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P. 2 Top Story Man 44, dies during marathon sex in Edo

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P. 8 News Abductors of Clark’s son demand N60 million ransom

Vol. 4 No. 16

Saturday, April 5, 2014

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Top Story

P. 2

Gunmen burn 37 Fulani settlements, cart away 137 cows, 60 sheep

N150

Court verdict on defection

How Tambuwal averted bloody clash P. 6

•APC lawmakers to reassure constituents Nuella P. 26

President Goodluck Jonathan (right) with Bayelsa State governor, Seriake Dickson, acknowledging cheers on his arrival at Yenegoa for the marriage ceremony of his daughter, yesterday.

Electricity: FG gives one month deadline to contractors rs P. 9

x e STalk

20 sex facts

P. 32

Top Stories Two Page

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

April 5, 2014

Man, 44, dies during marathon sex in Edo SEBASTINE EBHUOMHAN

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xactly eight days after a 70-year old man allegedly died in a hotel in Benin City while having sex with a married woman-lover, another man, 44-year-old furniture maker, Julius Iyenakpe, slumped and died on Tuesday April 1, 2014 in another hotel during a sex session.

Iyenakpe, a father of three, who hailed from Agenebode in Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State, was said to have recently commissioned his house in December 2013 before he met his tragic end in the arms of a woman, whose identity was not disclosed by the hotel authorities.

According to family sources, the late

Lothario hurriedly left his home at about 9am on the fateful day after refusing the breakfast his wife prepared for him. He soon ended up in the hands of his lover at Edesogie Hotel, situated at No. 2, Obanor Street, Off Dumez Road in Benin City, Edo State.

Saturday Mirror gathered that two hours after the man went in with the female lover, the couple, who paid for only one hour, were yet to come out of the hotel room, making the hotel attendants to force the door open, only to behold the naked, lifeless body of the man. A packet of sexenhancement pill, Viagra, was found in his pocket.

Men of the Ugbekun Police Division were immediately called to recover his corpse along with his Toyota Pathfinder

Oshiomhole

SUV, his mobile phone and a cheque of N20 million allegedly issued by one of the

oil palm companies in Edo State.

His widow, Mrs. Iyenakpe confirmed to our correspondent that she learnt of her husband’s death when she called her husband’s phone and a woman answered and enquired if she was the wife, and then told her that her husband had an accident, requesting her to report at Ugbekun Police Station, where the news of her husband’s death was finally broken to her.

She attested that she had once fought her husband at a hotel when she learnt that he was there having sex with a woman.

Edo State Police Commissioner, Mr. Foluso Adebanjo, confirmed the death of the man in a telephone conversation with our correspondent.

…as gunmen attempt to free 18 kidnapping, robbery suspects in foiled jailbreak SEBASTINE EBHUOMHAN

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ut for the courageous confrontation of eagle-eyed prison guards and backup armed men of two prison vehicles in Benin City on Thursday afternoon, unknown gunmen would have successfully hijacked the vehicles and set 18 accused persons free.

Speaking exclusively to Saturday Mirror at the Edo State Headquarters of the Nigeria Prisons Service in Benin City on Friday, Controller of Prisons, Edo State Command, Mr. Effiom Etowa said no prisoner or any guard’s life was lost. He also denied the escape of any prisoner or accused persons as rumoured.

Etowa explained, “At 2.25pm on April 3, 2014, there was an

incident that happened, involving Oko Prison Court Escorts and some members of the public, who I may describe as miscreants. On the way back from court, two Black Maria pick-up vans with 10 and eight inmates respectively were conveying some awaiting trial prisoners with charges that ranges from armed robbery and kidnapping; two different offences.”

“Around Autopec Gas Station on Airport Road, my men observed two vehicles with no number plates. The description of the vehicles is a C-Class Mercedes Benz car and a Hyundai Elantra car. The two vehicles tried to block the prison vans. But my Assistant Superintendent of Prisons, who was in charge of the court duty, sensing that something bad was about to hap-

pen, asked the drivers to acceler-ate their vehicles. Good enough,, the drivers warded off the block-ade” “The pursuers did not know w that they were already approach-ing the prison premises. Ourr men quickly negotiated the e prison gates. When the vehicless were now trying to run away, we e blocked them and opened fire. Be-cause of our firepower, one of the e vehicles escaped while the otherr one, the Hyundai Elantra, we e punctured its tyres and arrested d the three occupants of the car.”

Etowa gave the names of the suspects as: Ehanire Osahon, Nosa Ernmwuntor and Osame Eguavoen and added that they have been handed to Edo State Police Command for proper investigation of the motive for the attempted hijack of prison vans.

Unknown gunmen burn 37 Fulani settlements, cart away 137 cows, 60 sheep in Plateau •Soldiers burnt our settlements, took our animals –Residents •No soldier burnt any settlement and no cow was carted away. No local was killed. Our operation is only targeting militia groups –Captain Ikedichi Iweha, STF Media and Information Officer

JAMES ABRAHAM

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group of soldiers yesterday allegedly attacked and burnt about 37 Fulani settlements in Ganawuri district in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State.

The Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) in Plateau State, Alhaji Haruna Boro Hussaini, told newsmen yesterday that the soldiers were attempting to replicate the unfortunate incident that led to the death of their brethren in Keana of Nasarawa State, adding that the soldiers also carted away

137 cows and 60 sheep.

However, the STF Media and Information Officer, Captain Ikedichi Iweha yesterday said there have been an ongoing operation around Plateau, Nasarawa, Benue and Kaduna States aimed at flushing out militia groups and people who are unauthorized to bear arms.

Captain Iweha said “The operation is ongoing in these areas I have mentioned but no soldier has burnt any settlement and no cow was carted away by any soldier. I am also not aware that any local was killed because the operation is only targeting militia groups.”

But Husaini countered that, “The soldiers came early this morning (yesterday) unannounced and started burning our homes. We don’t know what they were looking for or why they were attacking us. But thank God, no one was killed.

However, we heard that they also attacked some Berom homes in Ganawuri and that one person lost his life in the process.

“We the members of MACBAN have met on this issue and have resolved to see the Special Task Force (STF) Commander, Major General David Eniete on Saturday.”

Ndah between two prison officials

Police arraign househelp who killed Magistrate in Ogun •Househelp pleads guilty as charged FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

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olice in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital yesterday arraigned the 21-yearold househelp, David Uche Ndah, who allegedly killed a 65 years old retired Chief Magistrate last week Friday at Laderin Estate in Abeokuta.

David, who appeared before Magistrate Anthony Araba of the Magistrate Court 1, was arraigned on a one count charge of murder.

In the charge sheet titled “Commissioner of Police versus David Uche Ndah” read before the court, the Police prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Banji Sangotokun told the court that the accused committed the offence at about 3.p.m on Friday March 28, 2014.

The charge sheet reads in part: “That you David Uche Ndah on the 28th of March, 2014, at about

1500hrs, at Block 11, Flat C of Laderin Housing Estate, Abeokuta in Abeokuta Magisterial District did unlawfully kill one Funmilayo Timehin, aged 65 by matchetting her to death”.

The prosecutor further stated that the accused committed the offense “contrary to Section 316 and punishable under Section 319 of the Criminal Code Law of Ogun state of Nigeria 2006”.

The accused pleaded guilty to the offense as charged.

In his ruling, the trial Magistrate, Anthony Araba, who nearly betrayed emotions however, ordered the police prosecutor, ASP Sangotokun to duplicate the case file to enable the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) advice his court on the case.

Though no date was fixed for the continuation of the trial, the magistrate ordered that the accused be remanded in prison custody pending when the advice of the DPP would be ready.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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April 5, 2014

Saturday Starter

Confab: When will real business start?

The National Conference has been inaugurated. Three weeks into its existence, many Nigerians are still wondering whether or not it has actually started. Reason: they are not sure when delegates really want to commence the business for which they were nominated.

K AYODE FALADE

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hen President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated the ongoing National Conference on March 17, 2014, many Nigerians were of the opinion that the gathering would hit the ground running. But more than three weeks after its start-off, the confab is yet to stand up not to talk of walking.

Right from inception, it has been a beleaguered entity.

First to raise its head even before its inauguration was the composition of its members. Then came that of allowance. While many Nigerians were scandalized by the N12 million allowance for three months, some of the delegates rejected it outright claiming they are doing it gratis. Some delegates have, however, demanded for perks for their aides too.

Other issues taking the front stand more than three

Bakare rejects N12 m confab pay

Ogun State representative at the National Conference, founder of Latter Rain Assembly and former running mate to Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari on the platform of Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, in the 2011 presidential election Pastor Tunde Bakare, said that he would not accept the proposed N12 million earmarked to be paid to each member of the National Conference which was inaugurated by President Goodluck Jonathan on March 18, 2014.

But Pastor Bakare said he decided to be part of the delegates as part of his service to his country and as such, he sees no reason why he should collect such huge sum to render a service for his fatherland.

He told members of his church during a service: “A friend of mine called me that he heard on the radio that ‘Pastor Bakare had accepted to go, that his own fee is

weeks after the take-off of the hotly demanded for confab included food, its monetization or not, lunch break, what pronoun to use and not to use for male and female among others.

Questions pestering the minds of many now are but not limited to these: when will this long train start its engine, when will it take-off, when will it arrive at its many stops and will it finally make its proposed destination?

“This is the moment we have been waiting for; for this end I was born.

“Nigeria will be saved, Nigeria will be changed, and Nigeria will become great.”

...Kicks against Arabic chants by Kutigi Bakare

N12m’. Pastor Bakare will not take a kobo in the National Conference.

“I will not take a penny. It has nothing to do with others; that is by choice. We go with integrity of heart, it is not money.

The God of heaven will prosper us.

“What I say here is what I will do there.

I do not say others should do it, but I intend to do that so that our heart can remain pure. That does not mean the hearts of others are not pure but I don’t want anybody to think in any slight manner that the motive is this.

“Mr. Chairman, yesterday you said something at the inauguration of the Conference and I did not understand.

“Today again, you said it. I think you should pray in the way all of us understand because if I stand up and say, ‘Praise the Lord somebody,’ we will turn this place into a church service.”

I won’t forfeit my confab allowance – Ozekhome

A Federal Government delegate and human rights lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), said that his N4 million monthly allowance would go to charity and other destitute homes.

Ozekhome

“Whilst commending my good friends, Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, and Pastor Tunde Bakare for rejecting their own monthly take home of the alleged 12m allowance at the national conference, my own approach will be quite different. I will collect the money and distribute it to the less privileged and needy members of the society, the holoi- poloi, the vast majority of the “Frantz Fanon’s of the wretched of the earth” that populate the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Saturday Starter “I will not agree to further enrich the Federal Government of Nigeria by returning my conference allowance. For one thing, the money has already been appropriated and released from government coffer.”

He added that if the money was returned, “the skewed Nigerian system where corruption is very rife suggests that the money can develop “wings” and fall into wrong hands within government bureaucracy by simply “flying” away.”

However, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, also representing the elder statesmen, observed that the situation had not improved much.

Adebanjo said: “The situation has not improved much.

“I am not in support of anybody monetising anything.

“Whatever it is, I will only urge the secretariat to improve on the service.

“It has not yet improved at all.

“Many people, including myself, didn’t eat yesterday.

“The secretariat should improve the service, not monetising it. I didn’t come here for money.”

decided to nominate 290 people from the South, his area and nominated only 200 from the North.

Automatically, that gives the South a serious advantage of two third majority without even any contribution from the North. And I don’t think this is what Mr. President wants. Because, if that is done, then it will not be a Nigerian decision.

It will be a southern Nigerian decision which is not healthy for Nigeria. Now, I think that sanity should prevail and, therefore, in view of the practical situation on the ground, we should take the three quarter decision and stand there” –Ambassador Yerima Abdullahi, an elder statesman from Gombe State.

He said flexibility should be allowed to dominate proceedings.

Chinedu Obasi, representing students association from South east, also insisted on reducing the break time.

But the Senate President in the aborted Third Republic, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, from Benue State, disagreed with Osoba and Ezeife, saying the time provided in the rules book should be left as it is.

Senator Adolphus Wabara, another former Senate President and delegate from Abia State, argued that the time provided was enough, urging a clear demarcation between the presiding officers and other principal officers. “If quorum is formed, we should demarcate between the presiding and principal offers. The time provided is enough,” he said.

Consensus should be the order of the day –Clark

Ezeife

Delegates refuse monetisation of lunch

Delegates to the National Conference on Thursday in Abuja rejected that their lunch be monetised and the money paid to each of them.

Some of the delegates had complained over the quality and the inability of some of them getting lunch during break.

Shortly before adjourning for lunch, a delegate representing the Association of Retired Police Officers of Nigeria, J.I. Ebinum, moved a motion for the lunch to be monetised.

Ebinum’s motion was not seconded.

At the resumed plenary after lunch, Dan Nwanyanwu, representing Labour Party, drew the attention of the Deputy Chairman of the conference, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, to the lunch issue.

Nwanyanwu cautioned delegates to be careful of how they clamour for the monetisation of their privileges to avoid members of the public reading negative meanings into it.

However, Akinyemi said that the attention of the leadership had been drawn to the issue but that the secretariat was addressing it.

Chief Josephine Anenih, representing the elder statesmen, said shortly before the adjournment of plenary that provision was made for 500 delegates.

According to her, some non-delegates have been eating at the canteen and this has reduced the food ration for the delegates.

Anenih said: “The issue has been sorted out and the food has improved.

“So, we don’t want to discuss it.

“We want to eat and the reason we want to eat is that it affords us the opportunity to interact.

“If the leadership asks us to go home to eat and come back, we will not enjoy this conference again.

“So, please we want to eat here.”

Sleeping delegates

Delegates at sleeping session

The National confab which is holding at Abuja presently has stimulated a lot of attention because we are all represented there...these men and women are there to represent our thoughts and cry out what we are suffering and find solutions together, but the reverse seems to be the case.

As the meeting is going on many of the delegates are having to themselves a good nap, Check out delegates of the national conference enjoying a good nap. Each one of these “sleepers” will still go home with N12million and other privileges....

“Consensus should be the order of the day, but where we disagree, are we going to stop this meeting? We should not allow rules or orders to stop us from proceeding. All over the world, the practice is two third majority. No one here should deceive us that, that is the mindset of Mr. President. This matter has come to an end. We should decide it. So, Mr. Chairman, let’s put Nigeria first. Whether we are talking about two third majority or 75 percent, we are all Nigerians. Let’s put it to vote if we cannot decide.” – Chief Edwin Clark, a delegate on the platform of elder statesmen

‘My kingdom extends to Cameroun’

Osoba

Osoba wants shorter lunch break

Abdullahi

South has serious advantage –Abdullahi

“If you analyse the membership of this conference, you have 492 outside the officials. But going a little further into the demography of this country, about 55 percent of the population is from the North, but Mr. President, in his own wisdom,

Lamido Adamawa

While some delegates agreed with the status quo in the rules book of the conference which provides for session to run from 10 a.m to 6 p.m with two hours in between for lunch, many others argued that the time was too much.

The followed a motion by a former governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, who suggested that closing time should be 4 p.m and lunch time reduced to one hour.

According to him, the adjustment in time would enable the media ensure a better coverage of the conference by filing their stories on time. Besides, he said the idea will also enable delegates to have fruitful deliberations.

A former governor of Anambra State, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, supported Osoba.

Alhaji Muhammadu Barkindo Mustapha, the Lamido of Adamawa, stirred the hornet’s nest, on whenhe said he had another kingdom in Cameroon.

“Mr. Chairman, I want to sound a note of warning. I have been sitting here for three days now watching and listening. We should not take cue from the so-called civilized people of western countries because they are always after their own interest and they can use anything including coercion to protect that interest,” the monarch said.

“Listening to the debates and behaviour of some of the delegates here, it beats my imagination why a gathering of people like us will behave the way we are.

“The President delivered an address and laid down what we are supposed to discuss and what not to discuss. But many people here, some of them elder statesmen, who claim to be strong loyalists of the President unfortunately, these people are in the forefront to contradict what the President has said.

“In the long run, if we are not careful, this conference will flop. God forbid. If it flops, the resultant effect will not be imaginable. If anything happens and the country disintegrates, God forbid, many of us who are shouting their heads off may not have anywhere to go.

“My people and the people of Adamawa have got somewhere to go. I am the Lamido Adamawa and my kingdom extends to Cameroun. The larger part of my kingdom is in Cameroun. Part of that kingdom is today called Adamawa State in Cameroun.

You see, if I run to that place, I will easily assimilate.”

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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April 5, 2014

Saturday Starter

It’s a reflection of the Nigerian society – Lukuman Agboluaje, Publicity Secretary, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Oyo State.

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he National Conference kicked off some weeks ago but discussions are still centred on what many considered as trivial and mundane. Is that what should obtain now?

This is not a matter of what should obtain. The people there are not from the moon. These delegates are Nigerians also.

Every human being is a product of his society, no matter how they try. The important thing is that they have been able to sit down and discuss. And they are still dis-

Omeni

I have no confidence in confab

– Francisca Omeni, legal practitioner

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rankly speaking, I do not have confidence in the ongoing national confab, it’s another means of squandering public funds by this same old hands ruining the country’s economy. The huge sum of money being shared among the delegates is shocking and alarming! How can a single person in public office of a country where there are extremely poor people living below $1.25 a day earn N4Million a month, while the people being represented languish in poverty, tell me, what is the essence of squandering N7billion on old tired 492 delegates who are there to represent solely their own interest when education in the country is dwindling, unemployment is on the high rate, power is nothing to write home about. Tell me if they are actually there for the good of those they claim to represent, would they concede to the N4Million per month for sitting.

On whether or not the set objectives of the confab would be realised? Well... it’s not a question of whether the set objectives will be realised, but the challenge is how to ensure that neither its process nor its conclusion is counterproductive to our national cohesion and unity, most especially the senseless maiming and killing of innocent lives in the Northern region. Intolerance is on the increase. This is one of the critical issues that should be addressed by these delegates, rather than engage in damaging remarks.

cussing now. What we should look forward to is the end result of what they will do.

And I think the question on probably the issue of prayer is or is not important is just one of the issues that is very significant in this situation.

In the past, religion was not so much important. We have had a Muslim/Muslim ticket in the past. This was Chief MKO Abiola and Alhaji Babagana Kingibe. It led to the freest and fairest election in the history of the nation. And they won. But the reality of the present situation is that our elite have trumped up the issue of religion.

They have created an issue out of it. They have made it a trump card. But you cannot run away from that reality. It is a way of telling the other party that they are still in existence. So, it is not something that is important. It is how far they can go in agreeing on such an issue that will show the capability of the nation to remain as one.

That is the reality. There is nothing bad in such a discussion. I’m a practising a Muslim. But there is nothing bad in discussing the basis of relationship between various people. That is the essence of the Confab anyway. Nigeria is not a monolithic society.

So we should expect such a discussion.

Now, you said they are asking for remuneration for their aides; are the members of the National Assembly not doing that too? Ordinarily, what these people are supposed to have gone to do is to service us, to create a law that will make a correction.

Ordinarily they should have aides. And it is not even all of them that are asking for

remuneration. Some of them have said they would donate their remuneration to charity and so on. So it is a reflection of the composition of the society. You cannot run away from that.

With all these at the back of your mind, do you see this gathering achieving, at the end of the day, what it was initially set out to achieve?

Yes, it is possible. At least the way they are moving, they have been able to decide on some rules; some guidelines on how to continue their discussions. That they can even come together and discuss is even an achievement on its own. Don’t forget that the opposition has said that it does not believe in the confab. Like I said, their coming together to meet as Nigerians is progress on its own. They have been able to reach some decisions especially about rules. That they have also reached consensus on some guidelines is good on its own and it shows that they can still coexist peacefully.

What is your take on the boycott of the confab by the major opposition party?

The opposition is always looking for chances of creating problems. The issue of partisan politics in the confab is not arising now. Form the discussions they have had so far, the South West seemed to have appeared prominent even with the exclusion of the mainstream. The mainstream is always judged by the pattern of the elec-

Agboluaje

tion. And there is no doubt that they, the opposition, are in charge of the zone today at least judging by the government in the South West states. We cannot run away from that reality. But if that is what is on ground, Chief Obafemi Awolowo himself while alive said people should not run away from discussion. They should not run away from elections; because when you do that, you are abandoning the issue to other people that may not be as capable as you are. And you have no cause to complain if you leave it into their hands.

The boycott was as a result of the spontaneous reaction of their leader, Senator Bola Tinubu, which they cannot contradict. Dr Kayode Fayemi has said it in different fora that they were the people who led the call for the people to come and discuss.

It’s business as usual

– Benjamin Odeh, legal practitioner and rights activist

I

s this how the confab should take off ?

I think that in the proper sense of it, confab ought not to have started the way it did. Though I have not been privileged to listen to or read the full text of the President’s opening speech, however, I do know that there have been some issues at the confab and part of these are: voting pattern, prayers and other ones which I think are of no importance in a conference of this significance. It is very amazing that the confab which the Federal Government has spent billions of naira on have not settled down to serious business by now more than two weeks after take-off. To me, that portends serious problem.

What do you think are the factors responsible for this?

It is a combination of factors. The first is that, we all know the complex nature of Nigeria’s setup. Nigerians are very sensitive when it comes to issues of religion, ethnicity and what will improve the living standard of Nigerians. Another factor is the age of most of the delegates. It is either they are ex-this or ex-that. These are people that contributed to the problems of Nigeria. The same crop of people that

created the problems Nigeria is swimming in today are the same people that have nominated themselves to the confab. This is with the exception of some few though.

The same people have brought to the confab the same mentality, attitude and character they have used to put this country into where it is now. And you can see the level of arguments that have been going on at the confab now. Look at that they went through before agreeing on the voting pattern. While some said simple majority, some went for two third which has always been the norm, now they have gone for 70 per cent. Of course we know that some sections of the country came to the confab with a particular mind set. And it is clear that it is already preconceived in their heart that there are issues they do not want to be touched. These and many more reasons are responsible for the current problems they are having at the confab.

If the confab should go on like this, do you see it achieving its goal?

If things should continue the way issues are unfolding right now, I don’t see the confab achieving much. The confab on its own has no legal backing as it were, and as I speak to you the case is in court.

Again Nigerians who sit right now at the confab are not the choice of the people.

Most, if not all, were handpicked. As far as I am concerned, it is going to turn out to be like the same conference that Nigeria has had in the past because nothing much is going to be realised out of it. Ordinarily, Nigerians ought to have taken the opportunity of this confab. We ought to have made the best use of this opportunity to turn around the country but not with the class of these people. At the end of the day, we are not even looking at what the government will do to the outcome of this confab. Already some people are insinuating that Mr President has a hidden agenda which he has denied over and over. There are so many connotations to this confab. 2015, the election year, is around the corner for the current administration. I don’t want to go into that but the truth of the matter is; looking at the delegates, one would discover that not many of them would make useful contributions. They are merely warming the seats: sleeping away while the discussions were going on. I may sound pessimistic; but I don’t see much coming out of this confab.

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NATIONAL NEWS

April 5, 2014

Court verdict on defection: How Tambuwal averted bloody clash •APC lawmakwers to reassure constituents TORDUE SALEM ABUJA

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ut for the wise counsel and prompt intervention of its Speaker, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, the House of Representatives would have been immersed in a bloodbath on Wednesday, April 2, 2014 over the High Court pronouncement asking some member of the All

Progressives’ Congress to quit their seats for dumping the Peoples Democratic Party, a platform on which they won elections to the National Assembly.

This is just as the affected APC lawmakers resolved to embark on an aggressive campaign in their various constituencies to disabuse the minds of the electorate on the subject of the Court Order.

The Chairman, House Committee on the Federal Capital Territory, Hon. Emmanuel Jime(APC-Benue) revealed this in an exclusive interview with Saturday Mirror in Abuja yesterday.

His words: “A major bloodshed was averted by the wise and statesmanly intervention of the Speaker in that closed session. If not for him, we would be telling a different story today.”

The lawmaker said the Speaker, in his usual discretion, advised the PDP lawmakers who were spoiling for war with the opposition not to give further ammunition to the detractors of the National Assembly.

“You know that the National Assembly is already seen in bad light by some people who insist that no good has been done by us, so there was a need for cau-

Vice President Namadi Sambo (right) and Permanent Secretary, Water Resources, Amb. Godknows Igali, at a meeting on the Gurara Phase 1 and Kafin Zaki Dam in Abuja, yesterday.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

tion; and then there was also the issue of precedence.

“The Speaker reminded the House that lawmakers had defected before in the House without questions to the parties they wanted in the past and nobody raised eyebrows.

“He also raised the question of the order of the High Court advising members to leave their seats as a mere advice and not a direct order on them to vacate their seats. So, at the end, reason prevailed and the troublemakers were forced to backdown and not engage in a fight that could have led to a serious crisis,” he said.

Jime, who is also a lawyer, said although tempers of lawmakers on both sides of APC and PDP were high, any attempt by any member of the House to upset proceedings would have been subjudicial and unacceptable.

“Like the Speaker, I would advise that all members trying to cause instability in the House should hold on until all the legal channels pertaining to this matter are duly exhausted.

“We must also have it in mind that the issue of defection could go as far as to the Supreme Court…

“Part of what we are going to do this weekend, is to educate our constituents about this order. They must know that this order does not ask us to vacate our seats. It is a mere Orbiter Dicta (advice or opinion) of

the judge and we are free to ignore it, and that is what we have done”, he said.

Recall that on Wednesday, the House had summarily gone into a closed door session that lasted an hour.

Before the session, the Peoples Democratic Party caucus in the House had held a meeting presided over by Majority Leader, Hon. Mulikat AkandeAdeola(Oyo).

The PDP caucus meeting lasted for about two hours, where the caucus, Saturday Mirror gathered, the issue of blocking the APC lawmakers affected by a High Court Order from participating in proceedings was taken.

37 lawmakers had on December 19, 2013, defected from the PDP to APC, winning a slight majority.

But the PDP took the lawmakers to court, claiming that the cross-carpeting violated section 68(1g) of the 1999 Constitution.

The section, in summary, says the defector must do so on the premise of a division in a party or merger.

The case of PDP against the defecting lawmakers dragged on till Monday when a Federal High Court advised that they vacate their seats on the basis that there was no crisis or division in the PDP. However, an earlier judgement had declared that the PDP could not declare their seats vacant.

NECO releases November/December exams result Leadership failure, bane •Records 53% pass in Maths, less than 50% pass in English of Nigeria’s growth –Tofa PRISCILLA DENNIS MINNA

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he National Examinations Council (NECO) has released the results of the 2013 November/December Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) results with the 61, 759 candidates securing 53.81% Credit Pass in Mathematics and 60% Credit Pass in Chemistry.

However, they recorded less than 50% in other core subjects that include 48.77% Credit Pass in English Language, 34.27% in Biology, 1.07% in Physics, and 9.89% pass in Geography.

The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of NECO, Professor Promise Okpala, announcing the results told journalists at the counils’ headquarters in Minna, Niger State, that the examina-

tion body also recorded less than 1 % in exam mal-practices at the national level, through what he describes as the paintaking efforts of the council.

He stated that records had shown an improvement in the results of the external exams over the past three years as comparative analysis clearly depicts, saying in Mathematics, 44.74 had Credit Passes in 2011, 54.79% in 2012, 53.81% in 2013, while in English, 10.03 in 2011, 33.89% in 2012 and 48.77% in 2013, respectively.

In Chemistry, he said, 5.73% Credit Passes were recorded by candidates in 2011, 30.17% in 2012, 60.86% in 2013, just as 30.26 scored Credit Pass in Economics, 33.57% in 2012 and 62.87% in 2013, among other subjects.

The analysis of malpractice cases shows that only

0.14 per cent was recorded by the Council during the examination, a suituation which the Registrar attributed to the doggedness ofthe security agencies and those who monitored the examination.

“This low level of malpractice is an eloquent testimony of the painstaking efforts the Council has consistently made to eradicate examination malpractice.”

The Registrar, speaking on the security challeges in the North East part of the country as regarding the conduct of the exam, said the council did its best to carry all the students in the affected states along at extra cost that was not captured in the budget.

He, however, lamented that some candidates lost their lives due to the problem.

No staff, he said, was lost.

He said, “During the

conduct of the November/ December examination, there were security challenges and threat to lives and properties. Though, we were lucky not to have lost any of our staff, some students were not that lucky as some of the students were killed in a school. It was like conducting examinations in a semi-battle area.”

On some federal government colleges closed down down due to the challenge and measures taken to ensure the June/July exams are held, Okpala explained that efforts were being made to ensure that students in the affected schools write their examinations in other schools.

He said adequate steps were being taken to ensure that the security challenges do not pose a problem to the forthcoimng exams.

ALEX MOMOH KANO

T

he various socioeconomic factors militating against the growth of Nigeria have been blamed on leadership failure at the different levels of government.

One time presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in the 1993 presidential election, Alhaji Bashir Tofa, heaped the blame on poor leadership in an interview with Saturday Mirror.

He said to a large extent, desperation for power, position and money politics had made many to make the interest of the nation and its people in general secondary.

“In as much as we allow desperation for power, position and money politics to take place of sensible

reasons and sound logics, then we are in a serious state of dilemma,” hes aid.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain stated that the issue of money polity in a democratic and political practice should be looked into.

He added that “Nigeria can never progress to the level where equal justice, honesty, transparency and accountability which are the bedrock on which obtainable democracy can be achieved.”

He called on leaders, especially those at the executive positions, to summon courage and political will in making drastic and urgent changes in the country’s administrative system in order to usher in more resources which could be channeled toward developing enabling infrastructural needs that would meet the demand and yearning of the populace.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

April 5, 2014

OPEN LETTER TO MR. PRESIDENT 4th August, 2014.

His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Your Excellency,

ALHAJI ISIAKA ADELEKE ATTACK ON POLICE AFFAIRS MINISTER: AREGBESOLA, APC AGENDA We hereby wish to bring to your notice the clandestine move by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government and one of the gubernatorial asp rants in today’s primary, Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke, to cause mayhem at the venue of the primary election.

The intention of Alhaji Adeleke and his co-travelers in this plot against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is to discredit the outcome of the primary. And that was why he used his thugs to attack the Minister of Police Affairs and Senator Iyiola Omisore at the Ideal Nest Hotel, venue of the meeting with five-man Electoral Committee from PDP headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday night.

Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke, a suspect PDP gubernatorial aspirant acting a script from the APC-led administration, has employed all manner of shenanigans to disrupt, stall or discredit the PDP primary so as to fan an ember of discord among party faithful.

Your Excellency, you will recall that Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke, when he joined the gubernatorial race, said that the former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, told him that President Goodluck Jonathan had tipped him as the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in August 9, 2014 election. And when Otunba Gbenga Daniel issued a disclaimer that he never told him that Mr. President had anointed him as PDP gubernatorial candidate, he changed the tune that it was Osun PDP elders that encouraged him to run. What an inconsistency!

We have it on good authority that all the families of Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke registered as members of APC during the last registration exercise. Alhaji Adeleke is also on the payroll of APC-led administration, with the mandate to destabilise the PDP before moving to APC to join his kith and kin who had earlier joined the party.

It is on record that Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke directed his people in Ede during the 2011 general election to vote en-masse for the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (now APC) against the PDP’s candidates.

We have also uncovered the plot by APC to get some hoodlums with PDP T-shirts and fez-caps through Alhaji Adeleke to cause mayhem across the length and breadth of the state tomorrow in order to disrupt the primary and portray PDP as a violent party.

We implore you, Sir, to use your good office to ensure that adequate security is deployed to forestall the breakdown of law and order as Alhaji Adeleke, working in concert with the APC government, is bent on using hoodlums to foment trouble before, during and after the gubernatorial primary.

Already, the state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, had boasted in the interview he granted the Osun Defender of April 3, 2014 that “PDP will have to march on blood to win Osun gubernatorial election.”

This and many more are pointer that unless something is done urgently, some people have started to fan ember of discord and may go to any length to disrupt the peace hitherto enjoyed in the state.

Accept my warmest regards.

Yours Sincerely, Prince Diran Odeyemi Media Director, I O C O CC National Chairman of PDP Wadata Plaza, Abuja.

Chairman BoT, PDP National Security Adviser DG SSS Inspector General of Police

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NATIONAL NEWS

April 5, 2014

Abductors of Clark’s son demand N60m ransom •We’re getting close to them-Police THEOPHILUS ONOJEGHEN WARRI

T

he abductors of Mr. Ebikeme, second son of elder statesman and Ijaw national leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, who was whisked away by heavily armed gunmen on Wednesday evening have demanded N60million from the family before the victim could regain freedom.

The police in Delta yesterday reassured that they

are getting close to the kidnappers; even as it confirmed that the hoodlums had contacted the family demanding for a ransom before the victims could be freed.

The Delta State Police spokesperson, DSP Celestina Kalu told Saturday Mirror when contacted on phone that they had heightened the clampdown on the kidnappers, saying they were very close to their den.

She added that the arrested suspect is helping the

force in its search to arrest the remaining suspects.

According to Kalu: “The arrested suspect has started talking and he is helping us with useful information. He has also given the names of the people that kidnapped Chief Clark’s son. They have contacted the family.

They demanded N60million ransom. We are still trailing them and I can assure you we are getting close to them.”

A dependable family source told Saturday

Mirror on phone yesterday that it was true that the abductors had contacted the family.

The source who pleaded not to be named, added that they called the victim’s father, Chief Clark late Thursday evening.

Efforts by our correspondent to probe the source further was rebuffed as he declined giving more details on the conversation with the kidnappers.

He disclosed that the family had agreed not to give ransom to the abductors.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Nigeria to strengthen economic ties with China –Sambo ROTIMI FADEYI ABUJA

T

he established Nigeria-China Joint Commission is expected to be upgraded into a bi-national level to enhance greater communication and status of meeting in the relationship between Nigeria and China in the near future.

Vice President Namadi Sambo stated this yesterday during an audience with the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, Zhang Ming, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The delegation was in Nigeria to lay the political groundwork for the forth coming visit of the Chinese Premier, Li Keqiang, to Nigeria to consolidate the existing ties between the two countries.

The vice president, while welcoming the delegation, noted that Nigeria and the Republic of China established a long standing relationship as far back as 1971.

He stated that, “Nigeria

currently stands as the third place trading partner with China in Africa and is aspiring to be the number one trading partner.”

The vice president particularly appreciated on-going relationship with the Chinese company collaborating in partnership with the Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) in the installation of new ammunition protection lines, mass production of military hardware and other armored personnel carriers and clothings.

He stated that the Nigerian government supports the reform programme of the Chinese Prime Minister.

The vice president said, “Nigeria fully associates itself with the attainment of the goal of the Beijing declaration, an action plan for the 2013-2015 programme as it solicits for more intervention of Chinese government through focus towards Africa’s development in the interests of our two countries and humanity in general.”

Don’t take IPMAN’s strike threat serious, NUPENG urges Nigerians OLUFEMI ADEOSUN AND HAPPINESS OBI

L-R: Mrs. Florence Regha; Mrs. Irerua; Mr. Frank Ejiareh, Team Leader, The Living Faith Church (Winners’ Chapel) of Iyekogba District, Airport Road, Benin City and CSP Oriabure John, Farm Manager, Nigerian Prisons Farm Centre in Ogba, Benin City, during the donation of 50 bags of cement by the church to the centre for the construction of a Prison Chapel, recently.

FG harmonises ethical standards for health research MARCUS FATUNMOLE ABUJA

T

he federal government has ratified plans to adopt hightech online application that would help in harmonising ethical standard in medical research in Nigeria.

The move is also to help promote adherence to standards, ensure greater protection of human rights during research procedures, and aid elimination of flaws inherent in medical research in Nigeria.

At a meeting of various research ethics institutions and committees comprising Council on Health Research for Development, COHRED, and National Ethics Research Committee of the Federal Ministry of Health, in Abuja yesterday, a Pedi-

atric Pulmonologist, and a lecturer at the Bowen University Teaching Hospital, Ogbomosho, Oyo State said: “The meeting is about the initiative for the new development that the Federal Ministry of Health in Nigeria has come up with; to improve efficiency of research ethics on Nigeria through the use of online platform which is basically intended to raise the current paper-based system with the online system.

“So, basically, the system will allow researchers to be able to submit their proposals online, the research ethics committee will be able to read the applications online, they will also be able to review the applications online.”

“The benefits include the reduction in waiting

period, it will further improve the efficiency of ethics committees, they will quicker to respond and they will be quicker to receive applications; and it will also harmonise the review process because at the end of the day, you will have almost all research committees in Nigeria using the same processes. It also reduces the review time and also, it definitely improves the communication between the researchers and the research ethics committees,” he added.

Similarly, Head, CONRED Africa, Boitumelo Mokgatla, said the meeting was to bring all participants from various health facilities across the country to discuss the review of health research activities coordinated by ENREC in Nigeria, stressing that “the

objective of the meeting was to add electronic software portal that have been developed by COHRED that is a non-for-cash organisation based in Geneva.

“This organisation has developed electronic portal that can facilitate in terms of quality and efficiency of running the health research processes, controlling, regulation and registration by ENREC. This portal they have developed is developed for all countries of the world that want to use their portal.

“There is therefore the need for us to adapt it, customize it for our national use. We’ve called the meeting for us to interact with the representative of COHRED to adapt and customize this electronic portal for use in the Nigerian setting,” she added.

T

he National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) yesterday asked Nigerians to discontinuance the strike threat issued by the former president of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN),Mr. Aminu Abdulkadir, insisting that had no constitutional power to declare it.

This is even as the union denied complicity in the ongoing fuel scarcity, adding that none of its affiliates was involved in the strike.

The country has been enmeshed in a prolonged fuel scarcity in the last three weeks with the relevant agencies of government passing the buck without

being able to stem the tide.

NUPENG national president, Comrade Achese, who spoke with journalists after the union’s National Executive Committee, in Abuja, however, stated that the union had received the assurance that the lingering leadership crisis rocking IPMAN would soon be resolved.

He clarified that the union had already directed its members at NIPCO to resume work.

It would be recalled that NIPCO members withdrew their services following the leadership tussle which had resulted in the infringement of their rights as workers.

CHANGE OF NAME t SODUNKE: Formerly known as Sodunke Joshua Olubusayo now wish to be known and addressed as Sodunke Olanrewaju Olubusayo All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

CHANGE OF NAME t IGBASAN: Formerly known as Miss Igbasan Bosede now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Igbasan Bosede All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

CHANGE OF NAME t IWAYE: Formerly known as Miss Iwaye Olanrewaju now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Apale Olanrewaju All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

ADDITION OF NAME t

CHANGE OF NAME t OJUOLAPE: Formerly known as Miss Ojuolape Oluwatosin Seun now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Omoseebi Oluwatosin Seun All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

This is to formerly the general public that, I Paul Felix is one and the same person as Paul Felix Ataria All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

NATIONAL NEWS

April 5, 2014

9

FG gives one month deadline to power project contractors ROTIMI FADEYI ABUJA

T

he federal government has given distribution contractors 60 days to complete their contracts on power projects as the contract would be terminated if not completed within the stipulated period.

At a meeting with the transmission and distribution companies yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Vice President Namadi Sambo mandated

the Managing Director, Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), James Olotu, to communicate to the contractors the need to fast tract work to avoid the consequences.

Sambo also said government was ready to assist the new owners to acquire transformers to enable them to distribute power should they have need of them.

According to him, the companies would buy the transformers from the Ministry of Power, while

payment would be spread over a period of fifteen years.

Sambo asked the stakeholders at the meeting to also submit their plans on delivering energy metering within one week.

He disclosed that the meeting was “conveyed to review the situation of power supply situation in the country and essentially to work out strategies through which government investment through the NDPHC in terms of various assets at the dis-

tribution level could be completed and transferred to the discos at a price to be determined later.”

In order to solve most of the challenges faced by the new owners, Sambo directed the Transmission, Distribution and Niger Delta Power Companies to meet and solve the problems facing their operations, especially that of load shedding in parts of the country.

He decried the situation where someone blew up a gas pipeline and the gen-

2015: Abuja natives campaign for Jonathan OMEIZA AJAYI

A

lthough President Goodluck Jonathan has not indicated his interest to recontest in next February’s general election, the original inhabitants of Abuja have commenced intense

campaign for the him.

They said he is one leader that has not trampled on their rights.

Consequently, as a prelude to its planned cultural carnival for the re-election bid of the president, socio-cultural groups in the territory under the aegis of the Abuja Origi-

nal Inhabitants Coalition Groups, have begun their campaigns, erecting bill boards in all strategic locations in the territory.

The coordinating chairman of the group, Engr. Bussa Danjuma, told our correspondent in an interview that the erection of bill boards in

Insurgency: Minimah’s wife seeks better foundation for children UBONG UKPONG ABUJA

N

ational President of the Nigerian Army Officers Wives Association, NAOWA, and wife of the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Felly Elimibha Minimah, has canvassed a better foundation for Nigerian children as a panacea for the insurgency that has bedevilled the country.

Minimah, who was declaring open the second edition of NOAWA school inter-house sports in Abu-

ja, said every child must be given quality education, which was very vital to preventing them from becoming willing tools in the hands of ungodly people.

She said lack of quality education for northern children has been identified as the contributing factor to insurgency in the region.

She said every child should be given the opportunity to quality education which is part of a better foundation.

“We have to prepare our pupils to have the greatest

advantage in a future that will be both challenging than the past and richer with opportunities”, she insisted.

Represented by the national secretary of the association, Mrs. Florence Mutukut, she said to do this, “we have to give them a strong foundation of knowledge in school and appetite to learn continuously.”

She expressed the belief that the future of the child depended on the quality of education that is given to the child.

Glo connects subscribers to directory service

M

illions of subscribers on the Glo Mobile network have been given a unique opportunity to access the addresses of millions of organisations in Nigeria as the telecommunication company has introduced the Glo Service Directory.

Globacom said the mobile service directory will add value to the lives of millions of Nigerians who can explore the links and opportunities offered by the directory to source for

instant relevant information from various organisations in Nigeria at crucial moments.

Speaking on the new package, Globacom’s Marketing Coordinator, Adeniyi Olukoya, described the Glo Service Directory as a first-class means of accessing business information in the country, adding that the package will go a long way in facilitating business processes across all sectors of the economy.

Olukoya therefore

called on business entities as well as entrepreneurs and individuals to maximise the opportunity provided by the Glo Service Directory to increase their bottom line.

“The core objective of the directory is to empower Glo subscribers and ensure they have easy access to millions of addresses and directories of organisations in Nigeria such as hospitals, restaurants, police stations, government offices, workshops, etc.,“ Olukoya stated.

some strategic locations in the territory was to consolidate the position of the group to support President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential bid in various ways.

“We have concluded plans to organise a cultural carnival to show our profound loyalty for President Jonathan’s Transformational Agenda among the Abuja natives. The

eral act of sabotage by others causing the problems experienced in Lagos and other parts of the country.

He added that government places high premium in the power sector and had invested heavily in the gas project to supply to power stations.

The vice president urged the transmission and distribution companies to be transparent in their operations and work together to achieve the desired result for Nigerians.

Earlier, Olotu briefed

the meeting on the progress National Integrated Power Project and highlighted some challenges which included unavailability of 33 KV bays at the 132/33kV substations, inadequate transmission capacity at the TCN substation of Abuja, Ikeja and Port Harcourt Distribution company ; Security challenges in the North East; the issue of connection of weak existing 33 KV source to new completed injection substations at Kaduna and Ibadan.

erection of our bill boards in some strategic locations is a prelude to the cultural fiesta and a way of sensetising the original inhabitants of Abuja of our loyalty to Mr. President for giving us a minister that carry along the Abuja natives in all its policies,” he affirmed.

Asked if President Jonathan will run for the 2015 presidential elections, the coordinating chairman stated that based on the wide support from vari-

ous geo political zones, the president will be compelled to join the race for a second term.

“I don’t think whether the president will contest or not is an issue for now.

We the Abuja natives are ever ready to support him whenever he declares his intention. We are trying to avoid fire brigade approach to the 2015 elections. That is why we have started our sensitisation campaign before other ethnic groups in Nigeria.”

In your refreshingly different

Porous borders as albatross The daily harvest of death in the north-eastern part of the country, especially in Borno State, has been known to be as a result of declaration of war by some insurgent groups, prominent of which is the deadly Boko Haram Islamic sect. But lately, reality is beginning to dawn on the authorities that the porosity of the country’s borders up north and elsewhere in the country has been fostering the activities of these insurgents.

To what extent is the country under the threat of arm invasion or arm smuggling through its suspect border lines? This investigative report reveals the harrowing situation as constructive as humanly possible. But it’s an eye-opener. Reach out for your vendor.

2014 guber: Who is Àt for Ekiti?

Beyond the blitz of campaigns intended to outwit each other, the trio of Governor Kayode Fayemi, Opeyemi Bamidele and Ayo Fayose currently in the race for the governorship of Ekiti State are in this edition deconstructed to enable the electorate separate the wheat from the chaff. The news analysis, being a product of deep research, tells you what you probably have not known about the three governorship contestants.

Inside Ogun ritual chambers While it is no longer news that more ritualist dens have been uncovered, this time round, in some Ogun State communities, not anywhere would you have read about the modus operandi of these murderers and cannibals. It’s a moving story of another man inhumanity to man, coming after last month’s discovery of an evil forest in Ibadan, Oyo State. It’s a compelling read.

Passion

‘I can act nude if…’

Chioma Okoye, actress and movie producer with an unusual panache, after having featured in six movies is now set for the seventh’s, titled ‘The Harlot.’ With terms and conditions attached, she says she can act nude in any movie. Pick a copy of Sunday Mirror tomorrow for this no holds barred interview with Chioma.

These and many more available tomorrow in your

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April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

From the Civil Service FG spends N35bn on workers’ March salary M

r Jonah Otunla, the AccountantGeneral of the Federation (AGF), has said that the March salary of Federal Government workers gulped about N35 billion.

Otunla made this disclosure in Abuja at a “Role Players Workshop on Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS)” organised by the Office of the Account-General of the Federation.

He said that the number of federal staff whose salaries were paid with the money was 283,000, adding that the workers served in 308 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

Otunla, who was represented by the Coordinator, IPPIS, AGF Office, Mrs Fatima Mede, however, said that all federal workers were yet to be captured on the IPPIS network.

He expressed hope that

by June, 2014 “we should have all federal MDAs in the country on the IPPIS network.’’

He said that his office had commenced work on getting all federal universities, polytechnics and

colleges of education and Para-military agencies on the IPPIS platform.

He explained that IPPIS would enable the government to keep tab of its recurrent expenditure. ``This workshop is aimed at identifying and discussing some of the challenges encountered with the IPPIS system so that together, we can strategise and come up with solutions to these bottlenecks. I know that some MDAs have been having problems such as salaries delay, wrong grade level placements and so on. But it will interest you to know that most of these challenges are due to wrong paper work or late submission of correct information that will guide in the payment,’’ he said.

Otunla urged workers to ensure that they had the Nigerian Uniform Bank Account Number (NUBAN), which was the major challenge the office was facing in salary payment to workers.

He said that salaries of more than 1,000 workers were suspended in March due to non-compliance with NUBAN. In his speech, the Head

Participants registering for NAFDAC’s Workshop on National Food Safety in Onitsha, Anambra, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF), Alhaji Bukar Aji, said that all stakeholders in the civil service would have to synergise for IPPIS to be effective.

Bukar, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in his offfice, Mr Mohammed Abbas, said that had helped the service to identify the staff that were supposed to have retired long ago but still remained in service.

He said that the per-

sons discovered in such fraudulent act were forced to retire.

He said that the IPPIS had potentials to reduce corruption in the system if its handlers fed the system with the correct information. ``Your role as stakeholders will help build a transparent, efficient and effective payment process through the proper utilisation of the IPPIS. Do not compromise your position as IPPIS officers in your various MDAs for

any form of corruption through wrong imputation of data such as date of birth and date of appointment into the data base. Doing so is a form of corruption and any officer caught doing that will face the wrath of the law,’’ he cautioned.

On her part, the Deputy Director, Expenditure, Budget Office of the Federation, Mrs Olukemi Arodudu, advised MDAs to write to the budget office for approval before employing new staff so

that their salaries could be provided for. ``It is necessary to do so because the money provided for any MDA in a year does not include new staff and increment of salaries.’’

She said that many MDAs employed and promoted staff without ensuring that funds were provided for them, adding that such situation was among reasons why payment of salaries were sometimes delayed.

(NAN)

Permanent Secretary cautions staff against unethical conduct

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he Permanent Secretary in Imo Ministry of Works, Chief George Eche, has warned staff against unethical conducts and nonchalant approach in discharging their duties. Eche, who gave the warning in his maiden address to workers in the ministry after assuming duties, said workers with negative attitude to work would be shown the way out. ``Days are gone when people see the civil service as a dumping ground and hiding zone for lazy and redundant people,’’

he said.

He said the state government wants result for the huge amount of money spent on workers, stressing that efficiency and productivity must be their driving force.

The permanent secre-

tary ordered the opening of attendance register in all units, adding that constant check would be carried to fish out the culprits.

Eche also called on workers to abide by the dress code initiated by

Gov. Rochas Okorocha, noting that effort would be made to improve on the welfare of workers.

The representative of Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr Uzoma Kamalu, commended Eche for creating a platform for

the workers to interact with him.

Kamalu said before now workers in the ministry were been owed overtime, promotion arrears for junior workers, among others.

Contributing, Mr

Prince Ukado , the Director of Administration and Finance, thanked the permanent secretary for sinking a borehole in the ministry within one week of his assumption of duties.

(NAN)

Kano HOS advises unions against confrontation with government

T

he Kano State Head of Civil Service, Alhaji Umar Minjibir, has advised unions to shun confrontation with the government and promote harmonious working relationship between both parties.

Minjibir gave the advice on Thursday when he received the new national executives of the Nigeria Union of Civil Service Secretarial and Stenographic Workers (NUCSSSW) in Kano.

He said that the govern-

ment and unions must always work together to achieve the common goal of improving the standard of living of the people of the state.

The head of service said that the administration of Gov. Rabiu

Kwankwaso had done a lot to union members in the state which had engendered industrial peace and harmony.

Earlier, the National President of the NUCSSSW, Mr Yahaya Yashi, said their visit was to ce-

ment the long-standing relationship with the office of the head of service.

Yashi described Minjibir as a seasoned administrator from whom the union was always ready to take fatherly advice.

(NAN)

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

REGIONAL NEWS

April 5, 2014

11

SOUTH WEST

Ajimobi, Okorocha, Jimoh Ibrahim, others honour Niyi Akintola at mother’s burial

I’m not in conflict with Ladoja, says Ajimobi Kemi Olaitan IBADAN

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rominent Nigerians from all walks of life yesterday converged on Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, for the burial of the mother of Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN), Chief (Mrs.) Odunola Morawo Abeje Akintola (Nee Oyelakin). She was aged 79 years.

Among eminent personalities at the burial were Governors Abiola Ajimobi and Rochas Okorocha of Oyo and Imo states, respectively, including Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim (OFR), GMD, Global Fleet and numerous other personalities.

A Christian service for

the departed was held at the First Baptist Church, Orita-Mefa, Total Garden, Ibadan.

In his sermon at the funeral service, Rev. O. Ogunbode of the Idikan Baptist Church, Ibadan, in his sermon, urged Nigerians to always “dress in the clothing of righteousness to get rid of corruption that has eaten so deep into the fabric of the society.”

The clergy also urged people to always be ready for the end-time which will come whenever it would. He observed that many people dress in flambouyant and decent clothing, but do not care to dress in clothing of righteousness.

According to Rev. Ogunbode, “Many people dress gorgeously in fantastic clothing in preparation for occasions, but how much do people dress and prepare for the hereafter? The righteousness of God is the clothing being talked about.

Mama was dressed in righteousness when she asked one of his children, Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN), where he got money to build his magnificent residence and within two years, another gigantic office in Ibadan.

Not many mothers would care how their children get their money. Their main concern is just getting the money from their children,” he said.

Governor Ajimobi, in his remark at the occasion, saw the occasion as a platform for re-union as many politicians of different ideological leanings and parties converged and exchanged pleasantries.

He said he was never in conflict with Senator Rasheed Ladoja (National Leader of the Accord Party), but that aides from both sides usually abused the leaders on either side for the sake of recognition.

In the words of Governor Ajimobi, “Many of our lawyers are here including those who were against us during the election. We thank God that we are together to-

day as another election is coming soon. I am not in conflict with my brother Senator Ladoja. We have never abused each other, but we have aides who need to eat that abuse on our behalf.”

Meanwhile, the convoy of the governors Ajimobi and Okorocha, dislodged a group of hoodlums operating at the Dugbe area of the state capital. The incident occurred after the two governors left the burial ceremony of the mother of Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN), were on their way to the Rochas Okorocha Foundation when they heard sporadic shots from the hoodlums and stampede from the adjoining market in the area.

A release issued by

World Bank approves $242m loan for Lagos

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Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (5th-l); his deputy, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire (3rd-l); Commissioner for Housing, Mr Bosun Jeje (1st left); Commissioner for Finance, Mr Ayo Gbeleyi (2nd left) and winners of 2nd batch of Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme at the mortgage draw in Lagos, yesterday.

he World Bank has announced the approval of concessionary loans of US$42.3 million for the Lagos EKO Secondary School Project.

The global bank also says it has approved another sum of US$200 million in budget support for the state.

In a press release of March 6 , 2014, the Bank announced the approval of International Development Association (IDA) credit of US$42.3 million to the Lagos EKO Secondary Project (Lagos EKO Project); which is an addition to an original credit of US$95 million, which systematically benefitted over 620,000 students a year in 667 public secondary schools

Ekiti 2014: Police debunk gunshot attack on Gov Fayemi’s supporter Abiodun Nejo ADO EKITI

T

he police in Ekiti State have denied allegations by the Director General of Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation that one of their members sustained gunshot injuries from attacks by suspected thugs of opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Spokesman for the state police command, Mr. Victor Babayemi, claimed that the supposed Governor Fayemi supporter, Mr. Babatunde Fatoye, sustained injuries from shattered glasses and not gunshot injuries.

Last Thursday, the Director General, Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation, Hon Bimbo Daramola, had alleged

that an APC member in Governor Kayode Fayemi’s train was shot at

by PDP hoodlums in the Adebayo area of the state’s capital on Wednesday.

But the police spokesperson, in statement in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, denied the claim.

According to Babayemi, “The attention of the Commissioner of Police, Ekiti State Com-

mand, Mr Felix Uyanna, has been drawn to the news credited to Director General, Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation, Hon Bimbo Daramola, regarding the incident that happened on Wednesday at about 7:28pm at Adebayo Area, Ado-Ekiti.

“Contrary to the news making round, the victim, Mr Babatunde Fatoye was injured on the left shoulder by a broken glass,” he said.

the Special Adviser to the Governor of Oyo State, Dr. Festus Adedayo, climed that the hoodlums had been having a field day in the area shooting guns and wielding machetes before the arrival of the governors.

Initial information collated suggested that the hoodlums were members of rival factions of the road transport union.

The governors’ convoy, according to the release, then came to the aid of the fleeing traders to dislodge the hoodlums before reinforcement was called from the police headquarters and the state crime-fighting outfit, Operation Burst.

The number of casualty could not be ascertained.

The police spokesman, who said detectives were working hard to unravel those behind the criminal act, however, urged those spreading the news to desist from the act to avoid unnecessarily heating up the polity.

Babayemi reassured Ekiti people that, “the Command is doing its best at providing security for lives and property during these electioneering campaigns”.

in Lagos State for the period 2009-2013.

The World Bank noted that the Lagos EKO Project has achieved significant results both in terms of the quality of education received as well as the pass rates in examination in the schools.

In buttressing this, the Bank noted that the effect has seen students scores from beneficiary schools going up from 30% to 70% in English; 31% to 45% in Mathematics and from 27% to 65% in Basic Sciences.

It further remarked that the results of the June 2013 West Africa School Certificate external examinations showed that 41% of students from beneficiary schools passed five credits and above, as compared to just over 18% before the Lagos EKO Project was implemented.

The project has built a critical pathway for students from low-income backgrounds to gain access to good-quality secondary education, the Bank further enthused.

Speaking on the significance of the two loan facilities’ approval by the World Bank, Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, Ayo Gbeleyi, said the gesture was yet another eloquent acknowledgement of the stellar performance of the Babatunde Raji Fashola’s (SAN) administration.

12

REGIONAL NEWS

Edo APC shifts ward congress to Tuesday SebastineEbhuomhan BENIN CITY

T

he Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has shifted at the last minute, its state-wide congress initially scheduled for today, Saturday.

Confirming the sudden shift to Saturday Mirror yesterday evening, the party’s Publicity Secretary in the state, Comrade Godwin Erhahon, said the congress would now come up on Tuesday after it was shifted to allow more harmonisation for peace.

But sources argued it was shifted to prevent possible outbreak of violence at many of the centres.

In the words of Erhahon, “There are areas within the state where the leaders have not been able to harmonize the list of leaders and delegates for the congress. We are shifting the congress so as to allow for them to harmonise the list so as to have a rancour-free congress on Tuesday.”

A press statement initially released on Friday

by Erhahon, and made available to Saturday Mirror, had warned members against violent con-

ducts. The statement also warned that only those with membership card would participate in the exercise.

Erhahon continued, “Members of All Progressive Congress are hereby informed that Ward Congresses will hold at the 192 ward collation centres in Edo State come Tuesday, April 8, beginning from 8:00 am. All registered members are please advised to be at their respective centres by 8:00 am with their membership cards.”

It emphasized, “Whoever does not hold his/her membership card will not be allowed into any of the centres.”

The party also warned, “Do not bring any weapon into the venue and do not encourage or tolerate violence of any kind otherwise you will be arrested and prosecuted. Those vying for various party offices as well as leaders of various interest groups are advised to dialogue and harmonize with their rivals before the congress.

Party leaders at all levels are advised to preach and promote peace, harmony and adherence to the rules of the congress.”

April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

SOUTH SOUTH

Rivers guber: Ex-militant leader, Ateke Tom posters flood P’Harcourt Dennis Naku PORT HARCOURT

A

s the race for the Rivers State Government House heats up ahead of the 2015 elections, a former militant leader, Chief Ateke Tom, may have thrown himself in the ring.

His posters were yesterday observed adorning major streets in the metropolis.

Saturday Mirror went

round the city and observed that the posters adorned the walls of the popular Isaac Boro Park flyover, as well as the CFC and the Rumuola flyover along the busy Port Harcourt-Aba expressway in the heart of the state capital.

Saturday Mirror also reports that, like the other cases, the same posters carrying the image of the former creek warlord were boldly dis-

played at the Agip flyover in Port Harcourt, with a campaign inscription, ‘For 2015 Governorship Rivers State, vote Chief Ateke Tom’ written on them.

Also, another inscription on the poster which reveals those behind the campaign bore, ‘Amalgamated Bureau, Niger Delta Region, observers of youth development and empowerment.’

A unique attraction is

that all the posters were all pasted on the walls of major flyovers in the state capital.

In the poster which has white and blue background, upon a blue strip downwards, the former militant and leader of the defunct Niger Delta Vigilante Group was dressed in a short-sleeve senator attire, with spectacles on, even as he was seated waiving at unidentified people.

L-R: Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole; former Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, and former Edo State PDP gubernatorial candidate, Maj.-Gen Charles Airhiavbere (rtd), at the funeral service of Mrs Janet Udochi in Benin City, yesterday.

Bayelsa Assembly clears Delta 2015: Pat Utomi, Chief Tilije declare guber interest Amour Udemude five commissioner nominees ASABA

Emma Gbemudu YENAGOA

B

ayelsa State House of Assembly yesterday, cleared the five commissioner nominees sent to it for screening by Governor Seriake Dickson.

Governor Dickson had, last week, sacked the Attorney General of the state and six other commissioners for alleged incompetence.

The cleared commissioner nominees include the former governorship candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the state, Barr. Kemela Okara.

Other nominees are Barrister Kemasuode Wodu; erstwhile Com-

missioner for Information to ex-Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, Inuruo Wills; Ayibatonye Owei and Chief Martin Agbede.

During its plenary, Friday, the legislators harped on issues of law enforcement, poor attitude of doctors in public hospitals and environmental degradation in the state, as they drilled the nominees they felt could be appointed to head the respective ministries.

Deputy Speaker of the House, Victor SamAteki, urged the commissioner nominees on hard work, adding that they were being appointed to work for one Bayelsa, and eschew unhealthy rivalry.

I

t was all jubilation yesterday for the Anioma All Progressives Congress (APC) Leaders Forum and members of the party following the declaration of two prominent sons of the area, Professor Pat Utomi and Chief Fidelis Tilije, for the governorship seat of Delta State during the 2015 general elections under the platform of the party.

Prof. Utomi is a re-

nowned economist and Director of Lagos Business School, while Chief Tilije, was three-time former running mate to Great Ogboru, a governorship candidate of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP).

Speaking during an enlarged meeting of the Anioma APC Leaders Forum, held at his country home at Ibusa, Oshimili North local government area of Delta state, Utomi, a former presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Mega Party (SDMP), said he was moved to join the

governorship race in his own state to contribute his quota to the good governance of the state stressing that “enough is enough.”

While promising to turn around the fortune of the state for the better, Prof. Utomi enjoined the people to rally round him and work for the interest of the party in the state and at the national level.

On his part, Chief Tilije, who lambasted the Emmanuel Uduaghan administration, stated that his intention to join the governorship race was to

give Deltans good governance.

In his speech earlier, Chairman of Anioma APC Leaders Forum, Engr. Hyacinth Enuha, also carpeted the state government, Governor describing it as “a visible monumental failure in all ramifications.”

In the words of Enuha, “What we see here in Delta state is all about advertisement on the pages of newspapers but we that are on ground here we don’t see those things that are been advertised on the pages of newspapers.”

Uyo Fed Constituency backs zoning of governorship to Eket

T

he people of Uyo Federal Constituency in Akwa Ibom State have re-affirmed their support for the zoning of 2015 governorship slot to Eket Senatorial District.

The Eket Senatorial District comprises Ibesik-

po Asutan, Nsit Atai, Uruan and Uyo Local Government Areas of the state.

The people of the areas made their decision known last Thursday during a town hall meeting and constituency briefing for Uyo Federal Constituency held at Ibom Hall

Grounds, Uyo. In a motion moved by Prince Uwem Ita Etuk, the Political Leader of Uyo Federal Constituency and seconded by Hon. Kufre Edidem, a member representing Uruan State Constituency in Akwa Ibom House of Assembly,

the people unanimously adopted the motion in a voice vote.

The people further pledged that the constituency would always support the present administration and also support Governor Akpabio’s Senatorial ambition in 2015.

Politics

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

April 5, 2014

13

Adewale Omojuwa of APC

Decision day in Ilaje/Ese Odo Federal Constituency Adewale Kukute of PDP

OJO OYEWAMIDE AKURE

V

oters are due to go to the polls today to elect who will represent the Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal Constituency of Ondo state in the House of Representatives.

The constituency’s seat has been vacant for more than four months, following the sudden death of its former occupier, Raphael Nomiye, on November 22, 2013. Nomiye was elected on the platform of the Labour Party (LP) in 2011.

Voters will make their choice among the candidates of the seven political parties that will take part in the bye-election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) named the participating political parties as the Advance Congress of Democrats (ACD), All Progressives Congress (APC) and Democratic Peoples Party (DPP). Others are the Labour Party (LP), Peoples for Democratic Change (PDC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA).

Political observers see only the PDP, LP and APC as serious contenders, while dismissing others as pretenders.

A former commissioner in Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC), Adewale Kukute, will fly the PDP flag. Kukute, who is the coordinator of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Employment Programme (SUREP) in Ondo South, emerged the party’s candidate through a consensus arrangement, among the eight members who showed interest.

An erstwhile students’ union leader and aide of former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for eight years, Ko-

Kolade Akinjo of LP

lade Akinjo, is the LP standard bearer.

Twenty five aspirants initially signified interest in the LP ticket. But they were later pruned down to nine, from whom Akinjo was chosen as a consensus candidate.

Adewale Omojuwa, former OSOPADEC chairman, is the APC flag bearer.

About 11 members jostled for the party’s ticket, but Omojuwa clinched it in a keenly contested primary election. All the three candidates are from Ilaje, making the election a contest among brothers.

Who wins the seat has only a year to spend in the National Assembly, since he will be completing the term of the late lawmaker. But the three major political parties approach the bye-election with a lot of seriousness, as if it is a battle of their lives, an indication that there is more to it than wining the seat.

To the PDP, the election is a battle to reposition the party ahead of the 2015 polls. Underscoring the resolve of the party not to treat the poll with levity, the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger-Delta Affairs and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Kingsley Kuku, vowed that the PDP would do everything possible to win the race. According to Kuku, the seat is important to the party and President Jonathan.

While speaking at a rally in ArogboIbe, his home town, the presidential aide said: “It’s a critical seat that will increase members of the PDP in the lower chamber of the National Assembly and it will help Mr. President better.”

The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisah Metuh, and National Organising Secretary, Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha, were in Ondo State early in the week to marshal plans for a successful outing for

the party’s candidate. Metuh disclosed at a rally in Igbokoda that they were in Ondo State on the instruction of President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu. He said the by-election must be taken with all seriousness by the party’s stakeholders.

The importance of the election to Governor Mimiko and his LP is evident.

The general belief is that Mimiko holds all the aces as far as the state politics is concerned. So, to him, the bye-election is a battle of pride and relevance.

The governor and members of his cabinet have practically relocated to the coastal area of the state, making a legion of promises to develop the area. Mimiko, during one of the campaigns, said the year 2014 was for the development of the riverrine area. However, not a few people take the promises with a pinch of salt, as they are seen as a vote-catching gimmick.

The Mimiko government has severally been accused of neglecting the Southern Senatorial District of the state since its inception in 2009. As if the government has just realised the existence of the area, the Ondo State Executive Council has approved the rehabilitation and asphalt overlay of the 31.2km Igbokoda-Ugbonla Road at the cost of N4.313b. The project, which has been abandoned since Mimiko mounted the saddle more than five years ago, was awarded to a Chinese firm, CRCC Construction Company Limited. The contractor was ordered to move to site with immediate effect.

The road, a project of OSOPADEC, was initially constructed by the Late Olusegun Agagu government, which had already approved the asphalt overlay of the road before it was removed from power.

Besides promising new projects, Mimiko has been moving round commu-

nities in the federal constituency to commission projects such as markets, toilets, civic centres and blocks of classrooms.

One of such projects is a block of six classrooms at Sabomi in Ese-Odo Local Government Area of the state.

For the APC, the bye-election will be its first electoral outing in the state since its emergence on the country’s political scene. None of the three defunct political parties - the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) - that coalesced to form the APC ever came out victorious in any election in the state. The party is, therefore, expected to break the jinx and prove that it is not a mere fluke.

But the opinion of some observers is that the party should not have taken part in the bye-election. Their argument is that there are no indications yet that the state chapter of the party is passionate about wining elections, as its leaders still exhibit unseriousness and strategic ineptitude. The APC has been bedevilled by a protracted leadership crisis in the state since it was registered as a party, suggesting that it will go into the byeelection as a divided house.

Analysts have predicted either the PDP or LP will win the poll. But considering the recent history of electoral contests in the area, the PDP is expected to coast home to victory.

The constituency is a traditional stronghold of the PDP. The party had been winning elections into the constituency’s seat since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999. However, its monopoly was broken in 2011, when it was displaced by the LP. This time, the State Chairman of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

POLITICS

14

Akinlabi

BOLADALE BAMIGBOLA

A

s the Osun State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, prepares to pick its candidate for the August 9 governorship election, there are indications that the expected two horse race may never happen afterall.

There is no better indication of this than the last minute withdrawal of Senator Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke, the first executive governor of the then newly-created Osun State.

The race for the governorship ticket of PDP started shortly after 2011 general elections with four political heavyweighs on the platform of the party, keeping the political ambience of the state busy, all in a bid to secure the party’s nod to fly its flag in the Osun governorship election.

The politicians, Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi, a former member of the highest law making body in the country; Senator Iyiola Omisore, former Osun State deputy governor; Hon. Oluwole Oke, former member of the House of Representatives and Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, former Secretary to the State Governmemt, while strategising for an epic battle for PDP ticket, successfully divided an already factionalised party.

All parading intimidating academic and political credentials, the four men set up camps in all the three senatorial districts of the state and embarked on aggressive campaign to woo neutral leaders and members of the party into their camps.

But along the line, political calculations in PDP became unfavourable to Akinbade, who, topped the “chart” until early last year, when his main backer, the former governor of the state and national secretary of PDP, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, was removed from office and he dumped the party.

However, the political calculations,

April 5, 2014

Omisore Om misore

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Oke Ok ke

Osun PDP: Waiting for the keen guber primary which since Akinbade left for Labour Party, regarding PDP governorship ticket, has always pointed towards the former deputy governor, Senator Iyiola Omisore, suddenly changed with the enterance into the race of Senator Isiaka Adeleke.

While his aspiration lasted, Senator Adeleke, the purported anointed candidate of the presidency, did not stop telling whoever cared to listen, of his plan to lessen the influence Omisore has on Osun PDP. The outcome of the ward delegates’ election, however showed the commanding position Omisore occupies in the scheme of things in Osun PDP, having polled the highest votes among the four aspirants in the race, leaving him in a good position to clinch PDP governorship ticket whenever the governorship primary is held.

Although the outcome of the ward delegate election is still a subject of derison among other aspirants, who had alleged that the excercise was fraught with irregularities, the party and the committee set up by the national secretariat of PDP to oversee the congress are forging ahead with the Saturday, April 5 , 2014 primary to pick its candidate.

The aspirants and their chances at the primaries.

Senator Christopher Iyiola Omisore: He is undoubtedly one of the most popular personalities in the nation’s political arena since the return of democracy in 1999. The 57-year-old politician hails from Ile-Ile and

has enormous influence in his party, PDP. He was elected deputy governor in 1999 but got impeached few months to the expiration of his tenure at the peak of the crisis involving him and the then governor, Chief Bisi Akande.

Senator Omisore was arrested in connection with the death of the late Attorney Genral ,Chief Bola Ige but was later discharged and acquitted by the court over the matter and has since enjoyed a blistering political rise.

He was elected senator in 2003 and spent two terms and failed in his third attempt to return to the Senate in 2011 losing to Babajide Omoworare of ACN. Omisore remains the biggest financial backer of the state chapter of the PDP having donated the party’s present state secretariat. He clearly has a formidable political structure, perhaps one of the strongest in South West Nigeria.

It will take a massive political scheming for Omisore to lose the Osun PDP governorship primaries having emerged the aspirant with the highest votes at the ward congresses held across the state on Wednesday.

Senator Rasheed Olasunkanmi Akinlabi: He was in the Senate between year 2003 and 2007 and served in different committees while in the upper chamber.

He served as Minister of Youth Development in the cabinet of Umaru Yar’ Adua and retained his position under Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency leaving office in

2011.

Before he made known his intention to contest PDP governorship ticket, he was rather quite politically which is a minus to his present aspiration. Olasunkanmi, an indigene of Odeomu is seen as possessing qualities of a good candidate, if he eventually makes it, but lack of formidable political structure, coupled with unfavourable party arrangement at state level may limit his chances of making it through PDP primaries.

Hon. Oluwole Busayo Oke: He is the youngest and perhaps the most vocal of the four aspirants. He hails from Esa-Oke, Obokun local government areas of Osun State and was in House of Representatives for two terms. In his time at the Green Chamber, Oke served as the chairman of House Committee on Defence and used his position to bring many projects from the Ministry of Defence to his area.

Oke, apart from being influencial in PDP in the state, is also very popular among youths across the state owing to job opportunities he provided for many of them while in office as a federal parliamentarian.

He does not have a clear political structure that can help his cause but this may count for little, if the party at the state level intends to give him a chance.

The reality however is that Oke has limited chances of winning PDP ticket because of the personalities of those in the race with him and the kind of influence they wield.

Decision day in Ilaje/Ese Odo Federal Constituency CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13 PDP, Ebenezar Alabi, is sure of victory at the poll. Addressing journalists in Akure, Alabi said: “We are not expressing doubt that we will win even though the incumbent governor has moved down to the two local governments to make promises as usual. That is his stock in trade by moving tractors to roads and immediately after the election, only to

return the tractors to the owners without fulfilling any of the promises made.

“He had done that in many local governments and towns in the state but the people have come to know him for these antics. Before the last general election in Iju-Itaogbolu, Mimiko mobilised heavyduty vehicles to the roads within the town. Then they were working on about 50 meters road but immediately after the

election, the heavy-duty vehicles could not be found and the road abandoned. He did the same thing in Igbatoro community.”

There are fears that security agencies may be deployed to manipulate the outcome of the bye-election, prompting the PDP state chairman, Alabi, to urge them to be neutral. Alabi said in Akure that past experiences during elections had

shown biases of military personnel in the coaster area of the state. According to him, the call became imperative to guide against manipulation and collaboration of military men and some desperate politicians in the state like in the past.

“We are not asking anybody to rig for us, we are merely asking for a level-playing ground and the neutrality of military men on election duties,” he said.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

POLITICS

April 5, 2014

Those who want to instigate ethnicity and tribalism shall fail

Talking

POLITICS

–Governor Godswill Akpabio, at a town hall meeting and constituency briefing for Uyo Federal Constituency held at Ibom Hall Grounds, Uyo.

“W

e Ibibio people are a noble people, a holy nation, a peculiar people and a blessed generation. We love God and we love our neighbours. Unfortunately, a few selfish persons, who constitute an exception to this rule, believe they can blindfold the rest of us, and toy with our destiny.

They forget that you can fool some of the people some of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.

“These people who have disconnected with the masses, claim to speak for us and publish, ‘the Ibibio people have said…’

Our Lord Jesus Christ said ‘My sheep know my voice and a stranger’s voice they would not follow’. Akwa Ibom State knows the voice of the Ibibio people. They

are the ones gathered here or represented here. The voice of the impostors, Akwa Ibom State would not follow, because they come to steal, to kill and to destroy.

“The Bible says that Jesus Christ wept over Jerusalem and said, ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets,

and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings’. This was the story of Uyo in particular and Akwa Ibom in general in the Civil War. This is the shame we want to erase with a memorial service for those who were sent to us and were killed by us in that war.

“But it is sad that while we are trying to wipe this shame away some people want to repeat this history today. They still believe that they should kill those that God has sent to us. But I come with good news for all of us today – affliction shall not rise a second time. Our generation shall serve the Lord and we shall never kill our prophets anymore. Those who want to instigate ethnicity and tribalism are kicking against the bricks. They shall fail.”

Our party loves the masses –Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, campaigning at Efon Alaaye ahead of the June 21, 2014 governorship poll

“O

ur party loves the masses but the other party don’t value old men, they don’t value old people, they don’t take care of the aged and they don’t respect the youth.

“Our government will not misbehave if you vote us in and we are different from the party that steals votes to get to power and will never respect anybody.

“During the Adebayo administration

–Chief Segun Osoba, former governor of Ogun State, at the APC stakeholders’ meeting on Thursday at Gateway Hall, Abeokuta e met to put the house together and strengthen its unity to ensure that APC remains in charge in Ogun State and for

–Ondo State PDP Chairman , Hon. Ebenezer Alabi, speaking on today’s bye election in Ilaje /Ese Odo Federal Constituency of Ondo State to replace Hon Raphael Nomiye (LP) who died on November 22, 2013

“B

ecause of our past experiences with security agencies particularly the military in previous elections, in connivance with desperate politicians, we considered it necessary this time around to take every necessary step towards protecting our interest by ensuring that a level playing ground is created for all contending parties in the election”

–Edi Ben, President of Amalgamated Bureau, Niger Delta Region, while endorsing Ateke Tom to run in Rivers governorship race in 2015

“L

Amosun is my governor

We will take every step to protect interest of PDP

Ateke is qualified to be governor of Rivers State

ike every other Rivers man, Ateke Tom is qualified to vie for the office of governor. Ateke did not fight for his own pocket or selfish interest, but for the Niger Delta people. Besides, yesterday has passed.

He (Ateke) and others were granted amnesty by the federal government. So, he is qualified. It is obvious that he has all it takes to run and win the election. He has been involved in youth and women empowerment, including the support he gave during the floods that devastated some parts of the Niger Delta.”

that was in power for four years, the state enjoyed peace and harmony and even won an award as the most peaceful state in the country.

“But the next seven and half years of this other party in power, it was looting, fraud, violence, killing, impunity and brigandage. But in our government, we respect the dignity of human persons, we have experienced peace, progress and development.”

“W

15

peaceful congresses. There is harmony between Governor Amosun and I. He is our Governor and he is my own Governor and nobody else is the Governor.”

PDP is afraid of losing –Chief Dele Akinyele, Ondo State Chairman of Labour Party

“P

DP is only crying wolf and expressing fears of losing the election before election day. The security agencies are being controlled by the federal government not the state government. The PDP are at the centre and should be accused of planning to use military personnel against other parties in the election.”

I can beat whoever emerges as PDP candidate –Dr. Ben Nwoye, Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, and aspirant for Enugu East Senatorial District.

“I

believe I can beat whoever emerges as PDP candidate in a free and fair poll. My hope is also hinged on the fact that the PDP has failed the people of Enugu state in general and Enugu east senatorial zone in particular.

“Despite the fact that PDP candidates always run elections with public funds, APC will still defeat them in a level playing ground. Enugu people have been oppressed by the PDP bad governance since 1999, but will be liberated in 2015, by the APC government.”

16

April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Living

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Inside the busy world of gamblers Living

P.20

Tope Adebayo: Kid vendor who wants to be a pilot I WANT TO BE A PILOT. I

WANT TO FLY AN AIRPLANE.

I KNOW THAT IT IS NOT

EASY TO TRAIN AS A PILOT, WITH GOD, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE

IT IS NOT ALWAYS COMPULSORY THAT YOU PREDICT THE SCORELINE CORRECTLY WHILE BETTING.

She has a boyfriend, but I still love her –Husband

QUALIFIES FOR A CHANCE

Living

P.37

‘How we snatch motorcycles in Abuja’ I DO THIS BUSINESS BECAUSE MY PARENTS COULD NOT AFFORD TO

PAY MY SCHOOL FEES SO

•He doesn’t sleep at home –Wife

A CORRECTLY

PREDICTED WIN OR DRAW,

P.38

BUT I ALSO KNOW THAT

17

April 5, 2014

HAD TO LEAVE SECONDARY SCHOOL WHILE IN JSS

3

I

Living

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

April 5, 2014

18

Inside the busy world of gamblers A few times lucky though, the emergence of more betting companies has further fuelled the gambler’s hope of happening on a sudden wealth without breaking sweat.

Unfortunately, however, it is the gaming companies that smile to the bank, effortlessly, writes NNAMDI ONYEUMA

I

f the gate of hell is broad, it is probably a narrow way when compared to the highway leading to betting centres such as Naijabet.com, 360bet. com, 960bet.com, and the most popular of them all, Nairabet.com scattered across Nigeria and the world at large.

With options provided in Tennis, Golf, Volleyball, Rugby, Floorball, Darts, Ice Hockey, Soccer, Basketball and football, among others, betting takes the following forms - a goal-goal; where the gambler predicts that the competing clubs must score in a match, a First Half win; on the club that will lead before the break, First Half corner kick; on which club will take the first corner kick in a match; 2.5, meaning a scoreline from two goals and above, or 3.5; a scoreline of above three goals.

These betting companies are essentially involved in sports bet, which for most young men and women today has become an opium, for those counting on mother luck for financial fortunes.

Curiously, while the chances of success get slimmer by the day, the passion, for the gamblers, has continued to grow geometrically.

Seen on every corner of the streets, rural or urban, it could be safe to say that if Baba Ijebu prepares the people for a life of penury while making them believe anything is possible, sports betting centres provide the springboard for a hurried hole in the pocket, while still believing it is in the spirit of the game.

A win some and lose some game, still, human traffic to the ubiquitous centres and online sites has been everything but low, thanks to many who have had ‘good returns’ on investments. Little wonder, the volume of betting businesses done in some of these evolving gaming outlets hardly ever shocks anyone, especially, those fitting into the description of the ‘patient dogs.’ According to Saturday Mirror checks, the attraction to the centres, more than anything else, is fuelled by a combination of greed and the general financial cramp in the economy.

Ehi Osa, a commercial motorcycle operator and a fan of Chelsea football club of England, says any gambler, particularly, the one who bets on matches, is driven mostly by pas-

A soccer stadium

YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE TO PREDICT THE EXACT SCORELINE.

JUST A HOME WIN, DRAW OR AWAY WIN WILL DO sion for the clubs and, secondly, the desire to make money. “Anyone who bets is likely to be driven by the desire to make money, and as well, the strong understanding of how the clubs play, their strengths and track records with the other clubs,” he says. He continues.

“As a Chelsea fan, I know the strength of my club and the clubs they can win effortlessly. It is usually this strong persuasion that pushes most people to bet when their clubs have matches. Having known how Chelsea often plays, it means that I can hazard a guess on how the match will end.”

Osa reckons that Everton and Chelsea usually have tough games as, according to him, when it is between Everton and Chelsea, he is always cautious. “If I want to bet, I could give Everton a chance of winning, while for Chelsea, I could say, a draw would be good enough. This is because there are only a few times Chelsea got a draw either at home or away to Everton,” Osa says.

“Interestingly,” he stresses, “it is not always compulsory that you predict the scoreline correctly while betting. A correctly predicted win or draw quali-

People placing bets at a cybercafe

fies for a chance. This is unlike Baba Ijebu where you must accurately predict the numbers that will win, which is hardly more than five numbers out of 90. I am sure the simplicity of sports bets explains the reason people see it as a destination point, today, as opposed to Baba Ijebu.”

For Osa, sports betting guarantees high success ratio than Baba Ijebu, which he says are facing stiff competition today from the betting companies.

For Babatunde Taiwo, a furniture maker, while sport bets have good prospects, Baba Ijebu, still holds primal place in his heart. According to him,

the technicalities involved and conditions of betting trim down the winning bonuses even when they do come.

“You may not know,” he says, “But those who organize sport bets cheat the gamblers.” Taiwo, whose shop is located at Gowon Estate, Ipaja, in Alimosho local government area of Lagos State, confirmed Osa’s club history and strength analysis, but says rather than such knowledge helping gamers, it is to their peril. “Unlike Baba Ijebu where you deploy your knowledge of the business to advantage, sports betCONTINUED ON PAGE 19

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

LIVING

April 5, 2014

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18 ting companies have devised a means of whittling down the bonuses of the gamers if and when they win on account of their understanding of the clubs. Today, you find that if Cardiff City is playing a bigger club, like Manchester City, which effortlessly would overrun them, the betting companies would give Cardiff City advantage by awarding higher points to them. How? They would say if Cardiff City wins, you get say, N2, 000 but if Manchester City wins, which is likely the club gamers will go for, you will get N200!

So, if you must win big, you will take the risk of betting that Cardiff City will win. And, sometimes, the small club will win if they fight hard,” he explains.

Interestingly, whichever way, you are either made poorer without knowing it or richer by stroke of luck. The latter, it seems, has been the cross most gamers – sports or players of the Baba Ijebu variety carry on their ambitious shoulders, good or bad. As Saturday Mirror checks revealed, with the coming of sports betting companies, Baba Ijebu’s gaming population which is peopled mostly by uneducated artisans – old and young, men and women - who work under very severe and harsh conditions, morning and evening, has been replaced by the sophisticated and educated sports fanatics.

Interestingly, sports betting companies have also made the business easy and convenient as patrons can also satisfy their urge by logging in online.

According to Otito Ibeabuchi, you can play online and get paid online by opening a dedicated account with any of the commercial banks. “All you need do is play anywhere; at home, at work and soon after, the betting company deducts directly from your account,” he told the newspaper. Ibeabuchi revealed that often betting can still take place while a match is ongoing, but definitely before it ends.

‘It’s a sort of flexible options to the gaming business,” he excitedly tells the newspaper. “With as little as N100 you are sure to bet on games, sometimes up to 50 or more games,” he says, but warned, however, that the more the games, the lesser the chances of winning. “To the novice,” he says, “you might think that you will get a better chance at winning when you bet on many games, but that is the irony of sport bets. The more games you bet on, the slimmer your chances of success.”

Speaking, Nachi Durugo of NairaBet.com, described the company as Nigeria’s first football bookmakers. “We can also be called bookies for short.

We pay winnings depending upon results,” Durugo who responded on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer of the company, says. According to him, it is all about trading on the results of football matches and there is always money to be won on all the outcomes of football matches. “You don’t even have to predict the exact scoreline. Just a home win, draw or away win will do.

Each match and outcome has its own price called ‘odds’. You will have relatively small money to be won, if you

19

‘Why we gamble’

A lotto centre

Cyber cafe with people placing bets online

ANYONE WHO BETS IS LIKELY TO BE DRIVEN BY THE DESIRE TO MAKE MONEY AND THE STRONG UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE CLUBS PLAY,

THEIR STRENGTHS AND TRACK RECORDS WITH THE OTHER CLUBS bet on a big team to beat a small team, but there will be high returns if you back the small teams to win or draw,” he tells Saturday Mirror. He told the newspaper that the minimum payout is N1, 000 while one million is the ceiling on all odds, saying “Bet wins exceeding this amount would be cut down to the limit.” While he could not say exactly many outlets operated the company, he emphasized that the company takes bets on football.

Located on Suite A1, De Chemb Mall Plaza, Kilometre 18, Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos State, NairaBet.com, like many other betting companies are not in short supply.

Today, found on all corners of the streets, its flexible nature derives from the privacy it bears on every bet, as

opposed to Baba Ijebu with its trademark Point of Sales (POS) machines, positioned in front of kiosks beside railway lines where bookmakers huddle together over a sheet of paper with criss-crossing lines forecasting and hazarding a guess of likely winning numbers and doing so, sometimes, noisily. Perhaps, more apparent difference between Baba Ijebu and Betting companies is fact that gamers of Baba Ijebu mark bad, while expecting good, unlike bookers, who simply write either win or draw, etc, and bank on luck!

As Saturday Mirror checks revealed, unlike the backroom staff of a football team, the Chief Forecaster does most of the work for Baba Ijebu, which requires not more than a proper registration and a few work tools de-

pending on the financial strength of the outlet operator to start.

Like NairaBet.com established January, 2009, popular among Baba Ijebu gamers is Premier Lotto, ostensibly the biggest lotto company in Nigeria operating with over 200 principal agents supervising over 16,000 sub agents and sales representatives spread across the western region of Nigeria. The parent company, Premier Lotto Limited (PLL), what is today known as Baba Ijebu, was incorporated in 2001 to carry out the Lotto business in Nigeria. The name Baba Ijebu was derived from the founder and current Chief Executive Officer of the company, Chief Kessington Adebukunola Adebutu, an Ijebu man. According Baba Monday, gamers have no limit to what they can win unlike NairaBet.com which is limited to one million odds. With products such as Monday Special, Redemption, Gateway and Lucky, played on Tuesdays, there are also games such as Al-Barka, Better life, Bonanza and Key, also on offer. “To win,” Baba Monday, himself an operator, says, “accurate forecast of winning numbers is not negotiable.

“This is why people need a forecaster, who is well-schooled in the art to do the forecasting,” he says.

He explained that depending on how much the player staked, no fewer than three direct accurate predictions could earn the gamer as much as N400,000.

“This office may look small, but people have won millions of naira,” he said.

With your winning coupon or voucher, all you need do is walk to the headquarters of the company at Ojuelegba, a suburb of Lagos, to claim your winnings. But for betting companies, your win could be redeemed anywhere, in the bank or at the betting company’s office. This is probably the only sweet chapter of these games, which depend hugely on luck.

The reality is that you either win or lose. But gamers on either divide, never ever give up, week in, week out.

20

LIVING

April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

A boy of school age, fights poverty by taking to newspaper vending, while still keeping an eye on his dream of becoming a pilot, reports NNAMDI ONYEUMA.

T

he old saying that it is not the size of the dog in a fight that matters, but the size of the fight in a dog, comes true in the story of Master Temitope Adebayo.

In a hard-up season for most families in Nigeria today, 16 years old Tope, an indigene of Emure-Ekiti in Ekiti State, has taken to newspaper vending just so he can assist his parents in the upkeep of the family. Tope is the eldest of four other siblings, (three boys and two girls) from same mother. But, reveals, “My father has a second wife.

The second wife has older children; one of which is also a newspaper vendor,” he told Saturday Mirror. Since starting out in 2007, exactly seven years ago when he was barely nine, Tope has seen it all – the good, the bad and the ugly, as they say, and still going. Not even the blazing sun, which often acts with a terrible temper or the rains, which sometimes visits unannounced to force him to make a hasty retreat into the nearby Jonas Petroleum, can stop his determination to ease the burdens of running the home the sholder’s of Mrs. Bukky Adebayo his mother. Interestingly, he is not alone. His elder step brother, Paul, who has his newspaper stand at Ilayasu Road, Iyana-Odo, in Ejigbo, and mother, are also in the newspaper vending business. “I get my daily newspaper supplies from my mother. She has her newspaper stand at Council Bus Stop on your way to Ikotun, in Alimosho local government area of Lagos State,” he says in response to how he gets his supplies. Without a proper sitting convenience at his sales point located at Powerline Bus Stop, along the Lagos State University (LASU)-Igando road, Tope attends to his customers either standing or sitting on an iron barricade, which provides security cover for Jonas Petroleum just over-looking the road. According to him, he had his primary education at Local Government Primary School, Idimu, Lagos State, and graduated in 2012. Tope craves the flying job and interestingly, understands that training as a pilot does not come cheap. “I want to be a pilot. I want to fly an airplane. I know that it is not easy to train as a pilot, but I also know that with God all things are possible. All I need is to study my books when I enroll into Olorufunmi Secondary School, in Idimu, next session,” he says. When reminded that he must need to pass mostly science subjects at the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to qualify and train as a pilot, Tope says, “I know. I have been told that it is only science students that can study to become a pilot.

I am glad because I like sciences, too.”

Tope Adebayo: Kid vendor who wants to be a pilot

I want to be a pilot. I want to fly an airplane. I know that it is not easy to train as a pilot, but I also know that with God, all things are possible He told the newspaper that his father, Adebayo, lives and works as a tipper mechanic in their home town in Ekiti State.

“My younger ones and I, live here in Lagos with our mother alone. This is why I am doing this to support her in the training of my younger ones who are still in school,” he tells the newspaper. Though Tope says he likes the newspaper vending job, which he describes as easy and stress free, he points out that it is not a job for the lazy. “Every day,” he says, “I come here as early as 6.30 in the morning and close at 12 mid-day or a little after. I either come by my bicycle or public transport. Since my bicycle developed some mechanical problems, I have been joining public transport so as to meet up

with my early morning customers.”

According to him, his mother bought the bicycle for him on January last year to make the supply job easy for him.

“The bicycle has been a good company, because it directly cushions the trouble of newspaper vending, particularly, each time I want to supply newspapers to my client, St. Francis Church,” he says. Cutting a picture of a smart boy, it could be safe to say that what pint-sized Tope, lost in stature, he gained in amazing wisdom.

It is probably his wisdom, easy-going and friendly nature that have combined to make him a friend of all, including the army of ‘free readers’ and ‘genuine customers,’ who form a standing gallery round his small steel table every business

morning. Though Tope whose home is at Governor’s road, Iyana-Oba, enjoys the high octane argument that often sparks off among the newspaper readers, and from which he confesses to learning a few things about life, he would not mind a better paying job. “if I get a better job that will help me save for school, as well as continue assisting my mother, I will gladly do it,” he says.

Indeed, Tope’s story signposts the state of most homes in Nigeria, today, where three square meals are a struggle, either because the parents are out of jobs or working, but hardly get paid at the end of the month. And, to survive, young girls and boys of school age are compelled, willy-nilly, to take up all manner of odd jobs. Bad as the situation is, Tope, however, may well qualify as one of the few lucky boys, today, when compared to many his age, wasting away in factories and living dangerously as sex workers.

Entervaganza The Saturday Mirror Magazine

Sex talk 20 scandalous sex facts

p32

Fashion Rocking your intimates

p28, 29

Relationships Can your partner keep friends of the opposite sex?

Liz... on the rise

p32

22

ENTERVAGANZA

April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Only my mother supported my music career –Mr Songz Mr Songz has contributed a lot to the urban music industry’s development as a songwriter, producer and voice coach. He tells OSEYIZA OOGBODO how music began for him and his plans as a musician.

y t i r b Cele

H

ow did you get into music?

I started singing from when I was very small with my mum in church. I can’t really say when and how I knew music was my calling, but I grew up just knowing in me that I’ve got this music talent and when I started trying to make use of it, I was supported only by my mum when she was still alive.

What do you like most about being a musician?

The attention and the extras, but don’t ask me about the extras oh.

What do you hate most?

That is when the challenges start coming. They almost drown you if you’re not chosen for the hustle.

What’s your strongest musical point? Is it singing, writing songs, playing instruments or what?

I think my strongest point is my voice on stage. I still can’t explain how it comes and flows easily and powerfully when I’m on stage.

Some upcoming artists recently complained that radio stations don’t play enough Nigerian music.

What is your view of this?

My advice is, as an upcoming Nigerian artist, complaining should be out of the hustle oh. Just work hard, pray hard and have faith. When your time reach, radio go play your song till your CD go skip.

What is your view of the coveted Grammy award. Can you win it?

Can you be the one to finally bring it to Nigeria?

Grammy? Yes I can win a Grammy by the grace of God. If Wizkid can win a BET in his time, then I can win a Grammy in my time by the grace of God. Is it even sensible for Nigerian artists to aspire to win the Grammy?

It is very, very sensible to aspire to win a Grammy oh. As a Nigerian artist, aspire to big things and work towards it. Even aspire to win the world because it’s possible.

Would you say that playing many instruments is an advantage to you as a musician when many artists don’t play yet they are popular?

Playing as many music instruments as you can is a very big advantage, even if we have some empty ones out there making it. Empty containers make the loudest noise but time will separate the wheat from the chaff.

What are your plans as a musician?

They are plenty oh. But basically, my plans are to impact positively on society, to bless with my music, to make wealth to care for the needy, and most importantly that the name of the Lord be praised in my life.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

23

April 5, 2014

L

ast week, fading singer, Soul E, who says he is now a prophet of God, stirred up a storm when he predicted that Caro singer, Wizkid, would be poisoned, while Aye singer, Davido, would be involved in a fatal accident.

While he says that he was directed

by God to make public the predictions, entertainment pundits have said that he only did so to gain attention.

Berating him, a pundit, Saucy G, said, “We all know Soul E says he is now a man of God. But his history of negative actions make it difficult for people to believe him when he makes such predictions. Besides, he is no longer as visible as and as relevant as he used to be in the entertainment industry, so his predictions make it seem like he is seeking attention. If that is the case, then he is going about it the wrong way.”

And as if buttressing Saucy, Wizkid and Davido are yet to make any public reaction to Soul E, a situation of which Saucy says, “Not reacting to him makes it obvious that they see him as a joker and an attention seeker. In these days of publicity stunts left, right and centre, if Soul E’s is a publicity stunt as well, it is rather extreme.”

Wizkid, Davido ignore

a‘ ttention-seeking’ Soul E

Wizkid

Soul E

... Davido’s New York City concert flops; apologises profusely

M

eanwhile, Davido has apologised profusely to his fans for all the hitches that developed at the first concert of his ongoing America tour.

The concert in question held in New York and Davido had to beg his fans not to be angry when they vented their anger online at the concert’s poor organisation.

s u s a m a D a Stell returns

S

ince her relocation to America with Daniel Ademinokan, the director who was once happily married to her colleague, Doris Simeon, about a couple of years ago, Stella Damasus has been quiet on the movie front.

She however maintained a presence in Nigeria by commenting on national issues through social media platforms like Facebook.

Movie-wise, Damasus, who used to be one of Nollywood’s biggest and most bankable stars, is back. She just premiered her latest movie, When Is It Enough, in New York, and as expected due to her hiatus, there’s a lot of buzz already about her comeback effort which was written by her, directed by Ademinokan and produced by the both of them.

Nkulor before

Davido

Even as he apologised, Davido absolved himself of blame. He laid the blame squarely at the feet of his tour’s promoter, telling his fans that all the things they were angry about were the promoter’s fault.

According to him, he expected to get to the venue on time but couldn’t as the promoter came to pick him at 3am as against

their agreed 1am. Regarding the venue being overcrowded, he told his fans that he also suffered from it as there was no backstage for him and his supporting artists to operate from.

Like the astute businessman he is, however, he ended his apology by telling his fans to forgive him and promised them that the other tour stops would be better.

Yet another celebrity kidney failure I t just seems as if the Nigerian entertainment industry will never escape from the grip of kidney failure. It’s almost as if three months cannot go by without an actor, singer or other entertainment practitioner disclosing he has kidney failure and needs public help to survive.

This time, it is Enugu-based actor, Chris Nkulor, who has come out to appeal to the public for N6m to undergo a kidney transplant. Nkulor, who is looking a shadow of his former self, needs the money urgently.

He is not the first celebrity to go public with his kidney issue this year. In February, Chike Bryan, President, Scriptwriters Guild of Nigeria, also came out.

Actors Pa Kasumu and Ngozi Nwosu and singer-music producer OJB Jezreel were the high profile celebrities who came out last year.

Nkulor now

24

April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

CLASSICAL RYHMES

E-NEWS

Controversy trails Zara Gretti’s sad death W hen the news broke publicly last year that sexy singer, Zara Gretti, had multiple sclerosis, it was greeted with sadness by her fans, the entertainment industry and Nigeria in general.

Many people didn’t understand what MS was, though, so they were just full of pity for her and wished her well. When she made a plea for public funds, it was felt that there was hope for her.

Sadly, she has died and her death has literally opened a can of worms.

With her death, Yemisi Ilo, who is also living with MS, and who was in touch with Zara, has released a statement blaming ignorance, and not MS, for Zara’s death. Written emotionally, and even out of anger, Ilo’s statement, reproduced below, actually pointed accusing fingers “I also have MS and I am currently in Singapore, where by His grace I will finally halt the progression and hopefully and prayerfully reverse some if not all disability. I spoke to Zara on Tuesday (last week). She said she was being given ‘agbo’ to drink by her family and that it was killing her. Those were her exact words. I told her to NOT drink it.

“With an already compromised immune system, agbo is bullshit. It is poison.

MS is not malaria. I gave Zara clear details of exactly what she needed to do to try to get well. It isn’t easy AT ALL. I should know but unfortunately for her, she was surrounded by very ignorant people at the end who felt that they knew best.

“I first heard of Zara when I read about her on Linda Ikeji‘s blog a year ago. I got in touch with her immediately and started a Skype friendship. I was in London and she was in the States (US).

We spoke regularly. When I went back to Lagos, we would WhatsApp and I would call her. When she came to Nigeria in October last year, I went to see her and she was surprised that she could move better than me! I organized the Battabox interview (which we did at my parents’ house).

She said she didn’t want to live with her mum in the States – yet she had no one to look after her there apart from her mum.

She needed someone. She even wanted to come and stay with me, but I am married with small children and my own MS issues were already enough for one house.

“I am so pissed off, so angry, so fucking sad, teary and frustrated. If I had been in Nigeria, I would have gone to pick her up on Tuesday when I spoke to her. She was so desperate to leave Ogba. She said she had a return ticket to America and would try to leave ASAP. I gave her my neurologist’s number so she could get some steroids to help her get over the horrible relapse she was having. Also to get her to explain the condition to Zara’s family so they would realize that this was not an ‘agbo’ matter.

“I have had MS for nearly 10 years. My walking has deteriorated and I am currently alternating between a walker and a wheelchair. Zara was worried that she wouldn’t get married and have kids. I told her that I had 4 kids and was happily married and continued to work and that there was hope. I have always been vocal about MS and even appeared on a Moments with Mo episode talking about it.

“There are many Nigerians with MS. I know a few but they want to keep quiet.

Their families are embarrassed. Why? I don’t know. It can happen to anyone at any time. Granted, I am extremely fortunate to have the strength of character and a loving and supportive and enlightened family to deal with this HORRIBLE condition that has led to this opportunity for me to undergo Hemapioetic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT). Google it (to know more about it).

“It has taken donations from over 100 people to do this. It costs over $150k (N24,727,501). I told Zara that since she was a US citizen, she could get on a trial at the University of Chicago under Dr. Burt for free. I just want people to know that MS didn’t kill Zara, ignorance did.

As well as our fatalistic attitude in Ni-

Zara

Artist: Zara Gretti

Ilo

geria where everyone prays and no one takes action.”

With her death, Zara can be said to have joined the ranks of entertainers who died mysteriously in their prime. The singer, Goldie, and the actress, Bisi Komolafe, also died mysteriously last year.

Judith Audu battles domestic violence

N

Audu

ollywood actress Judith Audu has joined the vanguard of actresses taking a stance against one of the biggest problems plaguing women: domestic violence.

According to her: “The rise of domestic violence in our society is alarming and I feel it is a topic that cannot be overemphasised as a lot of people need to be enlightened and educated that this is not accepted and shouldn’t become a norm in our society. Couples should learn to talk to each other and communicate as adults and not always use violence to settle issues.”

She doesn’t just feel passionate about it, though. She has taken action by producing a short film, Not Right, which lays domestic violence bare through its story which revolves

Abokoku

around a young lady faced between staying in her troubled marriage or listening to the advice of her concerned neighbour and friend.

And on how she intends to make it useful against domestic violence, she said, “It will be screened at as many film festivals as possible and it will also be available online and when it goes viral, it will pass the message that domestic violence is not good.”

Not Right is the second short film Audu has acted in this year. The other is Alpha Mum which is about a mother that is a breadwinner at home but resentful, frustrated, and an alcoholic with a hectic work schedule and a pre-teen thespian son. Her son mirrors her life imitating all her actions and gives a performance that reveals more to the audience about his mum.

Verse 1 Mr lover lover where you dey Its been a long long time since you pass my way Olo what are you waiting for?

Why you not knocking at my door?

Ma go ara e (no dull yourself) Ma go ara e, wa ba mi sere Ah ah ah ah ah I am ready e e Why you have me waiting (3x) Hook Time dey pass and e no dey wait for person But I will wait for you Now me and u we are meant to be I will wait for you No one can love you like I do Abokoku No one can treat you like I do Abokoku Abokoku, abokoku, aboko, aboko Abokoku, abokoku, aboko, aboko Verse 2 I’m on a romantic call My baby can’t miss this at all Me nah dull we MTN chilling So we speak from 12 till 4 in the morning You know say e don tey But as we go see today today No let me dey find you If I no see you, mo le ya were Ma go ara e (no dull yourself) Ma go ara e, wa ba mi sere Ah ah ah ah ah I am ready e e Why you have me waiting (3x) Hook Bridge See as Time dey pass my baby Wa ba mi sere ife baby From today you will call me baby When you’re ready we can make a baby Hook till end

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

25

April 5, 2014

E-NEWS

From hit groups to disappointing solo careers CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK

NNAMDI ONYEUMA

O

nly recently, unconfirmed reports had it that he has travelled to the United States where he hopes to revive his career. This is probably the finest news from Eddy as Nigerians who were thrilled by his singing talent await his second or is it third comeback. For Tetuila, indeed, by market records, his first solo album showed signs of success becoming an anthem among the youths and adults alike. For months and running into years, Tetuila topped music charts in Nigeria, Ghana and other African countries and instantly earning the nickname: The Golden Boy of Nigerian music. Agreed, Tetuila’s successive efforts did not make the same impact, but rising from whatever that dulled his shine, his duet with Ghana’s Tic Tac, which produced the track Fenfenenfe, earned him accolades and awards just like his E Go Better track.

Whether right or wrong, music pundits still rate him better than Eddy and Blackface though he too, has gone into oblivion for years now. Just as comparing Blackface with Faze amounts to comparing sleep and death, Tetuila stands many metres taller than Eddy.

But the most shocking of all is Blackface. Blackface’s lacklustre performance as a solo artiste has till today, kept tongues perpetually wagging as to whether or not he did not hide under the cover of the phenomenal Tuface, who has since grown beyond Nigeria to becoming Africa’s export to the world music stage with countless successful albums to his credit. It could even possibly be excusable to say that Blackface was simply stealing the shine off Faze, who like Tuface, has continued to dazzle everyone with great videos as with bank breaking albums. The major shock to music lovers in his solo efforts, till date, came with the release of his single Hard Life, an album still seen by many as largely mediocre.

Little surprise, it didn’t make waves. Graciously, too, music lovers still believed he could re-invent himself and come out with something better. All the high expectations were to crash like pack of cards when eventually at the release of his full 15-track album, Me, Music And I, he left everyone guessing as to what has happened to the man who was a cult figure in the group. If people were shocked at his below average album, they were probably alarmed that he veered off from R and B, which the Plantashun Boiz became popular with by making a somewhat maddening adventure into reggae and raga.

Unfortunately as with R and B, he was lacking in the talent, especially the vocal power to excel in this area where Gino and the likes of General Pype and Rhymzo have lifetime patency right.

However, with Faze’s phenomenal success, perhaps, most Nigerians privy to his slow, but steady rise to musical stardom, would be wondering over what really transpired in the Plantashun Boiz where he had mere passing contributions to their songs. Like Tuface, whose talent was never in doubt and so predictably churned out an 11-track album shortly after the breakup and immediately set the stage for the music confraternity to wait anxiously for Faze and Blackface, Faze, in no time, responded by dropping his fairytale and highly successful single, Faze Alone. This single stirred music hearts especially as his high-pitch vocal delivery signaled that he was not in any way ready to give up on his inherent talents. Describing his style as universal flavor – a blend of African Hip-Hop, R and B and Reggae - his albums, Independent and Originality sold like sachet water. With party organizers adopting the track as an anthem, this Delta State born twin and fourth in a family of nine, rubbed in his rising profile with numerous nominations at home and abroad. Indeed, Faze, who had won the DBN Karaoke Finals in 1997, was a surprise to many.

And just about when the accolades were reaching the

Kush

heavens, he unleashed the complete 17 tracks, which was well received in music circles.

As it would seem, Blackface at the time was left in the cold. Many years after their split, it seems clear who did what and who didn’t do what in the Plantashun Boiz years. Today, among Faze, Blackface and Tuface, and Eddy, Tetuila and Eedris, the boys have been perfectly separated from the men. The case of Eedris Abdulkareem leaves mixed feelings. Eedris, as he is popularly known, the self-proclaimed King of Rap, to all intent, craved to prove himself even when it was clear that the fire was speedily going off. To a great extent, too, he almost achieved this with his Nigeria Jaga Jaga single.

The single, which was followed by a befitting video, raised the stakes for revolutionary rap music. Just before the praises went down, again, this Osun State indigene, whose full name is Eedris Tunrayo Abdulkareem Ajenifuja, came out with Mr. Lecturer, which was released in May 14, 2006. The album impressed music fans so much that he became a bride for most corporate organizations. Seemingly sustaining the renewed acceptance, in 2010, he hit the stores with Unfinished Business. Whether or not this album made marketing impact is anyone’s guess, but clearly, Eedris enjoyed media reviews. Perhaps, it was these positive reviews that got into his head and suddenly, he arrogantly had an altercation with American rap star and boss of G-Unit, 50 Cent. While many saw Eedris reaction to the famous star that had come for the popular Star Mega Jam in 2004 as a publicity stunt, which it really turned out to be as Eedris reportedly begged 50 Cent. It was probably a huge gamble; a mistake Eedris would readily admit with regrets. For shortly after, his career nose-dived terribly. Like a conspiracy of radio and television stations, the airplay, which he enjoyed suddenly stopped.

His career having hung precariously on the edge of the precipice, he was never seen at public functions. Then, like his co-travellers struggling to revive their solo careers, he made a surprise comeback with a single The King is back. Before this album, he had equally released Letter to Mr. President, which was also neither here nor there. Still not giving up, he recently released another album on Kennis Music: Calabar Girl. In the album, he featured Vicky and starred Keke Ogungbe. This was his last rescue drive and the last signature of his existence as a solo artiste. Whether this musical voyage has achieved the purpose for which Eedris embarked upon

Zule Zoo

it remains to be seen. In fact, only Eedris can tell.

But the bitter truth is that for Blackface, Eddy and Tetuila, obviously, the better of the two, theirs is a quintessential example of the first becoming the last and the last, the first.

CONCLUDED

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April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Tchidi Chikere, Nuella Njubigbo, Sophia Chikere love triangle gets messier ... You used juju to hold me –Tchidi ... If I did, God will judge me –Sophia ... Shut your trap, Charles Novia tells Tchidi

I

t has been public knowledge for quite some time now that actress Nuella Njubigbo is in a romantic relationship with producer-director-actor Tchidi Chikere.

Well, the lovebirds have taken their love to the next level by actually marrying the traditional way. But surprisingly, in what Sophia refers to as a bout of guilty conscience, Tchidi has attacked her on social media, calling her a bad wife, and releasing a picture of her with another man to prove that she was having an extramarital affair.

Sophia, who has hitherto kept quiet all along that the town has been abuzz with the news that her husband and colleague were dating, reacted to his picture release, and what she said was so much.

“Tchidi, I read all you said about me and I laugh. Is that the best way to justify yourself ? It is well. I will not exchange words with you still because there is nothing you say or write about me that will shake me because those that put their trust in God, He never fails them.

“Why are you lying to people? For them to turn around and clap for you and justify what you did? I give 10 years of my life and this is how you repay me? By disrespecting me and my family?

“You said I used juju to marry you. If truly I and my family used juju to hold you, let God who sees everything judge me and you.

“You said I never had time for you?

When you are always filming in the east and I won’t see you in months. I played the role of father and mother to the kids, and I laughed the more when I saw where you wrote that I didn’t feed you for 5 days. Is this all in desperation to justify yourself ? Wow!!

“You said marriages are not contracted on the pages of newspaper and granting interviews, yet you people have been granting interviews upon interviews since 2012. Have I said anything against you? But I won’t say anything against you. Keep saying lies about me thinking you can tarnish my image by putting up this childish and immature behaviour.

“Even if you say that I am a prostitute tomorrow or a thief, people who know the truth know the truth and God knows everything and sees the heart and He will pay everybody back according to our deeds. So I’m not shaking!!

“I will never say anything against you to gain favour from people! No, you can’t hide pregnancy. I gave you my life for 12

Tchidi

Sophia

Nuella

Novia

years, gave you 3 lovely boys, gave you a home. And you always say to me then, I was a good wife to you and you know it.

I was loyal to you and never cheated on you. I swallowed and stomached so many things just to make my marriage work. I turned deaf ears to so many things and covered my eyes to so many things.

“I remember all the stories I heard about your escapades with other women, but did I leave you? I stayed with you because marriage is for better or worse and when you started your affair with Nuella in 2010, what did you say to me when I confronted you?

“I stayed, endured and prayed every night. Have you forgotten the day I almost committed suicide? The first time you left

me and the kids? I wanted to end my life but God saved me. Even as you left us in 2012, I kept saying to people that my marriage is intact and I never changed my name from Sophia Tchidi Chikere till date.

“You put up my pictures with my friend to use against me? You want to use it to justify what you did to me? What you put me through for years? You said he is my boyfriend that I go to see in London and I ask you Tchidi, when I was with you, did I not go to London two or three times yearly to buy clothes for my boutique? Everybody knows that I am a business woman and I buy my products from London and America. And so because I have a friend in London, I now go there just to see him? Lol He is my friend,

my pal, my buddy and my best friend.

“We started being good friends in 2013 after Chidi left me and ended our marriage. He is someone that is very close to me and my confidant. All these years I have had women as best friends and they all betrayed me, and I decided to have a guy as my best friend. We go everywhere together and he assists me in shopping and buying things for my shop etc I can’t deny him. He is my friend. People that know me very well will tell you that I love taking pictures and so we took lots of pictures and the guy posted it on his Facebook page and some people copied it and started posting it online. I have also kept mute about it and I would have still keep mute if not that Tchidi raises it and wanted to use it to tarnish my name.

“But it is well. My kids read what their daddy wrote about me and they asked me to respond and tell the whole world that you are wonderful mother and that they know and they are seeing everything and won’t say anything till they grow up! So I’m responding to this because of my three lovely boys that I live for, that I’m blessed with.”

Meanwhile, respected producer-director and fast-rising social commentator, Charles Novia, has waded into the erstwhile Chikeres’ faceoff by telling Tchidi to seal his lips.

“My concern in this case has to do with the open fights between Tchidi and Sophia on social media AFTER Tchidi’s new marriage. On face value, it would seem to have started with Tchidi’s rant on twitter against his ex-wife.

“The tweets were quite shocking and less than charitable, to say the least.

Though from the tweets, one could psycho-analyse that Tchidi was really angry, hurt and perhaps deliberately hitting below the belt at his former wife. My first reaction when I read those tweets on a blog was one of shock. Those tweets were totally uncalled for. Totally.

“Perhaps Tchidi and Sophia are being wrongly advised by masquerading friends?

Or maybe they are not even being advised at all by anyone but are just ventilating on social media, giving bloggers more hits and the country one more piece of idle gossip?

“Whatever the case, I will openly advise Tchidi to stop further tweets or replies on this matter. For the record, I don’t know Sophia or Nuella and haven’t met with any ever and don’t wish to. My concern, as a father, is for the kids from Tchidi’s first marriage and perhaps future kids from this new marriage. Do not celebrate your misgivings on social media. Sheath the swords. Think of the children. The children. The children.”

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

27

April 5, 2014

le StyGlam and

with Yemisi Adeniran

(08037801158) ydiran@yahoo.com

Classics from C

Amede

reativity and ability to combine colours makes a good designer and a fashion icon anyday. It makes one stand out uniquely and adds comfort to one‛s appearance all day. This is exactly a major factor that defines this collection by Amede Nzeribe, the owner of the Amede label. A lawyer-turned designer, her unique ability to weave together stunning combinations of colours and fabrics is perhaps inherited from her late mother, the legendary Flora Nwapa, Africa‛s first female novelist.

Tagged classic and stunning, Amede‛s touch on the adire fabric have really command attention because they seem to achieve the impossible. Unmistakably African, with cute shapes and rich colours, they are coupled with a modern twist.

And with the addition of frills, unusual buttons, beads and sequins, funky highcut collars, a variety of sleeves and other surprising touches, the end result cannot but be a rare combination of timeless and edgy outfits. Just check these models out.

28

STYLE & GLAM

April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

STYLE & GLAM

April 5, 2014

29

Fashion Frenzy

Rocking your

intimates

 Bras are, no doubt, necessities of all women. However, when worn wrongly, they can as well be an eyesore. To play safe therefore, you must be kept abreast of the rules of wearing them especially where some outfits are concerned.  If your dress shows tons of skin, ensure to skip the bra completely and just rely on paste-on cups to keep everything in place. This is because whichever type you choose on this kind of dress is bound to be seen somehow and this will make you commit a fashion fault.  Avoid wearing a bra also if your dress already offers tons of support, it will just add extra bulk. The same is applicable to a sheer lace top. A tank or cropped cami looks much cuter.  Wear a strapless bra that blends with the pattern if you‛re going to wear lace.  Pick a demi cup bra if your top has a solid bodice but a sheer or lacy neckline.  Wear a white bra under a black tee, especially at an event where there will be lots of people snapping pictures. Even if it looks fine at home, the flash will definitely make your bra show through.  Rely on plenty of double stick tape to keep a low-cut blouse from revealing too much.  Wear a strapless bra if your top shows off your shoulders.  Pick a bralet with a thick bottom band and a fun pattern if you‛re going to wear it in place of a full shirt.  Don‛t be afraid to let a little bit of lace peek out, especially if it matches your top.  Go for stick-on bra cups if your dress is full of crazy cut-outs, instead of trying to find a bra that stays hidden behind the solid parts of the bodice. Choose a strapless bra (or go completely without) if you‛re rocking extreme spaghetti straps.

That way, you will be saved from all embarrassment.

STYLE & GLAM

30

Fashion Guest April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

As far as Elakeche Adeka Rachel, a graduate of Mass Communication, and a fashionista is concerned, looking good comes from one’s self perception. “If you don’t love yourself, you won’t look good,’ she says in this interview with YEMISI ADENIRAN

Y

ou have been modelling for quite some time now. What do you think has worked for you so far?

Apart from God who I believe makes things work for everyone, I think it is my height and my figure. I have a very tall height and my figure is shapely.

You seem to believe so much in these two. Is that all you have as assets?

It may not be all, but I really believe they have both worked for me because one or two people have passed that comment on me and at different times. Besides, some of the judges that I had encountered also said same. But in actual fact, I believe in myself, I love myself and that has really worked more than anything for me. Loving oneself goes a long way in making success.

How do you mean?

What I mean by this is that if a person, a woman particularly, appreciates herself, it will become very hard for others to rate her negatively in any way.

Loving yourself would make you take pride in yourself, it would give you a

‘Loving yourself is secret to real beauty’ high level of confidence and this would end up giving you the right push you need forward. It would beat every feeling of inferiority and that would endear you with many people who, ordinarily, might not have looked at your side twice.

Is that your advice for women?

Yes. Every woman is created with one beauty or the other. So, I advise that women take interest in themselves more than they used to do. Love yourself, appreciate yourself and this would

Fashion Trivia

Ejiro Amos Tafiri wins Fashion Film of the Year 2014

E

jiro Amos Tafiri is the winner of Fashion Film of the Year 2014.

Obviously not a new name in the African fashion industry, Ejiro has been designing cute, elegant and stylish outfits that have over the years stood her out among her peers.

Recently, she added a feather to her cap when she became the winner of Fashion Film of the year at the City People Fashion and Beauty Awards.

With a conviction of a blossoming ca-

reer in fashion designing even at a tender age of 14, E.A.T., as she is fondly called has taken a gallant stride that has landed her at the fore-front of the fashion industry.

She has certainly made those dreams real by showcasing E.A.T. collections in fashion shows, fashion weeks and exhibitions in London, Mauritius, Malawi, Ghana, and of course, in Nigeria.

The brand has grown to become a household name and are stocked by various boutiques and online stores across ma-

jor states in Nigeria as well as distributing to more international online stores to satisfy interested clients abroad.

She has represented Nigeria at the USAID Origin Africa in Mauritus 2011, 2012 Olympics in London, Britian. She has also been awarded with the Most Promising Designer at the Glam and Essence Fashion and Beauty Awards 2012. Her irresistible “O le ku” collections displayed in dramatic manner won her the Fashion Film of the year.

make you even glitter from within. If you would not appreciate yourself, nobody will. But if you will take pride in yourself, you will be more appreciated.

Loving yourself is the secret to real beauty.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

31

April 5, 2014

Male Essentials

08036961187

with Oseyiza Oogbodo kingseiza@gmail.com w

Look good at the gym E

ven if you’re sweating up a storm, the gym is a spot where you can meet a potential girlfriend, and the proper attire can definitely have the right impact.

With work taking up most of your time, your training sessions can become very important in terms of socializing with the ladies. Just follow these simple fashion guidelines to buy gym wear that will make you look good, even after the most strenuous workouts.

Stay on tops First and foremost, your gym rags should be comfortable and allow your body a great range of motion. Let’s face it, you’re going to the gym to pump iron and to sweat it out, so don’t wear delicate designer clothing because after a few workouts, they’ll only be ready for the garbage.

Just like your everyday clothing, your success in being stylish at the gym lies in the simplicity and elegance of your outfits. Avoid wearing multicoloured T-shirts that don’t match the colour of your trousers and/or sneakers. Your entire ensemble should consist of 2 or 3 colours or tones. Any combination above 3 colours will likely lead to a fashion disaster.

Instead, stick to solid colours like black, navy blue, red, gray, earth tones, and white. If you’re the type to perspire a lot, avoid wearing light gray T-shirts because sweat stains under your armpits will make you look rather filthy and unattractive. The same applies to yellow sweat stains on your white T-shirts.

Even though they are totally natural, they’ll make you look sloppy.

All T-shirts with flashy logos and huge insignias should also be left aside and worn as pyjamas instead. Wear T-

shirts with discreet logos such as Reebok, Puma, Adidas, and the famous Nike swoosh. A small logo on the chest or back of your tee is classy, subtle and will match the rest of your training gear.

Just shop for your favourite brand and find simple, stylish T-shirts made for the gym.

If you have a fit, trim body, don’t be shy to wear tighter T-shirts or even more revealing tank tops. Just follow the same guidelines: keep it simple and make sure it looks clean.

Generally, cotton tops are the most comfortable and the least expensive. As for better fit, I suggest various blends of synthetic fibres because they offer a better fit and provide as much breathing ability and comfort as cotton.

Bottoms up When you’re scheduled to work out your legs and/or do cardio, it’s wise to wear shorts. They allow a greater range of motion and better air circulation.

You’ll find a wide variety of shorts that offer support, comfort and style.

In order to look good, shorts should fall a little above the knees and fit nicely around your buttocks and legs. Save the extremely loose fitting shorts for boxers and basketball players; they lack sex appeal and look kind of sloppy altogether on a regular guy working out.

Once again, when the time comes to choose, keep it simple by minimizing the amount of colours in your gym outfit. If you only have one pair of shorts, make sure its colour is neutral so that it can easily match most of your T-shirts and sneakers.

Great fabrics for shorts are a mix of cotton with spandex or polyester. These stretch materials make the shorts fit perfectly, offer great support and look great

too.

Whatever shorts you decide to wear to the gym, just remember to keep your bathing suits for the pool and your jean shorts for gardening or painting the house.

Stay on track of things For days when you’re working your upper body, wear track trousers; they’re stylish, extremely comfortable and designed for intense wear and tear from training. When they are worn with trendy running shoes, the right track trousers can be worn as everyday casual wear. Once again, keep the colours to a minimum and opt for a straight cut.

Stay away from track pants with a narrow finish, because they won’t fall well on your running shoes. Track pants come in every style and colour, so just pick a pair that will easily match the rest of your training gear. Recommended colours are black, gray and navy blue, as they blend nicely with most colours and aren’t likely to get stained or dirty.

If you want trendier track pants, look for drawstrings in the waistband and/or around your ankles. Other neat accesso-

ries are zippers, buttons and different pockets. Thicker and modern fabrics such as nylon will give your track pants more durability while adding to your trendy look.

All sporting good manufacturers carry a line of track pants, so you shouldn’t have a problem finding a pair. Apart from your sneakers, track pants will probably be the most expensive item so be ready to spend a little more for them.

Running for your life A whole article could be devoted to choosing great-looking sneakers.

Again, simplicity and comfort are key.

Minimize the amount of colours and flashiness, and buy shoes that will serve their purpose. If you are a runner, don’t buy DKNY running shoes just because they look good. Instead, opt for running shoes that are specifically designed for running.

Just remember that a great way to look stylish is to match and combine the right colours, which of course, should be kept to a minimum. Now get your stylish butt to the gym!

32

April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Relationships

Can your partner keep Iron out grey areas fast

T

he dynamics of friendship is very complicated between the same sexes not to talk of what one gets between people of the opposite sex. Same sex friendships come with their own problems if not properly managed, but talking about close friendships of the opposite sex is another thing entirely.

With men and women these days working in close proximity with one another, it has become almost impossible for job related relationships not to spill over into friendship outside the work environment. Old borders created for friendship are being broken, same as old rules and regulations on the parameters of friendship. And more people are discovering common grounds and reasons for friendship with the opposite sex.

On the other side of the divide are still some people who still hold on to the idea that nothing good can come out of being close friends with members of the opposite sex, most especially when one or both partners are committed in serious and steady relationships like marriage. This set of people will go on to tell you that the end result of any close friendship with a member of the opposite sex can only result in both of them having sex. It will therefore be assumed that infidelity and adultery will be the expected end product of such relationships. These people will tell you that a truly platonic relationship between both sexes is just not possible and they’ll give you examples of people who have strayed beyond the beaten paths of marriage to commit adultery because of a momentary weakness of one of the partners while having a friend of the opposite sex.

Truly, a lot of adulteries started off as platonic friendships with one of the partners ready to take the simple cross gender friendship beyond the boundaries initially spelt out for it. But I can tell you that it wasn’t the closeness that brought up adultery. If at all it did happen, it only shows that there are cracks in the marriage that should have been sealed

and which weren’t. People commit adultery daily not because they have the opportunity but because the relationships they have with their spouses are not built on good and effective communication that will allow them discuss the deficiencies and inadequacies that they may be encountering in their marriages. Adultery becomes an option when the commitment they both have for each other becomes meaningless.

Most times, the problems that may endanger cross gender friendships are based on assumptions and presumptions of the friends and other people around them.

Yes truly, there will come a period in the relationship between friends where questions may arise whether the close friendship should go beyond that which is already on ground. It is always better to stylishly address this very early in the relationship if you think that your friend may get offended if you come out ‘shooting from the hips’ to say it. Another problem that cross gender friendship may bring to the fore is the insecurity caused by lack of trust by partners. It becomes even glaring when the cross gender friend is obviously very attractive.

Be that as it may however, and given all the above explanations, I’ll still say that there is nothing wrong with your partner having close friends of the opposite sex. The partner only needs to maintain some certain rules in the cross gender friendship and no harm will be done.

SAlso, if your partner can minimize sexual tension with the new friend by not being unusually touchy or putting themselves in compromising positions, even if they are naturally affectionate persons, will reduce giving people the impression that the friendship is more than what it’s claimed to be.

Finally, if all these fail and your partner is allowing the new friendship to affect your relationship, both of you should sit down and iron out the grey areas quickly to forestall a breakdown in your relationship.

SEX TALK

This column is x-rated

20 sex facts 1.

Don’t get all crazy!

The vibrator was originally invented in the 19th century as a way to reduce female “hysteria.” That seems a little extreme. However, we do not recommend testing that theory by tampering with a woman’s sex life to see if she goes into a hysterical fit. That’s just dangerous.

2.

Swarms of swimmers

Your average healthy man produces approximately 300 million sperm in just a teaspoon of his semen. However, it only takes one little swimmer to fertilize a woman’s egg.

3.

Like it

Forget post-coital cuddling! According to a recent poll, 36 percent of people under the age of 35 check their Facebook and Twitter accounts after a roll in the hay. Hopefully, they are not posting any pictures!

4.

Get some!

Think men get laid more than women? Wrong! According to a recent survey, women have sex 17 percent more often than the average guy. Go girls!

5.

Make it last Even though the male orgasm seems

to get all the attention, it turns out the women get the last laugh when it comes to climaxing. While the average male orgasm lasts for six seconds, the average female orgasm lasts 20 seconds — 14 seconds longer than the male’s six-second O.

6.

Orgasms are good for you

Orgasms are good for your health!

They can lower a woman’s risk of heart disease, stroke, breast cancer and even depression. So have sex and get happy!

7.

Sexercise

Sex counts as a workout! During 30 minutes of active sex, you burn about 200 calories.

8.

Get hot

Even though most women report only being aroused by men, researchers at the Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, found that most women in a study became aroused by every sexual stimulus they saw — including nude male and female bodies.

9.

That’s not so bad

When aroused, people are not likely to think things are disgusting, according to a study published in the online

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

RELATIONSHIPS

April 5, 2014

CHINWE ANNIE AMAECHI

33

07028684481 chinweamaechi@gmail.com

friends of the opposite sex?

Women, dont push it!

W

This column is x-rated journal PLOS ONE.

10.

Don’t hold it

Ever notice that it’s kind of tough to go pee right after sex? Your body releases an antidiuretic hormone when you orgasm, which prohibits you from going potty as easily as usual. Just don’t hold it for too long, or you could risk infection.

This column is x-rated 16.

Sexy eating

Think food is sexy? Some people admit to feeling a similar sense of arousal when thinking about food as they do when thinking about sex.

17.

Love your body

Most of the time, a woman only releases one egg per month.

According to Live Science, a study of obese women found that those who accepted their bodies reported better sex. So appreciate your body, or your sex life could suffer!

12.

18.

11.

Just one Teen sex

By the age of 19, a whopping 70 percent of teenagers have already had sex.

13.

Hold on... I’ve got to take this Women are great multi-taskers!

According to a survey, at least 12 percent of women admitted to using their cellphones during sex.

14.

The age for sex

The Kinsey Institute estimates that, on average, boys lose their virginity at age 16.9. For girls, the age jumps to 17.4.

15.

Let’s talk about sex

People who are more open to talking about sex are actually happier with their sex lives, according to Live Science.

What a pain!

According to a study published in the Journal of Sex Research, a person’s pain threshold significantly increases during arousal.

19.

Take a load off!

According to a study from the Netherlands, the amygdala — the part of the brain involved in fear and anxiety — shuts down during a female orgasm. So that brain mush you experience during sex is legit!

20.

Sex and booze, please

A study by postgraduate psychology researchers found people rate sex as the top activity that brings them happiness, followed by drinking alcohol or “partying.” Childcare ranked fifth on the list — sorry kids!

hen you make a commitment to an intimate relationship with someone of the opposite sex, on any level (dating, courtship or marriage), the general implication is that you have agreed to place him/her on a separate and distinct pedestal of the highest category, to the exclusion of all others, especially those of his/her gender.

By making the commitment, you are saying to him/her that you have chosen him/her as the most special friend in your life. The question is this: does this commitment also imply that no other person of your partner’s gender who does not have any blood ties with you can retain a close relationship with you?

As a woman, are you precluded from having men as close friends? (Please give whatever definition you wish to the word “close”).

As other issues in life, there are many schools of thought on this sensitive issue. Whilst some people don’t understand why it should be a point of discussion at all (because every mature person should know the difference between an intimate partner and a platonic friend), some acknowledge the fact that ‘friends’ of the opposite sex can cause major ‘wahala’ between partners.

One extreme school of thought opines that a woman should be free to have close male friends, whether or not these close male friends eventually become her husband’s friends, while the other extreme school preaches the ‘no-no’ approach.

Some people feel that such close relations are not harmful where the other men have women of their own, while for others, this cannot guarantee platonic relationships because lots of people are into multiple partners anyway.

When these close male friends are in the woman’s workplace, it could also be a bigger problem because she spends more time at work than at home. What this implies is that she spends more time with these close friends than her partner. Imagine how threatened some men could feel about this.

I think the biggest of all the problems on this issue arises when the woman remains ‘close’ to an ex. In fact, for most men, this is a big ‘no-no’. As far as they are concerned, when a woman breaks up with a man and remains close to him, she probably doesn’t mind going back to him. This is debatable, but my question to such women is: why bother?

How valuable can your past be in relation to your future? Ponder!

Thinking about it from several angles, there are many questions to ask from, each from two angles (of blame).

A few of them are: Y Why would a woman be expected to throw male friends away after marriage (or commitment to a relationship); is marriage/courtship a prison yard or death sentence? versus Why should a woman retain close male friends after marriage/commitment to a partner; cant she make sacrifices for her man?

Y Why would a man feel threatened by his partner’s relations with other men; doesn’t he trust her? versus why should a woman create avenues of mistrust by keeping close male friends; doesn’t she know that close male friends are potential partners for infidelity?

Y Is it really possible, in this technologically-driven and social network age, for a ‘committed’ woman to avoid having close male friends? versus is it possible, in this day and age, for people of the opposite sex to relate closely without one getting sexually attracted to the other?

Y Why should a man be so selfish as to expect total exclusivity from his partner? versus why should a committed woman devote part of the limited time she has to spend with her partner to other men?

Not all males around you are sexually attracted to you, and quite a number of them can never really be seen as ‘risky business’. However, the problem is: what parameters do you use in determining who is a potential risk and who determines that? A woman, thinking as a woman, may see her close male friend as harmless because she feels emotionally detached from him. But, her partner, thinking like a man and putting himself in that other man’s shoes, would most likely feel that that other man would find his partner irresistible.

Doesn’t this make some sense?

In my opinion, despite the fact that men are jealous by default, a woman can determine whether her relations with other men (close or not) can be sources of conflict between her and her partner. Inappropriate hugs, late night calls, private meetings, long discussions, ‘private gist’, special profile messages/dedications on social networks (facebook, blackberry messenger, etc) will tick almost any man off, no matter how ‘secure’ he is. So, women, don’t push it.

So should women maintain close relationships with men other than their partners? My answer (like a typical Nigerian): How close is close?

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Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Woman

‘Marry your friend’

Mrs. Adeola Azeez is a motivational speaker and a seasoned correspondent banker with over two decades of experience in the banking sector. The Consultant and Deputy Representative of Deutsche Bank, in this interview with YEMISI ADENIRAN, speaks on her growing up, marriage and career. Excerpts:

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here and how did you grow up?

I was born in London; my parent met and got married in London. I would say growing up for me in England was like growing up like a normal child. My mother and my father were working in London then and I know that I had a nanny who was looking after me. I came to Nigeria when I was about two or three years off ag age e wh when to Nigeria. my parents par aren ents ts rrelocated elocated l My M y growing up was very exciting because I was the first child of my father and mother. Being a first child of parents that respect African values and norms, I was made to reflect everywanted thing they wan nte ted d to rereflect flec fl ectt iin n terms of good behaviour, manner, respect for elders, morals and so on.

We r e your

parents very strict with you when growing up?

As at when I was wa growing up, I believed they were. Of course, with wi time, as a grown up, I had a change of heart. I realised that they were only teaching me the righ right values which is what I am doing to my children now. no Incidentally, they also think I am very strict and trying to overdo things. But ret ally, I am proud to say sa that I am a product of a very good home. I am proud of my parents and I sing pr their praises every day d for bringing me up well.

What kind of a g girl were you when growing up? up?

I went to an all girls’ gir school and would say I was a very outgoing and friendly girl. My parents were also very free with us u despite their strictness. I was not a problematic girl, gir I was an obedient child.

How did your boyfriends express their love bo for you when you came of age? c I ca can’t wooed by any man. Most can’ n t re remember being b of the relationships I had started as friendship because I always enjoye enjoyed the company of people. Anytime I am discussing with people - men or women - I found out that they a always found me engaging and I thanked God for wisdom, knowledge and experiw ence. My relationship relationshi always started from the impression people get ffrom me.

How did your hu husband propose marriage to you?

In fact my husban husband’s case is a different one. I always burst into laug laughter anytime I remember how we met. My husban husband and I met at a Texaco Petrol Station in Agud Aguda, Lagos. On that day, he was buying petrol and I was also buying petrol.

On that day day, I was going to my boyfriend’s house. He (my husband), kept staring at me and I said within my mind: “Can’t this o one look at someone without making it obvious?” While staring maki at m me I was pretending to be reading a book. He bought his petrol first firs and I thought he had gone but I discovered that as I was buying my own petrol, he approached me. He said he thought that he knew me. He asked: “Did you go to UN UNILAG?” I said, yes. Then he asked: “ “Were you in Art Block?”, I said yes. He asked ask again: “Did you read Philosophy? I said yes. y In the course of our discussion, I realised that he finished in 1982 while I finished in 1983 and it was w amazing that we never met throughout my undergraduate days at UNILAG. On unde that day, we exchang exchanged cards and few days later, I

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

saw him in my office on a visit and that was how we started our relationship.

Apparently he had done his homework knowing that my parents did not approve of the relationship with my boyfriend at the same time. So, the day he proposed to me, he didn’t even ask me: “Can we date?” He asked me: “Can you marry me?”

What was your response?

I said to him; ‘Se bi won se n marry ni yen’ (Is that how someone gets married?). I said to him that I had a boyfriend. I didn’t take him seriously because I could not imagine someone just coming to say I want to marry you without first dating. But anyway the rest is history. He persevered a lot and I guess he knew what he wanted and when he saw me, he wasn’t ready to allow me to go at all. He would come to my house and sometimes when he came, he would meet my other boyfriend. He would just say to me: “I came to visit you,” and after our discussion I would see him off. Whenever my boyfriend

WOMAN

April 5, 2014

How do you manage your home and successful banking career?

I thank God that I have a very supportive husband. If my husband doesn’t allow me to do what I like to do within moderation I will not be where I am today. I am an extremely busy woman at work and in other organisations that I belong to. I believe in making positive impacts in people’s lives. But at the same time I had it at the back of my mind that my home must not suffer.

I believe that the needs of my husband, children and parents are very paramount to me. So, having to share my time between my work, my other responsibilities with some of the organisations I chair, my husband and my children, it takes a sensible and well organised woman to balance things.

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Keeping ABREAST

Smoking and female sexual health

What do you think is responsible for breaking of marriages in Nigeria?

Marriages in Nigeria are going through a lot of tough times in the sense that there are all kinds of pres-

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU MARRY YOUR FRIEND. I MARRIED MY FRIEND. IN FACT, I MARRIED HIM AS A FRIEND BEFORE THE LOVE CAME IN.

I REALISED THAT HE WAS A NICE AND UNUSUAL MAN. MY HUSBAND IS VERY HOMELY AND VERY PATIENT

asked about him, I would tell him that he was just a friend.

What finally attracted you to your husband and how did you settle for marriage?

We got married on January 8, 1994.

He didn’t pressurise me to go into his house like most boyfriends would do.

He didn’t rush to basically take me to bed or whatever. He was just so steadfast and committed and it got to a point that I started feeling in my heart that he is gentle and peaceful. I remembered the first time I went to his house, he was very clean. He is meticulous, very clean and I tell you that won my heart. He was also very homely and he has a very good maintenance culture.

The love came later because for me, those qualities were very important. I must be sincere, he loves me a lot. My mother always said that it is good to marry a man that loves you. The only thing I wish my husband should have but he didn’t have is that he was a Muslim while I was a Christian but at that point religion didn’t matter to me.

What is the success secret of your marriage?

Every marriage has its challenges and when I look at the challenges we have had in the past, I thank God for helping us in the last 20 years that we got married. We have a lot of challenges but no challenge was too much for us not to solve. I guess what helped us was that both of us married as mature persons. I was 33 years old while my husband was 34 when we got married.

God has been so gracious to us and we handle issues with maturity.

sure arising from societal, financial, family problems among others. I also think that most of the couples getting married are too young and most of them have gotten into these marriages by pressures being put on them by their families. Some of them have no business at all in getting married because it is either they have been abused in one way or the other or they don’t really have the closeness and love that is fundamental to sustain their marriage. The beginning of a marriage is love and it is love that usually sustains marriage and makes couples to be used to each other many years after the day of their wedding. Also some of the young ladies getting married today are not even mature to know how to hold challenges in marriage and as a result they believe that the easiest way to do it is to go back.

What’s your advice on how best to sustain marriages?

I would advise young people that they must marry a soul mate and a friend. They must know that if they go into a marriage they must be ready to stick to the marriage vows. They will not just say the marriage vows for the sake of saying it but they would sing it throughout their marriage. It is very important that you marry your friend.

I married my friend. In fact, I married him as a friend before the love came in. I realised that he was a nice and unusual man. My husband is very homely and very patient.

He has taken me for what I am and I have taken him for what he is. I am going nowhere, he is going nowhere.

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ontraception

Women who smoke and use combined hormone methods of contraception (the pill, the patch, and the IUD), are at a higher risk of a number of health problems. For instance, women who are 35 and older and smoke are 10 times more likely to have a stroke or a heart attack than those who don’t smoke.

The older the woman is and the more she smokes, the greater the risk.

The Menstrual Cycle There is some evidence that smoking can affect a woman’s menstrual cycle.

Women who smoke maybe more likely to have painful and irregular periods, and period pain seems to last longer for smokers. When women quit smoking, they experience less irregular periods.

As nicotine decreases the level of oestrogen in the body, female smokers on average reach menopause 2 years earlier than women that do not smoke.

This in turn increases the risk of developing further diseases, such as osteoporosis.

Smoking and cancers Research shows that smoking cigarettes increases the risk of developing cervical cancer. The chemicals in cigarette smoke can affect the cells in the cervix. In fact, about 30% of deaths from cervical cancer are related to smoking. Smoking also puts a woman in danger of developing a vulvar cancer, which is a rare condition that affects two times more female smokers than non-smokers.

Research shows that smoking cigarettes increases the risk of developing cervical cancer. The chemicals in cigarette smoke can affect the cells in the cervix. Surgery for cervical cancer may interfere with orgasm.

Libido and sexual arousal Even though there is little evidence of the effects of smoking on female

sexuality, there are reasons to suggest that since smoking hardens blood vessels around the clitoris and vagina, it can reduce pleasure from sexual intercourse.

Future Fertility Some of the substances found in cigarettes can harm the ovaries and the tubes, and women who smoke or have smoked in the past may have trouble getting pregnant. In fact, for smokers, the chances of conceiving are decreased by 10 to 40 percent each menstrual cycle, and the longer a woman smokes, the longer it will take for her to get pregnant. Even light smoking can have an impact. However smoking is not a method of contraception. Stopping smoking increases the chances of getting pregnant.

Pregnancy Smoking during pregnancy puts both the woman and her baby at risk for health problems. Not only does smoking increase the woman’s risk for serious complications during pregnancy and childbirth, but smoking during pregnancy is the largest preventable cause of both fetal and infant health risks and death. A woman who smokes may be at increased risk for ectopic pregnancy (when a fertilized egg implants somewhere outside of the uterus, usually in one of the fallopian tubes). Surgery is often needed to remove the embryo and there is a possibility of further damage to the fallopian tube.

Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage. Women who smoke are more likely to have low birth-weight babies who are less healthy and have an increased risk of death. Stillbirth or the death of the newborn during the first four weeks of life is also more common among women who smoke while pregnant.

Culled from www.webMD.com

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Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Parenting

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

Home remedies for skin rashes in children

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ost rashes will go away without medical treatment. But when it gets disturbing, the following home treatment can often relieve pain and itching until the rash goes away.

If your child has come in contact with a substance that may cause contact dermatitis, such as poison ivy, immediately wash the area with large amounts of water.

Once a rash has developed, leave it alone as much as possible.

Use soap and water sparingly.

Leave the rash exposed to the air whenever possible.

Encourage your child not to scratch the rash.

If your child has a rash, he or she should not be in contact with other children or pregnant

women. Most viral rashes are contagious, especially if a fever is present.

Itching with a rash is generally not serious, but it can be annoying and may make a rash more likely to become infected.

Rashes caused by chickenpox, eczema, or contact dermatitis are much more likely to itch. Sometimes itching can get worse by scratching.

Keep your child’s fingernails clean and short, and encourage him or her not to scratch. Cover your baby’s hands with socks to help keep him or her from scratching.

Keep your child out of the sun and in a cool place. Heat makes itching worse.

Keep the itchy area cool and wet if your child is older than nine months. Put napkins soaked in ice water on the rash a few times a day. Too much wetting

Parenting

and drying will dry the skin, which can increase itching. Do not put napkins soaked in ice water on the skin of a baby younger than nine months. It may cause the baby’s body temperature to go down.

Dress your child in cotton clothing. Do not use wool and synthetic fabrics next to the skin.

Use gentle soaps, and use as little soap as possible. Do not use deodorant soaps on your child.

Wash your child’s clothes with a mild soap, , rather than a detergent. Rinse twice to remove all traces of the soap. Do not use strong detergents.

Do not let the skin become too dry, which can make itching worse.

For infants diaper rash Diaper rash thrives in wet conditions. So change diapers often if your baby is experiencing dia-

per rash. Avoid scrubbing at any sticky or dried on messes as this can irritate baby’s fragile skin.

A good option if you are at home is to stick baby’s bottom under a stream of warm, running water in the tub to get it good and clean.

Then pat dry with a clean towel and let baby air dry for a few minutes if possible. The more time they can spend without a diaper on, the better it will be for treating the diaper rash. If you want to powder your baby’s bottom before putting a fresh diaper on her, use cornstarch instead of talc.

Tiny Feet

NAME: Testimony Ifeoluwa Adeola BORN TO: Mr. and Mrs Adeola AGE: 6 months BIRTH WEIGHT: 3.5 kg

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

Parents banned from naming Update their son ‘Wikileaks’

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set of parents has been banned from naming their son Wikileaks by a registry office, for fear that it could endanger the child’s welfare.

Hajar Hamalaw, 28, from southern Germany, originally from Iraq, wanted to name his newborn child after the online whistle-blowing platform because of his admiration for the site.

However, authorities in Passau, Bavaria turned down his choice of name, and have banned him from

legally naming his son after the site.

Mr Hamalaw said he wanted to name his son ‘Wikileaks’ because he believed it had ‘changed the world’.

Mr Hamalaw, a journalist, has made no secret of his adoration for the cables website. He said: “The Wikileak revelations caused a great stir worldwide, especially the ones about Iraq, where we come from.”

But because of the Bavarian registry authority, Wikileaks did not make it onto the birth certificate.

Mr Hamalaw said: “The registrar said that this was not a first name.

He thought it was a series or TV show.”

A spokesperson for the town of Passau said the decision by the registry office was based on legal rulings.

The rulings state a child’s name should not be granted if it could endanger their welfare.

Eventually, Hamalaw named his son Dako on the birth certificate instead.

How Facebook saved toddler’s sight  Three-year-old girl diagnosed with rare eye condition through picture her mother posted

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hen proud mom Tara Taylor posted a picture of her toddler to Facebook, she received more than compliments - she picked up lifechanging advice.

She recently shared a photo of Rylee, three, which showed her left eye glowing.

Most friends liked the picture, but two urged the doting mother to have Rylee’s eye checked out because the glow looked suspicious.

Their recommendation saved Rylee’s eyesight.

“They said, ‘Hey, I’m sure it’s nothing. It’s probably the lighting, but your daughter’s eye is glowing and you might want to have it checked out because it’s a sign there could be an issue with her eye’, the grateful mother says she was told.

She took the toddler to a pediatrician and then a retina specialist who diagnosed her daughter

with Coats’ disease.

The rare condition causes vision loss or blindness in one eye caused by abnormal development of blood vessels behind the retina.

The early intervention saved Rylee’s sight.

Her mother says she had no indication her daughter had trouble seeing. “She didn’t sit close to the TV.” Eye specialists say the earlier children with this potentially life-

altering condition can be treated, the better.

The significant problem with children is that a child won’t say, ‘Mommy, I can’t see out of my right eye.’ It is usually caught in an expected way, such as happened in Rylee’s case.

When a child recognises he cannot see or the parent recognizes they cannot see, it’s often because they’ve lost vision in both eyes.

Luckily, Facebook saved this toddler from what could have been a cruel fate.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

LIVING

April 5, 2014

37

A Junior Secondary School student who led a two-man gang that specialises in motorcycle snatching, spills the beans as nemesis closes in on them, reports MARCUS FATUNMOLE

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or Audu Abdullahi and his friend, Emmanuel, robbing people of their motorcycles is a pastime. And, like many of their kinds that have been caught in the web of the law, they are already cooling their feet at the Kuje Prison in Abuja, after their last operation landed them in the hands of angry mob; and eventually in the hands of law enforcement agents.

Luck ran out of them in Sauka, a settlement along the Airport Road, Abuja, where they were caught, recently and were handed over to officials of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC), after being beaten to a pulp. In an interview, Audu told Saturday Mirror that his twoman robbery gang was not operating with guns and machete, but with long sticks with which they threaten and hit their victims to coma. “We don’t kill; we only collect motorcycles from them after threatening them with our big stick. What we do most time is that we lurk around, waiting for oncoming motorcycle riders,” he said. He further explained that when their ‘victims’ get to them, they stop them and simply ask them to hand over their motorcycles.

“We stop them and ask them to hand over the keys of the motorcycles to us.

If the rider cooperates, we allow him go scot-free; but if he proves stubborn and refuses to cooperate with us, we hit him with the stick while we go away with our target. Besides, we go from house to house at night. Any ‘bike’ we see, we take away; either it is locked or not,” he revealed.

To these young men, the locks on the bikes are no barrier to fulfilling their mission. “We do not have any personal keys to unlock the machines; what we do is very simple. Both of us move close to the bike; while one of us turns the head of the bike where it is locked, the other assists by firmly holding it and making sure the machine is unlocked.

It will then break off from whatever is holding it from moving,” Audu said.

However, their last operation failed at Sauka. The gang, the newspaper gathered, had stolen a motorcycle at Pasali, Kuje Area Council, but thinking that was not enough for the day, they plotted another robbery. As a result, they moved into Sauka where they agreed to spend a night and get additional motorcycles for sale.

Audu said: “We steal motorcycles and sell at Deidei (in the FCT). There are two of us that engage in the business. The last one we stole yesterday, my friend said we should bring it to Sauka village and sleep in any uncompleted building we see till the following morning. He was hoping we might see some more to add to the one we were

Audu and Emmanuel after they were caught

‘How we snatch motorcycles in Abuja’ I do this business because my parents could not afford to pay my school fees. I had to leave secondary school while in JSS 3

taking there so that we could make more money. But I replied him that I was not familiar with that village and that it would not be good for me to do that kind of thing there. He said we should go ahead that nothing would happen. We moved into the village at night on the motorcycle we had stolen; and we looked for a place to sleep; it was an uncompleted building. I woke up the following morning around 5am and saw my friend with a chain in his hands. I asked him where he got the chain. He refused to tell me where he got it from. I didn’t know he had woken before me and had stolen another bike. Not long thereafter, I saw a Civil Defence officer behind him, that was how I tried to run away; but both of us were overpowered by residents of the village who ran after us, having heard the officer scream. I was beaten to an inch of my skin. They would have killed us, but for one man, who intervened,” he told Saturday Mirror. He continued.

“I live with my parents at Angwa Tiv, in Kuje Area Council. But, they don’t know I am into this kind of business,” the

19-year-old said.

According to him, this type of operation is not just carried out without being under the influence of drugs. He told Saturday Mirror that it was the use of hard drugs that made them have the courage to engage in robbery.

Prior to their arrival at Sauka, they had sold the first motorcycle they stole at Pasali, another village under Kuje Area Council, to a man who allegedly buys motorcycles from them at DutseAlhaji for N2, 500. “The price is not stable; there are some we sell for N5000, depending on how urgent we need money,”Audu stated. He spoke further: “But, whenever we sell, my friend gives me only N1000 on each of the bikes.

And, with that, I try as much as possible to help him get more bikes each day, so that my daily pay could increase,” the Taraba state-born teenager alleged.

According to him, they have sold over 20 motorcycles in the past one month, even as he stressed that his friend was the first to start the business last year with one old man and his other friend,

who was still at large at the time of filing this report. But, the old man, whom he said was no more interested in the business, has left the FCT for Kano.

Audu lives together with his parents, including his other six siblings whom he said did not go to school. He dropped out of Junior Secondary School, JSS, three, to join robbers. “I do this business because my parents could not afford to pay my school fees. I had to leave secondary school while in JSS 3 because I thought it was of no importance forcing myself to be in school when things were hard for my parents,” he said.

Saturday Mirror could not speak with Emmanuel who was said to have accompanied the Civil Defence officials to help arrest other people involved in the business.

Speaking Assistant Commandant (NSCDC), Mr. Edwin Ugwuja, gave a different account from what the accused said. He said: “One of our officers on surveillance in Sauka saw two of them pushing a motorcycle. When he saw them, he suspected that it must be a stolen bike. So, he quickly went to them and asked them where they were coming from. In the process, they dropped the bike and started running. He ran after them. Fortunately, he caught one of them. One of them, Emmanuel, was almost beaten to death by the villagers.

We had to mobilize and rescue him from their hands.

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“He threatens to bathe me with acid” •She is an adulterer –Husband

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She has a boyfriend, but I still love her –Husband

•He does not sleep at home and he beats me –Wife FUNMI SALOME JOHNSON

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31 years old Mariam Babalola, last Tuesday, urged an Ikeja Customary Court to dissolve her marriage to Isiaka Babalola over his nocturnal lifestyle and for severally abandoning her alone at home.

The Yoruba born woman told the court that her husband was in the habit of attending night parties and staying out till dawn.

She told the court “if that was not bad enough, he would come home drunk and will molest and embarrass me in the presence

of neighbours,” Mariam said.

She continues. “Whenever I question him about his movement, he beats me mercilessly and would embarrass and tear my clothes not minding who is present. I’m not finding this easy anymore. I need this marriage dissolved” she said. Mariam also told the court that their marriage was contracted in 2010, adding that her husband does not have time for her and their only child.

In response, Isiaka objected to his wife’s request and begged the court not to dissolve their four-year union. “I am not ready to divorce her because I still

love her. I will change my ways towards her,” he said.

Bello also told the court that his wife was having extra-marital affairs with other men in their neighbourhood. “It is not that I don’ love her but I deliberately sleep out of our home because I noticed that she was acting too freely with people of the opposite sex. That was why I sleep out just to frustrate her,” he said. Bello promised to reconcile with his wife.

The presiding Judge, Mr Sam Aluko, adjourned the case to April 24 for a report on settlement or continuation of hearing.

mowunmi Awala, 32, last Tuesday, pleaded with an Ikeja Customary Court to dissolve her marriage to Supo, a plumber, over allegations of not caring for her and the children. Omowunmi told the court that she wants the marriage union dissolved on the ground of her husband’s irresponsibility. She said that her husband is not interested in paying the children’s school fees of their children or assuming his responsibility in the home as a man. “All he spends his money on is Indian hemp and alcohol.

Every day, he would come back home drunk and smelling of Indian hemp. When I try talking to him, he would descend on me and beat me to stupor. I am really tired of the marriage. I want the marriage dissolved please,” pleaded Omowunmi.

She further stated that it was not only that her husband beats her, but that he even destroys some of her crucial documents.

“He was angry one day and he burnt the children’s birth certificates and other vital documents. He even tore our marriage certificate and the copy

‘I’am ashamed of my husband’ •She’s free to go –Husband

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n Area Court in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Monday, dissolved the three-year marriage between one Memunat Ahmed and her husband, Shehu, due to irreconcilable differences.

Memunat, 29, who resides in

Court dissolves 14-year-old marriage over husband’s rudeness to mother-in-law

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Kaiama Area Court in Kwara on Thursday dissolved a 14-year-marriage between Aishat Salihu and Sule Salihu over Sule’s rudeness to his mother-in-law.

Aishat, the plaintiff, had sought a relief for the dissolution of the marriage that was blessed with three children.

She told the court that she filed the divorce suit following a misunderstanding between her mother and the husband.

When asked on the outcome of reconciliation, the plaintiff said ``my husband failed to show up for any reconciliation just as he fails to appear before the court today.

She said ``my wish is to get

a divorce. Even though I have something to claim from my husband, I will forgo it because of my children.’’

In his judgment, the presiding judge, Ahmed Yahaya, said ``since the defendant has failed to show up for reconciliation, it means he is no longer interested in his wife.

The only thing the court can do is to separate them and so

of my school certificate. Thank God I did not keep the original at home,’’ she said.

She said she had to leave his house with her children when he threatened to kill her. “I had to run for my dear life when he threatened that he was going to kill me or bathe me with acid, three months ago.”

Supo told the court that his wife was adulterous. “Sometimes she does not sleep in the house. She goes out at will and when I try to question her, she abuses me and that makes me beat her. I never threatened to kill her or pour acid on her, but she moved out of the house because has a man she is seeing. I don’t love her anymore and will want the marriage dissolved,” he said. The husband told the court that he was no longer interested in the marriage, but urged the court to grant him custody of the children.

The Court President, Mr Sam Aluko told the couple to maintain the peace and adjourned the case to May 20, for judgment.

The couple have been married for 8 years and blessed with two children. (NAN)

I hold. The judgment is hereby entered in favour of the plaintiff ’s plea for divorce.’’

The judge, however, ordered that the plaintiff should observe the three months Iddah (the Islamic period of abstinence before remarrying).

Yahaya said that any aggrieved party had a right to appeal before an Upper Area Court within 30 days. (NAN)

the Edun area of Ilorin, asked the court to dissolve the marriage, saying her husband had been insincere in the relationship.

The judge, Mr Yusuf Abdulkareem, who dissolved the marriage, issued a certificate of divorce to the plaintiff.

Memunat, who had told the court that her husband was a liar, added that `` he is fond of making empty promises he cannot fulfil. Everybody in my neighbourhood sees my husband as a liar and I am ashamed of him,’’ she said.

Memunat told the court that their marriage was contracted in February 2011 and had not produced a child.

Ahmed, who did object to Memunat’s, request, denied the allegation that he was insincere in the relationship. ``She is free to go anywhere she wants to. After all there is no child in the marriage,” he said. (NAN)

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

DIVORCE COURT

April 5, 2014

39

‘Our union lacks love’ ‘He lives in Lagos but dumped me in Ibadan’

•The plaintiff is hereby ordered to observe the three months Iddah, the Islamic period of waiting before remarrying –Judge

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n Area Court in Kaiama, Kwara, on Thursday granted the request for divorce filed by a housewife, Rakiat Alidu.

Rakiat, who said her fouryear marriage to her husband, Musa, was blessed with a child, filed for divorce because the union`` lacked the needed love.’’

The President of the court, Malam Ahmed Yahaya, held that the divorce was granted in line with the provisions of the law in favour of Rakiat.

He said ``the plaintiff is hereby ordered to observe the three months Iddah,’’ (Islamic period of waiting before remarrying).

The judge ordered that a certificate of divorce be issued to the complainant upon the payment of the necessary court charges. ``The right of appeal by any aggrieved party is allowed before an Upper Area Court within 30 days,’’ he added.

Musa was not in court when the judge dissolved the marriage. (NAN)

•She’s very ungrateful –Husband

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housewife, Zainab Saheed-Agoro, on Wednesday urged a Mapo Customary Court, Ibadan to dissolve her seven-year-marriage to Saheed Agoro for alleged neglect.

Zainab told the court that she had suffered neglect in the marriage, adding that Saheed lives in Lagos but dumped her in Ibadan.

She said that her husband had not visited Ibadan for two years and was not caring for her and their five-year-old son.

“Saheed is insensitive to my

plight and that of our child. His relatives are aware and they kept urging me to be patient with him but it is now unbearable,” she said.

She, therefore, urged the court to dissolve the marriage.

Saheed, who did not oppose the petition, urged the court to disregard Zainab’s claim in it’s entirety.

He admitted that he worked in Lagos, but said that he visited her and the child in Ibadan regularly, “carrying out my responsibilities as a father and husband”.

‘I will kill her if she continues living with me’ •I’m tired of fighting everyday –Wife A

n Abeokuta Customary Court sitting in Ake Ogun on Tuesday dissolved the 14-year- marriage between Mr Adewunmi Okukenu and his wife, Bushi, over frequent fighting.

Adewunmi, 43, asked the court to dissolve his marriage to Bushi on the ground that she was always disobeying him and had no respect for his parents. ``Any time we quarrel, my wife would insult me and my parents. I am fed up fighting her every day. I reported her to her family but all my efforts seem abortive. Please separate us, I am tired. I will kill her if she continues living with me” Adewunmi pleaded with the court.

Bushi, 35, however denied the allegations, saying she had never fought with her husband. ``My husband is the one always causing trouble in the house. There is nothing I do or say that he appreciates. If it is his wish for our marriage to be dissolved, he should go ahead because I am also tired of fighting with him almost every day,” she said.

The president of the court, Mr Olalekan Akande ordered the couple to go home for possible reconciliation.

He said members of Adewunmi’s family who accompanied him to the court testified that Bushi refused to show up for reconciliation.

Akande therefore dissolved the

marriage, saying that there was no more love between the couple.

He granted the custody of the five-year-old last child of the marriage to Bushi.

He said that the first and second child who are 13 years and 10 years respectively, were old enough to decide who among the two parents they wish to live

with.

Akande ordered Adewunmi to pay N2, 500 monthly for the up keep of the last child and that the schooling, medical expenses and feeding of all the children should be jointly shared by the couple.

He said both of them were free to visit the children anytime they wished. (NAN)

‘My wife no longer cooks for me during Ramadan’ •Please help me secure my home –Wife

A

businessman, Alhaji Wasiu Abiodun, on Tuesday urged a Mapo Customary Court in Ibadan to dissolve the relationship between him and his wife, Kafaya, over her alleged change of faith.

In his statement, Abiodun said the defendant had completely put a knife on the rope that held them together by refusing to carry out Islamic obligations.

“Kafaya no longer prepares

my safur, the meal eaten at dawn during Ramadan fasting period.

She now goes to church against my advice and even refuses to carry out my instructions. I have tolerated her enough and played my role well, but Kafaya and some members of her family have been ungrateful. Her younger brother whom I took as my brother almost wrecked my business, stealing huge sum of money and goods before he ran away. She does not want me to

marry another wife, yet Kafaya is making life difficult for me.

She married me as a Moslem and she knows that I am a devout Muslim, she converted for no reason, please, I am tired of this relationship,” he said.

The defendant, however, rejected the suit, saying that she wanted the court to void her husband’s attempt to throw her out.

“It is true that I now go to church, but it is only occasional and for the sake of my three chil-

dren. I can’t categorically say that my brother almost wrecked his business because I don’t have any clue to that. All the same, I don’t want to leave Abiodun’s home, please, help me secure it,” she pleaded with the court.

The President of the court, Mr Henric Agbaje, urged the couple to produce the evidence in support of their arguments.

Agbaje adjourned the case until April 16, for further hearing.

(NAN)

According to him, Zainab is merely suffering from lack of contentment and ungratefulness. ``To show her extravagance, Zainab has sold off some of the property that I left at home. I am not, however, bothered about her divorce suit, she can go if she wants,” he said.

The President of the court, Mr Henric Agbaje, ordered the couple to produce the evidence in support of their intention to divorce.

Agbaje adjourned the case till April 15. (NAN)

Court dissolves 3-year-marriage over aggression, battery

A

n Ilorin Area Court on Wednesday dissolved the three-yearmarriage between Kudirat Saka and her husband Bayo for aggression and battery.

The Judge, Mr Yusuf Abdulkareem, in his judgment, held that the marriage had broken down irredeemably.

Abdulkareem, therefore, dissolved the marriage and issued a certificate of divorce to the petitioner.

Kudirat, 28, a resident of Ipata Area of Ilorin, had urged the court to dissolve the marriage because Bayo was too aggressive and fond of battering her.

She said that her husband got provoked at slightest provocation and would act in a negative manner, adding: ``my husband will at times slap me in public place whenever he is upset.’’

Kudirat told the court that the marriage was contracted in 2011 and was yet to produce any child. ``My lord, I want an end to this marriage because I am fed up with my husband’s aggression and threat,” Kudirat said.

Bayo admitted that the disrespect his wife had for him provoked him to always beat her up.

The respondent urged the court to grant Kudirat’s request, saying: ``she is free to go, my wife always disrespects me and that provokes me to beat her and I am not sure I can ever be comfortable with that’’ he said.

(NAN)

40

LIVING

April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Family feels fury of scorned wife ... as 100-yr-old grandma loses home The Ogbonna family in IhiteUboma council area of Imo State, are currently counting their losses as a family feud between son and wife sparks off the destruction of their family house and properties valued at over N100 million, writes NNAMDI ONYEUMA

A

fter a successful rites of passage, a traditional ceremony that initiates boys into ‘true’ manhood, (Iwo akwa), which held in Ndibinihu village, a suburb of Abueke community in Ihite-Uboma local council area of Imo State, in January this year, the Ogbonnas family were probably too happy to imagine anything cutting short the joy and peace in their home barely two months after the event. But in one fell swoop, a March 6, 2014 early morning fire, allegedly set by a daughter-in-law reduced nearly everything the entire household had labored to acquire to rubbles and left them guessing into space.

Mrs. Angela Ogbonna, the woman alleged to have set the house on fire, they say, have been married to Mr. Lawrence ‘Larry’ Ogbonna, a retired Nigerianborn United States-based Air Force officer, for 10 years, and had to demonstrate her anger at her husband’s insistence that she should stay in Nigeria by setting the 8-room apartment conservatively valued at over One Hundred Million Naira (N100 million), on fire.

Angela, a mother of three, currently behind bars at the State Police Command, Owerri, Imo State, where she is explaining to the police authorities her alleged involvement in the act, Saturday Mirror gathered, hails from Ikperejere village, in Ihite-Uboma council area of Imo State.

In an interview with Engineer Ogbonna Samuel, a 2009 graduate of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), and younger brother to Lawrence, who has since sneaked back to the United States, he told Saturday Mirror that Angela, who is reportedly in her mid-thirties, allegedly warned Lawrence that he risked everything in their family house if he left town without her in tow.

According to him, all efforts to make her see reasons why her husband decided that she should be a little patient while he works out things fell on deaf ears. “It was not as if her husband (my brother) was not sending her things, including money for the upkeep of her children. Larry comes home frequently and each time he comes, there is always something for her and the children, including our Centenarian mother, Mrs. Rhoda,” he said.

The burnt 8-room family house at Ndibinihu village, Abueke, in Ihite-Uboma council area, Imo State. INSET: Madam Rhoda, Angela’s mother-in-law

WE ONLY REALISED WHAT SHE WAS UP TO AFTER SHE HAD POURED FUEL ON THE HOUSE AND REACHED INSIDE HER HANDBAG FOR A

MATCH BOX. AS PEOPLE RAN FOR THEIR LIVES, SHE STRUCK THE MATCH BOX AND THE HOUSE,

VALUED AT OVER ONE HUNDRED MILLION NAIRA, WENT UP IN FLAMES “Trouble however started when Larry returned in the middle of December 2013 to celebrate Christmas with family members. Everyone expected that whatever the reservations Angela had with her husband, they would have sat down to discuss things peacefully, but instead, she started threatening everybody. She said she would shock everyone if her husband leaves town without her. She even threatened to divorce her husband.

Everyone thought it was a joke,” he told the newspaper.

Samuel disclosed that as the community’s tradition demands, anyone be it the man or woman, seeking separation from a marriage must first buy a carton of drinks, which would be presented before the elders in the village who would in turn invite the other party for talks regarding the issue for which the parties are disagreeing over.

But she did not. So, the elders told her to go and inform her husband first, and return to them if she still had need.

The elders told her that they would fix a date as they were already in a kindred meeting for a different issue. When her husband was informed about the develop-

ment, he expressed shock, but said it was a family matter that would be discussed before meeting the elders.”

These briefs, perhaps, are the only cheering news about the matter as, according to Samuel, “On the morning of the day Angela returned to the elders, her husband told the elders that they had resolved the matter and said there was no need for such a meeting anymore.”

Samuel told Saturday Mirror that everybody had thought they had truly settled until the unexpected happened. According to him, a gang of armed robbers reportedly visited the Ogbonnas home around 2am, and carted away valuables.

But, if there was any chance of peace returning to the home, the robbery incidence turned it to shreds and became a prelude to the March 6, 2014, fire.

“On March 6,” Samuel said, “Angela who had since the crisis began moved out of the Ogbonnas family house to Isinweke, returned with a padlock to put the house under lock and key. She knew that Grandma, Rhoda and her husband were in the house, but still locked up everywhere. The two ‘prisoners’ had to raise alarm when they discovered what she had

done. Everybody, including my father, Ogbonna, pleaded with her to unlock the keys so everybody can come for talks.”

Samuel said that the heavens literarily broke lose when Angela went back to the house to discover that Grandma and her husband had been helped to escape by neighbours. “She threatened to kill herself and accused my father of tricking her. She began shouting and threatened that she would burn down the house,” the engineer alleged.

“While people stayed out of harm’s way, little did we know that she had quickly dispatched someone to buy fuel for her. We only realised what she was up to after she had poured fuel on the house and reached for her handbag for a match box,” Samuel who said he lost his NYSC certificate, Bachelors degree certificate, First School Leaving Certificate from Community School, Abueke, Senior Secondary School Certificate from Abueke Community Secondary School, among other vital documents to the inferno, alleged, saying as people ran for their lives, she struck the match box and the house valued at over one hundred million naira went up in flames.

Saturday Mirror gathered that the incident was first reported at the police headquarters at Ihite-Uboma council area before it was transferred to the State Police Command. In a telephone chat, the Imo State Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent (Mrs.) Joy Elemoko, confirmed the incidence and said that investigations were still ongoing. As at the time of going to press, all efforts to get Angela’s Abuja-based elder sister, Rebecca, to react to the story proved abortive.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

41

April 5, 2014

E

bola haemorrhagic fever (EHF) is a viral haemorrhagic fever and one of the most virulent viral diseases known to humankind.

The Ebola virus was first identified in the western equatorial province of Sudan and in a nearby region of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1976.

The Ebola virus is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected persons. Transmission of the Ebola virus has also occurred by handling sick or dead infected wild animals (chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, forest antelope, fruit bats).

The predominant treatment is general supportive therapy.

Ebola virus

Transmission Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. In Africa, infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest.

Ebola then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids. Burial ceremonies in which mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person can also play a role in the transmission of Ebola. Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to 7 weeks after recovery from illness.

Health-care workers have frequently been infected while treating patients with suspected or confirmed EVD. This has occurred through close contact with patients when infection control precautions are not strictly practiced.

Signs and symptoms EVD is a severe acute viral illness often characterized by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding. Laboratory findings include low white blood cell and platelet counts and elevated liver enzymes.

People are infectious as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus.

Ebola virus was isolated from semen 61 days after onset of illness in a man who

was infected in a laboratory.

The incubation period, that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms, is 2 to 21 days.

Diagnosis Other diseases that should be ruled out before a diagnosis of EVD can be made include: malaria, typhoid fever, shigellosis, cholera, leptospirosis, plague, rickettsiosis, relapsing fever, meningitis, hepatitis and other viral haemorrhagic fevers.

Ebola virus infections can be diagnosed definitively in a laboratory through several types of tests. Samples from patients are an extreme biohazard risk; testing should be conducted under maximum biological containment conditions.

Prevention and treatment No vaccine for EVD is available. Several vaccines are being tested, but none are available for clinical use.

Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care. Patients are frequently dehydrated and require oral rehydration with solutions containing electrolytes or intravenous fluids.

No specific treatment is available.

New drug therapies are being evaluated.

Reducing the risk of Ebola infection in people In the absence of effective treatment and a human vaccine, raising aware-

ness of the risk factors for Ebola infection and the protective measures individuals can take is the only way to reduce human infection and death.

In Africa, during EVD outbreaks, educational public health messages for risk reduction should focus on several factors: • Reducing the risk of wildlifeto-human transmission from contact with infected fruit bats or monkeys/ apes and the consumption of their raw meat. Animals should be handled with gloves and other appropriate protective clothing. Animal products (blood and meat) should be thoroughly cooked before consumption.

• Reducing the risk of humanto-human transmission in the community arising from direct or close contact with infected patients, particularly with their bodily fluids. Close physical contact with Ebola patients should be avoided. Gloves and appropriate personal protective equipment should be worn when taking care of ill patients at home.

Regular hand washing is required after visiting patients in hospital, as well as after taking care of patients at home.

• Communities affected by Ebola should inform the population about the nature of the disease and about outbreak containment measures, including burial of the dead. People who have died from Ebola should be promptly and safely buried.

Controlling infection in health-care settings Human-to-human transmission of the Ebola virus is primarily associated with direct or indirect contact with blood and body fluids. Transmission to health-care workers has been reported when appropriate infection control measures have not been observed.

It is not always possible to identify patients with EBV early because initial symptoms may be non-specific.

For this reason, it is important that health-care workers apply standard precautions consistently with all patients – regardless of their diagnosis – in all work practices at all times.

These include basic hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, the use of personal protective equipment (according to the risk of splashes or other contact with infected materials), safe injection practices and safe burial practices.

Health-care workers caring for patients with suspected or confirmed Ebola virus should apply, in addition to standard precautions, other infection control measures to avoid any exposure to the patient’s blood and body fluids and direct unprotected contact with the possibly contaminated environment. When in close contact (within 1 metre) of patients with EBV, health-care workers should wear face protection (a face shield or a medical mask and goggles), a clean, non-sterile long-sleeved gown, and gloves (sterile gloves for some procedures).

Laboratory workers are also at risk.

Samples taken from suspected human and animal Ebola cases for diagnosis should be handled by trained staff and processed in suitably equipped laboratories.

Key facts • The Ebola virus causes Ebola virus disease (EVD; formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever) in humans.

• EVD outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90%.

• The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.

• Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are considered to be the natural host of the Ebola virus.

• No specific treatment or vaccine is available for use in people or animals.

The Ebola virus causes Ebola virus disease (EVD) in humans, with a case fatality rate of up to 90%.

LETTER

How can I make my heart stronger?

Dear Mirror Doctor, What kind of drug can I use to boost my heart or fruit to make it strong? +234703------99

Mirror Doctor Replies Everything is not about the use of drugs. Lifestyle is very important for healthy living. It encompasses a lot of activities like engaging in regular exercises,

avoiding alcohol and tobacco which has been proven to be dangerous to health, eating balanced meals while avoiding oil rich foods which have the potential of increasing cholesterol in your system

thereby at risk of hypertension, increasing the intake of water and green leafy vegetables, etc.

If you engage in all I have listed, you are sure to be healthy.

42

EVENT

April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Liz Yemoja attains 30 in style On-air personality, Liz Yemoja, celebrated her 30th birthday last weekend at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos with many of her celebrity friends in attendance. Seyi Shay, Olisa Adibua, Emma Nyra and Toyin Aimakhu were some of them.

Liz with Mo Eazy

... with Uche Odoh and Rekana Sharon Ojong

... with DJ Spin’all

... cuts her birthday cake

... with SHiiKANE

... with Isi Atagamen

Seyi Shay

... with Olisa Adibua

Toyin Aimakhu

... with Nken Onwudiwe

Emma Nyra

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

43

April 5, 2014

K AYODE FALADE

T

he ancient Kano city walls are 14 kilometres radius of earth structure built in order to provide security to the growing population. The foundation for the construction of the wall was laid by Sakri Gijimasu from 1095 - 1134 and was completed in the middle of 14th Century during the reign of Zamnagawa.

In the 16th century, the walls were further extended to their present position.

The gates are as old as the walls and were used to control movement of people in and out of the city. Though, most of them are largely in ruins.

Ancient Kano City walls and associated sites are places of spiritual, historical and cultural significance. Dala Hill was the place of the first settlement in Kano City and it formed the nucleus for the peopling of the rest of the city and was the foundation of its economic and political development.

The site bears testimony to local craftsmanship and ingenuity as is evidenced in the materials used for the construction of the walls and palace.

The ancient Kano city walls and associated sites are a cultural landscape that the people still pride themselves in.

The site can compare with other sites like Zaria city wall, Kufena archaeological site and Daura City wall all in the northern part of the country.

Kano, right from its beginning, is commercial town. This has helped in the rapid development of the city. It sprawls over a wide expanse of savannah land.

Although the city has long taken a modern cosmopolitan hue, relics of the city’s past as the hub for commercial activities during the trans-Saharan trade still remain.

The real identity of Kano can best be felt in old city area. The mud houses with distinct Hausa local architectural dexterity, the narrow roads that were meant for only men and their domestic animals are still there. However, this is gradually being lost as the ancient structures go modern.

The relics are gradually being wiped away by both man and nature.

The walls also helped in monitoring the movement of people in and out of the city.

In 1903 when the British forces captured the ancient city, Sir Frederick Lugard, then High Commissioner of the British Protectorate of Northern Nigeria, said: “The extent and formidable nature of the fortifications surpassed the best informed anticipations of our officers, needless to say that I have never seen or even imagined anything like it in Africa.”

The walls are among the major tourist attractions in the city; that probably explains why the state government in conjunction with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) is working towards making the walls World Heritage Site. But while the government agencies are working, some individuals including indigenes don’t seem to appreciate the importance of the gates as most of the

Monumental walls of

Kano City

ancient walls have crumbled.

At the rate of their current degradation, there may not be any wall standing soon.

Another heirloom of Kano is on the brink of extinction - the Kano gates. At its current rate of degradation, in the next 10 years, the Kano traditional gates may all be lost.

Recently, one of the gates was reportedly being demolished by a road construction company to pave the way for the road expansion and reconstruction which are still ongoing in the state.

The gates, by history, were built during the reign of Sarkin Kano Usman Giji Masu Dan Wasiri, the grandson of Bagauda, the third king in the Habe dynasty. He started the first gate in 1112AD. The reason for the gate was due to the construction of protective walls to surround the ancient city against invaders.

Below are facts about the gates, which in the beginning, were originally 16.

Kofar Kansakali: It is the first gate which was built in 1112 AD. Its foundation was laid by Sarki Giji Masu. It was named after the first son of Kano (after whom the city was named) called Damina, popularly known as Kansakali. He was a blacksmith.

The gate is located at Tudun Yola quarters in Ungogo Local Government Area.

Kofar Waika: Immediately after the completion of Kofar Kansakali, the King moved forward a little distance for the

building of this gate which was named after Waika, Kano’s second son. The gate of Waika is situated off Aminu Kano Way behind Goron Dutse.

Kofar Dawanau: This gate was initially named after the third son of Kano called Makeri (who was also known as Dan Kwai).

Kofar Ruwa: This is the fourth city gate built by Sarki Usman Dan Warisi.

Kofar Mazugal was built two years after the completion of Kofar Lunkwui in 1118 AD by the then Sarki Usman Giji Masu Dan Warisi and located along Gwammaja Road.

Kofar Mata: It was during the reign of Emir Mohammadu Rumfa (1461 AD) that the idea of expanding Kano City wall and gates started. He invited his subjects within and around the city in 1464 AD to continue the expansion work from Kofar Wambai to the then Kofar Fagge. The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Babba Zaki later turbaned Namata, his servant as the gate keeper of Kofar Fagge. Since then, people started calling the gate Kofar Namata, which was finally changed to Kofar Mata, as it is presently known.

Kofar Kudu/Dan Agundi: A walking distance from Kofar Kawaye, Emir Mohammadu Rumfa decided to build another gate called Southern Gate (Kofar Kudu).

Kofar Dogo/Na’isa: Emir Suleiman received a complaint from the nomadic Fulani that they were attacked by a group of thieves who took away their cattle. The

Emir directed his son, Abubakar Mai Unguwar Mundubawa to go with the complainants and capture the thieves at all costs. At the end of the mission, the son of the Emir returned late and was disallowed by the gatekeeper to pass through the Kofar Dogo with his people. Hence, he decided to break a part of the wall close to the then Kofar Dogo (Dogo Gate). It took them five days to complete the new entrance. He then ordered the removal of the metal gate of Dogo and fixed it at the new one called Na’Isa and blocked Kofar Dogo. The gate was renamed Kofar Na’Isa by Emir Suleiman.

Kofar Gadon Kaya: In 1691, Sarkin Kano Mohammed Zaki na Zaki directed his son, Wambai Abubakar to continue with the expansion work of the old city gates and wall.

At the end of the work, Wambai Abubakar invited his father to commission the gate.

The King honoured the invitation and named the gate as ‘Kofar Gadon Kaya’. Gadon Kaya is a nickname given to Mallam Ismala, a well-known gardener around the gate.

Kofar Wambai: It was after 300 years during the reign of Sarki Dauda Dan Kana Jeji in the year 1425 AD that Digaci an exiled ruler from Borno, who transited at Jigirya, a small village in the eastern part of Kano (Yan Kaba Quarters), moved to the old city and passed through Adama gate.

Kofar Kabuga: The gate was named by Sarkin Kano Mohammadu Rumfa in 1469 AD to honour one of the prominent Islamic scholars, Mallam Attahiru, who lost his wife.

Kofar Duka Wuya: On the western part of Gadon Kaya, the son of the Emir, Wambai Giwa, decided to build another gate in continuation of the expansion work of all city gates and wall as directed by his father.

44

LEISURE

April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sport

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

April 5, 2014

45

IFEANYI EDUZOR

F

ormer Super Eagles goalkeeper, Peter Rufai has revealed that the recall of Osaze Odemwingie and Ike Uche to Eagles’ fold ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil lies in the hands of Coach Stephen Keshi.

The former Go Ahead Eagles and Deportivo de la Coruna stopper noted that the Super Eagles gaffer must have a good reason for excluding the duo from the national team, insisting that no coach will like to invite players that will be a bad influence to the entire team.

“One thing people should realise is that Coach Stephen Keshi having played the game at the highest level knows what he wants in his team. It should also be noted that for one to be playing very well in his club is not a guarantee that such performances will be transformed into the national team. I want to believe that Keshi actually knows what he wants from the players ahead of the Mundial.

“It is also important to understand that the duo of Osaze Odemwingie and Ike Uche have missed some important international matches which would have given the coach an ample opportunity to assess their present form. Although they are doing well at their various clubsides it is the coach that is in a better position to know whether they fit into his plans or not.

“Frankly, no coach worth his name would like to invite any player who is not playing according to his instruction or philosophy because indiscipline of any form jeopardises the activities or plans of the entire team. I think probably, this is what Keshi is trying to avoid by sidelining the two players,” Rufai said.

While commending Keshi for bringing back the lost glory of the national team through the achievements so far recorded by the team, Rufai also commended the NFF for keeping faith with ex-Super Eagles players who embraced the coaching job.

“I must have to commend the NFF for its achievements which included having faith in ex-Super Eagles players managing the national teams.

“That singular act led to the Super Eagles under Keshi winning the last Africa Cup of Nations and qualifying for the Mundial in Brazil. Even the home-based Eagles good performance at CHAN is equally worthy of commendation,” he said.

On the issue of Keshi submitting his team list ahead of the Mundial to the NFF, Rufai said he does not see anything wrong with the action.

“I want to state here that there is nothing wrong with the football house asking Keshi to submit his team list two months to the World Cup. I believe it was done with good intention to enable them have their own input.

“Submission of the team list to the country’s football ruling body does not mean unnecessary interference as many people are saying because the coach still have time to either invite

Dropped! Osaze Odemwingie (left) and Ike Uche (right)were left out of the Super Eagles provisional list ahead of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil by Coach Stephen Keshi.

Eagles: Osaze, Uche recall lies in Keshi’s hands, says Rufai some new players or drop others for poor performance before the final list is submitted to FIFA,” Rufai affirmed.

Reacting to the query issued to Keshi by the NFF ahead of the Mundial in Brazil, Rufai advised that Nigerians should not see the query as an attempt by the football house to curtail his independence, but rather see it as an administrative process which is necessary in any employer/employee relationship.

He told our correspondent that the

query does not mean that the football house has special hatred for the Super Eagles gaffer or that he is not doing a good job, but it is for the interest and development of the game in the country.

“I believe that there is nothing wrong with NFF querying Keshi because it is part of administrative process.

“One thing people should understand with query is that it does not mean that your employer hates you or that you are not doing a good job. I believe that it is

not a crime to issue an employee query because at the end, it will eventually lead to a harmonious working relationship between both parties. So, I expect Keshi to reply the query and explain issues raised by the football house,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rufai concluded by advising football-loving Nigerians that what should concern them now is how the team can perform well at the Mundial and not the issue of query which is an acceptable norm all over the world.

46

SPORT

April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

EPL: Is this Liverpool’s year of glory?

T

he 2013/14 English Premier League (EPL) season has actually produced a lot of fireworks and the chase for the title has also been keenly contested by clubs like Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal. The title chase is so keen that even the so called big teams has on several occasions fallen like pack of cards to less fancied clubsides this season. Or who can ever believe that Aston Villa could beat Chelsea 1-0, while relegationthreatened Crystal Palace also defeated the Jose Mourinho-tutored side by the same margin when they clashed during this season.

To say the least, even a big club like Arsenal was not sparred this season as they were hammered 6-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and 5-1 by Liverpool at Anfield.

However, coming to this week’s piece, the question which has remained on the lips of followers of the EPL this season is whether the trophy belongs to the Reds, following their consistency and surge in form as the season winds down?

From the beginning of this season one is not surprised that Liverpool has painstakingly crushed lots of opposition as they currently sit atop of the EPL’s table with 71 points after 32 matches. Come to think of it, a team that crushed Tottenhan Hotspurs 4-0 at Anfield, stunned Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford, battered Cardiff City 6-3 at Cardiff City Stadium, hammered Arsenal 5-1 at Anfield and tore apart Southampton 3-0 at St Mary’s Stadium cannot be said to be a pushover this season. The club’s record shows that they have done their homework well from the beginning of this season.

A peep into Liverpool’s breathtaking surge for the EPL title shows

HARD TACKLE with

Andrew Ekejiuba anelsports@yahoo.com how the team has transformed to a conquering side under the watchful eyes of Brendan Rodgers.

What was the magic that Rodgers introduced into the Reds squad that has buoyed the team to greatness this season?

The answer to the aforementioned question is simple! A team that has quality manager in the mold of Rodgers cannot be said to lack quality technical/ tactical input in the squad before or during matches.

No wonder this Northern Irish sweat merchant has proven that a well focused manager who takes time to study its opponents and devise means to outwit them in the battle field will always conquer with great ease.

A further peep at the history of the club confirms Liverpool as having a rich history with formidable management team. The club has produced great players in the past like Kenny Dalglish, Kevin Keegan, John Barnes, Ian Rush, Peter Beardsley and towering goalkeeper, Ray Clemence who worked extremely hard to bring English football to limelight between 1967 and 1981.

Today, the tradition has continued at the club as Liverpool is enjoying the services of their inspi-

08054103021

rational captain, Steven Gerrard who is fondly called ‘Captain Fantastic’. Gerrard has shown that he is a real leader/libero and a trusted ‘General’ in the soccer field.

He has always demonstrated his preparedness to score crucial goals for the team, especially when the going gets tough.

Already he has 11 goals to his credit this season, which is not bad for a combative midfielder.

Aside the aforementioned, Liverpool is enjoying the best strike force this season among the EPL clubs with the duo of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge. Currently Suarez has scored 29 goals to lead the top scorers’ chart, while he is closely followed by Sturridge with 20 goals and Yaya Toure of Manchester City is in the third position with 17 goals.

The aforementioned statistics points to the simple fact that the Reds have the best attacking machinery in the EPL and also confirms their readiness to surmount all opposition as they gradually target the EPL trophy this season.

A fortnight ago, Arsenal soccer legend, Ray Parlour was in Nigeria to launch Airtel Premier and HT was opportuned to ask him about the club that may win the EPL this season. He acknowledged the fact

Liverpool’s manager, Brendan Rodgers.

that Liverpool has the potentials of lifting the trophy, but somehow tipped Manchester City for the title.

However, HT disagrees with Parlour because both Manchester City and Chelsea have crucial matches at Anfield on April 13th and 27th respectively. And the results of these matches will surely determine the actual league winners.

HT believes that a high goal scoring side like Liverpool hosting both matches at their backyard at such a crucial stage of the league, Liverpool fans should be sure of witnessing harvest of goals in those encounters, no matter how tight their opponents defence may be. With the Reds technical crew being aware of the importance of these two matches, especially to their title ambition, HT sees no reason why Manchester City and Chelsea won’t go down at Anfield.

From the foregoing, this EPL season can actually be the one that Liverpool needs to prove that they are the best and de-

serves the title this time.

Liverpool’s last league championship win was in 1989-1990 season when they finished the season on 79 points with 23 wins, 10 draws and 5 losses. It is now almost 24 years since that victory as things are looking up for the club which has never won the English Premiership since its inception.

In Europe, Liverpool won the UEFA Champions League last time in the 1989-1990 season, after they have won it a total of 18 times in 1900-01, 1905-06, 1921-22, 1922-23, 1946-47, 1963-64, 1965-66, 1972-73, 1975-76, 1976-77, 1978-79, 1979-80, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1985-86, 1987-88 and 1989-90 seasons.

It will not be surprising to see this fast rising club posing a stumbling block to ambitious Manchester City who also are keen for the EPL title this season.

We wish them luck in this regard as the world continues to savour the excitement that emanates from the most glamorous league on earth!

SPORT NEWS

NSSF tasks Danagogo on grassroots sports development

Fashanu explains Army partnership UBONG UKPONG ABUJA

N

igeria’s Football Ambassador, John Fashanu, has said that he is partnering with the Nigerian Army to help the institution to develop its football.

Fashanu, who made the disclosure in Abuja yesterday, said he had chosen to witness the Nigerian Army Officers Wives Association (NAOWA) schools sports to discover future stars.

“I am convinced that there are so many stars among the school children,” Fashanu said.

“I have also discovered that there are some brilliant talent in the Army,” he added.

Wife of the Chief of Army Staff

(COAS) and National President of NAOWA, Mrs. Felly Elimibha Minimah, who spoke at the occasion, advocated mass participation in the country’s sports.

The NAOWA chairperson, who was represented by the association’s National Secretary, Mrs Florence Mutukut, said sports played an integral role in parents’ education of their wards.

“Teachers should improve the school’s curriculum to ensure that children participate in sports as their future depends on their good health,” Minimah said.

Tiger (Yellow) House, Scorpion (Red) House, Octopus (Green) House, and Flying Horse (Blue) House, representing Army formations, participated in the events

ANDREW EKEJIUBA

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Fashanu

which includes football, basketball and long jump amongst others.

he Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF) has tasked the Sports Minister, Dr. Tamuno Danagogo on the institution of grassroots sports development, while commending ex-sports minister, Bolaji Abdullahi for his strides at the grassroots level especially in schools.

President of the NSSF, Mallam Ibrahim Mohammed said Abdullahi did very well in the area of school sports which he said remains the bedrock for sustainable sports development.

“I want to hail the appoint-

ment of Dr. Tamuno Danagogo as the new Sports Minister, but will always commend the efforts of Bolaji Abdullahi in the area of grassroots sports development through school sports promotion and development.

“During Abdullahi’s tenure, school sports was recognised and given its rightful place in the development of sports.

“Therefore, I would like to encourage the new Sports Minister to follow suit and do even better because the generality of the nation’s children are looking up to him for the development of sports, especially from secondary schools,” Mohammed said.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

SPORT

April 5, 2014

Glo League: Okpokwu hopes to halt Sharks

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LMC boss, Nduka Irabor.

Glo League LMC grants conditional clearance to Nembe City ANDREW EKEJIUBA

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embe City has received conditional approval from the League Management Company (LMC) to participate in the 2013/14 Glo Premier League season, but with an additional provision that the club must send a written acknowledgement stating it has read and understood all the conditions set forth in the letter of admittance.

A letter from LMC Chief Operating Officer, Salihu Abubakar informed the Chairman of Nembe City that the club has partially fulfilled the conditions set by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) emergency committee meeting to enable the club be admitted to participate in the league. It however, pointed out some serious discrepancies in the documents submitted by the club and directed that such be rectified on or before Match Day 9.

The LMC particularly drew the attention of Nembe City to the irregular signature of the Chairman, Mrs. Ebiakpo Rumson on separate documents submitted in the course of the registration. It specifically noted that the signatures of Mrs. Rumson on the letter of allegiance and the letter of appeal of their non-registration

are not the same.

On stadium approval for home games, the LMC said Nembe City has submitted a letter from Krisdera Hotel granting it the use of the Krisdera Hotel Stadium for its home games, but demanded that the club is required to submit by Match Day 9 a proper lease agreement with Krisdera Hotel in line with the LMC recommended lease agreement.

Nembe City are also to meet requirements on provision of performance guarantee on or before June 24 or it will face sanctions of points deduction and may be directed to host games outside of the nominated Krisdera Hotel Stadium should it fail to upgrade facilities at the venue as directed by the LMC. Furthermore, the club is to submit contracts it signed with its management personnel including the General Manager, Financial Officer, Media Officer and Security Officer amongst others, while it must also show proof of its head coach having a CAF License B. Concluding, the LMC told Nembe City to commence participation from the upcoming Match Day 5 (Akwa United versus Nembe City) on Sunday, April 6 at Uyo, while their outstanding four games not played will be rescheduled beginning from Wednesday, April 9.

olphins forward Ebube Okpokwu is hoping to use his pace to punish Sharks FC when both sides clash in the Port Harcourt Derby today at the ongoing Glo Premier League.

The player who was signed from El Kanemi in the off season is hoping to feature in the PH Derby, and he believes he has the qualities to help his side win the game if selected.

“I have such qualities like strength, pace, goal scoring instincts and ability to hold up play that will help my team achieve their targets for the season,” he said.

The player who is yet to establish himself in the starting line-up reckons that there are many players ahead of him in the team, but he is willing to bide his time in his bid to impress the coaches.

He was however quick to add that he is confident of scoring if selected to play against the Blue Angels.

“I understand that the club already has strikers they

have depended on in the past so I need to take my time, impress the coaches before I get a regular run in so I am not in a hurry.

“By the time I played against Crown it was late in the game so there was little I could do, but if I get the chance against Sharks I am sure I will score,” Okpokwu said.

Okpokwu

Sunshine set to return to winning ways, says Akinbobola

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he Ondo State Football Agency said yesterday that they are repositioning the state’s football club Sunshine Stars of Akure in a bid to return it to winning ways.

Akin Akinbobola, the chairman of the agency, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the players were being motivated as part of the strategies.

“The management will motivate the players in all possible ways in order to raise the profile of the club in the

ongoing Globacom Premier League.

“Sunshine is going through a restructuring process. We know that it may not be easy, but we want our players to have a winning mentality.

“We believe that very soon we will make headway; we are working hard to return to our winning ways.

“Sunshine FC is coming back strong to the league,” he said.

Sunshine finished 12th on the league table at the end of 2012/2013 season with 52 points from 38 matches.

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Akinwunmi assures on Lagos FA Cup IFEANYI EDUZOR

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hairman of Lagos State Football Association, Seyi Akinwunmi says that his body has put modalities in place to ensure a successful 2013/2014 State FA Cup slated to kick off today at the Agege Township Stadium, even as he expressed happiness that the board is partnering with Winners Golden Bet. com as the official sponsor of the championship.

He told our correspondent during the draws for this year’s competition held Thursday in Lagos that the board will ensure transparency throughout the duration of the competition with an appeal to all participating teams to play to the rules of the game.

Speaking at the occasion, Director of Sports, Lagos State Sports Council, Kweku Tandoh commended Lagos FA for being able to get a sponsor for this year’s championship just as he charged other sporting associations in the state to intensify efforts in getting sponsors to compliment what they get from the government.

This year’s Lagos FA Cup competition which is expected to end on May 1, will involve a total of 32 male and 4 female teams. It will be played over a maximum of 23 match days; both morning and evening at the Agege Stadium.

Some of the teams that will participate in this year’s competition are the defending champions, COD United and Runnersup, Mountain of Fire Ministry FC. Others are LSDPC, Yobo FC, My People FC, Bridge FC and Fame FC amongst others.

Akinwunmi

Odegbami backs Okoku’s foundation IFEANYI EDUZOR

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ormer Green Eagles captain, Segun Odegbami (MON), has commended ex- international, Paul Okoku over his plans to formally launch a foundation for less privileged kids in Abuja.

Speaking ahead of the April 17 fund raising/launch of Paul Okoku Foundation at the NICON Luxury Hotel Abuja, Odegbami said such humanitarian effort is a project t that should be supported by all Nigerians.

“As far as I am concerned

Okoku is giving back to the Nigerian society that produced him and this calls for support from all sportsmen and women.

“That a former football star is at the forefront of supporting the less privileged kids in our society is unique and memorable. It is my prayer that more former sportsmen and women should emulate Okoku,” said ‘Mathematical’ Odegbami.

The former Shooting Stars Sports Club of Ibadan sensational right winger called on all former Nigerian internationals and public spirited individuals to rally round Okoku towards making the foundation launch/fund

raising in Abuja a big success.

Meanwhile, Okoku who was a member of the 1984 Africa Cup of Nations silver medal-winning Green Eagles squad has said he is expecting a memorable and successful foundation launch in Abuja come April 17.

Speaking from his United States of America base, he commended top officials of the National Sports Commission, Nigeria Football Federation, Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, Samson Siasia and the wife of Katsina State Governor, Hajia Hachima Ibrahim Shema for the inspirations given to him in this regard.

SPORT

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April 5, 2014

Bayern’s dominance excites Matthaus

Ibrahimovic out for four weeks

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aris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi has revealed Zlatan Ibrahimovic will miss four weeks of action with a hamstring injury.

The Sweden international was forced off in the 68th minute of PSG’s 3-1 UEFA Champions League quarter-final firstleg win against Chelsea on Wednesday, and will miss the second leg next week.

Ezequiel Lavezzi got them off to a flyer, scoring after just four minutes to give them the perfect start, but reported PSG target Eden Hazard leveled from the penalty spot after 27 minutes.

An own-goal from David Luiz just after the hour mark restored their lead and Javier Pastore netted what could be a crucial third in stoppage time, but the win came at a cost.

Ibrahimovic pulled up due to the innocuous injury with 22 minutes to go and club president Al Khelaifi confirmed that he is unlikely to return until the season’s closing stages.

“He won’t play at Chelsea. It’s impossible,” Al Khelaifi said.

“We are waiting for the test results but I think he will be out for at least four weeks.”

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erman icon Lothar Matthaus said Bayern Munich is the most dominant team he has seen throughout his illustrious career.

Jupp Heynckes guided Bayern to an historic treble last season, winning the Bundesliga, UEFA Champions League and DFB-Pokal.

Bayern have continued their recordbreaking ways under Pep Guardiola, remaining unbeaten en route to retaining their Bundesliga crown with seven games to spare.

The German giants are also in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals as they look to claim back-to-back titles, while Kaiserslautern stand in their way of a third consecutive DFB-Pokal final appearance.

Matthaus, who won the Bundesliga seven times during two spells with Bayern, has been blown away by the club’s dominance throughout Europe.

“The players certainly enjoy hearing the numbers,” Matthaus said.

Matthaus

Real not involved in Barca ban, says vice-president

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eal Madrid vice-president Pedro Lopez Jimenez insists there were no ulterior motives behind the transfer ban handed to Barcelona by FIFA. The Catalan giants were this week given a transfer embargo for the next two windows due to irregularities found in their dealings at youth level.

FIFA’s disciplinary committee handed out the ban after Barca’s case was examined by the Players’ Status Committee, of which Jimenez is a member.

Ibrahimovic

PREMIERSHIP TABLE Team

P

GD

PTS

1 Liverpool

32

49

71

2 Chelsea

32

38

69

3 Man City

30

52

67

4 Arsenal

32

19

64

5 Everton

31

18

60

6 Tottenham

32

-4

56

7 Man Utd

32

14

54

8 Southampton

32

9

48

9 Newcastle

32

-9

46

10 Stoke City

32

-8

40

11 West Ham

32

-6

37

12 Aston Villa

31

-12

34

13 Swansea

32

-3

33

14 Hull City

32

-7

33

15 Norwich

32

-25

32

16 Crystal Palace

31

-19

31

17 West Brom

31

-12

29

18 Cardiff City

32

-32

26

19 Sunderland

30

-20

25

20 Fulham

32

-42

24

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Jimenez has made it clear the decision had nothing to do with the club’s rivalry and that the sanctions were not made by the panel he sits on.

“The Players’ Status Committee to which I belong has no sanctioning power,” Jimenez said.

“What we do is study the files we receive, but the sanction to Barca is the responsibility of the disciplinary committee of FIFA. “Neither I nor Real Madrid have anything to do with the penalty.”

Ramsey returns to Arsenal squad

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rsenal have been handed a major boost ahead of tomorrow’s showdown at Everton with the news that Aaron Ramsey will return to the squad.

Arsene Wenger announced the Welshman was back in training on Thursday and confirmed yesterday that the 23-year-old midfielder will travel to Goodison Park for the Premier League clash.

Ramsey had been in fine form until his progress was curtailed by a thigh injury sustained

against West Ham on Boxing Day. Wenger had hoped to bring Ramsey back for last month’s north London derby with Tottenham, but he suffered a setback in training ahead of the match.

There is now better news for Wenger, however, as Ramsey returns for what could be a potentially decisive fixture in the battle for the final UEFA Champions League spot against Roberto Martinez’s men, while Nacho Monreal is also in contention following an ankle injury.

“It’s something they can always be proud of having been part of. And I doubt if many of these records will be improved on again in the foreseeable future.

“In all my years as a player and coach, whether in Italy, Spain or anywhere else, I’ve never encountered a team as dominant as FC Bayern has been over the past couple of seasons.”

Matthaus reserved praise for Dutch winger Arjen Robben, who has become one of Bayern’s key players after a difficult start to life in Munich.

Robben, perceived as a selfish player by some pundits, often found himself on the bench during stages of last season but forced his way into the team as Bayern triumphed over rivals Borussia Dortmund in the European final at Wembley.

The 30-year-old is now one of the first names read out on Bayern’s team sheet alongside fellow speedster Franck Ribery.

Rodgers backs fearless Liverpool Rodger

L

iverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has seen ‘no anxiety or pressure’ in his side as they continue their Premier League title charge.

Questions remain over whether Liverpool has the experience to close out the league, one they top by two points late in the campaign.

Rodgers said his confident team was coached to deal with pressure and believes the mix in the squad works in their favour.

“If you ask players to play as we do, you have to give them the confidence.

“We work to deal with pressure, to get on the ball. The players know 100 per cent that if they make a mistake, I will take the blame.

“I have said all along I feel that when there are pressure situations, the players can cope; they can operate at this level without any fear.

“We have a wonderful mix.

World-class players, young talent from Europe and South America and a load of young British talent here who show that, technically, they can play without fear,” he said.

Liverpool’s last league title came in 1990, and Rodgers said his team was not getting carried away despite dreams of lifting the trophy.

“We never get too carried away. It is very difficult, there are lots of people now dreaming about Liverpool winning the title,” he said.

EURO BRIEFS

Cech plays down Courtois return Pastore rules out leaving PSG mainstay in the side helsea goalavier Pastore has no interest in leaving since his arrival in keeper Petr Cech C Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the J London back in 2004, insists he does not season, according to his agent Marcelo

Cech

feel threatened by the impending return of Thibaut Courtois from his loan spell at Atletico Madrid. The Blues stopper has been a

but a high-profile mistake against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday has seen Cech’s place in the side questioned.

Pastore

Simonian. The Argentine midfielder has struggled to hold down a first-team place under Laurent Blanc at the Parc des Princes, with Ezequiel Lavezzi, Edinson Cavani and Lucas Moura often deployed ahead of the 24-year-old.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

SPORT

April 5, 2014

49

Les Bleus are in good shape for the Mundial –Makelele Chelsea crossed paths with Paris Saint-Germain in 2004, when a starstudded Blues line-up took on a PSG team operating with far more meagre resources. The sides drew 0-0 at Stamford Bridge, but it was the comfortable 3-0 success for the English outfit in France a few months previously that really caught the eye. Claude Makelele reigned supreme in midfield for Chelsea that night as he was the archetypal holding player, a model held up for his positioning, ball-winning skills and reliability as a conveyor belt between defence and attack. He now serves as an assistant to PSG coach Laurent Blanc, having ended his playing days while at the Parc des Princes in 2011, just as Les Rouge et Bleu were about to become a genuine European force. FIFA.com met up with the man capped 71 times by France at the Annual Match against Poverty last month, where he was more than willing to discuss the finer points of his old midfield role and his modern successors, plus his switch to coaching, PSG’s exciting new era, Les Bleus and his involvement in charity activities.

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SG have an exceptional player in their ranks in Zlatan Ibrahimovic. You yourself played with various world-class talents, but have you been surprised by the quality of his performances?

No, I’m not surprised by what Zlatan is doing at the moment. He’s a competitor and a great player who wants to win titles. He always wants to improve; he wants to surpass what he achieved at other great clubs and he’s doing everything to make that happen. You don’t need to say anything to a player like that he’s the one who carries the others along with him, leading them to new heights.

Sometimes you have to speak to certain players to inject a little confidence, but Ibrahimovic doesn’t need that. He has all the right ingredients already.

How are you finding life in the dugout, so soon after being involved in games like this as a player?

From the bench, I can see what’s happening quicker. I’m able to predict what will happen – I know in advance. I went through it all as a player thousands of times, and that’s given me an acute sense of how a situation will turn out.

I can feel what’s about to happen on the pitch. When I was a player, I couldn’t really explain it; I just ‘lived’ the moment.

Now, it’s my role to explain, analyse and, above all, communicate.

You had a vital and often underrated role in your teams as a holding midfielder. Who in this PSG team is closest to the kind of player you were?

The example I know well, because I coach him at PSG, is Blaise Matuidi. In that position, you have to put your personal ambitions to one side because it’s a very special role. In the France team, there is a huge amount of talent in that position: Yohan Cabaye is improving all the time, and I’ve already mentioned Matuidi. They’re lads who don’t have a huge amount of

experience yet but who’ve already understood what it takes to play in their position on the pitch. They need to communicate that to the others very calmly. It’s a thankless post, where a lot gets asked of you and you mustn’t expect anything back.

Still, it must be a little frustrating to have your efforts often go unrecognised.

What’s your reaction to this assertion?

In a team, everyone has their role.

Everyone needs to know what they have to do to make the team function better and make the balance perfect. Once you accept that, you can commit yourself a hundredfold with huge enthusiasm. You have to love that position to play there because, otherwise, it won’t work out. But if you do, you can really enjoy it. It’s a role that gives you a lot of satisfaction. I think Blaise has all those qualities, that tenacity, even if he can still improve. I want to push him even more to improve because I think he can become one of the best midfielders in the world.

What are your thoughts on the state of the France team in the run-up to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil?

It looks to me like Les Bleus are in good shape. It’s as if they’ve been ‘cured’.

They’re aware now of the qualities they have. I’m not talking about individuals but the team as a whole they’ve realised their strength, and in a big tournament that’s the most important thing. You need a core to the squad and solidarity between the players. That’s the basis, and they’ve understood that. I have no doubts about the quality of this squad and I even think they could surprise people.

France will not be among the favourites in Brazil, just as little was expected of them at Germany 2006.

Will that give them an advantage?

I don’t know if you can compare the two. In 2006, three of us had just come back into the team at the last minute: Zinedine

Makelele

BRAZIL IS FOOTBALL. I THINK ABOUT SAMBA, GREAT TECHNIQUE, STEPOVERS. I SEE GOALS, JOY, SPECTACLE, FUN. FOR BRAZILIANS, PLAYING IS ABOVE ALL A PLEASURE. IT’S SOMETHING YOU HEAR A LOT WHEN YOU SPEAK TO THEM AND THAT’S GREAT Zidane, Lilian Thuram and myself. Those late returns didn’t cause tension or anything like that because what mattered for all of us in the squad was the idea of the France team itself, which was a special feeling. I think this generation has got that as well. If they’ve grasped that, it’ll give them incredible strength in Brazil. Reaching the final in 2006 was thanks to that little extra spirit we had. That’s what made it possible for each individual to shine. If you want to go all the way in this kind of tournament, that’s absolutely necessary.

When someone mentions Brazil to you, what does it bring to mind?

Brazil is football. I think about samba, great technique, stepovers. I see goals, joy, spectacle, fun. For Brazilians, playing is above all a pleasure. It’s something you hear a lot when you speak to them and that’s great.

You took part in the Annual Match against Poverty organised by Ronaldo and Zidane to help the Philippines. Is participating in events like this important to you?

It’s important for every player. You get to see each other again, and for a good cause. I’ve always given a lot. What Ronaldo and Zidane are doing is exceptional: it opens people’s eyes to a specific issue, in this case the Philippines, and that allows people to see footballers in a different light. It’s not always easy for us players to explain ourselves. This match is quite simply the best way to get things done.

Do you think it is essential for players and ex-players to get involved in broader issues?

We have an important role with regards to the world of football in general, and towards youngsters in particular. Because of the media scrutiny our sport comes under sometimes, people forget that we are human beings, that we have feelings and that we do things for the people close to us and also for different causes. Football players often get involved to help people in difficult situations. It doesn’t get talked about much and that’s a shame. In my own case, I take part in several charity activities, especially in Africa because that’s where my roots are.

When did you realise it was time to retire as a footballer?

I realised when I started acting like a coach on the pitch. I was giving instructions and trying to reposition everyone.

I’d tell one player to calm down and another one to defend in order to hold onto a result, and as a result I was no longer fulfilling my role as a player who gave everything. That’s when I understood it was time to pass on the baton. You can’t do everything, and actually I don’t really miss being on the pitch. It’s a bit crazy because I thought it’d be very difficult, but as I found myself in the dugout very soon afterwards I guess the change wasn’t too extreme.

What did you do immediately after deciding to hang up your boots?

The day afterwards, I went on holiday.

It was a good way of marking the end but, even so, I remember that I was still thinking about football. I was wondering what I’d do; if I’d start coaching immediately or if I’d take a year off. I couldn’t do that, though, because football is my whole life.

50

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

April 5, 2014

Crime Watch Family affair!

BRIEFS Okinni land feud: Family of murdered pastor demands justice BOLADALE BAMIGBOLA OSOGBO

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he family of late clergy, Elder Paul Ajibola, who was recently murdered in Okinni, Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun State has called on the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Ibrahim Maishanu, and other well meaning Nigerians to ensure perpetrators of the dastard act are unmasked and brought to justice.

The late Elder Paul Ajibola of Christ Apostolic Church, CAC, No 1, Okinni was said to have been killed in his farm by a suspected hired assassin, allegedly contracted by some people within his community.

Saturday Mirror reliably gathered that the late Ajibola and the two men alleged to have plotted his death are locked in legal battle over some parcels of land in Okinni town.

Reliable family sources said an Osogbo High Court had fixed last week Wednesday for a judgement over one of the cases involving the deceased and an unnamed man from his town, but the presiding judge’s non appearance, made all the parties, who were already seated in court to leave abruptly.

The late Ajibola, after returning home, went to visit the disputed land, but was allegedly murdered by a suspected assassin, that laid ambush for him.

When the deceased did not return home after several hours, some family members were said to have mobilised and formed search party to find him, only to discover he had been killed and buried on his farm land.

However, before the family of the deceased reported the incident to the police, a source said that the alleged perpetrator of the act, had gone to Dada Estate Police State in Osogbo to report himself, where he was detained and subsequently transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID).

The suspect, having owned up to the crime, was said to have led the police to the scene of the crime, where the mutilated remains of the deceased were exhumed.

The eldest son of the deceased , Gbenga Ajibola, told Saturday Mirror yesterday that the family of late Ajibola now live in fear since the purported release of one of the suspected perpetrators He said the family got the hint that the alleged mastermind of the crime had been released and since then, “we have been living in fear. We can’t leave Okinni because we don’t know what will happen. The man is walking free now while from all indications, he masterminded the crime”.

But in his reaction, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Osun State Command, Folasade Odoro, said only one person was arrested in connection with the crime. She said the person is still being held by the police while the police continue with their investigations into the matter.

Okada rider, in-law, 2 others in N13m cargo diversion

Abdullahi INSET: Aga

SEGUN ADIO

A

bdullahi Mustapha and Abdullahi Mustapha are no mere inlaws; they are also both allegedly in the underworld where they divert cargos. How did their illicit business end?

A man, identified as Abdullahi Mustapha and his in-law, Abbas Mustapha, are currently assisting law enforcement agents to unravel the circumstances surrounding the theft of goods worth N13 million.

Abdullahi, a native of Gworza Local Government Area of Borno State, was allegedly involved in the diversion of a lorry load of generating sets valued at N13 million while the owners of the goods kept vigil at their office waiting for their arrival.

Abdullahi, 30, who claimed to be a commercial motorcyclist in Lagos before he was lured into the gang, reportedly posed at a major sea port in Lagos State as a truck driver ready to help merchants transport their goods to any part of the country.

Abdullahi and his in-law reportedly work in connivance with two other suspected thieves to carry out the crime.

Whereas Abdullahi and Ibrahim Aga

were the two that canvassed entrepreneurs to patronise them, Abdullahi’s inlaw (having married Abdullahi’s elder sister) was the driver of the lorry they used for the goods diversion.

The four men were recently paraded at the Federal Special Anti Robbery Squad, Adeniji-Adele, Lagos, over alleged diversion of assigned cargos to be delivered around Alaba International Market.

It was gathered that on Thursday, February 20, 2014, Abdullahi and his in-law were contracted to deliver a 40 feet container on Mack truck with Reg. No. LAGOS XT-737-SMK and generating sets to be delivered to Messrs Dominocado Nigeria Limited of No. 22, Randle Crescent, Apapa, Lagos.

Having agreed to the terms of delivery, Abdullahi, his in-law and two other accomplices set off with the truck enroute Alaba International Market where the goods were supposed to be delivered.

As was the usual practice, the owners of the consignment were already at the destination point waiting for the truck bearing the goods to arrive. Sadly, they were disappointed as the truck did not arrive until the close of work that fateful day.

Police source claimed that some days after Abdullahi and his in-law had left the Apapa port with the truck and could not

be traced, the owners of the goods alerted law enforcement agents at FSARS who immediately sprung into action.

Within days, the emptied container alone was discovered in a bush along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, while the Mack truck was nowhere to be found. When checked, it was discovered that all the goods inside the contained had been removed leaving an empty container in the bush.

But the anti-robbery policemen at FSARS were determined to get to the roots of the matter. Using scientific aid, the law anti-robbery policemen trailed Abdullahi’s in-law and driver of the truck, to a hideout and apprehended him. Abbas the driver later confessed to having connived with his brother in-law and two others to divert the goods. Abbas later led law enforcement agents to the three other members of the syndicate who were all arrested.

In the end, it was discovered that the suspects had disposed of 29 of the generating sets and the other sets were recovered from them.

Speaking with Saturday Mirror on his involvement in the crime, Abdullahi confessed to have brought the ‘business’ to his in-law. Abdullahi claimed that his Okada riding business was no longer lucrative as the ban on it by the Lagos State Government was hitting him hard, hence his decision to diversify into other areas to eke a living.

“I used to ride Okada but it is no longer rewarding. I called him (his in-law) that he should introduce me to driving job. He asked me to come and I met him and we went to the East. As we were going our vehicle broke down and we dropped the vehicle. I went back to my Okada business and he later called me that he had got another vehicle for us to drive. That was when we got this job.

“We were taking the lorry towards Ibadan when it developed fault and we abandoned it in the bush. It was later that some members of OPC and policemen came looking for Baba (his in-law) and arrested him and he brought them to my house and they arrested me,” Abdullahi said.

But briefing journalists, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Chris Ezike in charge of Federal Special Anti Robbery Squad, maintained that the suspects were determined to cause havoc to the owners of the goods as their intention was to sell the products and make away with proceeds there from.

He, however, said that investigations were still ongoing on the matter and the suspects would be charged to court upon completion of investigations.

Do you have a story for us? Contact 08138773277 or crimewatchmirror@yahoo.com

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

CRIME WATCH

April 5, 2014

51

Death of a peacemaker!

Man stabs friend to death over family rift Babatunde Omogba and Rasaq Ogunlana were fast friends but of different characters. While Omogba was amiable, Ogunlana was bellicose. But they were still friends until last Saturday when one allegedly stabbed the other to death.

SEGUN ADIO

B

abatunde Omogba, a native of Edo State was a childhood friend with Rasaq Ogunlana. All the time they had been friends, Omogba was said to have been the one motivating his friend, Rasaq, to strive to make something good out of his life. Omogba, 35, could best be described as a man who always keeps to the bond of friendship.

However, it was this side of Omogba that sent him to his early grave. Omogba’s lifeless body is currently lying at the Isolo General Hospital in Lagos, after he was allegedly stabbed to death in the neck by his closest friend, Rasaq.

It was gathered that Omogba and Rasaq lived not far apart in the same Abaranje area of Igando/Ikotun Local Council Development Area of the state.

Whereas Omogba was a member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, his friend Rasaq works as a scavenger around Isolo area of the state.

Omogba, a father of three children (a girl and two boys) met his untimely death doing what he knew how to do best: trying to reconcile his friend and his wife, who were reportedly living like cat and mouse in their home.

The incident occurred on Saturday, March 29, 2014. Saturday Mirror gathered that trouble started for the deceased the previous day which was Friday, March 28, 2014, when his friend’s wife visited him after close of work.

It was gathered that Rasaq’s wife, knowing that her hus-

band’s friend had mediated in several quarrels between her and her husband, again went there to complain about him to his friend.

It was further gathered that Rasaq, a father of five (including of a set of twins) was grossly irresponsible at home as he reportedly seldom make provisions for what the family would eat let alone what they would wear.

Speaking with Saturday Mirror, wife of the deceased, Biola Omogba, 28, claimed that she left her husband and his friend’s wife in their sitting room while the other woman narrated her ordeal in the hands of Rasaq to Omogba.

“When my husband’s friend’s wife came in and told my husband that she wanted to see him for an important matter about her own husband it was natural for me to excuse them which I did, but I heard everything they discussed in the living room where I was.

“The woman told my husband that her husband hardly comes home again and that he hardly makes provisions for the family how to feed, and many other things she told my husband. In the end my husband promised to take his friend up on the issues raised by his wife,” Biola said.

It was further gathered that immediately Omogba’s friend’s wife left him, the Edo Stateborn father of three rang his friend’s mobile telephone line asking to see him the following day immediately after the sanitation exercise.

So, on Saturday, March 29, 2014, both Omogba and Rasaq met at a pub near their area, as arranged. While there, Omogba

Late Omogba

R Rasaq

reportedly bore his mind to his friend about the latter’s attitude to his wife and children. The two friends reportedly spoke extensively on the matter and in the end, Rasaq assured Omogba that things would change for the better, thenceforth.

The two friends soon settled for drinks though it was Rasaq that was said to take hard drinks while Omogba opted for soft drinks. Continuing her narration of the circumstances that led to her husband’s death, Biola claimed that she went in search of her husband at the pub to demand for money for breakfast when the fight broke out between the two friends.

She continued, “When my husband left home, he forgot to leave money for us and I went there to ask him what we would eat for breakfast. I did not know what came over his friend but he got up and started accusing my husband saying that he also had the same problem with his own wife as he had with his wife at home.

“My husband tried unsuccessfully to explain to him that he was only trying to mend his gradually breaking home but

he claimed my husband brought him out to ridicule him when he had the same problem as him.”

Biola further told Saturday Mirror the argument soon became heated and people there tried also to separate the two friends. She claimed that Rasaq grabbed a bottle at the bar and broke it on his own head, saying he was ready to fight my husband to the finish over the matter.

It was gathered that after the men around succeeded in separating the feuding friends, Rasaq ran to his house and came pout with a dagger, outwitted the men protecting his friend, and stabbed the deceased in the neck.

Omogba reportedly immediately slumped bleeding profusely. While that was going on, Rasaq also reportedly gave a hot chase to Biola’s his friend’s wife, still holding the knife in his hand and vowing to meet the same punishment on her as he did to her husband. The woman reportedly took to her heels, while some men around reportedly attacked Rasaq, over powered him, and collected the knife from him.

Biola continued her narration, “By the time Rasaq was taken away I came back and carried my husband in my arms calling on people to help me take him to the hospital. He soon died right in my arms while we were making efforts to make him survive,” the woman said tearfully.

A neighbour, who begged for anonymity, claimed that Rasaq had been accused of inflicting deep cut injuries on three people in the past on account of little provocation.

“This is not the first time that man would be doing that kind of a thing. Everyone in the neighbourhood is afraid of him because his father has a lot of charm. It is unfortunate that Tunde had to die, but good that this would be his end in this area.”

Rasaq and his father, Saturday Mirror gathered, had left the community for unknown destinations.

A source at the Ikotun Police Station confirmed the incident to Saturday Mirror but declined to make further comment. He only says, “We got the report last night and I believe our bosses are on top of the situation.”

11 men arraigned for allegedly burning police patrol van

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leven men, who allegedly torched a police van valued at N500, 000, were on Friday brought before a Tinubu Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.

The accused are Lekan Abolomo, 33; Mikky Jaji, 29; Uchen-

na Innocent, 20; Aigbe Ekosua, 32; Olalesan Azees, 25; Adonde Gbenupo, 50; and Tope Hassan, 32.

Others include Joshua Akinola, 27; Goodwill Agha, 18; Patrick Felix, 29; and Wasiri Bada, 22.

They are facing a three-count charge of conspiracy, unlawful damage and breach of peace.

The prosecutor, SP Chidi Okoye, said the offences were committed on March 29 at about 10.20 p.m. in front of Bola

Ahmed Tinubu Multipurpose Hall, Adeniji Adele on Lagos Island.

Okoye said one of the accused, Abolomo, a member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW),

was christening his daughter, when some of the invited guests engaged in a free-for-all. ``A special anti-robbery squad attached to the Adeniyi Adele Division went to the scene to restore normalcy.

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DEVELOPMENT

April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Still on soft approach to countering terrorism T

he menace of terrorism and insecurity pervading the polity with its attendant negative effects on our national lives and corporate existence has continued to cause goose pimples in the minds of many patriotic Nigerians. It is mindboggling nowadays, seeing the headlines of national dailies being dominated by news of terrorism with some fringe elements threatening to hijack the monopoly of violence from the hand of the state. This is a sorry development that calls for concerted efforts towards bringing peace and normalcy back to the driving seat.

It is therefore a worthy development the recent unveiling of a strategy document titled as “Soft Approach to Countering Terrorism” by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Col Sambo Dasoki (rtd), on the 18th March 2014. It is surely a complementary framework to the ongoing military offensive against terrorists. On the point of law, the recent action of the NSA conforms to the provision of section 1 (A) of the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011 – which saddled the NSA with the co-ordinating responsibility on matters relating to terrorism.

The section enshrined thus: “ensure the formulation and implementation of a comprehensive counter terrorism strategy, build capacity for the effective discharge of the functions of relevant security, intelligence, law enforcement and military services under the acts”.

However, while the soft approach to countering terrorism is a laudable project theoretically, it is a different

ball game altogether when one ruminates over the efficient implementation of the project and the need to put in place the requisite infrastructures for the implementation to thrive.

These are critical issues which forms the crux of this piece.

Firstly, there is the need for the office of the NSA to be seriously committed towards the full implantation of this project. Otherwise this laudable project will become the proverbial five fingers of a leper. Instances are abound, where the Federal Government has been accused of nonimplementation of various recommendations by different committees (commissioned by the same Federal Government) on how to adequately stem the tide of terrorism and insecurity. Lets recall, professor Nuhu Alkali, a dialogue committee member, at one time aired his dissatisfaction over Federal Government’s failure to implement his committee’s recommendation as he believed that its implementation would have averted several attacks that claimed many precious lives.

Of course, the Federal Government has been working assiduously and making tremendous efforts in curbing this nauseating scourge as there are plethora of instances of disruption of terrorist cells which led to prevention of attacks across the country. But if the truth must be told, the Federal Government needs to heighten the level of implementations to the barrage of well meaning recommendations at its disposal.

Secondly, the details of the exer-

cise of the de-radicalization of the convicted terrorists and suspects awaiting trial are thoughtful and well founded. It aims at exterminating the root of the extremism instincts in the minds of this class of people. The program is prison based as the Ministry of interior and prison service is expected to be the codrivers of the program.

However, when one peep at the distasteful condition of the prison inmates in Nigeria, it surely becomes a conundrum on how the insightful program will thrive.

The deplorable condition of Nigeria prison is, as succinctly put

by Suleiman Shuaibu, President of African Youths for Conflict Resolution, “Every where in Nigerian, inmates are suffering too much of population – the prison yard is congested. The nature of where they sleep, the atmosphere is not conducive”. Looking at this gory picture as depicted, one will be constrained to submit that this altruistic prison based program is akin to an attempt to erect a dam in a vast arid desert.

Is the Government desirous of ameliorating this situation? Irked, by the sad development, the Nigerian Prison Services was renamed Nigeria Prison and Correctional Service sequel to the Senate passage of a bill for an Act to repeal the Prisons Act CAP P29 Law of the federation of Nigeria 2004. Infact, according to the Bill the name change is to “underscore the humane aspect of the reform focus of the prison administration and to conform to the

provisions in the international instrument”.

But the above appears to be a cosmetic reform approach while the nitty-gritty of areas of the reform is seemingly neglected. This is typified by the hard fact that still stare back at us: the repulsive condition of the prison and inmates persists as many people, according to Amnesty International, suffers from neglect and mistreatment in Nigerian Prisons in 2013.

More worrying, is that less than 5 percent of budgetary allocation (of 2014 proposed budget) is made for new programmes and improvements out of the nearly 290 million dollars allocated to Nigerian Prison.

On the whole, the Government must show higher political will towards the implementation of several recommendations on how to tackle the security challenges as well as putting requisite arrangements in place that will enhance the efficiency of the implementation. In the same vein, there is need for all Nigerians to support the Government in the collective bid to scratch off the shackles of terrorism so that Nigeria can join other nations that are busy rebuilding their economies, revitalizing their physical infrastructures and human capital with the aid of leapfrogging technology.

Yunus Abdulsalam A legal practitioner Garki II Abuja Yunusabdulsalam7@gmail.com

Nemesis and failed jail breakers

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n the early hours of Sunday, while going through twitter for usual updates, the news of gunshots at the State Security Service headquarters close to the state house went viral.

Even though the news of gunshots and bombing are now usual in the country, attacking the headquarters of the state security service is awkwardly audacious. The news immediately gained ground, leading to unease in and around the city of Abuja, as people scampered for safety.

Rumors began to spread like wildfire about what could possibly be the problem around the seat of power.

Some even went as far as speculating that, perhaps there was a mutiny. Various speculations escalated the tension until the Security Service released a statement via its spokesperson, Marylin Ogar which apparently doused the fear in the minds of citizens.

It is no more news that the attempted jail break by detained suspected insurgents was foiled by the combined effort of the State Security Service and other security personnel. According to Mrs Ogar, at 0715 hours, the Service suspect handler went to the detention facility within the Headquarters to feed the suspects. One of the suspects

attempted to disarm him by hitting him at the back of his head with his handcuff. His attempt to escape drew the attention of other guards at the facility that fired some shots to warn and deter others.” The gunshots apparently attracted attention around the areas and soldiers were on hand as succor to the state security agents.

All thanks to the security framework put in place to promote interagency cooperation. Thus, once there is any challenge in any military formation or security agency, the new framework will trigger alarm for Rapid Response by other sister agencies. This may not necessarily mean that the SSS aren’t capable of curbing the attacks, but soldiers merely responded to this alarm on Sunday by coming to the SSS headquarters. This is the technical or security justification for soldiers’ intervention. In the end, the marauders were rearrested and scores who refused to surrender were subdued. There is the need to cut some slacks for the combined security agents even though some of the operatives were scathed.

It is also good news to hear that innocent passers-by who were arrested around the state house and environs

are beginning to regain their freedom.

This is coming from reliable reports that, there were indications that some suspects around the SSS headquarters, who were arrested in Abuja on Sunday, have been released based on the service’s respect for human rights.

This also serves as clarion call to the security service and all other security agents to as much as possible avert extra judicial arrests and killings which they have been criticized for over the years. This is especially since the emergence of insurgency in some parts of the country. Thus, will at least douse the artificial phobia an average Nigerian has for uniformed personnel in the country.

The security might have had it a bit easier to contain the recent attempted jail break, but there is no doubt that; another attempt by terrorists to escape will be more coordinated. Thus it is left for the state security service to be more alert and take proactive measures to curtail any funny movement by detainees. I still remember the days when I used to read that criminals are transferred from one prison to another around the nation. In some cases, criminals may not even know where they are; talk more of thinking of

escaping. I wonder what really happened to such practice in the nation.

Criminals of such caliber should be kept far away from the seat of power to eschew the kind of drama that happened on Sunday. Better still, there should be a special detention center where arrested insurgents would be detained pending other development.

More so and more importantly, I expect that suspected terrorists should be tried in a law court as soon as possible, rather than detaining them for God knows how long. The fact that a criminal is arrested and detained for more than 48hours without trial may be a violation of their human rights.

There may perhaps be some exceptions when it comes to dealing with cases of terrorism, but be that as it may, an arrested insurgent should be handicapped as much as possible in order to avert any form of treachery. The only good news from the narration is that no suspected terrorists escaped from justice.

Moshood Isah Sapele Street Garki 2, Abuja

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

REGIONAL NEWS

April 5, 2014

53

SOUTH EAST

S’East NEMA trains 500 corps members Dennis Agbo ENUGU

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he south east zonal office of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has trained about 500 of Batch ‘A’ 2014 of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) on Emergency Management Vanguards (EMV), in various

orientation camps.

Zonal coordinator of the NYSC in charge of south east, Dr. Abdulahi Onimode, explained that NEMA/NYSC Emergency Management Vanguard Project was an initiative of the NEMA aimed at using Corps members as vanguards for a uniform Proactive Disaster Man-

agement nationwide.

According to Onimode, “This national disaster management effort is with the overall aim of ensuring the reduction of disaster risks, enhancing socio-economic and environmental well being of the rural populace,” he said.

The NEMA boss fur-

ther explained that the programme afforded the organisation the opportunity to present the Director General’s address, recruit, train and kit Corps volunteers who in turn collaborate with State Emergency Management Agencies, Local Government Emergency Committees and other stake-

holders to carry out disaster management activities in various localities during their service year.

He further stated that programme ran simultaneously in the South Eastern States of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo State between 20th - 24th March, 2014 at the Permanent NYSC Orientation Camps.

Dr. Onimode noted that Nigeria has designed and implemented various approaches geared towards effective and efficient curtailment/management of disasters, adding that such moves were in response to the increase and frequency in disaster incidence and emergencies in the country, especially in recent times.

Ebonyi rice now sold in Europe, US

Gov Elechi L-R: Ebonyi State Commissioner for Commerce, Dr Ifeanyi Ikeh; President, Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA), Dr Ifeanyi Okoye and Director-General, ECCIMA, Mr Emeka Okereke, during Ebonyi State Special Day at the ongoing 25th Enugu International Trade Fair, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

APC Chieftain faults N7b confab budget Dennis Agbo ENUGU

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Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and aspirant for Enugu East Senatorial District, Dr. Ben Nwoye, has faulted the Federal Government’s budget of N7 billion for the ongoing national conference.

Nwoye claimed such a

huge amount could not be justified in the midst of infrastructure challenges facing the country at the moment.

Nwoye who picked holes in the on-going conference described it as a political jamboree, saying it would have no positive impact on the nation.

His words, “I want to advise Nigerians to be

watchful, and not to be deceived or carried away by the so called national conference, which was illtimed by President Jonathan.”

Nwoye regretted that rather than addressing Nigeria’s myriads of political and economic problems, the Peoples Democratic party (PDP)-led government has goofed by

embarking of a N7 billion conference he predicted would end up as a talk show.

He also faulted the idea of convening a conference in an electioneering year as 2014 will be for party primaries. “After all, the conference is to the detriment of the poor and ordinary Nigerians,” he insisted.

Council boss declares 3-day free medicare for aged, students Aliuna Godwin EBONYI

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he coordinator of Ubeyi development centre, Barr.

Nnachi Egwu. has declared three-day free medical services for residents of the locality.

Barr. Egwu claimed that the gesture was also aimed to reduce health problems facing the aged persons and children living in the rural areas, as well as students of Federal Polytechnic in Uwana community, in Afikpo Local Government Area of

Ebonyi State.

Addressing journalist in Abakaliki, the state capital, the council boss called on the people of the locality to support the state government and urged them to be law abiding and shun violence.

He added that time has gone when the health of the people are forgotten by the government they voted into power.

In the words of Barr.

Egwu, “I declared three days free medical services in order to improve the health of the people, especially the aged persons,

children and students in this development centre.

The healthcare programme, which was held in designated centres in all the wards that make up the development centre, featured counseling, eye tests, laboratory tests, distribution of free drugs for treatment of hypertension, diabetes, malaria, typhoid, and so forth.

In a remark, the leader of chiefs in Uwana community, Ichie Ibiam Osuu, said the programme would continue to put on hold the health problems the aged persons and

students are faced with.

Osuu, however, called on political leaders in Afikpo Local Government Area to emulate this good gesture of Barr.

Egwu.

According to Osuu, “the health of the people should be paramount to all politicians in the state” but urged the coordinator to ensure that the program is frequent so as to show the people the sense of belonging.

This programme should be frequent preferably on quarterly basis,” he said.

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overnor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State on Friday said that rice produced in the state had moved into markets in Europe and the United States.

Governor Elechi said that the rice was being produced from “Satake Mills” established by the state government at the cost of N1.29 billion.

He made the disclosure when he spoke at Ebonyi Day at the ongoing 24th Enugu International Trade Fair in Enugu.

The governor said that the rice was being sold in large quantities in London, Canada, Florida and other parts of Europe.

The governor described it as a ``breakthrough which has enhanced the glory of the state in rice production”.

Represented by Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Dr Ifeanyi Ike, Govenor Elechi said that the quality of the rice produced from the mills facilitated its acceptance in the global market.

He said that three mills were established under the “Satake”

mills which the state government imported from Japan and cited in each of the three senatorial districts.

He said that the mills had a combined production capacity of 15 tonnes of milled and packaged rice per hour ``at full capacity”.

Elechi said that the state government had distributed highyielding varieties of rice, along with necessary agro-inputs to rice farmers ``in order to sustain the mills at full capacity”.

He also said that the government had established a tractor-hiring centre, and announced that ``our government has opened all frontiers that will enable genuine investors to come to the state’’.

The governor said that the Ebonyi International Market, which he described, as the ``longest high-rise building” in the South-East had attained 98 per cent completion. ``We also constructed 34 ‘bridges of unity’ to link all local government areas to the state capital,” he added.

(NAN)

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REGIONAL NEWS

April 5, 2014

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

NORTH

SSCE: Borno LG chair offers car to candidate with 9 credits Inusa Ndahi MAIDUGURI

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he Caretaker Chairman of Gubio Local Government Area of Borno State, Alhaji Zannah Modu Gubio, has pledged a brand new car to any student from the area who got nine credits in the on-

going Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (SSCE).

The council chairman made the pledge in Gubio, headquarters of the council while seeing off students of Government Secondary School, Gubio.

It would be recalled that in 2011 SSCE, only

two students passed English and Mathematics at credit level in the whole of Northern Borno Senatorial District, and even these lucky students.

The two students, it was gathered were not Borno indigenes, but that their fathers were military personnel posted to Monguno Barracks.

The council Boss also said government would take responsibility of the transportation to and from Maiduguri of the candidates, following the insecurity occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgents.

The chairman also promised to purchase Universal Tertiary Ma-

triculation Examination form to any candidate with 5 credits including Mathematics and English Language, with scholarship to any university of his/her choice in the country.

Alhaji Gubio then donated 140 mats, 140 buckets and 150 plastic kettles to the candidates and

charged them to work hard to pass their exams and get the reward awaiting them.

Speaking on behalf of the candidates, Ali Garba thanked the chairman for the gesture and promised not to fail the council, but working hard to win the awards promised by the chairman.

Borno APC shifts Ward congress over irregularities

Inusa Ndahi MAIDUGURI

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he proposed ward congresses of the All Progressives Congress in Borno State, slated to hold today has been postponed.

It was gathered that the postponement was as a result of massive circulation of fake printed ballot papers and other sensitive materials for use at the election.

Party and top government officials, who did not want their names mentioned, confirmed the postponement saying that it became inevitable following the speculation making the rounds that some politicians have been accused of being in possession of fake ballot papers without security checks. They claimed that if the congress was allowed to go on, there could be violence and

breach of peace in the state.

Saturday Mirror gathered that in the state, apart from the insecu-

G

two camps with one being controlled by Governor Kashim Shettima, while the other is under the leadership of former Gov-

ernor Ali Modu Sheriff.

Unconfirmed report also indicated that the reason for the cancellation of the ward con-

L-R: Bauchi State Head of Civil Service, Mr Abdon Gin; Governor Isa Yuguda and Chief of Staff to the Governor, Alhaji Abdulkadir Ibrahim, during the Governor’s visit to Abubakar Umar Secretariat in Bauchi, yesterday.

Yuguda lauds Christian, Muslim leaders for prayers on insecurity overnor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State has given Christian and Muslim leaders kudos for their prayers towards ending the spate of insecurity in Nigeria.

Governor Yuguda gave the commendation yesterday after receiving the 2013 Christian pilgrimage report submitted by the state’s Team Leader, Mr Abdon Gin, in Bauchi.

According to him, the existing peace in the state stems from the consistent prayers offered by the religious leaders especially during the pilgrimage to the holy lands.

rity being perpetrated by Boko Haram insurgents, the APC structure in the state is in jeopardy as it is being factionalied into

His words, ``It is gladdening to note that you have gone and come back and you have done a lot of prayers for our state, for our people, for peace in our state, which is why today we are enjoying peace in Bauchi. ``We are doing our best as government, but I assure you it is your prayers that have made it possible for us to earn this peace, being surrounded by states that have security challenges. ``But by the grace of the Almighty God, you can see that we are faring very well. ``It is through the prayers of our people, the Muslims and the

Christians that God has made it possible for the government to be able to perform its duties creditably and to ensure there is justice and equity for our people,” he said.

The governor also commended the pilgrims’ boards for making the state proud having emerged the most organised pilgrimage team in the country.

Earlier, Gin explained that 424 pilgrims participated in the 2013 pilgrimage, describing it as “a huge success” with no defections, no illness, but rather commendation for good conduct.

He, however, appealed to the state government to make provisions for participation in the family pilgrimage and Easter pilgrimage, recently introduced by the Nigeria Christian Pilgrims Commission. (NAN)

gresses in all the 27 Local Government Areas of the state was due to non availability of voting materials.

It was also said that national electoral officers of the party were yet to arrive as at press time, following what sources described as lack of proper coordination and mobilization of members by one of the factional leader of the APC. Chairman of the APC interim state executive council, Senator Kaka Mallam Yale could not be reached on phone for his comment, but the party’s Publicity Secretary, Mallam Awal Hamza, confirmed the postponement of the ward congresses, sighting non availability of voting materials and members of the National Executive Officers as reasons.

Katsina gets 4, 439 Hajj seats, bars ex-pilgrims from exercise James Danjuma KATSINA

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he National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), has allocated a total of 4,439 seats to Katsina State for the 2014 hajj exercise.

Executive Director of the state Pilgrims’ Wel-

fare Board, Alhaji Ahmed Hassan, at a press briefing, yesterday, said a committee has been set up to ensure impartial allocation of the seats.

Hassan said that each intending pilgrim would have to deposit a minimum amount that would be communicated at a

later date, and that same should be in bank draft.

He also said intending pilgrims would be given 11 days period to pay the required deposit. He said only intending pilgrims that had not performed Hajj would be allowed to perform this year’s hajj exercise.

Al-Makura faults military operations in Nasarawa Igbawase Ukumba LAFIA

N

asarawa State governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, has faulted military operations in the state.

The governor accused the military of leaving real insurgents in the forests and killing innocent herdsmen known to the community.

Governor Al-Makura spoke yesterday while on

a sympathy visit to the palace of the Osana of Keana, HRM Emmanuel Elayo, as well as to see things for himself.

According to the governor, “I think the real insurgents are in the forest and the far villages but not in the towns and environs.” Al-Makura declared.

He noted that the insurgents usually go through the valley of Benue down to Adamawa, Taraba and

Kogi to attack the victims.

According the governor, the issue would be properly investigated so as to report to the higher commands in other to avoid the killing of innocent herdsmen in the state.

In his remarks, the traditional ruler said that the situation has called for concern, saying all hands must be on deck to stop further escalation of lost of lives.

Saturday Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

April 5, 2014

Two-million-dollar fish

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Russia snaps back at NATO R ussia recalled its ambassador to NATO for consultations Thursday, two days after NATO member countries suspended cooperation with Russia over the Ukraine crisis, Russian state media reported.

Col. Gen. Valery Yevnevich will return to Moscow in light of NATO’s actions, official news agency ITAR-Tass said, citing Russian Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov’s remarks to journalists.

“The policy of (deliberately) whipping up tensions is not our choice. Nonetheless, we see no possibility to continue military cooperation with NATO in a routine regime,” Antonov is quoted as saying.

He accused NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen of making “confrontational statements” at the meeting of NATO foreign ministers early this week and questioned NATO steps to bolster its presence in Eastern Europe.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said

Moscow wanted answers from NATO regarding activities in Eastern Europe after the Western military alliance said it would step up defenses for its eastern members.

Russia’s move to annex the Crimea region from Ukraine last month has sparked the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War and raised fears among its Eastern European neighbors.

At their meeting, NATO foreign ministers decided the alliance would draw up plans for reinforcing NATO’s defenses following Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region -which the West deems illegal.

These would possibly include measures such as sending NATO soldiers and equipment to allies in Eastern Europe, holding more exercises and ensuring NATO’s rapid-reaction force could deploy more quickly, a NATO official said. It could also include a possible review of NATO’s military plans.

“We have posed these questions to the North Atlantic Alli-

ance. We are expecting not just any answer but an answer fully respectful of the rules we have coordinated,” Lavrov told a joint news briefing with his Kazakh counterpart.

Responding to criticism from Kiev and the West over the presence of Russian troops along the border with Ukraine, Lavrov said Russia had the right to move forces on its territory and said they would return to their permanent bases after completing military exercises.

“Russian troops in the Rostov region will return to their bases after completing military exercises,” he said, referring to an area near the Ukrainian border.

NATO’s military chief warned Wednesday that Russian troops could begin moving on Ukraine within 12 hours of being given an order. Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO’s supreme allied commander Europe, also said that with 40,000 troops massed near the border, Russia has all the components necessary to move on Ukraine.

Missing Malaysian plane update: Mali on alert

Underwater search begins

Fisherwoman, Donna Pascoe, poses with an extremely big tuna fish that she caught. The fish is worth $2m, but Pascoe prefers to stuff the fish as a memento instead of selling it.

AP journalist killed, another wounded in Afghanistan ahead of elections

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wo journalists working for The Associated Press have been shot in Afghanistan, one of them fatally, the news agency said Friday.

The Associated Press said the slain journalist was Anja Niedringhaus, 48, an internationally acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize-winning German photographer. She was shot in Afghanistan’s eastern Khost province.

The second journalist targeted by the gunman was Kathy Gannon, a Canadian reporter based in Islamabad, the AP said. She is said to be in a stable condition and is receiving medical care.

“Anja and Kathy together have spent years in Afghanistan covering the conflict and the people there,” said AP executive editor Kathleen Carroll, speaking in New York. “Anja was a vibrant, dynamic journalist well-loved for her insightful photographs, her warm heart and joy for life.

We are heartbroken at her loss.”

In a letter to AP staff Friday morning, chief executive Gary Pruitt also praised her courage and skill, describing her as “spirited, intrepid and fearless, with a raucous laugh that we

will always remember.”

The two women were traveling in their own car in a convoy of election workers delivering ballots in Khost province, protected by the Afghan National Army and Afghan police, the news agency said.

A unit commander walked up to their car as it waited to move, yelled “Allahu akbar” -- “God is great” -- and opened fire on them in the back seat, the AP said. He then surrendered to the other police present.

The reason for the attack is unclear, but police have arrested the suspected shooter and the case is under investigation, Baryalay Rawan, a spokesman for the Khost provincial governor, told CNN. Hours later, a bomb exploded in a polling center in the province’s Tanai district, only about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the scene of the attack on the journalists, he said.

Two people were killed -- one of them Tanai district’s deputy police chief -- and three were injured, Rawan said. Those hurt included police and security service officers, he said.

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he hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 moved into a new phase on Friday with the deployment of a towed pinger locator to find the black box.

Two ships with locator capabilities are searching a 240km (150 mile) path in a bid to retrieve the data recorder.

But Australia’s search chief said it was a race against time as the battery-powered signal fades after 30 days.

The plane disappeared on 8 March en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It was carrying 239 people.

It is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, although no confirmed debris has been found from the plane.

The search is being co-ordinated from the city of Perth in West-

ern Australia.

Fourteen aircraft and 11 ships were involved in Friday’s search activities.

Ships sighted a number of objects in the area but none were associated with the missing plane, the coordination agency said.

Angus Houston, head of the Joint Agencies Coordination Centre (JACC) leading the search, said that two ships had “commenced the sub-surface search for emissions from [the] black box pinger”.

Australia naval vessel Ocean Shield was using a towed pinger locator from the US Navy, while HMS Echo, which had similar capabilities, was also searching.

But the former military chief now coordinating the eight-nation search said it was “getting pretty close to the time when it might expire.”

Live World War II bomb kills 7 in Thailand

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hai scrapyard workers accidentally detonated a suspected World War II-era bomb Wednesday, killing seven and injuring 19 after attempting to cut into it with a blowtorch.

The device was discovered at a construction site in Bangkok, and moved to a scrapyard before workers tampered with it, in an attempt to break it down into smaller parts.

Thai state news agency MCOT, quoting the the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Erawan Medical Center, said six people died at the scene. Another report-

edly died before reaching the city’s Mayo hospital.

The blast, in Bangkok’s Lad Prao district, caused a ten footdeep (3 m) crater in the scrapyard’s warehouse, and damaged neighboring properties. The device was around 3 ft (1 m) long and weighed 500 lb (225 kg).

Local police commander Virasak Foythong told media that the scrap workers believed the bomb to have been defused.

“The workers at the warehouse thought the bomb was no longer active so they used a metal cutter to cut into it, causing the explosion.”

over Ebola fears

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ali is on alert over the deadly Ebola virus after three suspected cases were reported near the border with Guinea, where 86 people have died.

A BBC correspondent says there are tight controls on people entering the capital, Bamako, from the border area.

He says thermal-imaging cameras are screening passengers at the airport in case they have a fever.

The virus, which is spread by close contact and kills 25%- 90% of its victims, has already spread to Liberia.

Meanwhile, an Air France plane which landed in Paris from Guinea was quarantined for two hours on Friday morning after the crew suspected a passenger was infected with Ebola.

“The test turned out negative,” a spokesman for the airline said.

Six people have died in Liberia, out of 12 suspected cases, according to the local health authorities.

Sierra Leone has also reported suspected cases, while Senegal has closed its normally busy border with Guinea.

Quote

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The time has come to look at the mental and physical illness of our leaders, to require them present their certificate of mental and physical fitness before they are allowed to take oath of office.

Saturday, April 5, 2014. www.nationnationalmirroronline.net

–Dr Osahon Enabulele, President, Nigeria Medical Association, while advocating during the ongoing national conference for physical and mental fitness test for political office holders so the country can have sound leaders.

African leaders and hunger crises T

he past few years have given me cause for hope and enhanced optimism for Africa, but now that situation is beginning to engender a genuine cause for concern, Africa seems unable to settle the big question about hunger.

While on the one hand, headlines are screaming out messages of Africa as the next “global frontier” or the next miracle after the Asian tigers, it appears that there is also this dark strip on the African silver palette that spells hunger for a good number of Africans going to bed at night.

Can the situation be changed? I believe that this piece, which I proposed to be published widely before the African Agriculture Ministers meet, in preparation for the AU Summit, is relevant and timely.

Recently, I was having a discussion with two of my protégés on a regional subject we thought I should comment about in an op-ed. Two of us thought we should comment on poverty in Africa and my American protégé immediately resisted, insisting that this issue no longer meant anything to the generality of the reading world. Africa has been having this problem for so long now and it is no longer news to most people in the western world who could not be bothered much about poverty in Africa! It is taken for granted. I was not surprised but, all the same, I believe that African leaders must

with President Olusegun Obasanjo hexcellency2011@yahoo.com h ll 2011@ h not accept poverty as natural to Africa and that there is nothing that we can do about it. That will utterly be irresponsible. Poverty and hunger are not naturally part and parcel of Africa but brought upon Africa by circumstance of governance, distribution of resources and our attitude to our situation.

In Nigeria, the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter, children and families continue to go hungry in many parts of the country.

Across the continent and in many other parts of the world, millions more suffer from malnutrition. The current crisis in East Africa, where over 13 million people are affected by extreme hunger, has tragically brought this issue to the forefront.

There is, however, no reason for this im-

mense human tragedy. Our continent has the resources and science has given us the solutions to prevent hunger crises permanently. We have the means to grow not just enough food for our needs but to produce a surplus for export, no matter how challenging the climate or weather condition.

We now have a historic opportunity to put this right. At the African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa at the end of January, the continent’s leaders can help lead the world in ending hunger and preventing a recurrence of the East Africa emergency ever again. The Global Forum for Food and Agriculture in Berlin provides another powerful platform to focus the efforts of the international community on this vital food security challenge.

SPORT EXTRA

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he Golden Eaglets yesterday whitewashed Nigeria senior women’s national team, the Super Falcons by 6-0 in a friendly match played at the FIFA Goal Project pitch in Abuja.

Despite the huge defeat the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) board member Mohammed Fresh, Chief Technical Officer Lagunju Siji and Coach Emmanuel Amuneke of the Eaglets who watched the game were full of praise for the girls who have had just two training sessions before the encounter.

Fresh commended the Super Falcons for playing the Golden Eaglets for a period of time before conceding defeat,

adding that with more training the girls would not only get better, but regain their lost glory.

Amuneke on his part said that the girls gave his boys a good game pointing out that the Falcons at such short notice have shown that they are set to regain their place as the best in women football in Africa.

The Golden Eaglets led by two goals at interval before scoring four more in the second half.

Chief Coach of the Super Falcons Edwin Okon expressed delight at the performance of the Falcons against a male national side, noting that with time they will improve.

“I am impressed with the way my girls played today after only two days training. With more time together and a

TO BE CONTINUE NEXT WEEK

Premiership Fixtures

Golden Eaglets whitewash Super Falcons in friendly ANDREW EKEJIUBA

So what do we need to see in Addis Abada and Berlin? Africa’s leaders must endorse the new Charter to End Extreme Hunger, a comprehensive blueprint drawn up by a coalition of international and African aid agencies. The Charter, already signed by Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga sets out the practical steps that must be taken by governments to make extreme hunger crises put into history. AU Governments should pledge to fulfil its commitments.

The continent’s leaders can help lead the world in ending hunger and preventing a recurrence of the East Africa emergency ever again. The Global Forum for Food and Agriculture in Berlin provides another powerful platform to focus the efforts of the international community on this vital food security challenge.

So what do Africa’s leaders need to do?

They must endorse the new Charter to End Extreme Hunger, a comprehensive blueprint drawn up by a coalition of international and African aid agencies.

The Charter, already signed by Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga sets out the practical steps that must be taken by governments to make extreme hunger crises put into history. AU Governments should pledge to fulfil its commitments.

Today’s Matches Man City v Southampton 12:45 Aston Villa v Fulham 15:00 Cardiff City v Crystal Palace 15:00 Hull City v Swansea City 15:00 Newcastle v Man United 15:00 Norwich v West Brom 15:00 Chelsea v Stoke City 17:30

Sunday, April 6, 2014 Amuneke

couple of friendly matches, I think we should be ready to face Cameroon,” he said.

The match was played for 30 minutes for each half.

Everton v Arsenal 13:30 West Ham v Liverpool 16:00

Monday, April 7, 2014 Tottenham v Sunderland 20:00

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