicit act to desist from it or be prepared to face the full wrath of the law.

54

REGIONAL NEWS

January 24, 2015

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

SOUTH SOUTH

APC to make Delta council headquarters development centres –Emerhor YY

Accuses PDP of misrule in Delta

Theophilus Onojeghen WARRI

A

President Goodluck Jonathan and first Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan at the funeral service of President Jonathan younger sister, Nancy Jonathan-Oloei, at Otuoke Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Oshiomhole accuses FG of lying over N2.4bn Edo water project Sebastine Ebhuomhan EDO STATE

G

overnor Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole has challenged the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government to show the people of Edo Central District where its purported N2.4 billion ‘completed and commissioned’ water project is sited even as he alleged that people in the area are far from getting potable water.

Speaking at Uromi during the campaign of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo Central, Oshiomhole said, “The problem we have today is that in the books of Abuja, PDP says they have brought water to Esanland. If you ask the Onojie of Ugboha, the Onojie of Uromi and all the other Onojies in Esanland, they will tell you that there is no water in Esanland. They came to my office and said they are not going to allow the Vice President to come.”

Speaking to a mammoth crowd at the rally, Governor Oshiomhole queried the PDP-led Federal Government’s claim of completion of a N2.4 billion Esan Water Project maintaining that no such project was executed

in the area.

“For 16 years, year after year, PDP keep promising they will give us power yet no power. APC State Government gave you transformers but you still don’t have light because transmission and generation which is required for the transformers to produce light have been sold by PDP Federal Government to their relatives.”

Oshiomhole said: “PDP have failed the nation. Instead of light, they produce darkness. They couldn’t produce jobs hence millions of Nigerians are unemployed and there is no light, industries cannot function. Are we going to allow them remain?”

Continuing, the governor berated PDP for its in-

ability to curb the menace of insurgency in the country According to him, “PDP brought kidnapping to Nigeria. Are we going to fold our hands till they kidnap us all? Today we are told that part of Nigeria is occupied by insurgents.

What is insurgency? Were they (FG) sleeping? They took one local government, two local governments, three local governments and they couldn’t respond to the extent they took the village of the Chief of Defence Staff.” “This is a serious issue. When the righteous rule, the people rejoice but when the wicked are in power, the people perish. If you do not have light, do you need any other evidence to know that

they are not righteous? So I want you to go back to your various destinations and take time to evaluate the performance of PDP in the past 16years.”

Oshiomhole however emphasized the quality of APC Presidential candidate as the man to bring the required change in the country.

He said, “Nigeria at this stage, need fighters to drive the required changes. We need a man of courage. It is not about who have more money, it is about who have clean hearts, who have more determination, who will fight for the people and General Muhammadu Buhari is the man to bring about these needed changes.”

ll Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Delta State, Olorogun O’Tega Emerhor has said his administration would ensure that the 25 Local Government Councils in the state are turned to Development Centres in a bid decentralize ruralurban migration to the grassroots.

Emerhor stated this in Agbor, Ika South East Local Government when he flaggedoff his campaign, the home town of Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) in the state.

The APC governorship candidate also took a swipe at the ruling PDP, describing the 16 years rule as one characterized by ‘ misrule, financial embezzlement and underdevelopment of the state’.

The APC candidate and his entourage which include party chieftains, his wife, Thomas Abanom, his running mate, former NUPENG Secretary General, Chief Frank Kokori and a host of others had earlier visited the palace of the Dein of Agbor King-

dom, Obi Keagborkuzi I, for royal blessings.

He told the monarch and council of chiefs that the era of erosion which has claimed several parts of Ika land would soon be over as the APC government would tackle issue of erosion and poor access roads in the area when elected.

Addressing supporters during the rally, Emerhor said: “I want you all to throw your weight behind me and vote massively during the forthcoming general election to enable me deliver the dividends of democracy to you. I want to assure you that from May 29 this year, you will begin to enjoy unprecedented transformation in all sectors of the Delta economy.

“We are here because we believe we have a better mission of improving Delta and Agbor Kingdom from the 16 years misrule by the PDP. I’m assuring you that an APC government will decentralize development in the state by making the 25 council development centres.”

He appealed to Deltans to massively vote for the candidates of the party at all levels noting Nigerians have agreed to give the APC to lead the state and country to her right belonging.

Tension mounts in Delta as gunmen abduct community leader Theophilus Onojeghen WARRI

T

ension has gripped 32 communities in Udu Local Government Area of Delta State following the abduction of the President- General of the clan, Chief Steve Sokoh by yet to be identified gunmen on Thursday night.

Chief Sokoh was reportedly abducted at about 8pm on Thursday at New York Junction along Udu road, Ovwian, a satellite town in

Warri, the commercial nerve centre of the state.

The incident has however sparked off protest from residents and youths in the area as commercial activities were yesterday, grounded in Udu as enraged youths in the town demanded for immediate release of their kinsman.

Youths in their thousands took to the streets blocking major access roads including the popular Udu Express junction and Orhuworhun roundabout causing heavy gridlock to motorists.

Speaking on behalf of the protesting youths, Comrade Sunday Subi and Dr. Dennis Kpoma expressed grievances over the kidnapped President-General, calling on the state and federal governments to find lasting solution to incessant kidnappings in the state.

“What is happening now in Udu is that our President- General , Chief Steve Sokoh has been kidnapped and the entire youths and indigenes of Udu hereby demand for his immediate release because all the Udu youths have vowed that there will be no election whatsoev-

er in Udu local government unless Chief Steve Sokoh is released”.

Also, Mr. Paul Odiete, who spoke for the President- Generals of the 32 communities in Udu kingdom, threatened that economic activities would be grounded in the 32 communities across until Chief Steve Sokoh is released.

Meanwhile, the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Celestina Kalu has confirmed the abduction, assuring that the state police command was already on top of the situation to free the community leader.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

January 24, 2015

Oil prices surge after death of Saudi Arabia’s King

O

il prices surged on Friday following the death of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, with investors watching to see if his successor will maintain output in the face of a global supply glut that had sent crude to sixyear lows.

Oil prices have more than halved since the middle of last year, dragged down by an oversupply of crude in the face of weak global demand.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, added to the slide when it led a decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to keep the cartel’s production quota unchanged at a meeting in November.

In afternoon Asian trade on Friday, WTI for March delivery was up 90 cents, or 1.94 percent, at $47.21 a barrel. Brent crude for March jumped $1.03, or 2.06 percent, to $49.55.

“As we are uncertain of how the new king would react to the current supply glut, we believe that the market is pricing in this uncertainty causing prices to spike,” Daniel Ang, an investment analyst with Phillip Futures in Singapore, said in a market commentary.

“However, this premium would likely only persist temporarily. This premium should wear off once the market is clear of the new king’s view on the oil situation.”

It would be recalled that oil prices tumbled on Thursday after news the European Central Bank launched a vast bond-buying programme aimed at kickstarting the eurozone economy. The news pushed down the euro, making dollar-priced oil relatively more expensive.

But the news of the Saudi king’s death sparked a recovery in prices, with the royal court announcing in a statement on Friday that King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz would be replaced by Crown Prince Salman.

Analysts said the focus would now turn to whether Salman, 79, keeps Ali al-Naimi as the country’s oil minister -- a position he has held since 1995.

“This is OPEC’s biggest producer we are talking about here,” said David Lennox, a resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney.

“People will want to

know more about the intentions of the successor to the throne,” he told AFP. Oil prices have lost more than half their value since June, when they were sitting at more than $100 a barrel.

OPEC, which supplies about 40 percent of the world’s oil, accelerated the fall when it kept its output target at 30 million barrels a day at a November 27 meeting.

Saudi Arabia has rejected calls from some of the cartel’s 12 members to slash output, preferring instead to lower prices in a bid to gain market share.

The cartel is facing a growing challenge from the US, where booming shale oil production has flooded the market with supplies and reduced demand for imports from the world’s top crude consumer.

Michael McCarthy,

chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, said he expects a smooth transition as the new king has already been making key executive decisions on oil and gas affairs.

“However, Saudi could in the short-term pull back slightly on oil production as a precautionary measure in this transitional phase,” he told AFP. “At the moment there is no indication that the Saudis will slash output production by a large amount.”

King Abdullah, believed to be around 90 years old, was hospitalised in December suffering from pneumonia and had been breathing with the aid of a tube.

In recent years, his advanced age and poor health had raised concerns about the kingdom’s future leadership, with Salman named crown prince in June 2012.

T

Philippines homeless ‘relocated’ during Pope Francis visit

T

he government in the Philippines is facing calls for an inquiry after it admitted relocating homeless people temporarily during Pope Francis’ visit.

Social welfare secretary Corazon Soliman said that nearly 500 people were taken from the streets of Manila to an upscale resort in the outskirts.

House of Representatives member Terry Ridon called for an inquiry, saying the move was a “clearing operation”.

Pope Francis arrived in the Philippines last week and left on Monday.

Mr Ridon said the government relocation scheme was “truly horrendous, given the fact that Pope Francis visited our country to - first and foremost - see and talk to the poor.”

The Philippine Star said he plans to summon Ms Soliman to explain her agency’s actions before lawmakers.

Ms Soliman said in interviews this week that the homeless families were removed shortly before the pontiff arrived on 15 January.

Many of them lived along the Manila Bay seafront, the venue for Sunday’s mass which drew a record crowd of six million.

On 14 January they were taken to the Chateau Royale

resort, which charges hundreds of dollars for a room per night, and returned to the capital on Monday after Pope Francis had left.

The families are now temporarily residing at government facilities in Manila, Ms Soliman said.

About six million showed up at the Manila Bay seafront for the Pope’s final mass before he left She defended the move as an effort to protect them from large crowds and crime syndicates during the Pope’s visit, adding that it was part of a scheme to eventually move them to rent-free temporary accommodation.

“Part of the orientation is to familiarise themselves with a room with a door and toilets,” Soliman told the AFP news agency.

She insisted it was “not for keeping them out of sight”, and said the Pope saw shanties and homeless people during his trip.

The controversy comes after reports that street children had been rounded up and put into cages in detention centres, which the government has denied.

Pope Francis had made poverty one of the central themes to his visit, calling for mercy and compassion for the poor and meeting and hugging street children.

Ukraine crisis: Is Russia stoking war?

T

Mourners carried King Abdullah’s body wrapped in a white shroud

Atomic Scientists: The world is two minutes closer to “doomsday” he Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists says Earth is now closer to human-caused doomsday than it has been in more than 30 years because of global warming and nuclear weaponry. But other experts say that’s way too gloomy.

The advocacy group founded by the creators of the atomic bomb moved their famed “Doomsday Clock” ahead two minutes on Thursday.

It said the world is now three minutes from a

55

catastrophic midnight, instead of five minutes.

“This is about doomsday; this is about the end of civilization as we know it,” bulletin executive director Kennette Benedict said at a news conference in Washington.

She called both climate change and modernization of nuclear weaponry equal but undeniable threats to humanity’s continued existence that triggered the 20 scientists on the board to decide to move the clock closer to midnight.

“The probability of global catastrophe is very high, and the actions need-

ed to reduce the risks of disaster must be taken very soon,” Benedict said.

But other scientists aren’t quite so pessimistic.

The bulletin has included climate change in its doomsday clock since 2007.

“The fact that the Doomsday clock-setters changed their definition of ‘doomsday’ shows how profoundly the world has changed — they have to find a new source of doom because global thermonuclear war is now so unlikely,” Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker wrote in an email.

Pinker in his book “The Better Angels of our Na-

ture” uses statistics to argue that the world has become less war-like, less violent and more tolerant in recent decades and centuries.

Richard Somerville, a member of the Bulletin’s board who is a climate scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said the trend in heat-trapping emissions from the burning of fossil fuels will “lead to major climatic disruption globally. The urgency has nothing to do with politics or ideology. It arises from the laws of physics and biology and chemistry. These laws are non-negotiable.”

he main pro-Russian rebel leader in eastern Ukraine says his troops are on the offensive and he does not want truce talks with Kiev.

Alexander Zakharchenko said his forces would push the front line back to the borders of Donetsk region.

They are in control of the city of Donetsk.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukrainian government forces of “criminal” shelling of civilian areas.

Kiev “ordered the start of major combat operations” along the front, he said.

Earlier, Mr Zakharchenko said the rebels “will not make any attempts at ceasefire talks any more”.

Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany have issued a call to end fighting.

On Thursday, Ukrainian government troops withdrew from Donetsk airport’s

main terminal, a scene of bitter fighting in recent weeks.

The government said the military still retained control of parts of the airport, but six soldiers had died and 16 had been wounded.

The government and its Western allies say Russian regular troops are fighting alongside the separatists, using Russian heavy artillery and tanks. Moscow insists that only Russian “volunteers” have joined the rebels.

Mr Zakharchenko said “we’ll attack right up to the borders of Donetsk region, but if I see a threat from other directions we’ll neutralise it”.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in fighting since the rebels seized a large swathe of Donetsk and Luhansk regions last April, UN officials say. More than a million people have been displaced.

Quote

of

the

day

If anything happens to Gen. Muhammadu Buhari before, during or after the elections, under the pretext of X, Y, or Z, we shall be left with no option than to conclude that the PDP and their surrogates are to be held accountable. – Malam Garba Shehu, Director of Media and Publicity, APC Campaign Organisation reacting to newspaper adverts by a PDP governor insinuating that the APC presidential candidate is likely to die in office if elected president.

Saturday, January 24, 2015. www.nationnationalmirroronline.net

The economy in 2015 (IV) I

t does not appear that government is taking very seriously the revenue warning signals arising from unstable oil prices. For instance, the disappearance of the balance of payment surplus of 2011 to 2013 and official foreign revenue decline, from almost 49 billion dollars at the end of April 2013 to 46 billion on September 19, 2013. There is also the issue of the short term portfolio capital inflow that reportedly reached 17 billion dollars in 2012. Those inflows have been targeting the bond market of the government.

Revenue warning signals were recorded with the decline in oil revenue excess crude oil account from 9 billion dollars in early 2013 to 5 billion dollars by midyear. This largely affected the implementation of capital projects and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) of the government in 2014. Nigeria’s oil revenue accounts for 90% of export, which is about 75% of the nation’s budget.

The Federal Government (inclusive of SURE- P) budget before presentation in 2015 came down by about 400 billion naira, specifically, from 4.9 trillion naira to 4.6 trillion naira!

At 4.6 trillion, it is a projected income and should the income not be realised, there will be further depletion.

2.6 trillion is for recurrent expenditure and 0.6 trillion or 633 billion naira is the amount available for capital project, which fell from the 1.5 billion naira in the 2014 budget. The sum of 291 billion is the fixed amount for subsidy on petroleum products. Other items of importance in the budget include the statutory transfer of 411 billion naira, debt servicing of 934 billion naira. The government will borrow the sum of 570 billion in 2015 and by the end of the year; the sum of (755 billion) would have accrued as deficit financing. In 2014, the Federal Government share from the excess crude account was 324 billion. In 2015, that amount will not be available, as the federal government projected share for this year amounts to 80 billion. SURE-P will run her operations with 102 billion as against 267 billion last year.

In 2014 SURE-P Board of Directors alone spent over one billion naira for their Board meetings! That will not be available in 2015, as the Board will now have to be contented with 50 million naira for their Board meetings and Board running costs, as allocated in the budget!

The Federal Government intends to be aggressive in non oil revenue in the year 2015. The government projected the total sum of 3.5 trillion, which is about 300 billion higher than 2014. The federal government intends to generate the revenue from the rich. For instance,

CFR

IN 2014, SURE-P BOARD OF DIRECTORS ALONE SPENT OVER ONE BILLION NAIRA FOR THEIR BOARD MEETINGS! THAT WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE IN 2015, AS THE BOARD WILL NOW HAVE TO BE CONTENTED WITH 50 MILLION NAIRA FOR THEIR MEETINGS AND RUNNING COSTS, AS ALLOCATED IN THE BUDGET! the Federal Government is introducing new tariffs this year or increasing existing ones. Government identified those areas of revenue sourcing in the New Year to include those who fly business and first class, who will need to pay additional surcharge as contained in this year’s budget. Specifically, government intends to generate the total sum of 23billion from the rich in the following ways: 10% surcharge on private jets (3.7 billion), 39% import surcharge on luxury yachts (1.6 billion), 5% surcharge on luxury cars (2.6 billion), surcharge on business and first class tickets on airlines, 3% luxury surcharge on Champagnes, Wines, and Spirits (2.3 billion).

Residents of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, who have houses valued at more than 300million will pay one percent of such value in the year under the newly introduced mansion tax!

The 2008 recession budget is better than the 2015 recovery budget and that explains the many predictions of difficult times ahead. For instance, more than a trillion naira was available in 2008 for capital projects. In 2015, we are going into the year with 40% of that amount.

The danger in the 2015 budget is that if the demands for the funding of insurgency increase more than one hundred billion naira, notwithstanding the allocation of 985 billion for defence and security, we may have to resort to external borrowing for such funding or forgo capital projects. Or better still, spend from the allocation from the capital budget, which is a little above 300million dollars.

Now that we are not going to spend that much for the subsidy, specifically

that we have budgeted the sum of two hundred and ninety one billion naira for petroleum support, we ordinarily expect a reduction of the pump price of petroleum products, A litre should now cost ninety naira only. The leftover of the sum of six hundred and eighty billion naira gain from the subsidy or as widely claimed, specifically the six hundred and eighty billion naira saved from the subsidy will now be used for other things.

The prayer is to keep oil price at the benchmark otherwise a further depletion will create crises if the recurrent expenditure is affected or the subsidy for petroleum products is depleted.

It is left for government officials to be advised on the management skills of the budget of 2005, when in January of that year, the price of oil was a little above $38 dollars. There is nothing new under the sun, as life must go on.

Beyond the accruable excess money from the crude account, the theoretical framework of the previous budgets was based on a certain benchmark. The disparity between the said benchmark and the new oil price today is contained by the increasing non oil revenue.

The main issue to be addressed is: will the private sector pay her increased taxes to government in 2015 only for it to be used to pay the salary of public servants or their travelling expenses? The only thing that can encourage payment of any kind of taxes is for us to see that those taxes are used for capital development projects, especially the provision of good infrastructure.

Regrettably, the amount estimated to be collected from non oil revenue this year is five times more than the total

amount government intends to spend on total capital project. This means we are now going to pay tax to fund the salaries of public servants from the private sector!

The neglect of Nigeria’s oil by the United States of America since July 2014 calls for great concern in view of the strong relationship between Nigeria and the United States. But the good news is the progressive interest developed by China and India in recent times. One is only worried about the reliability of these new interests!

In any case, there is no way it will be acceptable to anyone that there is no capital project for a population of over 160 million people or that anyone will shout Hallelujah for a year with capital project of less than three hundred million dollars for over 160 million people.

The salaries of staff will be regular, but I doubt if contractors will not look elsewhere for money beyond the Federal Government in the year under review. Government may not have the money to pay contractors and those that depend on government for money may wait beyond this year, except if such money is in the recurrent expenses. For instance, those that supply food and drinks or diesel will have their money paid faster than those that construct roads or provide infrastructures.

State governments that borrowed from the capital market may not be able to pay salaries, as some of them have signed irrevocable letters of authority to the Accountant General of the Federation, to pay their allocations to specific bank accounts from where the deductions of both the repayment and interest elements of their loans will be paid. Only a fraction of their monthly allocation will be made available by the concerned banks after the deduction, which may not be sufficient to pay salaries. The increase in interest rates and reduction in revenue allocation as the oil price projection depletes, will create further problems in the affected states, such that a lot of their projects will be abandoned. No amount of propaganda will replace good governance in those affected states, such as Ondo State. So also states that borrowed from foreign banks will be confronted with depletion in the country’s currency arising from foreign exchange loss. The cumulative effects are bad governance and poor living standards!

Those who thought we should not save for the rainy day yesterday, including the World Bank, may have achieved their bad intention of making us poorer, since they discouraged us from saving. They must now be happy to see Nigeria on a dangerous financial lane!

Printed and Published by Global Media Mirror Ltd: Head Office: Tel: 07027107407, Abuja Office: NICON Insurance House, Second Floor, Central Business District Area, Abuja Tel: 08070428249, Advert hotline: 01-8446073, Email: mail@nationalmirroronline.net. Editor: GBEMISOLA OLUJOBI. All correspondence to PMB 10001, Marina, Lagos.

Printed simultaneously in Lagos, Abuja and Ondo State. ISSN 0794-232X.