Sunday, january 18, 2015binder1

A media partner of

SUNDAY Sunday, January 18, 2015 Vol. 1 No. 333

Sanctity of Truth

/newtelegraph

N150

@newtelegraph1 www.newtelegraphonline.com

Gbonigi: I was warned to stop criticising Abacha or risk being killed } 32

WE CAN’T ENFORCE polls PEACE PACT - police IG, Suleiman Abba

IBB, others bag Sun Newspapers Lifetime Achievement awards }60

Things we miss about Olusola Saraki, Ken Saro-Wiwa, by followers, kinsmen }31&39

lPDP, APC trade blame over violence

lPTF probe report sparks fresh controversy Onyekachi Eze, Chukwu David, Emmanuel Onani, John-Chuks Onuanyim and Emmanuel Masha

T

here are fears that the peace pact signed last week by major political parties for next month’s general elections may have collapsed even before it could take effect.

Nigeria 27 s e votes vot days to ria Nige

2015

2015

go...

Reason: The Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services have declared that they can’t enforce the agreement because it is not a legal document.

This is just as the Peoples Democratic Party and All Progressives Congress yesterday traded blame over the political violence in the country.

The pact, which was signed by presidential candidates of 14 political parties

and their chairmen, was meant to commit the parties and their supporters “to run issue based campaigns at national, state and local government levels.”

They are also expected “to refrain from campaigns that will involve religious incitement, ethnic or tribal profiling,” both by themselves and agents acting in their names, and “to refrain from making or causing to make” in

} 18

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

Jonathan APC debunks inspects 2nd alleged Buhari Niger Bridge cancer report } 60 site } 63

How Dora Akunyili influenced my life - Ex Aide, Mary Ikoku

2

SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Contents | 18.01.15 BODY & SOUL

Mothers influence children Creating a bond between mother and child strengthens the community. Mary Ikoku is passionate about this issue through Working Mom Africa

}18

POLITICS

2015 without the strongman Two years after his demise, followers of late strongman of Kwara State politics, Dr. Olusola Saraki, say they miss him greately

}31

BUSINESS

Mired in controversy Six years after groundbreaking, unresolved controversies, unredeemed pledges mar the take-off of the construction of Ibaka Deep Seaport in Akwa Ibom State

}23

SPORT

Best Player Award Nigerian soccer stars won’t win the CAF Player of the Year Award in many more years to come as they have been at the lowest ebb of their careers in the last 10 years, says former Super Eagles, Assistant Coach, Joe Erico

}59

SUNDAY

Editorial

Alex Iwobi and Nigeria’s image

N

o one knows it all, for the little things that we pay less or no attention to may indeed turn out to lead to unprecedented windfall which we never envisaged in the first place.

These are indeed hard times for Nigeria.

Never have we been so divided, troubled , ridiculed internally and thoroughly humiliated outside our shores even by nations that were collecting crumbs from our large table.

Last Wednesday, youth prodigy and Arsenal England fringe player, Alex Iwobi stormed Abuja to join the National Under-23 soccer squad, Dream Team Six, preparing for the next All Africa Games. A bold and wise decision it is, at a time others are being lured out of our great country.

Presidential elections are just a few weeks away and there are reports that a number of politicians and other men of means are ferrying their families overseas, afraid of violence after the polls. Those whose families are domiciled abroad think they should stay put until the coast is clear.

Iwobi, a thorough bred Londoner, feels otherwise. He has chosen patriotism above pessimism and decided to drive against traffic. While others are running away from home, the young man is back to play for his motherland.

Newspapers are awash with the threat posed by insurgency, not only in the NorthEast but all over the nation. Stories are poured out through other media painting Nigeria worse than Afganistan, Iraq and Somalia. These days, nothing good is written about the country.

Iwobi’s manager and father, Emeka Obasi ignored all the negative stories about his country of birth. Like a general, he led his son back to his roots to prove to the world that there is indeed hope and what we are going through is not alien to the world. Americans have seen hard times, terror and treachery also live in Europe.

Iwobi’s return should be commended because some players before him who have Nigerian roots, turned down offers to play for the country even when their services could have helped their game. Gabriel Agbonlahor looked the other way when at the peak of his career, the Super Eagles was all he needed to be a hero.

Nedum Onuoha who was born in Warri looked like one who would rush back home to boost the senior national team, especially in the full back position. He disappointed the nation, choosing England.

Shola Ameobi also snubbed Nigeria at

his prime. His eyes were on England where he felt the world would be in his pocket.

It was only when the steam was waning that he fell back on Nigeria to get a World Cup certificate.

Iwobi’s attitude is a strong public relations tool for the government. We have had superstars abandoning Nigeria for other countries. Glory Alozie did it after winning silver at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

She lost her fiancé Hyginus Anugom in a traffic accident in Australia.

Francis Obikwelu, world champion in the sprints as a junior also dumped the country and had a better outing running for Portugal, capping it with an Olympic silver medal in the 100 metres.

These two examples would have been good to force Iwobi away from home. But the player is not looking back , he has chosen the future and that future is commitment to Nigeria.

He said,”It’s my country and I have to work hard to take this chance and I have to show that I can represent the homeland”.

Brave words coming from a youngster who had been capped at the junior level

by England.

In the past, we had Nigerians who did not want to have anything to do with the country. ASEC Mimosas and Cote D’Ivoire defender Sam Abouo Dominique felt his original country should look inwards instead of looking his way. Martin Dahlin of Sweden denied his African roots on his way to World Cup debut in 1994.

As we commend Iwobi, we also advise that he must not be caused to regret his decision. He was not forced to return to his roots. The story of Victor Anichebe is still fresh in our minds.

In his very first game for the Eagles at the Abuja Stadium, Anichebe’s parents were there to watch their boy. And he got a goal. He also won an Olympic silver medal.

Today, Anichebe feels pains. The country he so loves, abandoned him when he was injured while playing for the same country. Nobody from the Sports ministry called to wish him well. No official from the Presidency remembered all the sacrifice.

Instead, when he recovered the football association wanted him to come and play for the same nation that ruined him.

Iwobi’s decision deserves all Presidential attention, it is like giving hope to the world that Nigeria is not all the globe reads about, violence and despair. Indeed their is every reason to believe in our country.

DAILY TELEGRAPH PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief

Eric Osagie

Editor n Yemi Ajayi

Managing Editor n Suleiman Uba Gaya

Editor, Saturday n Laurence Ani

Editor, Sunday n Emeka Madunagu

Deputy Editor, Sunday n Juliet Bumah

Bureau Chief, Brussels n Leo Cendrowicz

Bureau Chief, Washington DC n Marshall Comins

Editorial Coordinator, Europe n Sam Amsterdam

Ag. Bureau Chief, Abuja n Onwuka Nzeshi

Asst. Editor, News & Politics n Biyi Adegoroye

Business Development Manager n Taiwo Ahmed

Sales/Circulation Manager n Oyebanji Abiodun

Head, Graphics n Timothy Akinleye

Head, Admin. n Robinson Ezeh

Telegraph Adam&Eve

3

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

18 JANUARY, 2015

us Precio

is Franc Height: 5.9, Weight: 65

Hobbies: Reading, Travelling, creative writing

Vision: Setting up a TV station

E-mail: emekarich5@yahoo.com Mobile: 0815 396 8529

Film/TV Producer & Actor

Hight: 5.9 inches, Burst: 34, Weight: 62.

Hobbies: Cooking, traveling and shopping, E-mail: marbelprecious@yahoo.com Mobile: 0706 784 4400 Model and actress

Telegraph Adam&Eve is a page for the young, lively, sexy, cute and daring male and female.

If you fit the bill, send your profile, snazziest high resolution image, phone number and email to: julietbumah@gmail.com; editor.body-soul@newtelegraphonline.com, Abuja Office: Orji Kalu House, Plot 322, by Banex Junction, Mabushi, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja or our corporate head office, No 1A, Ajumobi Close, Off ACME Road, Ikeja, Lagos. Enquiries: +234 (0)811-675-9770.

4

SUNDAY 18 JANUARY, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

News CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

their names or that of their parties, “any public statements, pronouncements, declarations or speeches that have the capacity to incite any form of violence, before, during and after the elections”.

President Goodluck Jonathan and his All Progressives Congress challenger, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, were among the presidential candidates who signed the document.

However, the police high command yesterday said the peace accord is not a legal instrument, and as such, cannot be enforced.

Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, an Acting Commissioner of Police, told Sunday Telegraph that the document “is not a piece of law.”

He, however, noted that as leaders in their respective capacities, candidates and party officials have a moral burden to midwife the initiative.

His words: “The peace accord is not a piece of law. It is not enforceable, but only morally binding on the parties involved. The police expect them as leaders of the nation, in their various capacities, to uphold peace and work towards the stability of the nation.”

But tension in the camps of the two leading presidential contenders indicate that the agreement, may sooner than later, be observed in the breach.

For instance, barely two days after the peace accord was signed, another APC secretariat in Port Harcourt, Rivers State was bombed.

Although, since signing the agreement, the parties have so far conducted themselves within the ambit of the law during their campaigns, investigations however, revealed likelihood of the re-enactment of the 2011 post-election violence, which claimed many lives.

Sunday Telegraph learnt that in some states considered as ‘black spots,’ politicians are recruiting and arming thugs‎ to unleash violence on their opponents.

Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, had in a special broadcast to the people of the state on Friday warned of the possibility of more violence as different candidates were laying claim to the same tickets.

Meanwhile, PDP and APC yesterday disagreed on who should take responsibility for the recent bombings of the APC’s secretariats in two local government areas in Rivers State as well as politically-motivated killings.

While APC has blamed the PDP for the bombing of the party’s secretariat in Okrika and Andoni local government areas, PDP said it was masterminded by the APC to divert attention from the recent killings of PDP stalwarts.

State PDP Chairman,

‘We can’t enforce peace pact’ Brother Felix Obuah, and his APC counterpart, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, who spoke at a meeting organised for violence-free elections by the state Police Commissioner, Dan Bature, at the Police Officers Mess, Port Harcourt, however, agreed that a major cause of the clashes between both parties was the destruction of posters and billboards by overzealous party supporters.

Ikanya, who spoke first immediately after the CP admonished representatives of all the parties on the need for peaceful elections, said PDP members were harassing APC members, and acting as if nobody could hold them accountable for their actions.

He also alleged that the police had been arbitrarily arresting its members, even when it was PDP supporters that carried out attacks against APC members.

“There was a time the posters of APC members were being destroyed, that was when they said that we only existed on posters and billboards. It took the intervention of Mr. President before they stopped destroying our posters and billboards.

“Today, the PDP is living above the law, because they feel there will be no consequences for their actions…

Today, PDP supporters have graduated from matcheting our members to bombing.

While we subscribe to the code of conduct to ensure violence-free elections, please we want the police to arrest PDP members who go against the law.

“If we leave this meeting, and we are bombed again, I will not honour another invitation. Who does not know what they are doing?

The police surely know those behind the mayhem in this state.”

But Obuah accused APC of raising a false alarm, saying that the current problem is caused by the APC government.

“The APC chairman has accused the PDP of violence and bombings in the state, but he only wanted to divert attention to the recent killing of our members. They are the ones burning their headquarters. We are lawabiding citizens.

“The APC has a grand design to create problems because they have lost faith in the electoral process. They know they will not do well at the polls. For the PDP, we will tell our supporters to remain peaceful.”

Earlier, the CP had urged the two parties to emulate President Goodluck Jonathan and Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari who agreed on peaceful elections, and embraced themselves, not-

Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, and former Governor Peter Obi at a reception held in President Goodluck Jonathan’s honour at the Palace of the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe...yesterday

ing that both men were sending a message across to their supporters not to see elections as a ‘do-or-die affair.’

“As the Treasure Base of the Nation (Rivers), the international community is here. They want to be sure the environment is conducive enough for them to do their business. The essential message in the concept of non-violence, is that democracy is freedom to be in any political party. It is not a situation that calls for rancour. Most of the things happening here are unnecessary. You cannot run to anywhere after destroying your state. Some communities here in Rivers have been deserted.

“We will encourage dialogue and interaction. And as law enforcment agency, we have the capacity to handle the consequences of any behaviour. We will visit the wrath of the law on whoever acts outside the laws.

Unfortunately, the courts are not working, but that does not mean that we will not charge people to court when it starts working. I

know you are all responsible, but I do know that if you reprimand your supporters, they will not heat up the polity.”

In an interview with Sunday Telegraph, ‎National Secretary of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, Chief Willy Ezeugwu, however believes the accord should be extended to candidates at the state level.

Ezeugwu, who is the All Progressives Grand Alliance senatorial candidate for Enugu East, said the problem of election violence had its roots at the state level.

“It is at state level that governors recruit these hooligans. So I agree with people who want the governors to be part of the peace agreement,” he stated.

The APGA senatorial candidate, however, expressed hope that if those who signed the peace agreement are sincere, it will succeed, given the credibility of those who mid-wife it.

President of the Senate, David Mark, yesterday charged PDP faithful to prevent the opposition from manipulating the eelctions.

Addressing PDP stakeholders from the North Central zone comprising Federal Capital Territory, Benue, Nasarawa, Kogi, Kwara, Niger and Plateau states, Mark said the party was “committed to free, fair, credible and acceptable elections. We want to win convincingly at all levels. There will be no room for any manipulation. We as members of the PDP will not rig. We will not allow opposition parties to rig us out. We have enough evidence to show to the electorate why the PDP remains the preferred choice in 2015.”

He, however, asked his party members not to take anything for granted just as he stressed the need for them to strategise and reach out to the electorate ahead of the polls.

In an interview, PDP Head of Publicity, Mrs. Chinwe Nnorum, told Sunday Telegraph that the President had constantly told Nigerians that his ambition does not deserve anybody’s blood.

“Anybody who listened to the speech of President Jonathan and the PDP Na-

tional Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, would know that PDP is committed to peaceful elections. We will continue to preach peace and we will continue to sensitise our supporters to maintain peace, hoping that our opponents will also do the same.”

APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said on the telephone that the accord would work if all political actors work with sincerity.

He also called for neutrality and impartiality on the part of the Independent National Electoral Commission, security agencies and all other stakeholders.

Mohammed said, “I can talk about APC, that we will keep our own part of the accord. Don’t forget, we had always looked forward to this accord, but the conditions attached to it must be kept by government. INEC must be neutral, security must be neutral and there must be no militarisation of elections. These are the things that bring about violence,” he said.

NOUN offers jobs to first class graduates Kayode Olanrewaju

T

he National Open University of Nigeria has offered automatic employment to a 43-year-old graduate of Peace and Conflict Resolution, Antonia Okoye, for emerging the overall best graduating student of the institution for the 2015 academic session.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof.

Vincent Tenebe, announced

this yesterday at the fourth convocation ceremony of the university, which took place at the Main Exhibition Hall of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos.

According to the ViceChancellor, all First Class graduates of the university, who are interested in joining the institution, will be offered automatic employment.

“First Class graduates, who wish to us in our in-

stitution, will now become members of our academics,” he said.

Okoye, a mother of five, was one of the two First Class graduates ever to be produced by the distance and open learning institution. No fewer than 7,000 graduating students including three prisoners received their scrolls for the award of Certificates, Diplomas, Bachelor Degrees, Postgraduate Diplomas,

Masters and Honorary Degrees of the university, which was established in 1999 by the Federal Government.

Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof. Julius Okojie, who stood in for the President and Visitor to the university, reiterated the support of the Federal Government to the institution through the injection of funds and resources.

5

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SUNDAY 18 JANUARY, 2015

News

PTF: Obasanjo trying to protect Buhari – PDP

P

Chijioke Iremeka eoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation yesterday faulted ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s claim that All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, had no hand in the N25 billion fraud that took place in the administration of the Petroleum Trust Fund by Buhari as executive chairman.

The campaign organisation, in a statement issued by the Director of Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, alleged that by saying that there was nothing amiss in the PTF’s financial transactions, Obasanjo was only trying to protect Buhari.

It reads: “We believe that one of the cardinal principles of democracy, good governance and decency is to always set the record straight and let the Nigerian people know the truth.

This has been the hallmark of President Goodluck Jonathan and his government for the last four years and we intend to ensure that

this continues. We do not believe that anything ought to be hidden and we believe that in the contest for the Presidency the record of public office of each and every one of the presidential candidates is relevant and must be subjected to scrutiny and public debate.

“It is to this end that we make reference to the findings of the Dr. Haroun Adamu-led Interim Management Committee probe of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) where General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the APC, presided as executive chairman for a number of years while General Sani Abacha was in power. The final report of that probe exposed nothing but monumental sleaze and the most pervasive and insidious type of corruption in PTF while General Buhari held sway there.

The report concluded its findings by recommending that the PTF under General Buhari and his entire team be asked to explain the circumstances in which N25, 758,532,448:00 disappeared and could not be accounted for. As the chief executive

Diaspora group opposes Buhari’s bid U

nited States chapter of the Nigerians In Diaspora Organisation have kicked against the candidature of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking recently at a press conference held at the Hilton Garden, Washington DC, Hon. Victor Ugho, the immediate past Vice-President of NIDO and current president of the Georgia State chapter, urged Buhari to drop his bid because he was out of tune with modern realities.

Ugho said Buhari had allowed himself to be pushed around by some people whom, he said, were looking for ways to cause more pains to Nigerians.

He noted that Buhari, as head of state, had ample opportunity to turn the country around, stressing that, “as a matter of sincerity, I do not think Buhari is the best candidate for Nigeria at this period in time. He was there as Head of State, what did he do?

“Again, he has not told us what he is going to do differently. We need continuity; the choice should not be based on tribal sentiment.

Let him tell us how he is going to fix the so-called

Buhari

terrible situation he has identified. We need somebody who will not bring disunity.”

Also speaking, the Public Relations Officer of NIDO, Mr. Ndubusi George, called on Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora to think wisely and vote for the right candidate in next month’s presidential election.

In the same vein, National Coordinator of the Diaspora Campaign Network, Mr. Franklin Ekechukwu, described Buhari’s aspiration as laughable.

For his part, the Secretary General of the Alliance of Nigerians in the Diaspora, Mr. Uche Thomas, said “Buhari lacks the intellectual capacity to understand the complexity of global situations, the operations of the world economy, security management, including the nuances of insurgency and counter-insurgency.”

officer of PTF at the time Buhari, and no one else, must be held responsible for this.

“The fact that the recommendation of the Dr. Haroun Adamu-led Interim Management Committee was never acted upon by the Olusegun Obasanjo government is rather curious and gives us some cause for concern. This is especially so given the fact that the same General Buhari that was so badly indicted by the report is now vying for the exalted office of President of Nigeria. This is made all the more worrisome given the fact that the Army General has consistently held himself out as Mr. Integrity while he consistently accuses President Goodluck Jonathan of monumental corruption.

The truth is that not only has the PTF report put a lie to the suggestion that General Buhari is ‘Mr. Clean’ but it has also indicated that he has a case to answer.

“Worse still, one of the directors of Afri-Project Consortium, who were contracted by the PTF as Management Consultants and Project Consultants, a man by the name of Ahmad

Salihijo and the one person that could have nailed Buhari and that was in a position to indict him and tell the world all that he knew about the graft that took place at PTF, died under very mysterious circumstances shortly after the Dr. Haroun Adamu report was submitted to the Federal Government when Obasanjo was in power.

Many people are asking whether this was a mere coincidence or whether there was more to it.

“Finally it is curious that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, an elder statesman that we hold in the highest esteem and under whose watch the Haroun Adamu probe of the PTF was conceived, commissioned and concluded, would come out and attempt to clear Buhari of all the charges made and issues raised in the report and give him a clean bill of health almost fourteen years later. The Adamu report not only conflicts with Obasanjo’s new-found position but it also proves that the position taken by the former president has no basis in reality.

“Not only did the report indict Buhari and his entire team but it also made specific recommendations about as to the amount of money recoverable, to wit: amount recoverable from Afri-Project Consortium is N2,057,550,062:00; amount recoverable from contractors is N3,543,192,774:00; amount recoverable from expiry of drugs is N2,414,807,332:00; and amount recoverable from various banks is N3,642,982,280:00, bringing the total of amount recoverable where verification reports have been finalised to N11,658,532,448:00.

“Total estimated amount of N14,100,000,000:00 recoverable is broken down as follows: Highway and Urban Roads Rehabilitation Programme is N10,000,000,000:00; Rural Water Supply Programme is N1,000,000,000:00; National Health and Educational Institutions Rehabilitation Programme is N600,000,000:00; National Educational Materials Programmes is N900,000,000:00; and Rural Telecommunication Programmes is

N1,600,000,000:00.

“Most importantly fourteen years ago, when the report was submitted in April 2000, former President Obasanjo endorsed the report and believed very much in it. One wonders what has suddenly changed? When we consider former President Obasanjo’s new found position about Buhari’s activities at PTF, we can only conclude that he was simply attempting to be generous, charitable and kind to Buhari. Sadly, he was also attempting to cover up the fact that Buhari has a case to answer when it comes to PTF. “We believe that no one, no matter how highlyplaced, must ever attempt to sweep the truth under the carpet. Every single former and serving public officer, including General Buhari, must be ready to account for his or her actions while in office and any attempt to hide the truth from the people will surely fail.”

APC presidential campaign spokesman, Garba Shehu, did not respond to calls or an SMS sent to his phone.

Osoba, SDP can’t stop my re-election - Amosun Kunle Olayeni Abeokuta

O

gun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, on Friday said the emergence of Social Democratic Party, being promoted by former governor of the state, Chief Olusegun Osoba, was not be a threat to his reelection.

The governor declared that the SDP was parading unpopular candidates for the February elections,

noting that they cannot match those of the ruling All Progressives Congress.

Osoba and his loyalists, including National Assembly members from the state, defected to the SDP following the factional crisis that rocked the APC. The ex-governor had on Wednesday formally launched the SDP in Abeokuta and unveiled the party’s governorship candidate, Senator Akin Odunsi, as well as other candidates for various elective posi-

tions.

But speaking with reporters on Friday in IjebuIgbo when he visited Ijebu North local government area in continuation of his campaign tour, Amosun played down the threat of SDP in next month’s elections.

He said the party was a pretender in the governorship race of the state, adding that the popularity of its promoters was already waning.

Amosun stated that the

Osoba-led SDP had lost voters’ acceptability and could not be reckoned with at the polls.

The governor expressed satisfaction with the level of acceptance of his party in the Ijebu area of the state, saying the APC would win majority of the elective positions in the elections.

“You have been here with us, this is not about presence. I don’t know of any local government that APC will not defeat our opponents,” Amosun said.

L-R: Abia State Governor, Theodore Orji; President Goodluck Jonathan, his wife, Patience and HRM, Eze Eberechi Dike, Chairman, Abia State Council of Traditional Rulers, at a presidential interaction with traditional rulers, in Abia State, Umuahia yesterday

6

SUNDAY

The Sunday Magazine SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015

Charlie Hebdo attack, a wake-up call – Editors

By Onwuka Nzeshi, Ahaoma Kanu, and Chijioke Iremeka.

O

n Wednesday, January 7, while editors and staff of the satirical weekly magazine, Charlie Hebdo, were in an editorial meeting, two hooded men armed with assault rifles stormed into the publication’s office and carried out one of the most gruesome attacks on journalism and free speech.

The attack left 12 people killed by shots fired by the gunmen at close range. The dead included the editor of the publication and chief cartoonist, Stéphane Charbonnier, known as ‘Charb,’ and Jean Cabut, or ‘Cabu,’ a veteran of several French newspapers and reportedly the highest paid cartoonist in the world as well as eight other staff and two police officers.

The attack started a manhunt for the assailants who later struck in two other places in France, claiming four more lives before they were hunted down and killed.

The incident, described as France’s worst terrorist attack in 40 years, made the French government to raise its terror alert to the highest level.

French President, Francois Hollande, condemned the incident, which he said was a terrorist attack of the most extreme barbarity. He also revealed they (France) had prevented several attacks before the unfortunate incident saying that “we knew we were still under threat because we are a country that cherishes freedom. No barbaric act will ever extinguish the freedom of the press. We are a united country that will react as one.”

Several world leaders condemned the attack and showed their support to France by participating in a walk against terrorism against journalism and free press.

United States president, Barack Obama, while condemning the attack said that the US will stand shoulder to shoulder with France which is their oldest ally in the fight against terrorists “who threaten our shared security and the world.”

Britain’s Prime Minister, David Cameron, described the murders as sickening and said that Britain will stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press.”

Likewise, the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Junker, while pledging solidarity with France and the families of the victims, described the attack as an intolerable act, a barbarism that concerns us all as human beings and Europeans,” while German Chancellor, Angela Merkel said: “In this very desperate hour, we stand by the French people. We stand up for the freedom of the press in such a resolute way as for the other basic freedoms that we hold dear in all of our countries.”

Millions of people across the world held vigil for the victims and organised marches across their cities in a show of solidarity that had never before been observed for attacks on journalists.

A rally for unity and freedom of expression was held three days after the shoot

Protesters showing solidarity with victims of the attack

ing in honour of the victims attracted more than 40 world leaders who marched through Paris with their arms linked. The world came together to denounce terrorism in one voice.

A hashtag, Je Suis Charlie, created on the social media platform, Twitter, became one of the most popular in the history of the social medium as people around the world showed their solidarity for the victims of the Paris outrage. It was tweeted at a rate of 6,500 times a minute and featured in 3.4 million tweets in just one 24-hour period.

But beyond all the show of support, solidarity and condemnation for the attack on Charlie Hebdo, the questions remains who the attack will affect journalism all around the world.

The Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Lagos State Chapter, Mr. Deji Elumoye, said the attack in Paris was a lesson every journalist in Nigeria should learn.

“We have to be committed in whatever we are doing irrespective of the threats and challenges involved. We should understand that nothing shall stop us from doing our work. We have to be consistent and do our jobs objectively,” he said.

Elumoye advised journalists to be objective especially with elections around the corner.

“Nigeria is already preparing for elections and journalist would soon be deployed to cover the elections. This calls for careful-

Victims killed in the Charlie Hebdo attack

ness. Journalists should be watchful and security conscious in their chosen career.

Part of the things we should do is to ensure objectivity in whatever we are doing and report correctly what happen without tilting towards one political party or the other,” he counselled.

Abuja Bureau Chief, Champion Newspapers, Malachy Uzendu, said people should

learn to leave God to fight for Himself and not resort to terrorism.

“It is unfortunate that in the 21st Century, such level of gangsterism in the name of religion is taking place. It means that people do not even believe God is efficacious and can fight His battle, if any. People should learn to leave God to Himself and face our common challenges and learn to resolve

7

JANUARY 4, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

The Sunday Magazine

and solve our self-inflicted problems. I strongly believe that if security agencies worldwide want to halt this madness called terrorism, they should use the instrumentality of the UN to block sources of arms supplies to these killers.

“But because the world powers want to do their businesses to the detriment of human lives, they would not do that but pretend that they do not know what to do or that the problems are not caused by their refusal to do what is right. May God give us peace in the world,” he said.

The Editor, The Guardian, Mr. Martins Oloja, observed that the operational environment where it happened and Nigeria are not the same.

“Objectivity is good in journalism. Nigeria is yet to learn from such lesson. We see them every day but we need to institutionalise it. We are handicapped based on the infrastructure. These are the kind of things you see where live is valued. This is a western environment where people are held accountable for every action, where people are embedded by the quality of their jobs, the environment where people make use of IT and formation available to spread information across the world,” he said.

But he assured that the attack would in no way prevent journalists in the country from doing their jobs though Nigeria is yet to institutionalise the industry in a way that would guide practitioners from doing the right thing.

“This will not deter journalists in Nigeria but we have to institutionalise whatever we have seen in this situation to ensure the people do the right thing. Like I said, the lessons are there on a daily basis but we are handicapped by a lack of resources and equipment. We have also refused to rationalise what we saw. This is an environment where people value life and that is why you saw what happened.

“In the case of Boko Haram, what we hear concerning the group is being reported by foreign journalists because journalists in this region are not well equipped to do their jobs. But over there, they are more proactive to do their work. For the journalists, we have to be careful and do our jobs in good faith,” he said.

Last week, Charlie Hebdo released what they described the survivors’ edition of the magazine. The magazine which has a print run of 60,000 printed three million copies of the survivor’s edition due to increased demands internationally.

While reacting to the latest edition of the magazine, Pope Francis cautioned that the issue of religion has to be treated with respect so that people’s faith are not insulted or ridiculed.

Speaking to journalists flying with him to the Philippines, Pope Francis staunchly defended freedom of expression, calling the attacks an aberration and such horrific violence in God’s name could not be justified. But he said there should be limits, especially when people mocked religion.

“You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others. There is a limit,” he said.

This came as protests broke out Niamey, Niger Republic where in at least two churches were set ablaze and four people reportedly killed Niger amid fresh protests against French magazine Charlie Hebdo’s latest cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammed.

But, Mr. Kelechi Deca, Editor, National Daily Newspapers, believes the Charlie Hebdo attack would affect journalism in Nigeria especially when writing on sensitive issues like religion.

“As you may be aware, many newspapers across Africa that wrote sympathetic articles or republished some benign cartoons from Charlie Hebdo apologised. It will make journalists to be more conscious of their lives... and this is not good for journalism,” he said.

Deca agreed with the caution given by Pope Francis but warned that there should be a balance so journalists don’t lose focus.

‘Journalists shouldn’t be intimidated’

Elumoye

Nwakaudu

Malachy Uzendu

“The Pope warned against making caricature of others’ religions. I agree but we should not overdo this in a way that journalists will be working hard to be politically correct even in the face of glaring injustices. Coming from the Pope whom Charlie Hebdo has done some funny cartoons on, it won’t have such effect outside the circle of those who uphold “responsible” journalism. Balance should be the watchword, focus on the issue not its religious or ethnic appendage.

“Write stuff that are germane. If you are working on terrorism acknowledge the fact that terrorists are terrorists not Islamic or Muslim, as ‘moderate’ Muslims have noted. Find better ways to protect the journalist and shield him or her from the vagaries of the job. Don’t push your people into dangers zones but if you have to, provide shields of protection,” he said.

The Managing Director of Peoples Daily, Abuja, Mr. Ali M Ali, while questioning the real motive behind the attack said the reaction of the magazine after the incident was provocative.

“There is more to it than meets the eye.

First it was the clinical manner of the operation and the fumbling manner of the alleged attackers while fleeing; leaving behind definite clues like their identity cards strongly suggests a false flag operation. This position is in the public domain. However, what the magazine did afterwards was insanely deliberately provocative. “It’s out rightly condemnable.

It confirms suspicion that the magazine was a mere pawn in a larger conspiracy to

Odunuga

Deca

Rietbrock

We don’t have to provoke or whip up unnecessary sentiments in the course of doing our jobs demonise Muslims and Islam. All Muslims abhor the denigration of the holy proph et regardless of the intention. Moderate Muslims can forgive mocking of God but find it unforgivable cartooning the holy prophet.

Note the Muslim world’s reaction,” he said.

The Deputy Editor, The Nation Newspapers, Mr. Yomi Odunuga, while condemning the act said that every freedom comes with a responsibility.

“In as much as I believe in the freedom of the press, I also believe that every freedom comes with responsibility. I think there is a need also to exercise restraint in their role so that they don’t just unnecessarily offend the sensibilities of others in the society. We don’t have to provoke or whip up unnecessary sentiments in the course of doing our jobs.

“In as much as I have said this, I believe that the attack was needless, condemnable, horrific and it is terrorism in its raw form.

The thing that I am really happy about is that the French government was able to track down the perpetrators. They lived up to the responsibility of what governance is all about. Governance is not just about sitting in a cozy office and giving directives, it is about taking action promptly,” he said.

Oloja

Ali

Chief Obi Okudo, a veteran journalist, sees no reason why the attack in France will affect journalism in Nigeria but instead implored journalists not to relent in doing their job.

“Whatever happened in the France will not stop the objectivity of Nigerian journalists. The lesson to learn is for us to keep doing what is good without relenting. Every job has it hazards. So, we can’t compromise.

“But I like what the French are doing right now by arresting everybody who says anything in support of the terrorist group.

That’s the way to go. Journalists have to be careful and security conscious, though because this is election time and we are given to revealing ills in the society. Journalists appear to be endangered species but we must do our jobs professionally,” he added.

To Simeon Nwakaudu, former Benue State conrrespondent for The Guardian Newspapers, the Charlie Hebdo attack will affect journalism profoundly in a way that the issue of what should be published for public consumption would be re-defined in several jurisdictions. He said this would also introduce self-censorship. He also agrees that freedom of speech should have limits.

“There is no absolute freedom. Journalists should have respect for the feelings of people who practise other religions. I fully agree with the Pope. No, it is not putting a gag on journalism. Instead, it promotes responsible journalism. Journalists should be guided by the consideration for peace.

Terrorists are driven by religion and extremism. Lack of respect for religious beliefs in the practice of journalism could be disastrous to the community,’ he said.

Mitja Rietbrock, an international journalist with Swiss TV said that though journalists would think twice before they publish any content, they should report in a way as not to hurt people’s feelings.

“Liberty of speech also means responsibility. Two of the most famous critical US newspapers didn’t publish the famous Mohammed drawings - because they didn’t see any reason for hurting people’s feelings. They should ask if there is the journalistic need to publish. Is it really important to publish? If so, why?” the journalist said.

In the light of this attack on journalism, Rietbrock advised media organisations, especially in Africa, to protect journalists by not publishing the name of a reporter who writes on a sensitive issue.

8

News Musa Pam and Buhari Bello

P Jos

residential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, General Mahammadu Buhari, and (rtd) has while accusing the Peoples Democratic Party-led government of destroying the country by promoting impunity, promised to tackle insecurity and corruption General Buhari, who stated this yesterday in Plateau State at a rally attended by a large crowd of supporters, lamented the state of insecurity in the country and government’s failure to ensure that corrupt persons in the country face the full weight of the law.

He said: “APC is determine to break vicious circle of insecurity, lack of

SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Buhari promises to tackle insecurity, corruption jobs and corruption in this country. What is happening in the North-East is totally unacceptable because most youths in Nigeria are unemployed and we will create job opportunities for them.

“APC government will turn around agriculture and the mining sector to provide employment for the teaming youths. This will stop corruption and idleness successfully in the nation” Speaking on the fallen standard of education in

the country, Buhari noted that “Schools in Nigeria don’t turn out competent graduates, infrastructure is gone, salaries of teachers are no longer paid regularly. The best we can do for this generation is to put in the best in our educational system. When we give our youths best education, they can take care of themselves.”

He declared the APC will institute a leadership that will promote transparency and will be acceptable to all Nigerians

According to him, his government will place more emphasis on the educational sector that “has been destroyed by current government and also create more jobs for our teaming unemployed youth in the country.

Buhari used the occasion to launch 1,000 tubers of yams for his fund raising in the state and received a mass of defectors from PDP into its mold. They include the former Deputy Governor, Hon. Pauline Tallen, Ambassador

Fedelis Tapgun, Professor Sambo Wapmuk and Leon Dikon.

The occasion was witnessed by dignitaries such as the vice Presidential candidate Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Rivers State Governor Rotimi Ameachi, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Senator George Akume, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, General John Nanzip Shagaya (rtd), ,Hon. Lumumba

Lawyers decry JUSUN strike Muritala Ayinla

M

All Progressives Congress Deputy National Chairman, Segun Oni: and House of Representatives member, Opeyemi Bamidele, after meeting in Iyin-Ekiti, Ekiti State yesterday

Presidential poll: APC courts Bamidele for Buhari Adesina Wahab Ado-Ekiti

W

ith barely four weeks to the conduct of the presidential election in the country, the leaders of the All Progressives Congress have reached out to the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in last June’s election in Ekiti State, Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele, with a view to getting his support for the APC presidential candidate, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

The APC team, which visited Bamidele in his hometown, Iyin-Ekiti on Saturday, was led by the Deputy National Chairman (South), Chief Segun Oni. Bamidele, a member of the House of Representatives from Ekiti Central Federal Constituency 1, left the APC for the LP to realise his ambition of con-

testing Ekiti poll last June.

Oni, a former governor of Ekiti State, arrived Bamidele’s house about 10.07am and held a meeting with the lawmaker and other LP leaders for about 35 minutes.

He begged Bamidele, who also served as a commissioner in Lagos State, on the need to forgive whatever misgivings he had against former Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

When he emerged from the meeting, Oni, who spoke briefly with reporters, said: “Don’t be surprised that I am here. I am here to pay solidarity on the need for us to have a future together. This is not Opeyemi Bamidele’s affair.

We are talking to LP leaders and whatever the decision is, you will hear later.”

Bamidele, who was flanked by LP leaders, said his meeting with the APC leader was part of

the ongoing realignment in the politics of the nation in preparation for next month’s elections.

Bamidele said the LP had been under tremendous pressure from both the Peoples Democratic Party and the APC for support ahead of the presidential poll, but denied that the meeting was a signpost to the widespread rumour that he was preparing to defect to the APC. He said: “As a career politician, I’m abreast of the happenings across the nation. But we want to make it clear that the teeming LP will take decision on the next election based on the credentials of the candidates. We will consider what Nigerians want and the overriding public interest in taking decision.

“I had earlier told you that our party is making consultation and the visit of Engr. Segun Oni was part of that consultation. A

lot of things are going on in Nigeria today, including political realignment, which is an integral part of politicking.

“I waged a lot of battle in 2014 as a governorship candidate. I might not have been declared the winner but it is a moral battle that we must continue to wage.

It is a moral battle against corruption, insecurity and continued decimation of our country.”

Adadeh , Ambassador Yahaya Kwande and Sen. Bukola Saraki.

Buhari also handed over the party’s flags to APC candidates contesting for various positions in the state.

The state Chairman of the party, Hon. Latep Dabang also called on the electorate to vote out PDP government in the forthcoming election.

embers of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, yesterday decried the prolonged ongoing industrial action of the Judiciary and Staff Union, and appealed to the aggrieved parties to find ways of resolving the dispute and allow the courts to reopen.

The lawyers said that the protracted industrial action was affecting them from going about their businesses as lawyers, saying they are losing enormous resources to the industrial action.

The Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, expressed the lawyers dissatisfaction with the prolonged strike action, after a meeting with the executive members of the Nigerian Bar Association in the state, saying ordinary Nigerians are suffering from the industrial action.

Ipaye, who read out the communique of the association, lamented that the development had led to the complete closure of courts rooms thereby depriving magistrates and judges the opportunity of hearing any case whatsoever, no matter how urgent.

The Attorney-General added that the strike has also caused untold hard-

ship on many Nigerians who had been deprived of their freedom without trial and without opportunity to apply for bail.

Also speaking at the occasion, the NBA Chairman, Badagry Branch, Mr. Chris Okoye, said lawyers are some of the people who were badly affected by the ongoing strike, saying apart from depriving many Nigerians the right to timely and fair hearing, lawyers are losing their clients daily as a result of the strike, with negative impact on their means of livelihood.

He said: “We are seriously affected by the strike; we don’t have other means of livelihood than to do our jobs in courts. We are losing clients on daily basis because when cases that should have been settled cannot be heard because the court rooms are under lock and key, how do we operate? What should we do to earn a living?”

Meanwhile, the lawyers who expressed their support for autonomy of the judiciary and direct deduction of monies budget for the judiciary in the Consolidated Revenue Fund Account of the Federal Government, appealed to the warring parties to reach an accord to facilitate a return to court rooms and reactivate the justice system in the country.

Ogba promises effective representation at Senate

T

he Peoples Democratic Party senatorial candidate for Ebonyi Central, Chief Obinna Ogba yesterday said that he decided to contest the senate position for the zone because he want to contribute to building of a better Nigeria.

Another reason he gave for his decision to run for the position was the call on him by his people to go to

the Senate to give them effective representation.

Chief Ogba,a former First Vice President of Nigeria Football Federation( NFF) and former state chairman of PDP stated these in Nkalagu Ishielu Local Government Area of the stated this when he was received by his people noted that if elected he will attract government present to his zone.

The PDP candidate was received by more than 5, 000 strong crowd especially youths drawn from the four local government areas which made up Ebonyi Central namely Ikwo, Ezza North, Ezza South and Ishielu that laid ambush on him as he arrived vie Enugu, chanting solidarity songs in support of his senatorial bid.

9

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015

News

APC warns against using religion to divide Nigerians Deborah Makoji

T

he All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned religious leaders across Nigeria to stop using religion as a tool to divide the people, especially in the name of politics.

In a statement issued in Jos on yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the warning became necessary following the false messages being circulated via SMS to the effect that adherents of a certain religion were being killed in a part of the country and their houses of worship burnt when nothing of such happened.

“After receiving the text message, we investigated and discovered that nothing of such happened today, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015,’’ it said APC described peddlers of such incendiary messages as liars from hell and agents of evil because they (messages) are capable of pitting adherents of the country’s two main religions against themselves and setting the country on fire.

The party challenged the security agencies to investigate, arrest and prosecute those behind such provoca-

tive messages, instead of chasing shadows and turning themselves into tools of partisanship in the hands of unscrupulous and shameless politicians.

“Those who will use religion to divide the citizens for political reasons are not men of God, whether they are Christians or Muslims.

They are agents of darkness and posterity will not be kind to them,’’ it said.

APC said the same people have resorted to circulating, via SMS and e-mail, a fake list of the National Executive Committee of the APC to support their satanic claim that the party is an Islamic Party. ‘’Unfortunately for these evil people, Nigerians have resolved to repudiate those who have latched on to religion and ethnicity to divide them. They have rejected the characterization of a party that is chaired by a Christian as an Islamic Party, and they will punish, with their votes, those on whose behalf those lies are being peddled,’’ the party said.

It called on Nigerians to be very vigilant, especially in the run up to next month’s general elections, because lies will be packaged as the truth and circulated to unsuspecting citizens.

Daniel advises Obasanjo against abandoning Jonathan

A

Wale Elegbede

head of the presidential election, former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel has appealed to former President Olusegun Obasanjo not to withdraw his support from the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, President Goodluck Jonathan, stating that the former President as initiator of the process of equity and power rotation in the country should not back out at this time.

Speaking yesterday in Lagos at the inauguration of the Goodluck/Sambo Independent Support Team, ini-

tiated by erstwhile Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, the former governor said Obasanjo should be commended for ensuring that the minorities have a shot at the number one seat in 2011, adding that the he should ensure that he finished what he started by supporting the president again in 2015.

He said: “Obasanjo should finish the job he started in 2011 because a job that is half-done is not done at all. It is height of injustice for Jonathan and the SouthSouth people not to be allowed to do a second-term.

We, the Yoruba people are saying that for the reason of equity Jonathan should be

allowed for a second term and after that, power can shift to the North.”

While noting that President Jonathan is the secret of peace and tranquility in the country, he also commended the process of reconciliation of PDP stalwarts in Lagos state ahead of the election, stressing that, “Obanikoro will be the hero of PDP success after the election.”

In his speech, Obanikoro berated the opposition for misrepresenting the Jonathan’s administration to Nigerians, saying that the newly formed team will take the Jonathan/Agbaje campaign to every nooks and crannies of Lagos.

“We cannot afford to go backward. The change they are selling is backward change. That is why we are putting all energy to ensure victory for Jonathan and Agbaje in Lagos.

“The best thing that can happen in Lagos is to have Jonathan and Agbaje at the centre and in Lagos. It will help the state to move forward more and get more support at the centre without antagonising the federal government to the detriment of the people of Lagos.”

On the recent peace pact signed by Presidential Candidates, Obanikoro noted that the pact should be extended to state and local governments.

‘Nigeria’s economy strong, stable under Jonathan’ Deborah Makoji

A

group, Nigeria Posterity Project has stated that in spite of the challenges arising from the dwindling global oil prices, Nigeria’s economy remains strong and stable under President Goodluck Jonathan, The group, a non-governmental and apolitical organization said their findings were based on empirical research into the Nigerian economy between 2010 and 2014.

In the press statement signed by its National Coordinator, Louis Ebodaghe, made available to newsmen in Abuja yesterday, the group which is comprised of Intellectuals, Economists and Social Activists said that Nigeria’s Economy has turned out to be the best and biggest in Africa, beating South Africa to a second position.

They said: “That without being political, statistics have shown that PresidentJonathan has developed the economy, raising the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to seven per cent per annum in the past six years, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa so far.”

According to them, “Ni-

geria’s economy is now ranked 26th in the world and insisted that these figures were obtained from the World Bank record.”

They stated that “Foreign direct investments in the first six months of 2014 stood at $9.7 billion.

The regime’s automotive policy has injected fresh ideas and vibrancy into Nigeria’s automotive sector.

“The industry which has been moribund for 20 years has bounced back to life with Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, Peugeot and Stallion Motors assembling their products locally in Nigeria, while the innovation of Innonson Motors is manufacturing quality vehicles locally. These have created jobs and boosted the Nigerian economy tremendously.”

The group also stated that “The President’s Agric Transformational Agenda (ATA) has revolutionized the sector leading to increase in food production and the reduction of food importation by 45% as at the end of 2014.”

According to them, “There was only one world class rice mill in the country by 2012, but by 2014 it increased to 24 world class rice mills across the country.”

L-R: Executive Secretary, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), Professor Godswill Obioma; Chairman of Council, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Senator Ameh Ebute; Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie and Vice Chancellor, NOUN, Prof. Vincent Tenebe, at the 4th Convocation Ceremony of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), at the National Theatre Complex, Iganmu, Lagos…yesterday. PHOTO: TONY EGUAYE

Amaechi denies PDP stadium access for Jonathan rally Emmanuel Masha Port Harcourt

M

oves by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party to make use of the 40, 000 capacity Adokie Amasiemaka Stadium to hold a rally for President Goodluck Jonathan, who will be visiting the state on January 28, 2015, may not materialise based on Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s refusal to approve the party’s request to use the facility.

PDP State Chairman, Felix Obuah, who made the allegation yesterday in Pot Harcourt, ssaid Amaechi refused to approve the party’s request. He stressed that the governor has no right to deny the party access to the stadium since it was built with state resources and therefore belongs to the

people of the state.

Obuah, who spoke to reporters shortly after at a meeting convened by the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Dan Bature, on how to curb violence before, during and after the elections, noted that because the Amaechi administration built the stadium does not mean that the PDP cannot access it.

He said: “We have applied to use the place for our rally, come January 28. But the governor in his act of impunity has refused us the use of the place. We dare him because it is not is personal property, come January 28, we are going to use that place.

“We have made official reports to the police, Department of State Security, and all the other law enforcement agencies. So, let all the citizens of Rivers State be aware of this: we have

applied for the use of the property that they (APC) have used two times. We state that for peace to reign, Governor Amaechi has to release that property.

“The facilities of Rivers State are owned by all of us: all of us who pay tax.

The Adokie Amiesiamaka stadium is built with money belonging to Rivers State.

The stadium is not meant to be used only by General Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign manager. It is not is personal property. They (APC) used it to celebrate Amaechi’s victory at the Supreme Court and their presidential rally.”

But the APC State Chairman, Dr. Davis Ibiamu Ikanya, who stood beside Obuah, said the stadium was still under construction, and advised the PDP to use any other venue. He said PDP’s

formal request to use the stadium came too late because the contractors working on the facility moved to the site after the Yuletide to meet the deadline given to them by the governor in order to hand it over to his successor before leaving office on May 29, 2015.

Ikanya said: “Look, you have heard that threat again. That is their character.

Now, that stadium is being worked on; that stadium is not completed. It is still under construction. If anything happens to the stadium, hold the PDP responsible.

“There are other avenues for rallies; they have not used that place before.

When the contractors went on holiday during the December holiday, they didn’t apply for the place. If they had applied then, they would have been granted.

10

SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

OPINION This campaign isn’t all about security

S

Ogbu Nweke ince he emerged as the APC presidential candidate for the February 14 presidential election, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari appears to have run his campaign on only one issue: security. He says he will stop the Boko Haram insurgency in two months. So, everywhere he goes, it is the same theme that is repeated over and over again. He goes to Port Harcourt, Warri and Ibadan and all he talks about is Boko Haram.

He goes to Owerri in the heart of the Igbo nation and the message he considers most important to Ndigbo, the message that will be music to their ears is that he will stop Boko Haram in the North East, more than 1000 kilometers away. He does not consider the Second Niger Bridge an issue worth addressing before an almost all-Igbo audience. Or how to rise to the challenge of general infrastructural decay in the South East or, for that matter, the lack of federal presence in the zone exacerbated under his regime as military head of state and his watch as PTF Chairman in 1996-98.

For some strange reason, the APC propaganda machinery insists on pushing this insurgency thing as the only issue that matters to Nigerians. Oh yes, the other jaded theme is corruption, which Buhari, unfortunately for the opposition party, lacks the sophistication and eloquence to clearly address in terms of how he will fight the menace except that he will bundle all corrupt people into Kirikiri, if elected president! Thirty years after Buhari, the poster boy of Fulani irredentism, kept Shehu Shagari under house arrest but bundled into detention Vice President Alex Ekwueme (who had no single case of corruption established against him), Jim Nwobodo, Bisi Onabanjo (who never recovered from the ill-treatment meted to him in detention), Ambrose Alli (who also never recovered from the shock of his detention), Bola Ige and a host of other Second Republic state governors, without legally establishing cases of corruption against them, he comes back to lionise the same simplistic and barbaric way of dealing with a very complex problem and the media and the APC crowd applaud him. In a 21st Century democratic Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari hints that he would circumvent the National Assembly and the judiciary and simply bundle those he considers to be corrupt into prison and the hypocritical bunch hails him as the anti-corruption czar we’ve

all been expecting.

But, let’s return to security. I do not know how Buhari intends to end the Boko Haram insurgency, unless he knows what we do not know such as who these people are, what their grouse with the rest of society is, what they want and who can exert any influence on them. It is just possible that Gen. Buhari has all these wrapped up and is waiting to use them at an opportune time to his personal advantage in this rather debilitating security debate. At the onset of the insurgency, he was opposed to any all-out war against the group; indeed, he once declared on BBC (Hausa Service) that an attack on Boko Haram was an attack against the North. With the group’s documented call on President Jonathan to convert to Islam as a condition precedent to its negotiation with the Federal Government on how to end the insurgency, it is possible that all Boko Haram is waiting for before renouncing the insurgency and violence is for a Muslim to mount the saddle as President of the Federal Republic. So, for all we know, all the suicide bombings, killings and self-destruction (even if only Christian North East is targeted) routinely executed by these implacable enemies of the state may well be part of the grand conspiracy to intimidate the rest of the country and blackmail us into ‘giving power back to the North,’ as has been the campaign all along. If that is the case - and it may well be the case - then Buhari must have good reasons for boasting that he will end the insurgency in two months.

Other than that, I can’t think of any magic wand a Buhari, out of the military in the past 30 years and, therefore, out of touch with goings-on in the military establishment, could wave to end the insurgency in two months.

I can’t imagine any that the Jonathan Presidency has not waved 10 times over since he inherited the fight against the insurgency effectively in 2011. Is it in the stick approach: our troops are permanently in the trenches fighting these people, with some of them making the supreme sacrifice in the process. Or in the carrot approach: the President has been so eager to negotiate with the insurgents with a view to finding a lasting solution to the crisis that he didn’t even realise early enough that a ring of fifth columnists within the administration had arranged a set of fake Boko Haram leaders to negotiate with the government in far-away Chad, leading to the reported ceasefire agreement between both parties that never

was. But despite all this, rather than cooperate with the government to contain the insurgency, every conceivable trick under the sun is employed, even by leaders of the very communities mostly affected by the insurgency, to sabotage government’s efforts, just to discredit President Jonathan. How, for instance, do the insurgents bring into the country the APCs, the anti-aircraft guns and other heavy military weapons with which they fight our troops?

Under whose watch does all this take place?

Under President Jonathan? No, under those who are in charge of customs, immigration, defence ministry and the like, those whose responsibility it is to ensure that unauthorised persons and things do not find their way into this country. And you ask, don’t we know who these people are?

For me, the talk about the insurgents being better equipped than the regular army is sheer bunkum, because I know it is not true. That the Nigerian military is not yet well-versed in counter terrorism warfare would be more like it. But, even if the insurgents were better equipped, is President Jonathan to be blamed for it? At least Babangida fought the Liberian war under the aegis of ECOMOG, so we could point to what he used men and material of the military to do. But, in five years of Abacha, how did he equip the military? In eight years of Obasanjo, how did the military fare? Who does not know that Obasanjo weakened the military through the retirement of officers and non-purchase of equipment in a nose-spiting effort to prevent them from staging coups?

The truth is that Obasanjo only refurbished barracks and improved the personal emoluments of soldiers but never equipped the army. On the other hand, it was not until Jonathan came in that the military began to train in counter and anti-terrorism operations. This is why the troops are scoring points against the insurgents at all. For, while we have always had to contend with incidence of terrorism in Nigeria (the many cases of religious uprisings in the North in the past were nothing but pure acts of terrorism) we seemed to have paid little heed to the phenomenon because, to all intents and purposes, those disruptive acts of terror appeared to serve the interest of the political establishment. And, in any case, because the earlier brand of terrorism, euphemistically called religious uprising, was principally directed at ‘the other people’ whose deaths counted for nothing as their blood was meant to water the benighted tree of Nige-

rian unity, the security agents were not only not trained in anti-insurgency operations, in most cases they were actually ordered to look the other way as these terrorists maimed and killed their fellow citizens without compunction. Now the chicken has come home to roost: with the revolution seemingly turned against itself, they now want us to believe that the most important issue in Nigeria at the moment is the insurgency. And I say, no it is not.

For the three odd years that the civil war lasted, almost one third of the country, in terms of size and population, was encircled and pummeled by the army. Civilians were killed; socio-economic infrastructure was destroyed, leading to the closure of schools and industries; the civilian population was starved to a point most children became living dead (remember kwashiorkor?), through a heinous national policy that promoted starvation as an instrument of war, among other horrific things that happened. But, the rest of the country moved on, even blossomed. The country finds itself in a similar situation today.

And, so, while the insurgency is a major problem, it is certainly not our only concern as a country. Buhari must, thus, go beyond this messianic posturing on security and articulate his views on other issues of national importance and dare us to buy-in. What are his views, for instance, on agriculture where his PDP counterpart has done extremely well?

What does he think about the railway whose modernisation he stoutly opposed as military head of state (he cancelled the Lagos metro line project, preferring that we pay huge sums in compensation to the technical partners rather than have that modern rail project executed in a Southern Nigerian city)? How does he feel to see our trains with air-conditioned coaches up and running, thanks to Jonathan?

What does he think about the extensive and modernised road network across the country (not just in Bayelsa or the South as a whole), contrary to what he Buhari did as PTF Chairman and what he would have done were he a Jonathan today. What does he think about the freedom of speech and of the press that the nation currently enjoys? Is he miffed that people are at liberty to abuse the President, if that is what pleases them, without anybody rounding them up and bundling them into jail because the President must not be criticised?

These are some of the other pressing issues in this campaign that Buhari must also address.

•Nweke writes from Lagos

Inoyo’s speech at UNIUYO (1) Fortune Archibong

T

he just concluded 19th and 20th Convocation of the University of Uyo held from November 20 -22, 2014 could be described as innovative, novel and excellent. Vice-Chancellor of the University of Uyo and professor of educational technology, Prof. Comfort Ekpo, proved a point when she turned a hither-to confusion-ridden ceremony in the Nigerian educational milieu into an orderly celebration of academic excellence conducted with solemnity and decorum.

For the first time in the University of Uyo, undergraduate and postgraduate graduands convoked on different days to ensure convenience, traffic control and satisfactory participation of all category of graduands.

This also is in total compliance with the 2012 Keffi Declaration which outlawed carnivallike convocation ceremonies where frivoli-

ties, extra-academic activities made the main convocation event pale into insignificance.

As proof of Ekpo’s drive to turn the University of Uyo into a centre of excellence and as an administrator embued with uncommon skills for rare solutions and initiatives in the Nigerian educational system, she approved the inclusion of a keynote speech for the Undergraduate Convocation Day as a morale booster to the legion of graduates released into the labour market. As the pioneer keynote address of the University of Uyo Convocation Programme, the choice of the keynote speaker was as serious as the Nigerian unemployment debacle; as recent graduates of the university with high zeal and expectations needed a personality whose pedigree, credentials and testimonials are sane, garnished with scruples and ingrained with excellence.

Also, in view of the mantra on the synergy between the gown and town, the symbiosis between the university and industry and a perfect blend of theory and practical, the man

for the job was Mr. Udom Uko Inoyo, the Executive Director, Human Resources of the oil and gas giant, Exxon-Mobil, Lagos.

Towering in height, pleasant in mien, excellent in character with unbeatable record of service in Exxon-Mobil, Mr. Udom Inoyo, the public administrator with a meticulous law degree; is a rare Akwa Ibom son who has won laurels for his employers and carved a niche for himself in Nigeria and global public advocacy circles.

With the well-thought keynote speech entitled: Challenges and Opportunities for University Graduates in A Season of Economic and Moral Decay, Inoyo marshaled out a plethora of issues bedeviling the Nigerian educational system and proffered some thoughts on how to navigate life in the real world.

True to a public advocacy driven lawyer, Udom Inoyo began by unraveling the contents of moral life to involve quadruple elements such as ethics, honesty, decency and

honour. These virtues are the bedrock of a sane society. He bemoaned the state of facilities/infrastructure in Nigerian educational institutions where hostels are in terrible state of decay, without windows and with ceilings caving in. He added that the toilets are best fit for the use of animals. He took a swipe at the departure from the core values of the society and advocated for the return to the basics, the cherished values which served as the foundation of the society. He prayed for a society where success is not measured or recognised by the material wealth acquired at the expense of accountability and decency; and totally abhorred the celebration of the culture of lawlessness and impunity, and recommended that these must be met with justice no matter who is involved to serve as a deterrent to others.

•Fortune Archibong is the Editor, UNIUYO UPDATES, a publication from the Desk of the Vice-Chancellor, University of Uyo. TO BE CONTINUED

11

Sunday Mail JANUARY 18, 2015

You have a right to be heard! Send your letters and photographs to sundayletters@newtelegraphonline.com.

Letters should not be more than 150 words and must have the name and address of the sender.

The desecration of the pulpit Dear Editor, It’s the season of politics and people will surely get desperate. One can understand if politicians do anything to secure votes, after all only two things matter to a politician: how to get to office and how to remain in office. But one that is difficult to comprehend is that of religious leaders who make clear political statements on behalf of their politician friends.

The pulpit is a sacred place and is supposed to be manned by those with sobriety of mind as Paul admonished in 2 Timothy 2: 24 and 25; that a servant of God must not fight but instead be gentle so that he can explain to those who opposed him for a change of heart.

That’s why the story of Father Ejike Mbaka is pathetic not only for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ but also for all men of goodwill who desire that religion should not be a cannon folder to set our country ablaze again. Mbaka, a Catholic priest in his new year homily to attendees at his Adoration Ground in Enugu had, among other things said that only the bird of President Goodluck Jonathan did not fly among the many birds he released. He interpreted this as a sign of a bad omen for the candidature of the president in the forthcoming elections.

A self-confessed admirer of Jonathan, one is forced to ask, “What caused the sudden change of heart even after endorsing the President?” Mbaka admitted that the First Lady visited him some two months ago and he publicly berated the president’s opponents then that they should allow him to govern since he did not create all the problems confronting the country. He further prayed Mrs. Jonathan and her husband during the visit. Fast forward to the watch night service of December 31 last year, Mbaka transformed into a rabid critic of the President. But not before he confessed that he has been denied access to the President’s wife while even calls to the telephone number he was given was not going through. Is it then a question of access?

That is one of the results when we mix politics with religion, a very dangerous mixture. It is instructive that leading lights in the Catholic Church have spoken against Mbaka.

John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, the Roman Catholic Cardinal Archbishop of Abuja Diocese and former President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria has said that were Mbaka to be in his diocese, he would be suspended. No less voice than retired Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie too weighed in warning Mbaka to tread carefully.

In an interview with Vanguard newspapers, the respected Christian leader said, “Any serious priest will not speak the way he spoke. I will not agree with the things he said. According to what I read in the newspapers, a few weeks earlier, the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, visited his Adoration Ground in Enugu and he prayed for her. At that occasion, he was said to have lambasted the opposition party, APC, and now to turn around overnight and start lambasting President Goodluck Jonathan shows that there is something wrong somewhere.

“Personally, I felt bad because it is not the place of a priest to go to that extent. He can have his personal opinion, but to go to the extent that he went is abnormal. I want you to know that he wasn’t speaking for the church. He said he was moved by the spirit, and I wonder what kind of spirit was that.

He said he was under the inspiration of the spirit. If he was under the inspiration of the spirit, I wonder if the spirit is that of God. I don’t think the spirit he’s referring to is the spirit of God. He must have been under the influence of another spirit.

He must have been listening to a wrong spirit.”

We know the Catholic Church not to be a flippant body and one which takes the training of her priests seriously, educating them to the highest level possible academically. One of the courses in any serious seminary is “Ministerial Ethics” which teaches priests how to comport themselves and carry themselves with dignity. It is possible that Father Mbaka had forgotten so soon his training in ethics, but we can remind him that he is not a politician but a priest who has been called to minister to the spiritual needs of his flock. Allowing himself to be used and dumped by politicians is a stain on his calling and priesthood. We remember too well his altercation with former governors Chimaroke Nnamani and Ikedi Ohakim.

Mbaka later confessed that Ohakim did not kill anybody even after he had accused him of murder and thereby whipping up public sentiment against Ohakim.

It is also on record that Mbaka accused Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo State of issuing a dud cheque of N50 million last year; which the governor denied and challenged him to produce a photocopy of the cheque. The reverend father never did. Perhaps a fitting admonition to end this piece is a warning to Christians to be careful of politicians in cassocks.

Chijioke Onunaka Lagos chijiokenaka@gmail.com

Time to rest

A bland taste of American equality!

Dear Editor, Before I even touched the handle of the entrance door, both of them – gun-wielding white cops – simultaneously beckoned on me to use the other entrance door. The other entrance door leads directly to the Department of Transitional Assistance where poor families, comprising mainly of people of colour are provided with food stamps. Being my first day at work, I had ignorantly used that other entrance door the previous day and spent forty minutes on a queue to undergo the routine security checks. That was 40 minutes of my work time wasted on a mere queue!

So, by merely being black, the cops, I suppose, imagined I had come for the usual handouts. I ignored their directives to use the “other entrance door” and introduced myself as an attorney that works on the third floor of the building. Simultaneously again, they sized me up, casting doubtful glances at me. A young black woman is not supposed to have a brain, and isn’t expected to study law and become an attorney, huh? I demanded again to be allowed access into the building and they declined. They insisted that someone from the Law Office must come downstairs to identify me. I went back to the intercom and dialed the office and someone buzzed me in. Twice, I called, and twice they buzzed me in, opening the security doors for me, but yet the white cops stood their ground, insisting that someone had to come downstairs to identify me.

A white senior attorney came down and firmly demanded an explanation for that tacky behaviour. They regretfully stuttered what sounded like a response about being new cops posted to the building and not being aware that attorneys and guests to the Law Office on the third floor were exempted from the stringent security procedures that visitors to the building are normally subjected to.

My colleague, a Chinese attorney, also a newbie like me walked in a few minutes later. No one asked her any questions.

No requests for ID-cards, or for fob keys, or enquiry about her mission to the building and all the annoying questions that were slammed at me. There was no request for someone to come and identify her. We both started working at the Law Office exactly the same day. For both of us, that was the true taste of American equality – seeing how the society treats people of different colours unequally equal!

Sometimes, I wonder why discrimination is so ingrained in a society that preaches equality, fundamental freedoms, human rights and justice around the world with loudspeakers and megaphones. I think American equality is merely aspirational: an important goal to be achieved at a future date. If it has been achieved already, it is some kind of unequal equality, reminiscent of the ‘separate but equal’ social policy overturned by the United States Supreme Court in Brown Vs. Board of Education. Profiling people of colour as unschooled, beggarly and stamp-dependent often interferes with security administration and potentially leads to wrong calculations and unsound judgment in community policing efforts. The consequences are usually too difficult to repair. The Michael Browns, Eric Garners…are all sad examples.

Charity, they say, begins at home!

Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri Boston, United States

PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

Buhari’s plan on Boko Haram Dear Editor, I hope All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari minimises any indication that he will consult other ‘generals’ and I hope he too stays away from using ‘General’ because Nigeria is not a militarycivilian regime.

Mr. Buhari, should instead say, he will consult with experts on how to contain and curtail the Boko Haram menace and other public safety issues. The idea of going to so called ‘Generals,’ majority of them without a sense of duty and purpose, is what got Nigeria to where she is today.

Nigeria will benefit from one who will act presidential and not one who just wants to be president. Forget former army generals, there is one in the Nigerian Senate now – David Mark who runs a fiefdom and military barrack style body.

The army involvement squandered the opportunity such that in Nigeria’s 54 years since independence, the army had it from 1967-1979 and ‘1983-1999, a painful 28-years, especially during IBB era 1985-1992, that entrenched bribery and corruption, squandermania and get somethingfor-nothing culture.

Anyone using the army as a good example of governance ought to be ashamed. Not even the military barracks stands as a testament of good leadership. Majority of the barracks look like war zones and desolate, as so called generals all act like ‘PIMPs’ (Put-In-My-Pocket) command and control buffoons. Mr. Buhari should be reminded that Nigeria he ruled and partly ruined in 1983-1985, is not the same Nigeria of 2015.

Nigerians are getting emboldened and will stand up to anyone who is going to abuse them going forward. It is about time 165 million folks wake up and smell the roses instead of the rot they have been fed since 1970. If Mr. Buhari is going to bring back the painful past, he should just remain out. If he does not know how to re-make his image to run as a civilian who is going to be presidential, he should reach out to those who can help him craft a winning agenda.

Just my two kobo enabled by my two cents which as always makes sense to me.

De eje nu.

Ejike Okpa Dalls, Texas, United States

We will not get a good president in 2015

Dear Editor, I guess Nigerians are hoping for a president like this; someone who will use sheer tenacity to get the country working again. A man who will say I want this and it happens. Also, someone smart, urbane, modern and well informed who cannot be dribbled. Unfortunately, we will not get a Putin-like president in 2015 from the two candidates on offer. Keep your fingers crossed for 2019 though.

Ayo Akinfe London

12

SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Moment

Recently, Miss Blessing Ogbonnaya of Daily Telegraph Company Ltd., and Mr. Chubuisi Aja wedded at Inspired Church aka Breath House in Aba, Abia State. Here are some of the faces at the reception which held at School of Health by Mosque Aba, Abia State

The couple Mr. Chibuisi Aja and Miss Blessing Ogbonnaya with the bride’s parents, Mr. & Deaconess Ogbonnaya Obasi

L-R: The couple, Mr. & Mrs Chibuisi, Hannah Samuel and Mr. Okon (both staff of New Telegraph) presenting a gift

Bride’s parents and sisters

The couple with the groom’s father, Mr. J.C Ogwo, Chairman of SURE-P in Abia State

Bride with Chima Esther (New Telegraph employee)

Rivers PDP governorship candidate, Mr. Nyesom Wike and his wife, receiving the blessing of the traditional ruler of Oda Abuan Kingdom, King Kaleh Obuge, at Otari, Abua Odual Local Government Area, Rivers State…on Thursday. PHOTO-NAN

L-R: Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson; outgoing Air Officer Commanding, Mobility Command, Air Vice Marshal Umar Omeiza and Flag Officer Commanding, Central Naval Command, Rear Admiral Stanley Ogoigbe, shortly after a joint courtesy call by both Commands, in Yenagoa…on Friday

Birthday boy, Little Oluwa Semilore, being cuddled by his mother, Mrs. Folake Ogunde (middle), with the triplets, Adeowo Ajose; Adefela Ajose and Adenike Ajose and their parents during Oluwa Semilore’s one year birthday celebration in Lagos…recently

Birthday boy, little Oluwa Semilore, with his grandmother, Mrs. Olaide Ogunade (middle), with friends and family, during his one year birthday party in Lagos…recently

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015

13

14

SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

SUNDAY

Fashion

Stylish Ankara jackets 22-43

Bed, Work & Life

A man dies only once 20

15

Body Soul SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015

Lessons I learnt from Dora Akunyili - Ex-aide, Mary Ikoku

16

SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Body&Soul

eart h y m m o r f t Straigh ns, as usual, and war vetera

W

on January 15

-Nigeria’s Arm

ed

49 Pg.

es tions of our fallen hero ense contribu e remembered ance Day. less and imm lf se e e th d lle & Din ca br e Wine Forces Remem rnment at different levels re tion. those r ge juic fo n t a gh r ou ve na o th e go a th h e of it ar sp ity w As usual, to un t ! d dy fi the peace an ged Nigerians country. Great the bo these heroes to the Federal Government ur e peace and unity of the Keep th , re on su iti ar ’s ed d to en N During this ye e ultimate prize in their bi t wars? th id pa ve ed in differen them and calling on ha di rs ie who ld so g? r in t the liv any of ou ed out to But what abou ed to be reminded that m the shoddy treatment met ne ng ly ni al terror oa re e m w Do are be t against the r war veterans es. th in the figh right liv or e r N th ei e th ng th vi Not when ou ve in ha sa ) lt of not ath daily nment to su de er re to a ov d G other as l le he ad el ad ra ar le w sh de e the Fe are being inning th esident will ( go a t w rs Pr ie be r. ld u M to so t at r w no th ou e so Is i Not when n they seem and killed ering to be maimed aram! Not whe hwat t group, Boko H be we are waiting for them mb of the dead. u o M ay to e living. war arsenal! M cials to lay wreaths on the indful of the dead than th s. fi m ar of e S t ye or en m ve m fi e r ar rn ers gove atuity fo s that our lead arrears and gr . The soldiers were n io ns pe r Really, it seem on this! ei noured t been paid th they were ho No? Then chew e ‘living heroes’ have no the same day on d th te e, es at ot St lebrate and re In Ondo ce men pr . vernment to ce these ex-servi , ar go w r on l fo as vi re ci ng e is ro th th For ring was w glected.

Our who fought du ua, a war veteran, said it among those were being ne our people are suffering.

Josh ts ar la rp so te lu O un h, co on of ut g er t in So lo ow liv re A fl r ku y. ei ng A In hile th t happ , carryi Pg. 50 llen heroes w that we are no ot be honouring the dead member the fa want the public to hear nn ca ey th e ol e us s scho Hear him, “W Federal Government beca g the living.” y our children’ the d, “We can’t pa e are entitled to sufferin te e ar en m ey la , th message is to ho le whi .W motos s neglected us every occasion retired soldier, Andrew O .” government ha r entitlement was not paid e us Another ca be g in e er ou ff th en d su ev e an , ar y us e tr g given to e his coun fees and w there is nothin s youthful energy to serv And we want more t bu s’ nu bo lf! ‘war es hi sad. A man us is too old to fend for himse ating this war against This is really ag he n op pr he w is y m tr hi ts coun A country neglec army, especially now the make life the ? ng in order to ce people to join hi en et ci r m ns ou so co of r do s ou is ivor s to Gags terror? Where icious time for our leader fallen heroes, but the surv sp our of es ili m This is an au fa e s brain for not only th r politrickster your Crack worth living of the voters ou rt pa orner e ar es ili ook C zas My C d their fam many wars. an piz W s e or iv c rv a f su n ese Clow Remember th r votes from! are begging fo 49

&Sou Body

18, UARY

DAY

SUN

TELEGR

l

2015

DAY JAN

, SUN

APH

orangel ed in ero contain h cholestwith min bot the vita p lower re levels hel pressu do may blood ke. is to that you lot of in C that andular inta ember . reg ays rem nk a whole these Vitam cancer get lung work of ive damagee candri Alw to ly d to om order The t oxidat st app to bec munede not nee juice in you mu orange s; Kayo preven se cells prove im g the nge ce a efit sin ora t, nt cau ben im enablin fac in calories, ida re noluw can , and healthyation. In g, ns mo l antiox y? a Ibuku of it. high cerous ctionin infectio source bod natura moderis fairly too much mach fun d off l t t eed a oxify the juice a goo sto cel to figh it’s a agains . juice drinking have a t orange to det of orange une sysbody tly. And protects id ses If you ember tha for that cien which in fetubone avo glass your immis known o, effi s Als on, rem ect te, of dic and mach keep juice tage of of fola -tube def benefit ciumconditiis very acicause a sto taken day can e. Orangeh percen skin be neural the extra some cal ps its juice , it may tem alivtain a hig ich kee ay. uld not e to le To get tion, try juice. a tab reason and sho mach. Du also to con in C, wh p cold aw lthiest protec d orange serve as ment upset pty sto juice can unple Vitam g and kee of the hea r diet left em fortifienge juice canwell sup regular into y, orange age, if as glowinnge is one lude in you efits. o, p Ora l kee acidit tooth dam and can ing. Als Ora to inc ural ben of juice to its nat source p drink when eat juice wilhamatcause for. fruit due t hel ellent water of orange ring this cared du ke routine is an exc drink tha in the flu ch, inta it is or ear d fru diseases idant Th al res in C off col son. s medic Vitam t variou ent antioxes like tan sea ding to prevenwith a potinst diseas lens Accor eye body tects aga ng of the ) and that procts (cloudi blindness d to catara can lea that

into RATION t head PREPA the goa season and ki Cut e pieces, is tender siz om Ikla the little meat Biw still in ny bite k till the left with aside. coo , ma are Set it we are o you ince y season return and stock. m oil int t holida may not . Even but richthe pal and hea , es yet hom meals rted Pour saucepan r onions mal has sta als you r stock to nor r home al me e- you adding and a while , pepper for about in if you g norm ke som ma r cookinyou can the week-t potash Stir fry n pou d es. the for in, tha hea l cub te and aga specia tasty, goat minu soned , leave forn thing Somethinge to go out sea oy.

Stir the enj hav the ck. end. to and t sto r often with a minute seeds powzi you restauran y popula ru uta half ed to the u is a ver cy which ehu pp the of cho properh add Isi ew an delica es. It is and the te for no tur wit Nigeriends cul there is y der . Tas serve transc gin, but dichotom - leaves ing and ori Igbo or hausa your fam - seasonred carbs. prefer Yorubamatter. Letyou for ser in this lly thank ates and pal ily fina g their this healthy enadinchs with uthwaterve stoma icious, momay ser , and del ce. You , yam, eko rice es. ing sau ato boiled with in or pot planta IENTS INGREDat head 1 Go , Palm oil ash 1 cup ground pot per to pep ½ tsp /fresh Dried taste ck cubes ds 2 Sto Ehuru see(for bitter ½ tsp zi leaves 3 uta taste) to taste Salt

EGR

SUNDAY

50

Hero

Contents 18.01.2015

} 18-19

BEAUTY

These days, fashion forward ladies are ditching the boring one colour scheme to embrace colours of the rainbow

} 21

You can decide to take up your fitness routine at home to enjoy a healthier body

} 44

of th

e? s Lik Whale sic Do of Mu as Kind es! as big What The Blu and is Ans: hing rr! as? s not ristm brrrrrrrr dow! weigh on Ch ’s sha What phant? ? cold in Decem phant a dog an ele An Ele is it so e it’s ges? rt of s: ssa Why Becaus spo An ir me orite ng!

Ans: rd. get the the fav drooli bulls ll-etin boa at is mula 1 do Wh For And Where On a bu Ans: Cap ar A Ans: ster’s g We e Do His Ma Did Th g Up Why ?

Pickin s wn Wa Go He Ans: e Degre uare visals t kids w tha n when me en e all kno ing, whthe ers. Eve al eat so appetis rt with d sound an effo k goo do not y makes can loo get a it ce youlf gobmomm tation, On te. presen to tas find yourseone you to you Here is enough mom of it, taste up the lot! wait for ke toma e to bling h can not hav may or you bot make . gether IENTS INGREDffin, split oni slices sauce 1 mu d pepper s tomato pepes, Halve tablespoonired: oliv …

2 to 3 gs as des ple slivers a Toppines, pineap mozzarell ed per slic shredd f¼ cup erian the mu e n. Lay on a bak is a Nig RATION anne who becam g PREPA t the ove e up ce and nin st chi Uy Preheaves cut sidon the sau two Amaraand violinie after win one the son fins hal et. Spoon between desired. dancersehold nam ent sea s N10, Tal wa her ing she the cheese ping as until the a hou ’s Got prize to divide . Add topminutes, l not to ere hermany hits arachi Nigeria 2, wh halvesfor 9 to 10 . Be carefu , they in 201 . She has song Am lly deelse e lted or s sfu 000 Bak tffin is me t her succes 000 rt-burs e, bu cheese ake the mucrispy. nam which she s a cha eal. She wa over-b ome too Dance in 2013 wide app went to will bec buted gle with state and . today, ing sinup in Delta ry school Phyno. ma s of grew Point Pri muthe likesion for far South gs with pas how she sin owed herand look follow She foll dance, too can they ver You ere sic and come. to wh she hasdreams your d. lea may

k e wee

FASHION

The beautiful thing about Ankara jackets is that they make you look unique and fashionable with a little twist, giving you that spectacular appearance

T h e Te a m Juliet Bumah (Editor)

Vanessa Okwara (Correspondent) Wole Adepoju Biwom Iklaki (Correspondent)

} 22&43

Ugochukwu Nnakwe (Graphics)

MY PASSION In comedy we work together and build ourselves together. People know my standard and my style and they know my pedigree

Edwin Usoboh (Graphics) +234 (0) 811 675 9770, +234 (0) 701 110 1014 julietbumah@gmail.com julietbumah@newtelegraphonline.com

Associates

} 17

GLAM DUDES

APH

God’s ra Came

Juliet

-Mary Ikoku

AY TEL SUND

l

daily. schoolestionfrom qu to and ng was she made lked rni ng, the afgirl waer that more formi ng ool. As little weath uds we ry sch ed up, alo clo The menta whipp and able to the ele winds that her k the ly tre ssed, tning. cerned d home her dai n progre ligh girl felt con walke electriand ternoothunder the little ned as shethat the each with mother of be frighte f feared Following ord, The er would she hersel child. ing swn, the flam her a cer daughtschool and harm ng, like of con ve along from rm might lightni sky. Full dro so, she er, the did car and cal sto thund h of ough of o her As she each flas ile. roar cut thr got int school. at sm would r quickly child’s along, but k up and ly and g mothe te to her l walkin stop, loolow quick at the the rou little gir ld would re to fol uld look r’s car r we the l wo saw herng, the chi anothe little gir en the mo window lightni er and the d the y do Wh Anoth h flash, smile. she lowere ng? Wh“I am eac doi red, and with of light the child are you we my picans ak stre up beside , “What e child taking drew led to hering?” Th d keeps cal Go stopp and keep look pretty. you to rg) h.o trying tolaug ture.” .atime (www

I know where my children are at every given point in time and I can talk to them and they listen.

So where are the mothers of these Boko Haram kids?

2015,

&Sou

Body

COVER

Y 18, JANUAR

BED, WORK & LIFE

H av e yo u settled the issue of the children’s paternity with your bitch?

You must have been paying so handsomely for her services t o warrant her trying to tie you down with

pre gnancies and bastard children.

No...and you hate harlots?

I laugh in Pidgin

} 20

Helen Paul

Eyitayo Aloh

17

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015

Body&Soul

Your name does not sound Nigerian.

Where are you from and how long have you been in the entertainment industry?

I was born to a Togolese mum and a Nigerian father from Ibeju Lekki, Lagos.

Koffi is my real name and not a stage name. I am the first of four children. I studied Chemistry at the University of Lagos. I’ve been married for five years now with two kids. I’ve been in the industry close to 16 years but started doing it professionally and financially for 14 years.

What have you been up to lately and what should we expect from Koffi in this New Year?

My show ‘Out of Control’ was just concluded last year and we are on to the next thing. We are shooting musical videos. In this New Year, you shall see our sitcom and funny moments on stage and on radio. The new music string I’m bringing out is called ‘Aiynde Okin,’ which is my musical alter ego. It is just the rejuvenated music side of me. You will get to hear a lot of beautiful new music and videos as well. I will be taking the music side of me more serious now. It’s been 10 years since my first ever hit song ‘Aroma.’ Ten years later, I’m re-branding that music style and bringing it forcefully for the young people to rock with it and the also build on my fan base for those who understand my music to still maintain it. My music is always conscious and very sensible but this time around, we are going to bring some dance strings to it so that the young generation can dance but the content will still there.

Music opens more doors than comedy - Koffi Koffi Idowu-Nuel needs no introduction, especially in the Nigerian entertainment industry. He is a popular comedian, musician and actor. In this interview with VANESSA OKWARA, he reveals why he is still relevant in the industry

Has the money been rolling in?

I don’t talk about the money I make to the media. I only talk about my work.

Money is not my main focus. There are times that we are broke. We are normal human beings too. It’s just a job. Some people just go and show-off that they just bought a car on Instagram. These are normal things that should not be hyped on.

So you don’t believe in this new trend where artists go on social media to showoff their possessions?

I have a new car but you will never see me post that online. It is very wrong. It doesn’t make any sense to me. These are material things meant for our comfort and taking you to the next level. Telling the world that that is your fulfillment is trying to bring down the glory of God. Being fulfilled in life is not from material things. So for me, I don’t celebrate material things on social media.

What made you go into comedy?

I didn’t go into comedy exactly. I was studying chemistry and along the line I took time in theatre. I was part of a theatre club where we went to develop our skills. I was a stage actor then but from there, the comedy trade blossomed and since I was always a Master of Ceremony at events, everything just fused together. By the time I was done with school, I didn’t have to go and look for a job; I already had an industry waiting for me.

What inspires your music and comedy?

God inspires me, my environment and things that I see on daily basis, things I read and my observations inspire me a lot, but God is the ultimate inspirer.

What is your passion?

My passion is to be able to impact on another person. To do things to that will benefit humanity. I also like to read and write. Music for me is to fulfill another passion of mine.

Are we going to see less of your comedy this time around?

No, you cannot see less of me in any way. I’ve always done music before and it did not affect my comedy. That is who I am; I am all round in the entertainment industry. Nothing disturbs the other.

Some people cannot cope with it but that is who I am.

How would you rate the comedy industry in Nigeria today?

Nigerian comedy industry is still in its infancy. We have yet to delve into the depth of different genres of comedy.

We are not totally buying into sitcoms, stage drama and other forms like satirical comedy. Mr. Bean is a brand of humour that the lead actor, Rowan Atkinson, does as a non-speaking character. There is yet no Nigerian that makes money from such comedy. We are still at the stage of ‘talk make we laugh.’ We’ll have to get to that point where people recognise that comedians can actually have their own movies. We are not there yet but I believe we are getting there.

Do you see the younger comedians coming into the industry as a threat?

Younger comedians are coming in but I don’t see them as a threat because everybody is hustling. I know my hustle.

So I work on my hustle, the other person is hustling too. In comedy basically, we don’t see ourselves as competitors. We

people knew me to be a comedian. I also like to sing. Music helps me to get to places I cannot go as a comedian. Music pushes my brand. I don’t do music to compete with P Square; it is seen as a subtle way of advertising my brand. I cannot be on stage and say everything I want to say, but I can put my ideals in music. My ability to write helps me to put content to my other works.

You have a new haircut style. Is that your new signature?

This is the style my wife likes to see.

The style is called Agama; a kind of hair arrow draw.

You use to wear glasses a lot. In fact they were your signature fashion item. What happened to them?

I stopped wearing glasses over a year ago now. It was a Koffi brand but I don’t use that brand anymore. I needed attention with that look at that time and I got it. Now we can move on.

Nigeria comedy industry is still a baby...We are not totally buying into sitcoms, stage drama, and other forms like satirical comedy

actually even work together and build ourselves up together. People know my standard and my style and they know my pedigree. They love the brand and I keep doing what they want. I’m not deviating from my plan of being a contentbased entertainer and this keeps me in the business.

You are into three types of entertainment - music, movies and comedy. Wouldn’t that brand you as jack-of-all-trades?

Initially when I started out officially,

Who are your favourite designers?

I have designers who make clothes for me but Mudi is the only designer whose clothes I wear a lot. I am not really into the fashion craze. As long as it looks good on me, I wear it. I am not a label person. I go into a shop, see something that I like and I buy it.

What is your favourite wardrobe colour?

I love lots of blue and black clothes.

How do you handle your busy schedule and your family life?

I am a family man. I am always home after work. My family sees more than I am out on the field.

18

SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Body&Soul

Lessons I learnt from Dora Mary Ikoku is one lively lady. She is a publisher and communications consultant to several government agencies and was a Special Assistant to former Minister of Information, late Prof. Dora Akunyili. She spoke with VANESSA OKWARA about how it all started and other issues

You are the publisher of Working Mom Africa.

Why did you start this publication?

Communication is what I do for a living and I’ve been doing for the best part of my life. In the last two years I delved into publishing. It came as a result of a need, something we needed in the society. Before that, I was at the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, as the pioneer head of communication. I set up the communications department, ran it for one and half years and moved to the Federal Ministry of Finance to help develop a communication unit for a SURE-P programme under Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala known as the Graduate Internship Scheme. After that, I came back to Lagos to focus on my publishing business and my PR company. Now I have gone back again to work for the government as a communication adviser to the Bureau of Public Service Reform. I am currently helping them to develop a communication strategy and a one year work plan that will drive the success of this programme. This is because, no matter how much government makes at delivering policies to the citizenry, if there is no adequate communication to back that up the people will not feel the much work that has gone in and the impact even. That is one part of my life; but in all that I have done being a special adviser to late Dora Akunyili, heading up SURE-P communications and currently being a communication adviser to the Bureau of Public Service Reform, the best of all the work I have done is being a mom. That is my best role yet. That is the job I am so passionate about. That was what led me to start a publication known as Working Mom Africa. It has grown to become Africa’s leading publication for working mothers. It is a bi-monthly publication.

Aside from being a mom, what actually motivated you to start this publication?

At some point, I realised that one of my kids was losing traction in school work. At that point I had to stop and excuse myself from my job and come back to be a full-time mom. My son losing traction was a one-off thing; maybe because I wanted my children to be ‘A’ students.

I was mentored by a woman whose children made first class and she was a working mother.

I am talking about Prof. Dora Akunyili. You cannot be mentored by that kind of woman and want anything less for your own kids. It doesn’t matter if you are a woman, as long as you have a sound education and you are good at your work, standing up for what you believe to be true wouldn’t be difficult. The other lesson will be her audacity and tenacity. A significant number of Nigerians today are intimidated by corrupt practices and hardly voice out their convictions but working with her, I saw her many times as she stood to be counted.

In a world where good role models are hard to find, Dora made mentoring possible. I remember on a few occasions she said to me, “Mary let’s keep working. When you work hard, money will come.”

I found out that something was missing, a gap when a mother is not there. You find out we start having dysfunctional children, we begin to see the state of insecurity and the boom of the baby factories. I know where my children are at every given point in time and I can talk to them and they listen. So where are the mothers of these Boko Haram kids? I felt there had to be an avenue and platform to address this issue and I felt someone had left her duty post; and that is the mother. That was why I felt the pressure to start the publication called the Working Mom Africa. It was created to deal with the issues of work, life and balance of the average Nigerian working mother.

What has been the overall response of readers to the publication?

First of all, we started by building a network of this kind of people. We have a structure and a network of working mothers online and in

19

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY ANUARY 18, 2015

Body&Soul

Akunyili - Ex-aide, Mary Ikoku the community. We use that network as a platform to provide the resource and tools that can teach women how to balance their work and family life. Among the things we do, we started creating events, seminars, summits and roundtable conferences. We teach a lot of things such as how to breastfeed for young mothers, how to get back in shape after childbirth and how to keep the love alive in your marriage. I must say it is quite rewarding, not in monetary terms per se because I didn’t set out to make money out of it but rather its passion-driven. Today, we have over 12, 000 working mothers in the network today. In this network, we deal with issues concerning mothers both at work and at home.

You recently held a summit on the baby factories in the South-East. What do you think can be done to eliminate this problem in our society?

How do you eliminate something that has become prevalent in a particular region? If we can answer that question, I think we will be closer to finding the solution to its elimination. If we delve into finding the solution, we can find out that it could be the people’s culture that contributed largely to this baby factory. In the southern part of the country, we put premium on the male sex of the baby while in some areas; they really don’t care about the sex of the baby.

That was why we called a South-East Mom Summit on the issue of baby factories. We have a culture where people are not bold to walk into a home and adopt a baby easily.

They would rather do it discretely. Pregnant teenage girls are sent away from home and they end up in the hands of these baby factories where they wait and harvest the baby. Also, there are the ritualists who come to these baby factories for ritual purposes.

This is an organised crime where a lot of people are involved including gynaecologists, nurses and obstetricians and the buyer who is the end user. It is a production outfit going on. These are some of the things that have given flesh to these baby factories in this part of the country. When we did the baby factory summit in Enugu, we came out with a communiqué. One of the things we said in it is that government needs as a matter of urgency to make proper and more accessible adoption in place for childless women. Poverty is a major issue because a mother would rather ask her daughter to go to the baby factory and sell her baby to make money. We also preach ‘don’t negotiate’ and ‘don’t buy.’ Children are not commodities.

How do you think women can overcome having wicked domestic servants, especially as we saw in the video that went viral about a maid in Uganda that brutalised a child?

First of all, I must commend the mother of that girl because she is a working mother.

It’s only a woman who is working, is financially capable and also in tune with the goings on in her home that will think of putting a spy camera in her home. The woman could also have been a house wife and still have those things happening under her nose and she will not be aware. So it’s wisdom to get someone you can trust wholly without worrying about what she is going to do to the kids. Cameras will not work in Nigeria because we don’t have constant light. You need 24 hours power supply for your spy camera to have 24 hours surveillance. So it is more important to run background checks on any domestic help coming to your home.

We partner a company called Background Check International. They have been in this business for 10 years. They run a check on everybody that has to work in my home and give feedback up to where they come

from. Being a working mom is a big issue and when we say a working mum, don’t get it twisted; every mother is a working mom, whether she is running her own business or a career woman.

It’s the era of politics. Are we seeing you in politics?

Yes, I am interested in the politics of my state, Abia. For some years now, my people have not experienced good leadership. For the current governor, I wouldn’t say he does not want to do well, but I want to say that he is limited. Even when you see projects that he has done, there is no substance in them.

His legacy projects are so poor. In Abia right now, we need to get it right. I have my candidate who I am convinced personally will fix Abia state. That is the man who I will vote for beyond party and local government lines. We need someone who can fix Aba, the one-time Taiwan of Nigeria back to its former glory or even make it better.

You are married into the Ikoku family. Is your husband related to the legendary Alvan Ikoku?

My husband is Alvan’s favourite grandson. They share the same birthday, 1st of August. My husband is the son of late Prof.

Chimere Ikoku.

How long have you been married?

I have been married for over 13 years now.

How has it been so far?

Well, you know when they ask you to fill a form, I usually have a problem with that. If they have a column that says ‘happily married,’ that is the one I will be ticking. They need to be including that because some are married and yet very frustrated and want to quit while some of us are happily married. If you have a good man in your life, by all means let the world know that there are good men in Nigeria.

All men are not bad.

What have you done to sustain your marriage for it to have the ‘happily married’ status?

What I did for myself is to get it right from the very beginning.

Marry a man for the right reasons and not for the wrong reasons. I didn’t set out to marry a made-man. I married a civil servant who is now a big boy. I would advise that you check a man out just the way you check out a stock market. You buy shares and you watch those shares grow.

Your man will grow someday. Identify the potential and help him to grow. You see, behind every successful man, there is a woman; likewise every successful woman. My husband is my biggest support base. There are certain jobs that I hold that I would need his advice to succeed. He is older than I am, more advanced and experienced. So he is like my coach. We are like partners in progress. I also support my husband financially; not as a bread winner but as a help meet and help take some pressure from him. I also try my best

to massage his ego. I remove my husband’s shoes when he comes back from work. I like to make him feel like my king.

Describe your style.

For me, style is your personality. It is a total feeling of how you want to be addressed and how you want people to receive you.

Style is who you are and it does not have to break the bank. My style describes my feelings per day. I go around every day for my daily business with no makeup on. If you see me made up, then know that some magazine people like you have come for one interview or the other. That is what I call transformational agenda. (Laughs) Why do you carry your hair naturally without the use of a relaxer?

Going natural is one of the things that have happened to me in the course of my becoming an adult. I have not really been someone who wants to look like someone else. I am beginning to see myself for who I am and that is as a black woman, Nigerian and an African. By straightening your hair or fixing Peruvian or Brazilian hair does not describe who you are. I have decided to be who God has made me to be with the way I look. I have found

ways to use good products that will help me to manage it well. My natural hair is my signature and I am fine with it. I owe no one any apology. When you become aware of your individuality as an African, you will start keeping your hair natural; you would not want to be someone else. The hair is the beauty of an African woman.

How do you keep your looks without the makeup?

I am not sure if I have any product but my kid sister who is a director with Mary Kay products in London has tried talking to me in that area. That is not a strong area for me. If I do make up, I don’t sleep with it. I think just leaving my face bare makes my skin breathe. Periodically, I do cleansing to wash off the dirt from my face. I also do skin exfoliation and then I do my water therapy. I drink 1.5 litres of water first thing in the morning every day before my day starts. I swim a lot. And then I go to the gym until it started giving me muscles. I now do aerobics and the thread mill.

What is your passion?

I am passionate about women and children, particularly the mothers. I am also passionate about leadership and structure and forming a strong institution. If you form a campaign along these issues, be sure you will have me as a strong ally. I am also passionate about communication. Communication is like the air I breathe and ensuring that people have the right communication processes in their daily lives and work.

What motivates you?

I started a free project called ‘One mom teach One.’ It’s where I offer housewives who are graduates training for free on PR, communication and media relations. I have nothing less than 15 of those housewives who are gainfully employed today. It makes me happy. The feedback l get from the readers of our Working Mom magazines also makes me very happy. I get more motivated when I see how my projects have impacted lives and I know that in my little corner, I am doing my little quota. It gives me hope that if everyone in their own little corner, would be able to do their little quota, in the end we will have a more developed society.

Can you narrate your recent encounter with soldiers in Abuja?

I would like another chance to deal with the harassment by the unidentified Military men at the Military check point at the airport.

20

SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Body&Soul

with

Juliet Bumah +234 81 1 675 9770

julietbumah@gmail.com

J

A man dies only once

ames hesitates at the door. He has never seen such fire in his wife’s eyes in a long while. She is obviously seething with anger. He feels like bolting.

Luckily, Dave is chatting away and doesn’t seem to notice his discomfiture.

“My man, women have a way of stocking their homes. When it comes to a time to move home, it becomes a big challenge for them. Look at the stack of boxes they’ve packed and yet, it seems as if nothing has been taken away from this house,” Dave says, leading the way to the dinette.

James hardly hears what Dave is saying but he mummurs something in reply and nods his head absentmindedly.

Then, as he contemplates his wife’s countenance, he sees the anger transforms to a smile. Wonders of a woman!

“My dear husband,” Alice coos, moving towards him with outstretched arms.

He is not fooled but nonetheless, his legs propel him towards her. They hug and he plants a kiss on her cheeks. He thinks he tasted tears but isn’t sure.

“How are you, my darling husband? We have been packing my sister’s things. She still has so many things to pack. We women and load!” Alice says, leading him in.

She sits him comfortably on a divan and disappears into the kitchen. Kathryn joins her there. Alice is scooping the jollof rice they prepared earlier into serving plates.

She garnishes them with steamed vegetable.

“They must be hungry now. We need to fed them fat,” she says. Kathryn observes her mien quietly. She wonders how she could carry so much burden in her heart and still pretends all is well.

“Auntie, how do you do this? I guess you’ve forgiven your husband,” Kathryn says.

“Forgive who? If I hear! I want to fed him very well so that he will have the stamina to bear what I’m going to say to him,” Alice says, bearing the trays to the dinette.

Kathryn shakes her head in wonderment and follows her in.

They eat in silence...until the last person has pushed the last morsel of food into her mouth.

“Pray, my dear husband, when are you telling me about your second wife and her children?” Alice says lightly, as if that is the most innocent thing to say.

They all freeze and Alice sips her glass of fruit juice. She looks innocently around her and chews the prawn in her mouth.

James literally withers. The past has caught up with the present. The liquid in his body seems to embark on a downward journey. He suddenly feels pressed. Beads of sweat appears on his forehead.

“Are you okay, my man,” Dave asks anxiously.

“He’s okay my dear husband,” Alice replies, chewing cheerily.

“Um...um...I’m okay,” James says glumly.

It’s obvious everything is but okay.

He stands suddenly and pushes his chair back and moves to the restroom.

There’s pin drop silence in the room.

Alice chews merrily on while Dave and Kathryn look at each other.

After about five minutes and James is not out of the restroom, Dave goes in search of him.

“Are you okay?” Dave asks James.

“I’m okay, I mean, I’m not okay,” James answers from within.

“Look James, a man dies only once. It’s better you come out and confront this is-

sue head on. There’s no point hiding. So please come out and let’s discuss it now,” Dave tells him.

“Who told her about Meg and her children? Why did you tell her now? I thought we agreed to do so at an appropriate time,” James whispers through the door.

“No, I didn’t tell her anything. Someone else obviously did. Anyway, there’s really no ‘better appropriate’ time than now. This is a chance for you to right all the wrongs in your marriage,” Dave replies.

“Someone did? Who could it be? OMG! I’m finished. Who else knows my well kept secrets? Who?” James says in anguish. He knows that Kathryn knows too.

“It’s too late to dwell on who said what.

You should know how many people you told because I didn’t tell anyone. Anyway, whoever did should be the least of your problems. Your wife is there seeking an answer to an urgent question. You need to pull yourself together and talk with her. I trust she’ll understand if you approach it the right way,” Dave tells him.

James opens the door of the loo and steps out, beads of sweat on his face. He looks at his cousin, wondering what he will do if he learns that for three years, Kathryn, his beloved wife, had slept with him for a fee. He is convinced that Kathryn exposed his well-kept secret. Anyway, let him settle this first. He will deal with that pesky issue later. Now, to the problem at hand!

“I’m scared, my man,” he says, looking around like a fugitive.

“You don’t have any reason to. Go out there and answer her questions with boldness,” Dave tells him.

As they step back into the living room, Alice asks, “Are you ready to talk about your little secret?”

“Yeah, my dear wife. I know I’ve offend-

ed you. We are all human beings and so, fallible. But I want you to know that bad associations will destroy your marriage. If you listen to bad people who do not wish you well, you will always have big problems. Let’s forget about this and live our lives peacefully, the way we have been living before some good for nothing bitches came into our lives,” James says, sneaking some acid look the way of Kathryn.

Dave, Kathryn and Alice exchange glances. Of course, Kathryn and Alice know Kathryn is the object of James’ vituperation. Kathryn knows she didn’t reveal his secret but how will James know that? She becomes scared that this spineless man may destroy her marriage if care is not taken.

Alice comes to her rescue, albeit, covertly.

She begins, “James, what are you talking about? You think you can nose this issue to another angle? I don’t know which bitch you are talking about, but I know that no one told me about your dalliances with the harlot that purportedly had those kids for you. To make matter worse, she’s another man’s wife. You think you keep your track covered? No you don’t. You see, you take me for a fool so much that it never occurred to you that I could have a sense of reasoning at all...”

James cuts in, “Look Alice, I will take any shit from you but not the allusion that Meg is a harlot. I hate harlots and you know that!”

“You hate harlots?” Alice says with a laugh and continues, “Then, you must hate me too. Anyway, because you ascribed so little brain to me, you carry on as if you are living with a blind, deaf and dumb in the house. Well, your deaf and dumb wife hates eavesdropping but some days, eavesdropping is thrust upon her.

One of those days, she heard your phone conversation, a fight more like it, with your slimy bitch over a text message. Well, your dummy wife picked your phone and read that and many other messages therein...”

James ditches his butt on the nearest chair with a thud!

He looks like a drowning man.

Dave, unconsciously, draws Kathryn into his arms.

“OMG! I’m done! Alice, you mean you’ve been snooping around me? What do you mean I must hate you too?” James asks.

Alice smiles at him and says, “Have you settled the issue of the children’s paternity with your bitch? You must have been paying so handsomely for her services to warrant her trying to tie you down with pregnancies and bastard children. No... and you hate harlots? I laugh in Pidgin!

You see, that passion which you deny will always seek you out. That’s why you gather harlots around you wherever you go.”

Dave and Kathryn look on incredulously while James, confusion written all over him, asks in a little voice, “What do you mean?”

“I’ll explain. Keep calm, I’ll explain every little detail to you, my dear husband. I’ll tell you all you want to know and more,” Alice says.

Turning to Dave and Kathryn, she says, “Any marriage built on lies and falsehood will never thrive. Truth is the foundation you need...” *********** What did Alice explain? What’s the repercussion on James, Dave and Kathryn?

You won’t know if you don’t keep a date with me here next Sunday!

•Send your observations to the email above.

21

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015

&

Body&Soul

Classy, colourful nail art Vanessa Okwara

N

ails play an important role in a lady’s look. Not only do they make your hands sparkle, they can actually show that you care about your looks. A well-manicured nail glossed over with a good nail polish puts a finishing touch to your overall ensemble.

For some time now, bright colour nail arts are a huge trend. Red nail polish has been the vogue since the time of our grandmothers but the tide is changing.

These days, fashion forward ladies are ditching the boring one colour scheme to embrace colours of the rainbow. Some even adorn different bright hues for each of the five fingers. Some of the hottest trends for this season are neon; electric blue; yellow; animal prints; floral, colourful french design; rhinestone and a lot more. The bright colours can always draw attention to you at any occasion no matter the kind of designs created on it.

The good thing about nail designs is that you don’t have to put fake nails in order to achieve it; you can perfectly let your nails grow a little bit so the design looks

fuller. You can try out different types of nail arts. Some nail polishes come with such uniqueness that they can give your nails nail art in just one swipe. Some have different sequins mixed in them; some have magnetic properties while others got can type particles which give you total sand effect.

Take for instance, to get a floral design nail art; you can try out by using a golden nail polish as a base and some black special polish. Use the special polish to stamp out floral designs from a definite stamping plate. It looks very beautiful and easy to do. Nail artists now create 3D nail art where you can sculpture flowers and bows and other patterned nail arts.

They do funky designs rather than the normal French manicures.

Embrace this trend today and go ahead to glitter and sparkle with well-manicured colourful nail arts.

Body&Soul

22

G

one are the days when the Ankara fabrics were only celebrated in Iro and buba or the up and down styles we saw back in the eighties.

You can’t go wrong with Ankara, whether for work, church, wedding, dates etc. There’s always a way to fuse in Ankara into your style.

Our local designers have been able to come up with beautiful and eye-catching designs that have also caught the attention of the international fashion world and that’s why some foreign designers fuse in the Ankara fabric into their designs.

These days, you can make just about anything with Ankara such as dresses, tops, shoes, bags, jewellery and lovely jackets.

The Ankara jacket trend has been there for some time and is still gaining attention from ladies as it is easy to style once it’s a good fit. From casuals, to chic, to corporate, it’s fun, vibrant and adds a really lovely touch of style to your outfit. It’s a staple style item to own.

Trendy and cute, these Ankara jackets are good for all kinds of events. They can be worn both on weekends and weekdays especially for thank-God-it’s-Friday (TGIF) at the office.

You can pair your Ankara Jackets with jeans, skirts, leggings, tights and even straight trousers for that official meeting. If it is made in blazer style, you can wear it with complimentary camisoles that will blend into the office environment. Just pick colourful prints that compliment your skin pigment and glam it up with statement necklaces and bangles.

To bring out that wow effect, just make sure your Ankara jacket is well tailored to fit your body shape; otherwise you will come out looking drab and flabby. It’s best to wear high heeled shoes when wearing your Ankara jacket with a skirt or jeans.

This will make you look regal, chic and sophisticated. This look can take you from the office to a date night without batting an eye lid.

The beautiful thing about Ankara jackets is that it makes you look unique and fashionable with a little twist; giving you that spectacular appearance. Trust me when I say Ankara print does the magic.

Be adventurous! You can have as many Ankara jackets as you want and you can dress them up or down depending on your mood or event.

Vanessa Okwara

Stylish Ankara jackets

SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

43

23

SundayBusiness SUNDAY

SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015

Transport

2015 Nissan Altima charts way in midsize sedans p.25

Features

Looming austerity measures and Nigeria’s economic survival p.28

News

Entrepreneurs demand release of N213bn power fund p.29

Abdullahi

Akpabio

Unresolved issues over Ibaka Deep Seaport Tony Anichebe,

T UYO.

Paul Ogbuokiri Head, Business paulogbuokiri@newtelegraph online.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

he Ibaka Deep Seaport project is one mega project whose economic importance to Akwa Ibom State as well as Nigeria and the entire Gulf of Guinea has been well acknowledged. On completion, it is expected to redefine the direction of economic activities in the sub-region.

To underscore the importance of the proposed port to the economy of the region, the Federal Government not long ago gave approval and set up a technical implementation committee to ensure its actualisation and the required licences have been issued for its take-off.

The port consists of key components which also constitute major investment areas for potential local and international investors.

The key components are: • Petrochemical Industries (eg. fertiliser plant) • Refineries• Five Star Hotel• Dockyard and watercraft repair facilities• Cargo Handling and Associated activities The project is designed to be one of the components of the proposed Ibom Industrial City.

The industrial city and business resort is expected to house refineries, a petrochemical plant, dockyard, housing estates and oil and gas support services.

The area designated for the project in Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State has a stretch of land measuring over 129 kilometres and the longest coastline in Africa. The main port infrastructure is estimated to cost about $2bn and was planned to be executed under a public private partnership (PPP) agreement; with the Federal and Akwa Ibom State Government contributing 20 per cent share each while the private sector has 60 per cent in the project.

The Lagos Ports Complex, being the busiest and oldest port in the country, for now is overburdened with over-utilisation of capacity. The Port Harcourt Port has for over a decade now operated below expected berthing and haulage capacity with interlude of peak times because of the past activities of the Niger Delta militants. The Calabar Port built over three decades ago has remained comatose due to the failure of the Nigerian Ports Authority to complete the dredging of the surrounding water channel.

Need for a deep seaport The Ibaka Deep Seaport is currently used mainly for fishing activities and water transport for small craft, according to NPA sources. It is a natural deep seaport of over 18 metres of draft without dredging, with a quay area expected to span over two miles in terms of length. This makes it a safe haven for mega vessels of over 10,000 TEUs equivalent upon completion, thus making it the largest in the Gulf of Guinea.

According to the Special Assistant to the Governor on Project and Secretary of the Ibaka Seaport Implementation Committee, Mr. Etido Inyang, the port will be the hub of maritime business in the Gulf of Guinea, when completed.

He said that the port would be the next most strategic in Nigeria after Lagos, adding that just as Lagos occupies the western maritime and industrial gateway into Nigeria, so will Ibaka command the nation’s eastern gateway.

“Ibaka Seaport will distribute traffic and maritime trade away from the suffocating Lagos road to new grounds,” he said. He stressed that the existing ports in the country designed to handle 60 million metric tonnes annually were now overstretched and that the ports currently handle over 100 million tonnes annually which makes it difficult to cope with the demand of the sector.

Most importantly, the mega project would create employment for over 100,000 direct and indirect

Nigerians in addition to the downstream economic benefits of the establishment of a refinery, industries, independent power plant, trade and commerce.

Inyang also said that the state government’s counterpart fund of 20 per cent for the construction of the ports common user facilities, including access roads etc, have already been contributed. He explained that in partnership with the Federal Government, the state government has concluded plans for a multimodal transport system to include rail lines linking Port – Harcourt and Calabar to complement the roads across the state and the Ibom International Airport.

So how are Nigerians sure of the viability of the port, considering the fact that Calabar Port lies within the proximity of the new port?

A maritime expert at the Maritime Academy Oron, Mr. Ahmed Abubakar, told Sunday Telegraph in an interview that “Ibaka Deep Seaport has natural features that will make it a cargo hub within the Gulf of Guinea. Besides, much of its cargoes will be delivered to neighbouring ports by lighters and it will not be affected by shore logistic problems but we need integrated road network for haulage, mostly by heavy duty trucks.”

Sunday Telegraph learnt that as a mega port which would be receiving mega vessels, it would be a bulk breaker on which small ports like the Calabar Port and other small port in the sub-region would depend.

Besides the terminal for containers and cargoes, the port comprises a Free Trade Zone (FTZ), as well as an industrial city.

At a short ceremony in 2013 on the official hand-over of a Certificate of Occupancy (C C ON TI N UE D ON PAGE 24

24

JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Business/News

Unresolved issues over Ibaka Deep Seaport of O) of the5580sq meters land area of the seaport to then Managing Director of NPA, Mr. Omar Suleiman, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, had hinted that the proposed deep seaport would start receiving ocean liners not later than 2015.

He also said that all infrastructure needed to fast -track the early completion of the port would be provided.

This was even as the governor pledged to within one month award a contract for the dualisation of the port main access road to link the East –West Road, with a view to making it more accessible.

He noted that the infrastructure for a deep sea port is huge, saying the state is prepared to offer assistance to NPA at whatever point it will be needed. He added that his government is fully ready to ensure that the necessary infrastructure for the effective take-off of the port is provided.

“Whatever support that may be required to ensure that a big ocean going liner comes to the port by 2015 will be provided by the state government,” he had said.

He allayed fears of security of investment in the port, in view of the menace of sea pirates in Nigeria’s territorial waters. He said the Federal Government had granted the state request to establish a full military presence in that location.

“Now we have NN Jubilee in the area, so with the presence of the Army, Navy complementing the Marine Police, there will be adequate security of investments as the area will be a no-go area for maritime robbers and other criminals,” Akpabio had said. The governor envisaged that when the multi-billion naira port project is completed, it would be the hub of oil and gas operation in the Gulf of Guinea.

The controversies Controversies have continued to trail claims by the Akwa Ibom State Government that the proposed Ibaka deep sea port project would be delivered in 2015.

While both Akpabio and the Minister of Transport, Idris Umar, were celebrating the project as part of their achievements, residents of the area describe their claims as deceptive.

Our correspondent who visited the site reports that apart from a clearly demarcated area for the project, there is no significant evidence of moves to build a port there.

The only road leading to the port location is in a shambles and can hardly be accessed by heavy duty trucks. The site of the proposed seaport is currently used mainly for fishing activities and water transport for small crafts, ferrying passengers to destinations such as Calabar, Cameroon and Ghana, among others. There are no quay walls or aprons, save for a small jetty being used by the Nigerian Navy.

These realities raise questions about the federal and state governments’ seriousness in realising the project.

A youth leader in the area, Mr. Ubong Isemin, dismissed the project in an interview with Sunday Telegraph.

He said that apart from the time when the governor visited the place some years ago for the ground breaking ceremony of the project, nothing has been done at the site ever since.

“Nothing has been done ever since the government pronounced that there would be a deep seaport at Ibaka, Mbo Local Government Area,” said Ubong. He said what would give an indication that the government is ready is when issues of compensation for the people to be affected by the project are discussed.

“Since they have not come to talk about compensation, nothing has been done. In 2008, the governor came here to pronounce that there would be a deep sea port in Ibaka, and since then, he has not come again.

Proposed Ibaka-seaport

“Government is always deceiving Ibaka people. It is when they want to solicit for votes in elections that they make promises to build a deep seaport. We do have a deep sea here; a lot of ships come here, mostly fishing trawlers. But before I believe that they would really come and build a seaport here, they must talk about compensation,” he said.

But the governor had in August last year said the seaport project would be completed before he leaves office in May 2015.

Akpabio stated this when the Managing Director of China Civil Engineering Construction Company, Shi Hong Bing, led the management team of the firm to present an architectural design of the project to the governor in Abuja.

Considering the complexities involved in building a seaport, the 2015 projection now looks unrealisable.

A maritime expert, Ahmed Abubakar, said that it is not possible to deliver the Ibaka Deep Seaport in the next four years.

“How can that happen? If they have not started construction by now, they will need a minimum of five years to deliver the first phase of the project apart from putting the road in shape,” Abubakar said.

But the transport minister believes Ibaka deep seaport is making progress.

“In September 2012, I inaugurated a steering committee for the development of Ibaka Seaport in Akwa Ibom State. I am happy to say here that considerable progress has been recorded, resulting in the appointment of a transport adviser for the project, who indeed has submitted an initial due diligence report to the Project Steering Committee in line with the ICRC Act,” he was recently quoted as saying.

The initial Due Diligence Report, he said, was “to verify the project initial feasibility from financial, technical and legal perspectives and to design a structured approach to subsequent phases. The vision of Ibaka Deep seaport, commercial rationale, operational status, including assessment of existing facilities, business opportunities, technical scope and main challenges has been concluded. The second phase which is the outline business case and the procurement process report is to be concluded before the end of June 2013.

“The Nigeria coastline of over 84,000sq nautical miles is central to the nation’s economic development as a medium of trans-

portation, for global commerce, resource exploitation and recreation. Consequently, to maximise the potential of this key sector of the economy, government has created the enabling environment to encourage PPP arrangement, particularly in the development of seaports to facilitate international trade,” he added.

Unconfirmed reports say the feasibility study for the construction of a seaport favoured Ibaka, but it was manipulated and sited at Calabar during the era of Bamanga Tukur as managing director of Nigerian Ports Authority. Ibaka, with a deep sea, was abandoned for Calabar, which has shallow channels. Perennial dredging of the Calabar port channel has allegedly become a conduit for stealing public funds.

Another problem militating against the ibaka deep seaport is the information on the inability of the Federal Ministry of Environment to secure an environmental impact assessment reports, a situation which has stalled the Ibaka deep seaport project.

Akwa Ibom State Federal Controller of Environment, Dr. Tim Ndoho, while speaking recently at the Nigerian dredging summit and exhibition in Uyo, the state capital, said the reports were part of the challenges militating against the commencement of the projects, initiated six years ago by Akpabio.

He said the deep seaport as a component of the proposed Ibom industrial city designed to cover three local government areas needs EIA reports to attract funding from investors.

Sunday Telegraph gathered that the Ibom industrial city, of which Ibaka deep seaport is a component, was proposed in 2008, as an industrial complex which should have export processing zone, gas processing facilities and refineries.

Ndoho advised that environmentally safe dredging practices should be observed from site practitioner perspectives, taking into consideration all the variables at the site within approved legal framework.

“For the development of new deep seaports in Nigeria, sustainable development principles should be adhered to so as to ensure environmental sustainability of such projects. Environmental audits every three years after the commencement of the projects are crucial to ensuring sustainable development of new deep seaports in Nigeria,” he said.

Another major controversy trailing the

project is the claim by Rear Admiral Andrew Okoja (retd), that the original concept that gave birth to the project was his intellectual property.

Okoja, Chairman of Mercury Maritime Concession Company Limited, has threatened court action against NPA and the host government, Akwa Ibom State for violation of copyright of his intellectual property right for the project.

The retired admiral was said to have developed the concept while undergoing a Senior Executive Course in NIPSS in 1993 for the development of a deep seaport in the eastern seaboard of Nigeria.

It was gathered that an indigenous strategic institution, its alumni association and Okoja are accusing the promoters of the Ibaka deep seaport project of appropriating the blueprint of the seaport concept which they developed for the eastern seaboard without acknowledgment.

The project, it was gathered, was specifically designed to transform the eastern region into a maritime, energy, industrial, logistics and commercial hub of international repute.

But Okoja is alleging that the project was surreptitiously diverted after a full-blown presentation was made to NPA, adding that the original institution where the research work was done, its author and developers were later sidelined from the entire project.

He alleged that the theft of the concept by a local/foreign firm was effected through the connivance of some unscrupulous staff of the Federal Ministry of Transport and NPA whose action he said misled the Minister of Transport into entering a tripartite agreement for the development of the deep seaport.

In a letter to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), dated August 10, 2012, his lawyers, Falana & Falana’s Chambers, demanded for the statutory intervention of the Bureau in the matter.

Mr. Adedotun Isola-Osobu who signed the letter cited Section 5(n) and (o) of the Procurement Act 2007, which empowers the Bureau to “prevent fraudulent and unfair procurement and where necessary, apply administrative sanctions; review the procurement and award of contract procedure of every entity to which this Act applies”.

The letter urged the Director-General of CO NTINUED F R O M PAGE 23

25

SUNDAY

Transport

SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015

2015 Nissan Altima charts way in midsize sedans

T

Paul Ogbuokiri he 2015 Nissan Altima maintains the tradition of being a favourite choice among the family sedans, as it boasts of excellent fuel economy and a rare blend of comfort and agility. This is as recently affirmed by the foremost American online resource for automotive information, edmunds.com. The online resource described the Altima as stylish, bold and aggressive with long body lines that distinguishes the sedan from rivals like Toyota Camry, Honda Accord Hyundai Sonata and Kia Optima.

Emerging from a total makeover last year, the new Nissan Altima provides customers with premium experiences and high technologies that drivers will cherish to remember especially when viewed against Altima’s package with far better value proposition than competition.

Altima’s innovative features are designed to reposition the car way ahead of competition and to keep it fresh against rival brands. While many manufacturers are offering different 4-cylinder engines with hybrids and diesels, the 2015 Nissan Altima sedan goes the traditional route by offering a base 4-cylinderand a V6.The 2.5-litre 4- cylinder for instance is designed for lighter weight and higher efficiency, while the 3.5-litre V6 offers improved fuel economy. Both engines drive Altima’s front wheels through Nissan’s next generation Xtronic continuously variable transmission (CVT) that drives engine revs ahead of vehicle speed during strong acceleration and helps both the Altima achieve tremendous fuel economy.

Popular Mechanics, a United States classic magazine of popular technology attested to this assertion, stating in one of its recent publications that "the new Altima remains one of the most engaging family sedans, and its fuel economy approaches 16 kilometers per litre gasoline for the 2.5 litre engine and 13 kilometers per litre gasoline for the 3.5 litre engine, on the highway driving, and Nissan should have no problem attracting the most discerning familysedan buyers.

“If you think you’ve heard the most outstanding remarks ever, Kelley Blue Book (KBB) recent commentary could amaze you. Nissan Altima is no doubt a driver’s delight says UK based automotive classified website, Auto Trader.

“With its Maxima-like good looks, and unique features such as its NASA-inspired zero-gravity seats, the Altima really does give shoppers a viable alternative to the Camry and Accord. The 2015 Nissan Altima’s key strength is its driving dynamics, without giving up any of its mainstream family-sedan features. The Altima imparts a measure of driving fun that is uncommon in the segment. Its multilink independent suspension and best-in-class continuously variable automatic transmission is a testimony of Nissan engineers’ ingenuity especially when they benchmarked premium sedans like the Audi A4 and BMW 3 Series, KBB affirmed.

Nissan Altima has indeed caressed the midsize family sedan market like a colossus, described as the toughest segment in the industry and accounting for a huge number of sales each year.

So competitive is this segment that every automaker wants a slice of the pie and it may not be unfeasible for the Altima to have one of the biggest slices in the coming few months beating rivals like the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord in the Nigerian market. “The 2015 Nissan Altima has a fantastic sporty handling making it more fun to drive than most affordable midsize cars,” usnews.rankingsandreviews.com affirmed. It added that the Altima’s standard four-cylinder engine provides plenty of power for passing and merging highway, while the V6 engine delivers a robust acceleration. Altima’s automatic transmission (continuously variable transmission) is responsive and operates seamlessly; this gives a

10 questions to ask when buying a used car

T

more smoother and lag free drive compared to competition. What’s more, modern-attractive styling and first-rate materials make the 2015 Nissan Altima’s cabin one of the nicest in the class while features like ‘Nissan intelligent key remote engine start system’ lets you tap a button on the door handle or trunk to unlock, while your key stays in your pocket or purse.

And you can start your car from up to 100 feet away. This convenient solution lets you cool down the Altima before it’s time to get in.

Altima’s rear seats have generous legroom, while the trunk size of 436 litres is ambitious for the class. Standard features include Bluetooth and a USB/iPod input, leather uphol-

stery, a rear-view camera, premium BOSE audio x 9 speakers and 3D display. The unique multifunction rearview camera performs the lookout jobs very well and the NASA-inspired seats zero gravity seats are proved to be fatigue-reducing.

Stallion NMN, Nissan sales company and local custodian of the brand has described its target customers as: Confident individuals, stylish and responsible adults seeking personal and professional fulfilment on their terms. “This class of people wants more out of life and do not want a conservative or dull midsize sedan,” says Amit Sharma, Stallion NMN head of sales and marketing.

Toyota to build new plants in China, Mexico

T

oyota Motor Corp. is ending a three-year freeze on building new vehicle assembly plants and is looking to open two new assembly plants in China and another in Mexico, four executives familiar with the company’s plans said. The Japanese automaker has already completed initial feasibility studies in both China and Mexico, according to those executives, and “the teams are ready to execute,” as one of them put it. The sources spoke over the last few weeks.

Jim Lentz, head of Toyota’s North American operations, said on Monday that after “a three-year hold” on new capacity investments, the standstill is over for Toyota. Lentz, who spoke on the side-

lines of the Detroit auto show, would not comment on specific plans to add production capacity in Mexico or China.

“We’re going to grow again. We will climb the staircase,” he told Reuters in an interview. “But it’s a different way than in the past. It’s not going to be growth for growth’s sake.”

Toyota’s Chinese operations are evaluating plans to build two assembly plants – one in the northeastern city of Changchun and the southern city of Guangzhou where the company already produces cars. In Mexico, Toyota is looking at a site for a passenger car plant in and around the central state of Guanajuato, people familiar with the plans said.

here are 10 questions you should ask before buying any used car. Some can be asked over the phone or via email before even seeing the vehicle in person. Others should be asked while looking at the used car. Not asking these questions could lead to problems in your used car purchase.

How many miles are on the odometer? This helps you determine a value before viewing the car. Go to a site like edmunds.com with the information and determine a value for the car. Why are you selling the car? There are too many variables to cover all of the possible answers but here are a few that are going to work to your advantage.

How would you describe your used car’s condition? There are three answers that should appeal to you: Who was this vehicle bought from?

The best answer is the seller is the original owner. (Regardless of prior ownership, always get a CarFax report.) All the maintenance records should be available. Plus, you don’t have to worry about salvage titles from original owners, typically. You might, though, depending on the answer to the next question. Where was this car bought?

This is a crucial fact to know – not just if it was bought from a dealer, but what state. Some states are very lenient about what defines a salvage title or allow vehicles to be sold from state-to-state without concerns for the used car’s past history. An owner could be the original owner, but move from another state and wash the title of a salvaged car. Also, a car’s geographical background can indicate the likelihood of specific weather related problems, such as cold winters in North Dakota or hot, baking summers in Arizona.

26

SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Market awaits MPC decision

T

he mood in the Equities market was slightly upbeat relative to the previous week, as the index gained on three trading days this week. The amplified sell pressures on the other days however pushed the NSEASI down by 3.68% (as against 13.03% last week) to close the week at 29,034.89pts just as market capitalization settled at NGN9.671trn.

In spite of general market sentiment, PRESCO appreciated by 13.79% to close at the top of the gainers’ table. UACN, CUTIX and BETAGLASS, which closed with respective gains of 10.33%, 8.09% and 7.99% also made the top performers’ list. On the flip side, JBERGER, DANGFLOUR, DIAMOND and GUARANTY recorded the highest losses, with share price declines of -14.48%, -13.88%,-13.54% and 12.85% in that order.

Global oil prices reached new lows during the week as oil prices fell to USD46.59pb owing to continued imbalance in the demand and supply of oil in the global market. In the same vein, the Naira also depreciated by 1.09% during the week. In the fixed income market, NIBOR rates pared WoW by 0.46% while OBB and OVN rates declined by 0.51% and 0.46% respectively.

We opine that the outcome of the MPC meeting scheduled for next week will define the mood in the economy in the coming weeks, as this would significantly shape investors’ perception regarding the risk and return charecteristics of the country’s financial market.

Economic Round-up: Further devaluation by the MPC? The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will hold its first meeting of 2015 following the devaluation of the Naira to NGN168/USD (from NGN155/USD) and 1% increase in monetary policy rate (MPR) at the latest sitting. This meeting, which comes amidst rising global and domestic uncertainties, worsened by heightening political headwinds, will be a major defining point for the nation’s economic outlook for 2015.

The argument on how long the CBN should keep defending the naira emphasizes the need to diversify Nigeria’s revenue base and reduce the overdependence on oil in the medium to long term. With knock-backs on the Reserves from two fronts (Naira defense and lower accretion), continued depletion of the Reserves remain inevitable.

Although we believe this development calls for concerns, we also think the CBN can hold on to its resolve in the near term given that the current level of Reserves (USD34.51) still cover more than five months of import (vs. IMF’s 3month benchmark). However, the apex bank has already noted that its commitment to support the local currency would continue, but not at all costs. Hence, this may imply that the committee may consider holding its ground in the short to medium term while the reserves position remain less discomforting.

We note that the slowdown /shutdown of economic activities in key parts of the North, which coincidentally represent a large chunk of the country’s agricultural base will be a key concern for the MPC as they consider price levels and potential inflationary pressures in 2015.

Also, the upcoming elections and uncertainties regarding political stability and security may trigger further capital flight and by extension continued pressure on the country’s exchange rate.

Whilst we note that macro-economic variables suggest the need for the CBN to tighten further given the current realities, we think the political situation in the country may constrain the MPC from following through with further tightening, most especially in the direction of further devaluation of the Naira. Also, we are of the view that a hike in MPR may be unlikely given that at 13%, the Nigerian rate remains one of the highest in the world even as NBS data continually suggest that inflation rate remains relatively stable despite concerns in the economy.

Fixed Income: Liquidity level temper rates Liquidity in the system was fair in the course of the week, consequently NIBOR and other money market rates pared WoW. NIBOR shed an average 0.46%, while OBB and OVN rates pared by 0.51% and 0.46% respectively to close at 8.42% and 9.17% accordingly. We believe that NIBOR and other money market rates may decline further in the coming week, as TB’s maturities worth a total sum of NGN227.89bn are expected on the 22nd of January, 2015.

Investors’ sentiments favoured the short end of the curve, as average yield on T-bills pared by 0.34% WtD. This, we believe is due to investors’ expectations of a higher yield environment in near-future periods. Our Meri Bond Index which

…as NSEASI declines by 3.68% WoW

up to NGN1.47.

ASHAKACEM fell to NGN20.4 during the week, implying price depreciation of 7.15% WoW. Other laggards for the week were WAPCO, DANGCEM and CCNN with price declines of 5.13%, 3.56% and 1.06% accordingly.

We are of the opinion that the current negative trend in the sector may persist in the weeks to come, as we do not anticipate any positive news that will significantly subside investors’ negative sentiments.

reflects that performance of the bond market declined by 0.54%, largely due to the sell rally on Friday, which brought the average yield to 14.37% for the week.

In the face of continuing pressures, the Naira depreciated 1.09%, as the CBN’s RDAS auctions (USD249.35mn), and IOC sales were not enough to support it. We expect this trend may persist in the short term, as existing pressures are not estimated to vanish momentarily.

Agric. Sector: PRESCO leads with 13.79%.

The Agric. sector remained resilient, ending the week on a mildly positive note, with the MeriAgric index rising by 0.02% despite the negative mood in the market.

PRESCO led the pack with a 13.79% gain to close at NGN29.70. On the other hand, LIVESTOCK lost 3.11% to close at NGN2.18 while OKOMU traded flat.

We anticipate a reduction in the market interplay within the sector in the coming week, dictated by the gloom in the equities market with indications of further oil decline and the heightening insecurity.

Banking Sector: Still under pressure The Banking sector stocks remained under pressure this week, as only 2 stocks advanced, while 12 stocks declined and UNITYBNK stayed flat. This brought the MERI-BANK index’s return to -18.67% YtD, which ranked it as the second worst performing sector on the Nigerian bourse.

UBN (6.48%) and ZENITHBANK (0.30%) were the only gainers for the week, while DIAMONDBNK (13.54%), GUARANTY (12.85%), and FIDELITYBK (10.67%) led the losers’ chart.

Although we believe that expected headwinds have been priced into sector stocks, tickers continue to be pressured by the general negative market and sector sentiments, especially with the MPC meeting on the horizon. In our opinion, there will be no further restrictive measures (i.e. increase in CRR on private or public deposits) placed on the banking system which would prove operationally stifling. We therefore see a level of moderation in the coming week, especially as bargain hunters seek to take advantage of low prices.

Consumer Good Sector: Heavyweights trade at attractive prices The sector’s performance was influenced

by the negative market mood, as most of the heavyweights pushed southwards during the week’s trading session. This was reflected by the NSEFB10 index that closed the week at -3.70% despite two out of five positive trading days.

UACN led the gainers’ chart with +10.33%, joined by 7UP (0.64%) and FLOURMILL (0.73%). On the flipside, DANGFLOUR topped the decliners’ chart with a loss of 13.88%, while DANGSUGAR, UNILEVER, AGLEVENT, GUINNESS, NB trailed with -8.06%, -5.33%, -1.53%, -0.16% and -5.44% WoW in that order.

CADBURY, NNFM, VONO and PREMBREW remained unchanged despite market dynamics.

During the week, Honeywell Flour Mills appointed five new board of directors, who had years of work experience and professional qualifications, as part of the Company’s efforts to strengthen operations in Africa.

We advise position taking in companies with sound fundamentals such as FLOURMILL and UACN which are currently trading at their 5-yr lows.

Healthcare Sector: GLAXOSMITH dips further to NGN40.00 The Healthcare sector continued its losing streak, as the index plunged further by -6.36% for the week to peg the YtD return at -19.62%. Two stocks declined during the week’s trading, one stock advanced, while all other stocks traded flat.

The sector giant (GLAXOSMITH) led the week’s loss, down by 6.52% to settle price at NGN40.00, trailed closely by NEIMETH, which dipped by 5.48% (NGN0.63). In contrast, PHARMADEKO was the only counter that advanced, up by 4.67% to thrust price to NGN2.24.

Although concerns about economic headwinds persist, we believe that the currently low prices present opportunities for investors who have medium to long term investment horizons, based on our fundamental valuations. However, we expect a minimal moderation in the ongoing market upheaval post elections, and therefore preach cautious and strategic position-taking by investors.

Industrial goods: Bearish trend persists The Industrial goods sector continued in the negative zone as the sector’s index declined by 3.69% WoW as against 18.88% in the previous week.

CUTIX was the only stock with positive return for the week, gaining 8.09% to drive share price

Insurance Sector: Wallows amidst weak economic fundamentals The negative sentiment in the insurance space continued in the second trading week of the year, as the sector returned -2.54% WtD. Market breadth (0.25x) favoured decliners as a lone stock appreciated in price against 4 decliners.

CUSTODYINS closed 6.44% up to put current price at NGN3.80 (vs. NGN3.57 in previous week). Contrarily, CONTINSURE rocked the bottom with a 12.75% loss to close at NGN0.89 (vs. NGN1.02 in previous week). NEM, MANSARD and AIICO joined the losers’ chart with respective losses of 11.67%, 6.56% and 2.56%, while all other counters closed flat.

Regency Alliance Insurance Plc notified NSE of the resignation of its chairman and Director Hon. Justice Adolphus Godwin, as a result of enormous state responsibilities saddling him, couple with his advanced age. Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc also announced its intention to raise additional capital c.NGN1.1bn through rights issue. A total of about 2.29bn ordinary shares of NGN0.50 is expected to be issued at NGN0.50 per share for every three ordinary shares to one new ordinary share.

In the light of currently weak fundamentals surrounding the investment environ, we envisage this negative trend might persist in the coming week.

Oil and Gas: Rebounds to positive zone The sector bounced back to the positive territory, recording a 1.59% WoW gain following the significant 6.22% loss it posted in the previous week. However, sector’s breadth stayed in favour of the decliners as 2 stocks appreciated in prices against 3 stocks that declined.

OANDO led the gainers’ chart, returning 6.18% WoW, followed by SEPLAT which grew its price by 3.71%. The marginal increase in SEPLAT may not be unconnected to the fast approaching 19th January deadline of the possible business combination with Afren plc, a Nigerian focused oil and gas company listed on the main market of the London stock exchange. This strategic combination, if finalized, is set to bode well for both companies as synergy of operations is expected to improve initial individual standings.

On the laggards’ list, ETERNA continued its losing streak, compounding its loss for the year by 4.56% as investors’ negative sentiments persisted. Other losers were FO and TOTAL with respective price depreciation of 1.31% and 0.52%.

We foresee a possible reversal in FO’s performance in the coming week against the backdrop of its usual positive investor sentiments. Also, if SEPLAT’s business combination deal materializes by the deadline, we foresee a possible position-taking by investors in the coming week.

However, we preach cautious trading in the sector given its high volatility.

Services Sector: NAHCO closed higher with 2.46% as sole gainer The services sector ended the week on a depressed note, with the MERISER index declining by -1.42%. Sector breadth was 0.13x as one stock appreciated against eight stocks that declined.

NAHCO surpassed other gainers in the sector with 2.46% to close at NGN5.00. Contrariwise, CAVERTON outdid other losers, down by 9.64% to close at NGN3.00. Other losers were TRANSEXPR, REDSTAREX, RTBRISCOE, TRANSCORP, ABCTRANS, AIRSERVICE, and IKEJAHOTEL with respective losses of 8.93%, 5.00%, 4.55%, 3.87%, 3.77%, 2.94%, and 2.82% while others traded flat.

In another development, TRANSCORP HOTEL PLC, the hospitality arm of the TRANSCORP group listed its shares on the Nigerian bourse at a market price of NGN10.00.

We anticipate that declining demand (especially from foreign investors) may continue, taking into cognizance the sliding global oil prices, the impending February 14th general elections, as well as the market’s expectations of outcome of the MPC meeting expected during the coming week.

27

JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

SundayBusiness

In pursuit of a successful 2015 (3) Success Nuggets Victor Okwudiri 08037674300 (SMS only)

L

ast week, we identified red alerts that could constitute setbacks to our actualisation of a successful 2015.

We identified the following: n Past failures and ugly experiences; and Self-imposed limitations There is one more I want to share with you today. So, the list continues. n Past Achievements As much as one’s past failures can deter him or her from making further attempts at success, one’s past achievements can constitute a hindrance to success in the present and in future. How? While past failures can discourage, past success can make one complacent; and complacency is a sure way to redundancy.

I’d like to discuss this ‘red alert’ of past achievements in three points, as follows: n There is always something better.

Friend, before you feel too comfortable in your achievements, I advise you to ‘travel and see’.

What you feel is unprecedented in your locality, could be what

someone somewhere has achieved and surpassed long ago.

Undue satisfaction with your achievements can lead to early REtirement. To arrive too soon is to arrive too smalL. In any case, those who feel they have arrived stop travelling (i.e. stop making efforts to improve). To remain local is to refuse to go global.

To be satisfied with ‘good’ is to cut off from the best.

The world has witnessed the emergence of great footballers, who at various times were referred to as the best. However, with the emergence of Lionel Messi, it seems some of those football legends did not do so much.

Friend, if you are good, be better until you become the best. Even when you become ‘the best,’ know that there is a potential better than what you call your best per time.

It is true that half a loaf is better than none, but I also want you to reason that ‘full bread’ is in turn better than half a loaf. So, why settle for the socalled half a loaf when you can have it in full?

Friend, one charge I have for you this 2015 is this: refuse to settle for less. n An achievement does not necessarily make one successful: What makes one successful is not an achievement, but being an achiever. The highest an achievement can get anyone is a historical reference as a ‘one-time’ this or a former that, and it can really be painful living in past glory.

Friend, wake up!

n Irrelevance sets in when one does

not change with the times: What we

call irrelevance is simply a distance between change and time. If one’s change does not correspond with the lawful demands of the times, he or she becomes irrelevant. Some instances will suffice - In the wake of electronic mails, not many remember Nipost. In fact, some children born in this ‘internet age’ may not even know of the existence of a parastatal called Nipost. With the advent of computers, the typewriter has lost its relevance.

I don’t know if I should say this, but it does appear that with the concept of ‘animations’ in video technology, the demand for actors may reduce in the not-so-distant future. n Nature abhors inaction: Have you noticed that if you lock up a house and desert it, you will find dust or cobwebs in it when you return? Has it occurred to you that if you leave a car untouched for so long, it may develop a fault?

Friend, this is not a year to fold your arms and celebrate achievements of the past. Achieve more this year. Do new things. Conquer new grounds.

Take new territories. Expand your horizon.

A limb not used becomes weak. Similarly, a potential not used dries up. A mind not exercised becomes dull.

In conclusion, permit me to state that 2015 has 365 days like every year but leap years. Each day in 2015 has 24 hours like other years. What will make the difference in 2015 is what you do or refuse to do.

Welcome to a successful year.

You will succeed.

Moving forward The Big Picture Julian Atufunwa 08032810713 (SMS only)

L

ast week, we discussed issues affecting us as individuals and mostly as a nation. We discussed the hierarchical distance between the leaders and the led and did appeal that it’s imperative we all vote as citizens.

Deep within, I know that if we change leaders and don’t change then perspective of leadership, things will remain the same. This is because leadership is the product of our culture, values and belief system.

How can we right our wrongs n Faith in Yourself: Many have asked: What can one person out of the 170 million Nigerians possibly do to effect change in our country? My answer is; remember people like Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, our own Dora Akunyili, my hero John Ogu, Sam Adeyemi, etc. These were heroes of our time. Who is a hero? Coach Robinson Anthony defines it thus: “A hero is a person who courageously contributes under even the most trying circumstances; a hero is an individual who acts selflessly and demands more from himself than others would expect; a hero is a man or woman who defies adversity by doing what is right in spite of fear; a hero is someone who

n

n n

n

n

lives by the truth of his/her conviction; are they perfect human? NO! But in their weaknesses, they live true to their calling. So, I urge you never to de-value yourself because you have all it takes to be heroic. Let’s stand for the homeless, relieve the oppressed, open your mouth for the dumb, judge righteously, plead the cause of the poor and needy and reach down to those in ghettos and slums and lend a helping hand.

that mean a lot. Courtesy is important.

Say ‘thank you;’ and ‘please.’ Human beings are created in God’s image and should be treated with respect. n Government should help the private sector to succeed: The process of registering businesses should be readdressed. n Create a sense of urgency: We should do something now. Now is the time for development.

Religion: Religion should be a catalyst for positive change in our society.

Whatever people get on the platform of religion sinks deeper and stays longer with them. Bishop John Ogu in his book titled ‘Religious Crisis: Who is to be Blamed?’ said that the crisis in Nigeria has its root in the political interpretation of the Bible and Quran. We should not spend precious time and energy looking for mistakes in both books. We should not also highlight such areas so much as to instigate people against their compatriots in the name of ‘holy wars’ and ‘holy killings.’ Everyone should spend time to read these books, so as not to be manipulated.

Notion of justice: There should be emphasis on consequences of actions.

The value of work: People who work hard should be rewarded. What you celebrate a child for is what he/she will do again and again. Human nature craves for recognition, even more than money.

Education is critical: Education produces innovators that create solutions to problems. Ignorance produces wrong values and negative attitudes that open people up for deception. If we have educated people it will be difficult to fool them.

Lesser virtues: There are small things

Jewish wisdom for success The Jews are one of the world’s wealthiest people; they have more than 10 per cent of the fortune list of the CEOs of the 500 largest corporations in the world.

Also, they have 30% of all the Nobel Prize winners. They are professionals in Medicine, Law and Finance. What are they doing right? n They understand that real wealth is

portable: (knowledge is wealth). Jews don’t joke with education; a Jew will not abandon schooling for a career in music or football. n Take care of your own and they will take care of you: Jews have a pool of funds set aside to help individuals succeed. n Successful people are professionals and entrepreneurs: Entrepreneurship is important to the economic development of any nation. n Develop verbal confidence: We as a people should learn to say our mind and express our ideas in a friendly, clear, humble, and concise manner. n Be selectively extravagant and prudently frugal: Spend more on investment and acquisition of assets. n Celebrate individuality n Motivate yourself to be the best you can be.

Unresolved issues over Ibaka Deep Seaport CO NTINUED F R O M PAGE 24

the BPP to use his good office to look into the issues raised with a view to preventing the unfair procurement of Okoja’s concept/project.

Okoja’s company, Mercury has also written to the Minister of Transport and the Secretary to the Federal Government of the Federation, to intervene in the issue, failing which his company will go to court.

It was gathered that unless the issue is amicably resolved, Okoja plans to go to court with other aggrieved persons, institutions and the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) against NPA and Akwa Ibom State.

In a letter to the Transport Minister dated February 6, 2012, Mr. Austin Udebu of Mercury Maritime Concession gave graphic details of the matter.

Udebu wrote: “While in Nigeria Institute of Police and Strategy Studies (NIPSS) KuruJos undergoing a Senior Executive Staff Course in 1992-1993, the title of his thesis was ‘Developing Maritime Strategy for Nigeria’, a thesis that focused on ports development in Nigeria.

“The later perfection of this thesis whose seed was sown in the four walls of NIPSS culminated in a paper written by R/Admiral AOS Okoja (rtd) (our chairman) in 2007 to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua captioned ‘Port Development in Nigeria and the Proposed Lagos Mega City Nexus – A case for the Development of Bonny/Ifoko Port Complex’.

“This paper was referred to the Minister, Federal Minister of Transport by the presidency and the Senate President for necessary action.

“Consequently, he was invited by the ministry and the NPA for further discussion.

“The first round of discussions with the FMT consisted of three separate meetings in which he was accompanied by members of our group; one was presided by an

acting permanent secretary and the two others by top functionaries of the ministry.

“At these meetings, he made use of hydrographic charts and maps to defend the said paper. At the conclusion of these meetings, he was advised to formalise the registration of a company on whose platform our company was subsequently invited to make a formal presentation, first to NPA on the Tuesday, September 8, 2009 and thereafter to other federal government functionaries; a successful presentation adjudged as masterpiece.

“Our group, Mercury Maritime Concession Company further had a successful presentation made to the minister on October 22, 2009. Following this success, FMT referred our company to the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) wherein we were invited again to make a further presentation including one other appearance.

“Since July, 2010 to date, the forward movement of this project has been frustrated by series of rigmarole on the part of the FMT and its functionaries, NPA. Insisting that this was a clear case of theft of a subject developed through the seed of a research/study programme, he appealed to the minister to resolve the matter to avoid it becoming a subject of litigation.

Not yet done, information emanated again that the proposed Ibaka deep sea port had been relocated to Ibeno Local Government Area, while the name has been changed to Ibom from Ibaka.

Sunday Telegraph gathered that the project analysis done by a foreign consultant and transaction advisers, FELAC Concept and Marine and Transport Business Solutions, MTBS, of Netherlands, showed that the port project would not be commercially viable if sited at Ibaka due to its long distance from the sea.

28

JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

SundayBusiness/Features

Looming austerity measures and Nigeria’s economic survival Foreign Exchange Outflow (FEO) amounted to $1 1.80bn, showing a decline of 7.8 and 6.8 per cent below the levels in the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2013. The fall was attributed to the decline in DAS utilisation and other official payments

commodity prices, especially oil, cause revEmefiele

A

Paul Ogbuokiri part from the free fall of the naira against the dollar and other major foreign currencies since prices of crude oil in the international market slumped, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee after its last meeting of 2014 announced an increase in the monetary policy rate (MPR) from 12 per cent to 13 per cent and increased the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) from 15 per cent to 20 per cent. For private sector funds, the CBN retained CRR for the public sector funds at 75 per cent.

The apex bank further moved the exchange rate of the naira from N155 to N168 a dollar.

The implications of these measures are an increase in interest rate, inflation and devaluation of the naira. Of major significance is the devaluation of the naira. However the gap between that of the official rate and unofficial market (where most Nigerians buy from) has continued to widen. On Thursday, it rose to 185.60 to one dollar.

Managing Director of Benhaz Bureau De Change, Alhaji Umar Azeez, said demand on dollar went down in the period towards Christmas, attributing it to the return of Nigerians living abroad and low business. He said as the year progresses, traders will start demanding dollars to import goods.

He said, “We expect the rate to go up as the days go by unless CBN intervenes.”

Information sourced from the CBN website showed that Nigeria’s annual inflation edged up to eight per cent in December 2014 from 7.9 per cent in November, “as food prices increased for the first time in four months. Yet, the inflation rate has remained in single digits for two years. The inflation rate has jumped to 8.6 per cent January 2015.”

The drastic reduction of the price of oil in the international market, according to Financial Derivatives Company in a recent publication, will bring about a collapse of

enue shrink, declining capital inflows into the economy, de-accumulation of foreign reserves and pressure on the exchange rate, limited foreign trade finances for the banks, capital meltdown and divestment by foreign investors.

At his confirmation hearing before the Senate on March 26, 2014, CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, had promised not to devalue the naira, saying it would cause untold hardship for many Nigerians. He said such an action would increase the rate of unemployment in the country and cause inflation. He based his argument on the fact that Nigeria is mainly an import-dependent economy.

In his inaugural address on June 5, two days after assuming office, Emefiele had also said that as part of his agenda, the exchange rate policy’s key goal would be to maintain stability. In view of the high import-dependent nature of the economy and significant exchange rate pass-through, a systematic depreciation of the naira would literarily translate to considerable inflationary pressure, with concomitant effect on macroeconomic stability.

He promised that his management would continue to focus on maintaining exchange rate stability and preserving the value of the domestic currency by sustaining the managed float regime in the management of the exchange rate; as this would allow it intervene when necessary to offset pressures on the exchange rate. He said in order to support this strategy, the CBN would strive to build up and maintain a healthy external reserves position and ensure external balance.

This strategy has collapsed under the pressure of dwindling revenue from oil.

Emefiele had said: “There is no doubt that reducing the interest rate and maintaining the exchange rate are very daunting twin goals. However, the CBN will work assiduously with all stakeholders to device countervailing measures that would ensure that these goals are mutually achieved.”

President of the Institute of Chartered Ac-

countants of Nigeria, Mr. Chidi Ajaegbu, said that when he made the pledge, Emefiele obviously did not envisage that the price of oil would fall so rapidly to $45 per barrel in less than six months. He said the financial sector regulatory bodies will continue to engineer policies in response to economic environment.

Meanwhile, CBN said in a statement on its website, titled, ‘Economic Report Third Quarter 2014,’ the foreign exchange flows provisional data indicated that inflow through the CBN in the third quarter of 2014 amounted to $13.09bn, representing an increase of 3.4 and 1 0.4 per cent above the levels in the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2013.

“Foreign Exchange Outflow (FEO) amounted to $1 1.80bn, showing a decline of 7.8 and 6.8 per cent below the levels in the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2013. The fall was attributed to the decline in DAS utilisation and other official payments. The development resulted in a net inflow of $1.29bn, compared with $0.14bn and $0.81bn recorded in the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2013, respectively,” the release reads.

Prof. Pat Utomi of the Lagos Business School had argued that both the austerity package announced by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as well as the devaluation of the naira by the CBN, are panic measures that are most likely to be counter-productive. This is because the Nigerian economy has not fallen into a state of recession, neither is the global economy in a state warranting such extreme measures.

The arguments are based on the fact that the pattern of budgetary expenditures over the years has been the source of slow real growth in the economy.

In the summary analysis of the 2014 economic activities in Nigeria, released by the CBN, provisional data indicated that growth in key monetary aggregate was moderate in the third quarter of 2014. Over the level at the end of the preceding quarter, broad money supply, (M2), grew by 4.0 per cent, compared with 1.5 per cent at the end of the preceding quarter.

The development relative to the preceding quarter reflected, largely, the growth of 7.2 per cent in domestic credit (net) which more than offset the effects of the 1.1 and 5.3 per cent decline in foreign assets net and other assets net of the banking system, respectively, during the review quarter.

Available data indicated that banks’ deposit and lending rates trended downward in the third quarter; the spread between the weighted average term deposit and maximum lending rates widened by 0.26 percentage point to 17.4 per cent in the review quarter.

The margin between the average savings deposit and the maximum lending rates, however, narrowed by 0.12 percentage point to 22. 28 per cent, while weighted average inter-bank call rate rose by 0.53 percentage point to 1 1.12 per cent in the third quarter of 201 4, reflecting the liquidity condition in the inter-bank funds market.

Available data indicated that developments in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) were mixed during the third quarter of 2014. Total federally - collected revenue stood at N 2, 6 85.08trn, representing an increase of 2.7 per cent above the receipts in the second quarter of 201 4, but declined by 1.2 per cent below the proportionate quarterly budgeted estimate.

At N1, 7 23.11trn, oil receipts, which constituted 64.2 per cent of the total, fell below the proportionate budget estimate and the level in the preceding quarter by 3.8 and 4.0 per cent, respectively. The fall in oil receipts was attributed, largely, to a decrease in crude oil and gas exports during the review quarter.

Non-oil receipts, at N 961.98bn, were higher than the budget estimate and the receipts in the preceding quarter by 3.7 and 17.6 per cent, respectively, while Federal Government retained revenue was N92 4. 67bn and total expenditure was N971.07bn.

If the devaluation aims to meet a certain exchange rate target, it may be inappropriate for the economy, because it will inexorably lead to a decline in the standard of living of the people. The effects of inflation further depend on a factor such as spare capacity in the economy. Nigeria has no spare capacity in any known product, except through imported goods.

Further depreciation of the naira will inevitably see its market value fall against other currencies. The economic effects of a lower pound take time to manifest – economists say that there are time lags between a shift in the exchange rate and changes in, for example, inflation and the balance of payments.

Responding to Nigeria’s fiscal and monetary response to the decline in global oil prices, the IMF chief mission in Nigeria, Gene Leon, said, “In a combination of actions, most recently the communiqué after the Central Bank of Nigeria’s monetary policy committee meeting of November 24-25, the authorities have announced a set of policies aimed at mitigating the impact of the recent significant fall in global oil prices on the economy.

“These include: adjusting the exchange rate, resubmitting the medium term expenditure framework to the National Assembly with proposed tax and expenditure measures to achieve the deficit target consistent with a lower budget oil price, and tightening monetary policy. “ “We are supportive of and welcome these actions, which we view as complementary and moving in the right direction.

“Of course, the global situation remains fluid and the key issue is being ready to manage downside risks and for the authorities to be prepared, based on assessments of credible scenarios, to consider additional measures, as necessary.

29

JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

World / News

Entrepreneurs demand release of N213bn power fund

A

Chijioke Iremeka bout two months after the Central Bank of Nigeria signed an agreement with players in the power sector under the Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility, a group of entrepreneurs has alleged that the apex bank has yet to disburse the fund to the operators.

Under the auspices of Young Entrepreneurs Association, the group said the CBN, which promised to disburse the funds through Deposit Money Banks from the first week of January 2015, has not disbursed it, and urged it to expedite action for the policy not to go the ways of others in the country.

Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the association, held in Lagos recently, the President of the Association, Mr. Obiora Chukwunulu, said Nigeria’s industrialisation is dependent on regular power supply, adding that Nigerians are waiting earnestly for the disbursement of the N213bn fund.

“The major problem with the country’s economic development is the lack of power supply. In the wake of the free fall of naira and oil prices, there is the need for the government to disburse the fund so that electricity would be fixed. This would enable investors to divest from the oil sector to the non-oil sector to enable the country to grow,” he said.

Chukwunulu described the fall in oil price as an added advantage to the country’s quest for diversification, but warned that increases revenue in industrial and other sectors would not thrive in the midst of incessant outages.

“Industrialisation of Nigeria is highly dependent on the availability of power supply in the country. For Nigeria to work optimally, there has to be, at least, 12 hours non-stop power supply. Most heavy machines work

at their best when they have been heated up for like three hours non-stop, and they park up when there is fluctuation in power supply.

“In most cases, when you are on the production line and there is an outage, you have lost millions of naira. In the media industry, when CDs are being produced and there is an outage, the whole CDs in that process have gone bad and that is why most people resort to generators during such expensive processes,” he added.

However, the Managing Director of a digital publishing firm, E-Scheduler Nigeria Limited, Mr. Billy Jack, who is also the association’s secretary said, “With the

A

58-year-old Rafiu Ajao has won N1 million in the ongoing Glo N120m Overload Promo even as he was overwhelmed by tears of joy after collecting the cheque.

The elated Ajao could not hold his joy as he screamed, tears running down his cheeks: “Globacom has changed my life. Glo is the king of telecommunications in Nigeria. I will spend the one million naira to bring my dream of building a house to reality.” Before other winners, Globacom officials, Glo ambassadors and the media, Ajao, garbed in a white longsleeve shirt atop a brown trouser, rolled his six feet frame on the floor, thanking the national telecoms operator for making more Nigerians millionaire. He did not stop at this drama.

He went on further to smash the SIM card of another network provider, declaring that for him, “it is only Glo network from now on.”

Ajao is among the 20 lucky subscribers, who won one million naira each in the ongoing N120m Glo Overload promotion in the first phase of the cheque presentation ceremony held at the Mike Adenuga Towers, in Lagos on Wednesday.

Among the winners of this first batch of the promo are Mustapha

nels through which the power intervention facility would be disbursed.

He noted that the occasion was a bold step for the banking sector in supporting government’s commitments towards bringing stability to the critical sector.

He said the support provided by the DMBs could not be quantified as they were the major creditors of the project.

The CBN boss, who recognised the support of the DMBs to the power generation companies (GENCOs) and distribution companies (DISCOs), said the facility became necessary in view of the need for investors to clear legacy debts as well as make the sector economically viable.

L-R: General Manager, Health, Safety and Environment, Nigerian Ports Authority, Mr. T.O Talabi; Executive Director Marine and Operations, NPA, Mr David Omonibeke; the Representative of Tincan Island Port Manager, Mr. Samuel Odewole and Regional Manager West, African Circle, Mrs Oyenike Shobowale at the commissioning of gabage trucks at Tincan Island Port....on Thursday

58-yr-old wins N1m in Glo promo, weeps Kunle Azeez

growth rate of 69.0 per cent in non oil sector in the last quarter of 2014, it shows that Nigeria could do a lot without oil but we need to place our priorities right. We have serious distraction in the area of election and that shouldn’t mar our vision for economic development.”

He advised that the resources needed for the project should not be diverted to political campaigns, warning that this will negatively affect the economy after the elections.

CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, had on Monday, December 22, 2014 in Abuja, said a recent agreement entered into with DMBs to fund the power sector, was necessary because they are the chan-

Adebayo, Oluwatosin Alade, Kafayat Odusile, Abimbola Oderemi, Adeshina Adebisi, Bamidele Toyin, and Obembe Olasope. Others are Opeyemi Orelaja, Olatunbosun Osungboye, Toyin Adeshina and Oyinlola Alaka.

Also present to collect their cheques were Aiyejimi Rukayat, Gbemisola Ero, Rashidat Sosanya and Prince Eguche Anthony. Two of the winners could not be present to collect their cheques.

Globacom said that the remaining 100 winners will be presented with their cheques at events scheduled to hold at some major cities across the country within the next few weeks.

Egbuche Anthony, another winner, said “from today I am a Glo ambassador. I have asked all my family members, extended and nuclear, to join the Glo network and I am buying 25 SIM packs immediately to make this happen.”

Presenting the cash prize of N1 million to each of the winners who emerged in the first phase of the promo, in the presence of other officials, Globacom’s Sales Director, Mr. Kenneth Hall said, “Globacom is all about sharing happiness, exciting and empowering our people,” adding that the presentation is part of the several ways the company has empowered its subscribers.

GT Bank wins UK award G uaranty Trust Bank Plc. has been awarded ‘Best Corporate Governance, Africa’, for the Financial Services category by the Ethical Boardroom Magazine UK. The ‘Corporate Governance Award’ organized by Ethical Boardroom magazine recognizes outstanding companies who have exhibited exceptional leadership in the area of governance and professional ethics to ensure protection and long-term value for all their stakeholders.

The award is an acknowledgement of the bank’s strong corporate governance practices, commitment to high standards of ethical leadership and compliance with regulatory standards.

A statement on the award quoted GT Bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Segun Agbaje, “GTBank has built a reputable institution which consistently adopts, implements and applies international best practices in corporate governance, service delivery and value creation for all its stakeholders.

“We are delighted to receive this award which affirms GT-

Bank’s position as a one of the leading Banks in Africa whilst also reiterating and confirming our commitment to ethics, professionalism, integrity, quality service delivery, innovation and internationally accepted corporate governance standards.”

GTBank was the first Nigerian bank to be awarded an ISO 9001: 2000 certification by the International Standards Organisation and the first to adopt the IFRS reporting format. The bank has the best risk category rating assigned to any Nigerian bank by both local and international rating agencies (BB- by Standard & Poor’s and B+ by Fitch Rating), which is extremely compliant with International best practice and standards.

The bank ensures compliance with the Code of Corporate Governance for Public Companies issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (‘the SEC Code’), the Code of Corporate Governance for Banks in Nigeria, Post Consolidation issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (‘the CBN Code’), as well as disclosure requirements under the Disclosure and Trans-

parency Rules of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the United Kingdom, which are applicable to non-UK companies with GDRs listed on the London Stock Exchange. In addition to the Code of Corporate Governance, GTBank promotes the company’s core values to its employees through its Code of Professional Conduct and an Ethics Policy which regulates employee relations with internal and external parties.

GTBank has received several international and national awards from reputable organizations for its exceptional financial performance, innovation and excellent customer service delivery. Some of the awards received in 2014 include; the 2014 African Bank of the Year

by African Banker, the 2014 Best Bank in Africa and Best Bank in Nigeria by Euromoney Magazine, 2014 Best Bank in Nigeria award by The Banker, 2014 Best Commercial Bank and Best Corporate Bank in Nigeria by Inte rnational Finance Magazine and 2014 Bank of the Year award by BusinessDay.

30

SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Journalism at its best l Indepth

l UnbIased

l CreatIve

Read Sanctity Of Truth

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Sanctity Of Truth

Sanctity Of Truth

Nigeria’s most authoritative newspapers in politics and business

Available in all 36 states and Abuja.

Ask your vendor for a copy today.

SUNDAY

31

Politics SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015

The Sunday Interview

Gbonigi: How I learnt of Abacha’s plan to kill me p.32-33

Interview

I will focus on health, industrialisation, says Okowa p.35

Chief Kayode Towoju

Why I quit active politics -Virgy Etiaba p.37

Gbemisola Saraki

The late Saraki

Two years after: What we miss about Olooye Saraki –Followers BIODUN OYELEYE captures the feeling of loss among the followers of the late strongman of Kwara politics, Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki, as the state gears up for the February elections

I

Biyi Adegoroye biyi.fire@yahoo.com 08033024007 © Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

f you pass by the house of the late strongman of Kwara politics, Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki aka Baba Oloye, along Ilofa Road, GRA, Ilorin on an ordinary day, there is nothing significant to indicate it was the home of the kingmaker. There has never been anything spectacular about the building from the outside anyway, even after much reworking by his children. Perhaps the only thing that could draw attention to the building is its white paint because others along the street are painted in other colours.

So a stranger can easily drive by without knowing he or she had just passed the home of Olusola Saraki, ‘Olooye’, ‘strongman of Kwara politics’, ‘Waziri of Ilorin’ ‘Leader’ of his people, and ‘kingmaker’ of his state. Of course, you can hail a taxi and tell the driver to take you to the home of Saraki, who died on November 12, 2012. He would oblige but would get the feeling that you are a stranger. This is because no one in Ilorin says he or she is going to Saraki’s house. No, you say, ‘take me to Ile Loke’. And he would ask you, ‘so Saraki has come?’

‘Ile Loke’ is one of the legacies left behind by the late politician, who died on November 11, 2012 at the age of 79. On any day, Ile Loke is like any ordinary, dry place in the GRA. But anytime Baba Oloye was home, it became a Mecca of sort.

You would hardly have space to go through the street, whether you were driving a car or walking on foot. Saraki, popularly called ‘Olooye’ by his people was a crowd puller.

‘Ile Loke’ was the meeting point for his political activities; it was the venue where he made known his decisions on whom his supporters should support. It was where he met the high and mighty of society who came to share thoughts with him on Nigerian politics. In his days, there was also ‘Olorunsogo’, a vast premises adjacent to Geri Alimi Roundabout at the frontier of the city on the way from Ogbomoso where he also used to meet a larger number of people.

While he was alive, there were two major sections in Ile Loke - there was the Great Hall which faced his personal office directly and where, like the name implies, key decisions about the politics of Kwara State, which once extended as far as Kogi and some part of present-day Niger state, were taken. Major leaders of his group usually met with him in the Great Hall or if it was a caucus, inside the office. There was also a big, open space within the building where others would wait to know the outcome of the meeting while they were served food and drinks.

Today, the Great Hall is still there and still serves the same purpose. But there is no space to

meet inside the house again. Instead there is ‘Ile Arugbo,’ outside the house on the other side of the road where followers of the Saraki dynasty now converge to hear decisions by their new leader, ex-Governor Bukola Saraki. Also there are no meetings at Olorunsogo anymore. Rather, Saraki’s followers converge on Mandate Building, the political campaign office of Senator Saraki, which opened in 2003 and has much bigger space than the Olorunsogo premises.

Two years and a few months after his death, not much has changed in terms of activities at the ‘Ile Loke’ home of the Sarakis. Apart from some members of the political family who decided to stay in the Peoples Democratic Party when Bukola opted to join the All Progressives Congress, and therefore no longer throng the place, nothing has really changed. But just as well, there are those who were not members of ‘Ile Loke’ before but who are now adherents.

Today, at ‘Ile Loke,’ there is still the usual singing and dancing by different artistes. There are still the various youth groups, with all their political frolicking. The women are still there in their large numbers with their various political songs. Interestingly, the sharing and giving which Olooye made the foundation of his political philosophy, CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

32

SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015

The Sunda

Gboni I lea Abach to ki

Pioneer Bishop of Church of Diocese, Rev. Emmanuel Bol Bishop’ during the heady day In this interview with BABAT on the February elections an

Gbonigi You were prominent when you were in trenches with pro-democracy activists. Now we have democracy. What informed your decision to campaign for the return of democracy then?

One thing that informed my decision then was the word of God. You know democracy and justice are together. You cannot separate justice from democracy. God has a number of attributes; God is love, just, righteous, merciful and so on. Justice is one of the most important attributes of God. God’s command is that we human beings should be just and in the way relate with one another.

God hates injustice. Democracy means that power belongs to the people and the common people now choose one person to be their representative, either as a councillor in the local government or as a representative in the House of Assembly in the state or House of Representatives or the Senate. Politicians are meant to represent the people; they ought to see themselves as representatives of the people. They ought to see themselves as the people who took the power that belongs to the people. They hold the power in trust for the people. They should use the power to provide basic necessities for all of us. They should see themselves like that and use what people commit to their care carefully and faithfully, to make sure that everybody has his or her own share in the common property.

Considering what has been happening since the return of democracy, do you have any regret?

I have no regret, I only have sorrow. There cannot be regret when you are helped by the Holy Spirit to do God’s will. Working for democracy, working to see that democracy was properly entrenched in this country was doing God’s work

and there cannot be any regret about that. During the time of Gen. Sani Abacha, they wanted to kill me. Some members of my church, who were in SSS, came to me and begged me to stop writing and talking. Then I said, “Well, you don’t have to make your appeal to me; make your appeal to God. Tell God not to send me any errand because as long as He sends me, I must go. I cannot disobey God, if he says I should go and tell people this I will go. If He says this is what I want to you to write in your sermon and tell people that is what I will write. I just have to deliver God’s message, so if you want me not to deliver God’s message, tell God not to give me any message.”

They knew what I was saying; that even if it meant death, I was ready to die.

They said why don’t you have security? I said people know me. If they want to kill me, they can come into my house to kill me. Even when I am in my car or walking, they can see me and kill me. I told them Mrs. Indira Ghandi was killed by her bodyguard. I said it is God’s security and protection that is sure, not man’s. As long as God has a job for me, He will not allow them to kill me. But if I have finished doing His work and He wants me to come back to Him, He will allow them to kill me. I was not killed. One thing about that time was that I was never afraid. I didn’t realise this until later. When the police and SSS sent for me, I was only concerned about my wife. I called and counseled her that all will be well. Justice belongs to God and all Christians must fight for justice.

And those of us who are called to lead the church must be seen as fighting for justice because justice is the will of God. You said you have sorrow, what brought about

that?

I have sorrow because majority of the politicians with whom I worked to see that democracy was brought in to replace the military system, unfortunately when they got power, they became selfish. They have been so greedy, greedy for position and possessions. They are greedy for money and wealth to the extent that they even kill one another. They send hired assassins to go and kill fellow politicians because of money; not because they want to serve the people. The purpose of going to politics is to go and serve, serve the people but many politicians in Nigeria go into politics to enrich themselves, not to serve the people.

They go there to drain the people and serve themselves. Instead of using the money for the development of the country, they put everything into their pockets, they take part of the money to their banks abroad and the people suffer; and the suffering becomes much that people are dying.

Those that ought not to have died are dying, dying of hunger and so on. That gives me sorrow.

Another round of elections is around the corner.

Do you think Nigeria will survive after this year’s election?

By the grace of God, Nigeria will survive. Some politicians came to see one politician in Akure and he thought that they should see me; but I was sleeping. Later he called me and as we were talking, he told me why he brought them to me.

He said they would come back to see me. While we were talking, he said they were praying that God should spare my life so that I can continue this crusade - the crusade for justice and peace in Nigeria. Among other things, he said that we are now preparing for elections but some people

are preparing for it as if they are preparing for war. That is a pity and that is why I have sorrow, because that ought not be if all of them are going there to serve the people.

We are now hearing that some people from the North under the leadership of Arewa Consultative Forum are threatening that if anybody votes for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan in the North, they will kill him and burn down his house. Why should that be? That is not democracy. Democracy is the freedom given to everybody to exercise his or her right and that is worldwide. It is a pity and the work of the devil. When people leave themselves to be used by the devil, they become very proud, arrogant, selfish, greedy for power and for material things. They pursue all these things, not minding what they do to other people in order to get what they want to get. They kill other people in order to get what they want and that is why many of them are now preparing for the elections as if they are preparing for war.

By the grace of God, Nigeria will survive. God is the creator of the world, not human beings.

Nigeria is part of the world created by God. Therefore, I am sure that God is the creator of Nigeria. God is our owner not these politicians who are treating us the way they are treating us.

They are not our owner, God is our owner. God has been so patient, giving them time to repent, but when God now realises that these people are not going to repent, they are going to continue to be unjust with the power given to them in trust by the people leading to the suffering of the people, God will rise up and intervene and deliver His people from these selfish, greedy, wicked, arrogant and heartless politicians. Many of them are heartless and they have no mercy. If they do,

33

5 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

ay Interview

igi: How arnt of ha’s plan ill me

Nigeria (Anglican Communion) Akure lanle Gbonigi, was known as ‘NADECO ys of Gen. Sani Abacha’s dictatorship.

TOPE OKEOWO, the fiery cleric speaks nd the Boko Haram insurgency

They are greedy for money and wealth to the extent that they even kill one another sending hired assassins to go and kill fellow politicians because of money not because they want to serve the people they will not be seeing the people they call their own suffering like this in poverty and continue to live and behave like this. How can anybody in this country be in politics and be taking home more than N20 million per month in this kind of economy when we have millions of able young graduates who are ready to work but have no job to do? They take care of their own children and send them abroad but they only employed those at home in Nigeria as thugs. God will not allow such sins to continue and I am now convinced that the time has now come that God will rise up and say, “Enough is enough, you have exploited my people more than enough and you make many of them to die unnecessarily.” God is going to rescue His people from these proud, arrogant, selfish and greedy politicians. You will see how He will do it. I don’t know but He is

going to do it.

We have two major leading candidates vying for the presidential election. If you are to vote, whom do you think Nigeria deserves this time around?

Democracy dictates that I should not say that.

I should not announce to the whole world that I will vote for a particular candidate because if I answer your question directly, I have announced to the world the candidate I am going to vote for.

People will say: Bishop Gbonigi will vote so and so because he has said it to the press and it has been published. I shouldn’t do that. Again, as a leader of the church, my calling dictates that I should not do that, because members of my church belong to different political parties. So I should not be partial. I am the shepherd of all of them; I should not belong to any political party.

If I now belong to any political party, I am committing a sin. So I cannot say that if I should vote today, I will vote for so and so.

What are the qualifications that people should look for in the people they want to vote for?

Our people should look at the politicians that are asking for their votes critically. The first thing they should have in mind before they vote for any candidate is whether he or she is in politics to serve the people and not to get things for himself or herself. They always promise heaven and earth while seeking for votes. They should see that judging by this person’s antecedents and life and the way he or she has been doing politics, if he or she is out to serve, to cater to the needs of the people and not to go there to steal. That’s the first thing to look out for. And there are other

moral qualifications like humility, care and love.

Does he care about what is happening to other people? Does he love and demonstrate his love to the people by helping them?

There is Boko Haram insurgency in the North, kidnapping in the South-East and other violent crimes. What do you think government should do to stop these problems?

What they should do first is to make sure that they themselves are neutral and make sure they are not involved. Because we are hearing as a rumour that some of them know about Boko Haram and some of them are financing them secretly.

They should not get involved, because if they are involved, the people that are doing this horrible thing will not stop it. They should be completely neutral; only then will they be able to stop it. At the same time, they can encourage the military - the Army, Air Force, Police and the rest of them - so that they can comfortably confront those who have made killing and terrorism their profession. They should equip them because nobody wants to die.

Our economy is in danger. Oil price is dropping, making the naira to depreciate. Do you have any advice for government on that?

We are already in a big problem because we have mismanaged the economy. We have been spending too much money on paying allowances, salaries, buying cars for the people who are in political office. When you look at the budget of the Federal Government and you see what is budgeted for overhead, you will see that we have been spending much on few people to whom the majority has given their mandate to provide basic necessities of life for them. So we have mismanaged the economy and the Federal Government should look at that. How do you expect young ones to listen to government, even workers under the auspices of NLC/TUC when they want to go on strike and say there is no money? There is no money but you have money to pay people in the Senate and House of Representatives so much money while some people cannot get a kobo? Is that justice? So, the government should look into that seriously.

We have been crying for so too much on overdependence on oil that we should diversify our economy; that our economic mainstay in Nigeria should be agriculture. We have been saying this for so long that we should not depend on petroleum alone. We should be using money realised from petroleum to strengthen our agriculture, so that our main source of income will be agriculture.

And then industry, they have not been doing so; those that they gave the money to build it put the money in their pockets. Now that the source of the money they’ve been stealing is going down, I hope they will listen. Let us focus on agriculture and industrialisation.

What should be your advice as people go to the polls next month?

I have given my advice; that people should look at those who in the past have used their positions to serve the people. We should look at the people critically. It should be critical, not simple. They should analyse them as much as is humanly possible. They should say that judging by the way the way this man ruled when he was our leader, he used his position as head of state for our welfare.

Compared with the way this one did it, I think this one should be better. We are human beings; we cannot be perfect in our choice, only God knows the heart. But we can judge by the way people have lived, how they have used their positions and power in the past to say this will be better. None of them will be perfect but we should be able to see in human beings that this person really loves the people, cares about the people, is merciful, just and ready to achieve the best for all and they should pray according to their religion.

How were your growing up years like?

I cannot answer your question without touching on my parentage. My father was a pagan, an idol worshiper and he was converted from paganism to Christianity when he was a young man. He went into Christianity with a zeal with which he was worshipping idols. He was very zealous and ready to suffer and even ready to die because of Christ. My mother’s background was not too different from that. So, the two of them were very committed, dedicated Christians and they were very zealous for Christ. That was the kind of home

to which I was born with four sisters. My father was very strict. I happened to be one boy in a family of five. You know how our people regard an only male child. My father was very strict and he handled me with an iron hand in order to bring me up to be a disciplined person. This was he too was disciplined according to what is in the Bible. It was his desire to pass that unto me. And he did it.

I must confess to you that when I was a young boy in the primary school, I thought my father was a wicked person because of the way he handled me. He gave me assignments; he would say I should go to the farm. After he retired as a catechist, he was going to the farm. He would tell me to meet him in the farm after I must have finished from school. Every time, there must be an assignment for me. He kept me busy. He brought me up to be businesslike, to be dutiful and I thought he was a wicked person for not allowing me to play with my friends. But I am now thanking God for the way he brought me up. As far as feeding was concerned, we were well fed. Whenever it was necessary for him to allow me to play, he would give me time to play but he would give me time to come back. So, I was brought up by a father who was a committed Christian, a dedicated Christian who served as a catechist. Of cause he loved us his children but was stricter on me because I was his only boy.

Why did you choose this calling? How did you become a cleric?

Actually, when I was a young man, I wanted to be a teacher. In those days when you passed standard six, you would be given automatic employment as a teacher. So, I liked teaching and I wanted to be a teacher. When I passed standard six in 1946, I was given a teaching appointment. I became a teacher from January 1947 and I was trying to go to teacher training college and they were very few in the West then. We had St. Andrew College, Oyo; later St. John Mary’s College Owo; and St. Paul’s College, Abeokuta for the Anglicans. I tried. Each time I took the entrance exam, I passed but my father had no money, so, I could not go. Later, I took the entrance examination to Owo when they opened St John Mary’s. Again, I was admitted but there was no money. But it came to a particular year that if this time around nobody was able to assist me, then I would stop teaching and go back to farm because I loved farming. So teaching and farming were the two professions that I liked. That year I was transferred from where I was teaching in Ajowa to Arigidi near Ikare and I was asked to go there to assist the clergyman who was the secretary to the Akoko District Church Council. I wanted to refuse because I didn’t want to work in church. I wanted to be a teacher in the school, but my father had died two months earlier. My mother appealled to me not to refuse. She said I was not the only teacher in the whole of Akoko, they might have seen something special in me that made them to choose me to go and assist that pastor. I couldn’t say no to my mother verbally, but inside me I was saying no to her. So I decided to walk out of the house and I was just roaming about when somebody saw me and went to tell my mother that he saw Bolanle outside. My mother looked for me and brought me back home. She went to meet my catechist, the man in charge of our church in my town, and the man was a Godly person. He was like a spiritual father to me. He was the one that told me to go to Arigidi to assist Rev. Aderemi.

He knew I did not want to go. My mother had discussed that with him. He said that that was the decision of all the church workers in Akoko.

There were just two clergymen in Akoko at that time - late Aderemi and late Deacon Kolade, the father of Christopher Kolade in Ikare. He said they discovered I had a gift for church work and that they wanted me to go along that line. He appealed to me and of cause I had to be obedient. So I had no option and I went to Arigidi. On the day I was going, I didn’t take anything with me to the place. When I got to the place, the late Aderemi, he knew that I didn’t want to come and he gave me an assignment. One of the assignments was that I should go and learn typing. He said I would help him type letters. In short, that was how I entered church work and after one year of assisting him in doing all manner of work, I was allowed to take the entrance exam to the seminary in Ibadan where they were training catechists and clergymen. I passed and I was admitted to the school.

I had to borrow money from the church and that was how I entered church work.

34

SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Politics

Two years after: What we miss about Olooye Saraki – Followers C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 3 1

still goes on.

The only thing that is missing is Saraki, the man who gave Kwara a place of reckoning in the political annals of Nigeria to such an extent as to earn the appellation ‘Saraki kan, Ilorin Kan.’ It was a way of underlining the great influence he had on the state, demonstrated in his ability to always determine political decisions about the state. In 2003, at the height of a bitter political battle with his then godson, Governor Mohammed Lawal, Olooye Saraki said boldly: “The key to the Government House is in my pocket and I will give it to whoever I want.” Lawal lost the battle.

Saraki did the same in 1983 when overnight he swung the vote against his own party, the National Party of Nigeria, and got Cornelius Adebayo of the Unity Party of Nigeria into Government House.

What we miss about him Some of those close to him who shared memories of his life and times, particularly in election periods, with Sunday Telegraph, described him as a workaholic and one politician who never underrated anybody. Magaji Nda of Ilorin, Alhaji Woru Mohammed, was a very close associate of the Second Republic Senate Leader. Speaking with our correspondent, he said, “He was persevering and energetic. He hardly had time to sleep. He was a father; very generous to all people. He would always encourage you and assist you with whatever was needed to make you happy. In fact I would call him comfort personified.”

Chief Kayoode Towoju, currently Commissioner for Agriculture and formerly National Legal Adviser of the defunct Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, said: ““He spent time with people and a campaign trip of one hour could last 10 hours with him because he would stop on the way to meet people, even in the remotest part of the state. During campaigns, he was never in a hurry. As a matter of fact, a one-hour trip could last 10 hours with him because he was always stopping on the road to meet people.

“I remember in 2011 when we were on campaign and we got to a point and saw some Fulani people on the road. He stopped to meet them and they asked him to come and meet their people their people in the bush. Baba followed them! If he met you like that and you made any demand he would ensure it was written down and he would never forget to do it. He never forgot any promise.”

One of his followers, Hajia Yusuf, recalled how one night, the Kwara strongman left all the big men sitting in the Great Hall and went to attend to a girl who was having difficulties with her ‘O Level’ result.

She said, “Baba took time to counsel her, telling her what subject combination would help her and all that. In the end, he asked her aides to give her mother a substantial sum of money to register for the examination.”

He was both a silent and prominent philanthropist, said his followers. For instance, not many knew that he was responsible for paying the rent for several market women at Ago market. It was not until the beneficiaries came to pay condolence to his son that they told the world about it. They said it was Olooye who gave them a portion of his land for their use when government wanted to renovate the market.

Towoju said Olooye hated seeing child hawkers. He recalled: “He loved education and was never happy each time he saw young boys and girls hawking on the road. On several occasions he had to ‘arrest’ some of the hawkers and asked to see their parents, Many of such people were eventually sponsored to do their education, even outside the country, and today some of those people are lawyers, doctors etc.”

Plans to immortalise him Vice Chancellor of Kwara State University, Prof. AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, is pushing his school to immortalise late politician. Na’Allah,

Prof Na’Allah

Alhaji Woru Mohammed

while opening a one-day community summit organised by the university on the life and times of the late politician late last year, said the university intends to digitise most of the available records on the late Saraki because he has remained a major factor in the politics of Nigeria, even after his demise.

His words: “Our intention is to document him for posterity; for the future when there will be no oral sources available on his life and times. So we are digitising his life. We are expecting scholars to come up with different works on him. If you look at all leaders we have had in Nigeria, none of them would boast of continuous representation in the political scheme of Nigeria the way we have it today; that Saraki is still a major issue through his children.”

Giving an insight to his person in a posting on a Facebook group known as ‘Lovers of Saraki,’ his daughter and former senator, Gbemisola, said on the second anniversary of his demise: “Words simply cannot express how I feel. I miss you SO SO much. The past year has been difficult, but Allah has been too good to me. I have held my own. I believe many a time, you would have smiled and said proudly, “hmm, Gbemi, omo Baba eh.

“You know I am no coward. I can give as good as I get. I learnt from a good teacher, a good mentor. As you have always preached to stay focused, I am SO focused, I block out the noise. You have done your own bit and I am so proud of you. Rest in peace my darling father; keep watch over me, but essentially, rest in peace. Love you xoxoxo-GRS.” Towoju recalled that an interaction between Saraki and any of the children was often like playmates discussing. So great was his impact that even today, the Peoples Democratic Party, cannot afford to speak against him; although they would want their own man to replace his son as the senator representing Kwara Central.

Father of consensus Deputy Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Prof. Yisa Gana, told Sunday Telegraph that there was no way to separate the concept of consensus politicking from the late Saraki. He said his mark of political maturity had been embraced by politicians from all shades across the country.

“His major contribution to Nigerian politics was that he brought consensus to Nigerian politics and so even today every political party is talking about consensus,” he said. He recalled that the deceased was strong enough to change the course of political events within a few hours.

Special Adviser, Communication and Strategy to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State, Alhaji Raheem Adedoyin, told Sunday Telegraph that the late Olooye helped people without expecting “returns from those he helped into positions of authority.” He noted that the late politician was also unique because of his simplicity and respect for the traditional institution and urged those claiming to be Saraki’s loyalists to replicate his traits in their activities.

He said: “Saraki was generous to a fault; there cannot be two Olooyes; no one can really be like him. We should continue to make people happy. That’s Baba’s legacy.”

At the 2014 event is his memmory, the Chairman, Kwara State House of Assembly Committee on Education, Hajia Nimota Ibrahim, described the late Saraki as an embodiment of the people’s aspirations. She charged politicians to listen to the needs and yearnings of their followers and strive to alleviate their sufferings.

The Emir of Okuta, Dr. Idris Abubakar, said the late Saraki would be remembered for his generosity, kind gesture and passion for the less privileged while the Olojoku of Ojoku, Oba AbdulRasak Afolabi, said the late Olooye built a political legacy that would be difficult to surpass. The monarch added that the late politician accorded respect to traditional stools, individuals and the downtrodden and called on politicians in the country to emulate his good virtues in order to sanitise the system.

He loved his children and Apala music In an interview with Sunday Telegraph in Ilorin, Towoju gave an insight into some interesting things about the late politician.

“He had time for everybody and by extension their welfare and wellbeing. If he got to know that anyone was in need, whether you told him or he discovered by himself, he would always reach out to you. He didn’t like people around him quarrelling and if you went to him to complain about somebody he would call the person and ask the two parties to forget the issue. He would lavish you with gifts such that at the end of the day the two factions would embrace, smiling. He could give you money or any gift than caught his fancy. As a matter of fact there was no time you went to him that he would not give you gifts.

He was passionate about Kwara. He had a lot of respect for traditional rulers no matter the size of their communities. If a community had only two houses he would visit it and sit down with the traditional ruler, not as a great man but as a subject to the ruler.

“He loved to assist people a lot. For example I was at Ilesha, on the way to Ondo State before the 2011 elections when his Personal Assistant called to inform me that Baba had bought the House of Representatives form for me on the platform of the ACPN. I was asked to come back and fill it. But later Baba called me to say I should not pursue that area and waste my money, that he had something else for me to do.

“Even my present position, when I was informed I was going to serve in the government, I called him because he was in Ghana and he said yes, it was with his approval. He said I should regard the governor and everyone in the team as one with us. There was no birthday party for big people for him. He

would always got the women around him, cook for them and feed them. That gave him happiness. He was very close to the women and in those days three days before his arrival they would have known and began visiting his house in preparation. His arrival at the airport was always colourful with women.

“You couldn’t know how he had time to rest because he would still be meeting till 3a.m. He loved seeing people around him and did not like to see people suffering. I remember one night we were eating with him and there was a noise outside the house. He asked us to go and find out what was wrong and we came back to tell him it was a woman who said she had nothing to eat. You won’t believe this but Baba gave her his own food that night. I think his greatest time was when he gave to people.

“He didn’t discriminate. And when he loved you no matter what people were saying to him about you he would not act on that basis.

Rather, he would see how he could improve you. He loved Apala music. His best songs were those from Yusuf Olatunji, Baba’Legba.

He knew all the lyrics and anytime he was excited he would ask for the song and render it with the artiste. That was one way he celebrated the second term election of Governor Bukola Saraki in 2007; that night he sang and danced! He also loved Odolaye Aremu.

“To show his respect for authority that night he did something that amazed us. We were about five with him and he told us the governor was coming to see him. As soon as the governor entered, Baba stood up for him. The son protested but he said no; that he was not respecting the son but the office. He said something like ‘I am standing up for my governor.’

“He had a lot of respect for women. That night he asked one of the old men with him to pray for Mrs. Toyin Saraki because, according to him, after God it was also Toyin that made things possible by giving support to her husband. His understanding was that if there was no peace in the home there was no way a man could have undertaken political activities and succeeded. He said Toyin supported her husband the same way his own wife supported him. He was a complete family man.

He loved his children to a fault. If you saw him relating with them you would think they were playmates.”

He didn’t like going to court – Alhaji Woru Mohammed (Magaji Nda of Ilorin) He was persevering and energetic. He hardly had time to sleep. He was a father; very generous to all. He would always encourage you and assist you with whatever was needed to make you happy. In fact I would call him comfort personified I remember him as an embodiment of peace.

No violence was his constant slogan. At a time of election like this he would tell us not to take the laws into our hands. He urged us to fear the electoral rules and regulations, and go and vote for credible candidates.

He was committed to democracy. For instance when Gbemisola lost the 2011 election, he didn’t allow for violence. He didn’t allow anyone to go to court because he said it was the cost of democracy. That was the same way he took his defeat to Shehu Shagari in Kaduna in the NPN days. He never regarded such things as bad luck but continued with his people.

I remember in the days of late Governor Lawal; when they had a face-off. He (Saraki) didn’t ask for violence but sought to resolve the matter through election. There was a time that they didn’t allow him to use the Idi-Ape Road; they blocked the road. He told us to go back and take another road to his house instead of forcing our way through. We passed through Okelele that day. He had a large heart, almost as a weakness. I don’t know anyone he didn’t settle with if there was any problem.

Even when Lawal died, he went to his family house to commiserate with them. He would always settle differences among his followers. He didn’t like to see them quarrelling or going to court.

35

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015

Politics

I will focus on health, industrialisation, says Okowa Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Delta State and Chairman Senate Committee on Health, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, told some editors of his plans to run a pan-Delta government and revloutionise the health and industrial sectors if elected into office in next month elections. BIYI ADEGOROYE brings the report A number of aspirants have shown interest in the governorship race in Delta State. What marks you out among them?

I am a pan-Delta candidate and I will not promote sectional interest when I become governor. Some people have been talking about being an Uhrobo governor. I think that is not good enough. If anyone thinks along that sectional interest, I think he is most suitable for the Senate. That is a better platform to serve such purpose, not the governorship position. Anyone who wants to govern the state must think about the fortunes of the state and must recognize that all the five ethnic groups came together to make the state. If we are not united as a state, the development which we need dearly may elude us. In trying to give‌ to our peoples, we must realize the need to work together and there must be fairness, equity and justice. We are aware that some ethnic groups are large that one another and definitely, the distribution of amenities cannot be equally distributed, but they can be equitably distributed in such a manner that no ethnic group will complain.

Peoples Democratic Party is very strong in Delta, the rest are makeshift parties and they continue to change by the day. There no reason therefore for our

people to accept them, and when you hear them speak, and you here them criticize the PDP in the state, one wonders what their mission is, because if today I run election on the platform of one party and in the next four years I am running election of the platform of another party, and after four years I jump into another party, you wonder if such person is prepare for the governance of Delta State.

How do you intend to deal with the problem of dwindling resources to be able to meet your obligations if you become the next governor?

We will improve on our internally generated revenue for the current average of N3.5billion to N5billion and I know our people will not grumble if they begin to see that the revenue is utilized for visible developmental projects.

We will ensure appropriate tax is paid and we will be transparent is letting them know what we are generating. We will take a serious look at agriculture. This is an area I am passionate about. As a younger person in 1999, I had the privilege of interacting with our farmers, many of whom are subsistent farmers. We will work with them and mechanise their operations and sustain the current micro-credit scheme of the current administration. We are targeting the youths to encourage them in aquaculture, poultry farming and they will expand it into all areas of agriculture. Warri Industrial business site is there, I don’t know the level of work there but after February, I know there will be a transition committee which will acquaint me with the level of work and we will take it from there.

It is a project that I want to complete. It is one of the three industrial sites that we are looking at.

It has been alleged that a former militant leader nominated your running mate for you. What is the true picture?

Before

Okowa

doing anything I pray to God and he answers me. In this case, I also I prayed to my God and he gave me an answer in Barr. Kingsley Otuaro. People will say all kinds of things.

Because he is an Ijaw man, I consulted widely with Ijaw people so that no one will accuse me of imposing anyone one, because he is also going to add to the votes. You see, apart from being qualify, you also have to be sure that your running mate will add value to the ticket. So I consulted very widely, especially with the elder Statesman, Chief Edwin Clark and also with my friend, Senator James Manager.

People can always talk, but I have unfolded my deputy and will unfold him today. When I did it previously, the press went to town with reports because they hear from people and all that- I don’t want to join issue with them, My running mate has assisted the state in many instances to ensure peace reigned. He is a lawyer a former commissioner on the board of the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission and a good crisis manager.

What is your vision for the state if elected into office in February?

I have a five-point agenda designed for the overall development of Delta State. The agenda covers strategic wealth creation and employment, meaningful peace building and security, agriculture and industrilisation, commerce and industry, health and education policies and transform the environment through urban renewal. In fact it is codenamed SMART. Looking back at the health sector, we had a very sad story to tell concerning our state in Delta. But as at today, the story has changed.

There have been some improvements. We are doing well with our hospitals and in the area of primary health which is very dear to our people. A lot has been done and a lot needs to be done. As a medical professional, the health for all Deltans is paramount and dear to me.

I shall consolidate the good work of the outgoing governor in this matter and advance the policies, programmes, and facilities of the health sector Indeed, as a Senator, I have been deeply involved in promoting necessary legislation to sustain and advance health and medical practice, and the institutions and personnel in this sector. I will bring to bear upon the health sector in the state my great concerns for best practices, grow the institutions of health, advance the quality of health and medical practitioners and improve on the general environment and conditions for the practice and delivery of medical and health services. The purpose is to stop medical tourism. As part of my strategy to achieve this, my administration will pursue a legislation that will support and promote universal health insurance policy for all Deltans. We will also take a proper inventory and internal visitations of all medical and health institutions with a view to improving upon the existing ones and establishing new ones where necessary.

We shall also ensure training of existing health personnel and engagement of more community health extension workers and sanitary health workers to boost primary health care/sanitation. The Teaching Hospital at Oghara will be consolidated as a centre of excellence, while other hospitals across the state

shall be developed, equipped, and staffed to promote specialist services in various fields of medicine.

By the number of institutions at the primary, post-primary and tertiary levels, I can confidently say that some work has been done to improve on the physical structures of our schools. Still, the schools are very inadequate by way of quality and progressive curriculum to meet the standards of skill and knowledge required for modern day ICT-driven national and global economies My administration will, through constructive engagement with key stakeholders, undertake critical assessment of facilities, equipment, faculties and administrative staff in the various institutions of learning and address the deficiencies. There is a compelling need to accelerate technical and vocational education by converting and equipping some existing institutions for same purpose. Our existing polytechnics will be refocused towards specialisation. Nigerians of Delta State origin outside the state and in the Diaspora will be duly attracted to develop interest on a sustainable basis in the development and upgrading of the quality of education in the state. This is one sector for which I will want to be remembered as having made a distinct mark.

Environmental sustainability is important to our state as it is to the national and global communities. In managing the environment better we must recognise and respond adequately to the varying challenges in different parts of the state. The environmental challenges include those associated with oil and gas exploration, solid waste disposal/management, erosion and flood control, land degradation, deforestation and the increasing risks from climate change. With respect to management of solid waste, I shall emphasise programmes and projects that will recycle and convert our waste to wealth.

The equally challenging matter of climate change as reflected in the recent flooding of our communities has added to the traditional problems of erosion and the need to care seriously for drainage systems and the waterways as much as we care for the roads and road transportation. Indeed, caring for the water-ways is itself a source of employment and of contribution to a healthy environment in which our communities live. I shall devote time and resources to these challenges.

During my tenure as governor, at least one city or urban settlement in each of the 10 federal constituencies will be designated for comprehensive renewal. My administration shall focus on creating and improving on the internal road networks, dualisation where necessary, drainage, construction of bridges and flyovers, erosion control, modern transportation facilities, and provision of electricity and other public utilities I will articulate housing and land management policies that will deliver sustainable housing programmes in the light of massive influx of Deltans and immigrants into our key cities. Master Plans will be developed for the major towns and settlements within which programmes can be developed for residential, commercial, and industrial real estates. I shall foster synergy among the activities of the Ministry of Housing, local governments and related agencies such as Delta Development and Property Authority (DDPA) and Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC).

36

SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Politics

Oramah: Jonathan’s achievements will speak for him Chief Pat Ifeanyi Oramah is the director-general of the Progressive Friends Foundation (PFF), a non-governmental organisation founded with the aim of promoting good governance and educating the public on the need to contribute towards achieving a peaceful democratic space. In this interview with PAUL OGBUOKIRI, he lists issues that should guide the voters in the upcoming elections.

What is the focus of The Progressive Friends Foundation? Is it a political group?

The Progressive Friends Foundation is a non-governmental organisation founded with the goal of promoting peaceful and sustainable political culture. It is an organisation that is passionate about good governance in Nigeria; with a critical role in building bridges of unity and love in the current ocean of hate, bickering and recriminations across many divides in the country. We are, therefore, championing a guaranteed improvement of the welfare of the generality of the citizenry.

We remain determined to give our support to any candidate who has the interest of the

people at heart.

How does your organisation see the current political atmosphere in the country?

In the last few months, the political parties have been strategising and stepping up their activities, geared towards getting the electorate to vote for them during the elections. We view it as very commendable and healthy, the manner in which the major political parties conducted the primaries that produced particularly their presidential candidates. What this means is that, once again, Nigerians have the opportunity to truly choose those to lead them for the next four years. By this singular act, their destiny has been placed in their

hands, and it is up to them to discharge the responsibility of choosing their leaders wisely.

But how wisely can the voters choose when elections in the country are usually beclouded by sectional or religious issues, rather than performance or ability to perform?

That is a good point, because even in the current electioneering, there are a lot of issues that have been thrown up that have little or nothing to do with performance or the ability of the candidates to provide the dividends of democracy. So much has been said, is being said and will continue to be said about the various candidates.

Pat Oramah

However, we at PFF have analysed the antecedents of the presidential frontrunners and have come to the conclusion that any support given to the incumbent President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, will be in the best interest of Nigerians. PFF justifies this support based on a number of identifiable and measurable achievements of his administration. To start with, the result of his integrated agricultural approach wherein value-chain is put on the front burner has revolutionised agriculture in Nigeria.

The result is that rice yield has quadrupled over a very short period. Massive foreign investment in agriculture has been recorded as never seen before in the annals of this country.

Silos have been built across the country as an answer to our age-long food wastage problem. Our farmers are not only getting more sophisticated, they are keeping pace with their counterparts in the advanced countries. Thanks to the e-wallet introduced by this administration.

But that is agriculture. His critics can argue that he did not do as well in other areas.

Like which one? In terms of job creation, can his critics say that massive job creation has not been witnessed under this administration? Are many of our airports not receiving a face-lift that is making them worthy gateways to the nation? Are the road networks not receiving attention like never before? The economic implications of this in both time and safety cannot be over emphasized. For instance, the Benin-Ore Road that seemed to have overwhelmed previous administrations has, practically, been fixed by this administration.

Moreover, for the first time, apart from the short period the late President Yar’Adua was at the helm, the democratic principles have been allowed to have a proper foothold. No single Nigerian is held as a political prisoner. Naturally endowed with patience and humility, Dr. Jonathan has allowed criticism, which is the hallmark of democracy. Of all the contestants and all those who ever ruled us, he has had more tutelage on the tenets of democracy than any other president.

Jonathan has handled the insecurity problem in the country better than any other leader would have done under a democratic setting. The only

Obaze

CONTINUED ON PAGE 37

37

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015

Politics / Interview

Why I quit active politics -Virgy Etiaba Dame Virgy Etiaba made history when she became the first female governor in Nigeria when she was sworn in following the impeachment of the then Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi. She spoke with AHAOMA KANU on life in retirement, the February elections and other issues It is 2015, a year during which the elections will be held. How has it been like after making history as the first female governor in Nigeria?

I must be sincere to you; being Mama Anambra State I am really enjoying my period of rest. This is because I believe that people really reckon with me. They know what I did during my short stay as governor of the state. And that is why everywhere I go they applaud me and call me Mama Anambra State. I am really their mother indeed. Not necessarily as a governor because a governor has a part to play but a mother has a totality of roles to play in everybody’s life.

Some years after you left office you are still looking radiant. What sort of exercise or food do you engage in that has made you maintain yourself this way?

First of all I must give glory to God because God has the life I am living. He created destinies for everybody and I believe that God has really destined me to enjoy my life after service. I exercise for 30 minutes every morning.

What kind of exercise?

I exercise my legs, my hands, my neck and body. I normally do it while listening to the 7a.m news. And apart from that I eat moderately; I don’t eat whatever comes my way because I really need to watch my weight. Whenever I go around and see women and men with pot bellies that look as if they are going to give birth to triplets, women with huge limbs and everything, I just caution myself. I’m selective about what I eat. I don’t really drink a lot but if I have to, I take a bottle of soft drink a day.

That’s it and then I am at peace with my

God. I ask Him to help me to be at peace with my fellow human beings.

The campaigns have started and some Nigerians have yet to collect their Permanent Voter Cards. Do you have confidence in this new system introduced by the Independent National Electoral Commission?

I must say that I have confidence but when I listen to the news and hear about the number of PVCs that have yet to be collected, I don’t want that to happen on Election Day. This is because without it you are ineligible to vote. Today we see a lot of youths and others shouting and moving along with people that are eligible to be voted in but most of them don’t have a voter card. If you don’t have a voter card how would you vote? So it really bleeds my heart to see that we still have that percentage of voter cards still unclaimed. So my advice is that we have to do it right because it is only through it that we would be able to choose the right person to lead us. We need good leaders.

Some analysts are of the opinion that the exercise is a tasking one and that INEC should have started earlier than they did.

Do you share this opinion?

No matter the time people must complain. If they started it two or three years before, they would still complain like they are complaining now. My advice is that the best thing that they should do is to make sure that they work harder than ever. We know we have 24 hours in a day, if it were possible to have 48 hours to make it possible they should get it right. Well, I will be praying for them.

Etiaba

How involved are you in politics in your state and nationally?

In politics I made it very clear when I was leaving the service that I would not go into active politics. I said I would be there to mentor, to encourage and to direct the young ones. I believe that we should prop up the young ones because every time we say that the youths are our future leaders how are we trying to encourage them?

How are we trying to nurture the youths?

Is it by coming out at the age of 70 or 80 in order to be relevant while the youths are left behind? My own conviction and what I’ve always believed in is what I practise. I am out to mentor, encourage and give good suggestions on how our country can move forward.

As we approach the elections in a few weeks, over 200 girls of the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno

Jonathan’s achievements will speak for him -Pat Oramah C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 3 6

country.

time and situation that compares to what we face today is the civil war under Gen. Yakubu Gowon. But the current aggression by the unprovoked enemies is nowhere near what obtained during the civil war. Surprisingly, critics expect President Jonathan to apply the ‘Odi treatment;’ but that can happen only under a dictator.

It is under this administration that Nigeria ever had 4000 megawatts of electricity generated. The entertainment industry, today, has a pride of place. For the first time, it is recognised in our budgetary process.

These are issues that the electorate should have at the back of their mind, not irrelevant ethnic, sectional or religious controversies that are currently dominating debates across the

But those who are opposed to President Jonathan insist that there are other people who can perform. Don’t you think that other candidates should be given a chance?

I am sure you are aware of the saying that you don’t change a winning team. If an incumbent is delivering the dividends of democracy, the logical thing is to let him continue and finish what he started. This is a fundamental issue in the upcoming election. PFF does not want the electorate to forget this fact, because in the mesh of all the melodramatic plots, maneuvers, subterfuge and mudslinging, Nigerians would lose sight of what is at stake in this election. PFF wants Nigerians to realize that this election is about their welfare and

that they should guard their votes and queue behind Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

Nigerians, at this point of our national history, cannot afford to make progress with a reverse gear. Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is the only presidential candidate imbued with the tenets of democratic attributes. Our plank of argument is that Nigerians should support GEJ for continuity and deepening of democratic culture in the interest of today’s and future generations.

We advise Nigerians to eschew ethnicity, tribalism, nepotism and religious bigotry. We must take steps that would enhance unity of purpose in our national life realizing that, like President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan would advocate nobody’s ambition (not even his) is worth anybody’s life. We must conduct ourselves peacefully in this election.

State are still missing. How do you feel as a leader, mother and grandmother?

You know, it is very difficult to say that over 200 girls are still missing. At times I tend not to believe but being a mother, I have the milk of human sympathy that wherever they are we must seek, we must try as much as possible to try to see if they could be rescued; if the girls are there.

You sound like you doubt if any of the girls is missing but we have seen videos of them in the hands of their captives.

How do you feel that we are going to have an election while the girls have yet to be found?

Whenever I see their pictures, my heart bleeds; but on another note the Federal Government is trying a lot to make sure something is done. It is not easy and has to be a collective effort. No one section should receive the blame and no one section should sit aloof, watching what is happening. Collectively and prayerfully, we will surmount the evil because I know Boko Haram is evil. They are destroying lives and properties, they are evil.

What kind of leaders should young Nigerians look out for and vote into power?

Let me tell you, the Lord has the answer.

You cannot say you need a younger leader or an older one. What God says is the last and that is where I stand.

What advice do you have to the youths, politicians and Nigerians so we don’t have a repeat of post-election violence?

My advice is that we all, especially the youths, should understand that life has no duplicate. Once you are dead you are dead.

The best thing to do is for the winner to win magnanimously. It shouldn’t be winnertakes-all because that is what brings about post-election violence. So we have to be very careful and know that Nigeria is bigger than any of us.

38

SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Politics / Column

Clerics and their explosive political remarks Villa Notes emmyanule@yahoo.com

Anule Emmanuel

I

n line with true teachings of both Christianity and Islam, clergymen are religious leaders with capacity to shape attitudes, behaviors and morality of believers. Their roles in providing directions and doctrinal guides have never been unpopular through the ages.

But whether or not the clergy should be actively involved in politics have remained a subject of debate around the world.

While one school of thought believes that their roles should be restricted to preaching of morals, doctrines and salvation, another view is that as political beings, politics cannot be separated from daily life and life in the Church or the Mosque.

They are intricately woven.

In advanced democracies, clergymen at various times have led and opposed social movements while making countless statements on political issues. If politics in Nigeria were to be based on ideology and principles therefore, as a pluralistic nation, the involvement of the clergy could not be out of place.

For instance, in the United States of America, which is religiously pluralistic like Nigeria, Clergy who represent every imaginable religious tradition have oppor-

tunities to be involved in politics. Because of the fact that the USA political culture has heavy religious overtones, emphasis is often placed on morality in both debates and discussions of the duties of democratic citizens.

What religious leaders in such environments as America have avoided is the explicit affiliation with political parties, even though, covertly, they may have sympathy for ideologies of the Republican Party or the Democrats. Here, neutrality and nation first are the motivating factors.

Recent events in the country’s political environment have thrown up a new twist in the involvement of the clergy in politics.

The comments of an Enugu-based Catholic priest, Father Camillus Ejike Mbaka, while ushering in the New Year are of interest.

He came hard on President Goodkuck Jonathan over the President’s inability to stop corruption and loss of innocent lives.

Delivering a sermon tagged, “From Good luck to Bad luck,” delivered at the Adoration Ground, Emene, Ubaka called for a change in governance. But Reverend Mbaka has since been rebuked for going out of the spiritual realm and attacking personality in his preaching other than addressing issues.

Mbaka’s prophetic message has also been criticised by clerics under the aegis of Southern Nigeria Christian Elders’ Forum, who insist that he was not inspired by the Holy Spirit. Much as Mbaka’s message was not a campaign for any candidate in the forth-coming elections as he has claimed, he may have succeeded in

convincing the large congregation on whom to vote for at the polls. This is why, considering the volatile nature of the polity and the insecurity situation in the country, influential individuals such as Reverend Mbaka need to remain careful in their political comments.

Interesting enough, another cleric last week, accused two particular tribes in the country of being behind the current insurgency in the North-East because of their desperation for power.

Reverend Samuel Chukwuemeka Uche, the prelate of the of Methodist Church of Nigeria, in the presence of President Jonathan also took turn to openly attribute the current insecurity in the country to the Fulanis and Kanuris penchant for power.

As far as Bishop Uche was concerned, these two tribes are aggrieved because they want power at all cost; they believe Nigeria belongs to them alone and they are born to rule while others follow. According to him, the other reason for the insurgency is that they want to Islamize Nigeria and build a parallel caliphate to Sokoto.

In advanced democracies, clergymen at various times have led and opposed social movements while making countless statements on political issues

To me, whether anyone speaks for or against President Jonathan in the February polls, it is imperative that religious leaders take neutral positions in what message they pass across to their congregation.

Truth they say can be bitter, but in telling the truth, there can be better avenue and approaches other than those that could incite the people.

Fortunately, both Reverend Mbaka and Bishop Uche are Christians yet with opposing views on the candidature of President Jonathan. Were it for the head of the Anglican Church that delivered the message indicting the Fulanis and the Kanuris, right in front of the President, interpretation would have come that President Jonathan had influenced it, being an Anglican himself.

Notwithstanding the peace deal has signed by President Jonathan and the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress, General Buhari, both sides must play the game by the rule. No more inciting statements, no more character assassination but issue-based politics that could foster stronger unity and peace in the country.

Religious leaders, despite their grievances, have no option but to follow suit and key into the peace deal for the overall benefit of citizens. President Jonathan belongs to all Nigerians and must be seen as such. Whoever wins in the February election is immaterial, what Nigerians need is improvement in the economy, security of their lives and property and better living condition.

When 2015 elections tilted plenary in Senate From the

Red Chamber chukwudavid68@yahoo.com

Chukwu David

T

here is no doubt that the plenary session of Wednesday January 14, 2015, was the Senate’s last session before the general elections, which will commence on February 14, with the Presidential and National Assembly polls. At the end of that day’s session, the nation’s supreme legislative chamber adjourned plenary till February 17.

However, there were some observed peculiarities in the conduct of the session which made it unique from what used to obtain in previous sessions. One is that some level of harmony prevailed amongst the senators in the way they perceived and debated issues lined up for considerations on the Order Paper. Therefore, they treated all the items scheduled for debate without antagonism either on the issues raised for discussion or within themselves.

Second, Senator Ita Enang, whose bills, motions and general contributions in the Chamber used to suffer heavy opposition from other Senators, including the President of the Senate, David Mark, had a very smooth sale that day. This led to his bill for an Act to Establish Environmental Managers Registration Council of Nigeria scaling second reading without antagonism from any Senator; not even the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the session.

Third, the Senate for the first time in the Fourth Session, exhausted all the items on the Order Paper, without standing down, stepping down or killing any matter sched-

Senate President David Mark

uled for its consideration and approval.

Consequently, all the items, including the highly criticized 2015 budget proposal for its perceived utopian parameters, received the intended legislative actions.

Fourth and perhaps worrisome was the fact that Senate conducted plenary without forming a quorum as required by the Senate Standing rule, which pegs the quorum of the Red Chamber at one-third of the total membership. There are 109 Senators in the Senate, which means that they must be at least 37 members present before resolutions are made on issues. But this rule was put to abeyance that day because the Senators present in session were slightly above twenty in number. The figure even fluctuated as some were going out and coming in during the session.

Some of the items treated that day include the report of the Conference Committee on Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue

Board. This followed the presentation of the report by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on FCT, Senator Smart Adeyemi (PDP-Kogi). Before the adoption, Adeyemi told the Chamber that the harmonised version of the bill was crafted to ensure the establishment of FCT Internal Revenue Service, charged with the assessment, collection of and accounting for revenues accruable to FCT. Again, Senator Ita Enang’s bill, which received unhindered passage for second reading, seeks to charge the Environmental Managers Registration Council of Nigeria with the responsibility of registering persons seeking to become members of the profession. It also seeks to determine the standard of knowledge and skill to be attained by such persons as well as disciplinary action to be taken for unprofessional conduct. The bill was referred to the Senate Committees on Establishment and Environment for further input and report back to the Chamber in two weeks.

Also, the Bill for the Establishment of Chartered Institute of Auctioneers of Nigeria passed for second reading on the floor of the Senate. The bill, which was sponsored

by Senator Joshua Lidani (PDP-Gombe) provides for the control of the membership of the Institute as well as to promote the practice of auctioneers in Nigeria.

Moreover, the Bill on Establishment and Public Service, sponsored by Senator Aloysius Etok (PDP-Akwa Ibom) was passed into law. It was transmitted to the Senate from the House of Representatives for concurrence. Previous experiences were that most bills either sponsored or handled by

Senator Etok and the Committee on Establishment and Public Service Matters, which he is the Chairman, usually suffered setback. Whether by coincidence or design, Etok’s bills had always been faulted one way or another at the level of second reading or final passage, and made to be taken back to the Committee for rework. But this particular one skipped the hurdle.

Finally, the 2015 Appropriation Bill, going by the quantum of defects in it as pointed out by the lawmakers, ordinarily would have been rejected and returned to the Executive arm for necessary adjustments, yet it passed for second reading and was referred to the Committees on Finance and Appropriations for scrutiny before returning report on the document for broader consideration and possible approval by the Chamber.

Faulting the budget, Senators on Wednesday described the 2015 fiscal estimates as unrealistic, and called on the Executive to go back to the drawing on the N4.3trillion 2015 budget.

Parameters such as the $65 oil benchmark, projected oil production of 2.2782 million barrel per day and average exchange rate of N165 to a US dollar proposed in the budget, were all faulted by the Senators as unrealistic, deceitful and dangerous for the economy in the fiscal year. The quarrel of the Senators with the projections arose from the fact that the price of crude had crashed to about $45-$46 per barrel while the current exchange rate is about N182 to a dollar.

It is interesting to note that, in spite of all these, the Red Chamber still allowed the money bill to pass for second reading. This action can be said to have been influenced by the spirit of the impending general elections. The Senate, at the end of the elections, is expected to have a rethink and ask the Executive to take the document back and evolve a more realistic, implementable proposal for the country.

Life SUNDAY

39

SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015

19 years after Saro-Wiwa’s demise:

No respite for Ogoni

Emmanuel Masha,

T

Port Harcourt

he main road to Bane Community in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, from Bori, the council headquarters, runs from Kwawa, a community where it appears almost everybody of working age had gone to the farm, or to their places of business.

On this particular Wednesday afternoon, the few motorcycles one could see on the road carried no passenger, unlike Bori, the council’s headquarters, where motorcycle operators jostled for passengers to convey to streets and nearby communities.

Here, according to a native, a motorcycle is a necessity that most families own to meet the challenges of village life and survive. The native, who once lived in Port Harcourt and Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, told Sunday Telegraph that villages along this road are sparsely populated, because many citizens have left for urban centres in search of jobs.

He also said the matter had been made worse by the absence of factories to engage the rising number of unemployed youths.

The road from Kwawa is tarred, though it has few potholes. It takes one directly to the heart of Bene, where Ken Saro-Wiwa, the late environmental rights activist was born on October 10, 1941. As spokesman and later president of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, Saro-Wiwa’s non-violent approach to environmental degradation in Ogoniland and his campaign against the operations of Shell Petroleum Development Company in the area, won him supporters across Ogoniland, the Niger Delta and outside the region.

His resolve to speak strongly against the oppressive policies of multinational oil companies in the Niger Delta threw him into global reckoning as the voice of the oppressed while he travelled across the world, sometimes using reputable global platforms to speak out.

For daring to stand-up against injustice; for daring to hold the oil majors accountable for their infractions in Ogoniland and the Niger Delta, he was seen as an enemy of the state by the regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha. The regime conducted a widely criticised trial of the activist and nine others and summarily executed all but Ledum Mitee.

It’s 19 years since Saro-Wiwa and others were executed, yet almost nothing has changed in Ogoniland. For instance, in Bene, which is made up of 10 villages, the people have been complaining about the encroachment of the sea. There is also the problem of erosion, which Chie John Baaba (JP), the chief-elect and paramount ruler of Bene, describes as “a serious threat to the people.”

In an interview with Sunday Telegraph, he lamented that the government had disappointed the people by not fulfilling promises made in 2011. He said they voted for President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi in expectation that there would be massive infrastructural development in the area. He also said the community needs

Saro-Wiwa a 10-kilometre road across its 10 villages.

Baaba also said: “We are disappointed in the present government of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. Our community has yet to get the model primary school that the government built in other communities across Rivers State. Honestly, by now we thought that we would have benefited from school, road and human capital development.

“What we only have is the model hospital, which is not enough; considering the support we gave the Amaechi administration.

We are suffering, and we have been crying out, but the government has turned deaf ears.

We learnt that they have asked the caretaker committee chairmen to share the resources meant for the development of the communities, instead of using them to better the lives of the people and for infrastructure.”

According to him, the community’s plight would have been worse had the past council chairman, Hon. Gregory Nwidam, not delivered a water project and empowered the people with university scholarship and training programmes.

“The former council boss was the only one who helped this community... Even in the hospital they built for us, there are no competent doctors to treat patients. The hospital is just there for decoration,” he added.

He also pointed out a situation in the community, where a five-year chieftaincy tussle is allegedly being fuelled by outsiders who want to disrupt the peace in the area. Baaba said the situation could have led to bloodletting, but that the peaceful and non-violent disposition of the people had made peace to reign. He added: “After the death of our Highness (monarch), we decided to select a

new king. The ruling village in Bane is Bara.

After oral and written interviews were conducted on three persons per village, I emerged chief-elect, but powerful persons outside the community plotted to cause problems.”

Indeed, in Ogoniland, chieftaincy tussle and land dispute among neighbouring communities are not uncommon. But almost the entire Ogoni people are united when it comes to MOSOP and what Saro-Wiwa epitomised in his lifetime. This is the reason why they have stood firm on the United Nations Environmental Programme Report, whose implementation the Federal Government recently commenced. An environmental rights group that goes by the name Ken Saro-Wiwa Associates has cautioned against the policitisation of the initiative through attacks against the Federal Government, arguing that such a move could decrease the enthusiasm with which the government and stakeholders were planning and executing the clean-up of Ogoniland.

The group’s national coordinator, Chief Gani Topba, also cautioned against any action that could truncate the agreement between the Federal Government and MOSOP, adding that the Ogoni environment remains a common heritage of all regardless of political leaning. He also said: “It is not time to drag politics into the UNEP report. The Federal Government, through the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani AllisonMadueke, has shown that it can clean up the Ogoni environment.

“It (FG) should be supported because the government is addressing the issue that affects the poor in Ogoniland. We resolved to fully and wholeheartedly support the Federal

Ministry of Petroleum Resources-led remedial intervention aimed at restoring the Ogoni environment.

“We have further noted that all the steps adopted so far in this direction are fully in compliance with the agreement reached on August 8, 2014, between the Federal Government and the people of Ogoni led by MOSOP. “We fully restate the Ogoni view that partisan politics should not be allowed to reduce the vigour with which the Federal Government and the main stakeholders are executing the restoration of the Ogoni environment.”

Lately, MOSOP’s influence has been challenged by Goodluck Diigbo, one of the early members of MOSOP, who narrowly escaped the hammer of the Abacha regime by fleeing to Ghana, from where he eventually found his way to Europe. Diigbo has declared independence for the Ogoni, and ascribed to himself the position of ‘president.’ Since late last year when he made the pronouncement, he has not been to Nigeria, but remains constantly in touch with his followers, who send out messages to media houses through emails.

Diigbo was once the factional leader of MOSOP, during the leadership of Ledum Mitee, but recently called for the disbandment of MOSOP, because it is no longer relevant in the Ogoni struggle. The leader of MOSOP, Legborsi Pyagbara, through the group’s spokesman, Bariara Kpalap, has dismissed the comment credited to Diigbo, saying the group remains the platform that can help the Ogoni accomplish their dreams and aspirations.

Baaba, who also echoes MOSOP’s position, says the path taken by Diigbo cannot divide the Ogoni. He said the Ogoni lost many citizens during the military era and would not want to pass through such an experience again.

He added: “Personally, I suffered 10 months in military detention. I was taken to different detention centres, and they gave us 10 strokes of the cane every day. I was in the struggle because I supported the activities of MOSOP, and the leadership of Ken SaroWiwa. I was an active member of MOSOP. Every Ogoni man is a member of MOSOP. “Diigbo was the head of NYCORP, and was never chosen by the Ogoni to head them. He is only trying to create problems.”

That struggle, which led Baaba to jail almost 20 years ago, remains strong. Just before the year ended, on November, 29 2014 precisely, hundreds of Ogoni, including women and youths from different sociocultural groups, staged a peaceful protest within Port Harcourt over perceived political marginalisation.

In Bane, where the people of the community wear black on the night before every November 10, to mark the death of Saro-Wiwa, Baaba said the tradition has come to stay as a mark of respect for an illustrious son.

“We usually dress in black and have our candle night. This tradition has been on for years now, and as we approach the 20th year of his death, we will still carry on with the practice,” he said.

SUNDAY

40

Abuja Beats SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015

Panic over ‘one chance’ cases

T

Yekeen Nurudeen

here is growing concern in the FCT about daily robberies by fake taxi drivers also known as ‘one chance.’

Officials of the FCT Directorate of Vehicles Inspectorate also known as VIO have, however, attributed the menace to the increase in the number of commercial drivers operating unpainted taxis in the city.

They argued that the operators of ‘one chance’ taxis disguise themselves as taxi drivers to dispossess passengers of their belongings.

Mr. Felix Okoronkwo, an Operations Officer of VIO, lamented that the use of unpainted vehicles for commercial transportation had exposed residents to the nefarious activities of the gangsters.

“Many people have fallen victim of this ‘One Chance’ menace out of ignorance, and because of the nonidentification of the vehicles which they use for their operations,” he said.

Okoronkwo said the directorate had been receiving daily reports on the activities of the gangsters, who operate mostly at Berger Roundabout, Wuse II and Garki, Area I. “We have asked people to stop patronising unpainted taxis and buses in order not to be victims of the ‘One Chance’ gang. We have continuously told motorists who want to operate taxis in the FCT to comply with the government’s laws on their operation by registering their vehicles legally. The commercial taxi drivers can register their vehicles with any licensed transport operator recognised in the FCT to enhance the safety and security of commuters.

“By registering, if anything happens or a crime is committed with a painted vehicle, through the bold side numbers we can trace the vehicle outrightly and sort it out,’’ Okoronkwo explained.

According to him, Volkswagen Golf and Nissan Sunny cars are mostly used by the criminals and

women form majority of victims.

Okoronkwo said VIO, Nigeria Police Force and Federal Road Safety Corps were collaborating to solve the problem.

“We will continue to arrest and prosecute drivers of unpainted vehicles if we find out that they are using their private cars for commercial purposes. Once we get the person we will compel him to paint his vehicle or we will paint it for him. He will change his number plate and register with the transport companies and the driver will pay N50, 000 before we release the vehicle,” he said.

Okoronkwo said that the enforcement in FCT over the years was ongoing.

He said a major hindrance to the enforcement was complaints by the unpainted taxi drivers that some government offices and private organisations, especially hotels, had placed restrictions on the movement of painted cabs.

When interviewed, drivers of some unpainted cabs said they were not involved in ‘one chance;’

Elections: Youths charged on non-violence Amadi Nnamdi

A

Suleiman-Abba

but only wanted to be allowed to operate freely.

A cab driver, Bernard Owoh, refuted the allegation that he and his colleagues were involved in the unlawful act.

“We have also seen cases of ‘one chance’ business among drivers of painted cabs. We don’t promote them,” Owoh said.

He said from his experience in the transport business, drivers refused to register their vehicles because many people, especially top officials in Abuja, preferred using unpainted vehicles for security rea-

sons.

Mr. Friday Oboshi, another driver, complained of the humiliation which they face after painting and registering their vehicle with a licensed transport operator.

“Once you register, you will not go to some places like hotel premises, the airport, estates like the Sun City Estate and many offices. Some police officers also like to intimidate and harass drivers of these painted vehicles whereas they cannot do same to us that use unpainted taxis,” he said.

s the nation prepares for next month’s elections, youths in the Federal Capital Territory have been charged on the need to avoid all forms of violence and anti-social behaviour.

A youth advocacy group, Youth At Heart Foundation, gave this charge in Abuja during one of its youth outreach programmes.

Addressing the youths at the event, the group’s National Coordinator, Felix Odum, urged them to eschew all acts that may be inimical to the successful conduct of the elections.

“As 21st Century youths, a lot is expected from you.

You are the change agents that we seek and know.

Therefore, every election period is a time for the democratic selection of a candidate we believe can govern the nation, not to resort to violence or allow ourselves to be used to foment crises.

“Don’t be deceived into carrying arms against anybody. If anybody feels aggrieved about the electoral process let him or her approach the court and seek redress because none of them is worth dying for,”

he said.

Reminding them of the need to ensure they get their Permanent Voter Cards, Odum said it is the only weapon they need for the elections. He also stated the need for them to be vigilant against any form of electoral malpractice.

Odum bemoaned the scenario wherein the past youths constituted themselves into a social nuisance and allowed themselves to be used to foment trouble in the society.

The group also charged the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct credible elections, adding that there is need for the electoral umpire to sustain the relative trust it has gained from Nigerians.

On the rate of inflammatory and hate statements by some political stakeholders in the media, Odum advised them to conduct their electioneering in a responsible way.

“As for our politicians, we advise them to adopt and stick to issue-based campaigns rather than a campaign of calumny and personal insults. At this particular level of our democracy we should be seeing matured campaigns devoid of rancour,” he said.

FCT residents lament high cost of Kerosene Amadi Nnamdi

T

his is not the best of times for low income earners in the Federal Capital Territory, as they are now finding it difficult coping with the rise in the price

of kerosene in the country.

This is despite the falling prices of crude oil in the international market.

Kerosene which is a musthave commodity for many homes across the country is subsidised by the Fed-

eral Government at a retail price of N50 per litre. But many filling stations across the country sell a litre of the commodity between N130 and N160, while in the black market it goes for as high as N200.

This ugly trend, according to an FCT resident, Dayo Adegboye of Kuje Area Council is highly condemnable, owing to the fact that Nigeria is an oil producing nation.

“For sometime now, we have been buying a litre of kerosene at the cost of N160 here in Kuje. Sometimes, if we are lucky we get it for N150 which is still three times higher than the official price, yet government is doing or saying nothing about it.

“We have these resources here and we pay through our nose to get them. How can people who live on the bank of River Niger be washing their faces with

spittle?” he queried.

Meanwhile, at the Karu and Nyanya axis of the FCT, a litre of kerosene goes for N130 at all the filling stations visited by our correspondent.

Another respondent, who identified himself as Aina Abidemi, said if Nigerians cannot enjoy kerosene at a subsidized rate, then the government needs to go back to the drawing board.

Abidemi said, “The price has to be reduced and other distribution networks revamped. As we all know, food is a basic human need and more than 50 million Nigerians use this commodity to cook. Productivity is limited in the presence of hunger.”

He said everybody cannot afford other means of cooking especially as gas is expensive and electricity unstable.

Many respondents urged government to quickly look

into the matter and alleviate their suffering in purchasing the commodity whose price they described as excessively expensive.

On the other hand, Patricia Udoh, a resident of Garki, chided the government for its plan to purchase kerosene stoves worth N9.2 billion when it has not provided the needed kerosene to power the existing stoves in the country.

“Now, what is the essence of such a venture when what is needed to fuel the stoves isn’t even available or affordable? The earlier government concentrates on policies that will reduce the suffering of the common man the better for us all in this country.”

She therefore advised government to set up a mobile task force whose duty will be to go round to ensure that kerosene retailers all over adhere to the official price of the commodity.

SUNDAY

41

Education on Sunday SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015

Edo students beg Oshiomhole over misconduct

Ese Okoduwa, Ezekiel Efeobhokhan, and Sunny Ibeh, DELSU

W

Cajetan Mmuta,

F BENIN

or their unruly behaviour and for setting ablaze a bus belonging to the Edo State Government by some irate students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), students in the state, under their group, the Coalition of Students of Tertiary Institutions in Edo State, have apologised to Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

The UNIBEN students were said to have been protesting the ruling of a Benin High Court which returned some staff quarters occupied by the university, to the Edo State Government.

The students numbering over 200 were drawn from all tertiary institutions in the state, which are Tayo Akpata University of Education, Ekiadolor; Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma; Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi; College of Education, Igueben; College of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi and Michael Imoudu College of Physical Education, Afuze.

The students, who condemned the action of the UNIBEN students, said it was politically motivated and would never be condoned by the group.

The President of Tayo Akpata University of Education chapter of the Student’s Union, Amenaghawon Emmanuel, while, on behalf of the students’ group appealed to the governor for forgiveness, said: “We are here to show our solidarity to you and your entire cabinet members because we realise there are bound to be detractors and opposition.

“But regardless of all these, we want to let you know that those who are with you are more than those who are against you.”

The union leader added: “Specifically, I want to talk about the script that was acted a few days ago on television. It is glaring to all that those behind the script are agents of darkness that are against the state.”

His words: “It will please the governor to know that the students are not in school when the incident happened. The question then is those that barricaded the highway, where did they come from?

Are they students? Why did they not set ablaze the Comrade Bus donated to their own institution? That display actually negates the wish of the generality of students of Edo State.

“On behalf of the entire students as well as the management of tertiary institutions in Edo State, we want to tender an unreserved apology to the government and people of Edo State. We also want to use this opportunity to let you (governor) know that we are grateful for the existing cordial relationship between the students in the state and the government.”

The students, during the visit presented an award of excellence to the Governor in recognition of his “developmental strides, not only in rebuilding the college of education, but also extending your developmental efforts to all institutions in the state irrespective of ownership.”

Others, union leaders, who appealed to

Forum tasks youth on good conduct

Oshiomhole

People have been misinformed about the real issue concerning that property

the governor were the President, National Association of Edo Students, Gideon Aidonijie and President, Students’ Union of College of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi, Agbonlahor Agape, among others.

Responding to the students’ plea, Comrade Oshiomhole expressed gratitude to them for the honour bestowed on him and for their insight in deeming it right to appologise for their colleagues’ wrong doing.

The Governor said: “As governor, I need the courage to make decisions without minding whose ox is gored because what has led to impunity across the country

is that government is unable to find the courage to apply rules clearly without looking at faces.

“I made up my mind from a very early age after fighting my battles as you are fighting your battles that I shall commit myself to standing on the side of truth and God will give me courage to do what I am convinced about. That has guided my actions since I assumed office as Governor of Edo State.”

While x-raying the court action by the University of Benin against the Edo State Government in relation to properties owned by the state, Oshiomhole said: “People have been misinformed about the real issue concerning that property.”

He maintained that the university is not the owner of the said properties in the Government Reservation Areas of the state capital, but that it belongs to the state government and the court had ruled so.

He warned the students not to allow themselves to be used by greedy and frustrated politicians at the detriment of their academic pursuit.

orried by the use of youth to perpetrate electoral violence, especially in the forthcoming 2015 general elections and its attendant negative effects on the nation, a leadership and entrepreneurship organization, Sunlight Forum, has in collaboration with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) organised a sensitisation programme for the students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) on the role of youth on electoral process.

The event, which took place barely few days after students finished their semester examinations at the Parliamentary Building of the university, was attended by the INEC representative, the Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner, DSP Moses Okafor, as well as the Director on Youths Affairs to the Edo State Government, Comrade Emmanuel Yakubu.

While welcoming guests to the event, the President of Sunlight Forum, Joshua Chianu admonished the youth to desist from violence and shun all forms of violence and anti-social activities that could hinder free and fair election during the forthcoming general elections.

He stressed the importance of the sensitisation programme, saying that youths have to engage in proper development of their mind, even as he noted that they should not involve in further escalating the already fragile situation of the country.

In his lecture, Prof. Kingsley Omoyibo, who spoke on “2015 Election Will Make or Mar Nigeria?” dwelt extensively on the possibility of the country scaling through the 2015 election and surviving all forms of pessimistic prophesy.

The don said: “I am ashamed that some people in the country are advocating for division come 2015, and where there is no platform how will such nation stand? The country cannot disintegrate. Not after experiencing democracy. Go to Tunisia or Egypt, where they had their leaders removed, because there was no platform for someone to takeover, a new leaders came in and repeated the same errors all over again.”

In his contributions, the former President of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Peter Esele encouraged the youths to be more proactive in their positive contributions to the developement of the country in all facets of its growth.

He said: “Leadership starts from knowing what to do and the best way to do it and if you cannot sense the time and what is ultimately needed, everyone is bound to be doomed. We have to sense the political atmosphere.”

Esele warned the youths to be wary of easy money, saying it kills creativity and hence the youth should all be mindful not to sell their conscience. The high point of the event was the presentation of awards to Esele and Omoyibo by the Forum.

A 300-Level undergraduate at the Department of Mathematics and Economics, Victor Okoroafor described the event as timely, adding that it had really exposed them to what is expected of them during the election.

42

JANUARY 11, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Education

Club celebrates with orphans Dayo Ojerinde,

I

AAUA

n the spirit of the season, the Rotaract Club of Ilesha, Zone L, District 9125 on the Boxing Day visited the Grace of God Foundation, an Orphanage Home in Ilesha, Osun State to celebrate with the children. During the visit, they presented gift items and celebrated with the kids.

The gift items donated include food items - bags of rice, semovita, gari, spaghetti, sachet tomatoes, beverages, as well as toiletries and clothing materials, among others.

The children were said to have received the Rotaract members with joy and great hope for the future at their common room.

While receiving them Rotaract members, the Visioner of the Foundation, who preferred to be addressed just as ‘Aunty

Grace’ lauded the efforts of the club members in making life meaningful to the orphans, especially during the festive period.

“This kind of gesture is rare, these are youths, and that notwithstanding they have come to give these children gifts out of the little they themselves have. I really do appreciate you,” she said.

Apart from the gift presentation, there was a pep talk, where the Rotaractors had the opportunity to address the children on key values to excel in life.

In his remarks, the President of Rotaract Club of Ilesha, Folorunsho Oladayo thanked the management of the Foundation (Home) for availing the club of the opportunity to offer its humanitarian service even as he pledge that the club will partner the foundation in the overall welfare of the children.

Members of the club with orphans and staff of the home

In a related development, the club, in a bid to make its immediate environment clean, engaged in a cleaning exercise at the famous Ilesha Round-About, which is popular garden for Ogedengbe Agbogunboro, a legendary Yoruba Warlord.

The Club said of the cleaning exercise: “We discovered that the garden was not in a good shape before the celebration of the Iwude annual festival.

We realised that the round-about should be put in good shape for the festival, but to our dismay, the place was left in its bad shape.

This is why the Rotaract Club of Ilesa in partnership with Youth Advantage Initiative, Ilesa undertook the cleaning exercise of the Round-About. It is better to light a single candle, than to sit and curse the darkness.”

Ajasin varsity graduate launches book Dayo Ojerinde, AAUA

I

t was a dream come true for a Biology graduate of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State, Olusegun Akinsehinde, as he launched his book in Akure, last week.

The book: “Keep Throwing the Dice” was launched amid pomp and ceremony.

The Chairman of the book launch, Chief Sanya Oyinsan lauded the efforts of the author, saying that young people should be encouraged to rise up to the challenges of changing the world through a new attitudinal change campaign.

He described the writer as creative in his approach to conceptualise Ludo game in terms of sticking to our dreams until we achieve them, which is the main thematic preoccupation and focus of the book.

While extolling the virtues and contribution of the author to intellectual development and reading campaign, he said: “Akinsehinde has done a very great job that could attract a life time impact on the society especially the youth, which is the target audience. I am happy to be part of today’s history.

He has proven that something great can come out of Nigeria and its youths.

Writing a book is not easy, but Akinsehinde has shown us that we can always stick and keep faith with our dreams if we do not give up such dream.”

While speaking on his motivation to write the book, Akinsehinde said: “Keep Throwing the Dice” is a mind opener to the philosophy of persistence, diligence and hard work. It takes persistence to unlock doors of success. Just like the Ludo player who envisions higher figures in his mind must keep throwing the dice until he or she gets the desired result. Keep Throwing The Dice, the more you throw the more you increase your chances of having double six (6/6).”

Muslim students flay Fashola over N10,000 exam fee

T

he Muslim Students Society of Nigeria, Lagos State Area Unit has flayed the Lagos State Government over the N10,000 registration fee charged the candidates for computer-based test for admission into the junior secondary schools (JSS) in its Model Colleges and Upgraded Schools for 2015/2016 school year.

The Amir (President) of the society, Kaamil Kalejaiye, who lauded the computer-based-test initiative and however faulted the high registration fee, recalled that the Education Commissioner, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, had in a statement said two versions of the screening tests; the computerbased and pencil-based would be adopted for the 2015/2016 qualifying examination.

While lamenting what he described as prohibitive fee, he added that parents and guardians, according to the Commissioner, are expected to pay N10,000 to designated banks, after which candi-

Olayinka-Oladunjoye

dates would be registered through a customised compact disc to be issued by the State Examination Board.

The society, which said the burden of enhancing quality or change in the education system should not be placed on parents, described as “scary” the education policies of the Lagos State Government, even as it wondered that the state government no longer provide free education as it promised to do.

It said: “Lagos State is at it again with its anti-masses education policy. Why should parents be always burdened for paying for things that government should ordinarily do for free? It seems that the government has misplaced it is priority in this area. It is not parents’ right to fund education innovation, unless if voluntary. It is absurd to hear the Commissioner asking parents to pay.

“Why is Lagos state shying away from its responsibilities when it comes to education matters? The

fear is that very soon the government will begin to demand from parents of pupils in public schools to paying a ‘token’ school fee, if the high fee regime in the state tertiary institutions is anything to go by.

This has made the education policies of the state government antimasses.”

The society also expressed worry that the state government was not utilising the education from World Bank well, even as it appealed to the government to re-order its steps by stopping forthwith payment of the examination fee.

Kalejaiye said: “We are calling on stakeholders in the Lagos State education sector to intervene to safe the parents from this burden.

Lagos State should be a leading state in quality and free education delivery, but policies such as these will make that role impossible. The free education policy of the state government should be one of the benefits parents should enjoy as tax payers.”

44

SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Body&Soul

Keep fit with great sports wear Vanessa Okwara

A

s part of your New Year resolution to keep fit, you are determined to go through with loosing that extra flesh at the mid riff and get the perfect V shape you have always dreamed of.

To get in the mood, its best you get the right outfit that will motivate you to get up in the morning and hit the road for an early morning jog or head to the gym to sweat out that extra fat from your body. If you cannot go to the gym, or road walk, you can jog or brisk walk around your compound or neigbourhood. Whatever suits your style, make sure you take up a form of exercise to keep fit and maintain a healthy body.

For sportswear, it’s best you wear airy clothes such as t-shirts, sleeveless tops, polo and shorts. If the weather is a bit chilly as we are now in the harmattan period, you can add a track suit as part of your gear. Just make sure that the clothes are of good quality and made from fabrics that are sweat friendly. Your foot wear is also important. Get good trainers, joggers or canvass to get your feet protected from scaling or bruises while jogging. Never go to the gym or jog with ordinary shoes as the sole of these shoes are not made for running or any form of exercise.

You can decide to even take up your fitness routine at home to enjoy a healthier body. It doesn’t take much effort or money to design an effective workout program at home. Things like fit balls, dumbbells, exercise bands or tubing, and push-up bars are an inexpensive way to create a routine that works all the major muscle groups. But even with no props or machines, you can build muscles and burn calories.

If you want to get started, take brisk walks and then do abdominal exercises and push-ups. A warm-up could be an easy walk outside or on a treadmill, or a slow pace on a stationary bike. For the cardiovascular portion, walk or pedal faster, do step aerobics with a video, or jump rope, climb staircase at a faster pace or whatever you enjoy that gets your heart rate up. You could work with small dumbbells, a weight bar, bands or tubing.

If you’re a beginner, aim for 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise at least three times a week, and 20 to 30 minutes of strength work three times a week. Be sure your strength workout covers all major muscle groups, in your upper body, lower body, abdominals and back.

No matter what type of exercise you do, be sure to start slowly and gradually increase your workout time and intensity.

Adopt fitness as a lifestyle and also learn to eat right.

The key thing is that you do something, somewhere, sometime to maintain a healthy body. Go ahead! Get ready to burn those fats and get the dream body you have always wanted.

45

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015

Body&Soul

Stagnant water attracts only tadpoles and not fishes

G

race, a lady in her mid thirties graduated from the University seven years ago and up till now cannot really pinpoint what she has achieved in her life since leaving school; except waiting for a metaphoric Mr. Right to come sweep her off her feet.

After she graduated, she sweated for about two years looking for a decent job and finally heaved a sigh of relief when she got one as a Customer Service Personnel in a Generator servicing company.

Once she got that job, she closed the book on doing anything else but to get married and settle down. The desire to get married consumed her for so long that any other achievement seemed dull in comparison.

She believed all her problems in life will end once she got married.

She did absolutely nothing with her life while she waited for Mr. Right to whisk her away to his faraway castle where she will be pampered and treated like a princess for the rest of her life.

As years rolled by, Grace’s daydream of having a prince charming waltz into her life gradually dwindled as it dawned on her that if wishes were horses, beggars will surely fly! As she was not improving her self-worth, she found out that the good men she could’ve married kept dumping her for either younger girls or more successful ones.

Unfortunately, the men she would not even consider for marriage were the ones flocking her door-post, asking for her hand in marriage. Today, reality is staring her in the face and she has come to understand that stagnant water does not attract fishes; it only attracts tadpoles and a few frogs.

Not doing anything with your life just

I

CONNECT NG vanessaonsunday@yahoo.com because you are waiting for Mr. Right only makes you stagnated. You will end up a mediocre that attracts men of like manners who have not bothered to improve their life nor made efforts to upgrade to the next level. Is that the kind of marriage you want? While waiting, what are you doing with your life?

Are you really prepared for marriage or do you just want to answer a man’s ‘‘Mrs.’’?

Ladies, stop keeping your life on hold! Play hard, work hard and make something meaningful out of your singlehood.

Don’t allow family or peer pressure to box you into a corner. Hold your head high in this New Year and be determined to live your life to the fullest

It is advisably that while waiting for Mr. Right, a woman uses the period of singlehood to prepare mentally, spiritually and even financially for her future. It is definitely not right to keep off improving your life until you get married.

This is the best time for you to obtain more degrees, learn handicraft such as tailoring, catering or think of some other business you can do to improve the quality of your life.

Don’t put off that creative idea or that feat you want to achieve just because you are waiting to get married.

Contrary to popular beliefs and trends where people think it is wrong for a woman to be successful as a single person, stop keeping off achievements or goals till when you get married. Start off long time goals such as investing and buying shares, starting a company of your own or even building a house. Some people may frown at it, but I tell you, it is only those who are myopic in their thinking that will not applaud a young woman who has invested her resources well.

While you are striving to improve yourself financially as a single woman, it is equally important to look inwards on how you can prepare yourself mentally for marriage. You

start out by first of all knowing who you are.

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Are you a giving person, are you a pushy/ bossy person and are you teachable as a woman? These are some of the soul-searching questions you need to use to evaluate your readiness for marriage. Use this period to get yourself mentally prepared for marriage by reading books on marriage and how to have a successful home.

Ladies, stop keeping your life on hold!

Play hard, work hard and make something meaningful out of your singlehood. Don’t allow family or peer pressure to box you into a corner. Hold your head high in this New Year and be determined to live your life to the fullest. Most of the time, it is when you are less anxious about what you want that it actually manifests.

Stop carrying the placard that screams, ‘’SINGLE AND SEARCHING’ written all over your face! By looking and acting desperate, you chase prospective suitors off and it gets worse when they actually come and realise that you are like stagnant water waiting to drown unsuspecting men. Women need to understand that men of this modern age want a woman who will complement them in every way and not just to answer their name or bear children.

So get determined to make the best of your single years! It is a time in your life you will never recover again once you are married.

Strengthen your hands to work, square your chin and live your single life to the fullest while you wait for that Mr. Right. He will be so proud to whisk away a fully-baked Amazon rather than a frustrated unleavened woman.

•Send your views to the email above!

I’m an unbowed journalist, I’m Charlie Hebdo

am Charlie Hebdo and on September 28 2014, I highlighted in this column the dangers that comes along with my profession. With all the beheading going on then, I cried out against the unnecessary violence against journalists. I told the world we are only keeping account of actual events and are ready to listen to both sides provided it is aired in an atmosphere of mutual respect.

No one listened. The events in Paris on Wednesday January 7, 2015 have further proven that the pen trade remains the most dangerous in the world. When two gun men (I refuse to give them the honour of a name) found their way into the office of satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, and killed 10 journalists (Stéphane Charbonnier, Phillipe Honore, Bernard Maris, Mustapha Ourad, Michel Renaud, Bernard Verlhac, Georges Wolinski, Elsa Cayat, Jean Cabut, Frederic Boisseau) and two police officers (Ahmed Mehrabet and Franck Brinsolaro), the world was again reminded of the dangerous trade we engage in. The world suddenly realised that journalists are not suit wearing trouble makers who get free travels and brown envelopes filled with cash from politicians, but consummate professionals who pay the ultimate prize in defense of free speech and truth.

I am Charlie Hebdo. I condemn the attack, just like all the sane and rational people all over the world have condemned it. I will not be bullied and I am sure I speak for all my colleagues the world over when I say death is just a small price to pay for a passionate commitment to a cause. The real martyrs here are the ones who died in the process of defending free speech and

the human race. This is not a religious attack, no, for I have Muslim friends and have seen their ways and just like their religion, it is the way and path to peace. One of the police officers and one of the journalists were Muslims. What is more, I attended a High school run by an Islamic organisation and not for once did they teach me to bear arms in defense of the faith. This attack is an attack on humanity, on free speech, on liberty and on the people who record the events surrounding these themes. That is why Muslims, like Hassan Nasraller, often considered an hardliner himself, has joined in the condemnation of the act, clearly stating that it is harming the religion more than the targets.

I am Charlie Hebdo. And I proudly hold on to the tenets of the pen being mightier than the sword or the gun. The 10 journalists killed have attained immortality. Forever will their names be mentioned in relation to standing up for truth, justice and social equity. Whenever any student of journalism or media studies sits in his class, these brave men will be held up as the standard the student is expected to meet and if the said student is not prepared to meet up with such standard, then he or she is in the wrong class. Not so much for their

And I will now affirm that satire has always been a part of human society. Court jesters in Victorian and medieval times poke fun at the king, minstrels sing of the king’s misdeeds and in the oral tradition of Africa, griots weave songs that condemn the king’s action. It is part of life and no amount of violence will erase it attackers. They shall forever be held in ignominy and an unmarked grave will only tell the story of an uneventful life.

I am Charlie Hebdo. And I will now affirm that satire has always been a part of human society. Court jesters in Victorian and medieval times poke fun at the king, minstrels sing of the king’s

misdeeds and in the oral tradition of Africa, griots weave songs that condemn the king’s action. It is part of life and no amount of violence will erase it. Satire is humorous, but also communicative and that is why satirists, those using the medium of cartoon are valued members of the media world. That is why they must stand up and protect their craft, protect their art and invariably protect the human race.

I am Charlie Hebdo. I also think that the coverage given to the shooting worldwide is commendable; it shows that journalists globally consider themselves to be of one clan. In places as far afield as Asia, newspaper led with the story and it headlined most of the news hour in the electronic medium as well.

Journalists render social services and it seems to hit harder when the news is broken closer to home. It can be improved upon though as certain countries pretended that nothing was happening.

Some reasoned that why give attention to a foreign event when the politics and issues of local interest were breaking. This is a ‘glocal’ as well as human event. The impact of this attack can be felt much later and it can be anywhere in the world. Nigeria, for instance, is currently in the process of holding an election. Will journalists be intimidated by bombings, invasion of offices and seizure of copies? I make the clarion call now to the Aliu Erojes, Kaycees, Ayo Oyerindes, Dada Adekolas and all the other cartoonists in the Nigerian media sphere: Now is the time to stand up and be counted, to put the pencil to truthful use and ensure that the cartoonists and journalists at Charlie Hebdo did not die in vain. Je suis Charlie.

46

Body&Soul

SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Accessories

Get the goddess look with bejeweled headbands Vanessa Okwara

J

ewelled headbands are great for looking chic and drawing attention to a pretty face and also for keeping your hair under control.

They come in different varieties and can be made from different types of metal such as gold, diamonds or rhinestones to create exquisite pieces that are timeless as well as beautiful.

This trend has been on for a while, made popular by Kim Kardashian when she got married to her former husband, Kris Humphries. The head chain jewell continued to gain popularity all through 2014 and found its way to the Nigerian red carpet, worn by our celebrities and fashion forward ladies. In this New Year, we will definitely see more ladies wear-

ing this accessory as it has a lovely way of sitting comfortably on the heads of beautifully dressed ladies and giving them that ethereal goddess look. This jewelled piece helps to add pizzazz to already glitzy attire.

These gorgeous and intricate chain headpieces are mainly worn in a gypsy style to adorn the front of the hair or worn over the forehead. This intriguing hair pieces can be worn for a formal evening affair, night date, birthday party and fun outing with friends to enhance the beauty of the head and face.

The hard metal jewelled chains come in different unique styles and details and are incredibly embellished with brass-plated, silver or gold chains, pearls, rhinestone, crys-

tal stones, leaf accents, coins and so much more. You can choose one that suits your personal taste and style.

One of the most important things to think about when buying fashionable jewelled headbands is to make sure the scale of the headband harmonizes with the size and shape of your face. For example, if you have a wide/full face, a single skinny headband will emphasise that by making it look bigger in comparison and if you have a narrow/small face, vice versa. If you have a round and wide face, then headbands will show off the shape.

Go ahead and embrace this trend!

Dress up your hair with this trendy jewelled chain headband and come out looking like a beautiful princess!

47

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015

GLOBAL fashion

Body&Soul

Celebrities’ red carpet power Biwom Iklaki

T

he media plays a very important role in the making of a global star. However, their publicists, designers, stylists, makeup artists and fashion choices keep them interesting enough to stay that way. Talent is important, but without a professional and dedicated slew of the aforementioned, you may only make it so far.

With the combination of all of these factors comes true star quality. Your fashion and style keep you relevant, and with the media and social media at your finger tips, you become relevant. A huge and dedicated fan base makes sure that you get good roles in movies, even if it’s just to ensure that you

draw your fans to the theatres and to buy the movies.

There are many platforms to showcase your style as a celebrity; movie premieres, Emmy awards, Academy awards, BAFTA, MTV Movie awards, Golden Globe awards and more. It is a flurry of activities in the camps of different celebrities, especially the ladies. These events are age irreverent and can guarantee an artist’s name stays in the news for a while. Best and worst dressed lists come up and designers (known and obscure) vie for an opportunity to dress the stars. For the more popular and renowned designers, stars wish and lobby to be their muse. Same goes in the world of the designers as

they lobby to dress the more established stars. Some of the designers like Michael Kors, Chanel and Gucci already have their muses like Blake Lively (Christian Louboutin picks out her shoes), while Julia Roberts has been known to favour and enjoy a personal relationship with Valentino, and is now the new Muse for Givenchy.

Some designers are so divine that they occur repeatedly on the red carpet with many celebrities rocking their designs.

Some of such are Calvin Klein, Monique L’huillier, Elie Saab, Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli, Marchesa and many more. Featured here are a few flashbacks of some of the best dressed celebrities on the red carpet in the past.

48

SUNDAY JANUARY 11, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Body&Soul

Thinking

Aloud

Man of God or God of Man?

) 0807 270 9777

paulhelenproductions@yahoo.com

S

with Helen Paul

ome years back, it was as if death and terminal ailments of all sorts pitched their stubborn tents with the entertainment industry, but thank God the storm is over. The entertainment industry recorded a lot of painful losses and people had different prophecies and theories as to what could be going on. A lot of pastors and entertainers have tried to come together to pray and worship so that God will help put an end to the calamities. Thank God, the tension has finally gone down.

People die every day and people fall sick every day. It is not peculiar to our industry so I will not live in fear every day of my life. God has not given us the spirit of fear, so I am not afraid at all.

However, I must state here that the entire entertainment industry needs to go back to the source. We need to turn away from all the evil and dangerous things a lot of people have put their hands into just for fame and money. We need to stop leading more people to hell with the content we are putting out there. We all need to know where we have gone wrong and start to trace our steps back to where we all once came from.

This whole mess started with the disconnect from the house of God where a lot of us belonged to. These same churches failed a lot of us one way or the other but we never got a chance to even speak to the pastors and church leaders whom we believe have become spirits

T

that are unapproachable.

There are some things that need to be said and some things that need to be heard. There must be a middle ground between the house of God and the children of God who have been blessed with so much talent given to them only by God and not the world. We don’t all have to be gospel singers or evangelists or do church movies for us to have a free relationship with God and His house. But how can we do that when we are even afraid to be identified with a particular church publicly. I am done with all the silence, backbiting, gossip, fear, ignorance, hypocrisy and the lies in the church today and I am tired of the unspoken battle, the cold war between entertainment and the house of God. If nobody can boldly come out and talk about it, I am ready to bear the consequences because God will not be happy to see that we know the truth but for fear of other human beings we choose to keep quiet and let His children perish for lack of knowledge.

In all of this, I still maintain and stand my ground that the church of today has failed us in many aspects of life; from politics to domestic violence, marriage, business to even knowing what to do as a people who need God to save the nation. Christians are the first to judge and condemn. They are the first to make you feel you are not worth it. They are the first to laugh at you and they are the first to make you feel like God

is so far from you but close to them because your sins are too great.

They have lied to people for too long and people have carried too much pain and guilt; thereby losing out on the blessings and the purpose laid down for them by God. Some of the pastors of today have taken it upon themselves to become mini-gods and untouchables.

They have misled too many people, especially our generation, to the point that there is a huge disconnect between young people and God. They have made the church a place where only certain types of people can enter; even though the Bible says Jesus came especially for the sinners. Some pastors have even made themselves ‘god of men,’ not men of God. Where are all the people who claim to be God’s Generals? They should stop flying high and come low to let us know they are still human beings. Let us know they are the servants of God and not God Himself.

I so much believe in leadership by example, and I expect every pastor to practise exactly what they preach.

Hopefully, I will discuss our Muslim leaders next week.

The purpose is not to undermine or disrespect anybody, but the point is that our religious leaders have a pivotal role to play in making our society a better one. The campaign of peace, inter-religious and tribal tolerance must start from our religious leaders. They must make it a priority in order for us to have a peaceful society.

The super palm tree

he palm tree groves are a common and beautiful sight across many parts of Africa and Asia. Its long branchless trunk and sweeping scattered evergreen branches are iconic views on any African plain from beachfronts to rainforest areas.

One of the reasons it is so widespread throughout the continent is as a result of its inherent versatile nature which also translates into its physical and nutritional superfluity. The most superficial use of the palm tree is landscaping as it is easily maintained and cultivated but this seems most basic when compared to its profound and more significant uses. These latter uses illustrate its importance most African and Asian communities.

Practical uses of the palm kernel nut are in the making of soaps, creams and oils.

In African traditional societies, the nut is heated in a pot which allows the oil to drain out leaving a black charcoal-like mass. The dense black oil is separated and stored in small containers such as bottles or jars.

Palm kernel oil made in this way is used by local African people for ‘pomade’, a local cream, and some traditional medicines.

For example, it is used in curing convulsion in children and to reduce the effect of epilepsy attack. Scientifically, this is yet to be proved. In Madagascar, rural communities use raffia to make baskets, carpets, decorative panels and hats, for both personal and commercial use. They create handmade objects by braiding raffia, a tough fibre that comes from the raffia palm, or from the fibres of several other types of palm. The large dried leaves and stem (stipe) are used for constructing thatched roofs, walls and floors of houses. By hollowing out longs strips of stipe, local farmers make irrigation pipes for rice fields -the most commonly cultivated cereal in Masoala, Madagascar. In Nigeria, a very common purpose of the leaves is to make the local broom which is used in most homes for the more functional purpose of cleaning and the less popular, especially for children, as objects of discipline! Palm wine, an alcoholic drink made from fermented

Health Wellness Natasha Ellah

ad auk uo ns und ay@gm ail .co m

palm sap, is another well-liked product of the palm tree. Interestingly, palm wine is a good source of Vitamin B3 (Niacin), Vitamin C and potassium. However, the men out there should not use the presence of these vitamins as an excuse to wives and girlfriends when choosing to overindulge in the alcoholic beverage!

The African palm (Elaesis guineensis) fruit is perhaps the most important aspect nutritionally of this multifaceted tree and which will be this articles main focus. The fruit’s rich red colour is an indication of the presence of essential carotenes such as beta-carotene and lycopene, which is present in several other fruits and vegetables like tomatoes and bell peppers. The red oil is extracted from the fruit more traditionally by cooking to make it softer, aiding in oil separation from the fruit fibres when pressed. However, this process has been mechanised in many parts of Africa and Asia to increase efficiency and profitability for businesses to ensure that the oil extracted is maximised for export quantities. The use of machines also introduces another application of the fruit fibres; its ash is a rich source of potassium for compost, which is burnt after extraction.

The red palm oil is so extraordinary that it is used in supplementation form to bolster a healthy diet. Dr Bruce Fife, in his book, The Palm Oil Miracle, shows that red palm oil provides a perfect solution to Vitamin A deficiency. As Vitamin A is mostly found

in animal foods, such protein sources may be too expensive for people in developing countries. Carotenes in fruits and vegetables can supply the needed Vitamin A if an adequate amount of fat is also consumed.

However, carotenes require fat in order to be converted into Vitamin A. There is a drawback though, as those who are unable to afford animal products often do not eat much fat. Red palm oil therefore supplies both the needed fat and Vitamin A precursors needed to convert the carotenes present into Vitamin A, the essential nutrient. Red palm oil has 15 times more provitamin-A carotenes than carrots and 300 times more than tomatoes, making it the richest dietary source of beta-carotene and alpha-carotene, essential for healthy eyes, strong bones, a robust immune system and increased mental function which is crucial for growing children. Dietary research has shown that supplementation of palm oil for pregnant women and young children may prevent this deficiency. Recommended dosage is about 3 tablespoons (9 grams) per day of palm oil for adults and children over age 5, about 4 tablespoons (12 grams) per day for pregnant women and lastly, for children less than 5 years old, 2 tablespoons (6 grams) per day.

The other important antioxidant present in the red palm oil is tocotrienols - the super Vitamin E - which Dr. Oz, a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon, who found fame on the Oprah Winfrey Show, calls his ‘most

miraculous find in 2013 to address the aging process’. It is proven to confer health benefits such as potent cardioprotection, neuroprotection and skin nutrition. Tocotrienols strengthen the heart to withstand stress; it contains remarkable anticancer properties as a result of the high antioxidant content inhibiting the growth of skin, stomach, pancreas, liver, lung, colon, prostate, breast and other cancers. Several studies on tocotrienols’ ability to reduce Alzheimer’sassociated plaque and reduce stroke risk have been published as it removes plaque build up in arteries.

In terms of skin health, tocotrienols are far superior to tocopherol, the synthethic and natural form of Vitamin E currently used in most over the counter women’s beauty supplements, skin care treatments and anti-aging products. Skin care specialists are clambering over themselves to fully research tocotrienols superior benefits as it is still a relatively new area of research, but the level of skin protection it offers against the onslaught of free radicals and stress caused

by UV rays and pollution in our daily lives is already highly remarkable. Dr. Nicholas Perricone, dermatologist at the Yale Medical Centre, in his New York Times’ best-selling book, ‘The Wrinkle Cure’, advocated the use of tocotrienols in cream to promote skin health and prevent skin aging. So, to all the beauty conscious ladies out there, it might be far cheaper to have daily spoonfuls of palm oil rather than slathering expensive and less effective lotions on your face. One gets both its internal and external benefits, of which clearly there are plentiful. Before you run out to the shelves and start taking spoonfuls of palm oil, check that the oil used is 100 per cent natural, organic, traditionally processed, virgin, unrefined, free from bleach and other odours. Also check that no colouring added and no pesticides or fertilizers are used. These introduce harmful toxins into the oil that could build up in your system. It is advisable to buy palm oil from a health store or a palm oil farmer/ marketplace that you trust.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015

Wine & Dine

49

Body&Soul

Keep the body fit with orange juice Ibukunoluwa Kayode

N

eed a natural antioxidant to detoxify the body? a glass of orange juice a day can keep your immune system alive. Orange juice is known to contain a high percentage of Vitamin C, which keeps skin glowing and keep cold away.

Orange is one of the healthiest fruit juice to include in your diet routine due to its natural benefits.

This is an excellent source of Vitamin C fruit drink that help prevent various diseases in the body with a potent antioxidant that protects against diseases like cataracts (clouding of the eye lens that can lead to blindness) and

lung cancer.

The work of Vitamin C is to prevent oxidative damage that can cause cells to become cancerous, and improve immunecell functioning, enabling the body to fight off infections more efficiently. And it’s a good source of folate, which protects against neural-tube defects in fetuses.

To get the extra benefit of bone protection, try some calciumfortified orange juice.

Orange juice can serve as a table drink and can as well supplement water when eating. Also, regular intake of orange juice will keep off cold or flu during this hamattan season.

According to medical research,

the vitamin contained in orange may help lower both cholesterol and blood pressure levels with regular intake.

Always remember that you do not need to drink a whole lot of orange juice in order to get these healthy benefits; you must apply moderation. In fact, since orange juice is fairly high in calories, avoid drinking too much of it.

Also, If you have a stomach condition, remember that orange juice is very acidic and for that reason, it may cause a stomach upset and should not be taken into empty stomach. Due to its acidity, orange juice can also cause tooth damage, if left uncared for.

Mouthwatering Isi ewu (goat head) Biwom Iklaki

S

ince we are still in the holiday season, many homes may not return to normal meals yet. Even if your home has started cooking normal meals again, you can make something special for the weekend. Something tasty, that you often have to go out to the restaurant to enjoy.

Isi ewu is a very popular Nigerian delicacy which transcends cultures. It is of Igbo origin, but there is no Yoruba or hausa dichotomy in this matter. Let your family finally thank you for serenading their palates and stomachs with this healthy and delicious, mouthwatering sauce. You may serve with boiled rice, yam, eko, plantain or potatoes.

INGREDIENTS 1 Goat head 1 cup, Palm oil ½ tsp ground potash Dried/fresh pepper to taste 2 Stock cubes ½ tsp Ehuru seeds 3 utazi leaves (for bitter taste) Salt to taste

PREPARATION Cut the goat head into bite size pieces, season and cook till the meat is tender and you are left with little but rich stock. Set it aside.

Pour the palm oil into your saucepan and heat while adding your onions, potash, pepper and stock cubes. Stir fry for about a minute and then pour in the seasoned goat head with stock. Stir, leave for half a minute and then add the ehuru seeds powder and the chopped utazi leaves. Taste for proper seasoning and serve with preferred carbs.

50

SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Body&Soul

God’s Camera A

little girl walked to and from school daily.

The weather that morning was questionable and clouds were forming, she made her daily trek to the elementary school. As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with thunder and lightning.

The mother of the little girl felt concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school and she herself feared that the electrical storm might harm her child. Following each roar of thunder, lightning, like a flaming sword, would cut through the sky. Full of concern, the mother quickly got into her car and drove along the route to her child’s school. As she did so, she saw her little girl walking along, but at each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up and smile.

Another and another were to follow quickly and with each flash, the little girl would look at the streak of light and smile. When the mother’s car drew up beside the child she lowered the window and called to her, “What are you doing? Why do you keep stopping?” The child answered, “I am trying to look pretty. God keeps taking my picture.” (www.atimetolaugh.org)

Gags

Crack your brain

Why is it so cold on Christmas?

Ans: Because it’s in Decembrrrrrrrrrr!

What Kind of Music Do Whales Like?

Ans: The Blues!

Where do bulls get their messages?

Ans: On a bull-etin board.

What weighs nothing and is as big as an elephant?

Ans: An Elephant’s shadow!

Why Did The Dog Wear A Cap And Gown?

Ans: He Was Picking Up His Master’s Degree

What is the favorite sport of a dog?

Ans: Formula 1 drooling!

My Cook Corner

Clown face pizzas W

Hero of the week Amarachi Uyanne is a Nigerian dancer and violinist who became a household name after winning Nigeria’s Got Talent season one in 2012, where her prize was N10, 000 000. She has many hits to her name, but her song Amarachi Dance which she successfully debuted in 2013 was a chart-bursting single with wide appeal. She grew up in Delta state and went to South Point Primary school. today, she sings with the likes of Phyno.

She followed her passion for music and dance, and look how far she has come. You too can follow your dreams to wherever they may lead.

e all know that kids are visual eaters. Even when meals do not sound so appetising, when mommy makes an effort with the presentation, it can look good enough to taste. Once you get a taste of it, you find yourself gobbling up the lot! Here is one you may not have to wait for mom to make or you both can make together.

INGREDIENTS 1 muffin, split Halved pepperoni slices 2 to 3 tablespoons tomato sauce Toppings as desired: olives, pepper slices, pineapple slivers… ¼ cup shredded mozzarella PREPARATION Preheat the oven. Lay the muffins halves cut side up on a baking sheet. Spoon on the sauce and divide the cheese between the two halves. Add topping as desired.

Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Be careful not to over-bake the muffins or else, they will become too crispy.

SUNDAY

Faith 51

SUNDAY JANUARY 18, 2015

Roving Worshipper Chapel of Divine Blessing marks fifth anniversary p.53

Interview 2015 elections will be peaceful – Oziegbe p.54

News Miracles, testimonies galore as church celebrates p.57

Sermon Remembrance as tool of restoration p.56

L-R: Editor, New Telegraph, Mr. Yemi Ajayi; Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Eric Osagie; Parish Pastor, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Elim Sanctuary, Lagos, Pastor Paul Olukunga and Chief Imam, Lagos State House of Assembly Mosque, Imam Abdul Lateef Abdul Hakeem

New Telegraph celebrates New Year with thanksgiving

T

Tai Anyanwu

Tai Anyanwu Head, religous Desk titus.anyanwu@newtelegraph online.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

he New Telegraph family celebrated the New Year with thanksgiving to Almighty God and with a strong resolve to make the newspaper house an institution that respects God. The ceremony, which was attended by the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Eric Osagie; the management and staff and two guest ministers (from the Islamic and Christian faiths), took place at the company’s Agidingbi, Lagos corporate office.

Speaking at the event, Osagie explained that the purpose was to return glory to the Almighty God for the modest achievements by the newspaper house in 2014; and to ask for more divine assistance.

“God is the only one who does not get angry when we keep asking Him. Whatever we have achieved, which is very modest, is made possible by God. If he does not put an idea into your head, you can’t write,” Osagie pointed out.

He noted that the year was pregnant, adding that all glory must be given to God who created the year and who alone knows what 2015 holds.

He charged the staff to resolve to be kind and respectful to one another in the New Year; and to resolve to work more diligently “because we are children of the Kind God.”

The Thanksgiving must continue because righteousness of human beings is likes a filthy rag. That is why we must make this place an institution that respects God

He explained that the idea of holding the thanksgiving service was borne out of the realisation that the New Telegraph family would not start the year with arrogance.

“The thanksgiving must continue because righteousness of human beings is like a filthy rag. That is why we must make this place an institution that respects God,” he emphasised.

Osagie observed that some newspapers that paraded top professionals had failed in the past mainly because God was not given a pride of place in theis affairs.

“That is why we brought in professionals, but it is God that makes success out of our professional competence,” he noted.

Osagie also assured the staff that no one would be victimised or ill-treated under his stewardship.

Guest Islamic preacher and Chief Imam of Lagos State House of Assembly mosque, Abdullateef AbdulAkeem, who gave the first homily on the occasion, emphasised that one must start with God for any endeavour to be successful.

He said, “Those who kill people do not go to church or mosque. Anybody who thinks he can fix Nigeria without God is lying.

Your first responsibility is to worship God and serve Him,” he emphasised.

The cleric declared that a heart of gratitude towards God and broad-mindedness enable people to look beyond what they don’t have.

He also counselled the staff to cultivate a healthy lifestyle.

“Take one or two bottles of water first thing in the morning, and stay away from food for one hour. Observe that for one year and nothing will take you to the hospital that year,” he said.

The cleric also advised the staff to exhibit contentment and live simple and peaceful lives devoid of envy.

Area Pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Lagos Province, Pastor Paul Olukuga, who spoke next, urged the staff to look unto God, adding that success is sure with Him. He also led the staff in praise worship and prayers.

52

JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Faith

Clergyman presents book

I

Charles Ogundiya

t was joy all over and gratitude to God as Pastor Ime Daniel launched his first book titled: ‘Enzymes of Possibility,’ in Lagos recently.

The 12-chapter book talks about various nutrients that nourish a believer to fulfillment in life.

In the foreword written

by Pastor George Akin-

wale, he described the book as a balanced package for Christian development.

“Pastor Daniel has written a practical lifechanging and destiny moulding book. The approach is balanced, the principles are scriptural and the illustrations are captivating. This book will prove an invaluable companion to believers who are struggling with impossibilities,” he said.

In some of the chapters of the book, Daniel explains the meaning of enzymes and goes further to mention seeking Jesus, mercy, grace, favour, word meditation among others as enzymes for possibility.

Daniel, who is the Pastor-In-Charge of Reigning King Parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Lagos Province 10 said: “The book ‘Enzymes of Pos-

sibility’ is written to enlighten the children of God on the way out of impossibility to possibility.

“Life situations have made many children of God to believe that it is over for them. However, this book will uncover the steps you need to take in order to get to the realm of possibility following the footsteps of Jesus Christ our Redeemer and friend.”

Daniel

Diary WAFBC 2015 convention

Covenant Christian Centre, Lagos Convention 2015 comes up from January 23 – 30. Senior Pastor, Poju Oyemade, who announced the event, said it is intended to impart faith to the next generation. The programme comes up at the church beside National Theatre, Iganmu. Lagos.

Ministering are Senior Pastor, Fountain of Life Church, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya; President, RHEMA Chapel International Churches, Rev. George Adegboye; founder, Word of Life Christian Centre, Rev. Scott Webb; convener, Holy Ghost Convention, Ibadan, Bishop Francis Wale Oke; founder, Bill Winston Ministries, Rev. Bill Winston; founder, Mark Hankins Ministries, Rev. Bill Winston; and Senior Pastor, Kingsway International Christian Centre, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo.

CCCR holds prayer St Joseph Catholic Charismatic Renewal Lagos (Amazing Grace) will hold a 31-day prayer programme from January 12 to February 11, 2015.

The host, Rev. Fr. Francis Adegun, said the theme of the programme is: ‘My year of extraordinary testimonies.’It will feature salvation, healing, deliverance and restoration and will take place at the church annex on Femi Daramola Street, off Cele Egbe Bus Stop, Egbe, Lagos.

Christ’s Chosen Church conference

Christ’s Chosen Church of God International 2015 international conference comes up on January 19. Tagged ‘Power in the word,’ the event will hold at the Central Cathedral Complex, BeninAgbor Road, Ohovbe Quarters, Benin. Edo State.

Ministering are Spiritual Leader/General Overseer, Most Senior Apostle (Dr.) Joshua Osasuyi; Director of Administration, 1st Vice Chairman Church Council, Senior Apostle (Dr.) D.E.O Unuefe Ikhuiwu; and Director of Lands and housing/ Second Vice Chairman, Senior Apostle (Dr.) J. F. O. Onaghise.

Power to rule our world 2015

Fifteen prophets have taken it upon themselves to pray down power for the righteous to rule over Nigeria in 2015.

The programme’s facilitator, Prophet JoshuaAbiodun, told Sunday Telegraph that the threeday prayer rain would hold from January 21 – 23. Ministers expected to participate include, the facilitator’s wife, Pastor (Mrs.) MercyAbiodun; Prophet (Dr.) J. O. Oguntulu; Prophet (Dr.) P. O.Awebiowo.

53

JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Faith

David admonishes voters Stanley Ihedigbo

B

ishop-Elect of House of Grace Mission Ministry, Dr. MacDavid David, has advised Christians in the country to cast their votes based on their conscience.

Speaking with Sunday Telegraph at the ongoing 21-day prayer programme of the church, David said it was wrong for any Christian leader to persuade members of his or her church to vote for any particular candidate.

He explained that every Nigerian had a right to choose whom he or she wishes to be the leader of the great country.

He countered the assertion of some ministers that the elections would be violent, adding that God would bless Nigeria with a great leader who will take the country to the next level.

The minister urged his colleagues to avoid negative prophecies but rather use the instrument of prayer to forestall perceived or imminent danger and dissipate fears that had been created in the minds of their compatriots.

He said, “If God gave you a prophecy, what have you done? The reason why God reveals those things to His people is for them to pray against them and prevent the evil plans so that they will not come to pass.

“I believed that some of these men of God prophesying doom are for show; they want to show their skill in prophesying. I don’t buy the idea because there are many things God told me about this country, which if I had opened my mouth, it would have caused problems. But I prayed against them as it is expected from me as a prophet of the Most High God,” he said.

Commenting on the church programme, the former South Africa-based prophet said, “At the beginning of the year, if somebody doesn’t invite God into his or her life, the person is heading for failure that year.

Again, I never forget Genesis Chapter one.

The first passage states that in the beginning God created the heaven and earth, and I was asking myself why the writer put it that way. This means in every beginning, there must be God. “It is very important that every child of God must begin his or her year with God. I know there are lots of things that people want to achieve for the year but the best way to go about it is starting with God. Also in the book of Matthew 6 versus 33 the Bible said that the people should seek God’s kingdom first and His righteousness, then every other thing would be added to us.”

Chapel of Divine Blessing marks fifth anniversary

R-L: Leader-In-Charge, Sp. Apos Oyeku; Sp. Apos Remi Awode; Sp. Apos Oladeinde and Sp.M/I/I F. Odeyinka with others during the awareness rally.

I

Tai Anyanwu t was an exciting celebration recently as the Chapel of Divine blessing, Cherubim and Seraphim Movement, Alagbado, Lagos marked its fifth anniversary.

The church also used the occasion to hold a fundraiser for its N500 million ultramodern cathedral project.

Speaking on the occasion, the Leader in Charge of the church, Special Apostle J.A. Oyeku,said, “I am highly honoured and delighted to welcome you to this epoch making event, which is the fifth anniversary of our church, Chapel of Divine Blessing, under the Victory District headquarters.

“We are here today to celebrate the fifth anniversary of this sanctuary and launch a N500 million fund for our new church cathedral. We give thanks to God Almighty for making this day possible; five years on today, but it is like yesterday.”

The leaders and members of the church located at No 2, Olabode Olubu Crescent, off Joke Ayo Bus Stop, AIT Road, Alagbado, Lagos, began the celebration

with an awareness rally on Monday. It took off from the church premises to Ahmadiyya Bus Stop along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

Welcoming the congregation to Chemstar Paints Industry Limited’s headquarters at Finecoat Bus Stop, LagosAbeokuta Expressway, the Chairman/ Executive Director, Special Apostle Remi Awode, thanked God for His mercies upon the church.

Awode lauded the members for their steadfastness in the development of the church, especially in the face of numerous challenges.

Members also engaged in various games such as table tennis, Ayo, ludo, snookers, scrabble, four-in-a-row, draught and monopoly, for which various prizes were presented to the winners.

Ministering at the Super Shiloh service/Seminar on ‘Indiscipline in Churches,’ Chairman of Faith-In-Christ District, Special Apostle Pastor O. Sule, urged Christians to dedicate themselves to the service of God. He bemoaned the level of indiscipline in churches, saying Christians should

see the Church as the house of the Lord where they worship God in totality. He cautioned them against turning it to a place of gossip or backbiting and other uncomplimentary acts.

At Ijamido Motherless Home in Ota, Ogun State, where the church donated food items, beverages and toiletries to the home on Thursday January 8, the Chairman of the Anniversary Committee, Special Apostle E. Oladeinde, said the visit was to identify with the home and to donate to the needy.

It was a momentous moment on Friday January 9, during the praise night when the choir and some guest gospel artistes trilled the congregation.

On Saturday, the church launched a N500m fundraiser for a new cathedral under the chairmanship of Chief Babatunde Orija; while some church projects – Mission House and Bible College - were inaugurated by Awode, as part of the anniversary activities.

The celebration ended with a thanksgiving service on Sunday January 11, during which Pastor Gideon Oyedepo urged Christians to look unto Jesus Christ as the answer to every problem.

Gospel artiste distributes CDs

A

Stanley Ihedigbo

David

s part of efforts to reach souls through music ministration, the National President of the Gospel Musicians’ Association of Nigeria, Rev. Timi Oro­koya Telemi, has distributed his CDs free.

Speaking with Sunday Telegraph, he said he received divine instruction not to sell any of his gospel songs again, but rather give them out free.

According to Telemi, who is also the senior pastor of Praise Generation Assembly, Lagos, the CDs contain his works spanning over three decades with 16 albums.

In his words, “The Lord told me that

the marketers are the pirates. They are making money for themselves to the detriment of the singers. My case is different from that of other gospel singers because I am raising souls for His kingdom. Therefore, I should use my works to reach lost souls and see if He will not bless me enough for His ministry.”

Commenting on claims that gospel singers dance half-clad in music videos, he said that whatever anybody does that doesn’t glorify God is meaningless.

“I will tell you about the three categories of people among gospel singers. The first is made up of people who sing gospel song as a hobby, and are not profit-minded. Also, they sing what

pleases them and don’t bother about the effect of their songs on the people.

The second group sings gospel music because they want to feed themselves and it has become their profession.

“They also sing anything they want.

They can use any tone they want because they want to impress people and not God. The third group comprises gospel singers that have the calling of God to minister to the people and they receive the messages in their songs from Heaven.

“They don’t sing what pleases the people, rather what the people need. Like me, some people don’t like what I sing as a gospel singer because I sing what the people need for salvation,” he said.

54

JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Faith How does it feel to be 40?

The feeling is wonderful. I bless God for my life, even though the devil never wanted me to see 40. Back in 1995 when I felt terribly ill, it was God who brought me back to life. Word had already been sent to my people in the village that I would not survive the sickness. But today, I’m celebrating my 40th birthday. And this church has moved from glory to glory. It calls for thanksgiving.

Would you say you are fulfilled at 40?

Well life begins at 40. I’m just beginning life and I believe that my tomorrow will be better than today. The Lord told me that the glory I’m seeing now is too small compared to the coming greater glory. This church is moving to the United States; it’s moving round the world. So we’ve just started; we’re moving to higher ground. And the Lord God Almighty will take us there by His grace.

2015 elections will be peaceful – Oziegbe General Overseer of World of Prayer Bible International Church, Prophet Victor Oziegbe, who celebrated his 40th birthday and his 13th year in ministry, advises clerics to stop speaking fear into the hearts of Nigerians. EDWIN USOBOH reports Well life begins at 40.

I’m just beginning life and I believe that my tomorrow will be better than today

As a minister with international outreach and a family man, do you miss not having time to socialise?

I don’t regret or lose anything. I’m married to Pastor (Mrs.) Peace Oziegbe, and before I got married my wife knew my work and the kind of husband she was going to marry. Each time I am out of the country or travelling within the country on preaching assignments, my wife knows my movement and she’s equally busy doing the work of God. Today, God has blessed me with three lovely kids, I’m grateful. There’s nothing to regret about at all.

The saying goes that “behind every successful man, there is a good woman.” How would you describe Pastor (Mrs.) Peace Oziegbe?

She is the best woman I can talk about.

She’s humble, respectful and obedient. She is also a fire brand; she does what I do and God is helping us. I believe that she is a woman from God and that’s why I have no regret.

World of Prayer Bible International Church is 13 now. How was it starting the ministry?

I faced a lot of challenges. We bought our permanent site where we are now, three times from three different people.

My first time of going to the police station to defend myself and this church was for the land. The first person collected money, the second person collected and the third person as well. It was very challenging that after buying the land people around never wanted the church to be here; but in the end, God gave us victory. Today we are one family, friends and members of the church.

Do you have any regret to have decided to heed God’s call?

No regret whatsoever. I remember I left my job in Dangote Group in 2001. Since then, God has been so faithful. In 2003, God gave me my first car. When I visited my former company, all my colleagues who felt pity for me back then came to rejoice with me. God has been taking me from glory to glory.

What would you are the successes of the ministry?

Whenever God promised me something, since this ministry started, He never failed to accomplish it. My first journey outside the shores of this country was in 2004 when God took me to Accra, Ghana in 2004. I came back and people around were saying, “Oh, this young man has travelled abroad and made money.” I remember that the woman who gave us the premises where we were fellowshipping then was dead.

We had prayed for her and she came back to life. She donated the place to the church in appreciation of what God did for her.

After I travelled that first time, the success recorded attracted envy and enmity.

The same woman who gave us that place pursued us because people told her that

Oziegbe

we were making so much money from her property. They told her that we should leave or pay huge money. We left that place, because we could not afford her asking price. But God brought us to our permanent site.

What are we to expect on the thanksgiving day?

The main business of the day essentially is thanksgiving to Almighty God. If it were man, we wouldn’t have got to where we are today. Many of God’s generals will be on hand to bless us. There will be healings, deliverance, and breakthroughs this year. God told me that it’s a year of abundant peace. Everyone knows Dr. S K

Abiara as a successful man in the ministry. He is coming to bless us as a father. All I want people to do for me is to help me give glory and honour unto God. What has God revealed to you concerning socio political situation inNigeria?

I was on MITV and ACBN recently where I told the world that if a man tells me he saw the devil, I will ask him what he used in pursuing the devil. Many prophets come out with prophecies that make people to be afraid but the Lord told me that the same Nigeria will remain great. Nothing chaotic will happen before, during and after the elections. Peace will reign. My advice to other prophets that might be reading this interview is that if they see something negative about the nation or people, they should pray over it; for the Lord to take control over us and have mercy than to put fear in the minds of the people.

I see in 2015 that things are going to be better; I see the glory of God covering Nigeria. So people should not be afraid anymore.

Cleric counsels Nigerians on polls Tai Anyanwu

F

or five days, the quietude of Akoro Beach in Lagos was broken as members of the Omnipotence Mission of God observed their annual prayer programme from January 7 to 11.

Residents of the area, which lies along the Badagry axis of Lagos State, were treated to intermittent shouts of Hosanna Hosanna, which characteristically concluded each segment of chain prayers.

Day and night, glorious songs ascended to the heavens as the congregation went into a frenzy and danced to rhythmic drum beats, in a manner akin to white garment worshippers.

Bosoro Bethel 2015, as the annual event is called, was well attended by members and guests from within and outside Nigeria.

Also in attendance was a prominent traditional ruler in Ondo State, the Ahaba of Ajagba Kingdom in Irele Local Government Area Oba Thomas o Adesayo.

According to the Pastor/Founder, Prophet Joshua Daramola, the programme offers participants the opportunity to start each year with God, obtain divine mercy and listen to the prophetic outlook for the year.

The event commenced with confessional prayers on the first day, followed by a vigil every other night, hours of prayers and praises conducted by the church choir and prominent gospel artistes like Mega 99 and Prince Abel Dosunmu.

Friday, January 10, was the high point of the event as it was set aside for special

A cross sections of worshippers dancing at Bosoro Bethel at 2015

ministrations,deliverance and prophecy of the year from Prophet Oloruntimilehin.

“This year 2015 will be a year of bumper harvest for the just and Godly; but there may be an outbreak of boils which will be as deadly as the dreaded Ebola disease. We may witness lots of problems in our lives even greater than that of the past year, but if we seek God and adhere to His demands that we pray always and that every family fast at least once in a week, these bad omens will be averted and things won’t end up in a disastrous manner for us. Another disease is lurking at the corner, and it would appear in boil-like form; i.e. in small spots; do not burst or apply anything on it when you see

such on your body otherwise it will spread to other areas where the liquid drops. The only remedy to this ailment is prayer and the application of anointed water or oil to the spot,” he said.

On the February elections, Oloruntimilehin said: “Nigerians should ask God to give them the next president. On election days, people should cast their votes and go back quietly to their homes because there will be a lot of trouble,” he added.

Oloruntimilehin had foretold the outbreak of Ebola at the January 2014 Bosoro Bethel, before the disease crept into Lagos State.

The event ended with a thanksgiving service on Sunday.

55

JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Faith

Your word your creative power Mystery ofAnxiety John Ogbansiegbe

0803 341 6327

Y

our words are building blocks with which you construct your life and future. Your words set the cornerstones of your life and you live within the confines of that boundary which you created with your own words. Situations, circumstances and conditions are all subject to change depending on the type of words you speak to them. Your words can establish them or destroy them. To this end, the word of God declared, “through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were made of things which do appear.” – Hebrew 11:3.

Robert Frost, a great philosopher and theologian, wrote that half of the world is composed of those who have something to say and yet cannot say, and the other half, who have nothing to say and keep saying something.

There is creative ability, power and potency in every man or woman through his or her spoken word. You can create your own world. You can continue to speak to your own world until it becomes exactly what you want it to be. Learn to speak articulately to your world, your circumstances and situations. The word you speak with your mouth can determine your future and your fate. This was why our Lord Jesus Christ said in His word: “For by thy word thou shalt be condemned.” Matthew 12:37. The mystery of the words we speak is such that we can never rise higher than the words we speak in life.

God created man in His own image and in His own likeness. He gave us His word and communication skill, to exercise authority and dominion over other things He created. This image is coming to that brother or sister who is being troubled by perturbing stubborn situa-

Maybe you have been praying for a divine turnaround or divine intervention. Don’t give up or feel disgusted. There is a divine deposit in you. You have what it takes to change your situation

tions. Maybe you have been praying for a divine turnaround or divine intervention. Don’t give up or feel disgusted.

There is a divine deposit in you. You have what it takes to change your situation. Stand on the word of God, speak the word, use it and begin to create and recreate everything around you to your desire. Continue to speak to your situation until your desire and vision come to manifestation. This was the same principle that God used in creating the

world. The Bible said, “And the world was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light and there was light.” – Genesis 1:2-3.

The whole earth was a chaotic mass, full of darkness. The Holy Ghost was brooding, meditating, ruminating, reflecting and incubating upon it, but nothing changed. That period of incubation was important because He was receiving what He was about to create.

Then in the midst of the chaos, confusion, hopelessness and formlessness, God said, “Let there be light and there was light.

I echo with these words to speak to your ugly circumstances and situations.

Let there be light in your life from now in Jesus name. Let the light of God shine upon that poor and empty bank account now.

The word of God also declared, “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was made light of men.” – John 1:3-4.

God is a separator the of

Oracles God

Frank Oboden Olomukoro frankolomukoro@yahoo.com

0703 362 1866

Credentials of the bride of christ Jesus is coming after a Bride, a woman, a church that is separated from the things of the world, or the cares of the world. She is separated from the fashion of this modern age that we live in. She is separated from the cares and traditions of churches. She is separated only to God and God is the word. As husband and wife are one, so do the Bride and the Word become one, for the Word is living through the Bride. That is her credentials and her identification.

If I present a PhD or LL.D degree as my credentials from a certain school, that school would recognise that credential.

The only credential that a believer has is the Word of God living in him, declaring that Jesus Christ lives in that person.

That’s a separated Nazarite unto the Lord for the sake of the Word of God. The first Adam separated himself from the Word to his wife. Adam could have stayed with the Word if he wanted to but he chose otherwise. That is exactly what the common, carnal church member or custodians of the Word do today. They separate themselves from the true living Word, to hold to their church.

God is a separator. This is the simple reason for the Nazarite vow. This is a vow that separates you from all things worldly, religious and selfish - unto God and God alone. This is the first obtainable principle in our walk with God. Separation started from the beginning In the beginning, Genesis 1:3, God was going to use the earth, and it was in total darkness. The spirit of God spoke out, “Let there be light” and He separated light from darkness. The human body is an equivalent of the earth, an earthen vessel full of sin and dead in trespasses.

But God, rich in mercy, has quickened us together with Christ. God’s word also separated the water from the land in the beginning by the spoken word. God speaks every word with a meaning to achieve something.

God speaks His word to separate us. If we believe, it becomes the word of life to us; but if we question the Word of God, then it becomes death to us. Eve questioned one little phrase of God’s Word through the subtlety of the serpent and what did it do? It caused death and all this trouble we are in. If she had remained behind the commandment of God and rejected Satan’s insinuation, we would not have been in this mess.

Separation is on going; there is a final separation The Lord Jesus constantly told us that there would be a separation at the end of the human race. When we ascend into the presence of God, there will be a final separation of the sheep from the goats.

Since inception, God has continually been separating and that is what the Gospel preaching is aimed at doing. Even as you read this sermon, if you believe it, it will separate you from all things, including your religious beliefs, to Jesus Christ to obtain eternal life as promised. But if you turn it down, then absolutely you are separated by your choice of rejecting God’s Word to condemnation and death.

In every ministration of the word of God, He separates faith from unbelief. He declares Himself to those who will believe Him or have faith in Him. Samson was a Nazarite, unto the Lord, and he was separated by a sign to wear his hair long with seven locks. It was a sign of separation that he was called for a purpose. Today, when we see our women wearing long hair, as the Bible said they should, it’s a Nazarite sign that they want to follow the Lord. That may sound flat; no matter what the fashion of this world had to say about it, it doesn’t bother that person that is totally separated from the things of the world to the things of God. A true believer is an oddball Believing God’s Word separates us from the glamour of this world. Criticism is

part of our standing for God. When Jesus said, the world will hate you, it means the world will criticise you for being out of fashion with it. It makes the true believer odd to the world. If we can’t stand criticism then there is something wrong, we certainly have lost the saltiness or the flavour of the life of Christ in us. The world always knows her children but remember, criticism on account of the Word of God is only part of the growing pains of the cross (Matt. 9:23). It only shows that you have separated to be a Christian, to act like one, to live like one, to obey every commandment of God. The devil is a mixer While God is a separator, the Devil is a mixer. Jesus is the tree of life but the devil is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:18). The devil can be a church member, professing light and at the same time an occult member, or a witch. He can read the Bible in the open but reads also the sixth and seventh occult books of Moses for the invocation of Satanic magical powers. In the nominal denominational churches, it is a common trend to see a homosexual, gay priest or a magician turned pastor in sacerdotal services as a transformed angel of light. These are nothing but hypocrites, dual-faced persons described by Jesus as painted sepulchers outwardly but inside of them, they are full of deceit and dead bones. God is not a mixer, He is not a crow with a turncoat cassock. God is represented as a lamb and a dove, both clean animals. It is the devil that is a goat (ungovernable) wolf, (devourer) a fox (crafty) and a pretentious roaring lion .So God separates the true believers, converted from a sinner to a saint, by receiving the spirit of God and accepting justification through water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins (sanctification).

The mere religious church member cares less about what God’s Word commands but prefers to thrive on the traditions and creeds of his or her church. It is a perfect type of the lukewarm, carnally-minded believer today, that still wants to cling to what his or her traditions say, instead of taking what the Word of God says. The

carnal believer is separated from the Word of God to church traditions.

God’s servants and children are nazarites God has only one way of bringing the light to you; that’s when you’re ready to separate yourself from all the things of the world and all the cares of the world and cling only to God’s promised Word. Apostle Paul was a Nazarite unto the Lord. He was separated from his orthodox church, to the Word of the living God. Aaron was a Nazarite unto the Lord. He was separated from his brethren to bear the birth stones and to be the high priest with his sons. God has always sent forth prophets as Nazarite. The word of the Lord comes to the prophet and vindicates the Word of God for that generation. Noah, Abraham, Moses, John, Jesus Christ, Peter, Paul were all examples of prophets who vindicated the Word of God in their generation. God has sent Elijah according to Malachi 4:5-6, directly before the return of our Lord; so that all those who are part of the church of Jesus Christ will be separated from all spiritual bondage and confusion to truly serve the LORD as His separated people.

How? By going back to the doctrines that the apostles preached.

Back to the Gospel that Paul preached.

After all, any other proclamation is under the curse according to Gal. 1:6-10. At the final count, at this end time, the last revival of the midnight prophet and cry is to separate the wise virgins from the foolish virgins by the Word of truth as revealed to the prophet. This separation of the wise virgin prepares them in readiness for the Rapture.

The foolish virgins in the denominations who hold to their traditions will have to endure the tribulation of the anti-Christ who will persecute them to death for not worshipping him.

The midnight cry for the last separation has gone forth. The message which is the unadulterated Word of God is the separation of believers from belief in tradition or anything that would stand between them and the entire Word of God. If your soul will not punctuate every promise for this hour with an ‘amen,’ there is something wrong somewhere. You need a separation.

56

JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Faith

Remembrance as tool of restoration Firm Faith:

Right Reason Most Rev.

Emmanuel A. Badejo fradebadejo@yahoo.

0803 949 4219 (SMS only)

The power of remembrance Remembrance is a powerful faculty which can either be positive or negative.

Dante Alighieri, the Italian poet, once said “There is no greater sorrow than to recall a happy time in the midst of wretchedness”. Conversely, remembering past sorrows after overcoming adversity can cheer up the soul. Remembrance also helps keep life organized. Past pitfalls push us onto the right path and people draw on past experience shape the present and the future. It is difficult to imagine what life would be without the faculty of remembering, little more than aimless wandering, much like travelling a strange territory without a road map..

Armed forces Remembrance Day Nigeria has again marked Armed Forces Remembrance Day, that special day set aside to remember the heroism and sacrifice especially of those who gave up their lives for the life of the nation. No one can dispute the good intention in that annual activity. Soldiers generally live the day with excitement.

They deserve to! There is power in the memory of the days of chivalry, days “when men were men”. In normal times

at Army Remembrance Parade grounds one beholds the beautiful sight, of soldiers who, even if broken, wounded or maimed, still proudly march to the sound of the bugle to show their commitment and dedication to the country. However in today’s circumstances, where really is that Nigeria of great, proud men? Where is that great country that remembered and celebrated chivalry?” It seems that today the powers that be in Nigeria remember but little. One doubts whether soldiers are truly appreciated anymore in Nigeria. What with armed men falling like matchsticks in conflict with terrorists and not even getting a mention from the authorities! What with men of armour turning tail in cowardice to escape enemy bullets! These are no normal times. Life has certainly lost meaning and value in Nigeria where hundreds and even thousands die in such attacks and no one even correctly accounts for their passing away. The Armed Forces Remembrance Day seems to have lost all power to make anyone remember anything of value. All that is left seems a hollow trip through the motions of routine and tedium.

Nigeria Remembrance Day Perhaps we also need a Nigeria Remembrance Day, one day set aside in which to genuinely remember the good old days when life was good in this country, when wholesome values like honesty, fairness, self-discipline, accountability and integrity mattered. Yes indeed, there was once a country, Nigeria, that all and sundry was proud of, which was the envy of all neighbors and visitors. Indeed there was once a country, in which life and property was safe, electricity worked, water and telephones too. There was a country where

To live again, we must exploit the power of remembrance of the days when we enjoyed God’s favour in holiness education functioned and health care was guaranteed. Those were the days when leaders truly served and citizens obeyed them, days when we sang our dear old national anthem and meant it. “Nigeria we hail thee, our own dear native land.

Though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand. Nigerians all are proud to serve our sovereign motherland”. That sovereign country of brotherhood has today all but disappeared. It has become almost completely indescribable to the youth who see in this killing field little more than a jungle of injustice and a desert land of opportunities. Nigeria today is a “suffering” motherland having been serially plundered, abused, raped and insulted. Today our youth know not what we mean when we talk about a better Nigeria of the past. They regard as strange fiction our stories of a country that once blossomed in peace, justice and unity.

By the Rivers of Babylon But like the Jews we know where we erred. We are compelled to own up to our omissions. We have so often claimed the privileges of God’s chosen people but neglected its duties. “Listen, O Israel, observe these commandments and put them into practice. If you do this you will

be well... Do not forget Yahweh when he has led you into the land which he has promised to your fathers... do not go after other Gods.... because your God who is in your midst is a jealous God” (Deut 6: 1-15)”. That is why we need a Nigeria Remembrance Day, an opportunity to lament our faults and repent as we live like exiles in our own country. It could do a lot of good for us to sing our own sorrowful ballad: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and there we wept when we remember Zion....but the wicked carrying us in captivity required of us songs of joy. ‘ Sing to us one of the songs of Zion’ but how could we sing the Lord’s song in a strange and alien land”?

(Ps 137) Arise o compatriots Yet we must not just sit in this limbo of corruption and sin and rot away. To live again, we must exploit the power of remembrance of the days when we enjoyed God’s favour in holiness. We must plead with the words of the bewildered nation in the Bible: “God of hosts bring us back, let your face shine on us and we shall be saved” (Ps. 80;8). Believing in the power of Jesus, we must invoke the Holy Spirit, which is not of fear but of courage to depart from slavery. “Then no more fear: you did not receive a spirit of slavery, but the Spirit that makes you sons and daughters” (Rom 8: 15). Taking a courageous step towards change is the charge of the new Nigerian anthem: “Arise o compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey”, to ensure that the labors of our heroes past shall never be in vain. It can do us no harm at all to pursue that goal as the general elections hold soon.

Your money and your angel

Insight Rev.

Femi Akinola

www.thehebrewsng.com

01-790 3163; 0808 584 5864

“A

re they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Heb 1:14 As heirs of salvation, there are angels assigned to every believer. By right and by covenant, these angels are meant to service the needs of the redeemed. In essence, the moment you give your life to Christ and become a member of the fold (by redemption), you are automatically entitled to spirits which are to minister to you in every area.

They are spiritual beings and they operate according to spiritual principles. An aspect I want to attempt to scratch here is one which many in Christendom get wrong.

“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” Gen 8:22 This is a covenant, a law, a spiritual principle and this stands as long as the earth remains. Also, there is a connection between your angel and the seed you sow in life. With the help of the Holy Spirit I will be showing you through the scriptures how you can walk away on lack and want while at the same time activating your angel(s). No matter the situation you

have found yourself presently, you can advance to the next level and this will be your story in Jesus name.

Christ was born in a manger but He did not die in the manger. Abraham was born to rear cattle but at the end, the Bible says he had flocks of cattle and was also rich in silver and gold. Isaac got to a place where there was famine, but the Bible says he was rich in all things; this can and will be your testimony too in Jesus name.

There are secrets in life that the children of God should know and hold fast to.

God is neither moved by your prayers nor your tears.

And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. 1 Samuel 1:11(KJV).

God is only moved by your seed. You could imagine that Hannah had always gone to Shiloh to pray and even shed tears year in year out without result until the day she said, “God, if you give me a baby I will give him back to you”, and God must have said, “now you are talking”, and He obliged her. Our God is interested in the transaction of giving and receiving, in other words, God is a Businessman.

The connection between your money and your angel of divine transformation is spiritual because where you cannot enter, an angel can. Whatever it is you are offering to God is not enough to please Him because He is the author and finisher of everything. He is more interested in your ability and disposition to give than the gift. Your seed is your investment in

The connection between your money and your angel of divine transformation is spiritual because where you cannot enter, an angel can. Whatever it is you are offering to God is not enough to please Him because He is the author and finisher of everything

life and I pray that as you develop this attitude of giving, you will not look up to anybody to survive again in Jesus name.

When it comes to finance, prayers can only attain a particular limit but giving (that is your seed) changes the status quo.

Your Tithe… the basics “...and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.” Gen. 14:20 (RSV) Foremost of this is the tithe. Abraham gave God his tithe (first man to give tithe) and for that singular act, he enjoyed the New Testament order of blessing even while in the Old Testament.

“After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” Gen. 15:1 (WEB) Your tithe is capable of forestalling certain disasters from befalling you. The tithe

you refuse to pay willingly to your Maker will eventually be collected by demons by ‘force’, and this is the mystery of tithe.

(For better understanding on Tithing, please get my Book titled, ‘money rain’).

“All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the LORD’s; it is holy to the LORD.” Lev. 27:30 (RSV) When you tithe you are revalidating your contract of supply; and it is for your own benefit. Tithe is not a levy, but a debt you owe; a covenant of provision between you and God. “It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, and after vows to make enquiry.” Prov. 20:25 (KJV) The major reasons Christians suffer is because they ignorantly or knowingly eat that which belongs to God and eventually deny themselves of God’s portion of their increase and profit. An attempt to evade tithe is a risky business which can be likened to a driver switching lanes from a traffic-free road to one with traffic jam thereby stagnating himself. It is not a donation and avoiding it creates problem for the defaulter. Each time you drop your tithe, angels are automatically released into action on your behalf.

There is a place you are going and it is your faithfulness in this that gives your angel(s) the green light to work on your behalf.

“Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.”

Exo23:20 (KJV) No stingy person can receive from God. The moment you begin to give, your tithe, aids, etc., the angel of the living God assigned to you are activated to work on your behalf.

57

JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Faith

Miracles, testimonies galore as church celebrates

D

Flora Onwudiwe iverse miracles and testimonies marked the fourth anniversary celebration of The God of Elisha Church’s fourth anniversary.

The church, headed by Prophet Chibueze Edozie, had rolled the drums to celebrate and appreciate God for His blessings upon the ministry. Therefore, the church used the opportunity to give thanks to God for the rising popularity of the ministry through the counselling, healing and deliverance services held every Wednesday.

The anniversary/crusade programme was held at the church headquarters on Taiwo Abass Street, Igando, Lagos.

Tagged ‘2015; Year of Increase’, the programmer held for three days.

Addressing the gathering during the event, the presiding minster said, “God will increase and bless the righteous ones, the ones that know God, the ones that believe that God can do it for them.

God will increase their anointing; when God increases their anointing, everything about their lives will change.”

He, however, explained that the blessings were not restricted to his ministry but “all those that uphold righteousness will receive the abundance of increase from God because He is a God of increase and miracles.”

Expectedly, testimonies of salvation, healing, deliverance, success as well as prophetic words were rendered. Among those who testified to the goodness of the Lord was Peter Nwankwo, who related how he was able to settled accumulated bills which arose from business transactions.

Giving her testimony, Jacinta Onyekwere said that a child who had been ill for many months got healed after she applied ‘administered seed’ which the prophet had blessed. The child had been dehydrated and all prescriptions by medical doctors had been administered to no avail.

“I gave the three seeds of the mustard

Prophet Edozie ministered at the event

seed as tiny as it were and prayed over it, the little child chewed them. I instructed the mother not to use drugs on her, but to observe her for three days. The mother later informed me that her child was hale and hearty,” Jacinta said.

Another member, Simon Abraham, said, “My wife was due for labour but she was not having any feeling of the baby. When the doctor checked her, he said the baby was in a good position for her delivery.

The labour started in the morning but was prolonged till evening. When we alerted the prophet, he said my wife would deliver safely. I gave her blessed water from the prophet, rubbed the water on her waist

and womb and she started feeling the baby in her womb. She delivered safely.”

For Victoria Nana: “God granted me an American visa and Green Card. I got a good job. The land of America has been good to me. I am studying nursing. The prophet has been there for me and God will bless him.”

Mrs. Rita Obieze said that for nine years after she had her son, no other child was forthcoming.

She said, “I went to a place where they prophesied that I would not have a baby anymore. But when I came here the prophet said I would have a baby but today I am carrying my four month baby girl.”

Mr. Rex Ugo said, “The prophet gave us flyers for this anniversary and said when you work for God, God will work for you.

After I had shared the flyers at Apapa and was heading to Ikeja, as the driver was trying to avoid a flood, he lost control of the steering wheel and smashed into a fence.

People had to break into the bus to bring passengers out of the vehicle. “When I realised where I was, I saw people with fractures in a pool of blood. I checked myself and found that I sustained a slight injury. When I checked my pockets for the remaining flyers and my phones were intact, and remembered what the prophet had earlier told me.”

Gratitude provokes favour Taming your Emotions Bishop

Lawrence Osagie 0806 325 0667 www.powerlineministriesinc.org mail:powerlineministries@mail.com

F

avour is that colour that reveals the manifestation of the hand of God upon your life. When Esther obtained favour before the king, instantly the Bible confirmed that the king crowned her a queen in the public, in place of Vashti. Before her appearance, people had appeared but none was made queen. After her appearance, the show ended because the queen had already emerged.

What distinguished her was the favour of God. Favour is that attractive aroma that brings honourable attention towards your life. It is a captivating force that compels people to do you good. And to live in the atmosphere of favour, there are certain factors that can trigger it off, and one of such factor is gratitude.

In Jeremiah 30:19-20, the Bible tells us that, “Out of them shall proceed thanks-

giving and the voice of them that make merry, and I will multiply them and they shall not be few, I will also glorify them and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them.”

One of the key factors Jeremiah is revealing is the influential power of praise and thanksgiving in articulating the blessings of God. God inhabits in the praise of his people and that is why those who make merry in appreciation of what He has done shall continue to experience the favour of God. it is by this understanding that we want to discuss gratitude as a trigger of favour.

Gratitude

By Him, therefore let us offer sacrifice of praise to God continually that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifice God is well pleased. – Hebrew 13:15-16.

Gratitude simply means to shoe appreciation. It is an act of being grateful for what someone has done for you. Tell me who does not want to be appreciated or recognised for any good deed. None, not one, not even God. The author of the Hebrew Bible book said: “With such

Gratitude means being grateful, being thankful, valuing the good thing that God or fellow human being has done for you sacrifice God is well pleased.” The degree of emphasis here is that God is very well pleased when appreciated.

Gratitude means being grateful, being thankful, valuing the good thing that God or your fellow human being has done for you. Valuing the good deeds of God even in other people’s lives is a provoker of favour. Jeremiah said, “And out of them shall proceed the voices of thanksgiving, the voices and the sound of merry making and for such acts of gratitude they will of necessity be multiplied.”

In other words, gratitude provokes multiplication and increase. This is also means that when you are grateful for a thing, that thing increases in your hand.

When last did you remember to send a thank you card to somebody who did one good thing for you? When was the last time you sent a text message to somebody

you know is praying constantly for you?

These are the things you should be doing to stir up more favour. This is the spiritual force. The favour of God flows without ceasing in an environment of gratitude.

The favour of God flows ceaselessly in a home where everybody is grateful to God. And this offers the explanation why in Deuteronomy 8:18 God said: “But thou shall remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that gives you power to get wealth.”

It is because many have the propensity and tendency to forget the mercies and faithfulness of God upon them.

One of the reasons Goliath failed in his battle against David was because he was full of himself, boasting of his prowess but David made his boast in the Lord.

He first remembered the lion and the bear and said the God that delivered these ones into his hands would deliver Goliath that day into his hands. For by strength shall no man prevail, Hanna tells us in 1Samuel 2:9b. So if you want any Goliath dead in your life, remember the things of old that God did for you. Remember the victories of yesterday. Remember the hand of God, remember the finger of God. Remember the glory of God that brought you to where you are today. That same glory will take you to the next level.

Advertise your church events, special programmes, conventions and other church activities on these pages. Contact: Tai on 07064380029

58

JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

News Extra

Tinubu woos voters with recharge cards Sola Adeyemo,

A Ibadan

ll Progressives Congress’ National leader, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, yesterday distributed recharge cards to prospective voters at the party’s campaign rally in Ibadan Oyo State, and flayed President Goodluck Jonathan for encouraging corruption in the country.

Speaking at the flag-off of campaign of Ajimobi at the ancient Mapo Hall, Ibadan, he indicted Jonathan of claiming not to know that 400,000 barrels of tankers of oil were stolen from the country.

He said that a President in whose presence people were stealing the country blind, yet claimed ignorance must be voted out of office. He therefore enjoined the electorate to vote in APC both at the governorship and presidential elections.

On Oyo State politics, Tinubu criticised the Accord Party governorship

candidate, Senator Rasidi Ladoja, describing him as ungrateful to the APC and particularly those of them that struggled to ensure he was reinstated after his illegal impeachment in 2006.

“I stood behind Ladoja when he was removed from office. I stood by him from Lagos and made sure he was re-instated. We knew how much we spent. We brought Ajimobi and said you should support him as your younger brother, who is intelligent and visionary, but you said it is one Accord Party you hold. Accord Party is a party of deception. We enjoin Ladoja to support his brother to win in the February 14 election”.

Tinubu and Ajimobi had arrived the venue of the campaign at 2.22 pm, sitting on an open-roof luxury bus, acknowledging cheers from people. While Ajimobi was throwing souvenirs like branded face towels, handkerchiefs, hand bands at the surging crowd, Tinubu was throwing recharge cards which people were falling

over themselves to catch.

Also in attendance were APC National Chairman Chief Bisi Akande, Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s wife, Florence, his deputy Chief Moses Adeyemo, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state and his wife Alhaja Serifat, former Ekiti State governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi and his wife Bisi, former Ekiti state governor and Deputy National Chairman, South, Chief Segun Oni, former Osun state

governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Chief Akin Oke (Oyo APC Chairman), Mr. Muyiwa Ige, among others.

Chief Bisi Akande said the Yoruba people decided to align with the northerners so that the PDP government could be sent packing finally. He urged people to appease those who have been aggrieved in Oyo owing to any form of inconveniences they could have experienced due to

the administration’s urban renewal programme.

Aregbesola said that since PDP had come to power, it had been backwardness, poverty, and deprivation.

“It is unfortunate that Ekiti went back to darkness. Fayemi tried, but evil people frustrated him. Oyinlola walked with the unfortunate fools, but he had realised and come to the light.

There is nothing needed in Oyo than to allow Ajimobi to continue his good works.

“However, this vote is very crucial. Kerosene is being bought at N40.90k while the PDP government sells to marketers at N95. If President jonathan can controvert my assertion, he should sue me to court. PDP is shameless.

Benue state could not pay six months salary. We are going to defeat them silly through our votes. We are not going to fight, but push them out through the poll”, Aregbesola said.

Door-to-door campaign for Jonathan begins in Lagos Wale Elegbede

A

head of the presidential election scheduled for February 14, a non-governmental group, Goodluck Lagos Grassroots Project, said it has marshaled out a process to campaign for the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, at the grassroots level using a door-to-door strategy.

Speaking in Lagos at a press conference, the secretary of the group, Sunday Olaifa, noted that it has done a strategic enlightenment of its members to all the wards in the state, urging Nigerians to vote for President Goodluck for a second term in the overall interest of the country.

He said: “ Our conviction in this self-motivated task is that we do not see anyone that could have performed better under the circumstances that the present administration operates. The president had done his best and could do better. Jonathan has performed more than any past President in Nigeria. It is in our best interest to allow Jonathan’s transformation agenda to continue.

“We want to appeal to all Nigerians from Kaduna to Kano to Enugu that it is in the best interest of all of us to re-elect President Jonathan because a vote for Jonathan

is a vote for progress and continuation of the transformation agenda. That is why we are embarking on this grassroots drive.”

While noting that ordinarily the re-election of President Jonathan should be a foregone conclusion because of his numerous achievements in the different sectors of the country, he stressed that, it is wrong for people to rate the Jonathan’s administration based on continued terrorist attacks in the country alone without realising that insurgency is of international dimension.

The group also canvassed for vote for Agbaje as the next governor of Lagos State, stating that Lagosians have been made to groan under the government of the All Progressives Congress

L-R: Senate President, David Mark; Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ajjampur Ghanashuam and Defence Minister, Lt.-Gen. Aliyu Gusau, at the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) and India-Nigeria Defence Cooperation, in Abuja, on Friday

Isiaka meets Alake, Akarigbo, promises cargo port Kunle Olayeni,

Abeokuta

P

eoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Ogun State, Prince Gboyega Isiaka, has assured the people of the state that he will complete all projects being executed by Governor, Ibikunle Amosun.

He gave the assurance

during separate visits to the Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, and Akarigbo of Remoland, Oba Michael Sonariwo.

Isiaka was accompanied to the Ake Palace in Abeokuta yesterday by former deputy governor of the state, Alhaja Salmot Badru; the state PDP chairman, Chief Adebayo Dayo; and the party’s sena-

APC chairman defects to PDP in Yobe

O

ver 3000 members of the All Progressive Congress in Yobe State, including its former chairman, Sani Inuwa Nguru, yesterday defected to the People Democratic Party.

The defectors include former Commissioner of Health Alhaji (Dr) Sani Chiromari, Former Commissioner of Hajiya Fatima Talba, former Local Government chairman Alhaji Habu Dauda Gulani and many

other politicians, farmers and businessmen.

The leader of the defectors, Nguru, said that their reason for defecting to the PDP was because of the undemocratic ways of the APC and their conviction that the party is going nowhere.

According to him, many political association agreed to come together to go to the nooks and crannies of the state to campaign for the victory of Adamu Mai-

na Waziri in the February 28 gubernatorial elections.

Nguru in his welcome address pointed the need for celebration as the PDP governorship candidate to celebrate their of loyalty to PDP as he looked forward to a successful and victorious election.

He said that the defectors joined the PDP based on their conviction and that as such, the party will not disappoint them.

torial candidate for Ogun Central, Dr. Bisola SodipoClark, among others.

The PDP candidate acknowledged the role played by the Egba in the political evolution of Nigeria while appreciating the robust relationship between the Egba and Yewa people.

He vowed to encourage local content in the execution of projects, adding that his administration would engage many local contractors to reduce capital flight from the state.

Isiaka, who also promised to develop the rural areas, said towns and villages outside major cities have been neglected by the present government.

According to him, the economic and commercial activities in the rural communities have been crippled.

He said, “The current government has abandoned the rural communities and border towns causing huge under-development of the areas. The PDP adminis-

tration under my watch will set up a Border Towns Development Authority to fast-track the development of these areas that have been criminally neglected by the Amosun regime.

“I am also committed to bringing to reality the Abeokuta City Centre and Central Business District project embarked upon by the immediate past government but which has been neglected by Amosun because they do not understand how the idea will be implemented.”

Isiaka pledged that the state’s dream of a cargo airport would be achieved under his administration, adding that he is already working with the Federal Government to ensure that one out of the seven proposed cargo airports in the country is sited in the state.

Responding, the Alake commended the PDP governorship candidate for his “laudable vision and plans” for the state. “

SUNDAY

Sport 59

SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015

Congo fight back to hold Afcon hosts

C

ongo spoilt 2015 Africa Cup of Nations hosts Equatorial Guinea’s party by fighting back to claim a 1-1 draw in the tournament opener in Bata on Saturday evening.

Nzalang Nacional looked on course for all three points after Emilio Nsue’s first half goal, but Thievy Bifouma earned the Red Devils a share of the spoils will a late equaliser.

Equatorial Guinea started the game strongly, with Kike Boula, Javier Balboa, Iban Edu and Emilio Nsue putting on a display of skill and speed in the final third.

Kike’s superb footwork down the right flank created the opening goal in the 16th minute, with the winger skipping past a defender before playing a perfectly weighted through ball that allowed Nsue to fire a low shot past goalkeeper Chris Mafoumbi.

Congo created chances of their own, most notably when Thievy

WEEKEND RESULTS Barclays Premier League Aston Villa 0 - 2 Liverpool Burnley 2 - 3 C/Palace Leicester 0 - 1 Stoke QPR 0 - 2 Man. United Swansea 0 - 5 Chelsea Tottenham 2 - 1 Sun’land

AFCON FIXTURES TODAY Zambia vs Congo DR 16:00 Tunisia vs Cape Verde 19:00

Deputy Sports Editor Dapo Sotuminu

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

Bafouma had a low shot from a tight angle that forced a good save from Felipe Ovono, while the hosts’ goalkeeper also missed a floated cross from a free kick but was lucky to see Marvin Baudry head into the side netting.

The Red Devils enjoyed plenty of ball possession as the first half wore on, but they lacked the pace and penetration to really trouble Nzalang Nacional’s defence, which was marshalled by the excellent Rui da Garcia.

The pattern of play continued into the second half and Equatorial Guinea should have doubled their advantage just past the hour mark when Nsue put Balboa in on goal, but the midfielder’s low shot was smothered

by Mafoumbi.

Congo substitute Ladislas Douniama almost brought his side level with a curling shot from the edge of the box midway through the second half, but Ovono produced an excellent finger-tip save to turn the ball around the post for a corner.

Equatorial Guinea thought they had wrapped up the game when Balboa’s ball over the defence allowed Nsue to lob the on-rushing goalkeeper and find the back

Yaya Toure sits out practice with Ivory Coast

Y Pablo Comitre with Prince Oniangue at the 2015 African Nations Cup opening game

of the net, but the attacker was incorrectly flagged offside by the referee’s assistant.

They were nearly punished in the 83rd minute when Francis N’Gonga’s free kick came back off the upright, and on 87 minutes Congo’s relentless pressure was finally rewarded when Bifouma finished off a through ball from substitute Dominique

Manchester City v Arsenal: Wenger discards history

A

rsenal manager Arsene Wenger is planning to throw out the history books ahead of his side’s Premier League clash at Manchester City today.

The North London outfit suffered a 6-3 defeat at the Etihad Stadium last term and have developed an unwanted reputation for struggling at the division’s bigger clubs in recent seasons.

But Wenger believes Arsenal are approaching a turning point, and says the past will matter little against City - two points adrift of leaders Chelsea - this weekend.

“You have many games when you know you will be judged on your potential,” he said. “Manchester City is one of them.

Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool are other games that people have a close eye on to judge your potential.

“The history will not play a big part in this game. It’s the performance of the day that will play the biggest part and the only important part.

“I believe we have consistency.

Last year, we did not win the

championship only for that reason. We did not perform in the top games away from home.

“I believe we have the potential now to be much more stable and to show that we can do it.

“For many years [our record in the biggest games] was our strength and, in the last two years, it is true that it has been a weakness. I think we are mature enough now to rectify it.”

Manuel Pellegrini, who added to his squad with the big-money signing of Wilfried Bony from Swansea City this week, could be boosted by returns to the starting XI for recent injury victims Vincent Kompany and Sergio Aguero.

However, Samir Nasri has been ruled out for up to a month with a calf injury, rendering him unavailable for selection to face his former club, and Edin Dzeko (thigh) remains a doubt.

Bony is currently at the Africa Cup of Nations with the Ivory Coast, along with City colleague Yaya Toure, but it is Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez who is foremost in Pellegrini’s thoughts ahead of this weekend.

Malonga to make it 1-1.

The same pair combined in the final minute of regulation time to set up Malonga with a chance to win the match for Claude Le Roy’s team, but Ovono scrambled across his line to make a vital save.

Equatorial Guinea next face Burkina Faso, while Congo will take on Gabon. The second round matches will be played in Bata on January 21.

aya Toure sat out practice on Saturday, three days before the Ivory Coast plays its opening match at the African Cup of Nations.

The four-time African player of the year stretched on the side as his teammates practiced at a small stadium in Malabo.

The Ivory Coast opens play in Group D on Tuesday against Guinea at Estadio de Malabo.

Mali will face Cameroon later that night.

Toure, who plays for Manchester City, is a key player for both his country and his Premier League club. He won his recordequaling fourth African player of the year award this year, putting him level with Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o.

Sheyi Ojo trains with Liverpool first team

S

heyi Ojo and Jerome Sinclair were among the youngsters to train with the Liverpool first team.

The duo joined Ryan McLaughlin, Jordan Williams and Cameron Brannagan in locking horns with the Reds’ senior stars ahead of this weekend’s Premier League clash.

Liverpool travel to Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon (3pm kick-off) and will be looking to avenge the 1-0 reverse they suffered to Paul Lambert’s side at Anfield earlier this season.

It is no rare occurrence, of course, for Liverpool’s youngsters to train

with the senior side, with Brendan Rodgers keen on promoting youth from within at Melwood.

Liverpool’s dedication to nurturing young players has also seen them recall Jordon Ibe from Derby County, the 19-year-old who impressed on loan at the Championship side.

Whether Ibe gets any real game time on Merseyside remains to be seen - although that appears to be the idea behind the decision (unless Rodgers and co have dropped another clanger in the transfer market).

Blues demolish Swans to lay down title marker

C

helsea slaughtered Swansea to lay down a huge marker in the Premier League title race.

Jose Mourinho said before the game that the world was against his side and he got exactly the response he was after from his supposedly under-fire troops.

The Blues came out swinging and were ahead seconds after kick off.

Oscar started the rout with his first-minute strike before Diego Costa doubled Chelsea’s advantage.

He made it two before Oscar - not wanting to be outdone - got his sec-

ond of the game to put the game beyond doubt after 36 minutes.

Andre Schurrle rubbed salt into the hosts’ wounds with a late fifth to make it an afternoon to forget for Garry Monk’s men.

It was exactly the type of reaction Mourinho would have had in mind when he ended his selfimposed media exile and blasted the FA yesterday.

If his men can keep up this level of performance the Premier League crown will be returning to West London once again come May.

60

JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

News

APC debunks Buhari cancer report Paul Ogbuokiri

A

ll Progressives Congress yesterday debunked a purported medical report stating that its presidential candidate, MajGen. Muhammadu Buhari, has prostate cancer.

The party also raised the alarm over an alleged BlackBerry Messenger comment by a Deji Adeyanju, an official in the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, that a military coup would be more preferable than allowing Buhari to become the next president.

A statement by the Director of Media and Publicity of the APC Campaign, Garba Shehu, described as “disdainful, distractive, mischievous, fake and fallacious” the trending news report of the alleged report.

The report, sighted on Facebook by our correspondent, bears the heading ‘Ahmadu Bello Teaching Hospital.’

Reacting to the purported report, Shehu said, “It (report of cancer) is untrue and condescending of its exponents.

I have it on good authority that GMB has not visited the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital in the last five years. So, how can anyone say that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer last October, barely three months ago?

“This is the highest point of political distraction, malice and mischief. The report was not only fake but unfounded. I have spoken to impeccable sources at ABUTH all of whom deny the report and also claimed that the letterhead used was not their regular one, and that Dr. Bala Mohammed that purportedly approved the false Medical Report is not on the personnel list of that department.”

Aside, Shehu said sources at ABUTH also disclosed that “Medical Report analysis only comes from Laboratory Technologists and not Medical Doctors as handwritten in this particular case, stressing that General Buhari did not attend the hospital for cancer or any other ailment.”

Shehu also dismissed as figment of the imagination of “wicked and evil persons” the rumour that Buhari may be travelling to the United States towards the end of this month for medical check-up.

He restated its earlier statement on Friday that Buhari is as fit as a fiddle.

Shehu while dismissing the report as fabrications, however, said that “as a prominent leader of the opposition, many interests across the globe want him (GMB) over for political and diplomatic

consultations,” adding that the “invitation to the US may not be unconnected to this.”

He also urged Nigerians to ponder on a statement posted on BBM by the presidential aide that President Goodluck Jonathan would rather hand over power to the military than Buhari in the event that the APC candidate wins the election.

The alleged aide had said, “Buhari can never be President of Nigeria. Quote me any day any time. Instead of Buhari to become President of Nigeria, Nigeria would rather break. A military coup will even be allowed than for Buhari to become the president of a democratic Nigeria quote me any day, any time.”

Shehu said the statement has still to be denied or retracted by the official who handles Okupe’s Twitter account.

“This revelation in a public statement via the BBM would appear to support the PDP’s avowed determination to rule for 60 years, a boast echoed repeatedly by some former national chairmen of the party. The boast, however, did not reckon with the emergence of the All Progressives Congress and the determination with which the party mobilised and stuck together to confront the PDP that over time had prided itself with invisibility,” he stated.

Shehu also dismissed as utterly false and ridiculous allegations by PDP that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and other exAPC presidential aspirants, Sam Nda-Isaiah and Rabiu Kwankwaso, had abandoned the APC presidential campaign.

He explained that there was no iota of truth whatsoever that Atiku or other party stalwarts had distanced themselves from the campaign. According to the statement, contrary to the deliberate falsehood being peddled by PDP, Atiku is currently out of the country for medical examination, and that he would be actively involved in the campaign once he is back to the country next week.

Shehu emphasised that Atiku’s commitment to the campaign in his native state, Adamawa, and the nation “is total” and that “no amount of PDP’s desperate tactics of deliberate falsehoods would break the unity of the APC leaders.”

The statement said the PDP allegation was a figment of their own imagination in order to weaken the cohesion within the opposition members, adding that the “ruling party is increasingly nervous as the February 14 elections approaches.”

L-R: Chairman, Rivers APC, Mr Davies Ikanya; APC deputy governorship candidate, Asita O Asita and governorship candidate, Mr Dakuku Peterside, at the party’s governorship rally, organised by non-indigenes of the state, in Port Harcourt.

IBB, others bag Sun Newspapers Lifetime Achievement awards

F

Titus Anyanwu ormer Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida; and the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih; yesterday bagged Sun Newspapers’ Lifetime Achievement awards at a colorful ceremony at Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos.

Other joint wines of the Lifetime Achievement Award were a former Minister of Education, Prof.

Jubril Aminu; Chief (Mrs.) Folake Slanke; and Prof.

Joe Irukwu.

Babangida was recognised for his monumental achievements and distinguished service to the development of Nigeria.

“He introduced deregulation and privatisation as key elements of Nigeria’s privatisation policy. Under

his regime, rural development received a boost through the Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure. It was during Gen. Babangida’s administration that women occupied strategic portfolios in the federal cabinet for the first time,” the citation read in part.

Also, the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency, Alhaji Sani Sidi, and Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Eugene Juwah, were joint winners of the Public Service Award.

Dr. Stella Ameyo Adadevoh, a former medical doctor at First Consultants Hospital, Obalende, Lagos, won the posthumous Nigerian Hero Award for helping to save the nation from the Ebola scourge.

Sokoto State Governor,

Aliyu Wamakko, won Man of the Year award; wife of the Governor of Benue State, Mrs. Yemisi Suswam won Most Supportive First Lady Award; while the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Mr. Bisi Onasanya, was named Banker of the Year; and Mr. Jim Ovia emerged as Investor of the Year.

Businessman of the Year was jointly won by CEO of Nestoil, Dr. Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi and Dr. Taiwo Afolabi; while the Chairman Federation of Tourism Association Nigeria, Dr. Charles Odunukwe, bagged Hospitality Man of the Year; and Manufacturer of the Year, Chief (Sir) James Uzochukwu Uduji.

Kunle Afolayan won Hollywood Personality of the Year; Michael Collins Ajereh aka Don Jazzy bagged Creative Personal-

ity of the Year; and Blessing Okagbare-Otegheri became Sports Person of the Year.

The Sun Publisher, Dr. Orji Uzo Kalu, who was unavoidably absent at the event, urged the award recipients to see them as a testament to their respective accomplishments and use them for the general good of Nigerians.

The ceremony was attended by distinguished Nigerians such as Chief Ernest Shonekan, and Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal.

Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of the Sun Newspapers, Mr. Femi Adesina, said the awards were devoted to Nigeria’s finest and had become a major entertainment event and avenue for social networking.

Ohakim, others shun Jonathan rally in Imo Steve Uzoechi OWERRI

F

ormer governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim who is believed to be a close associate of President Goodluck Jonathan was conspicuous absent from the Peoples Democratic Party presidential campaign rally held yesterday in Owerri, the Imo state capital.

The absence of Ohakim and other key chieftains of the PDP at the rally brought to the fore the

gaping crack in the party structure in Imo state and further fuels the speculations that the former governor was contemplating a political future under the platform of the All Progressives Congress.

Investigations revealed that Ohakim was to oversee preparations towards ensuring that Imo people are massively mobilized to show unusual support to President Jonathan’s re-election in Imo, a state that is currently under the strong grip of the APC. While some of the gover-

norship aspirants during the contentious December 8, 2014 election has been drafted into the Jonathan campaign committee in the state, several others diligently kept their distance from the rally. Chief Arthur Nzeribe, was also not sighted at the rally.

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan told Imo people that his administration has posted verifiable development achievements in all the critical sectors of the Nigerian society. He noted: “I have not come to list all the

projects and life-changing strides of this administration, but I have come to announce to you the youth - focused initiatives of my administration. We have also come convey our belief that the kitchen is no longer the sole place of the woman in the 21st century society.

We are creating opportunities to allow our women free expression of their potential and equipping them qualitatively to compete with their peers across the globe.”

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH SUNDAY 18 JANUARY, 2015

61

62

SUNDAY 18 JANUARY, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

63

JANUARY 18, 2015 SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

News

Jonathan inspects 2nd Niger bridge site Tony Okafor,

P AWKA

resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday dispelled rumours making the rounds that the Second Niger bridge project was a ruse by his administration to score cheap political points in the South-East.

Addressing supporters at the Holy Trinity Field, Onitsha, Anambra State, he said 50 expatriates and 200 Nigerian workers are currently working on the projects. He added that about N10 billion had been committed to the project, including about N2 billion paid for compensation.

Jonathan, who said he was not in Anambra State for campaign, per se, but to thank them for the unwavering support they had given to his administration since inception. Before arriving at the rally ground, the President had paid an unscheduled visit to the Second Niger Bridge project site.

Speaking when he paid a courtesy call on the Obi of Onitsha, Nnaemeka Achebe, at the Ime-Obi Palace, Jonathan said he decided to pay a visit to the site to ascertain the true position of work at the site, which he said was very critical to his administration.

He said, “I decided that I must visit the site of the Second Niger Bridge to know the level of work there because some people have been saying all sort of things. On my way here, I said I must visit before coming to pay courtesy call on His Majesty. Work is in progress.

“We have released N10 billon for the project, out of which N1.5 billion was used to pay damages (compensation). I also discovered that work is really in progress as the access road that will lead to the bridge that is about three kilometres has been graded.

“This is just to make sure that there is access to the site.

I spoke with the management of Julius Berger and

they assured me that the project will be completed within 40 months.”

He expressed optimism that his presidential aspiration would get the support of the people of the zone, adding, “I get a very big support from the South East and that was why I decided to pay a courtesy call on Your Majesty to tell you that your son, Azikiwe Jonathan, is contesting for the presidential election.

However, a mild drama

played out when Achebe invited Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano and his predecessor, Mr. Peter Obi, and urged Jonathan to reconcile them. The monarch said the duo began having issues shortly after Obiano took over as the governor.

Jonathan joined both men in an embrace, which attracted wild jubilation.

In his remarks, Obiano said the entire Anambra State irrespective of politi-

cal affiliation had decided to support Jonathan for a second term in office, adding that the state under his administration had witnessed great rebirth. In his response, Achebe thanked the President for his vision and transformation of the country since he assumed office.

Earlier, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Adamu Mua’zu, said irrespective of the fact that Anambra State

is controlled by the All Progressives Grand Alliance at the state level, the synergy between both parties should be strengthened to ensure that Jonathan is re-elected.

Jonathan was accompanied by his wife, Patience; Vice President Namadi Sambo and his wife, Amina; Abia State Governor, Chief Theodore Orji; and members of the presidential campaign team and PDP National Working Committee.

NBA seeks passage of law to speed criminal justice Cajetan Mmuta, BENIN

T

he Nigeria Bar Association, Benin branch, yesterday decried failure of lawmakers in the State House of Assembly to pass into law the bill to ensure quick administration of criminal justice sent to the house since last year.

Chairman of the Law Review Committee of the branch, Razaq Isenalumhe, who stated this at a press conference held in Benin the state capital lamented that “instead of passing the bill, the Edo State House of Assembly has engaged itself in divisive politics, thereby undermining the purpose of the legislature.”

Isenalumhe said the bill when passed into law would fast-tracking the criminal justice system as well as help in decongesting the Nigerian

prisons as well as remove all the obsolete laws of the old Bendel State as applicable to Edo State.

He said, “The Edo State Administration of Criminal Justice Bill 2014,”will serve as a viable alternative to the current criminal justice system which it said could no longer accommodate modern realities.

According to him, following the constitution of members of the body, the committee concerned itself with reviewing the Criminal Procedure Law of Bendel State 1976 which is applicable to Edo State with a view to fast-tracking the Criminal Justice System as well as decongesting the Nigerian prisons. The members, therefore, called on the Edo State House of Assembly as a matter of urgency, to give accelerated hearing to this Bill in the interest of Edo people.

Akande distributes materials

H

ouse leader, Mulikat Akande, has donated various gift items like bags of rice, salt, baby cloths, soaps, sewing machines and motorcycles to young and old particularly the widows to help then begin the New Year in a good mood.

The items which were distributed at Oriade and other Local Government Areas in her Ogbomosho Constituency, House were

not new to the humble and caring politician, who has ensured overtime that at every festive season and the New year, her people must feel the impact of her representation beyond other dividends of democracy.

Before now, she has attracted to amenities such as health centres, roads, bores holes to the area and upgraded visitors’ facilities at old Oyo National Park.

L-R: National Chairman, Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), Alhaji Ibrahim Bashir; Governorship Candidate of the Party for Adamawa State, Dr. Dahiru Modibbo and Adamawa Central Zone Senatorial Candidate, Aishatu Dahiru, during the inauguration of PDM Governorship Campaign, in Yola.

Okonkwo seeks president’s re-election

P

Ahaoma Kanu eoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Anambra Central Senatorial district in the National Assembly February elections, Senator Annie Okonkwo, has called on all former aspirants in the primaries to sheath the sword and work for victory of the party and President Goodluck Jonathan.

Okonkwo who represented the district at the Senate from 2007 to 2011 on the platform of the party, said that after initial confusion which trailed the primaries, the election, like any other in Anambra, will be very tough because a lot political heavy weights are in the race, and called on all party members to close ranks for the party’s victory.

The senator who facilitated the employment of over 100 members of his constituents in various offices and distributed over 42 transformers to many communities in the state while in the Senate, listed the incumbent Senator, Dr. Chris Ngige of the

All Progressives Congress, Chief Victor Umeh of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA). the National Chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance and Senator Okonkwo as the major contenders.

He said former aspirants should recognize party supremacy and support his aspiration in the general interest of the party and the state.

Okonkwo said: “President Goodluck Jonathan, has done marvelously well in all sectors and he deserves to be reelected.

The present administration had established about 12 new universities, increased power generation to over 4,000MW. In agriculture, infrastructure, the Jonathan led administration has also performed excellently.”

He predicated his desire to return to the Senate on his passion to transform the lives of his people and make meaning contribution to legislation in the country at the highest level. “I am ready to stake all that I can boast of to enable the people of Anambra Central Senatorial

district feel impact of good governance in the state.”

A product of the prestigious Harvard Business School, Okonkwo said the legislature remained the most critical branch of government not by virtue of its relationship and close affinity with the people, but also the fact that it makes robust legislations for the development of the country and performed oversight functions which aid good governance.

He said having been a successful businessman, an entrepreneur of international repute in telecommunication, oil and gas, manufacturing, banking, export, import, real estate and a philanthropist, he stands in a unique position to serve the nation out of sheer patriotism and tenacity of purpose and not for pecuniary rewards.

During his earlier stint in the Senate, his immediate community, Ojoto Obofia, he tarred a major road leading from his immediate community, Ojota Obafia Iruebenebe village, provided clean water and rural electrification to the community.

Okonkwo also established Agunechemba Foundation to enable him empower the Nigerian youths with educational endowments and skill acquisitions, while scores who of people in his employment experienced phenomenal transformations in their lives.

He ensured that the Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology undertook a two-day oversight visit to Anambra State during which the Committee asked the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on Anambra erosion sites which led to review of ecological funding by Ecological Fund Office.

He also executed constituency projects which included modern library/ internet centres at Okpuno, Awka and Nkpor, construction and renovation of 15 primary schools across the senatorial zone, construction of classroom block and water borehole in Ojoto Girls Secondary School, supply of hospital equipment and pharmaceuticals to Ojoto Medical Centre, among several others.

SPORT Manchester City v Arsenal: Wenger discards history

FAITH 2015 elections will be peaceful – Oziegbe

Sanctity of Truth

SUNDAY

NIGERIA’S MOST AUTHORITATIVE NEWSPAPER IN POLITICS AND BUSINESS

}59

SUNDAY, JANUARY 18, 2015

N150

}54

Why these my postings from the social media? (2)

T

he woman hated to tell him ‘no’ because he had just rescued her from having to change her flat tyre all by herself; but she felt uneasy about this unexpected request. (Trust that gut feeling!) Then she remembered seeing the man put his briefcase in her trunk before shutting it and before he had even asked her for a ride to his car. She told him that she’d be happy to drive him around to his car, but she just remembered one last thing she needed to buy from the mall.

Could he wait for her please?

Smart woman!! She said she would only be a few minutes; he could sit down in her car and wait for her; she would be as quick as she could be. She hurried into the mall, and told a security guard of her suspicion. What happened? The guard came out to her car with her, but the man had vamoosed. They opened the trunk, took out his locked briefcase and took it down to the police station. The police opened it (ostensibly to look for an ID so they could return it to the man). What they found was shocking: a rope, duct tape and knives.

When the police checked her ‘flat’ tyre, there was nothing wrong with it; the air had simply been let out. It was obvious what the man’s intention was, and obvious that he had carefully thought it out in advance. He it was, who had actually deliberately let out the air in the tyre of the woman’s car and turned around to pretend to help her.

The woman was blessed to have escaped harm. (Amen thank you, God!). How much worse it would have been if she had children with her and had them wait in the car, while the man ‘fixed’ the tyre, or if she had had a baby strapped in the car seat, or if she’d gone against her judgment and given him a lift?

The rest is better imagined.

I’d like you to forward a copy of this newspaper to all those you know that may need to be reminded that the world we live in has a lot of deviants in it. It may save a life. Better to be safe than sorry. Act now. Not tomorrow.

Not next week. Now. WHO IS THE FUNNIEST: THE NIGERIAN DILEMMA 1. A HAUSA man who removed his shoes to enter a taxi.

2. An IGBO man who went to the bank with a spanner to open a bank account.

3. A YORUBA man who went to bed with a ruler just to know how long he slept.

4. A TIV man who watched the news and waved at the newscaster.

5. AN EFIK nurse who woke up a sleeping patient simply because she forgot to give him sleeping pills.

6. AN IGALA man who lowered his TV volume because he wanted to read a text message.

9. AN EGGON man who polished his shoes to take a passport photograph.

10. AN ISOKO man who climbed a mango tree to check if the mango was ripe enough, then came down and started throwing stones at it, with a view to plucking some mangoes.

11. A FULANI man who chose to drink Fanta because he thought Sprite was unripe.

12. A GWARI man who saw something that looked like excreta, touched, tasted it and then said, “Hmmm, na shit ooo!!! Thank God I no march am.”

13. AN IDOMA man who put his radio inside the refrigerator because he wanted to listen to Cool FM. Just who is funniest? Readers, tell me.

NIGERIAN PIDGIN PROVERBS AND THEIR INTERPRETATION. • Craze no hard to form, na the trekking be wahala. English translation: Easier said than

The

Nigerian Project

MIKE OZEKHOME san, ofr mike.ozekhome@yahoo.com 08128444555 (sms only) done.

• No matter how hot your temper be, e no fit boil beans. English translation: Calm down, your temper won’t solve the problem.

• Chicken wey run from Borno go Ibadan go still end up inside pot of soup. English translation: You can’t run away from your destiny.

• Today’s newspaper na tomorrow Suya wrapper. English translation: Keep calm! Nothing lasts forever.

• Cow wey dey in a hurry to go America go come back as corn beef. English translation: Just be patient. Let the game come to you. Don’t rush!

• Akara and moin moin get the same parent, na wetin dem pass through make dem different. English translation: How you start doesn’t matter. What matters is how you finish.

• Leave matter for Mathias and Sabi for Sabinus. English translation: Give everyone what they deserve. Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God. • The difference between kpekere and plantain chips na packaging. English translation: Don’t judge based on appearance alone.

• Escort me, escort me, na im slave trade take start. English translation: Serious things sometimes start like a joke.

• The water wey dem use take make eba can never be recovered back. English translation: Don’t cry over spilled milk.

So, readers, take things easy. Not all that glitters is gold. Tough times don’t last, but tough people do.

COINCIDENCE OF LIFE: GOD DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES 1. CHURCH has six letters, so does MOSQUE. 2. BIBLE has five letters, so does QURAN. 3. LIFE has four letters, so does DEAD. 4. HATE has four letters, so does LOVE. 5. ENEMIES has seven letters, so does FRIENDS. 6. LYING has five letters, so does TRUTH. 7. HURT has four letters, so does HEAL. 8. NEGATIVE has eight letters, so does POSITIVE. 9. FAILURE has seven letters, so does SUCCESS. 10. BELOW has five letters, so does ABOVE. 11. CRY has three letters, so does JOY.

MAMA LASISI

12. ANGER has five letters, so does HAPPY. 13. RIGHT has five letters, so does WRONG. 14. RICH has four letters, so does POOR. 15. FAIL has four letters, so does PASS 16. KNOWLEDGE has nine letters, so does IGNORANCE. Are they all by coincidence? I think not. We should choose wisely. This means that LIFE is like a double-edged sword. If you think it is your alarm clock that woke you up this morning, try putting it beside a dead body and you will realise that it is the Grace of God that woke you up.

It is JUST BY THE GRACE OF GOD that we are alive and well. Stay blessed. And worship Him. SOME GOOD ADVICE TO ALL THOSE WHO ARE 50 YEARS AND ABOVE and maybe a few who are not up to 50 years old.

VERY INTERESTING BUT TRUE LIFE LESSONS Because none of us has too many years to live and we can’t take along anything when we go, we need not be too thrifty.

Spend the money that should be spent, enjoy what should be enjoyed, donate what you wish to donate, after which you may leave some for your children or grandchildren.

Never worry about what will happen after we are gone, because when we return to dust, we will feel nothing about praises or criticisms. The time to enjoy the worldly life and your hard earned wealth will be over !!

Don’t worry too much about your children, for children will have their own destiny and should find their own way. Don’t be your children’s slave. Care for them, love them, give them gifts but also enjoy your money while you can. Life should have more to it than working from the cradle to the grave !!

Don’t expect too much from your children.

Caring children, though caring, would be too busy with their jobs and commitments to render much help.

Uncaring children may fight over your assets even when you are still alive, and wish for your early demise so they can inherit your properties and wealth.

Your children take for granted that they are rightful heirs to your wealth; but that you have no claim to their money.

A 50-year old (or above) like you, should never trade in your health for wealth by working yourself to an early grave... Because your money may not be able to buy back your health.

You must know when to stop making money, and how much is enough for your head.

Out of a thousand hectares of good farm land, you can consume only three quarts (of rice) daily; out of a thousand mansions, you need only eight square meters of space to rest at night.

As long as you have enough food and enough money to spend, that is good enough.

You should live happily. Every family has its own problems. Just do not compare yourself with others for fame and social status and neither see whose children are doing better, etc. But challenge others with your happiness, health, enjoyment, quality of life and longevity.

Don’t worry about things that you can’t change because it doesn’t help and it may harm your health.

You have to create your own well-being and find your own place of happiness. As long as you are in good mood and good health, think about happy things, do happy things daily and have fun in doing, then you will pass your time happily every day.

If a single day passes without happiness, you will lose one day as a consequence.

If one day passes with happiness, then you will have gained a day thereby.

In good spirit, sickness will cure; In a happy spirit, sickness will cure faster; In very high and happy spirits, sickness will never come.

With a good mood, suitable amount of exercise, being always in the sun, having a variety of vegetables and foods, and a reasonable amount of vitamins and mineral intake, hopefully you will live another 30 or 40 years of a healthy life, filled with pleasure.

Above all, learn to forgive others’ transgressions against you, cherish the goodness around you, and your FRIENDS. They all make you feel young and “wanted”. Without them, you will surely feel lost!!

Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible.

If man runs with men, it is called a RACE, but when he runs with God, it is called GRACE. Grace keeps us from Disgrace. May God’s GRACE be sufficient for you and your household today and beyond, in Jesus name. No matter how overloaded a bus is, the driver’s seat is always reserved. I decree as commanded, that no one shall take your rightful position in Jesus name. Say a BIG AMEN. Readers, with these eternal and refreshing life lessons coming to you straight from “the Nigerian Project” by Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, OFR, I draw a final curtain on these social media postings on sundry life experiences.

• Follow me on twitter @ MikeozekhomeSAN

By Aliu Eroje

Printed and Published by Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Ltd: Head Office: No. 1A, Ajumobi Street, Off ACME Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja-Lagos. Tel: +234 1-2219496, 2219498. Abuja Office: Orji Kalu House, Plot 322, by Banex Junction, Mabushi, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Advert Hotline: 01-8541248, Email: info@newtelegraphonline.com Website: www.newtelegraphonline.com ISSN 2354-4317 Editor: EMEKA MADUNAGU.