Saturday, September 26th, 2015 Weekend Edition

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Saturday, September 26-27, 2015 Zul Hijjah 12, 1436 AH

. . . P utti ng the p eop l e fi r st

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Army uncovers plot against terror fight Wife of President , Aisha Buhari (m) carrying a baby during her Sallah visit to orphanage home, on Thursday in Gwako Gwagwalada, Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

530 Days after

Will the abducted Chibok schoolgirls ever be rescued?

200 insugents surrender to military >>Pg 10

Stampede: Buhari wants Saudi to probe flaws in Hajj Operations >>Pg 6

How GAVI rewarded Okonjo-Iweala >>Pg 15

Declare your assets publicly, Shehu Sani tells govs Pg 11

N150 Vol. 4 No. 62

>>Pg 6

Between politics of Senate leadership and asset declaration >>Pgs 7-9

Page 2

Feature

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

‘The day I confronted Boko Haram’ J

By Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

efferson (not his real name) jumped off the truck and flung his bulky frame onto the sand and shrubs beneath him.

He raised his head and scoured the terrain. The 30 soldiers who had just arrived alongside him were taking fighting positions - some diving, others crouching.

They were in Mongonu, a town in northeast Nigeria’s Borno State, to provide reinforcements for a military convoy that had, earlier that morning, been ambushed by Boko Haram.

Many of the town’s 20,000 inhabitants had fled; others had been incorporated into the Boko Haram frontline - terrified human shields protecting the 200 or so members of the group who were now attacking, determination etched onto their faces, sophisticated weaponry in their hands.

But as Jefferson caught his first glimpse of the fighters, it was surprise, not fear that he felt.

“They were not what I expected,” he recalls now, describing how many of the men had the kind of light skin, curly hair and fine facial features normally associated with indigenes of Chad or Niger or other countries along Nigeria’s northern border.

And the ease with which they fired their Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs) made it immediately clear that, far from being the mob of ragamuffins he had envisioned, these fighters were well-trained and highly efficient.

Just a few weeks earlier, in June 2013, Jefferson, a captain in the Nigerian army, had assumed duty as the commander of a ‘garrison quick response force’ in Borno. It was his first posting to the troubled northeastern region, which, at that point, had already endured more than four years of Boko Haram attacks.

And this was to be his first encounter with the infamous fighters.

The captain quickly overcame his surprise and prepared to attack.

But things did not go according to plan.

“The first shock I got was finding out that the firing pin of my rocket propelled grenade was damaged,” he says.

Then, when he and his soldiers discharged their mortars, all they got for their efforts was a hollow kpoi sound. Their weapons had expired and were, effectively, useless.

They quickly discovered that some of their raw ammunition had no links and the charges for their equipment were broken.

Wrapping them in the masking tape he always carried around in his kit proved ineffective.

A training session had been taking place in their barracks when the news of the Boko Haram ambush had reached them. They had grabbed as much ammunition from their stores as they could before heading out to battle - never imagining that it would be de-

Boko Haram has killed at least 15,000 people and displaced 1.5 million since 2009 [Riccardo Raffa/Al Jazeera] fective.

But now, here they were, being attacked with weapons intended for use against aircraft with nothing but small arms with which to defend themselves.

Jefferson recalls how one veteran soldier, a grey-haired, wrinkled man under his command, threw away his gun and broke down in tears, declaring: “Oh God! Oga, what is this?”

‘The worst thing that can happen to a soldier’ Jefferson was 19 years old when he joined the Nigerian army in 1986.

He had the necessary academic credits and the desire to go to university, but his fa-

“

ther, a farmer, had three wives and 12 living children, and Jefferson knew that his family could not afford to pay for his education.

The army appeared to be his best option.

Over the next few decades of military service, he participated in peacekeeping missions in Yugoslavia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Sudan; sustaining severe injuries during combat and while training; and once returning home from an assignment abroad to find that his wife had run off with her lover, taking their only child with her.

But, for Jefferson, all of these misfortunes paled in comparison to the events of that day in Mongonu.

They quickly discovered that some of their raw ammunition had no links and the charges for their equipment were broken. Wrapping them in the masking tape he always carried around in his kit proved ineffective.

“Discovering on the battlefield that your ammunition is expired or faulty,” he says, tailing off.

“That is the worst thing that can ever happen to a soldier.”

In such circumstances, a soldier with no plans to die anytime soon is typically faced with little option but to flee the battlefield.

And there have been plenty of news stories about Nigerian soldiers doing just that over the past year.

Such reports have embarrassed the government and perplexed the country’s citizens, sometimes pointing to the Nigerian army’s inability to match the firepower of Boko Haram; at other times blaming low morale among the soldiers, a by-product of potbellied senior officers in comfortable Abuja offices swallowing the allowances of junior officers on the Borno battlefields.

“But we didn’t run away,” says Jefferson proudly.

After six to seven hours of battle - during which three Nigerian army soldiers were killed and dozens wounded - Jefferson’s unit succeeded, with assistance from subsequent reinforcements, in repelling the Boko Haram fighters.

He credits “the grace of God” for the series of fortunate events that led to the victory.

Particularly providential was the training session that had been taking place in the Contd on Page 18

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 3

Feature

A day in the life of... a house girl Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

Twelve-year-old worker Titi has not heard from her mother and has no way of knowing if her salary reaches home.

Twelve-year-old Titi does not know her surname. She also does not know that she is from the Republic of Benin and not Nigeria, where she currently works as domestic help - cleaning, cooking, and washing laundry for a family of six.

But she does remember her mother’s first name, and a long journey from her village almost two years ago when she was just 10.

The night before that journey, Titi was at home having dinner with her family when she noticed her aunt packing her clothes into a plastic bag she had bought a few days before.

Her family broke the news: In a few hours she would be leaving to go and work in a town in southwest Nigeria.

Her mother and aunt wished her well and then handed her over to the man who would drive her there.

The open truck he drove was crammed full of people; there were so many that some had to sit on the roof of the driver’s cab.

Titi was scared - less about where she was going than the fact that the driver would regularly pull over to hide the vehicle in dense bushes for long stretches of time. It was especially frightening at night.

“The car didn’t have any cover,” she says. “Some of us were children, but not all.”

Eventually they arrived at their destinations - each of them getting out at a different drop-off point.

Titi was delivered to an old woman in a small town.

She knew her only as ‘Mama’ and stayed with her for four days, until the woman’s son and daughter-in-law came to collect her. They took Titi to their home in a nearby city.

“At the beginning, I was afraid,” she remembers. “But after about five days, I was no longer afraid because [from] the way everybody was behaving here, [I could tell] they were not wicked.”

And Titi has had experience of “wicked”. For this was not her first job. When she was eight, her aunt took her to work for a woman who owned several shops selling processed food. She already had four girls working for her and Titi became the fifth.

They were each given their own mat on which to sleep on the floor of the living room and their own koboko cane.

Whenever a girl did something wrong, like accidentally breaking a plate, she would be sent to collect her cane. And

House girl then flogged with it.

But the cane was not used often, Titi says. The woman preferred to beat them with a wooden ladle.

They were also often hungry. Breakfast was served later and later each day, she remembers. Sometimes they did not eat until 1pm.

When Titi’s aunt turned up at the woman’s house after two years, Titi told her she was tired and wanted to leave.

Her aunt explained that it was time to go anyway: Her two year contract had come to an end.

“I don’t know how much it was [that I was paid] but my auntie told me that she gave my mother all my salary,” Titi explains. “But when I saw my mother she told me that they did not give her any money.”

These days, Titi wakes at around 7am - although her employers, whom she calls ‘Mummy’ and ‘Daddy’, sometimes wake her earlier if they are up. Her day begins with sweeping and mopping the floor before she helps Mummy get ready: ironing her clothes, fetching her wigs,

“

cleaning her shoes and serving her tea.

Daddy does not like it when Titi prepares his food; he prefers Mummy to do that, she explains. But Titi makes breakfast for everyone else, including her employers’ teenage children and the security man who guards the gate. After they have all been served, she sits on a stool in the kitchen to eat her own food before continuing with the rest of the day’s chores.

When she first started working here she had from sunrise until sunset to complete her tasks. But since she began primary school last September, she must finish her morning chores before embarking on the five-minute walk to school.

“School starts at 8am,” she explains, “but I always go late”.

Daddy and Mummy registered her at the nearby government school with their own surname since Titi has no idea who her father is or what her mother’s last name is. It is the first school she has ever attended, and she is learning

to read and write for the first time.

But, in December, Titi will have been with Daddy and Mummy for two years. That means her contract will be up and it will be time to move on, again. Her eyebrows furrow as she contemplates returning to her village. She says she would not mind going to visit but does not want to stay there.

And she definitely does not want them to send her to work somewhere else, she adds.

She would like to stay just where she is and to continue her education. She came 10th in her class during the exams last term and says she would like to be a doctor when she grows up.

Mummy has told her that she will try to negotiate a new contract that will allow her to remain with them for another five years. That way she will be able to complete her primary education. But they do not know if that will be possible.

Despite all her daily chores, for which she earns 5,000 naira (about $23) a month, Titi says she sometimes felt bored, especially when there was no electricity and she

I don’t know how much it was [that I was paid] but my auntie told me that she gave my mother all my salary,” Titi explains. “But when I saw my mother she told me that they did not give her any money.”

could not watch television.

But the arrival of eight-yearold Jumoke, another domestic help, five months ago has changed all that.

The younger girl is from Togo, another of Nigeria’s neighbours, and is in the same class as Titi.

“Jumoke is very troublesome in school,” the older girl explains.

Titi speaks to Jumoke in Yoruba, a language spoken in southwest Nigeria as well as in some neighbouring countries.

She translates the younger girl’s responses into English the only language Mummy and Daddy speak with their children and one she has happily learned over the past 20 months.

“Her mother is dead,” Titi says of Jumoke in English.

Titi also used to know her local language, but while she still understands it, these days she struggles to speak it. Daddy recently employed some labourers and Titi overheard them speaking the same language she knew from her village. She could understand what they said but did not know how to respond.

“They said they will teach me how to speak it,” says Titi.

The labourers were from the Republic of Benin, which is where Mummy says Titi is from. She pays her salary a year in advance to the ‘agent’ who delivered her to Mama, she adds.

Many middle class Nigerians utilise the services of such agents, who often demand between six months’ and two years’ worth of their salary in advance. Just what happens to the people they deliver - boys and girls, men and women, often from neighbouring countries - is rarely of interest to them once they have secured their money.

“My auntie told me that they will use my salary to send me to study tailoring when I finish work,” Titi says. But she has no way of knowing for sure whether the money she earns even reaches her family.

And since the day she left Benin, almost two years ago, she has neither seen nor spoken to her mother or aunt.

Titi cannot sleep until she has completed her daily tasks.

On a good day, that will be 10pm; on a bad day 2am. But her workload has lightened a little, she says, now that Mummy has banned her children from sending Titi on errands for them.

“Whenever they want me to do anything for them,” Titi explains, “they have to buy me bread or roasted corn.

Sometimes, they give me one hundred naira if they want me to wash their clothes.”

Source: Al Jazeera

PAGE 4

Special Report

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Igbo Community where old age is taboo

Old age is generally believed to be a blessing from God as few human creatures attain such a status but for Ohamuje Autonomous Community in Aku, Igbo-Etiti Local Government area of Enugu State, old age seems a taboo. In Ohamuje, anybody whether male or female who attains 70 years and above is seen as a witch or wizard, and therefore a possible danger to the community.

From Our Correspondent

E

lder Okanyi Ugwoke was murdered by some youths of Ohamuje and Odie Autonomous Communities in Aku on the suspicion that he may have unseen hand in the death of his late elder brothers’ son Obumuneke Ugwoke.

It was gathered from community sources that on that fateful day the youths rose in unison to lynch this eldest man of the family, Okanyi Ugwoke. One of his sons, Onyema would have suffered the same fate as his father, but for God’s intervention he survived from the pond where he was thrown into and abanded to die.

Narrating the incident to our correspondent, Onyema thanked God for saving his life, to tell the ordeal his family suffered in the hands of their kinsmen and in-laws. “My father did not kill Obum and those who murdered my father would not see old age. It is not a crime to attain old age as it is a blessing from God but for those who snuffed life out of my father old age will elude them,” he said repeatedly.

“The incident that led to the gruesome murder of my father, Okanyi,” he said, “started with the death of his cousin, Obumuneke Ugwoke who until his death on 16th of August, was living in faraway Minna, Niger State while Papa Okanyi is living in Ohamuje in Aku, Enugu State.

Obumuneke’s elder sister, Ogechukwu Ugwoke had died in August 2013.

According to Onyema, “on 16th August I received a call from my immediate younger brother Emenike Ugwoke. He told me that our cousin, Obumuneke is dead, but because I am residing in Nsukka town, on 17th, I returned to the village. When I got home I met Nnabike Ugwoke the immediate elder brother of the deceased Obumuneke and consoled with him. I asked him what caused his death, but replied that he didn’t know as he is yet to receive details from people living with him in the north and I left to my house.

On the following day all members of Ugwoke family which my father, Onyema said was the eldest man gathered to discuss how to bring the deceased body back from Niger State. At the meeting it was concluded that every member of the family should contribute money to convey the body back to the village and at the end of the contribution, we were able to raise some money.

However, during the discussion at the maternal home of Obumuneke, led by his uncle, there came a message that a traditional inquiry into Obum’s death should be instituted as it was suspected that somebody may have used voodoo

Late Ugwoke to kill him. Onyema said he didn’t know they had a mindset that his father was the suspect.

“Their message was welcomed and the two families which my father and his in-laws agreed to go for fact finding.

They asked my father (Okanyi) to look for a native doctor, while they will also get theirs.

After that discussion, the two native doctors were summoned and after all their incantations they said Obumuneke was killed by somebody. The two native doctors didn’t reveal the names of his killer(s) and they left to their various homes.

Continuing, Onyema said, “Nnabuike Ugwoke and the youth leader of the village, Sunday Ezeorah started accusing my father of being behind the death of Obumuneke and Ogechukwu their sister who died last year.

Sunday is a teacher at Community Secondary School, Iro Nze in Udi council area of the state.”

A check showed that while the cause

of Obum’s death was not yet known as autopsy was yet to be carried out at that level, Ogechukwu was said to have died of abortion complications. Some villagers who spoke to our correspondent said they were aware of the abortion attempt that led to her death.

Onyema noted that “while Nnabuike continued with his accusation that my father who incidentally was his uncle poisoned his brother, I asked him to go and get the medical report of his younger brother but he refused. Later, himself, Ogbonna and the youth leader ganged up and came to my father that we must go with them to an undisclosed place to see a fortune teller.

“Sensing danger, I asked them where they were preparing to take my father to but Nnabuike and his gang said, I was not supposed to know the place. I called my younger brother, Boniface Ugwoke who was living at the state capital, Enugu to come home immediately, that these people want to kill my father.”

It was gathered that when Boniface

returned and was briefed on the situation, he left to see Nnabuike and the youth leader who also told him that they will kill his father and his other brothers as well, should his father fail to show up on 21stAugust for the journey to unravel the death of Obumuneke. A gun was also brandished before him which they said would be used on his father and other family members.

Our correspondent learnt that following the threat to life, Boniface took his father (Okanyi) on the evening of 20th August to Ogbede Police station to make official report should anything happen to them.

On the morning of 21st, three policemen from Ogbede Division came following the report made earlier by Boniface to prevent breaking law and order. “On sighting the policemen the youths flared up and started beating, kicking and slapping me. As they were beating me, my father was also being tortured with all kinds of inhuman treatment. They stripped and dragged

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 5

Special Report

Igbo Community where old age is taboo

Pond where Onyema was thrown two of us round the village naked,” Onyema said.

It was gathered that the three policemen who could not control the situation because they were also attacked by the youths, which made them to quickly retreat and whisked Boniface. Our sources revealed that the police in Ogbede contacted the traditional ruler of the community, HRH Igwe Chris Okwor to ascertain the true situation, he was said to be in his Nsukka residence as he rarely visits his kingdom.

A police source told our reporter that when the traditional ruler best described as political monarch arrived, he was asked to go to his community and bring Okanyi and the son to the station. When he came and saw that Okanyi

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had been killed and the son thrown into pond, he returned to the station and told the police that Okanyi is still alive. As a result, some policemen were dispatched to the community to bring the man. But alas, the information that elder Okanyi was still alive as the traditional ruler claimed was a fallacy because even policemen saw that he was already dead even before the monarch came.

Investigations revealed that when they boys saw that Okanyi was dead, apparently to justify his murder, they forced the son, Onyema who had no knowledge that his father had been murdered to say that his father killed Obumuneke.

According to Onyema, “after they had stoned my father to death, they took me to a bush

near the village and told me to say that my father killed Obumuneke and Ogechukwu or they will also kill me in that bush, but I told them that my father is innocent of the allegations.

“When I didn’t yield to their demand, the youth leader, Nnabuike, Ogbonna, Obiora Ugwu, Abumchukwu Ugwuogo and some people from Nnabuike’s maternal home brought in petrol and tyre. They told me that if I don’t say what they asked me to say that they will kill me like they killed my father.

“They were videoing me with phone camera and when I could not repeat after them, Onyema said they hanged tyre on his neck and poured petrol on him, “I don’t know when I started repeating what they said after them. I said yes my father killed

Obumuneke; all in order to save my life. I vaguely remembered when they pushed me into a pond and probably I may have fainted. The next thing was that I found myself in the hospital.”

Boniface Ochi of AmakpoAku, Okanyi’s tenant told our correspondent that he has lived with Papa Okeanyi for three years and in those three years he treated him like a son.

He regretted that some youths were tricked to murder a man who he said “has done nothing. If the man was a murderer he would have killed me or my children who is a stranger. So I saw the allegation as baseless and unfounded. I was surprised when I saw my landlord with his son starknaked and were led into the house by elder brother’s son, his uncle from mother’s side, some youths of the village and onlookers.

“When they came they collected my hoe went straight to the backyard digging ground apparently to bring out what they termed as the medicine he used in killing Obumuneke, but at the end they discovered nothing. They equally broke into his house and destroyed all the doors in search of the said killing medicine yet they saw nothing,” he said.

One Eze Okechukwu popularly known as ‘Igwe’ described the murder of the octogenarian as a taboo as there was no evidence to show that he killed his elder brother’s son as being alleged by his in-laws who actually ganged up the youths.

“This Obumuneke died in faraway Minna, Niger State and

Okanyi has represented our family well in everything done in the community, so I do not see justification in his murder by mere suspicion. I have known this man as good and hard working.

His murder is as painful as he has neither wronged anybody in our family since he started representing our clan nor have we any case against him. So the murderers are aware that what they did is against the law and natural justice”, Onyema with bandage

somebody here who probably did not know the location of the state was being accused of having killed him without medical report or any other examination to know exactly what killed him. I can tell you that the murder of Okanyi was borne out of wickedness and those who participated in the murder will not go free even if our legal system frees them, they will not escape God,” Okechukwu said.

The younger brother of the youth leader, Fidelis Ezeorah told our correspondent that the murder of late Okeanyi is not a unanimous decision of entire youths of the community. He regretted that his elder brother was coaxed to join in the murder of Okanyi who incidentally is the most elderly person in the kindred Ugwoke family.

“Okanyi has represented our family well in everything done in the community, so I do not see justification in his murder by mere suspicion. I have known this man as good and hard working. His murder is as painful as he has neither wronged anybody in our family since he started representing our clan nor have we any case against him. So the murderers are aware that what they did is against the law and natural justice”, he said.

In a response, the state police public relations officer PPRO Ebere Amaraizu told our correspondent that the command is on top of the situation as two people had been arrested among the people that killed Okanyi. They had been arraigned and remanded even as effort was on to track-down the remaining ones.

NAN Features

Page 6

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

News

Stampede: Buhari wants Saudi to probe flaws in hajj operations​ ...mourns Nigerian victims

By Lawrence Olaoye

P

resident Muhammadu Buhari has called on the Saudi Arabian authorities to investigate the flaws in hajj operations in order to ascertain and correct the inherent flaws so as to avoid stampedes and other unfortunate incidences leading to avoidable loss of lives in the holy land.

The President in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, also extended his condo-

lences to the families of over 700 pilgrims who lost their lives at the stampede which occurred in Mina, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday.

In the statement, the President specifically condoled with the families of a notable Nigerian journalist, Hajia Bilkisu Yusuf and Professor Tijjani El-Miskin and others who lost their lives in the unfortunate incidence.

He equally condoled with the international Islamic community over the monumental tragedy.

The statement read in part “The President has taken note of the assurance by the Government of Saudi Arabia that Thursday’s catastrophe will be investigated and urges King Salman to ensure a comprehensive and thorough exercise that will identify any flaws in Hajj organisation with a view to avoiding a recurrence of such tragedies during the annual pilgrimage.

“The President extends sincerest condolences to the families of the over 700 pilgrims who lost

Children having fun at Emir drive park, yesterday in Bauchi

UNGA: Buhari urges world leaders to eliminate illiteracy, hunger, disease by 2030 By Lawrence Olaoye

P

resident Muhammadu Buhari has identified illiteracy, hunger and diseases as common evils plaguing world peace and called on world leaders to do everything possible to eliminate them by 2030.

In a statement made available to newsmen by his Special Adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, Buhari who spoke at the United Nations Plenary Summit for the Adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, during the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, United States of America, said “the bottom billion that has neither safety nets nor social protection, need to be rescued from their perpetual state of hopelessness, fear and indignity.

This is a task that should have been accomplished decades ago. Now that it has fallen on our shoulders to discharge this responsibility, we should do so with the enthusiasm and commitment that is worthy of the

cause.

“We must adopt targeted interventions at both policy and practical levels, to address extreme poverty and combat illiteracy, hunger and diseases.

We must create viable partnerships that bring together national, regional and global actors with shared objectives to carry this forward.

“We must also create the enabling environments for executing this global agenda, by developing the relevant frameworks for working with different types of partners and constituencies that recognize the contributions of civil society, religious and cultural bodies, private sector, academia and most importantly, governments.

“Just as the relative success of the MDGs was underpinned by national ownership, the Post2015 and the SDGs frameworks must also be guided by national priorities and ownership. Domestic resource mobilization supplemented by improved terms of trade between industrial and develop-

Army uncovers plot to scuttle Hajj stampede: Saraki urges review of safety rules fight against terrorism

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi e n a t e President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has called on the Saudi authorities to review the safety rules governing activities around places where the Hajj rites usually take place.

Saraki said this in a statement to mourn the death of about 717 pilgrims who died as a result of stampede while

S

stoning the devil at Jamrat in Mina on Thursday.

He expressed shock over the news of the stampede where over 805 others sustained various degrees of injuries, saying that he is pained and saddened that such tragic incident could still occur despite the safety instructions the Saudi Arabian authorities issued to pilgrims.

“We are

pained.

The death of pilgrims who came to worship from different parts of the world is too much for us to bear. We recorded over 100 deaths and 331 injured others when a crane crashed in Kaaba, Mecca about two weeks ago and now, hundreds of Muslim faithful lost their lives while performing the symbolic stoning of the devil ritual.

By Osby Isibor

T

he Nigerian Army said it has uncovered plans by some highly placed individuals and political groups to undermine and scuttle the fight against terrorism and insurgency in Nigeria.

A press statement issued yesterday in Abuja by the acting Director Army Public Relations, Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman, warned mischief makers from perpetuating terrorism in the North-east.

Colonel Usman revealed that

some unscrupulous individuals were determined to scuttle the efforts of the military in achieving the Presidential directive to defeat Boko Haram terrorists within three months.

The statement reads, “The Nigerian Army wishes to inform the public and send a very strong and serious final warning to some prominent individuals and political groups who hailed from Borno State in particular and North East generally, that there is information of plans by some highly placed

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Page 7

Cover

Between politics of Senate leadership and asset declaration

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

on the allegations.

While it may not be so clear those behind these campaigns against the Senate President, one fact that is sacrosanct is that there are corruption allegations, but it is now being used as a political tool against Saraki, obviously due to his defiance to the whimsical disposition of his party and political traducers.

No doubt, the Senate President is a sagacious politician, who appears to vastly learn from the mistakes of his predecessors, but how far he will go in surmounting this present obstacles remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, analysts have blamed the recent dust being hauled against the person of the Senate President on a combination of forces by the aggrieved APC leaders and the Presidency, who have teamed up with the APC senators who were vanquished by the process and strategy that produced the Senate President and other principal officers of the Senate.

Though some observers are of the view that the President, Mohammadu Buhari, is not directly involved in the political travails of the number three man of Nigeria’s protocol, but the brazen involvement and haste of political display by key state institutions leaves more to be desired in this era of political change.

Even though the President may not be directly involved, the confidence and crass assault with which the hunters are seeking the head of the Senate President indicates that his associates may be up to a game surreptitiously, may be without the consent of the President himself.

Most Nigerians have voiced out their disappointment that the anti corruption war being fought by the APC led government appears to be selective. According to those who are following developments in the country, even though Saraki may have issues to clarify, there are some APC members and past governors, who, even though deep in financial improprieties during their tenures, are now enjoying the peace and ambience of the APC protection.

A lot of Nigerians have equally asked why the anti graft war suddenly focused on Saraki, especially immediately after he defeated the APC preferred candidate, Ahmed Lawan, even when there are those who are out of government, and who now have the time to give account of their stewardship while in office.

Meanwhile, some senators loyal to Saraki have openly threw their weights behind him, calling on the federal government to focus on governance and not politically motivated trials of perceived enemies.

A

s the Senate President, Bukola Saraki faces political turbulence, some political observers have hinged the intrigues around the crisis on the manifest power game among the Senate President himself, President Mohammadu Buhari and one of the leaders of All Progressives Congress (APC), Ahmed Bola Tinubu.

There is certainly no doubt about the fact that the recent political clash among these three political musketeers is a fallout of the June 9th inauguration of the National Assembly, and the subsequent monumental embarrassment this had caused the leadership of the APC, including the Presidency.

Recall that the high level politics before and during the elections, which has resulted in a somewhat diarchy in the nation’s parliament, culminated in the unopposed emergence of Bukola Saraki as the Senate President, as against the wishes of his party, which had indicated preferences for Ahmed Lawan.

Though Saraki’s candidature was unpopular among the APC hierarchy, he was actually the choice candidate among majority of the senators, irrespective of party affiliation, ethnicity or religious inclinations.

Apparently, immediately after the emergence of the leadership of the National Assembly, a battleline was drawn between Saraki and those who had opposed his candidature, mostly those holding the structures of the party that produced him, including some senators who are favoured by the APC. Since then, there has been on and off crisis facing the Senate President, mostly bordering on corruption charges. Some of his family members have not equally been spared, as his wife had been invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) just recently.

There were also never heard before, strange allegations and media campaigns against him, especially his past adventures both locally and internationally.

His identity and nationality had similarly been queried in the media.

The Code of Conduct Bureau has suddenly slammed him a 13-count charge, over alleged falsification of Assets Declaration, among others, following which the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), presided over by Umar Danladi, has in the same strange quick succession, issued an arrest warrant on the Senate President.

In Justice Umar’s ruling, he ordered the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, and other security agencies, to produce the Senate President before the tribunal last Monday to answer questions

Senate President Saraki

Contd on Page 8

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Senate leadership and asset declaration Contd from Page 7 The Code of Conduct Tribunal had on the strength of 13- count charge bordering on alleged falsification of assets declaration and under declaration raised against Saraki by the Code of Conduct Bureau ( CCB), summoned him to appear before it today for trial on the charges.

But in separate reactions to Saraki’s trial, Senators across party lines yesterday condemned the move by the CCB and described it as distractive and uncalled for.

They vowed that trial or no trial, majority of the senators in the senate will continue to support the leadership of Saraki and specifically warned the federal government to be more focussed on governance and not politically motivated distractions the Saraki’ invitation by CCT symbolises.

First to react to the trial in an interview with journalists was Senator Sabi Aliyu Abdullahi ( APC Niger North), who said all the allegations raised against Saraki by CCB are politically motivated but will not in any way derail the 8th Senate from its focus of bringing about change in the positive sense, to Nigerians across the various sectors.

He said: “ I want to believe an allegation remains an allegation; and our laws are very clear. It is an allegation until it is proven; I want to believe it remains an allegation. However, let’s take a closer look at what the allegations are, dating back to 2003 to date, I think, as far as I am concerned there is something fishing about it. It is very obvious; of course we know what has happened since the inauguration of the 8th Senate.

“And what I want to state here clearly is that we have a duty based on our mandate by the electorate to come here, a number of processes were done, and I want to believe that, unless if somebody is trying to tell that all those processes were carried out by various security agencies were not correct, I want to believe, if they were correct, then somebody needs to ask the question: how come twelve years down the line somebody is feeling that there is something he has forgotten in those years and he wants to find out an answer for them now?

“But I think that what the 8th Senate is looking at clearly are the issue of youth unemployment; the insurgency for which we know that based on the sup-

Saraki in the dock port of the National Assembly, we are all living witnesses to the thorough and expeditious work done to confirm the Service Chiefs, and our resolve through our legislative agenda to support our party in this particular dispensation. I want to believe that we will not be distracted from that, and whatever it is that anybody is doing, our laws are very clear. We have a responsibility, and on the basis of that we will try to do what Nigerians expect of us.

“We are also aware that the Ad hoc Committee on Power has been working. Am sure all of us here, after all these days work, I don’t know how many of you will go back home and meet light in your houses. So, these are very serious issues that Nigerians expect that we pay our attention to; and I want to assure you that the 8th Senate will not be distracted

“

in any way.

“We will stand by our leaders because leadership is from God and as far as I am concerned, I didn’t come here because I am the best; it is just the will of God that we will be here. And based on the fact that we are here, we shall try as much as possible to deliver very good legislations that will move this country forward.Nigeria is great, and we want to make it greater. And I assure you, we will definitely not be distracted. The entire Senate is behind our leadership”.

Also condemning the Saraki trial in another interview with journalists was Senator Hussain Salihu (APC, Nasarawa South) who said those trying Saraki for one thing or the other that had happened in the past because he is now the Senate President, will get tired of the trials as according to him, senators and by

extension, the Senate will not abandon him as their duly elected leader.

His words: “The charges against Saraki as far as I am concerned are just distractive, in the sense that we are talking about issue of thirteen years ago and people are bringing it now. I think Nigerians should disregard such issues because they are distracting the National Assembly from doing its own constitutional work. And I don’t think that it is going to help us.

“What we are talking about now is how we are going to get power supply; how the ordinary man can send his children to school and the sick to get hospitals that will treat them. So, the allegations are non-issues. I think the people who are doing this are not helping the country; they are not helping the President and they are not helping

We will stand by our leaders because leadership is from God and as far as I am concerned, I didn’t come here because I am the best; it is just the will of God that we will be here.

anybody because as far as the National Assembly is concerned, we are going to move on from all these distractions.

“As you can see, for those of us that are around we are doing our work and the place is energized to take off for effective legislative activities when we resume. So, I don’t see how these things are going to affect us. They will do it and get tired.

What happened thirteen years down the line, why have they not brought it until now? So, we feel that those who are doing this are not helping the nation at all”.

Ditto for Senator Mao Ohuabunwa (PDP Abia North), who said as far as majority of senators are concerned, Saraki has led the Senate creditably well in the last 100 days and will continue to give him their total support , irrespective of any distractions from any quarters.

Meanwhile, the embattled Senate President, Bukola Saraki has vowed that the Senate under his leadership can never be shaken by any form of distractive allegations.

Saraki stated this when he played host to a delegation of Ilorin Emirate Descendant Progressive Union (IEDPU) who paid him a solidarity visit.

According to Saraki, “the 8th Senate at inception on the 9th of Contd on Page 9

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Asset declaration Contd from Page 8

June this year, had clearly stated that it was out to bring about positive change to Nigerians through responsive legislations and oversights, which cannot in anyway be distracted from.”

Meanwhile, the prosecution counsel for the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Rotimi Jecobs, had accused the Senate President of refusing to declare some of the properties he acquired while he was the Governor of Kwara State.

One of the controversial properties in Lagos, for which the Senate President is being prosecuted, is referred in the 13-count charge against him as “No. 15A and N0. 15B McDonald Ikoyi, Lagos.”

It was sold to him in 2006 by the federal government committee set up to privatise government properties, which was headed by the former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nasir el-Rufai.

Saraki was said to have purchased the properties through his companies, Tiny Tee Limited and Vitti Oil Limited for the aggregate sum of N396, 150, 000.

However, in the Code of Conduct Bureau’s form, which he filled while he was Governor of Kwara State in 2003, the Senate President had claimed that he acquired the property in 2002, which is punishable by the law establishing Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

In addition to this, other properties which Saraki allegedly acquired for which he is being prosecuted are: houses No 17A and 17B McDonald Ikoyi, Lagos at the sum of N497,200,000 (four hundred and ninety seven million, two hundred thousand Naira only, which the charge said was “not fairly attributable” to his income.

The Senate President was also accused of alleged false declarations in his Asset Declaration Form of June 2011 by allegedly refusing to declare a house located at Plot 2A Glover Road Ikoyi Lagos, which he was said to have acquired at the sum of N325,000,000 (Three hundred and twenty five million Naira.)

Another charge accused Saraki of failing to declare a house at Plot 37A Glover Road Ikoyi in June 2011, besides also allegedly making a wrong declaration in

respect of a property at 1, Tagus Street, Maitama Abuja.

According to the charge sheet No.CCT/ABJ/01/15, Saraki was also accused of operating an American Express credit card account during his tenure as governor, which he allegedly wired at least $3.4 million to from a Nigerian account.

Meanwhile, the Senate President, who was forced to appear before the tribunal last Tuesday, having had all noose around him tightened, kept to his promise to submit himself before the tribunal, even as he was accompanied by many senators, including the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, as well as other senators from both All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He was however granted express bail without any surety or money, based on self recognition by the trial judge, Danladi Umar, who asked both the prosecution and defence counsel to take a date for continuation of the hearing, for which they unanimously chose 21st, 22nd and 23rd of October.

Responding shortly after the first charge was read against him, for which he pleaded not guilty, Saraki said he was in the tribunal because he is the Senate President and that it would not have happened if he is an ordinary senator.

He regretted that the CCB had never contacted him to ask him any question on the allegations, which he argued was unprecedented and against the norms establishing the agency.

While calling on the tribunal to have the courage to take decision that will advance the cause of democracy and Nigeria, Saraki emphasised that the legislature and the judiciary are being put to test by his trial.

He said at the time the country is clamouring for a new day, there is need for caution, saying that the trial is not just for Nigerians, because the whole world is watching to see what happens.

He said: “I’m a true believer of the Rule of Law and I have come here with great respect. I have come here to subject myself. I strongly believe that I am here because I am the Senate President.

“I observe and make reference to some of the good works the Senate has done in the administration. The same Sen-

Some senators at the CCB hearing ate was the one that passed the Code of Conduct Bureau Act, 2001 that clearly states in Section 3 (d) that if there is a breach of the asset declaration, the Code of Conduct Bureau shall require a matter to the Tribunal after giving the person an opportunity to either confirm whether those facts are true. And if he admits, the matter shall not be referred to the tribunal.

“I just want to say that I will now go ahead because I want to explain why I am puzzled why I should appear before the tribunal. I thought that the Code of Conduct should have sent me the charges first according to the law because we are determined to hear about the new Nigeria.

Mr Chairman, this is the first time and we are all watching and this is before the world, not before Nigeria. I will confine myself to due process and before now, those issues need to be raised”.

Before the Senate President was eventually docked, there was a heated legal stretch by both the prosecution team, led

by Rotimi Jecobs (SAN) and former chairman of Nigeria Bar As-

“

sociation (NBA), Joseph Daudu (SAN), on whether the case was for ‘mention’ and ‘appearance’ or for the Senate President to be ‘taken’ immediately.

Eventually, Justice Umar Danladi ruled that the accused person (Saraki) should be tried immediately, following which the prosecutor read the summary of the facts it has on the 13-count charge against him.

However, the defence could not commence, as the defence counsel pleaded that the tribunal be adjourned to enable him get further instructions from his client on the way forward, and this was therefore granted to him.

Meanwhile, about twenty commercial buses loaded with supporters of the Senate President from Kwara state, had thronged the tribunal early in the morning of Tuesday to give him support.

Also the senators who came with him included: Senators Shaaba Lafiaji ( APC Kwara North), Rafiu Ibrahim ( APC Kwara South), Teordore Orji ( PDP Abia Central), Mao

Ohuabunwa ( PDP Abia North) , Samuel Egwu ( PDP Ebonyi North) and Ben Murray-Bruce ( PDP Bayelsa East).

Also there were Senators Aliyu Wamakko (APC Sokoto North), Kabiru Gaya ( APC Kano South), Tayo Alasoadura ( APC Ondo Central), Gilbert Nnaji ( PDP Enugu East), Samuel Anyawu ( PDP Imo East), Foster Ogola ( PDP Bayelsa West), Sonni Ogborji ( PDP Ebonyi South), Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi ( APC Niger North) and Isa Hamma Missau ( APC Bauchi Central), Others were, Emmanuel Paulker ( PDP Bayelsa Central), Obinna Ogba ( PDP Ebonyi Central), , Kaura Tijani ( APC Zamfara North), Clifford Ordia ( PDP Edo Central), ( Ibrahim Abdullahi ( APC Sokoto South), Peter Nwaoboshi ( PDP Delta North), Rose Okoh ( PDP Cross River North), Mohammed Ohiare ( APC Kogi Central), Gershom Bassey ( PDP Cross River South), Olaka Nwogu ( PDP Rivers South East) and Ighoyota Amori ( PDP Delta Central).

I thought that the Code of Conduct should have sent me the charges first according to the law because we are determined to hear about the new Nigeria. Mr Chairman, this is the first time and we are all watching and this is before the world, not before Nigeria.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

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News

200 insurgents surrender to the military Police From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

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he Nigerian Army on Friday said the recapture of Nigeria- Cameroon border town, Banki from the Boko Haram insurgents, has led to the surrendering of 200 members of the terrorist group to the Nigerian troop.

The Nigerian Army has claimed that Banki was retrieved from the insurgents after a battle on Sallah day (Thursday).

Speaking to journalists in Maiduguri, the Theatre Commander of the Operation Lafiya Dole (Peace is a Must) in the North east, Major General Yusha’u Mahmud Abubakar said that over 200 Boko Haram sect surrendered to the troop in Banki on Friday.

Our correspondent reports that Banki is a town in Bama local government area of Borno state and shares border with Cameroon Republic. It has been under the control of terrorists for over a

year now.

According to Abubakar, the information about the surrendering of the insurgents was received from troops in Banki about an hour earlier.

He said: “I am happy to inform you that over 200 terrorists group surrendered to my troops around Banki town. The field commander just called me and briefed me about the development an hour ago.”

The army chief called on other terrorist members to lay down their arms as there was no escaping their eventual capture.

He said that the three months ultimatum given to the military to defeat the insurgents was visible.

He said the militants have been depleted and before the expiration of the ultimatum they will have no Nigerian territory under their control.

Abubakar said it was clear to everyone that the insurgents have lost grip and are about going into extinction.

He, however, did not rule out

the pocket of attacks on soft target, insisting that it may be difficult to rule out this even after the insurgents have been smoked out.

While advising that the war is not that of the military alone, he noted that all Nigerians who must give information that will finally put an end to the insurgency.

He added that once a territory is retrieved from the insurgents, it is left for the civil authorities to occupy and stop the insurgents from sneaking back.

Most of the areas that were hitherto in the hands of the insurgents, he added are now retrieved and are inhabitable to members of the public.

Abubakar said, “We have started sending our engineers to repair all the destroyed bridges.

Already our engineers have started reconstructing the destroyed bridges along Gamboru-NgalaMaiduguri, Gombi- Garkida- Biu roads among others. Very soon the menace of Boko Haram will be over, but this can never be achieved without the full cooperation of the

media and the general public. The fight against insurgents/ terrorists is a collective responsibility and all hands must be on deck to nip terrorism in the bud”.

The army chief further revealed that a major disaster was averted in Maiduguri during the Sallah as a terrorist who had planned to plant a bomb in one of the mosques was apprehended on the eve of Eidel-Kabir.

According to him, the military troops of the 7 Division apprehended a suspected terrorist who went to Medinatu central mosque in the old Maiduguri area with an intent to plant an Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in order to cause havoc on the Sallah day.

He said the apprehended terrorist is undergoing interrogation and is now helping the security agencies on vital information that will lead to the arrest of some other culprits, especially those responsible for Sunday’s multiple attacks on Maiduguri where 54 persons were confirmed dead.

ban illegal protest in Kwara From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

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he Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Esosa Amadasun has ban unapproved protest in the state.

The Commissioner of Police, in a statement through the Kwara State Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO), ASP Ajayi Okasanmi stated that anybody or organisation found holding unapproved protest in the state would be arrested and prosecuted.

“Commissioner of Police Kwara State Command, CP Esosa Amadasun, PSC wishes to warn the general public against organizing or participating in any demonstration\protest of any kind, any person or group of persons found unlawfully gathered without police person will be arrested and dealt with in accordance with the law.

“Parents and guardians are by this release advised to warn their children /wards accordingly. The Command will not hesitate to deal with any deviant”.

Dogara condoles with Muslims over death of pilgrims in Mecca

S L-R:President,Govering Council,Academy for Entrepreneurial Studeies[AES], Dr Ausbeth Ajagu;Chiarman of the Occassion,Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe,and Federal Ministry of Labour Productivity, Rep Vice President,Mrs Maureen Orie, at the 6th Academy for Entrepreneurial Studies[AES] Annual National Conference,Theme:’’Diversification Roadmap to Nigeria’s Economic Recovery’’ at Nigeria Institute of International Affairs Victoria Island,, recently in Lagos

Bilkisu’s death great loss to Nigeria - Foundation From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

A

s Nigerians continued to mourn the death of pilgrims from the country in the Hajj stampede that left over 717 dead, the Global Peace Foundation of Nigeria yesterday described one of the victims, late Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf as a great lost to the family of peace ambassadors in the world.

The Northern coordinator of the foundation, Rev. Joseph John Hayab in a statement in Kaduna said that Hajiya Bilkisu died at the time her service for

peace in Nigeria was most needed.

“We are mourning over the death of a peace worker, she was committed in the issue of peace and building interfaith dialogue among Christians and Muslims across the country,” said Hayab.

According to the statement, “the Global Peace Foundation consoled with the fact that Hajiya Bilkisu died when she was out of this country to serve Allah, a signed that shows she was a dedicated Muslim. The best way to immortalize Hajiya Bilkisu is for Nigerians to live in peace which she

worked and died for”.

Speaking in the same vein, the founder of Sickle Cell Patient Health Promotion Center (SCPHPC) in Kaduna, Hajia Badiyya Magaji Inuwa said the late Bilkisu Yusuf whom she described as her school daughter demise is a great lost to the Muslims Ummah in particular and Nigerians in general.

She added that her role as the deputy Amir of the Federation of Muslims Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN) transformed the role Muslim women play in the socio-

cultural and political affairs of the country, adding that all Nigerian women should take solace in the fact that late Bilkisu set a standard for them and proved that women are not spare parts.

The Vice Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists, North west zone, Comrade Yusfu Idris said the journalists profession has lost an icon and the vacuum she left behind will be difficult to fill, because she was a professional per excellent. He prayed for Allah to grant her soul repose.

peaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has condoled with Muslims over the death of more than 700 pilgrims in a stampede in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

This is contained in a condolence message issued on Thursday in Abuja by the Special Adviser to the Speaker on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Turaki Hassan.

The statement said that the speaker described the stampede as an unfortunate incident which had affected some Nigerians. ``I am deeply touched by the tragic incident in Mecca during the symbolic stoning of satan by pilgrims, which is the second such incident in this year’s Hajj. ``My special condolence goes to families of Nigerian pilgrims, who lost their lives in the stampede and the Nigerian Muslim faithful at large,’’ he said.

He called on the Saudi authorities to conduct thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate deaths and take necessary measures to avert future occurrence. ``I also pray God to grant the families of the victims the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss and quick recovery to the injured,`` he added.

(NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

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Police arrests two cultists in Ogun for robbery James Abeokuta

Ogunnaike,

T

he Ogun State Police Command, in its bid to get the state rid of cultists, has arrested two suspected members of Eye confraternity for robbing some commercial motorcyclists of their motorcycles at gun point on Wednesday in Ogijo, Sagamu local government area of Ogun state.

The police operatives attached to Ogijo division of the command ,while on surveillance in the area with the members of Vigilante Services of Ogun State, received a call from the victims of the robbery, and swung into action immediately when the suspects, David Abulumen and Mayowa Olajide who are notorious members of Eye confraternity were arrested at about 11:30pm.

Items recovered from

the suspects included a gun, assorted charms and two robbed motorcycles.

The Commissioner of Police in Ogun state, Abdulmajid Ali, commended the police and Vigilante Services personnel who actually carried out the operation that led to the arrest of the notorious cultists who have been terrorizing the innocent people of Ogijo area in the state.

CP Abdulmajid Ali has also directed that the matter be handed over to the Department of Criminal Investigation and Intelligence for proper investigation and prosecution.

The Police boss however, reiterated his determination to hunt for cultists and hoodlums who are creating security threats and fears in the minds of the good people of Ogun State, and curtain their nefarious activities accordingly.

Eid-el-kabir: Ex-soldier urges Nigerians to pray for Buhari

By Usman Shuaibu

A

s Nigerians joined the rest of the world to celebrate this year’s Eid-el Kabir, an exsoldier based in Dakwa, Tafa local government area of Niger state, Alhaji Abdullahi Dabo, has called on Nigerians to pray for President Muhammadu Buhari to enable him address some pending issues affecting the country.

He also charged Nigerians to always support and cooperate with the president to achieve his dreams for the country in terms of developmental programmes and policies.

Dabo, who made the call in a telephone interview with Peoples Daily after the Eid-el-kabir celebration on Thursday in Abuja, further pleaded with both Muslims and Christians to always pray for Nigerian leaders to

provide purposeful leadership for the nation.

He urged Nigerians to put aside their ethno-religious differences and join hands in building an egalitarian society.

Stressing the need for peaceful co-existence among various ethnic groups, he called on Muslim as well as Christian religious leaders to be an epitome of peace and oneness in the society for better Nigeria.

He appealed to the youths to shun anything capable of causing rancor and acrimony throughout the celebration of Eid-el-kabir, and urged them to desist from any intoxicating substance that would mislead them to behave negatively in the society. Dabo, who is also the chairman of vigilante groups in Tafa local government, urged Buhari to repair the dilapidated industries across the country.

L- R: Former Deputy Senate President and Chairman of the Occasion, Sen. Ibrahim Mantu, Hon Gideon Samani representative of the Secretary to the Government of Federation (SGF), the facilitator, Hon. Patty Etete explaining some of the art works at the exhibition of Unique Nigeria Paintings/Arts held at Bolingo Hotel and Towers in Abuja yesterday.

Declare your assets publicly, Shehu Sani tells Governors From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

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enator representing Kaduna Central in the National Assembly, Senator Shehu Sani has challenged northern governors as well as all the governors under the umbrella of All Progressives Congress (APC) to declare their assets publicly.

Shehu Sani stated this in his Sallah message made available to the newsmen in Kaduna yesterday.

He said the call has become necessary in view of the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari who these governors believed in his prudent character and leadership style had since declared his own assets publicly.

The Senator cum human rights activist said there is no justification for the northern governors and other APC governors to hide their assets from the public if the leader they so much believed in, did not hide his own assets.

“If Buhari cries or laughs, these governors follow suit, so I wonder why they are not emulating and following him to declare their own assets immediately Mr.

President and his Vice declared their assets. There is no moral justification here; I want to believe that they are governors without human face”, Sani said.

He also said that he was using the Sallah period to appeal to the Boko Haram insurgents to lay down their arms, even as he called on the Federal Government to adopt the option of dialogue as a way of bringing to an end the insurgency.

He added that President Buhari needs the support of every Nigerian to win the war against the Boko Haram.

Senator Sani equally tongue-lashed some of the northern governors for their inability to pay workers salary, particularly when most of the workers were victims of flood disasters in most part of the region as well as losing their beloved ones in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

He said, “It is hypocritical for governors who will sound praises of President Muhammadu Buhari, and clap for him each time he laughs or cries, and even dance for him each time he cracks any jokes, whether it is funny or not. It is necessary for these governors and even

our own colleagues in the parliament at the Federal and State levels not only to claim to be followers of President Buhari, but to emulate him. People should not be ashamed of disclosing what they have publicly.

“There is the need, taking precedent of what is going on, for the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to use the power granted to it by the Freedom of Information Act to disclose publicly all declarations made by public office holders from 1999 to date.

“It will avail the public the opportunity to know how righteous or how rich their leaders are, for the public to know how much is accrued to the accounts of their leaders, and from which source that money was derived from.

“Declaring your assets in the CCB, and not doing it publicly shows that the people have skeletons in their cupboards to hide. Nigerians must insist that their leaders must disclose what they have, and Nigerians must form vigilante group to help Code of Conduct Bureau verify the claims of their leaders”.

APC support group warns against imposition of leaders

By Ochiaka Ugwu

A

support group of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria Youth for National Consciousness (NYNC) has warned against any attempt to impose leaders on the coalition of over 180 support groups of the party.

Speaking with newsmen in Abuja yesterday, National Coordinator of the group,

Prince Okoi Eteng warned that his members would resist any attempt to impose one Ambassador Lawan Munir as the Chairman of coalition of APC support groups in the country.

Eteng lauded the initiative of APC National Organising Secretary, Chief Osita Izunaso for collapsing various support groups that worked for the success of President Muhammadu Buhari into a coalition for better

organization and coordination, but wondered why an election scheduled to elect leaders of the coalition last month could not hold.

While calling for the intervention of the President Buhari and party leaders over the matter to avoid crisis, Eteng lamented that some members of the ruling party have not realised the importance of internal democracy.

He continued: “The efforts made by the over 180 APC support groups who travelled

the length and breadth of the country to ensure the election of Muhammadu Buhari should not be sacrificed at the altar of mediocrity.

“What is happening to the election of leaders for coalition of APC support groups is a sign that some party leaders have forgotten so soon the virtues of internal democracy on the basis of which the party got popularity to win the presidential election” he said.

PAGE 12

Photosplash

Children catching fun at Abuja children park, during Sallah Holiday, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo- owo

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Executive Secretary Tertiary Education Trust Fund, (TETFUND) Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro (middle) flanked by Kogi State Governor Capt. Idris Wada 2nd (R) and Vice Chancellor Kogi State university Professor Hassan Isah and Director Corporate Affairs /Public Relations TETFUND Mr. Ben Ebikwo among others cutting the tape to commissioning the TETFUND sponsor entrepreneurial skill development centre at Kogi State University ,Anyigba recently

Former Secretary to Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae after regaining freedom from the hands of his abductors , on Thursday in Akure, Ondo State

L-R: Acting Director of Fund, Office of the Accountant General of Federation (OAGF), Mr. Dosunmu Hakeem; Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris and the Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastasia DanielNwaobia, during the federal Account Allocation Committee Meeting recently in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Boko Haram fuel dump location,, discovered by Nigerian troops at Ladu Dumbawa ward, Guzamala Local Government Area, in Borno State.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE13

Saudi minister: Pilgrims may have ignored instructions

By Mohammed Usman with agency report

S

audi Arabia’s health minister said a crush that killed more than 700 people at the Hajj pilgrimage may have been caused by pilgrims failing to follow instructions from authorities.

In a statement posted on the ministry’s website on Friday, the minister, Khalid al-Falih, said an investigation would be conducted rapidly into the worst disaster to strike the annual Hajj pilgrimage for 25 years.

At least 863 others were injured during the stampede at the Hajj, the world’s largest annual gathering of people.

“The investigations into the incident of the stampede that took place today in Mina, which was perhaps because some pilgrims moved without following instructions by the relevant authorities, will be fast and will

be announced as has happened in other incidents,” the statement said.

Falih said the injured were being transferred to hospitals in Mecca and if necessary on to other parts of the country.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said he had ordered a review of the Hajj plans after the disaster, in which two large groups of pilgrims collided with each other at a crossroad in Mina, a few kilometres east of Mecca, on their way to performing the “stoning of the devil” ritual at Jamarat.

The findings of the investigation will be submitted to King Salman, “who will take appropriate measures” in response, the Saudi Press agency said.

Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry said the crush of pilgrims appeared to have been caused by two waves of pilgrims meeting at

an intersection.

Ministry spokesman, Major General Mansour al-Turki said high temperatures and fatigue may also have been factors in the disaster.

Pilgrims at the scene blamed the Saudi authorities and some said they were afraid to continue the Hajj rituals. However, they said security had improved on Friday and the crowd was smaller.

A Kenyan survivor who returned to the pillars on Friday told AFP news agency his group lost three people, including one whose fate remains unknown.

“I can blame the Saudi government because they did not control (the situation). I was there. I survived,” Isaac Saleh said as tears welled in his eyes.

Another Kenyan, Rahman Shareef, said that “the Jamarat (stoning site) is good today. I had fears but I’m still alive and hope my family sees me surviving.”

The head of Iran’s Hajj organisation, Said Ohadi, said that for “unknown reasons,” two paths had been closed off near the site of a symbolic “stoning of the devil” ritual where the stampede occurred.

“This caused this tragic incident,” he said on state television, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Ohadi said the path closures had left only three routes to the area where the stoning ceremony was held.

Iranian officials said on Friday that at least 131 Iranian pilgrims were among the dead.

India, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Netherlands also confirmed deaths and Turkey reported 18 missing. Moroccan media reported 87 nationals among the dead.

Mina houses more than 160,000 tents where people spend the night during the pilgrimage.

Planning officer NEMA North West Zonal Office Kaduna Hajiya Zainab Saidu (C) during the flag off of the presentation of Items to the flood victims, yesterday in Kaduna

News

Bank manager, 3 others in police net for alleged N390m fraud

By Osakhare Erese, Asaba

T

he police in Asaba have arrested three top civil servants, Patrick, Benson and Felix (surnames withheld) and a Bank manager in Asaba identified as Philips (surname withheld) for allegedly stealing the sum of N390m from the state government coffers.

Police Commissioner in the state, Alkali Baba Usman who confirmed the arrest of the suspects, said that the command was making success in the arrest of criminals including cultists in the state, adding that the police had before the incident arrested and arraigned in court fifteen persons, many of them, civil servants and their syndicates from the private sector for allegedly stealing over N380m belonging to the state government.

The police boss declared that the command under his watch would not relent till criminals and all corrupt persons are brought to book, disclosing that the suspects including a woman were on Wednesday, September 23, 2015 arraigned before an Asaba Magistrate Court and remanded in Prison custody in Ogawshi-Uku and Agbor.

Alkali Baba Usman said that the suspect were arraigned before Magistrate Patrick Uzonitsha of Court (1) and charged with conspiracy to commit felony, stealing, illegal transfer and illegal withdrawals among other charges.

Cook, housewife nabbed over attempt to kill ex-head of service

By Osakhare Erese, Asaba

T

he Police in Asaba, Delta state have arrested a housewife identified as Mrs. Nkechi (surname withheld) and a cook to the husband, Bassey Okon for allegedly attempting to kill him.

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Mrs. Celestina Kalu who confirmed the arrest of the suspects, said that the suspects were arrested on Wednesday in Asaba, at the residence of their target, a retired Head of Service (name withheld)

along Abraka-Asaba road on a tip off by Police detectives attached to the state Police command.

It was reliably gathered that the suspects upon interrogation, had made useful statements to the police and are currently being detained for further investigation.

But the Police image maker said that the housewife allegedly contracted the cook to kill the husband and advanced to him N35, 000 as part of payment in the deal of N100, 000.

She said that the suspect however assured that she would pay the balance of N65,000

when the evil would have been successfully accomplished.

It was further gathered that while the cook was set out on a fateful day to consummate the business, nemesis caught up with him when he waited till everybody else had left home for one activity or the other to carry out the crime, unknown to him that one of the sons of the target was hiding upstairs watching him making the move through the meal he was expected to serve the father.

Sources said that the cook suspect however served his target the food he had allegedly prepared

with poisons, unfortunately the former head of service refused to eat and asked for another type of food.

Driven by anger at his boss’ action and the desire to complete the evil assignment, the suspect was said to have reached for one of the stools in the house and allegedly hit it on the head of the former head of service, with the intention to kill him.

The victim was said to have fallen to the ground battling for life and at that point he was said to have ceased breathing, thereby making the suspect to have

erroneously taught he had died.

It was gathered that the struggle between the suspect and his target attracted the son who was upstairs and immediately rushed to the scene to know what was happening only to find that the suspect was fighting with his father and have allegedly attempted to kill him.

Celestina Kalu said that the suspects were on Thursday arraigned before an Asaba Chief Magistrate Court on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and attempt to kill among other charges.

PAGE 14

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Crime Cycle

Mashe Umaru Gwamna pmlcrimecycle@gmail.com 08138559513

Navy to assist Police on Maritime Crimes

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

T

he Chief of Naval Staff, ViceAdm. Ibok-Ete Ibas, has pledged to lend support to the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), stamp out crimes in the maritime sector.

Ibas made the pledge recently while inj audience with the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase at the Force headquarters.

“The navy wants to pledge our continued support in ensuring that we develop the necessary cooperation and support to enhance our internal security.

“The relationship that exists between us has improved tremendously and it is my wish that we continue to sustain and

maintain it.

“In the past we have instances where our men slug it out, we have realised that we are all working toward a common goal.”

Ibas noted that it was only under a conducive environment that investors both foreign and local, could invest in Nigeria.

The naval chief also urged the police to collaborate with the navy in seamanship capacity building.

He, however, expressed concern over the delay in the prosecution of suspected maritime criminals by the police.

“These criminals and suspects have over time taken us for granted because prosecutions that ought to have been carried out were neglected.

“It is on this note that I want to solicit the cooperation of the I-G to ensure that cases that are outstanding are promptly addressed to serve as deterrent to would be criminals.”

He said it was costly for the navy to continue to keep vessels arrested alongside with their contents.

“If these cases are diligently disposed of we can begin to have a clean environment and reduce cases of illegality in the maritime environment,” he stated.

Arase expressed concern over the state of the marine department of the police, which he blamed on paucity of funds.

He said that an inventory of boats was being taken with the view to ascertaining the cost of

29yr-Old arraigned over N12m Truck theft

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

A

29-year-old man, called Paul Johnson, has been arraigned before an Ebute-Metta Magistrate Court for stealing a Howo truck worth N12 million belonging to China Railway Construction Company.

Johnson, is facing a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy and stealing.

Johnson, who works as a mechanic was given the truck to repair and he was supposed to pick up a mobile container at Apapa Wharf before he was said to have allegedly conspired with

others at large to commit the crime.

The suspect and his accomplice were said to have changed directions towards Ibadan express way instead of Apapa.

It was discovered that the defendant sold the truck on getting to Ibadan, where he was eventually arrested.

Part of the charge against the suspect read; “That you Paul Johnson with others now at large on the 20th day of June 2015 at China Railway Construction Company EbuteMeta West Lagos in the Lagos

Magisterial District did conspire together to steal one Howo Truck with Registration number LA 265 FZE belonging to China railway construction and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 409 of the criminal law of Lagos state of Nigeria 2011.

However, the defendant pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him.

The defence counsel, Lawyer Osodu apply for the bail of the defendant on liberal term.

The magistrate, Mrs, O.O Ope Agbe admitted the defendant’s bail. The case was thereby adjourned till October 12, 2015.

Rivers bans use of siren by private individuals

By Agi Victor

P

olice in Rivers State has banned private individuals from using siren in the state.

Public Relations Officer of the command, Ahmad Muhammad, in a statement said the restriction is to be enforced in all parts of the state. ‘’No private individual is allowed to use siren anywhere in

the State. ‘’Bullion vans are also not allowed to use siren, except when piloted by police pilot vehicle,’’ it said.

The statement listed some exemptions which include the President, Vice President, Senate President, Speaker House of Representatives and InspectorGeneral of police.

Others allowed to use siren

are Governors, Service Chiefs, General Officers Commanding, Assistant Inspector-General of Police and commissioner of police. Ambulance vehicles and fire fighting vehicles will not be restricted.

The command warns those who are in the habit of using siren when they are not entitled to it to be mindful that such acts will be visited with dare consequences.

EFCC is corrupt and undisciplined - Emmanuel Okereke

By Agi Victor with agency report

C

andidate of the African Liberation Party during the 2015 presidential election, Emmanuel Okereke has joined in the call for the probe of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. He accused the antigraft agency of witch hunt and abuse of office.

Mr. Okereke who is the Director General of the National Task Force on illegal importation of small arms, ammunitions

and light weapons said that EFCC is capitalizing on the anticorruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari to persecute those perceived as their enemies.

Last week, Mr. Okereke was declared wanted by the EFCC on alleged six-counts of impersonation, forgery and obtaining by false pretence.

He said that the commission is presently being used by some people in the past administration of President Jonathan who could not have their ways in the illegal

importation and proliferation of fire arms owing to the establishment of the taskforce which he leads.

Mr. Okereke appealed to President Buhari to also extend his anti-corruption war searchlight on the activities of EFCC and ICPC alleging that they are doing more harm than good to the administration through their acts of aiding corruption and abuse in the course of their official duties.

repairing them for use.

The police chief said that the police would leverage on the partnership with the navy to repair the boats.

Arase said that most of the robbery attacks that had taken place along coastal states were through the waterways.

He said that the police had been unable to react appropriately to the attacks because the boats were not functional.

On prosecution of suspects, Arase said that a taskforce had been constituted to handle the matter.

He attributed the lack of diligent prosecution of maritime crimes to successive police administrations that failed to build enough synergy with other

IG, Solomon E. Arase security agencies.

Arase said that the police would rely on the navy in training and information sharing to improve on internal security management of the force.

He assured that the police would also collaborate with other sister agencies as the police could not fight crimes alone.

You can’t sit over Buruji Kashamu’s case NDLEA says

By Agi Victor with agency report

T

he National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has asked Justice Ibrahim Buba of a Federal High Court in Lagos to withdraw himself from a fresh suit filed by Senator Buruji Kashamu.

Kashamu, in the new suit, is seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining the NDLEA and the Attorney General of the Federation from seizing his property.

The new suit came after the failed effort by the NDLEA to extradite Kashamu to the United States of America, where he is said to be wanted for alleged drug-trafficking offences.

Justice Buba had on June 23, 2015 reaffirmed a May 27, 2015 order of Justice Okon Abang of the same court restraining the NDLEA and others from extraditing Kashamu.

In the new suit, Kashamu said he had got winds of the moves by the NDLEA and the

AGF to seize or take over his properties, including a 24flat housing estate at Egbe and several hectares of land on Lekki Peninsular, Lagos, worth over N20bn.

He claimed to have acquired the properties by dint of hard work and legitimate business as opposed to the respondents’ allegation that the properties were acquired with proceeds of drug-trafficking.

His lawyer, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede, claimed that allowing the respondents to seize Kashamu’s property would occasion a breach of his fundamental right to own property as provided under section 43 and 44 of the 1999 Constitution.

Already Justice Buba had, by an interim injunction dated June 29, 2015, restrained the respondents and their privies from interfering with Kashamu’s right to own property either in Nigeria or anywhere else, pending the determination of the main suit.

POLICE DIARY

Security is a collective responsibility.

Partner with the Police command to fight and provide security for all. Promote Community Partnership in preventing and controlling social disorder in the society Police Emergency Numbers in the FCT 08032003913, 08061581936, 07057337653, 0802840883

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 15

Politics How GAVI rewarded Okonjo-Iweala

L

ast Monday, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization announced that Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance, Ngozi OkonjoIweala, has been appointed Chair of its 28-member Board.

Ms. Okonjo-Iweala will be succeeding Dagfinn Høybråten as Chair of the US$12 billion multilateral international public private partnership committed to saving the lives of children and protecting people’s health by improving access to immunization in developing countries, including Nigeria.

The former minister’s appointment came months after she spearheaded a controversial decision to pay US$2.2 million to the Geneva-based organization, being a refund for funds allegedly mismanaged by Nigerian health officials.

The refund was made despite protests by officials of the health ministry that all GAVI grants had been judiciously used.

Hours after her appointment was announced, online whistle blowing site, Sahara Reporters tweeted that Ms. Okonjo-Iweala got the position from an organization with whom Nigeria did business under her watch and “paid GAVI $2.2m shortly before she left”.

But in a swift response, Paul Nwabuikwu, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala’s media aide described the tweet as “lies.”

“GAVI was paid back according to MOU because grant was misused.

NOI (Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala) handed case to EFCC before she left.”

However, several documents reviewed by PREMIUM TIMES showed that despite a robust defence on how the GAVI funds was spent, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala indeed went ahead to authorize the refund.

Allegations of graft Last year, GAVI alleged that Nigerian officials mismanaged cash grants allocated to the country through the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency between 2011 and 2013.

But the Nigerian health officials fought back, accusing GAVI of manipulating events to suit their narrative and deliberately turning a blind eye to its explanations on how the funds were spent before publishing their final audit report.

Civil society organisations who had undertaken independent investigations into the allegations, after they were made public last year, say their efforts to reconcile their findings with GAVI’s audit report met a brick wall from the organization.

A PREMIUM TIMES e-mail to GAVI, since May 26, seeking explanations for their alleged refusal to entertain explanations from Nigerian officials or organisations over the report remains unacknowledged and unreplied.

Between 2002 and 2014, the Nigerian government, through the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, received vaccine and cash-based support from GAVI Alliance to the tune of over US$100 million.

While US$165 million was disbursed for vaccines, US$143.5 million was for cash support through

Idea Exchange Meeting with Helen Evans (GAVI Alliance CEO), Suzuki Shigeharu (Chairman. Helen Evans, CEO of The Global Alliance for Vaccines a number of mechanisms, including Health Systems Strengthening, Immunization System Support, operations costs for vaccine campaigns (Measles, Meningitis, and Yellow Fever), and Vaccine Introduction Grants.

Previous audits by GAVI had raised concerns about how Nigerian officials utilize disbursed funds.

For instance, a four-year audit between 2008 and 2011 revealed about US$300,000 unsubstantiated expenditures relating to the Immunization System Support programmes from 2009 to 2011.

In October 2014, GAVI released its findings from a Cash Programme Audit, CPA, of US$29 million it disbursed to Nigeria between 2011 and 2013.

The CPA findings claimed that funds – running into millions of dollars – meant for the procurement of vaccines and other immunization support activities in the period under review were mismanaged.

Of the total expenditure (US$29 million) stated in the period under review, 32 percent (US$9 million) was examined in the audit of which 87 percent (US$8.1 million) was found to be questionable.

The remaining US$20 million reported expenditure for the period could not be verified, according to GAVI, because of a number of limitations that included outstanding returns from states and poor security levels in some states which could not be visited.

“The report describes systemic weaknesses regarding the operation of controls and procedures in national systems used to manage Gavi cashbased support,” GAVI said in a statement following the report.

“As a result of specific findings the Government of Nigeria has agreed to repay funds deemed to have been misused, which are quantified as US$2.2 million.”

According to the report, 40 percent

of the total expenditure of US$29 million (about N4.5 billion) within the two year period was spent on procurement.

GAVI further stated that based on its preliminary findings, cash-based support to Nigeria was suspended in April 2014 and funds previously disbursed but not yet used were immediately frozen.

The audit stated that there were fundamental weaknesses in the area of procurement which included collusion between government officials and contractors.

In certain instances, it stated, assets – such as incinerators, boreholes, and medical equipment – which had been delivered and full payments made were found to be non-functional.

The audit further established that several suppliers shared the same addresses and telephone numbers and that documents of different suppliers were signed by the same people.

“However, these related suppliers submitted separate quotations/bids in order to create the appearance of competition,” the report stated.

“Multiple companies registered to one individual are used to increase the chances of obtaining contracts at inflated prices – this was observed for procurement relating to printing, motor vehicles and incinerators. Some of the suppliers could not be located at the addresses provided to the NPHCDA. “The audit noted inflated costs of assets/goods. An example is the purchase of motor vehicles where third parties purchased Toyota cars from a licensed Toyota dealer and sold the same cars to NPHCDA at double the price.”

In the area of tax payments on goods and services, the audit stated that it could not verify whether payments were correctly made to the relevant tax authorities. But it found out that from a sample of 184 companies with which NPHCDA transacted, the

registration of 97 of them with FIRS (Federal Inland Revenue Service) could not be confirmed.

“In addition, NPHCDA records indicated that they had made VAT (Value Added Tax) and WHT (Withholding Tax) payments of approximately US$950,000 to FIRS in the period 2011 and 2013; independent validation of amounts received by FIRS indicates that only approximately US$70,000 is recognized as being received by them from NPHCDA,” the audit said.

“Specific accounts are not maintained in the accounting system for VAT and WHT to record and monitor the taxes paid.

“NPHCDA did not provide a statement or receipts from FIRS confirming how much has been paid to the tax authorities and if indeed the payments were received by FIRS – it was not clear how payments to FIRS for VAT and WHT could be made on behalf of companies whose existence was questionable.”

The report called for the suspension of disbursements to NPHCDA until it put in place a prudent management of GAVI funds.

It also sought for a reimbursement of US$2.2 million from the Nigerian government being the amount it claimed Nigerian officials mismanaged.

The report also requested the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to carry out a detailed investigation of the GAVI grants disbursed to Nigeria.

Before the completion of the GAVI audit, a Joint Letter of Understanding had been signed by Nigeria’s former Health Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu, and GAVI’s Chief Executive Officer, Seth Berkley.

In the letter, Dr. Chukwu admitted that there had been systemic weaknesses which may have led to inappropriate use of funds.

Dr. Chukwu also agreed that the Nigerian government “agrees on

principle” to reimburse GAVI for any amounts identified as inappropriately used for the period under review.

At the time of the release of the GAVI report, the Civil Society Network Against Corruption, CSNAC, filed a petition to the EFCC demanding the investigation of Dr. Chukwu over the alleged mismanagement of the GAVI funds.

In a letter dated November 19, 2014, CSNAC stated that the alleged misused funds should not be refunded from Nigeria’s coffers, but rather from the individuals involved in the misappropriation.

Nigerian officials’ fury When GAVI released its final report in late October 2014, it sparked anger among Nigerian health officials who accused the organization of unilaterally arriving at conclusions without giving them a chance for a reconciliatory exercise.

While noting the shortcomings and recommendations from the CPA, Nigeria’s implementing agencies insisted that the sum of US$233,000 remained unaccounted for as at June 30, 2014, and not the US$8.2 million claimed by GAVI in its May report or the US$2.2 million in the published report.

An angry Dr. Chukwu said his ministry’s zero tolerance for corruption was the reason he signed the joint agreement with GAVI, which committed both sides to transparency and integrity in transactions.

“That was also why in principle he signed the joint statement,” Dan Nwomeh, who was Special Assistant to the former minister at the time, said one month after the final audit report was released.

“That if at the end of the review of the audit including the responses of Nigeria and there are areas where funds may not have been spent in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding with GAVI, those funds would be refunded by Nigeria (that is, the NPHCDA).

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Page 16

Tribute

By Muhammad Ibrahim Gamawa

D

estiny could have brought me to meeting the Galadima of Kano many years back before I eventually did. The renowned Sheikh Abubakar Mahmoud Gumi before his demise gave me an introductory letter to him. Procrastination on my part due to my myopic thinking that since the note was not accompanied by a follow up telephone call before the demise of Sheikh Gumi, the revered Galadima would not be disposed towards honouring same.

I did not realize how wrong I was until I met a friend who gave me an inkling about the compassionate side of Galadima.

My friend had told me that the Galadima would have welcomed me to his palace with or without any introductory note. Although I was a little bit skeptical, my friend further went on to explain that the Galadima’s palace was a Mecca of some sort to both the highly placed and less privileged in the society. Still, I never made any frantic attempts to see him for some years.

Another golden opportunity presented itself when late two years ago in 2013, I left Abuja to Kano in company of my veteran journalist ‘father,’ Hon Sidi Hamid Ali who incidentally hails from Kano. Our mission was to have audience with the Madaki of Kano, Alhaji Nabhani who is the District Head of Dawakin Tofa. On getting there, and after the usual introduction, I told the Madaki the help I needed. He instantly advised that my help would come from no other place than the respected Galadima.

He fulfilled his promise to meet us the next day and I went to the Galadima’s palace in company of Hon. Sidi Ali who is also well known around there. He had confided in me that even though he was known around the palace, the Madaki’s introduction would be taken very more seriously.

We arrived some few minutes before the Madaki who on citing us beckoned on us to follow him into the Galadima’s sitting room.

I saw the Galadima surrounded by both elderly and young people who come as a matter of routine to ask for one form of assistance or the other. On sighting the Madaki with us, the Galadima excused himself from the usual crowd of the people and entered into another chamber.

The Madaki is highly respected since he doubled as the chairman of the king makers committee of the Kano Emirate council. As soon as I was introduced by the Madaki and my mission made known to the Galadima, the latter wasted no time at all by making phone calls to sort me out.

That was the speed with which he handled matters for people no matter their status in the society. That I was impressed by that singular gesture was an understatement.

The Galadima combined royalty with humility to offer assistance to someone he was meeting for the very first time. Proffering solutions to people’s problems was one of the things that gave the Galadima immense joy as seeing smiles erupt on his subjects and other people’s faces does a lot of good to his soul.

About the second week of September, 2014, the Galadima visited Abuja for two days, and I asked if he knew Chief Edwin Clark very well. He answered in the affirmative only to the extent that on a not too intimate basis. I suggested that Galadima should get close to Chief Clark since I discovered that both of them had an undying passion for the unity and wellbeing of

A year without the quintessential Galadima of Kano

The late Hashim

“

About the second week of September, 2014, the Galadima visited Abuja for two days, and I asked if he knew Chief Edwin Clark very well. He answered in the affirmative only to the extent that on a not too intimate basis. I suggested that Galadima should get close to Chief Clark since I discovered that both of them had an undying passion for the unity and wellbeing of Nigeria.

Nigeria. This bond, I noted would further cement their collective zeal in seeing to the progress of the country.

Another similarity between both respected elder statesmen is their heart full of human sympathy and desire to assist people irrespective of tribe or religion.

Having thus been persuaded, he directed that I should without delay arrange a meeting between both of them.

Two days after Galadima went back to Kano, I visited Chief Edwin Clark at his Asokoro Abuja residence to intimate him with what transpired between the Galadima and me .He was very pleased to hear that. I then called Galadima with my phone and after the normal greetings, I handed over my phone to chief Edwin Clark who thanked Galadima for his role in keeping Nigeria together right from the days of Saurdana of Sokoto till date. “Thank you for the support you gave to my son the President” Chief Clark also said. I there and then re-emphasized the role Galadima is playing - he is to the north what Chief Clark represents in the south – south. The Galadima is to vice – President Namadi Sambo what chief Clark is to President Jonathan, I said. The need for both elder statesmen to cement friendship and bond would augur well for Nigeria. Chief Clark gave Galadima his word to meet with him anytime he visited Abuja again.

Galadima left Kano on the 27th of September, 2014 for Abjua but had to pass the night in Kaduna. On arriving Abuja the next day, my phone rang at about 8:00 pm. I was then visiting a highly respected retired justice and also a traditional title holder.

The caller ID was Galadima’s but the voice was one of his aides who then transferred me to His Highness. The Galadima in his usual humble nature asked; “Gamawa kana lafiya?” meaning Gamawa are you ok? I answered “I am ok Your Highness.”

Galadima then informed me he just arrived Abuja to which I responded by saying I would be with him shortly since I was in the residence of the retired Judge. On hearing his name, Galadima retorted “he is my man,” and requested to speak with him. After some banters, they promised to keep in touch if only on phone. That also could have been the last contact between the duo.

I later visited Galadima in his Maitama Abuja residence. He was as usual surrounded by his aides, well wishers and hangers on. He looked physically fit. After paying my respects, I asked for his permission to inform Chief Clark of his arrival.

He gave the nod and added that I should wait and collect the parcel he brought for him. In no time at all, one of Galadima’s aides brought a bucket of “Dambu” to give to his friend.

I am very familiar with Dambu way back in my secondary school days but on that day I noticed the difference between ordinary Dambu and Royal Dambu when I was made to taste what I brought to Chief Clark for obvious security reasons.

It was a privilege for me and particularly an honor for his friend the Galadima, when I was ushered into see Chief Edwin Clark in no other place than his private bedroom to deliver Galadima’s message/ gift as late as 9:46 pm. He had left instructions based purely on his doctor’s advice, not to entertain any more visitors for that day and even for the whole week. My closeness to Chief Clark earned me the title of “the chief’s northern son”. This gave me an Contd on Pg 42

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Page 17

How GAVI rewarded Okonjo-Iweala

Politics

Okonjo Iweala “In fact, at the time the joint statement was signed, GAVI never informed the former minister that they had about 2 million dollars they were still querying.”

In addition to its petition to the EFCC, CSNAC had also followed up with a similar letter to the Nigerian government demanding explanations over the conduct of its officials in what it described as an “international embarrassment”.

In its response to CSNAC, the Nigerian government stated that it “strongly objected” to GAVI’s final report and accused the donor of “unilateral conclusion and publication”.

“The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) and the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) stands by its earlier response to the initial CPA Report issued by GAVI in May 2014,” the Nigerian government stated.

“The FMOH and NPHCDA strongly objected to GAVI’s final report which it released and published without carrying out a post audit reconciliation exercise (a standard audit practice); and without incorporating the Government of Nigeria response to the CPA as agreed withGAVI.” According to the government, a significant downward revision of the ‘unaccounted sum’ of US$8.2 million in the audit’s initial report (in May) to US$2.2 million in the final report raised questions on the basis of the reduction without a reconciliatory process.

The government said that it became obvious from the GAVI report that any document not placed before the CPA Team was deemed ‘non-existent’.

It also said the CPA Team did not make any specific request for additional information and refused

to engage senior management to seek clarifications on specific issues.

“In the CPA report, it was noted that there was no evidence for the transfer of N44.5 million to UNICEF, whereas no senior management staff in the Finance and Accounts Department was contacted for this document. UNICEF has since confirmed (in writing) receipt of the said funds,” the government said.

“The CPA Team performed field visits without informing the Federal Ministry of Health or NPHCDA of the locations and gave no feedback on return. Government of Nigeria provided evidence to show that the team in some instances visited wrong locations and interviewed wrong persons.

“The report claimed that incinerators were not delivered whereas all were delivered at the time of the CPA. “In its final report, GAVI maintained that only $70,000 (about N11 million) was remitted to Internal Revenue body. FIRS has since confirmed in writing that over N237 million was received by it on the GAVI Alliance funded projects.”

The Nigerian government further stated that GAVI refused to conduct reconciliatory exercise following its response to the audit, turned down invitations for joint site visits for verification, and therefore had no basis to demand for a refund.

The government also stated that it went ahead to contact the Corporate Affairs Commission, FIRS, UNICEF, EFCC, and other agencies mentioned in the GAVI report.

“Contrary to GAVI’s allegation of NPHCDA engaging companies without appropriate registration, the Corporate Affairs Commission through a letter dated Wednesday, 25th June, 2014, in response to a request for the verification

and confirmation of status of the companies by the NPHCDA, listed the names of those companies as duly registered with the Commission,” the Nigerian government said.

“The Federal Inland Revenue controverted GAVI’s assertion of failure to remit taxes vide a letter dated November 6, 2014, confirming the agency paid due taxes, even beyond GAVI quoted amount, as at when due.”

The federal government also stated that the Kaduna State Primary Health Care Agency and Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency in letters dated 10th October, 2013, and 26th June, 2013, respectively wrote to confirm the receipt of 7,140,278 units of vaccination cards in Kaduna and 1,105,300 units of Non Polio SIAs Vaccination cards in Bauchi.

These were contrary to claims in the GAVI report that those cards were neither produced nor delivered by the NPHCDA. The Nigerian government also said that no petition, oral or written, had been submitted at the EFCC contrary to claims in the GAVI report that an official report had been lodged.

“Contrary to claims of failure to disburse fund by GAVI, UNICEF also wrote via its New York office to confirm receipt of funds from the NPHCDA as reported by the agency.”

GAVI’s silence Following the responses by the Nigerian government, CSNAC led other civil society organizations to carry out an independent investigation into some of the claims made in GAVI’s final report.

Olanrewaju Suraju, CSNAC’s Chairman, said his organization solicited, free of charge, the support of civil society partners domiciled in states where NPHCDA claimed they had executed its incinerator projects.

“Responses were received from some committed and reliable networking partners and their officers were dispatched as field investigators who visited sites to verify the status of projects, and presented the findings from their sites visits,” said Mr. Suraju.

“CSNAC received support from CSOs and individuals who volunteered and assisted with visiting locations of incinerators constructed by the NPHCDA across the northern states of Nigeria.”

Civil society investigators visited 13 incinerator sites in seven northern states, including the Federal Capital Territory.

In Kano, for instance, the five sites visited – in Gwale, Municipal, Dambatta, Bichi, and Wudil – showed all the incinerators had been completed.

However, the incinerators at Numan in Adamawa State, and Wukari in Taraba State had not been built, according to the private investigators.

In November last year, CSNAC opened communication with GAVI’s Geneva office with a view to compare notes and share information regarding the report.

“We got no positive response,” Mr. Suraju said.

“We then reached out to GAVI’s American office via telephone in December and got a promise of an official response by January 2015.

“On January 8, 2015, CSNAC received a response from GAVI saying it had no further information to give on the issue beyond what it published on its website.”

Mr. Suraju said that it was unacceptable for any foreign organization to hide under Nigeria’s perceived corrupt status to level corruption charges against its government without providing

verifiable evidence to support their claims.

“We are seriously concerned by GAVI’s adamant and uncooperative posture in spite of the apparent weight of evidence provided by the NPHCDA in the Nigerian government’s comprehensive response with attached documentations, the site visitations by CSNAC; confirmation of receipt of funds by UNICEF, tax remittances to FIRS, and authenticity of agencies by the CAC,” said Mr. Suraju.

“In the extant case, since the Government of Nigeria has refuted GAVI’s claims and provided documentary and other evidence which contradict GAVI’s claims, it is therefore surprising that GAVI has held on to its position as shown by the GAVI Management’s repeated utterances that ‘there was no significant change in their position.’

“GAVI needs to respond to charges by the Government of Nigeria that ‘many of the actions of the CPA team were not in tandem with expected level of professionalism; and may have been premeditated on a mindset”.

‘No case of fraud.’

In the midst of the dispute between the NPHCDA and GAVI, the Nigerian government, led by Ms. OkonjoIweala still went ahead to refund the alleged misused funds of US$2.2 million to the organization.

On August 11, the EFCC responded to CSNAC’s petition over the alleged mismanagement of the GAVI funds stating that no prima facie case of fraud, diversion of funds, or other crimes had been established in relation to the project.

“Our investigation confirmed that the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) paid all due taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service. The NPHCDA also paid required funds to UNICEF in 2012 for meningitis vaccine campaign (MENAFRIVAC),” the EFCC said in its response signed by Olaolu Adegbite, on behalf of the Executive Chairman.

“All contracts under the project were duly executed while the provisions of the Nigerian financial regulations for the public service were duly followed in the disbursement of duty tour allowances and other incidental expenses for the staff.”

The anti-graft agency stated that the findings of GAVI’s initial audit report was based on an unfounded suspicion of fraud and called for the ongoing reconciliation between the organisation and the NPHCDA to be concluded.

“We believe that the GAVI report underscores the effect of negative media coverage of events on our national reputation,” the EFCC stated.

“It is unfortunate that some reputable foreign organizations continue to perceive most Nigerians as corrupt and fraudulent in spite of contrary evidence.”

But despite the EFCC report, GAVI stuck to its claims. Mrs. OkonjoIweala believed the donor agency despite protests by a government she served.

She brushed aside the concerns and proceeded to refund $2.2million to the organisation, even without clearance from the health ministry.

Few months later, GAVI named her the chairperson of its board. premiumtimesng.com

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Page 18

Feature

‘The day I confronted Boko Haram’ Contd from Page 2 barracks. Among the trainers were seasoned soldiers like Jefferson and other “special force instructors”.

“There are not many welltrained soldiers in the Nigerian army today,” Jefferson explains.

And under other circumstances, such soldiers would not have been around to assist his unit.

He describes the stringent recruitment process he endured before being admitted into the army in 1986; the tough physical and mental training; the trainees who, unable to cope, fell by the wayside; the extra effort required to prove that he was better than others from the same part of the country because the army could only retain a certain number from each state in the federation.

Once he made it, he was sent to the Airborne Training School in Jaji for further training. A few weeks later, he emerged a bona fide private with a sense of “utmost patriotism” and a resolve to die for his country.

“I was taught that anything that would bring about the failure of the system was an enemy,” he says.

The hajia list But, for Jefferson, things began to change during the military regimes of Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha in the 1990s.

He noticed how a number of failed military coups had infused the top ranks of the Nigerian army with fear and distrust for one another.

Senior government officers started sending trucks to their home villages to gather unemployed young men, who they then signed on as soldiers.

Jefferson watched as many of these new recruits were unleashed on the army, with barely a few weeks of basic training under their belts. Those who had connections in high places were often exempted from tough physical training on the parade ground. And this soon led to what was known among Jefferson’s cadre of soldiers as the ‘hajia list’ of recruits.

“They didn’t know basic regimentation,” Jefferson explains.

“They didn’t know the parts of a rifle or even how to cork a gun.”

However, they were experts at polishing the shoes and ironing the clothes of their employers and superiors, to whom they considered themselves devoted. Hence, the term ‘hajia’, a common way of addressing Muslim women in Nigeria.

It soon struck Jefferson that these soldiers were being groomed to be completely loyal to their bosses. Those at the top were steadily building an army of soldiers who would serve them, not necessarily

Analysts say Nigeria’s military is underfunded and poorly equipped in its battle against Boko Haram [Riccardo Raffa/Al Jazeera] the country.

The nepotism became so ingrained that Jefferson noticed some of his colleagues from different ethnic groups changing their names to give the impression that they were from the ethnic or religious group they felt would win them the most favour at any point in time.

Allegations of government officials and ‘emirs’, local Muslim leaders, sending lists of soldiers they wanted commissioned became rife.

Today, Jefferson attributes his slow rise from private to captain to the fact that he had no connections; no one to influence the trajectory of his career and follow up on his postings.

Still, seven years after joining the army, he finally fulfilled his dream of going to university. The army sent him to study a social science course at one of Nigeria’s most prestigious universities. A few years later, he returned to the same institution to study for a masters’ degree. And then, for a PhD, which was truncated by the call of duty

“

two years into the programme.

In addition to his qualifications, Jefferson was sent to different military training programmes around the world, and received a number of awards for excellence.

But these distinctions only frustrated him further.

“No matter how well I performed,” he says, “those with lower scores and less qualifications were constantly promoted over me.”

They may have discriminated against him when it came to promotions, but Jefferson’s bosses were well aware of his merits and often singled him out for responsibilities that would normally have been given to someone of a higher rank. He says he always obliged, embracing the extra responsibilities without complaint.

For example, just a few months after that day in Mongonu, he was selected to be part of the patrol team that escorted some of the military’s newly acquired equipment from Abuja and Bauchi.

At the airport, Jefferson posed

beside some of the shining new guns and missiles, his 165cm frame neatly tucked into a brown and green camouflage uniform the same colour and design as the aeroplanes in the background. Throughout the journey to Maiduguri, he relished the thought that a new phase was beginning in the war against Boko Haram. He dreamed of finishing the battle soon and returning to his new wife, who had grown anxious since his transfer to Borno.

But the battle against Boko Haram was far from over. Jefferson observed that, even after weeks of training by the defence attaches of the countries that had supplied the new weapons, many Nigerian soldiers were unable to operate the hitech ammunition.

With amusement in his voice, he describes how their attempts to handle the hi-tech guns resembled somebody trying to master a Rubik’s Cube.

But his amusement is tinged with anger.

“Further training then fell on

But the battle against Boko Haram was far from over. Jefferson observed that, even after weeks of training by the defence attaches of the countries that had supplied the new weapons, many Nigerian soldiers were unable to operate the hi-tech ammunition.

commanders like me,” he says, “training men who were impervious to learning.”

It grew difficult for Jefferson to contain his ire each time he saw a soldier at a checkpoint chomping on mangoes or chatting on his mobile phone as his gun lay on the floor beside him.

And such indiscipline wasn’t just evident among the junior ranks. Once, a brigadier-general mocked Jefferson for always being in full kit, teasing him about dressing “like an American soldier”.

“I soon got tired of being the odd man out,” he explains. “The commander who insists that soldiers must wear their fragment jackets, their caps - being accused of being too fussy.”

So Jefferson resigned from the army in mid-2014. He now works for the security department of an international organisation in Abuja. A number of his colleagues who also left the army have similarly well-paid jobs as, with the rising threat posed by Boko Haram, international organisations in Nigeria now consider it imperative to have security departments staffed with counterinsurgency experts.

“The insurgency has created jobs for us,” Jefferson says.

But despite the relative comfort of his new life, Jefferson still looks back at his almost 28 years in the army with nostalgia. The near tragedy of the day when he came face to face with Boko Haram is something he now considers just another day in the life of a soldier devoted to serving his country.

Aljazeera

PAGE 19

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Tourism A trip around the ancient Kano city walls

One of the 16 mud brick gates surrounding the old city of Kano

A

ncient Kano City Wall is a 14km radius earth structure, while associated sites are made up of these features, Dala Hills, Kurmi Market and Emir’s Palace.

The ancient Kano city

walls were built in order to provide security to the growing population. The foundation for the construction of the wall was laid by Sakri Gijimasu from 1095 - 1134 and was completed in the middle of 14th century during the reign

of Zamnagawa. In the 16th century, the walls were further extended to their present position. The gates are as old as the walls and were used to control movement of people in and out of the city. Though, most of them are largely in

ruins.

Dala Hill is an archaeological site of an ancient settlement dating back to the 10th century AD. It is the source of the evolution of Kano City and a vital reference point in the development of Hausa Kingdoms, societies and cultures which greatly influenced the early indigenous civilizations in the savannah zone of the Western African sub region.

Kurmi Market is one of the oldest and largest local markets in Africa. It used to serve as an international market where North African and some European goods were exchanged for domestic goods through trans-Saharan trade. The market was, and still is, laid out’ in lanes. Each lane consists of traders, who trade in identical good, e,g leatherwork, textiles, iron and brass work, spices etc.

Emir’s Palace was built

by Muhammadu Rumfa who ruled Kano from 1463 to 1499.

The palace has three gates namely Kofar Kwaru, Kofar Fatalawa and Kofar Kudu.

The palace is divided into 3 sections. At the south are the Administrative buildings with rooms (Soran Zauna Lafiya, Soron Giwa and Soron Bello and Rumfar Kasa). The central part houses members of the emir’s family and at the northern parts are the stables

“ A typical outlook of Kano wall

and the servants’ rooms.

Kano is a city in Nigeria and the capital of Kano State in Northern Nigeria, in the Sahelian geographic region south of the Sahara.

Its metropolitan population makes it the second largest city in Nigeria. The Kano urban area covers 137 km2 and comprises six local government areas (LGAs) — Kano Municipal, Fagge, Dala, Gwale, Tarauni andNassarawa — with a population of 2,163,225 at the 2006 Nigerian census. The metropolitan area covers 499 km2and comprises eight LGAs — the six mentioned above plus Ungogo and Kumbotso — with a population of 2,828,861 at the 2006 Nigerian census.

The principal inhabitants of the city are the Hausa people. As in most parts of northern Nigeria, the language is widely spoken in Kano. The city is the capital of the Kano Emirate. The current emir, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was throned on 8 June 2014 after the death of late Alhaji Ado Bayero, the thirteenth emir of kano emirate on Friday, 6 June 2014. The city’s Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, the main airport serving northern Nigeria, was named after politician Aminu Kano. en.wikipedia.org

Dala Hill is an archaeological site of an ancient settlement dating back to the 10th century AD. It is the source of the evolution of Kano City and a vital reference point in the development of Hausa Kingdoms, societies and cultures which greatly influenced the early indigenous civilizations in the savannah zone of the Western African sub region.

Women walking by side of Kano wall

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 20

Homes

A

re you looking to revamp and redecorate a bit in your bedroom? One place to look before your design to accent and re-style completely is the headboard, whether it’s a switch or a basic addition, you’ll be surprised at what one of these beauties can do to the space. It becomes a functional piece of art and immediate focus of the room. This is a compilation of great selection of headboard ideas from a variety of interior styles to help inspire and get your decorating ideas flowing.

Take a look…..

This geometric, artistically-styled headboard is the perfect addition to a subtle, contemporary bedroom. It’s perfect for a chicloving couple or even a bachelor living in a large and spacious studio apartment. You will love the cream foundation of the room and the delicate, yet modern, black details that come from the headboard. This piece is the exact definition of functionality and style.

I

f you’re looking for something completely outside-the-box, look for something that doesn’t have the traditional headboard design. These pieces don’t have to be large and rectangular;

H

ere is another great example of a longer headboard choice. For a simpler, more traditional addition, take a peek at some chic, finished wood pieces. It’ll provide a homey and welcom-

W

instead they can be architectural and artistic too. This swirling addition adds a unique and sultry charm to this plum, fashion-forward bedroom. It’s stunning!

hat’s different and special about this headboard is its length. Instead of going the mere width of the bed, it extends to include the nightstands too making a more contrasting

ing feeling but with all the bells and whistles of a fashion-forward, contemporary energy in tow. We feel this entire bedroom combines modern styles with more organic feelings with an elegant ease.

I

f you’re looking for something a bit more luxurious, here is one for you.

This golden, intricately-detailed headboard (and bed) has a distinct Victorian feel and vintage flair. You will love its royal

pop to the entire room. you will love the complementary nature but focus it puts on the texture and simple elegance. Does it remind you of a chocolate bar (in the best way of course!)?

flavor and shining, feminine finish. The addition of the chocolate, fabric tufts gives it a bit more of a modern edge making it easier to style within contemporary bedrooms. www.bestofinteriors.com

e n i z a g a M d n e k e We Enter

tainment

Fashion

ps Beauty Ti

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 19 - sunday 20, September, 2015

Orezi releases video for ‘Baby Abeg’ >>Pg 36

JJC features Kate Henshaw in ‘See Us Now’ PG 36

Davido releases new single ‘Dodo’ PG 37

od Kannywo

d

Hollywoo

d Bollywoo

PAGE 21

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Page 22

Magazine

Playing through the pain

By Diego Ibarra Sanchez

H

ow football is helping polio survivors in northern Nigeria.

Black adhesive tape is wrapped tightly around a hand roughened by the tricycle it operates every day.

Beneath the goalposts, Abdul jumps and then stretches to catch the ball. His body slides along the dry earth.

A line of buses, burned out by Boko Haram, seem to keep watch over the young goalkeeper.

Here, in Kano, northern Nigeria, Abdul plays a sport known as para-soccer, a form of football played mostly on skateboards by polio survivors.

Like most of his teammates, Abdul contracted polio as a child.

Now, several days a week, he braves the uneven pavements, scorched red earth and erratically driven rickshaws of Kano to weave his way on his tricycle from the home he shares with his family in the impoverished suburb of Gayaw to the city’s sports centre.

“It is not easy at all for polio survivors in Nigeria,” he says.

“The country lives in constant tension and we are relegated to the background. It is hard to obtain money and there is little work.”

Abdul supports his family with the $200 he earns a month from playing the sport. But he must divide his time between his team and his studies as a student of science.

As goalkeeper, Abdul has no need for the skateboards used by the other players. He simply balances on the one leg that was not affected by polio.

But the game is physically and mentally exhausting, and the asphalt on which they play scratches at the skin, sometimes stripping it off altogether.

Abdul prepares for it as best he can by working out a couple of times a week.

No pain, no gain A few metres from the football field, a small shed serves as an improvised gym for people with reduced mobility. Inside, it is all sweat and weights and the spirit of self-improvement. On the wall, a message declares: “No pain, no gain.”

Thirty-three-year-old Sanusi stares out of the window as he wraps adhesive tape around his wrists. He has been on the team for six years.

“Para-soccer is a sport that requires dedication,” he explains.

“We need to be in good shape in order to play and avoid injuries, although this is sometimes inevitable. The asphalt burns and we have no protectors.”

For these polio survivors, para-soccer has become a source of strength and freedom. Somewhere between the ball, the skate-

Abdul, right, contracted polio as a child and is one of the para-soccer team’s goalkeepers board and the hard ground, they have carved a space of their own.

Created in 1988, by Nigerian polio survivor Misbahu Lawan Didi, the sport has few financial sponsors, but has spread to other countries on the continent.

Abdul and Sanusi’s team plays against other polio survivors’ teams in the national leagues, as well as in the international leagues against Niger, Cameroon, and Ghana.

The Nigerian DNA “Football is in the DNA of Nigerians,” explains the team’s coach, Ibrahim. In fact, he suggests, “it is the only thing that holds the country together”.

Ibrahim has led the training here for 18 years and says: “Parasoccer gives them an opportunity for self-improvement and makes them believe in themselves again.

Few people are concerned about polio survivors.”

“

But it isn’t easy.

“We barely have means to support ourselves,” the coach explains. “We are always in the search of funding.”

Looking at his hands and knees, he continues: “We have no soccer gloves or protective gear.”

Then, he asks: “Do you, by chance, know someone who would like to sponsor the club?”

Not charity, just chances Curious observers gather to watch the training overseen by 34-year-old Rabim Lawan. During his 13 years as captain, Lawan has won 15 trophies with the team.

The majority of the players arrive in special wheelchairs that are made a few kilometres away.

Given the difficulty of obtaining a wheelchair that is in good condition, former para-soccer player Abdullhahi Lawna decided to open a workshop to manufacture special chairs.

Until recently, the threat posed to Nigeria by polio was grave. And it wasn’t just the disease itself that people were afraid of.

“Many polio survivors hardly have any economic resources.

The majority end up begging on the streets,” he explains. “I used to play in the para-soccer team and one day I was given the chance to open the workshop. I borrowed the land and the money.”

“In a country where polio is among the minor problems, it becomes necessary to support polio survivors - not with charity, but with training and employment,” he continues.

The back of his workshop also functions as a shelter for 10 polio survivors who have nowhere else to go. There are just blankets, a floor and a roof, but for the young men who seek refuge there it has become a home, and those they sleep alongside have become family.

Murtala Abubakar is one of them. “My family lives outside [in a rural area]. I am hardly in contact with them,” he explains.

“I came here two years ago with nothing. I was lonely, but now it is different.”

‘Their blood covered my face’ Until recently, the threat posed to Nigeria by polio was grave. And it wasn’t just the disease itself that people were afraid of.

Abbas Ibrahim cannot forget February 8, 2013. His hands shake as they slide into his pockets to find the keys to a now closed vaccination centre in Kano.

That was the day armed men on motorcycles broke into two

clinics and killed 10 polio vaccinators.

“We were distributing the vaccines to the health team to start the campaign. It was early, around eight in the morning,” explains Abbas, the chief coordinator of the centre’s vaccination campaign.

“In a second, the room was covered in blood and full with corpses.”

“I was shouting to the vaccinators to throw themselves to the floor and cover themselves. I thought I would die; I fell to the floor in an attempt to protect myself. Their blood covered my face.”

“In front of me, two vaccinators protected themselves under a stretcher,” he remembers. “Only one survived.”

But things are looking up. In July, Nigeria marked its first year without a single new case of polio.

“For the first time in years, polio cases have decreased to zero.

Last year, six cases were registered, this year, none. Insecurity is a challenge that limits our mobility but new strategies allowing us to reach more children, even in areas with difficult access, are being implemented,” says Boniface A Igomu, the national coordinator of the polio programme for Rotary International, before declaring: “The time has come to eradicate polio in Nigeria.”

Source: Al Jazeera

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

10 Warning signs of ovarian cancer By: Anna Fleet

O

varian cancer is known as the “silent killer” because symptoms are often so subtle; they just seem like routine or common annoyances. However, the difference is that they will occur almost every day and not go away. The trouble is that by the time symptoms are considered an issue; usually the cancer has spread and it’s too progressed to treat effectively.

With only 20-percent of cases of ovarian cancers found early enough to treat the disease, we’re doing our part to make known the ten early warning signs of this silent killer of women…

1. Abdominal Pain Pain in the pelvic area or belly that feels very different from normal indigestion and menstrual problems (i.e., cramps) is indicative of ovarian cancer. Most patients complained of abdominal pain that persisted for longer than 2 weeks, and wasn’t associated with their period, diarrhea, or the stomach flu.

Page 23

Womanhood 2. Indigestion Persistent indigestion, gas, nausea, or other gastro-intestinal issues, like heartburn, are quite common and persistent of ovarian cancer.

3. Loss of Appetite Ovarian cancer is known to cause an abrupt loss of appetite that’s normally out of character for the person affected. This is because the cancer impacts metabolism—or the breakdown of food into energy that fuels the body.

4. Bloating Frequent bloating or gas pain in your belly or pelvis that doesn’t go away is another symptom of ovarian cancer. For instance, if your abdominals bloat so much that your clothes fit tighter around your waist so suddenly and without diet or activity changes—this may be cause for a doctor’s visit 5. Urinary Frequency Urinary problems, such as being overwhelmed by a sudden urge to urinate as well as peeing more often than usual is a sign of ovarian cancer—this can include bouts of incontinence (complete loss of bladder control before you can get to a bathroom) that will gradually worsen over a few weeks.

6. Feeling Full Quickly In the more advanced stages of ovarian cancer, the cancer tumor itself can sit on the surface of the stomach, on the omentum (the fold in the abdominal cavity that connects the stomach to other or-

gans), or on the intestines, causing a patient to feel full very quickly (a condition known as “early satiety”) when they eat.

7. Altering Constipation and Diarrhea Changes in bowel habits, such as constipation and diarrhea, will often go hand in hand with ovarian cancer. This occurs when an ovarian tumor swells and puts pressure on the stomach, bowel, and bladder.

8. Lower Back Pain A persistent, achy, dull pain in the lower back is a common sign of ovarian cancer. Many women patients equate the feeling with labor pain.

9. Sudden Weight Loss Shedding 10 or more pounds without even dieting or exercising is common to ovarian cancer patients in the early stage. Even though you might consider it a welcome occurrence, this rapid and unexplained weight loss should be reported to your physician immediately.

10. Vaginal Bleeding A lesser known early warning sign, one that has only been noted in approximately 1 quarter of ovarian cancer patients, was spotting or irregular vaginal bleeding outside of the regular menstrual cycle.

Other vaginal abnormalities may include the sudden development of sores or blister in the vaginal area, changes in skin color, or thick discharge.

a lump to develop in small, seed-like structure along the breast tissue, which may cause the breasts to be tender when you’re lying down, being caressed by your partner, or feeling friction from your bra.

7. Nipple Discharge Breast cancer is prone to developing in your milk ducts (around the nipple), which can show itself in a milky, watery, or blood-tinged discharge that leaves behind a scaly crust on the nipple. If you are not breastfeeding, any discharge from the nipples is not normal. Bring them to the attention of your doctor immediately.

8. Nipple Sensitivity Another breast cancer symptom that is often noticed by your partner before you—abnormally sensitive nipples that suddenly become void of sensitivity are often caused by

breast tumors that develop underneath the tissue of the nipple.

9. Nipple Changes An underlying breast tumor (i.e., a tumor that develops underneath the nipple) can also cause your nipples to change in a visual manner as well. Your partner may notice your nipple has become inverted, flat, indented, or asymmetrical in shape.

You nipples may also change in size for no reason (i.e., you’re not breastfeeding).

10. Dimpled Breast Tissue Thickening that feels different from the surrounding tissue can occur in the earliest stages of breast cancer development. For instance, the skin over the breasts may become red or dimpled, or even appear pitted—similar to the skin that covers an orange.

Source: Activebeat.com

How to detect breast cancer B reast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States—with one in every 8 women developing this cancer. Breast cancer typically develops as a small tumor (or lump) in the tissues throughout the breasts and then, if cancerous, spreads through the lymph nodes.

The best hope of surviving a breast cancer diagnosis is via early detection. That’s why routine selfexams of the breasts to identify any lumps, as well as annual check-ups and mammograms with your health care professional are important.

Here are 10 early warning signs to look out for during your selfbreast exams at home…

1. Detection of a Lump When performing a self breast exam, carefully apply pressures to the breasts and surrounding tissues with your fingers. Both benign (non cancerous) and malignant (cancerous) breast lumps sometimes form under the armpit, in the collarbone, near the site of the lymph nodes, and around the nipples, as rigid, hard, tender lumps that don’t move when you press against them. Any tenderness may be due to swollen tissues.

If you detect a lump, call your doctor immediately.

2. Itchy Breasts A common symptom of inflammatory breast cancer, a rash-less itch in and around your breasts can indicate an underlying issue more severe than dermatitis. The itchy sensation is often accompanied by nipple discharge and breast tissue that appears thicker or changed in texture. So don’t settle for a prescription ointment, ask your doctor

to screen you for breast cancer right away.

3. Swollen Breasts Inflammation of the breast tissues and areas around the breasts can occur if there is a breast tumor pressing on the tissues above. Typically a sign of inflammatory breast cancer swelling can be accompanied by red, patchy, hot skin that feels extremely tender to the touch or caress.

4. Shoulder & Neck Stiffness Sore shoulders and stiff necks aren’t always what they seem. And breast cancer will usually spread to the spine, back, or shoulders and cause achy pain in these areas. If back, neck, and shoulder pain per-

sist, regardless of ointment, rest, stretching, or massage, contact your doctor to talk about a breast cancer screening.

5. Breast Size Change Oftentimes, your spouse or partner will detect a problem with changes in breast size before you do.

But it’s common for a breast tumor to alter the shape or size of an affected breast before you feel that tell tale lump. So along with self exams for breast lumps, be sure to visually check the shape and size of your breasts in a mirror and take heed when you put on your bra.

6. Breast Tenderness Breast tumors will range in pain—that’s if they cause any discomfort at all. It’s more common for

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 24

Kiddies World

With Miriam

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

Humbe

ABCDE

HIS AND HERS CORNER

A visit to Aso Rock

Go for the ball

Cartoon Aso Rock

A

so Rock is a large outcrop that is in the heart of Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. The Aso Rock is a 400 metre monolith and is the city’s most noticeable feature.

The Nigerian Presidential Complex, Nigerian National Assembly, and Nigerian Supreme Court are located very close to it. Much of the town extends to the south of the rock. “Aso” means victorious in the native language of the (now displaced) Asokoro (“the people of victory”).

Aso Rock was the site of the 2003 Aso Rock Declaration, issued by

“

Heads of Government of the Commonwealth during the CHOGM held in Abuja. It reaffirmed the Commonwealth’s principles as detailed under the Harare Declaration, but set the ‘promotion of democracy and development’ as the organisation’s priorities.

Visitors to this rock are amazed by how much nature has endowed the city of Abuja and Nigeria as a whole with tremendous beauty. The rock on most rainy days appears to have a smoky head with clouds hovering above it. The environment surrounding the rock is also peaceful and welcoming.

Visitors to this rock are amazed by how much nature has endowed the city of Abuja and Nigeria as a whole with tremendous beauty. The rock on most rainy days appears to have a smoky head with clouds hovering above it. The environment surrounding the rock is also peaceful and welcoming.

Tom and Jerry with guest, Doggie

Daffy duck and Bugs bunny

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Kiddies World

PAGE 25

With Miriam

MODEL OF THE WEEK

AFRICAN TALES

How the Rabbit took Leopard’s house

O

nce upon a time the Leopard lived in a small house far way in the bush. After thinking for a long time he decided to look for a better place. After a short time he found a suitable place nearer the other animals. The Leopard began to cut sticks for building a house. After collecting a big bundle he carried it to the new building site. While the Leopard was doing all these things the Rabbit was nearby watching. He also cut a bundle of sticks and put them near the Leopard’s bundle. But the Rabbit did not tell the Leopard.

The next day the Leopard brought another bundle. He was surprised to find a second bundle already there, but didn’t know who had brought it.

However he put down his own second bundle. Meanwhile the Rabbit was hiding and watching the Leopard’s work. Then the Rabbit cut a second bundle and brought it to the site, making a total of four. The Leopard continued to bring bundles of sticks and the Rabbit did likewise.

When the Leopard saw that the sticks for building were enough, he began digging the foundation for his house. When he got tired he went away. The Rabbit also came and dug the foundation for the second wall and put in poles. He got tired and went to sleep.

Day after day the Leopard and the Rabbit were building the same house without meeting or talking together. Soon the house was finished.

The Rabbit was the first to move into the side of the house he had built. Then the Leopard moved into his side then problems began. The Rabbit lit a fire on his side of the house and the Leopard on his side.

The Leopard was surprised to see a fire lit in his house without his knowledge. He shouted, “Who is that person lighting a fire in my house?” Then the Leopard and the Rabbit began to quarrel without solving the problem.

The Rabbit thought of a way to make the Leopard leave the house to him. He told his wife to pinch the children to make them cry loudly. When the children began to cry the rabbit asked his wife in an angry voice: “Why are the children crying?” Mrs. Rabbit answered, “They are crying for the Elephant’s liver.”

The Rabbit answered boastfully in a loud voice so the Leopard and his wife could hear. “Tell them to stop crying. Finding an Elephant’s liver is no problem for me. Tomorrow I will kill an Elephant and give its liver to my children.” When the Leopard heard these words he became terrified. He thought that the Rabbit was a very dangerous person. If he could kill an Elephant for sure he could kill him also.

After a few days another quarrel erupted between the Leopard and the Rabbit. Then the Rabbit thought of another way to terrify the Leopard and drive him away. Again he told his wife to pinch the children to make them cry loudly. When the children began to cry, the rabbit asked his wife in an angry voice: “Why are the children crying?” Mrs. Rabbit answered, “They are crying for the Leopard’s liver.” Meanwhile the Leopard and his wife were listening very carefully to this conversation. The Rabbit answered boastfully in a loud voice so the Leopard and his wife could hear.

“Tell them to stop crying. Finding a Leopard’s liver is no problem for me. There is a Leopard right here in this house with us. I will kill him easily and give his liver to my children.”

ABCDE

Humbe

The Leopard was terrified. Early the next morning before the Rabbit family got up, the Leopards moved out. On the road they met the Baboon who asked, “Why are you sweating so much and in such a big hurry this early this morning? Why are you carrying all your belongings? Where are you going?” The Leopard replied, “We are running away from the Rabbit who plans to kill us and feed us to his children. I have been thrown out by the Rabbit from the house I built with my own hands.” The Baboon answered: “Oh, I know the Rabbit. That’s one of his tricks. Let me take you back to your house. But we must tie our tails in order to go together.”

So the Leopard and the Baboon tied their tails together and went to where the Rabbit was. When he saw them the Rabbit began to rebuke them. He told his wife to pinch the children to make them cry loudly. Then the Rabbit asked his wife in a voice that could be heard by everyone: “Dear, why are the children crying?” Mrs. Rabbit answered, “They are crying for the Leopard’s liver.” The Rabbit said in a loud voice, “I planned with the Baboon that he would bring the Leopard here and so he has. Keep calm, my children. You are going to get the Leopard’s liver right now.”

When the Leopard heard this he became very angry and began to insult the Baboon saying, “ You deceived me. Do you want me to be killed by the Rabbit?” He became terrified and tried to run away. But since his tail was tied to the Baboon’s he could not. They ran in opposite directions and their tails were badly bruised and the Rabbit took over the whole house.

Pricillia Emmanuel Posing for Peoples Daily on this weekend edition

ACTIVITIES

Using the right colours, shade the image below.

Describe your action and show your work to your teacher for correction.

Cheers!

CREATIVITY

How to make a bag out of paper Paper bags have different shapes and sizes. perforate all the paper using a pen over a modeling It depends on what purpose you are making it. dough and insert the paper clip tip in the hole.

You can even customize the paper bag.

Things you’ll need Steps 3 sheets of double paper Flatten two of the double papers.

Stapler (or tape, if no staples or present, or using Choose an object that is as wide as you want this for merchandise bags) the bag to be.

Place it at the center of the flattened papers.

This is the base of the bag. Fold the papers to the edges of the object.

With the third paper, measure the object and cut the paper a few millimeters wider than the object itself. By now you should have two strips.

Using a stapler, staple all the way both strips only on one side of the paper.

Fold the strips outside the initial paper.

Staple the other sides of the strips to the initial paper.

If you have excess paper from your bag you can use it to close the bag with a paper clip:

PAGE 26

e-Learning

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Coughs and sneezes: Scientists discover flu breeds in the roof of the mouth

S

cientists have discovered that flu breeds in the roof of the mouth, explaining why coughs and sneezes help the virus spread.

They found the soft palate - the soft tissue that separates the back of the mouth and the nasal cavity - plays a key role in the virus’s ability to travel through the air from one person to another.

Flu viruses come in many strains, and some are better equipped than others to spread.

The findings could help identify how flu is transmitted from human to human and predict which strains are most likely to spark pandemics.

The theory is the flu viruses more able to travel through the air outcompete other variants in the soft palate.

And inflammation associated with infection in the soft palate stimulates the sneezing and coughing needed to better propel the flu virus out of the mouth.

Dr Kanta Subbarao, of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in the US, said: ‘Historically, the soft palate has not been examined in animal models of influenza.’

He added more research was needed to better define the characteristics that make it a key spot for a virus to rapidly evolve and be transmitted.

The study, published online in the journal Nature, was carried out on ferrets,

“

which are often used to model human flu infection.

The scientists found this patch of mucous-coated soft tissue is a key site for the emergence of flu viruses.

Flu infection starts when an influenza virus protein called hemagglutinin binds to sialic acid (SA) molecules on the tops of chain-like proteins that line tissue in the respiratory tract.

Flu viruses adapted to humans and other mammals bind preferentially to a type of SA called alpha 2,6 SA (a2,6 SA).

This is the predominant form found in the upper respiratory tract of mammals, while avian flu viruses bind best to a form, a2,3 SA, that predominates in birds.

Scientists began their research by making four mutations in the hemagglutinin of the flu strain responsible for the 2009 influenza pandemic, a strain notoriously good at spreading from person to person.

The intent of introducing the mutations was to make the virus preferentially bind to bird-type SA and, presumably, be less transmissible via air than the original virus.

They then used the engineered virus to infect a group of ferrets, which are widely used as a model of human influenza infection.

The next day, uninfected ferrets were placed in cages separated from infected ferrets by a perforated barrier.

Nasal secretions were collected from all of the animals for two weeks.

Dr Subbarao added: ‘To

The researchers trained 10 people for 20 consecutive weekdays on a direction-discrimination task in which they were presented with a

Scientists began their research by making four mutations in the hemagglutinin of the flu strain responsible for the 2009 influenza pandemic, a strain notoriously good at spreading from person to person.

our surprise, the engineered flu virus was transmitted by the airborne route to uninfected ferrets just as well as the original non-mutated virus.’

To understand this unexpected result, the researchers sequenced viral genetic material obtained from the ferret nasal washes.

They discovered that airborne transmission was associated with a single genetic change in the engineered virus’s hemagglutinin that gave it the ability

to bind to mammalian-type a2,6 SA of a particular class (long chain) without the loss of the other introduced changes that had made it a a2,3 SA binding type.

Subsequently, they passed it on to uninfected ferrets in the adjacent cages.

The soft tissue that separates the back of the mouth and the nasal cavity - plays a key role in the flu virus’s ability to travel through the air.

Mailonline

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 27

Leisure

Greedy tortoise and the lizard O

nce upon a time there was a famine in the land of the animals. One day, the lizard was passing by a farm when he saw the farmer approach a rock.

The lizard hid and watched as the farmer rolled the rock away to reveal the entrance into a cave. The farmer went inside and came out a few minutes later with a handful of yams and rolled the rock back into its place. The lizard waited for the farmer to leave then he too rolled away the rock and went into the cave. Inside the cave were several stacks of yams. The lizard took out a yam, and rolled the rock back into its place. Every day, the lizard would return to the cave to take a yam and would go home to eat the yam.

One day the lizard was carrying his yam home, he came across the tortoise who asked him where he had gotten his yam. He offered to tell him on the condition that the tortoise told no one. The tortoise promised to keep the secret, so the lizard told the tortoise to meet him the following morning and he would take him to the secret cave.

Early the next morning, before the very first cock crow, the lizard and the tortoise went to the secret cave.

When they got there, the lizard rolled the rock away to reveal the entrance to the cave. The tortoise could not believe his eyes for there were more yams in there than even he could eat, because the tortoise was a very greedy fellow.

The lizard picked a yam and started on his way home but the

Greedy tortoise tortoise was not done yet. He was going to carry as many yams as he could and maybe even more.

Very soon, the farmer came and found the tortoise who was still busy collecting yams. By this time, the lizard was home, had eaten his yam and was taking a nap. The

farmer grabbed the tortoise and asked him how he came to be in the cave. The tortoise confessed that the lizard had brought him there, so the farmer took tortoise to the lizard’s house. There they found lizard lying on his back. The farmer asked lizard if it was he

Let’s see how good you are with the economics words

who brought tortoise to his cave.

The lizard was shocked and said it was not possible as he had been feeling unwell and lying on his back all day. The farmer grabbed the tortoise and threw him against the wall and the tortoise lay on the floor with a broken shell. The

tortoise cried out to the insects of the forest who helped him pick up and glue the pieces of his shell together. And that was how the tortoise ended up with a broken shell.

Laugh out loud (Lol)!

A

kpos was being chased by 2 men for one of his numerous crimes and he ran into a forest.

Seeing a quicker route, he climbed up a tree.

The two men followed him into the forest, got to the tree where Akpos was but they didn’t know where he ran to.

Angrily one of the men said ‘ this boy don escape again.

The other man said ‘don’t worry I know this

boy, he is just a Mumu if you call his name 3 times he will answer.

Then Akpos laughed out loud from the tree and said to the men.

‘Hahahahahaha! If you like call my name from now till next year, I no go answer you oh. U think say na Akpos of before be dis?

The Spirit of Can Do…

I CAPITAL

IMPERFECT

POLICY

DEPRECIATION

INVESTMENT

PPFCURVE

ECONOMICS

ISOCOST

PRICES

ECONOMY

LSE

QUOTA

EXCHANGERATE

MONETARY

SCALE

FISCAL

MONEY

TRADE

have seen better days but I have also seen worse I don’t have everything I want but I do have something I woke up with some aches and pains but I woke up My life may not be perfect but I am blessed I learned that we can do anything but we can’t do everything We all make mistakes, have struggles and even regret things in our past, but you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles and

you are alive with the power to shape your future.

If you think you can’t….you won’t If you think you can…. you will.

When I am tired at practice … I tell myself am not tired and I can push through People will tell you…you can’t do something because they can’t do it themselves If you want something, go get it The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.

By Chidinma Ubah

Beauty TIPS

Compiled by Isioma Nwabasha

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 19 - sunday 20, September, 2015

Page 28

Tips for a perfect smokey eye makeup

T

he smokey eye may be the sexiest eye makeup look. It is always nice to have a neat, perfectly applied eye shadow, but there is something funky about that smudgy look from a good smokey eye. The smokey eye is sultry, alluring and enigmatic. It is dark and mysterious, there are no hard lines and it blends into nothingness.

When it is done right, it can make you look like a million dollar celebrity. But the smokey eye can be a little intimidating.

So, below are tips to get that irresistible and alluring ‘black eyes’ that will make you outstanding in a gathering.

Getting your eyes ready Begin by applying a light shade of concealer to the under eye area and all over the top lid. Your mineral makeup foundation is a great concealer for this step and prepares your eyes for the eye shadow that you are going to apply. Apply eye cream. Allow it to absorb for a few minutes. At this time, you can apply a primer, this will help your makeup glide on and stay creasefree. Pat a generous amount of loose translucent powder under the eyes. Your eye shadow will sprinkle down on top of the powder.

Use the liner First, line both the top and bottom rims with an eye pencil, paying close attention to the lash line itself.

If you have small eyes, apply liner starting from the middle of the under eye to the outside of the eye. If your eyes are large feel free to line from corner to corner. Line eyes with a dark pencil, gel, or cream liner, something you can smudge. If you are using a gel or cream out of a pot, use an angled eyeliner brush.

The liner should be thinner towards the inner corner of the eye and gradually increase in thickness towards the outer edge. Line the lower inner rim. Don’t apply too much liner close to the tear duct, it will goop up and you will end up with black eye boogers.

Add eye shadow With a small eye shadow brush or a q-tip, soften the edges of the eye pencil line. Apply a dark shadow using a sponge-tip applicator, smudge brush or a q-tip directly over the penciled area and smudge.

(If you like you can use your finger tip.)

The shadow helps to set and soften the look. Use an eye shadow that is in the same colour family as the eye shadow on your lid, but lighter. Apply it above your lid, on the outer edge of your crease. Then, using a loose blending brush, blend the shadow in a circular motion.

Blend the crease shade slightly up and inward.

Next, apply a lighter shadow in a neutral tone with a larger eye shadow brush, you can also use the wet/dry brush. Encircle the entire eye area, be sure to soften and graduate outward for that perfect blended look.

Curl your lashes Creating a smokey eye isn’t just all about eye shadow, it is the overall look. So, while you want to do a precise job of applying the right eye shadow in the right places, you also want to pay attention to your lashes. Curling your eyelashes will help open up your eyes and really make them stand out.

Apply mascara After curling your lashes, apply a generous coat of mascara. Some people say that waterproof mascara hold curl better so that is always an option. However, some waterproof mascara formulas can be a bit drying on the lashes so it is not the best idea to use a waterproof formula daily. But for special occasions, why not?

Cleaning up the ‘territory’

Items for a smokey makeup

Brush away any shadow that has fallen below the eye with a fluffy brush and clean up areas that have smeared with a q-tip. If you have trouble getting rid of fallout from eye shadow, you can try using a scotch tape to pick up any fallout without smudging your makeup.

If you want a more dramatic look, add more shadow and mascara. If you are looking for the most dramatic effect be sure to curl those lashes and apply two-three coats of black mascara.

If you want your eyes to look larger, pull your liner upward when lining your bottom lashes instead of out from the top Going for a classic smokey eye look, lightly line lips with a natural colour and add some sheer colour in peach, caramel, or barely there pink.

You might try the nude look on the lips with your smokey eyes.

If you want to add more drama to your look, line your lips with a darker liner and fill it in with a deep colour.

Both, the nude lip and the deep dark pout are very ‘it’ this season.

So, it is up to you to decide which look is better for you. Don’t forget to put some natural looking blush on your cheeks. It will add colour to your complexion.

Finally, finish your look by defining your brows. A strong eye look desperately needs a defined brow , as your makeup won’t look complete without it.

Alluring smokey eye makeup

Steps to smokey eyes

Compiled by Miriam Humbe

Fashion

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Page 29

Look beautiful in Adire prints and accessories

M

odern day Adire prints, have been picking up steam amongst the young and the old. This is not surprising when you take into consideration the bold and intricate print patterns. Icons, especially in the fashion, music, and film industry have been spotted wearing Adire prints. Adire prints can be made into dresses, tops, skirts, wrappers, and sets for both men and women. It is also common to see women wear head wraps with African prints as well as western clothing. African textiles are characterised by a wide variety of distinctive local styles and traditions. Today, Adire can be worn as tops on skirts or trousers for both men and women. Accessories like purses, hand bags and jewelleries are added to bring out the very best in the fashionista’s looks.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 30

Pots & Pans

With Miriam Humbe

Palatable Masa (Waina)

Preparation method for waina Get one (1) mudu of white rice, then boil half for some time and soak half. Mix together and grind, then leave for twelve hours.

If you are to fry it - you add yeast 30 min-

utes before the frying, pound pepper, cut onions and put the casco (frying pan for frying masa) on the fire.

Casco is of different sizes some are 6, 8 and 12 cups.

Drop your oil in the casco pot, then mix the quantity that you want to fry at that

time with sugar and little salt and stir very well then put the normal measurement in the cup and start frying.

Waina is quite palatable and is best served with groundnut soup (Mia Geda) with little Yakwa leaf or Yaji or salt.

Makes about 12 pancakes.

Kunun aya (Tiger nut drink) How to make Tiger Nuts Milk Tiger nuts have a nutty milky taste. Not only do they taste nice, the nuts are packed full with lots of health benefits. To eat it as a snack, just

chew and suck on the chaff then spit out the chaff. Some people swallow the chaff but it is quite difficult to swallow. If the nuts are dry, soak them in plenty of cold water overnight before attempting to

Ingredients For making Tiger Nuts Milk 600g soaked Tiger Nuts (475g dry Tiger Nuts) 1.5 litres cold water.

Directions: Soak the very dry nuts in a generous quantity of cold water for two days. Keep it in the fridge for the duration of the soaking so that the nuts do not ferment. Most tiger nuts are fresh and well hydrated so you’ll only need to soak those ones for a few hours or overnight. After the soaking, wash the nuts very well and

munch on them. Another way to enjoy these nuts is to soak, blend and strain them to get the very delicious and refreshing Tiger Nuts Milk, known as Kunun Aya in Hausa.

Other ingredients you can add to it are coconut, sugar, ginger and cinnamon. To blend it, you’ll need a kitchen blender.

To strain it you’ll need a chiffon cloth.

sort out the bad ones. Put them in your kitchen blender and pour just enough water to help the blades move. You need to make this milk as concentrated and tasty as possible.

You can add more water later if you wish. At this time you can add other ingredients: coconut, sugar, ginger and other flavours of your choice and blend them together.

The natural taste of Tiger Nut Milk is

so great, you do not want to alter it at all. After blending, use a chiffon cloth to separate the chaff from the drink.

Of course, the chiffon cloth should be brand new, thoroughly washed with dish washing liquid. Press the stocking to make sure you squeeze out all the milk from the chaff. Put the dry chaff back in the blender, add more water and blend again. Then strain with the chiffon cloth. Repeat the process till

all the milk has been extracted. Two times should be enough and keep an eye on the quantity of water. As a guide, get 1.5 litres of tiger nut milk from 600g of soaked tiger nuts. Yours may vary. Pour the extracted milk into bottles and store in the fridge for up to three days. It should last longer in the freezer. Serve Tiger Nuts Milk with any snack of your choice.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 31

Relationship Why younger women date older men W

hy do young women like older men? What attracts 20-something year old females to 40, 50, even 60-something year old males?

The idea of younger women dating older men is a timeless concept. If it is an innate evolutionary tactic for a woman to find the strongest and most confident man who can financially support her, then an older man comes out on top every time. After all, what is more attractive? Is it an eager, younger guy who is selfish in bed and who has nothing but hope to cling to, or an older, wiser, outgoing, more matured man with a great job, who also happens to be experienced and selfless in bed?

Younger women like men who can provide emotionally and financially.

So maybe sexual chemistry is related to the size of the man’s wallet, after all, younger women don’t just want a sexually charged older man, but a man who can shower them with birkin, chanel bags and fill her closet with Manolo Blahnik shoes, all kinds of high end fashion accessories and exotic vacations. In fact, there are many younger women who prefer that, and, luckily for them, there are a lot of affluent older men who are more than happy to shower them with the finest things of life. After all consenting adults can date and marry for different reasons.

But at the same time, there are beautiful young women who are dating older men with limited financial means. If, however, the ‘who’ is more important than the ‘what’, then maybe age is just a number and the attraction runs deeper than material possessions.

And, in such cases, you are dealing with all the little nuances that make the younger woman dating an older man scenario just like any other relationship. The biggest issue will be the recurring need to explain to others that your relationship is actually based on love and admiration. You will end up dealing with mind-numbing responses like, ‘He is just a father figure to you.’ ‘He is making you miss out on the fun of being in your twenties’. You might say that to a young woman in a relationship with a more matured man. But would you say that to a guy in his twenties who wants to marry his older girlfriend?

Sometimes, older is better.

With age comes experience, which is why many younger women will always want to date older men. In fact, the society we live in makes it very easy for men to have very young partners, though the concept of older women getting young husbands is not very common. It is often easier for an older man married to a younger lady to be accepted than for a matured woman with a younger partner.

Below are some of the reasons why young women marry older men.

Love: For some women, age is no barrier in marriage. They

When you are in a situationship marry for love. Some are attracted to older men and don’t mind being their wives. Just like they say, love is blind.

Money: This is top on the list. Most women love the good things of life so they would not mind pitching their tent with a man older than their father. The material success that you can partake of as his wife/mistress is what draws most young ladies.

An older man is likely to be established and successful in his career than a younger guy. This gives you the assurance that you can live the good life and afford luxuries. It also means that your life, as a woman, could be more secure and comfortable.

Then again, the economic state of the nation. Many girls want to meet up financially but they don’t want to be seen as ‘Runs girls’, ‘Aristos’ or whatever name we call it so the older and sometimes married man option becomes a lesser evil.

An older man will do anything to get that young single girl. He

“

will spend money without thinking and knowing that there might be no future in that relationship, will give the girl some degree of freedom. Most older men see their younger partners as a trophy, something that boosts his ego and would be more inclined to open his vaults if only to show that he is capable of attracting a young girl. A single young man will do the opposite. By the time he starts splashing cash on you, have it in mind that you have automatically become his property. He expects a lot from the girl and the girl does the same.

Emotional maturity: Most girls have had their fair share of heartbreak from guys and in defence have opted for older men.

Some want that fun ride, with no serious commitment, emotions and energy. The more experiences a person has, the more likely he is to be emotionally mature.

According to some women, older men don’t get jealous unnecessarily like younger men.

They don’t expect their fragile

egos to be massaged every now and then.

Sexual experience: Older men are more experienced sexually but tend to have less sex drive, but many women find out that lovemaking with an older man is completely fulfilling, as they are better in listening to their needs than a man their own age.

Not driven by testosterone often makes older men better, They often view pleasure in a different light and are more concerned with the woman’s pleasure as opposed to their own. Older men with their long years in relationships could be more sexually knowledgeable.

Care. Older men have generally been through more ups and downs in their lives and therefore act more mature than their younger counterparts. They have made, or seen all the mistakes in the dating game and has, hopefully, learned what not to do. At the same time, they know exactly how to treat a woman and respect her feelings.

They are more rational and easy to please, plus they allow you more

As for famous, influential and wealthy older men, they are a woman’s best bet. That said it has its down sides, when the men cannot meet up in some department due to illness or natural ageing process, their younger lovers more often than not take solace in the exotic lifestyle that your money brings.

leverage and are sensitive to your feelings.

Comfort: Older men are not as demanding as the younger ones.

You would be more comfortable with them and they are not obsessive on irrelevant things.

They would not demand for sex on a regular basis. Then again, the hope of getting someone ‘serious’ while having fun and enjoying the goodies from an older lover is a major motivational factor.

Most eligible young men are still struggling to find their feet and any serious relationship they get into is part of a planning strategy which will certainly obstruct the free flow of funds, after we all desire the fine things of life.

Father figure: Some call it the ‘Sugar Daddy syndrome,’ others call it the ‘Father was never around’ complex. Most young ladies are looking for the love of a father. It is either their fathers are dead or they didn’t show them love and now they are looking for someone to fill that space. Older men instinctively have paternal instincts and may pamper their partner more than a younger man.

He will also take on some sort of authoritative role in your life.

Some women seek to find a man that reminds them of their father, whom they loved and admired.

On the other hand, women, who lacked a stable male figure while growing up, might still be on the hunt for this leadership role in their lives. At a certain point they will stop looking for a father and start looking for a mate.

There are lots of advantages in dating and in most cases marrying an older man. They are successful, mature, more stable in life, responsible and sexually experienced as well. And more importantly, they are less likely to abuse their younger partners.

Ariyike Odebami, a 24-year old girl who is dating a 55-year old man has this to say ‘‘Older men pamper their women. When you step out with your partner, all eyes will be on you, women age quickly and with an older partner you can’t be bothered. Infact he will try to keep himself young for you. The days of starting from the scratch are fast fading because most men are not loyal. A wealthy older man is an aphrodisiac.”

What is the greatest part of being with an older man? It is that overall feeling of being in very good hands. They are patient; seasoned in and out of the bedroom, in life, love, spirituality and they appreciate all the great qualities a good woman has to offer. As for famous, influential and wealthy older men, they are a woman’s best bet. That said it has its down sides, when the men cannot meet up in some department due to illness or natural ageing process, their younger lovers more often than not take solace in the exotic lifestyle that your money brings.

So the next time you wonder why a girl abandoned a man her age for an older lover, remember the above reasons.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 32

Fiction

Caught by the law A woman has been charged for murder of her 38 years old husband, who has been given privilege to preside over the case. Today, the judge will deliver his final judgment; the defendant will today know her fate.

“All arise.” The court clerk announced the entrance of the judge into the court room.

The judge walked with measured steps, with his eyeglasses perched on the tip of his nose, he sat down.

“After hearing the statement of witness on both side,” The judge continued.

“Weighing all evidence before me and listening to the argument of both the defense and prosecution counsel, the following is my judgment.”

The defendant broke down in tears, her case was bad, she was given a life jail sentence with hard labor, all she could do was to ask for mercy.

The big question is, why did she kill her husband?

I’m Harry Enomamiem, reaching you live from the Ikeja magistrates court. Sit back and relax, as the defendant tells us her story.

My name is Bola Olawale.

It all started on a beautiful Friday evening. I was on my to the village to see my parent when I had a flat tyre, quite unfortunate for me it was rainy heavily.

A young man that was returning from the farm noticed my car was faulty and he stopped to help me change my tyre.

I was so happy, I opened my bag and brought out some money. “Please take this for your help, I really appreciate it.”

The man stared at me with a smile. “No please.” He refused to collect the money.

“Thank you.” He smiled, and started walking forward.

“Wait.” I drove towards him. “Are you heading to the village?” I asked.

“Yes.” “Ok let me drop you then.”

“Okay thanks.” He said with a smile and got into the car.

Few minutes later we arrived at the village, I dropped him at the front of his house. “Thank you so much.” I thanked him again and drove forward.

The following morning I was sitting at the front of my father’s house, discussing with my mother under a big mango tree. I saw the man walking towards us.

“Hi!” I waved my hand at him and met my mother’s

eyes. “He was the one who helped me yesterday.”

“Good morning mama.”

He greeted my mother.

“Femi how are you?” My mother asked. “How is your mother?”

That was how i got to know his name. My mum told me his mother has been a very good friend of hers.

“She’s fine ma.” He said smiling. He was looking more handsome in his white shirt and a blue jean than the farm cloth I saw him with the other day.

“Thanks for yesterday.” I said.

“It’s ok.” He smiled. “I

“

didn’t know you’re mama’s daughter.” He said and settled on a small wooden chair beside me.

As we were discussing, I found out he was an educated man. ” What is a young man like you doing here in the village? I asked.

Femi smiled. “I just completed my NYSC program, I want to help my mother for a while, though i am searching for a job.”

“But you can’t stay here in the village and get a better job.” I said. “What did you study?”

“Accounting.”

“That’s good.” I smiled.

“But I will advise you to move to the city and look for a job.”

Femi smiled and met my eyes. “Yes I know. But life in the city is too expensive, besides i don’t have anybody to stay with and for now, I can’t afford a rent.” He Said.

I cast him a pitying look.

This was a man who helped me under a heavy rain without knowing who I am, he surely deserve my help and i was in a position to help him. I gave him my business card and told him to come over to Lagos with a promise of getting a job for him.

Few weeks later I was returning from a friend’s

I cast him a pitying look. This was a man who helped me under a heavy rain without knowing who I am, he surely deserve my help and i was in a position to help him. I gave him my business card and told him to come over to Lagos with a promise of getting a job for him.

party, as I drove towards my gate I saw Femi standing beside the gate.

“When did you arrived?” I asked as I wind down.

“About an hour ago.” He said. “Your gate man told me you’re not around so i have to wait.”

“So sorry.” I drove my car into the compound and took Femi into the house.

Femi was more intelligent than I suspected, I made him the manager of my company with a good salary and an official car. He was really a plus and a blessing to the company, he took the company to another level and brings in many profit.

Few months later i fell in love with Femi, I couldn’t hide my emotions, i made it known to him, and not very long we did our wedding in a big way.

One day I was returning from a business trip, the taxi that took me from the airport dropped me at the front of my gate and i walked into the house. I dropped my bag on the chair and walked into the kitchen and back after drinking a glass of cold water.

I made my way through the staircase heading for my bedroom, as pulled the door open, my eyes widened, I couldn’t believe what I saw, Femi was sleeping with our house girl. “What!”

“Please..” Femi voice trembled.

“How dare you.” I walked close to him and gave him a dirty slap. “You idiot.”

I opened the wardrobe with annoyance and brought out a double barrel gun. “How dare you Femi.”

“Please….don’t.”

Femi said, Stepping backward.

I was disappointed and consumed with so much anger.

I pulled the trigger, Femi went down, blood gushing out of his chest.

Before i could turn to face the house girl, she jumped out of bed and ran out of the room. I fell down on my kneels crying.

Few minutes later, the house girl returned with three police officers and i was arrested.

“Do you regret killing your husband?” One of the journalist asked.

“I regret the day i met him.

I regret every moment i spent with him.” Bola said with tears running down her cheeks.

Few minutes later, Bola was taken away in a black maria.

Naijastories.com

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 33

Romance

Last time I ever saw him He said goodbye ….forever

I

was surprised to see Paul standing outside when I opened the kitchen door this morning. I was still dressed in my pajamas and stifled a yawn as I glanced at the Kitchen clock. Even though it was already eight o’clock, I was still fast asleep and didn’t appreciate being disturbed. I had dropped him off at the Airport the day before which was less than thirty six hours ago so he could catch his flight to where ever it was he claimed he had to travel to for a very important meeting.

I had intentionally ignored him on the drive to the Airport that morning as we had argued over one of the many things we usually argued about, like him travelling less and spending more time with the family. He insisted he had to work and these trips put food on the table and enabled the comfortable life we enjoyed. Despite his anger, he had tried to ease the tension by making small talk as I drove him in tense silence. At the Airport as the boarding for his flight was called he had tried to hug me, I had stiffened and pushed him away gently.

He shook his head, “Baby, the row we had was hours ago, let it go.”

I ignored him, slipping my hands into the pockets of my dress. I was still angry and would not speak to him.

He touched my chin gently,“ I am still angry too my darling but I am willing to let it pass. Two wrongs never make things right.”

At my stubborn silence, he shrugged sighing. “I love you very much and I promise to be home in time tomorrow to celebrate our wedding anniversary.” With that he walked away and still didn’t forget to blow me a kiss before he disappeared into the boarding area of the building. I would have loved to throttle him there and then, I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth at the thought.

I had driven home still angry but amazed at Paul’s maturity and his ability to let go. Paul and I got married four years ago. We had met through mutual friends who thought we would be good for each other and they were right. He was a very tall man, I only came up to a few inches below his shoulder but my temper made up for my small size! Where I blew hot, Paul was a calming wind and where I would chatter on and on, he was quiet.

He had a very simple principle for living, which was, life was too short and since we only had one chance to live, it was best to make the best use of this opportunity. He lived by this principle almost 100% and this got on my nerves most times. He didn’t waste his time on anger or bearing grudges. On those occasions I got annoyed, hit the roof and screamed at him, he just sat quietly watching me with an expressionless face and when I was done, he would let me be and in the evenings when he was sure I had cooled down, he would lie beside me, wrap his strong arms around me and we would talk. We got married six months later.

Today we were blessed with a son we named Abishai and here I was, heavy with our second child. Today was our fourth year anniversary and I was angry that he had to travel yesterday. That was actually what the row we had had that morning had been about. He had patiently explained to me like a child, the reason he had to travel

yesterday and at my nagging and anger, he had promised to be back in time for our anniversary celebration today. How he intended to make an eight hour flight journey back the next day beat me. Maybe he would come home a few days later and try to make it up to me with gifts and sweet talk, like he had done for the three previous ones. We had never spent any anniversary together since we got married and I had taken time to plan this one as I thought this would be the first one we would spend together. I had taken Abishai over to spend the weekend with my parents so Paul and I could have the whole day to ourselves only for him to say he had to travel Why shouldn’t I be mad at him ?.

When I saw him standing at the door this morning, I was surprised, my anger forgotten. He stood there briefcase in hand, well cut suit and a mischievous smirk on his handsome face, I didn’t fail to notice the gift bag in his hand. It was either his flight had been cancelled or he had decided not to fly at all but I had seen him board, so how on earth

“

had he made it back in time for our anniversary?

“I thought I dropped you off at the airport yesterday morning?”

Were the first words that came out of my mouth, my hands were still on the door.

He dropped his brief case and embraced me in a bear hug lifting me easily and walking into the kitchen.

My baby moved uncomfortably.

“Put me down, you are making the baby uncomfortable.” I protested.

“She’ll be fine.” He put me down and pushed the door closed with his left foot.

“What makes you think it’s a girl? By the way where’s your luggage, was your flight cancelled?”

I looked around him. Why had he come through the kitchen door instead of the front door? I hope he wasn’t in some sort of trouble? I wouldn’t put anything past him with all his numerous trips and meetings.

I had to be fair to him, in the years I had known him, he had never given me a reason to suspect him of any dubious act.

He shrugged, strolling into the kitchen, “ I remembered I promised to be back in time to spend our anniversary with you.”

I didn’t miss the smell of smoke in his wake as I stood watching him with my two hands on my belly. “ Can you smell that?” I sniffed the air turning my small nose like a mouse, Paul wasn’t a smoker.

He shook his head , I took that to mean he knew nothing about the source of the smoke. “I stopped over at your parents place to see Abishai.”

I threw him a strange look. “ We only dropped him off the day before yesterday , so why do you have to run over there again this morning?”

He shrugged again, pulling his briefcase towards him as he made himself comfortable on the kitchen high stool. “Just wanted to make sure he was alright and to tell him how much I love him that’s all.”

I knew Paul couldn’t hurt a fly but something just wasn’t right today. He wasn’t supposed to be here now and if his flight had been cancelled, where was his luggage?

He opened his briefcase and handed

I think we should stay in, it would be nice to spend the whole day together. You know, just the two of us, I could cook us something to eat.”

me some documents. I was still standing at the door watching him with uncertainty.

He left brow went up, “ Are you still upset about yesterday?”

I sighed going to stand beside him, “ I am not that evil am I?I am tired of being angry” I took the papers and placed them carefully on the kitchen table without looking at them.

He smiled at me , pulling me closer to him, he placed a large palm on my belly and the baby moved again.. “Our daughter seems like a restless one.”

“Daughter ? You have never being interested in the sex of our baby until now and why is that?”

“I just know it’s a girl and I think we should call her Paula, after her handsome daddy.”

“I thought we both agreed on Bible names for our children?”

“Paul is a Bible name so Paula would be fine.” He smiled.

“If you say so .” I laughed.

Anytime Paul smiled , my heart melted and he could do no wrong in my eyes despite his knack for annoying me. He often claimed I was too highly strung and personally, I believed he derived pleasure from getting on my nerves most of the time.

“So what have you planned for our big day?”

I shrugged, “ I thought we would go somewhere nice have a meal then go anywhere you like.”

“I think we should stay in, it would be nice to spend the whole day together. You know, just the two of us, I could cook us something to eat.”

I put my arms around his broad shoulders, “You Paul cook?

That would be the day.” Paul never cooked.

“I would surprise you.” He winked.

“Okay, I’ll have my bath and come down for breakfast.”

He had taken off his suit and was already folding up his sleeves as I waddled up the stairs to our bedroom. As I undressed, I smelt spices from downstairs and wondered what on earth he was cooking. What had gotten into him today? I prayed silently, thanking the good Lord for the blessing of such a good man.

I opened the tap and immersed myself in the gradually filling tub with warm water, I had the luxury of basking in its scent while my husband made me breakfast, I couldn’t be happier. I closed my eyes.

“Breakfast is ready,” he sang walking into the bathroom about thirty minutes later. He sat on the edge of the tub and taking the sponge from me, he helped me scrub my back and then wash my hair. What on earth was going on?

Was he trying to make up for the previous three anniversaries he had missed? He helped me out of the tub and handing me a towel he grinned, “These are the blessings that come with marriage my Darling, always remember to be grateful you married a wonderful man like me!”

“Rubbish!” I hissed feigning irritation as I dried my body with a towel after which I wrapped it around my body and picked up the bottle of body lotion.

He sat on the edge of the tub.

“Look what I got you.” He handed me the pink gift bag.

Naijastories.com

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 34

Nollywood

Seun Kuti lambasts Nigerians who support corrupt politicians

P

opular Afrobeat singer, Seun Kuti, has lambasted Nigerians who throw their weight behind corrupt politicians.

According to his Facebook posts, Seun Kuti said “any Nigerian that defends any politician being persecuted will suffer for

the rest of his life and the remainder will pass on to their next generation”.

The no nonsense legendary Afrobeat artist had recently took a swipe at two men of God in Nigeria for divorcing their wives.

Seun Kuti

Nollywood actress slams Omotola, Yorubas Marriage is the

I

Funke Adesiyan

n what seems like the defence of one colleague and a jab at another, popular Yoruba actress, Funke Adesiyan has criticised Nollywood fans on social for their bias.

The Yoruba actress was defending her colleague Bimbo Thomas, who was criticised on social media a few weeks ago for wearing a swimsuit at the poolside. According to Adesiyan, the same fans, however, went on to hail actress Omotola Jolade when she stepped out in a crop top at an event.

Adesiyan re-posted Thomas’ controversial picture on Instagram, pointing out that the same abuse her friend received should also have been directed at Omotola, who is a mother of four and should have left such outfits to her daughters.

Adesiyan then went on to call her fellow Yorubas, hypocrites.

She wrote: “I have read different blogs call my babe Bimbo Thomas different names for wearing a swimsuit to a beach! We Nigerians especially Yoruba people are hypocrites. If an individual is going to the pool or beach will she wear ‘agbada’ or what? I am confused, Omotola Jalade, a mother of four, wore a crop top, a style she should have left to her daughter and hypocrites hailed her as stunning. What could be more inappropriate? We will do better by being real. Real time, real people. Bimbo is a beautiful person inside out. Sometimes her level of confidence almost intimidate me (believe me, not many people can intimidate me).”

She finally urged fans to let celebrities be.

“Leave celebrities alone. We are humans too. We deserve every bit of happiness that comes our way. As for me, I make myself happy irrespective of how they make people feel. I am me and very original at it. Bimbo, please rock on and post more amazing pictures from your holiday.”

last thing On my mind - Jesse Jagz

C

hocolate City Music act, Jesse Jags has revealed that marriage is the last thing on his mind.

Jesse who revealed this in an interview recently stated that his kind of woman is one who is deaf and dumb, so that their conversations at home would be less and it would also make him concentrate more on his career.

In his words: “If I tell you my ideal woman you will not believe me. My ideal woman is someone who is deaf and dumb so that I cannot be talking too much or listening to too much conversation.

It will give me time to focus on my music. There is also something I learnt from Seun Kuti about marriage, he said that with development and everything, the major part of marriage is commitment and submission, appearance don’t necessarily matter. To all the women I have this for you, the more you are getting educated and exposed, you must always remember that a man is always a man and a woman is always a woman.

A cat cannot be a dog and a dog can never be a cat. Another quality I am looking out for in a woman is that, my woman should be confident and beautiful. She should be hardworking and able to inspire me. And I am yet to meet the woman but it is not like if I find the person I am ready to get married now. With entertainment, it is very dicey when it comes to marriage stuff and relationship”.

Uti lambasts ungrateful fan

Big Brother Africa (BBA) All Stars winner, actor and model, Uti Nwachukwu, has lambasted a ‘greedy’ fan.

N Uti Nwachukwu

wachukwu spoke on how fans beg celebrities for assistance in the name of paying school fees. His anger was directed at a young man who sought the actor’s assistance for registration fees for an examination.

The BBA winner had offered N20, 000, half of the N40, 000 the fan demanded. But the

entitled young man rejected the offer, insisting on the complete amount.

Enraged, Nwachuckwu shared the encounter on Twitter, calling for an end to fans soliciting funds. According to him, the monies are often not used for the purpose for which they were sourced.

Jesse

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 35

Hollywood One Direction announce fifth album Made in Ryan Reynolds the AM as they release surprise song Infinity catches old

friend trying to sell baby photos

T

he British boy band, who will be taking a break after the release of the record, have also announced a surprise single for fans who pre-order the album.

Announcing the forthcoming release and title with a video message, 1D told fans that they could pre-order the record from 5pm today as well as announcing new track, Infinity.

Described as a ‘gratitude’ single, the song has been written by the team behind smash hit Story of my Life.

The band have also released the artwork for the new record, which is the first to feature just Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson since Zayn Malik’s departure.

The announcement comes as the boys gear up for their Apple Music Festival performance at the Roundhouse tonight.

After a few weeks break in their On The Road Again tour, the boys will be kicking off the UK and EIRE leg later this week.

R

One Direction

Katy Perry and John Mayer ‘back together’

Katy Perry and John Mayer “held hands” at Allison Williams’ wedding.

K

aty Perry and John Mayer “held hands” at Allison Williams’ wedding.

The on/off couple appear to be back together after they were spotted being

affectionate at the ‘Girls’ actress’ nuptials in Saratoga, Wyoming, recently.

A source told PEOPLE.com the singers are “definitely back together”, adding:

“John and Katy looked happy. They held hands and sat next to each other during the wedding ceremony.”

John and Katy sensationally split up twice earlier this year, first calling it quits in March 2015 - after a brief reunion in January - and again in July.

But it seems their latest split was as equally short-lived as their previous one as they were said to be spending time together again in August.

A source said at the time: “They’re spending a lot of time at his house talking over their feelings and trying to see if they can make it work.”

John and Katy, who were spotted on a double date with Allison and her new husband Ricky Van Veen in January, were among a host of stars who attended the actress’ wedding.

‘Gravity’ crooner John reportedly serenaded the pair at the private ceremony, while Oscar winner Tom Hanks officiated the wedding.

Other guests included Allison’s father Brian Williams, who gave her away, her ‘Girls’ co-stars Lena Dunham, Jemima Kirke and Zosia Mamet, Seth Meyers and Bruce Springsteen.

yan Reynolds and Blake Lively welcomed their baby daughter James last December but they’ve been extremely private, not sharing any pics since the birth. So it makes a recent incident involving one of Ryan’s oldest friends all the more shocking.

“A guy that I’d known for my whole life, one of my closest friends growing up, he had been shopping pictures of my baby around,” the Green Lantern actor told GQ magazine. “I kind of got in front of it, which is good. But it was a slightly dark period. A bad couple of weeks.

“It was like a death,” he continued. “It was like one of those devastating things to find out... I don’t think he thought he would ever be caught. But it’s a pretty narrow group of people that I would send photos like that to. They’re just, like, my closest family and my closest friends: ‘Here’s us in the delivery room!’ It was so shocking.

There isn’t really a conversation to have.

It’s just, ‘Oh, well, now I’m never going to see you or talk to you again, unfortunately.’

That’s kind of how it worked out.”

Ryan Reynolds

BBC hoping to rival ‘Game of Thrones’ with £2m episode Troy: ‘Fall of a City’ series

W

hen George Osbourne said he thought Game of Thrones was “just brilliantly written and acted” and that the BBC need to accommodate for the “box-set” generation, the corporation, it seems, really took it to heart.

Upcoming series Troy: ‘Fall of a City’, an epic re-telling of the 10 year siege of the Trojan War, is just part of their plan to get on the Chancellor’s good side. Set to rival the HBO fantasy series, Troy has been described as a “bold and visceral drama” unlike anything we’ve seen before on BBC1.

‘Intimate and epic, gripping and exhilarating, rich with psychological intrigue and human drama, we will feel the characters’ passions, pain and loss,’ said BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore.

According to reports, the series has a budget of £2 million an episode, placing it among the most expensive shows the corporation has ever produced.

Along with their Troy announcement, the BBC confirmed the casting for the

Russell T Davies adaption of Midsummer Nights Dream, with Maxine Peake as Titania, Matt Lucas as Bottom and Elaine Paige as Mistress Quince.

Addressing criticisms that the BBC’s programming was following the trends of other channels from culture secretary John Wittingdale, Moore said: I” want to make three promises. BBC1 will be defined in the coming years by its commitment to risk-taking. I will guarantee investment in innovation. And I will challenge every new commission to break the mould.”

Associate director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, David Farr, will be writing the Troy series which could span across eight or more episodes.

Also announced was an upcoming sitcom season and a six-part adaption of The Cormoran Strike Mysteries, an adaption of JK Rowling’s detective novels written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Game of Thrones’

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 36

Celebrity Gists Orezi releases video for ‘Baby Abeg’

Usher, Miguel secretly marry, jet off to Cuba for honeymoon

M

usic star, Orezi, is out with a brand new video for his hit single, ‘Baby Abeg’ off his LP ‘The Ghen Ghen Album’.

The video was shot in Johannesburg, South Africa and Orezi acts the part of a Zulu royal prince who majestically woos his woman.

R

&B singer, Usher Raymond, and his manager, Grace Miguel secretly wed prior to going off to Cuba for their honeymoon over over two weeks ago.

According to US weekly, the duo planned on marrying before 100 guests in Atlanta but decided to elope instead.

Following their secret wedding, the newlyweds celebrated their honeymoon in Havana, Cuba.

In one Instagram photo posted by Miguel, the singer and coach of The Voice’s new gold wedding band was on clear display.

Usher and Grace had been dating since 2009 and in January this year he proposed to her.

Miguel is also Usher’s Manager.

JJC features Kate Henshaw in ‘See Us Now’

S

inger JJC released a new video for a track from his recently released album, Skillz. The song, See Us Now, features Nollywood actress, Kate Henshaw.

The song, produced by

Puffy Tee, is about the past and a future projection of what we want for our great nation, Nigeria.

The video was directed by Director Q.

‘Maze Runner 2’ edges out Depp’s ‘Black Mass’ to take top spot “

M

aze Runner: The Scorch Trials” has the early edge on Johnny Depp’s “Black Mass” at the U.S. box office as the science-fiction sequel heads for a solid opening weekend around $31 million.

“Black Mass,” Depp’s chilling portrayal of gangster Whitey Bulger, would likely wind up the weekend with around $25 million to $27 million.

Fox’s “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” showed plenty of heat on its opening day with a total of $11 million at 3,791 sites, while Warner Bros.’ “Black Mass” grossed $8.8 million at 3,188 locations.

Universal’s “Everest” began its box office climb on Friday

with a respectable $2.3 million at 545 premium large-format locations, which should give the mountaineering epic around $7.1 million for the weekend as the studio attempts to build buzz for a wide release next weekend. The film, a coproduction with Cross Creek and Walden Media, has also launched internationally with a $26.5 million weekend in 36 markets.

Should Saturday projections hold, “The Scorch Trials” would finish the weekend slightly below “The Maze Runner,” which debuted to $32.5 million on the same weekend last year. The sequel, with a story picking up at the point where “The Maze Runner” ended, stars Dylan O’Brien, Thomas

Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario and Patricia Clarkson.

“Paramount’s launch of the faith-based thriller “Captive,” starring David Oyelowo and Kate Mara, appeared to be showing little traction with $647,000 at 808 theaters on Friday. It will wind up the weekend short of $2 million.

Lionsgate saw an impressive platform launch for “Sicario” with $133,810 at six locations.

The thriller, starring Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro, is expected to finish the weekend with a stellar $300,000-plus.

“Sicario” will expand to approximately 40 locations today before opening wide on October 2.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 37

Entertainment

Davido releases new single ‘Dodo’ Mariah Carey,

S

everal Nigerian singers had slated September for the release of their albums, including omo baba olowo, Davido.

However, fans who had been waiting for Davido’s Baddest album have been left

disappointed. In place of a full album, the Sekelewu singer released a single.

The HKN artist announced the release of his latest single Dodo via Instagram. The single was released late on Monday, September 21.

billionaire boyfriend make red carpet debut

P

op star, Mariah Carey, and her billionaire Aussie boyfriend, James Packer, have made their red carpet debut as a couple.

While attending the New York City premiere of The Intern, the pair posed for photos while supporting the Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro film.

For those not up to date with Carey’s new romance, the singer appears to be quite smitten with her main beau.

Whether travelling to Ibiza or staying close to home in Malibu, the Hollywood pair are enjoying every moment together.

“They get along amazingly and their communication is always fluid and easy,” a source shared with E! News. “James is very into Mariah, though, and he wants to spoil her and her children every minute he can. He feels she only deserves the best.

“James has been speaking to his family and friends back in Australia a lot about Mariah. This is just the beginning of their relationship and they are both excited about what possibly can be ahead for them in the future.”

‘Kuchi kuchi’, crooner is engaged

S

inger of the popular song, ‘Kuchi Kuchi’, Jodie, said ‘yes’ to her boyfriend, who asked her to marry him.

Jodie announced this to her teeming fans, who have since been sending congratulatory messages to her.

The singer had maintained a scandal-free profile in the entertainment industry since she made her debut.

Some months ago, she advised her female fans not to lose their ‘treasure’ to any man until they are sure he is the right person.

Uzo Aduba to sing at Lea DeLaria’s wedding

A

ctress Lea DeLaria said her Emmy-winning Orange Is the New Blackco-star, Uzo Aduba, would sing at her and wife-to-be Chelsea Fairless’ wedding.

“Uzo and I have known each other for years. We’ve done a couple of musicals together…We love each other. Chelsea and I had a conversation about who we really want to sing at our wedding and we both went, ‘Uzo.’ I asked and she said of course, she’d be honored.”

Aduba will perform the Oscar-nominated ballad, “I’m Calling you”, from the 1987 film, Baghdad Café.

“It is one of my favourite songs,” DeLaria said.

DeLaria announced their engagement in February during the American Songbook series at Lincoln Center in NYC. “We met through Orange. Her dear friend played Leanne on the show. She introduced us and we’ve been together ever since. It’s been two and a half years. I proposed to her. Everyone saw how emotional I was at the SAG awards. I was so filled with love. I turned to her at the Netflix party that night and asked her to marry me. We announced it to all of our friends there.”

She also revealed that fellow funny lady, Sandra Bernhardt, will officiate and Jesse Tyler Ferguson will be her best man.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 38

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OUR PEOPLE

OUR VISION

Chairman Malam Wada Maida, Oon, Fnge Director/Editor-in-Chief Rufa’i Ibrahim Editor, Daily Hameed M. Bello

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ISSUES Burkina Faso: The coup and Peoples’ Power in West Africa

By Jibrin Ibrahim

O

ne of the most important democratic developments in West Africa has been the near impossibility of sustaining a coup in the region over the past decade. When a coup was announced in Burkina Faso last Thursday, many of the headlines in Francophone newspapers described the act as the stupid coup. It was stupid because it was carried out by a small praetorian presidential guard, (Presidential Security Regiment) of 1300 men and not the army, which had been demanding for the dissolution of the guard in any case. They army hates the guard because they are better equipped and paid than the regular army, but this guard, established by Blaise Compaore to protect him from his army, has presence only in the capital and could not deploy nationally.

It was stupid because as we saw with the case in Cote d’Iviore, the supply of currency could be switched to kill any Francophone regime that misbehaved.

It was a stupid coup because it took place just three weeks away from general elections that would have concluded the transitional process that followed the removal of Blaise Compaore who had been the dictator that reigned supreme in the country for 27 years. It was a stupid coup because its leader, General Gilbert Diendere carried out the coup on the day forensic evidence on Thomas Sankara’s remains were to be released, the first step in the investigation of his assassins and, of course, the coup leader, Diendere is the main suspect. If ever there was a coup against democracy, peace and the rule of law, it is that of Diendere.

Military high commands in African armed forces have imbibed republican ethos and are not willing to participate in coup d’états. The only recent coup in West Africa that involved the military high command was that of Mohammed Abdel Aziz who seized power in Mauritania in 2008 and kept the power after organising elections. When Dadis Camara tried it

WRITE TO US

Peoples Daily Weekend welcomes your letters, opinion articles, text messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters - 150 words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your name and a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be addressed to: The Editor, Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja.

Email: opinion@peoplesdailyng.com adverts@peoplesdailyng.com pictures@peoplesdailyng.com contact@peoplesdailyng.com in Guinea in the same year, he was shot and carried out of the country. It was an individual act of stupidity. In Niger, Tandja Mamadou as president carried out a coup d’état after his mandate expired and he refused to organise elections for the next president. The military high command removed him from power, organised elections and went back to the barracks.

The coups in Mali and Guinea Bissau in 2012 were not sustainable and ECOWAS was able to convince the coup leaders to step down. There is a strong consensus in the region that the era of military rule is over and the ballot box, not bullets is the route to power.

That was the reason that led to immediate intervention within the country and outside to stop the stupid coup in Burkina Faso. Mass demonstrations were organised all over the country and the international community mobilised to put a stop to the coup. Indeed what is painful about the coup in Burkina Faso was the bravery and determination of the Burkinabé people to kick out Blaise Compaoré from power at serious risks to their own lives. Over one million people marched on the same soldiers organising the coup today and forced them to flee from the might of people’s power in spite of their

sophisticated arms. The choice they were given was to massacre all the people or allow for a transition. It was in that context that their boss fled the country and the regime collapsed.

Col. Isaac Zida, a strong man of Compaore’s presidential guard and the transitional Prime Minister took the initiative to ensure that the transition was relatively peaceful. To carry the presidential guard along, the transitional president, Mr. Karfondo appointed Zida as prime minister. The guard however had been bitter about the appointment and on three occasions before the coup, had mutinied and demanded for his removal. They are bitter that he did not allow them massacre the people. Clearly, many of them were not aware that the responsibility to protect means you cannot massacre and get away with it in today’s political environment.

In February 2015, the transition almost collapsed when the praetorian presidential guard burst into a cabinet meeting demanding that Colonel Zida be removed from power for not insisting that the privileges of the guard be maintained and protected. Their key demand is that plans to disband and incorporate them into the national army must be abandoned. The plan was actually pushed forward with the

decision that the president emanating from the October 11th election should take the responsibility of deciding what to do with these spoilt, over pampared soldiers with a lot of arms.

According to the coup leader, the marginalisation of politicians from the electoral process was the reason for their intervention. He was referring to the decision by the transitional authorities that former members of the Compaoré regime and political parties who supported the former president’s attempt at tenure elongation were prevented from contesting in the elections. They went to the regional ECOWAS Court of Justice, which ruled that it was unacceptable to ban a whole group. The transitional authorities then ruled that not everyone from the said parties would be banned but only those who played prominent roles.

Following intervention by ECOWAS, the African Union and the United Nations, a delegation led by Presidents Macky Sall of Senegal and Boni Yayi of Benin met with stakeholders over the weekend and were about to announce the end of the coup, return of the transitional government and the disbanding of the presidential guard yesterday (Sunday) morning when a group of thugs, apparently sponsored by the putschists, attacked stakeholders and the diplomatic corps at the Laico Hotel. Following rumours that the thugs had kidnapped the American and French ambassadors, there was a lot of agitation before the ambassadors and President Sall were finally able to leave the hotel.

As of the time of writing this column, the press conference had still not taken place. Whatever is announced however, the coup cannot hold as the civil society and trade unions all over Burkina Faso are fully mobilised and demonstrations have continued in spite of the killing of about a dozen people by the putschists. The era of the coup d’état is over in Africa. We must continue to consolidate and deepen our democracy.

Culled from Premium Times

PAGE 39

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Opinion PMB, TSA and wobbling economy

By Asma’u Hassan

T

he ongoing controversy stirred by the Single Treasury Account (TSA) policy recently introduced by the Federal government may take a long time to abate.

This apprehension stems from the fact that the policy concerns and touches the heart of the economy as represented by the banking sector.

There is no doubt that the banking sector of the Nigerian economy is hard hit by this policy.

Since its inauguration on May 29, 2015, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration seems to have a penchant for churning out draconian policies that are symptomatic of the military era which rules by decree and regimental fiat rather than the rule of law enshrined in a democratic setting. The TSA policy, which was introduced by a circular issued by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mr Danladi Kifasi, on August 7, 2015, directed that all receipts due to the Federal Government or any of her agencies are to be paid into the Federal Sub-Treasury account maintained in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The implementation of the TSA, according to the circular, is expected to aid transparency and facilitate compliance with Sections 80 and 162 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

TSA is a unified structure of bank accounts enabling consolidation and optimal utilization of government’s cash re- sources. It is a bank account or a set of linked bank accounts through which government transacts all its receipts and payments and gets consolidated view of its cash position at any given time.

The president’s directive is expected to end the previous public accounting situation of several fragmented accounts for government revenues, incomes and receipts, which in the recent past has meant the loss or leakages of legitimate income meant for the federation account.

According to experts, TSA is to concentrate all government funds in one account for its proper management. In other words, it is an instrument put in place to control government

finance resources and expenditures. It ensures complete, real time information on government cash resources and improves operational and appropriations control. The measure, according to the government, is to ensure transparency and accountability in the operations of public accounts.

Also affected by the directive are foreign missions, teaching hospitals, medical centres, federal tertiary institutions. Agencies, like the CBN, Security and Exchange Commission, Corporate Affairs Commission, Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigerian Communications Commission and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria are also captured in the directive.

Others include the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigerian Customs Service, and the Department of Petroleum Resources.

The president’s directive was in consonance with Section 80 of the 1999 Constitution.

Section 80 (1) of the constitution reads, “All revenues or other moneys raised or received by the Federation (not being revenues or other moneys payable under this Constitution or any Act of the National Assembly into any other public fund of the Federation established for a specific purpose) shall be paid into and form one Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.”

But rather than listen to the cry of the people for the government to review the policy considering its negative consequences on the nation’s economy, especially the banking sector, President Buhari applied the big stick by setting a deadline of September 15, 2015 for all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government to comply with the instructions on the TSA) or face sanctions.

According to the Presidency, “by that deadline, all federal government revenues must go into the Central Bank Treasury Single Account (TSA), except otherwise expressly approved.” Kifasi urged the MDAs to ensure strict compliance with the deadline to avoid

sanctions.

“In this regard, His Excellency, Mr. President has directed that all MDAs are to comply with the instructions on the Treasury Single Account (TSA) unfailingly by Tuesday, September 15, 2015. Heads of MDAs and other arms of Government are enjoined to give this Circular the widest circulation and ensure strict compliance to avoid sanctions,” Mr. Kifasi wrote.

The TSA policy is already taking its toll on the nation’s economy. The banking system is trembling and faces an inevitable collapse.

There are fears that one of the new generation banks may already be teetering on the brink of distress. Fifty-five per cent of the bank’s deposit is from the public sector. Last year the bank recorded N22 billion as gross profit. Seventy per cent of the profit was realised from treasury bills and other debt instrument of the federal government.

The pain of TSA in the banking system is excruciating. TSA would rock the banking system because government is striking at a time when Nigeria’s oil revenue has dwindled precipitously. The immediate impact of TSA on the economy has been largely negative. Interbank lending rates shot up by 70 per cent the week the policy was announced. The mopping up of huge liquidity in the banking system could not even strengthen the naira. The exchange rate of the naira in the parallel market jumped from N213 to N223 to the dollar. Some of the Bureau de change (BDC) operators could not mobilise the naira component to pick up their dollar allocations. The scarcity of naira triggered a rather strange scarcity of dollars, just the way excess naira in the system would do. Nigeria’s economy is something of an enigma.

As expected, TSA has escalated lending rates. There are fears that prime lending might be cruising perilously above 21 per cent.

Endangered species like small and medium enterprises (SMEs) now risk being priced out of the money market. The cost of funds for the perceived high risk ventures might surge above 35 per cent.

TSA would almost certainly worsen the bear

runs in the capital market. Banks are poised to respond to the liquidity squeeze with a hike in deposit rates that would make returns on investment in equity even more repulsive.

Investors in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) would be tempted to sell their shares and invest in the money market, thus worsening the bear runs in the capital market.

With this backlash on the economy it is difficult for Nigerians to accept government’s explanation that the introduction of the TSA is not a punitive measure targeted at any government establishment. Is this the change Nigerians voted for? Certainly not.

Hassan wrote in from Abuja

“ Last year the

bank recorded N22 billion as gross profit.

Seventy per cent of the profit was realised from treasury bills and other debt instrument of the federal government.

Saraki: To your tents, O Israel

By Joe Onwukeme

T

he biblical quote, “To your tents, O Israel”, is the latest dissonant hit tune that has found its melodious cymbals in our polity. Even with its reverberating beats, many are still not comfortable.

Those that thought jumping ship in the middle of the sea would berth them to safety have found themselves in a pity party.

Change is on the throne and its hurricane that blew out the past permissive, prodigal and profligate administration has resonated, but this time to those with supposedly progressive credentials.

He who comes to equity must come with clean hands. Like judgment day, they have been appearing before equity, but their hands have turned to an odoriferous bag of garbage.

Even the politically mischief makers who in the past accused the present administration of witch-hunting and head-hunting the past permissive administration are losing their voices with the present realities.

Nobody is interested in the ethnic colouration or party affiliation of those in the eyes of the present storm. Rather, some of us are comfortable now that the relevant authorities are going after politicians of northern extraction, who were fingered in corruption cases. When

manhunt of corrupt politicians from other regions will start, expressions of frustrations will take over our polity.

Regardless of the vital roles that each member of the governing party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) played during the formation and electioneering period, a bird that chooses to perch on the rope should get ready to dance with the rope.

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has found himself dancing on the rope he perched on since the beginning of this administration and one of his dance that gained local currency was the controversial manner he emerged as the Senate president.

Last week’s order of his arrest for failing to honour an invitation to appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal

“

(CCT) over false declaration of his assets was the final limit to his capacity.

There is a proverb that says ‘A hunter who has one arrow does not shoot with careless aim.’

When the new sheriff was reiterating at every turn that he would go after corrupt politicians including those in the governing party, we all thought it was the usual crafted rhetoric of politicians.

Nigerians are now understanding the sheriff’s record of integrity, discipline and perceived sincerity of purpose.

Now that the hammer has fallen on Senator Bukola Saraki, will justice be served? To many analysts, there is no getting around to this difficult conundrum. He could be worse than what he is being accused of. Justice must be served without fear or favour.

Will the clarion call be widespread?

There is another African proverb that says ‘All lizards lie prostrate, you can’t tell the one that has stomach ache.’ Justice in the past could see, that was when stealing was not corruption. Justice has gone back to its natural state, blind.

It is Senator Saraki’s turn and he has been answering his father’s name alone.

While we await to see those who are already on their way to the special pit of universal opprobrium. I maintain the biblical aphorism that fissiparously led Israel into two divisions, “To your tents, O Israel”.

Onwukeme posted this piece on Abusidiqu.com

Change is on the throne and its hurricane that blew out the past permissive, prodigal and profligate administration has resonated, but this time to those with supposedly progressive credentials.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 40

Comment

Renewable energy, an option to solving climate crisis

By Oladipupo Ajiroba

C

limate change is unarguably the biggest environmental issue of our time. Broad scientific agreement now exists that continued accumulation of heat-trapping “greenhouse” gases in the atmosphere is contributing to changes in the global climate.

Climate change is global in its causes, but its consequences are far more reaching in developing countries particularly Nigeria.

Despite the low contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, Sub-Saharan Africa’s vulnerability to the effect of climate change is more pronounced than most of the other regions of the world. It is unarguably vulnerable to the vagaries of the climate, as the scope of the impacts of climate variability over the last three or four decades has shown. This was corroborated also by a research conducted on “The Cost of Adaptation to Climate Change in Africa” funded by the African Development Bank. It concluded that “Africa is arguably the most vulnerable region in the world to the impacts of climate change. The majority of both bottom up and top down (‘integrated assessment’) studies suggested that damages from climate change, relative to population and GDP, will be higher in Africa than in any other region in the world.

Climate change no doubt portends serious challenges for Nigeria to achieve its development targets. This is more complicated given that Nigeria’s status as a fossil-fuel dependent country has a large climate sensitive economy.

Developing an appropriate climate change response strategy that focuses both on mitigation and adaptation becomes unavoidable.

By Uddin Ifeanyi

W

e make so much about the usefulness of this tool, we who regularly angle for either their introduction, or their strengthening. If the central narrative of this perspective is to be believed, markets support society’s allocative processes, by ensuring an objective basis for the rationing of scarce items.

Accordingly, suppliers of goods and services meet would-be buyers in markets, where the “costs” of producing these items often disappear. What remains of the often-considerable efforts expended by the supply in bringing these goods or services to the markets, is what buyers are willing to pay for them. Ideally, those economic actors who need these goods and services the most (and presumably are better able to deploy them more effectively/ efficiently) pay top naira for them.

For a number of reasons, these idealised account of the markets’ functioning glosses over many imperfections in the system. True.

Arguably, those who pay top dollars for goods and services are those who can afford them, not necessarily those who know how best to consume them. Unfortunately,

As greenhouse gases (GHGs) have been proven to be the major drivers of climate change, it becomes imperative that Nigeria considers appropriate climate mitigation actions even as it does similar thing to eases its adaptation. According to a Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation authored by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it concludes that GHG emissions associated with the provision of energy services are a major cause of climate change.

National inventories to estimate the annual emissions of GHG have been undertaken in Nigeria. An emissions profile by sector indicates that carbon dioxide emissions have been dominated by the energy sector (for which gas-flaring, electricity generation and transport sectors constitute the most significant sources).

A recent Harvard report highlights that phasing out fossil fuels and replacing them with renewable energy could save millions of dollars in health costs.

The report was published in the journal Nature Climate Change, looked at regional health costs

“

from burning fossil fuels, and the potential savings that could be made through implementing renewable energy and efficiency projects. The research looked at different energy efficiency and renewable energy installations currently in operation at six different locations in the US. Among the findings were that wind farms alone, built near Cincinnati and Chicago produced $210 million in annual health benefits. Similarly, energy efficiency projects implemented in Cincinnati produced over $200 million in benefits annually. For lead author, Jonathan Buonocore, “This study demonstrates that energy efficiency and renewable energy can have substantial benefits to both the climate and to public health, and that these results could be a big player in a full benefit-cost analysis of these projects.”

In August, Islamic leaders followed Uganda’s lead by issuing a Islamic declaration on Climate Change, calling on Muslims around the world to work towards phasing out greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and a 100% renewable energy strategy. This declaration was endorsed by the Grand Mufti’s of

Lebanon and Uganda, along with prominent Islamic scholars and teachers from 20 countries, at a symposium in Istanbul in August.

Since accelerated climatic changes are expected to lead to potentially large impacts across Africa, including Nigeria, in the future.

Nigeria, as a matter of urgency needs, to step up its efforts to mitigate climate change. One of the great options available for climate change mitigation is switching to renewable forms of energy.

There are multiple means for lowering GHG emissions from the energy system, while still providing desired energy services.

Renewable energy, in the form of energy produced from solar, wind, sustainable managed hydro, geothermal and biomass resources, offers the potential to significantly displace the need for polluting fuels.

There exists huge opportunities and benefits in renewable energy that Nigeria as a country is yet to tap from. Aside from being an effective means to address climate change mitigation, it will also address sustainable and equitable economic development, energy access, secure energy supply and local

Nigeria can achieve a lot through switching its energy source to renewable energy. Apart from greatly reducing the impact of climate change, it brings job, investment income and will put Nigeria in the competitive edge.

environmental and health impacts.

Renewable energy penetration in Nigeria is still very low, the only source of renewable energy in the country is hydro-power and biomass; wind and solar energy have only been deployed in minuscule amount. Solar energy in Nigeria is majorly used in urban areas for street lighting, while in rural areas it is used for irrigation project and water pumping.

However, with wide developmental deficits, Nigeria needs to focus on achieving a high growth, resilient socio-economic system with low carbon output.

Increasing and embracing the use of renewable energy will assist the country to meet some of its development needs. Renewable energy provides an opportunity for Nigeria to generate adequate energy from a mix of sources for rapid socio-economic development without significantly increasing the country’s GHG emissions. The huge opportunities in embracing renewable energy, however, must come with attendant reform of its energy sector. Incentives to encourage investors must be provided and as well as a policy framework to encourage the deployment of renewable energy technology must be put in place.

With the great challenge of climate change and other developmental challenges, Nigeria can achieve a lot through switching its energy source to renewable energy. Apart from greatly reducing the impact of climate change, it brings job, investment income and will put Nigeria in the competitive edge.

Oladipupo, a Sustainable Development Expert, posted this article on Abusidiqu.com

Why markets? some times, this same cohort has had questionable access to the means with which they now bargain forcefully in the market.

Invariably, then, the charge against the market is not only that certain segments of society (the now proverbial “poor and vulnerable”) regularly return from negotiations in the market empty-handed. It is also that the basis for their continued failure as participants in such societies is an ethically flawed resource access asymmetry.

These failures of the market has over the years provided the intellectual context/nutritive medium for all strains of socialist/communist, national capitalist, autarchic, etc. economic advocacies.

Anti-market, or post-market (depending on how complicated the arguments behind these alternate frameworks are) at essence, the point of all these systems is the striving to ensure a more equitable distribution of scarce domestic resources.

Unfailingly, however, each

of these systems installs its own version of the “Presidium of the Supreme Soviets” — a cabal of supremely good and omniscient persons working in the interest of all. This combine of the great and the good fix how much of each good or service society must produce, the prices at which these may be sold, and how much of each good/service different cadres of society may legitimately consume without been charged for some economic crimes.

Straight away, in these examples, we confront restraints on the exercise of each individual’s freedom to choose. To choose not just the goods and services they consume, but also under what economic system they prefer to be governed. The much larger problem, though, is that the process by which a society cedes its powers of decision-making to a small college of the wise and prudent, presumes that in all societies the people will always find a sufficiently large number of its nationals who are prepared

always to act above self, and in the interest of the collective.

Unfortunately, most humans act in their own self-interest. And without the freedom to choose, up to and including how they are governed, the danger of a college of wise men disintegrating over time into one of covetous men is a real and present one. What to do about this?

This is the point at which it helps to paraphrase Sir Winston Churchill and assert that without question, the “free market is the worst form of economic management, except for all the others”! This point needs to be bruited about, from the rooftops if necessary, especially at this point in our national life, when the preferred reaction to our straitened economic circumstances seems to be a retreat from the market.

Once we allow this argument about the markets’ imperfection and the need to protect a weak economy from such failings to mean that one or two persons now take key resource allocation

decisions, then we run the risk that these folk may eventually prefer to privatise these scarce resources.

We also are in danger, once embarked on this path, of failing to build up those institutions without which we all are agreed that we cannot run a decent country.

Put thus, the challenge before the Buhari administration is to strengthen those domestic institutions that disaggregate the making of choice to the smallest constituent unit of the state as possible, and to strengthen the ease with which individual Nigerians may make their choices.

This is as much about reinforcing our democratic practices, as it is about improving the efficacy with which domestic markets function.

It is in the end a question of how well we may strengthen the public sector — not as a provider of goods and services, but — as a regulator that constantly smooths out the wrinkles in the workings of the markets.

Culled from Premium Times

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

NESO to partner FG in fight against insurgency I pray to GOD in havean as a day is rise,neso will rise all over the world and almighty GOD will touch the heart of our president,i belive that october 1st wil be a day of joyful and merciful day for neso…

By the grace of God, CCG SANI ALIU), will be empowered with knowledge and strength to drive neso to promised land. Amen Oshinuga Odunayo Micheal michealoshinuga@gmail.com

PAGE 41

that Saraki chose to go against his party, align with PDP in order to become Senate President.

The author wants to know where was CCB when Saraki contested for Governor twice. Has he forgotten that Saraki was a PDP Governor, a party that from revelations so far does not respect rule of law?

this bandit I doubt much of what an untrained (military wise)OPC could do. Talking of security, this is another possible torn in the flesh of Nigeria security if nothing is done to nip them in the bud. The Boko Haram started this way not too long ago to be what they are today. News of these bandits in the name of cattle rustlers are coming up daily in different part of the country and they seems to be getting away with their crimes. The country need to find who is sponsoring this hire guns for the cattle dealers and bring them to book.

Abdullah musa kigongabas@gmail.com

Omooba A omifunfun66@yahoo.com

OPC begins manhunt for Falae’s kid- Defection: Youths Hajia Aisha Buhari boo ex-Edo depu- havoc in Kaduna nappers ty gov over SURE-P OPC you must not settle for curWhen will Nigeria as a whole esfunds rent release of this old-man. You

cape from all these disastrous event. must bring this criminal to justice.

Imasuen is a shameless politiOPC you gato to expose this crimiAbel ES cian. He always want to reap where nals at all cost. You got my blessing. abelcrib@ymail.com he did not sow.APC must not trust him.

Joshua Ade Corruption chargaderibgbe48@yahoo.com Haruna es: Prove your innoomozokpiageorge.IG@gmail.

I am not trying to be pessimiscence, Presidency com tic but isn’t too late for searching tells Saraki Ondo State after so many days that Move Plateau JTF the Chief was kidnapped? I don’t If the Senate President is inocent know how organized and trained headquarters to of dis allegation why cant he go to in paramilitary OPC is but their acBarkin Ladi, urges cct & perfectly defend himself? tions or inactions after the kidnapping seems to be afterthought. If the Middle Belt group Abu Abdullah Nigerian Police Force are sometime shehumuhammadu06@gmail. unwilling and incapable of tracking Please notes that Middle Belt Forum is not the same as Association com of Middle Belt Ethnic Nationalities.

I’m in support of saraki,but Senate president you have to appear b4 ASOMBENx the court of law so that you can firm mbnations@yahoo.com your honesty. Up Abubakar Saraki, Nigeria.

Mr. Saraki should not be dodging this matter, he should not be running from one court to the other. This is the tactics corrupt people and judges employ to evade justice. if the cct is a competent jurisdiction, then he should go and plead his case there. We are all watching our so called senate present.

George georgekmaduka1@gmail.com

Aisha Buhari’s women health initiative project launched in Yola On behalf of Orange medical diagnostix Portharcourt , we volunteer to be part of this wonderful project by offering our facilities for free breast and cervical screening for people in south south geopolitical zone.

Wonderful Project. orangeph@yahoo.com

JIBWIS unveils satellite radio, Bashir Shitu television stations in Bashirshitu@yahoo.com Abuja Saraki’s Albatross: Please kindly assist me on the The need to sheath frequency JIBWIS Radio operates. animosity Muhammad shehu mshehu1996@gmail.com

Chief Falae

Flash flood wreaks

What the writer is saying is that let sleeping dogs lie.

People who support Saraki in the name of political stability forget Senate President Saraki

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 42

Tribute

Quintessential Galadima of Kano Contd from Pg 16

unrestrained access to him but certainly not when it is against his doctor’s advice.

The first statement he made was “How is Galadima?”He asked and I responded “He is fine daddy”. I then handed over the gift of Dambu and as I started explaining what it was, I was surprised that it was not new to Chief Clark. As usual, I called Galadima and handed the phone to Chief Clark. Chief Clark has a very interesting characteristic. He is the first to show appreciation for what you did for him as well as being the first to also apologize to you if he believes he had offended you.

“Thank you very much Ranka ya da de.

I have received your wonderful gift from my son. I am on bed rest now but would inform you through Gamawa my son if we can see tomorrow after my doctor’s routine visit”. I left the Chief after offering my prayer and wish for his recovery and went straight to Galadima’s residence where I stayed till 11:51pm.

The next day, I went to visit Galadima In company of my long time friend Alhaji Idris Loko who is the traditional title holder of Marafan Loko in Nasarawa State.

Through my contact, I was made to understand that Chief Clark was still resting. I informed Galadima who prayed for him and directed I should put a message across to him anytime Chief was strong enough for them to meet. He said since he had an appointment for visa interview at the Swedish Embassy in the second week of Oct 2014, he would most likely meet with Chief Clark then. Unfortunately, the appointment was never met. And will never be met due to the fact that the cruel hand of death struck Galadima. Sadly, that was his last day on earth.

Fate could be very cruel. On the day he passed on, I was with him. After our Zuhur prayers in his sitting room at his Maitama residence, which he was the Mu’azin, followed by his rather long Zikir after each sallat, he asked his secretary to put a call to his personal physician, Dr.J.A. Osuide. I heard Galadima trying his best to give direction of his residence to the doctor. I then volunteered to assist in that aspect and if possible to pick the doctor and bring him to Galadima. After noting the doctors address somewhere in Asokoro Abuja, I promised to bring him to see Galadima at the appointed time of 8:00pm.

Dr. Osuide and I arrived at exactly 8:pm and after the Isha prayers we met Galadima in company of his brother and long time friend , Ambassador Sanusi. I left the doctor, Ambassador Sanusi with Galadima. Shortly after, Amb. Sanusi took his leave and at about 10mins later, Dr. Osuide came out and I offered to take him back to his Asokoro residence. After dropping the doctor, I came back to Galadima who was surrounded by aides and people who needed his assistance. On seeing me, Galadima asked his secretary to call the person he promised to introduce me to, but unfortunately that person’s number was switched off. He therefore directed his secretary to write an introductory letter. Apparently, that letter was the last that Galadima signed before his death.

With a joyful heart, I collected the letter

The late Hashim muttering my appreciation and thanks. At 11:51pm, I advised myself to allow Galadima have a deserved rest since he was to go back early to Kano the following day. All I needed to do was to come back early the next day and say my goodbye. How wrong I was! Alas, that was the last time I will ever see him alive again.

As I was waiting for the Good moment to inform him that I wanted to leave, I heard him saying “Amantu Bi Rabbil Qaba” which means “I believe in the God of Qaba”.That was the last Arabic sentence I heard from him before saying good night to me and my friend, Alh. Idris Loko.

Unknown to me that night was pregnant with a bad day for me and millions of others throughout the world. I usually don’t put on my phones until Ten o’clock in the morning except in exceptional cases, a habit that almost all my callers including of course my lovely wife are aware of. But that morning was one of those exceptions I slept around one o’clock in the morning hoping to wake up by 2:30am or 3:00am to perform my mandatory Tahajjud. I couldn’t. I woke up, but I didn’t know what

“

the time was. That curiosity was what made me to put on my handset so that I can have the idea of what the time was. It was few minutes after five o’clock. Without switching my phone, off I went to the bathroom to perform my ablution. When my phone rang I was very surprised. Who could this be?. It was Majidadin Galadima. “Hello Gamawa, please go and bring Galadima’s Doctor, we don’t understand what is wrong and non of us can locate his place”, he said.

I hit the road after my prayers only to meet the doctor waiting for me at his clinic’s gate. He asked what condition I left Galadima in .He did not know that my house was far away from Galadima’s. I told him that I don’t have any idea of Galadima’s health condition. He immediately jumped into my car.

Everyone in the house was anxious, waiting for me and Doctor Osuide. As anxious as we were, a call was made to my phone again; this time by the son of Galadima, Abdullahi Hashim. Respectfully, he greeted me and asked if I was coming with the Doctor. I told him I and the doctor were already opposite the Fed-

I then rushed back to Galadima’s house, where I met everyone in a state of confusion. That was the exit of the man of the people. His death had made the masses in Kano and beyond to be fatherless.

eral Ministry Of Justice. As we arrived the compound, everyone was standing helpless waiting for the doctor’s final word. Dr. Osuide was ushered in by Abdullahi – into Galadima’s bedroom. On the other side, I saw Sarkin Mota, Galadima’s driver for many years crying profusely. It was then I realized how serious Galadima’s condition was. Unknown to me they were just waiting for the doctor’s final pronouncement on our father’s condition. After three minutes the doctor came out and the news was as bad as anything. “Galadima is dead”. Innalillahi wal innallairrajiun. I was shocked down to my marrow, and so was everyone in the compound. The doctor noticed my strange looks. He began to console me by saying “sorry we all must go one day”. His words of wisdom were what gave me courage and the strength to take him back to his clinic.

I then rushed back to Galadima’s house, where I met everyone in a state of confusion. That was the exit of the man of the people. His death had made the masses in Kano and beyond to be fatherless.

He was the second to the last remaining four most useful “Yan Boko” to the masses in the north, to the best of my knowledge: Sheikh Abubakar Mahmoud Gumi, Gen Hassan Usman Katsina and the Emir of Late Nasarawa, Alh. Abubakar Lamaran leaving behind Justice Umar Abdullahi, the retired president of the Court of Appeal who shares the same level of down to earth and unalloyed assistance to the needy.

In life, he indentified with the masses.

No wonder in his final wish, he opted to be buried among the Talakawas. May Allah grant him “Aljannatul Firdausi” Amin.

Gamawa is the publisher of the Kaduna based Hausa Tabloid “DILLALIYA”.

Biographies

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 43

Modibo Keïta (1915 – 1977)

M

odibo Keïta was the first President of Mali (1960– 1968) and the Prime Minister of the Mali Federation. He espoused a form of African socialism.

Youth He was born in BamakoCoura, a neighborhood of Bamako, which was at the time the capital of French Sudan. His family were Malian Muslims who claimed direct descent from the founders of the Mali Empire. He was educated in Bamako and at the École normale supérieure William Ponty in Dakar, where he was top of his class. Beginning in 1936, he worked as a teacher in Bamako, Sikasso and Tombouctou. His nickname after primary schooling was Modo.

Entering politics Modibo Keïta was involved in various associations. In 1937, he was the coordinator of the art and theater group. Along with Ouezzin Coulibaly, he helped found the Union of French West African Teachers.

Keïta joined the Communist Study Groups (GEC) cell in Bamako.

In 1943, he founded the L’oeil de Kénédougou, a magazine critical of colonial rule. This led to his imprisonment for three weeks in 1946 at the Prison de la Santé in Paris.

In 1945 Keïta was a candidate for the Constituent Assembly of the French Fourth Republic, supported by GEC and the Sudanese Democratic Party. Later the same year, he and Mamadou Konaté founded the Bloc soudanais, which developed into the Sudanese Union.

Political life In October 1946, the African Democratic Rally (RDA) was created at a conference in Bamako of delegates from across French Africa. While the coalition was led by Félix HouphouëtBoigny, Keïta assumed the post of RDA Secretary-General in French Sudan, and head of the Soudanese affiliate: the USRDA. In 1948, he was elected general councilor of French Sudan. In 1956, he was elected mayor of Bamako and became a member of the National Assembly of France. He twice served as secretary of state in the governments of Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury and Félix Gaillard. Modibo Keïta was elected constituent assembly president of the Mali Federation on July 20, 1960, which consisted of French Sudan and Senegal. Senegal would later leave the federation.

President of Mali After the collapse of the federation, the US-RDA

Keïta proclaimed the Soudanese Republic’s complete independence as the Republic of Mali. Keïta became its first president, and soon afterward declared the US-RDA to be the only legal party.

As a socialist, he led his country towards the progressive socialization of the economy; at first starting with agriculture and trade, then on October 1960 creating the SOMIEX (Malian Import and Export Company), which had a monopoly over the exports of the products of Mali, as well as manufactured and food imports (e.g. sugar, tea, powdered milk) and their distribution inside the country. The establishment of the Malian franc in 1962, and the difficulties of provisioning, resulted in a severe inflation and dissatisfaction of the population, particularly the peasants and the businessmen.

In June 1961, he paid a state visit to the United Kingdom,

“

where Queen Elizabeth II invested him as an honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George. Although Keïta was initially viewed with some wariness by the United States because of his socialist views, he made it clear that he sought good relations with Washington. In September 1961, he travelled to America in the company of Sukarno and met with President John F. Kennedy. Keïta, afterward, felt that he had a friend in Kennedy.

On the political level, Modibo Keïta quickly imprisoned opponents like Fily Dabo Sissoko. The first post-independence elections, in 1964, saw a single list of 80 US-RDA candidates returned to the National Assembly, and Keïta was duly reelected to another term as president by the legislature. From 1967, he started the “revolution active” and suspended the

Modibo Keïta devoted his entire life to African unity. He first played a part in the creation of the Federation of Mali with Léopold Sédar Senghor. After its collapse, he moved away from Léopold Sédar Senghor, but with Sékou Touré, the president of Guinea, and Kwame Nkrumah, the President of Ghana, he formed the Union of the States of Western Africa.

constitution by creating the National Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CNDR). The exactions of the “milice populaire” (the US-RDA militia) and the devaluation of the Malian franc in 1967 brought a general unrest.

On November 19, 1968, General Moussa Traoré overthrew Modibo Keïta in a coup d’etat, and sent him to prison in the northern Malian town of Kidal.

After being transferred back to the capital Bamako in February 1977 in what was claimed to be an action by the government towards national reconciliation in preparation for his release,[2] Modibo Keïta died, still a prisoner, on May 16, 1977. His reputation was rehabilitated in 1992 following the overthrow of Moussa Traoré and subsequent elections of president Alpha Oumar Konaré.

A monument to Modibo Keïta was dedicated in Bamako on June 6, 1999.

As a Pan-Africanist Keita and Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser (right) in Addis Ababa for the Organisation of African Unityconference, November 1966 Modibo Keïta devoted his entire life to African unity. He first played a part in the creation of the Federation of Mali with Léopold Sédar Senghor. After its collapse, he moved away from Léopold Sédar Senghor, but with Sékou Touré, the president of Guinea, and Kwame Nkrumah, the President of Ghana, he formed the Union of the States of Western Africa.

In 1963, he played an important role in drafting the charter of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

In 1963, he invited the king of Morocco and the president of Algeria to Bamako, in the hope of ending the Sand War, a frontier conflict between the two nations. Along withEmperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, Keïta was successful in negotiating the Bamako Accords, which brought an end to the conflict.

As a result, he won the Lenin Peace Prizethat year.

From 1963 to 1966, he normalized relations with the countries of Senegal, Upper Volta and Côte d’Ivoire. An advocate of the Non-Aligned Movement, Modibo defended the nationalist movements like the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN).

In literature Malian author Massa Makan Diabaté satirizes Keïta’s presidency in his novel The Butcher of Kouta, which features a socialist, dictatorial president named “Bagabaga Daba” (literally, “ant with a big mouth”), who is later removed by a military coup.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 44

Archives

How Gestapo thugs waltzed into plum jobs after war

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ith a squeal of brakes from a black Mercedes sedan, the men in long leather coats and trilby hats swoop to seize some poor suspect and drag him away.

Or, in black uniforms, they beat a defenceless victim to within an inch of his life with knuckledusters, canes and whips. This is the classic image of the Gestapo, Hitler’s secret police.

They were thick-headed bully boys, the dregs of the Nazi state performing its dirtiest functions with sickening relish.

Yet it seems this stereotype is inaccurate. A new book reveals that, in fact, the members of the Gestapo were not as mindless as we imagine.

On the contrary, the vast majority of those in its senior positions had been ambitious young middle-class law graduates. Some held doctorates.

According to author Frank McDonough, the high ranks of the Geheime Staatspolizei, or Gestapo for short, resembled a university senior common room more than a roughneck police station.

We may naively expect education to be good for the soul. But in these men’s cases it blackened their hearts, confirmed their prejudices and steeled their terrible resolve to crack down on the Third Reich’s internal enemies by whatever cruel means necessary.

It seems they committed atrocities not because they were stupid, but because their finely trained brains told them it was essential.

For the 70 years since the Gestapo passed into history, it seems we have misunderstood the organisation — not least because its vast archive of files disappeared at the end of the war, possibly destroyed by Allied bombing but more likely eradicated by those who knew its incriminating secrets.

A few records survived, mainly in Dusseldorf, and are the source for McDonough’s penetrating study, which challenges established myths — for instance, that the Gestapo was everywhere, an Orwellian ‘thought police’ that kept everyone in check and in fear, listening for an ominous knock on the door in the middle of the night. In reality, it had fewer than 16,000 active officers to police the loyalty of a nation of 70 million.

It had little time for pro-active police work and its investigations were largely fuelled by informants, tell-tales in the community, of whom there was no shortage in Hitler’s paranoid Reich.

But they were as likely to inform on friends (and spouses) they had fallen out with as they were to expose genuine threats to state security. The Gestapo knew this and in such circumstances trod gently.

Not every visit from a man in a black trenchcoat ended in a torture chamber. Brutality was almost entirely absent in cases involving ‘ordinary’ Germans in their own backyard.

But when it came to perceived enemies of the state, the gloves came off.

In dealing with dissidents, troublemakers, communists, homosexuals, gipsies — anyone with an inclination not to conform to the diktats of the Nazi state — it was utterly ruthless.

Here the stereotypes are spoton. Interrogators pulled out fingernails and crushed men’s testicles in a garlic press to extract information.

In a dungeon, a terrified, naked

This little-known rebellion by teenagers who hated the conformity and discipline of Nazi society first came to light in 1938. It went on until 1944, when the Gestapo clamped down by publicly hanging 13 young gang members in Cologne prisoner would be handcuffed to an iron bar hung on chains from the ceiling. A guard then shoved him off in a slow arc and, at each return, another guard smashed his buttocks with a crowbar, while an officer barked questions.

A witness later described how ‘as the swinging went on and the wailing victim fainted and was then revived, only to faint again, the blows continued until only a mass of bleeding pulp remained’.

Most perished from this ordeal.

‘In the end a sack of bones and flayed flesh and fat was swept along the concrete floor and dragged away.’

Women were tortured, too.

A young woman recalled being dragged to a cellar and stretched out across a table. Then two men took it in turns to beat her bare backside with a stick until she could take no more.

Her ‘crime’ was to be a Jehovah’s Witness, a member of the Christian sect banned by the Nazis because they refused to do military service or give the ‘Heil Hitler’ salute.

‘I confessed that I had worked illegally against the Hitler government,’ she said, ‘because I preferred to receive a death sentence than be tortured to death.’

Jews, of course, were a principal target. It was the Gestapo that took on the task of rounding them up at gunpoint and delivering them to railway stations for the one-way trip to SS-run concentration camps and death camps.

Adolf Eichmann, perhaps the most notorious Gestapo officer of all, was in charge. Known for his hardworking, unquestioning bureaucratic skills, he was essentially the ‘chief executive’ of the Holocaust.

The round-ups were efficient, the trains ran on time. Victims and the Zyklon B gas to kill them were delivered to camps with scarcely a

hitch.

In the warped mentality of the Gestapo, this amounted to a success.

Yet for all its ruthlessness and the fear it engendered, the Gestapo failed in some objectives.

It missed the army bomb plot to assassinate Hitler in 1944. And it failed to stop large numbers of husband-starved German women taking foreign workers into their beds — a crime — despite the threat of the public pillory for those who were caught.

It was also outwitted for a while by city gangs of working-class boys with names such as ‘the Pirates’, ‘the Navajos’ and ‘the Raving Dudes’, who enjoyed ambushing lederhosen-wearing members of the Hitler Youth.

This little-known rebellion by teenagers who hated the conformity and discipline of Nazi society first came to light in 1938. It went on until 1944, when the Gestapo clamped down by publicly hanging 13 young gang members in Cologne.

Here were the secret police in their true colours — uncompromising, vengeful, violent and getting more so because by then the Third Reich was under intense pressure.

The defeat of the German army by the Russians at Stalingrad in 1943 led to a sharp deterioration in public morale. Germans started whispering jokes to each other, such as: ‘What’s the difference between the sun and Hitler? The sun rises in the East but Hitler goes down in the East.’

The Gestapo was not amused. A report bemoaned the fact that otherwise loyal citizens ‘clearly assume that any joke can now be told without fear of a sharp rebuff, let alone of being reported to the police’.

It responded with worsening aggression. A 73-year-old retired army major was denounced by his son-in-

law for listening to foreign radio and making ‘defeatist’ remarks. Grabbed by the Gestapo, he died in prison.

A young woman reported by a neighbour for stealing three tins of coffee, some old curtains and a dress from a house wrecked by Allied bombers was publicly hanged.

A woman who claimed that children killed in air raids ‘were murdered by Hitler’ was denounced by her own husband and sent to Auschwitz.

The Gestapo retained its iron grip to the end. But once terror had failed to preserve the Reich and the war ended, many of its members vanished.

Eichmann paid for his crimes, eventually. But what is significant about his arrest, trial and execution is that they were carried out not by a repentant postwar Germany coming to terms with its Nazi past, but by a foreign power — Israel.

For nearly two decades he escaped justice until he was tracked down to Argentina by agents of Mossad, the Israeli secret service, snatched in the street and flown to Jerusalem.

But, McDonough’s book reveals, thousands of other Gestapo thugs and killers simply kept their heads down, slid back into society and were never properly brought to book. At the Nuremberg war crimes trials, the Gestapo was branded a ‘criminal organisation’ responsible for ‘crimes against humanity’. Yet no major collective Gestapo trial was held.

Some individuals were brought to trial, such as Dr Werner Best, the head of Gestapo administration, who argued that he and his staff were essentially hard-working policemen simply following orders.

He was sentenced to death for war crimes, but this was reduced to 12 years in jail on appeal and he was released in 1951.

His became the standard Gestapo defence — ‘just obeying orders’. Yes, they rounded people up, but what happened to them after that was not their responsibility.

And in those difficult post-war years, there was little documentary evidence to prove otherwise. The files had disappeared and finding witnesses proved almost impossible.

Nearly all the victims were dead.

Most former Gestapo men were initially interned in Allied detention camps, serving sentences of up to three years. Then they were released.

Many of them then went through the so-called ‘de-Nazification’ legal process and had themselves declared ‘exonerated’ — blameless or forgiven for whatever they had done.

Incredibly, most produced character references from people willing to describe them as humane, professional, understanding and non-violent.

It didn’t always work. Otto Dihr presented himself as a man of irreproachable conduct, charming and professional at all times, as one of his character witnesses suggested.

But then some of his victims came forward, including the Jehovah’s Witness he had beaten. Dihr was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Generally, though, as time passed, life became easier for exGestapo men. It helped that, with Europe now split between Western and Soviet zones, the chill of the Cold War led to a cooling of the desire to seek out Nazis in West Germany and punish them — although it was much harder for ex-Gestapo men on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

In East Germany, anyone taint-

ed by a Nazi Party association was removed from employment.

A myth has persisted that the notorious East German secret police, the Stasi, was staffed by former Gestapo officers. Not true, says McDonough. It’s hard to find many Stasi officers who worked for the Gestapo.

The East Germans frequently published damaging allegations of the extent to which West Germany remained tainted by Nazism. They ‘named and shamed’ 1,800 former leading Nazis in key positions, including 297 former Gestapo officers who had become senior police officials.

The claim was rubbished in the West as Soviet propaganda, but it was true. Where convenient, the past was being whitewashed.

As the Fifties began, an ‘immunity law’ introduced a blanket amnesty for all Nazi crimes for which the punishment would have resulted in six months’ imprisonment or less.

Another law gave those who had lost their jobs since the war because they had been Nazis the right to apply for ‘professional rehabilitation’ to get them back. Gestapo officers were supposed to be excluded from this, but if individuals could prove they joined the police before 1933 and then transferred to the Gestapo, they could still apply for rehabilitation.

As a result, around half of former Gestapo officers were redeployed to civil service posts. Meanwhile, the vast majority of former high-ranking Gestapo officials with law degrees simply resumed their careers as private practice lawyers.

Even Gestapo officers who were not re-employed had little difficulty in having their generous occupational pensions restored. One was Karl Loffler, once head of the ‘Jewish Desk’ at the Cologne Gestapo.

Somehow he managed to get his status changed to ‘exonerated’. His Nazi past, organising deportations to death camps, magically disappeared. He was granted a full pension.

Amazingly, the same went for Otto Dihr. He, too, was eventually classed as ‘exonerated’ and received his full Gestapo pension.

And even when, as happened rarely, former Gestapo officers were brought to court, they were often given an easy ride.

Waldemar Eisfeld and Heinrich Lorenz had brutally rounded up thousands of Jews for deportation, as witnesses testified.

But the judge acquitted the pair of all charges, on the highly unlikely grounds that they did not know what the fate of the Jews would be.

Age and supposed infirmity came to the rescue of others with blood on their hands.

Otto Bovensiepen, formerly head of the Berlin Gestapo, went on trial in 1969 but suffered a heart attack during the proceedings. Doctors declared him unfit to face trial, and he lived on in apparent ease for another eight years.

The same went for Dr Werner Best, who since his Gestapo days and after a short jail sentence had become a highly paid legal adviser for a leading West German company. He, too, was finally brought back to court, only to be declared too ill, old and frail to face a war crimes trial.

He died 17 years later, having never paid in full for his crimes against humanity — just like the evil organisation he worked for.

Mailonline

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 45

Digest

The radical ‘sliding seat’ that could make boarding flights far faster

I

t could solve one of the most stressful parts of air travel.

Boarding the plane, stowing your luggage away and trying to squeeze past passengers doing the same, all in a very tight space, is a huge problem.

Now, a radical sliding seat could make it far easier - and dramatically cut boarding time for flights US company Molon Labe Designs claims that its ‘Slider Seat’ will save airlines two hours of extra flying time each day and result in ‘happy, loyal customers’.

Hank Scott, COO of Molon Labe Designs said: ‘We have all experienced being stuck in the aisle of an airliner, waiting, waiting, waiting to get to our seats or get off.

‘Wasted time, wasted fuel, and added frustration.

‘No one has ever successfully addressed this problem...until now.’

‘The faster turnarounds offered by the wider aisle results in faster turnarounds, improved fleet utilization and reduced airside costs,’ it says.

‘For passengers we provide a less stressful travel experience, more comfort and increased living space.

‘The staggered design of the Side-Slip Seat increases living space for all passengers.

‘The aisle and window seat sit slightly higher and further forward while the middle seat is 2 inches wider and sits slightly lower and further back.

‘The result is that the passenger next to you is not exactly next to you....which gives you more living space.’

The system works by enabling the outer seat to slide over the middle seat, increasing aisle width from 19 inches to 43 inches and allowing passengers to move about more.

Travellers then just slide the seat back, locking it into place.

The aircraft interior design firm says the plan would not only improve emergency exit time due to a ‘shorter pathway to overwing exits’ but help settle that other battle air passengers endure - competition for the shared armrests.

The company’s website says: ‘Increasing the aisle will reduce airline on-ground turnaround times. By allowing aircraft to turn in half the time we can give airlines 120 minutes of extra flight time per day per aircraft.

‘Passengers would be able to take their seats quicker as they would be better able to manoeuvre around people and crew who are stowing their belongings and assisting others.’

The U.S. trade organization Airlines for America estimates that every minute a plane sits docked at a gate with the engine running costs about $81 to $100 in fuel and associated costs.

The Slip-Slide team say they have already conducted boarding efficiency trials with their aisle seats using the ‘sit anywhere’ boarding method favored by Southwest and block boarding used by most carriers.

When the sliding seats are fully folded up, boarding efficiency is improved by 4.5 minutes during random boarding and a full 6.7 minutes—or 33 percent-- for blocking boarding.

If an airline performs 1,000 turnarounds a day, 6.7 minutes amounts to $670,000 saved per day— about $245 million a year.

It is now working with the National Institute for Aviation Research to get the seat certified for use in commercial aircraft.

The Association for Airline Passenger Rights has called for the FAA to certify the prototype in order to allow airlines to order the product for their aircraft.

‘AAPR has always prided itself on being a solutions-

Before and after: The system works by enabling the outer seat to slide over the middle seat, increasing aisle width from 19 inches to 43 inches and allowing passengers to move about more.

based consumer rights organization, and the new Slide-Slip Seat provides a workable solution for numerous issues facing airline passengers, as well as the airlines,’ said Brandon M. Macsata.

‘For example, AAPR has proudly stood up for the rights and fairer treatment

“

of passengers of size, calling out the inhumane treatment often experienced by these customers simply because they weigh more.

‘In doing so, AAPR believes that we’re standing up for every single passenger because the simple fact remains that passengers are crammed into coach class

cabins like sardines.’

According to Macsata, Molon Labe Designs’ revolutionary Slide-Slip Seat provides a more accessible, comfortable flying experience for various passengers with special needs, including passengers of size and passengers with disabilities.

Mailonline

The system works by enabling the outer seat to slide over the middle seat, increasing aisle width from 19 inches to 43 inches and allowing passengers to move about more.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 46

International UN: Eradicating world poverty in 15 years James Reinl

W

orld leaders set to launch development goals estimated to cost trillions each year to wipe out global poverty.

Over its 70-year lifespan, the United Nations has developed a reputation for using awkward language.

It was true to form when it named its new anti-poverty targets - set to be launched this weekend - the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The name is not catchy, but the aim is noble. The plan is a blueprint for creating a much better world. It comprises 17 goals, broken down into 169 smaller targets.

Each UN member should aim, voluntarily, to achieve them by 2030.

They are ambitious with some high-end estimates suggesting they’ll cost between $3.5 trillion and $5 trillion a year.

On their own, the first two goals call for ending hunger and poverty “in all its forms everywhere” within 15 years.

By the deadline, nobody on the planet should be living on less than $1.25 per day, the UN’s threshold poverty figure.

A wordy document was agreed last month after three years of haggling. It lays out other targets for reducing income gaps, equal rights for women, improving schools and hospitals, clean energy schemes and halting climate change.

“It has been the most inclusive global agendasetting conversation ever to take place,” John McArthur, a former UN official who is now a Brookings Institution analyst, told Al Jazeera. “It is about identifying a set of north stars so that everyone can go in the same direction.”

McArthur and other backers of the sustainable development goals said they can radically improve the world. Critics say there are too many goals, the targets are difficult to measure, and rich countries are still not serious enough about letting poor countries advance.

To get the ball rolling, the UN has assembled an allstar cast of more than 160 world leaders. Pope Francis - a prophetic advocate of helping the poor and curbing greenhouse gas emissions will kick-start proceedings on Friday morning.

Then follows a three-day debate on the SDGs featuring the presidents of the US and China - Barack Obama

A homeless man sleeps on a street steam vent in the US city of Philadelphia [Mark Makela/Reuters]

and Xi Jinping - and others.

Luminaries such as Beyoncé, Bill Gates, Shakira, and Bono will be in town to lend UN chief Ban Ki-moon some stardust.

In selling the SDGs, the UN points to the successes of the millennium development goals (MDGs) - the world body’s previous set of eight, 15-year anti-poverty targets that will be mothballed at the end of the year with a mixed scorecard.

The UN calls them “the most successful anti-poverty movement in history”.

The lead MDG target of halving the number of impoverished people was met ahead of schedule. While big strides have been made in getting more children into schools and halting the spread of HIV/Aids, those goals will not be met.

Even when targets are reached, doubters question whether this had anything to do with the UN. By one analysis, much of the world’s poverty reduction was achieved as a by-product of rapid growth in the populous emerging markets of China and India.

Conversely, when targets are not met, gains may still be palpable. The MDG goal of ensuring that all children everywhere can attend primary school will not be reached. Nevertheless, school enrolment rates in poor countries did rise from 83 percent in 2000 to 91 percent

in 2015.

UN officials say that league tables act as both carrot and stick for ministers of health, education and other bigwigs, who are mindful of gains made in neighbouring countries.

For Tony Pippa, Washington’s coordinator on the post-2015 development agenda, targets “get everyone on the same page”. The same goes for the SDGs, he said, but new goals on climate change and sustainability vastly broaden their scope.

“It is a political commitment that world leaders are making to end poverty and its related indignities, while at the same time sustaining and maintaining the Earth’s ecosystems and resources,” he told Al Jazeera. But with a bigger remit comes a bigger price tag.

McArthur offers a “rough, rough estimate” for achieving the development goals at $1-2 trillion per year, which he described as a manageable chunk of the $80 trillion global economy.

Aid commitments from rich countries only amount to about $350 billion annually.

The rest of the money is supposed to come from government revenues, private finance, charities, lending institutions and remittances from migrant workers in rich countries to relatives back home in parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Amina Mohammed, the UN adviser on post-2015 development planning, said nobody “can put a figure on how much they will cost”, but insisted there is enough spare cash sloshing around. “It will take a couple of years … to really get our teeth into what it means,” she told Al Jazeera.

Money is the main concern for Takumo Yamada, an analyst on the targets with the charity Oxfam. For him, the anti-poverty drive is too soft on firms that pollute the environment and dodge taxes when extracting raw materials from the developing world.

At a conference on funding the global goals in Ethiopia in July, rich countries blocked a push by poor nations for a global tax body that would make it easier for them to get their hands on the revenues of agricultural, extractive and other firms that operate within their borders.

“It’s a simple question of maths that you cannot provide the kind of public financing necessary to reach zero hunger, tackle climate change, or achieve other SDGs without addressing these taxdodging problems,” Yamada told Al Jazeera.

He is not the only doubter.

Farah Mesmar, a policy officer for ActionAid, another charity, said presidents can sign up to the global goals without being legally obliged to do anything. With so many targets on the table, the risk of censure is lower.

“It’s about looking good and showing off in front of other governments, to put it bluntly,” Mesmar told Al Jazeera.

Noam Chomsky, an American scholar and social activist, is harsher still. He lambasted a global economic system that frequently sees developing countries exploited. The UN’s goals are not sufficient to change that, he told Al Jazeera.

“Nothing will be achieved, it’s pretty safe to say,” Chomsky said.

Timing is another issue for the development goals.

The current crop of world leaders faces more challenges than their predecessors did in September 2000, when the millennium development goals were launched at the start of a new millennium.

Nowadays, economies are picking up the pieces from the 2007-08 financial crisis, but woes persist in China, the Euro-zone and elsewhere. As Syria’s civil war drags on into a fifth year, the world also faces its worst refugee emergency since World War II. “The SDGs makes for a very beautiful document - a wish list of all the things that people want to see happening in the world,” said Yamada.

“But how we get there is a big question.”

Source:Aljazeera.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 47

Business

‘I like to do business anywhere I go’ A day in the life of a Lagos kiosk owner

Adamou’s kiosk sits on a quiet street with little passing trade A. Igoni Barrett

I

t rained almost nonstop for a week in Ajah, Lagos. On a wet day morning, as he has most days since he began working as a child, Adamou Mamoudou rises at 6am for his Fajr (dawn) prayer.

Afterwards he prepares breakfast, two packs of instant noodles cooked in the same water that boiled his egg. As he eats he thinks about many things: sometimes his late mother, often his distant wife, and always his kiosk.

He built the kiosk from slabs of wood and pieces of zinc roofing he found on construction sites, and then stocked it with provisions bought with his life savings.

For the past five years he has been selling out of the kiosk, which is the longest time he has ever worked for himself. Now that his business is failing, he is worried about his future in Nigeria.

Adamou is from Niger. The francophone country with a population of 17 million - one-tenth of Nigeria’s - shares a border along Nigeria’s north.

He was born in 1986 in Tilloa, a farming outpost so nondescript it hardly has a digital imprint, but calls Niamey, the Nigerien capital, his home. That was the city he lived in until the age of eight, when his mother sent him, her first of five children, to assist her brother, who was blind in one eye and made his living as a travelling beggar.

“It pained me but I didn’t want to argue with her,” Adamou says.

That’s why he never attended school, although all his younger brothers did, just like their parents.

“My father go school but not too much,” he says. “My mother go school well-well.”

The kiosk opens these days at eight. His first customers drop by on their way to work, and they sometimes make him open sooner by rapping on his bedroom window.

Unlike many kiosk owners in particular the northern men southerners address as ‘Mallam’ or ‘Aboki’, a group Adamou is seen as belonging to - he does not sleep in his kiosk.

He works as a security guard and handyman for the apartment building by whose fence he has established his trade, and in addition to receiving a salary he is provided with accommodation in the cramped gatehouse. That is where he sleeps, cooks, prays, and stashes his money.

He lives in a constant state of alertness towards the compound he guards. Not just because it is his job, but more so because every naira he

“

has earned in all his years in Nigeria is in easy reach of any thief.

The kiosk was burgled two months ago. It struck him hard, as he had just loaded the shelves with new stock, which he used to buy from Ajah market every two days when sales were brisk.

“That is what run my business down,” he says. “The person pack all the market, with my phones, my camera.”

But the emptiness of his kiosk is not solely due to the burglary. The kiosk sits on a quiet street with a few houses on one side, while the other side is taken up by a construction site with stalls in various states of completion. It will, one day, become a huge shopping complex.

But building work has stalled for the past few months, and ever since the construction workers left, Adamou has lost the steady stream

of thirsty and hungry men who were his best customers.

By noon Adamou has sold two AA batteries and four cigarettes to five customers. Two others turned towards the shops further down the road after he told them that he did not have what they wanted, and one even commented that he should close up shop if he was no longer serious about selling.

“Before it was only me selling on the street, so every month I used to sell 30,000 [naira - around $150]. I’m also collecting a salary of 15,000 [about $75]. That’s 45,000 [$225]. Every month.”

But business was so slow last month he can’t tell how much he sold. His salary, too, has stopped coming, because the tenants have moved out. Adamou also feels it is time to move on, even though all that is waiting for him in Tilloa is

Before it was only me selling on the street, so every month I used to sell 30,000 [naira - around $150]. I’m also collecting a salary of 15,000 [about $75]. That’s 45,000 [$225]. Every month.”

a dependent wife and a two-room mud-walled house.

One o’clock is lunchtime; Adamou goes to a nearby buka, a hole-in-the-wall eatery, for a plate of rice and stewed beans.

These days he buys lunch less often, and whenever he feels too weak to cook instant noodles, he eats the provisions in his kiosk.

Like the day before yesterday, when his back ached from too much sitting, and yet by 3pm he had sold so little that he had no choice but to soothe his ulcer pangs with a Gala beef-roll and a bottle of 7UP. But sales picked up in the evening, and he could afford his favourite dinner, kenkey and fried fish, a Ghanaian dish he grew to love during his time as a child beggar in Ghana.

Adamou credits his blind uncle with opening his eyes to the advantages of a wandering lifestyle.

In the 10 or so years he served as a beggar’s assistant, he travelled to Ghana, Benin Republic, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria. His mother died while he was in the Ivory Coast, and the news only reached him after she was long-buried. That was when he decided to strike out on his own.

“I no find money for my country since I grow,” he says, which was why he travelled to Lagos in 2010 at the invitation of another uncle.

For eight months he served this man as a shoe seller, a clothes seller, and a roadside noodles-and-egg cook.

The English and calculation skills he picked up proved useful when he finally landed a job as a security guard and got permission from the landlord to augment his salary by opening a kiosk.

He has now lived abroad longer than he has been in Niger. Of the five languages he speaks, his French is the least assured.

The first time he visited Niger since moving to Lagos was in 2012, and he went with 100,000 naira (around $500) as well as gifts for his family.

During his five months away - a time he spent farming corn, beans, and groundnuts on his father’s land - his second brother, Harouna, travelled down to run the kiosk, and by the time Adamou returned, Harouna had saved enough capital to return to Niamey to set up his own kiosk.

Everyone he has ever looked up to is in business. “I like to do business anywhere I go,” Adamou says.

He has had a good run in Nigeria, but on Sunday he is heading back to Niger with a suitcase of gifts and less money than the last times he visited.

“I don’t have somebody to look the shop, because there’s no market,” he says. “When I come back I go bring money to start from where I stop.”

On Saturday night, he will lock up the kiosk at the same time he always does, 11pm. He does not know when it will reopen. “It’s only God know, not human being. When my time reach, I go come back.”

For now, he’s focused on the twoday trip to Tilloa, where his wife, whom he married two years ago and spent only a week with before returning to Lagos, waits for him.

Source: Aljazeera.

PAGE 48

Business

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Nigerian firms in trouble as CBN measures backfire

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igerian companies making anything from soap to tomato paste could run out of raw materials and be forced to shut down as Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) has effectively banned the import of almost 700 goods to prevent a currency collapse.

Selected luxury items such as make-up or brown bread imported from Europe have become scarce in some shops as the CBN denies importers dollars, seeking to stem the fallout from a crash in vital oil revenues hammering Africa’s largest economy.

The CBN has restricted access to foreign currency to import 41 categories of items to stop a slide of the naira but the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) said this in fact amounted to about 680 individual items.

The foreign exchange bans are part of a long-term plan by President Muhammadu Buhari to encourage local manufacturing, but they run the risk of pushing the economy closer to recession after growth halved in the second quarter compared with the same period last year.

Many items on the CBN list - ranging from incense and toothpicks to plywood, glass and

steel products -- are not available in Nigeria in sufficient volumes.

While Nigeria grows a lot of tomatoes, transport is poor and it lacks facilities to produce the concentrate needed by factories making tomato paste, a staple in the West African nation.

“We’ve taken this matter up with the CBN and the highest authority in this country ... Fiscal authorities will also be involved, they weren’t before,” Remi Ogunmefun, the director general of MAN, said.

MAN had told the CBN 105 items should be removed from the list, but the bank said it could not afford to do so and agreed to look into removing 44 items.

MAN also suggested 93 finished items that should be added to the list because Nigeria produces enough of them.

The economic crisis is a blow to Buhari who wants to end dependence on oil revenues but faces criticism for failing to name a cabinet four months after taking office.

Since the central bank unveiled its controls in June, executives have had to deal with foreign suppliers worried they won’t get paid. They also struggle to convince banks to approve

dollar payments.

“It takes minimum of 10 days now to get dollars, before it was 24-48 hours, and sometimes when you request like $100,000, you only get $80,000 and it’s getting worse,” said an executive at a large furniture company, asking not to be named.

It’s not clear which imports are still allowed as the CBN lists only categories.

Some firms have defaulted on contracts and lost credit lines.

“Many companies have defaulted on fulfilling foreign obligations ... even blue chip companies ... for the first time,” said Muda Yusuf, director general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce.

POLICY VACUUM With no cabinet in place, CBN governor Godwin Emefiele finds himself discussing policies usually reserved for a finance or economy minister.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Emefiele justified the controls -- which Buhari has backed -- as a way to create jobs in a country hit by poverty despite its oil wealth.

“I read an advertisement in a paper that shortly after we announced the foreign exchange exclusion for the importation of

tomato paste they advertised for almost 1,000 jobs,” he said, citing the example of a tomato paste company, a sector that experts do not in fact expect to flourish now.

Emefiele has ruled out another naira devaluation but on Tuesday loosened monetary policies to inject liquidity into banks, which had been forced to transfer government revenues to a CBN account as part of an anticorruption drive.

Nigeria stepped up import controls when Buhari led a military government in the 1980s and the economy suffered then too.

Razia Khan, Chief Economist, Africa, at Standard Chartered Bank, said there was little certainty the latest controls would boost manufacturing.

“Nigeria has had substantial experience with similar importsubstitution policies in the past,” said Khan. “Rarely have they succeeded in creating a vibrant, competitive industrial sector, with the capability of creating the employment growth that Nigerian demographics otherwise demand.”

According to the Lagos Chamber of Commerce, Nigeria is short of 600,000 tonnes a year

of palm oil, that is used to make soap, detergents and cosmetics that have also been restricted.

Pharmaceutical firms lack bottles, and glass manufacturers do not have the glass to make them.

BAGS FULL OF CASH Companies also suffer from the CBN attempt to stop the dollarisation of the economy. A ban on cash deposits of foreign currency has forced firms to use informal “transfer markets”, whereby people abroad wire dollars on a company’s behalf.

That exchange rate is well below the official rate to the dollar.

Some executives now carry bags of cash to deposit in neighbouring countries.

For some though, the measures offer hope.

“It’s a big challenge to compete in a market with imported frozen chicken and fish. The profit is marginal,” said Kabir Chaskewa of Ajima Farms, a family business based near the capital, Abuja.

Compared to a foreign firm that produces frozen chicken in batches of up to 1 million, Chaskewa can only do batches of 5,000. “Now there’s a rise in demand for local poultry and rice,” he said.

–Reuters.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Oddities

Man set to meet global namesakes

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orrowing a leaf from UK comedian, Dave Gorman’s book, Seth, from New York, is undertaking the Seth Cohen Project in the hope that he can meet his global namesakes.

He recently began the Seth Cohen Project, which he hopes will unite him with other Seth Cohens around the world.

So far, Seth, from New York, has met 10 Seth Cohens but estimates that there are more than 300 namesakes in the US alone. Incredibly, he has met a tax attorney who turned out to be a former WWE wrestler who had once fought Hulk Hogan.

Outside of the US, Seth, 37, has

discovered Seth Cohens everywhere from the United Kingdom to Australia and Germany. He hopes the project will take over his life, allowing him to travel to all corners of the US and beyond.

He is currently considering a sponsor to fund the project but is also looking into crowd funding and potentially a TV production, the biggest shock was having found all of the Seth’s through social media.

“It is quite a big project and eventually it is going to take over my life. In every English speaking country I have found at least a couple of them. The plan is that I go to them, as the project is really

Breeder creates world’s first black, white tomato

A

plant breeder has blended two varieties to create the world’s first black and white tomato plant.

Experts at Sutton Seeds previously made a strain called Indigo Rose, the planet’s only black tomato, but now they have blended it with a white-cherry strain to produce the black and white variety.

A spokesman said: “This year we have upped the ante by grafting Indigo Rose to a creamywhite cherry variety to produce the first black and white tomato plant. We promise amazement from your friends, neighbours and family, not to mention rather groovy salads and sandwiches.”

The hybrid plant is on sale now at £4 each.

PAGE 49

Compiled by Isioma Nwabasha

about the journey (places, the people and their passion).’’

Comedian Dave Gorman had a television show called Are You Dave Gorman? in 2000 in which he travelled the world meeting his namesakes.

Dave, who also wrote a book, said of his quest: “When we were first looking for Dave Gormans, we normally only knew about one at a time so it was easy to work out who to meet next. Since the TV series I have been told about thousands of my namesakes all over the world.

I wouldn’t know where to start if I was to meet them all, but I’d have to spend three years doing it and I’d end up bankrupt.”

Addict eats 36 litres of ketchup yearly S amantha Archer, a ketchup addict, snacks on spoonfuls of the red stuff and wolfs her way through more than 36 litres yearly.

Samantha has been obsessed with ketchup since she was just five-years old and gets through two bottles a week, meaning she consumes 700g of red sauce.

The 30-year-old from Harrow, London, spends five minutes dressing her plate every meal time, smothering everything from bread and cheese to eggs, and curries. Not even Christmas dinner can avoid the crimson tide, her plate will be doused, much to the disapproval of her aunt who will be slaving over the home cooked meal.

Samantha said: “My family knows the deal and they always have a bottle of ketchup for me, they don’t want any

trouble. I have ketchup on every meal and my Christmas dinner will be no different. I am spending the Christmas day with my aunt and she is cooking for me. She always says I won’t be able to taste the food she has cooked.

“But I can still taste the flavours, -the ketchup just makes it better. I have it on absolutely everything, I can’t think of anything I don’t add it to.”

Samantha claims her first memory of ketchup dates back to when she was just five-years old after her mum gave her a first

taste and she has been hooked ever since and she is so obsessed that she even eats it straight from a spoon as a quick fix.

“It takes me five minutes to dress my plate with sauce, I just love it. My friends and family are all used to my habit now and they keep a bottle just in case I run out.

And if they visit they can expect to be fed ketchup. If I go out on a date I would pre-warn them that I love tomato sauce, but people don’t believe how much I actually put on the plate. They think I am joking.

“I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t get my hands on ketchup, I would just have to find some before I eat. I think the only thing I don’t add tomato sauce too is soup. But I don’t really eat soup that is probably why.”

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 50

Healthy Living

Benefits of eating garlic

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arlic is a natural health remedy that has long been used to treat various ailments. It is extremely easy to source in most countries and can be consumed cooked or fresh. It is can be included in your food or can be eaten on its own. You don’t need to limit yourself to fresh garlic either. Garlic powder or dried garlic flakes are just as effective and super easy to use for everyday use.

It is recommended that adults consume no more than one clove two or three times a day and that children have one quarter to one half a clove once or twice a day.

When used for medicinal purposes, garlic can help treat a wide variety of ailments.

Garlic has been found to assist babies to gain weight while they are in the womb. Next time you have a baby prepare to have garlic breath. Except if you have a history of large babies in which case maybe you want to skip the extra doses.

It strengthens the immune system, as well as fight chest infections, cough and congestion.

Garlic can also boost your immune system and ward off colds and flu.

A remedy is to eat a clove of garlic that has been dipped in honey at the first sign of a cold.

Garlic contains high levels of iodine which makes it a very effective treatment for hyperthyroid conditions.

Treatment with garlic has been shown to greatly improve this condition. Scurvy is treated by vitamin C and garlic contains good levels of vitamin C too.

Cardiovascular diseases can be reduced by ingesting garlic. LDL cholesterol is no friend of garlic and the aortic plaque deposits that gather on the walls of your body’s veins can be reduced with the use of garlic too. Studies have shown the amazing benefits of taking garlic in relation to heart disease.

Fungal and bacterial vaginal infections can be treated with garlic. When crushed or bruised, garlic releases Allicin which is a sulphuric compound that is a natural antibiotic. If you decide to take garlic in tablet form be sure to use powdered capsules. The processes used to create garlic tablets destroy the Allicin that is present.

It is a great source of vitamin

B6 which is needed for a healthy immune system and the efficient growth of new cells. Vitamin B6 can also assist with mood swings and improve your cheery disposition.

Garlic can aid in the prevention of multiple types of cancer.

Bladder cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer and stomach cancer have all been shown to have their tumors reduced when treated with garlic.

Vitamin B6 is said to have cancer fighting abilities.

Garlic regulates blood sugar as it enhances the level of insulin in the blood. This may assist in the control of diabetes. Seek medical advice if you believe the use of garlic could help your condition.

Consuming garlic in large doses can be detrimental to your health. Also be aware that its properties actually get into your bloodstream which is why it is effective in so many ways.

What this means is that when you sweat, garlic will leave your body through your pores. Many people who eat larger than normal amounts of garlic report increased body odour.

Garlic

An avocado a day keeps the cardiologist away

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dding an avocado pear to your daily diet may help lower bad cholesterol and reduce the risk for heart diseases, according to health researchers.

Avocados are known to be a nutrient-dense food, high in mono-unsaturated fatty acids. Previous studies have suggested that they are a

cholesterol-lowering food, but this is one of the first studies to look at the health implications of avocados beyond monounsaturated fatty acids.

“Including one avocado each day as part of a moderatefat, cholesterol-lowering diet compared to a comparable moderate-fat diet without an avocado provides additional

LDL (low-density lipoproteins) lowering affects, which benefit CVD risk,” Penny M. KrisEtherton, a Professor of Nutrition, said.

Kris-Etherton and colleagues tested three different diets, all designed to lower cholesterol: a lower-fat diet, consisting of 24 percent fat and two moderate fat diets, with 34 percent fat. The moderate fat diets were nearly identical, however one diet incorporated one Hass avocado every day, while the other used a comparable amount of high oleic acid oils such as olive oil to match the fatty acid content of one avocado. Hass avocados are the smaller, darker variety with bumpy green skin and have a higher nutrient content than Florida avocados, which are larger, and have smoother

“ Avocado

skin and a higher water content.

The researchers tested the diets with 45 healthy, overweight adults between the ages of 21 and 70. Compared to the participants’ baseline measurements, all three diets significantly lowered LDL, also known as bad cholesterol, as well as total cholesterol. However, participants experienced an even greater reduction in LDL and total cholesterol while on the avocado diet, compared to the other two diets.

The avocado diet decreased bad cholesterol by 13.5 mg/dL, while LDL was decreased by 8.3 mg/dL on the moderate-fat diet and by 7.4 mg/dL on the low-fat diet.

All participants followed each of the three diets for five weeks. They were given a twoweek break in between each

diet. Blood samples were taken at the beginning and end of each study period. Subjects were randomly assigned the order in which they received each diet.

People should start thinking about eating avocados in new ways. I think using it as a condiment is a great way to incorporate avocados into meals for instance, putting a slice or two on a sandwich or using chopped avocado in a salad or to season vegetables.”

Kris-Etherton and colleagues note that further research will need to be conducted with a larger and more diverse study sample and to explore further how high-density lipoproteins, good cholesterol, might be affected by a diet that includes avocados.

People should start thinking about eating avocados in new ways. I think using it as a condiment is a great way to incorporate avocados into meals for instance, putting a slice or two on a sandwich or using chopped avocado in a salad or to season vegetables.”

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Exercising authority over demons (I)

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said last week that casting out demons, devils or evil spirit is a major part of New Testament ministry. This is because demons, as they did in the day of Jesus, possess or afflict people with one negative spiritual condition or the other, conditions that are not natural. I went ahead to talk about reasons you should cast out demons namely (1) because Jesus has given you authority to do so (2) because Jesus cast out devils and you will not be a good follower if you don’t cast out devils just as he did (3) because Jesus empowered the twelve disciples to cast out demons the same way he has empowered believers today.

What are the other reasons?

• Jesus has sent out believers today just as he sent out seventy disciples then. The difference between the twelve disciples and the seventy disciples on one hand and the followers of Jesus today on the other hand is that they obeyed the command they received from Jesus to cast out demons but many believers today are not walking in obedience to the command to cast out demons. Many believers are waiting for some deliverance ministers or pastors to cast out devils from them or for them. It ought not to be so. This could be because of ignorance or fear.

Luke 10:1says, “After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.” (NKJV) Did they go or they stayed back? Verse 17 gives us the answer: “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.’” (NKJV) Did you see that? They came back with the testimony that demons obeyed them – demons bowed

before them, surrendered to them. If they never cast them out, they would never have known that they would obey them. If demons obeyed them, demons will obey you to if you cast them out, if you exercise your authority over them.

Phil 2:10-11 says that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Only one time did we read that the disciples couldn’t cast out demons while they were still in training under Jesus, and he told them why they couldn’t.

(Matt 17:14-21, Mark 9:14-29) Jesus pointed to them that it was their lack of faith which, from what he said, they needed prayer and fasting to build up. He helped them to cast out that demon and it left. Then Jesus answered and said, ‘O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.’ And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’

So Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.’” (Matt 17: 17-21 NKJV) But after that incident there is no other record of inability of the disciples to cast out demons.

• The early church cast out demons. That means after Jesus ascension, the disciples

and the early church obeyed the command of Jesus to cast out demons. That means casting out demons didn’t end with the ministry of Jesus on earth. Every Bible-based ministry today is a continuation of the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, and believers should be bold to cast out demons as occasions demand.

While Philip was in Samaria preaching Christ, the Bible says, “And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken

by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.” (Acts 8:6-8 NKJV) Remember Phillip was not even among the twelve disciples. He was just one of the seven deacons appointed in Acts 6:5 to serve tables – administer the food programme for needy believers.

He was chosen alongside Stephen, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas.

But Phillip the table server became Phillip the Evangelist.

Under his ministration, demons came out – that was anointed ministration. And that’s how it should be in a New Testament ministry.

Paul was also not one of the twelve disciples but he cast out demons. In fact, there was a demon-possessed girl that he cast out a demon from, and it landed him in prison! That was at Philippi. “Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of

PAGE 51

From the Pulpit green pastures

By Pastor T. O. Banso

cedarministryintl@yahoo. com salvation.” 18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour. But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.”

(Acts 16:16-19 NKJV) Although Paul and Silas were imprisoned, two powerful testimonies came out of this incident – the supernatural opening of the prison doors as they were praying and singing hymns and the eventual salvation of the jailer and his household.

Everything worked together for good.

If the early church cast out devils, why shouldn’t you? Why should your Christianity be different?

Thank you for sharing your time with me reading this series today. I believe God has spoken to you. Be a doer of the Word and not just a reader, and it shall be well with you in Jesus’ name. God willing, I shall round off this series next week. You’re blessed in Jesus’ name.

TAKE ACTION! If you’re not born again, you need to make yourself ready for eternity. I urge you to take the following steps:*Admit you’re

Titus 2:7-10

“I

n all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works.” “Exhort servants to be obedient in all things.” “Adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things” (Titus 2:7,9,10).

Those words, “in all things” are both challenging and compelling. No part of the life or ministry of Titus was to be lived on the basis of personal opinion or selfish desire. His hearers also were not to partially or selectively apply the word in their lifestyle.

The “sound doctrine” which Titus preached must permeate and influence the character and actions of Titus, the preacher himself, and all his hearers “in all things.” Preachers never go on vacation, they are always preaching. A few hours’ preachers preach from the pulpit, the rest of the time we demonstrate our message, making our lives shed light on the meaning of what we have been preaching – now preaching by the way we live in the public. This life-pattern or life-preaching, carries more weight and takes more time than one-hour or two-hour messages.

The pattern of our lives will either drive home or drive out the preaching of our lips. How often have we heard, ‘your life speaks so

loud that I cannot hear what you say.’

“In all things.” Those words occur so often in the Scripture that we cannot overlook them. “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear IN ALL THINGS whatsoever he shall say unto you.” “But IN ALL THINGS approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses.”

“Speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him IN ALL THINGS, which is the head, even Christ.” “But watch thou IN ALL THINGS, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” “IN ALL THINGS shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing incorruptness, gravity, sincerity.” “We trust we have a good conscience, IN ALL THINGS willing to live honestly.”

“If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God IN ALL THINGS may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom

By Pastor W.F Kumuyi

be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” (Acts 3:22; 2 Corinthians 6:4; Ephesians 4:15; 2 Timothy 4:5; Titus 2:7; Hebrews 13:18; 1 Peter 4:11).

1.

CONSTANT COMMITMENT TO EXEMPLARY PATTERN IN ALL THINGS Titus 2:7,8; 1 Thessalonians 2:10-12; 1 Corinthians 4:16,17; Philippians 3:14-17; 1 Peter 5:1-3; 1 Timothy 4:12-16; 2 Corinthians 2:17; 1:12; Colossians 4:5,6.

Titus was to teach all the brethren under his pastoral care.

Here, the Apostle also taught him that he was to conform his life to the message of sound doctrine in all things. Titus was

to always remember and we are to always remember that the most compelling and powerful words will fall on deaf ears if the one speaking those words fails to live by them. Titus was willing to be taught. A teacher must be willing to be taught and a leader must be willing to be led. If the preacher is not able to pattern his life after the message he preaches, if he cannot obtain grace from God to demonstrate the holiness he emphasizes, he will be rightly labeled a hypocrite.

If the preacher who proclaims scriptural standard on the unity and permanence of the family does not have the love, wisdom and commitment to cleave to his wife for life, how can he expect his hearers to have the grace he

a sinner and you can’t save yourself and repent of your sins. *Confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. *Renounce your past way of life – your relationship with the devil and his works. *Invite Jesus into your life. *As a mark of seriousness to mature in the faith, start to attend a Biblebelieving, Bible -teaching church.

There you will be taught how to grow in the Kingdom of God. Kindly say this prayer now: “0 Lord God, I come unto you today. I know I am a sinner and I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me and resurrected the third day.

I repent and confess my sins. I confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and surrender my life to him today. I invite Jesus into my heart today. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank you Jesus for saving me and making me a child of God” I believe you have said this prayer from your heart.

Congratulations! You will need to join a Bible believing, Bible teaching church in your area where you will be taught how to live your new life in Christ Jesus.

I pray that you flourish like the palm tree and grow like the cedar of Lebanon. May you grow into Christ in all things becoming all God wants you to be. I’ll be glad to hear from you. May the Lord be with you. does not possess? If the one who teaches his congregation to be free from covetousness is himself known to be controlled by the love of money or insatiable desire for material things, can he ever hope to see the fruit of his preaching in his congregation? If I am irresponsible and undisciplined, I cannot raise a responsible, disciplined congregation only by preaching. To lead others to heaven, they must see that the leader is headed in that same direction too.

The pattern, example and model of Titus’ life were to conform to sound doctrine in all things so he could be a good example in everything to all members and ministers in the church. In doctrine and the manner of communicating divine truth, he was to demonstrate “incorruptness” – everything in his teaching was to be such as to make men better and purer.

“Gravity” was to be evident in his presentation and “sincerity” of motive and affection was to be observable in all he said and did.

He was to so minister at all times and in all places that he would not be ashamed before God or before men – in the present day and on the final day. The same challenge is placed before each and everyone of us.

PAGE 52

Sp or T s

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

Experts tip Enyimba to win 2014/15 NPFL league PG 53

How Plateau United, Niger Tornadoes return to premier league PG 55

AFN abandoned me for less qualified American athletes, says Opara PG 54

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 53

Experts tip Enyimba to win 2014/15 NPFL league

By Albert Akota

D

espite losing away from home against El Kanemi Warriors and having their momentum halted, Enyimba are still fan favourites to lift the Nigeria Professional Football League title.

The People’s Elephant have been widely tipped by Goal readers to win their seventh title ahead of close challengers Warri Wolves, Sunshine Stars and Wikki Tourists.

An overwhelming 77.4 per cent of Goal readers believe that the Aba Millionaires have the title in the bag, with eight matches left to play.

Respondents believe that Sunshine Stars, not currently second-placed Warri Wolves, would be the biggest challenger to the title as the Akure team polled 12.2 per cent of the votes.

Wolves come in third with 7.8 per cent while Wikki Tourists are

Siasia to overhaul Dream Team for Rio Olympics

By Albert Akota

D

ream Team VI coach Samson Siasia will overhaul his team ahead of the African U23 Cup of Nations, which will serve as the Rio 2016 Olympic Games football event qualifier.

Siasia stated that he is happy that the worst has happened at the All-Africa Games and he has learnt his mistakes.

“We will make corrections after the All-Africa Games. I plan to travel to talk to some players I have already penciled down, then hopefully, the team should be assembling in first week of October to prepare for the Africa U23 Cup of Nations,” said the

coach, who led Nigeria to the final of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“Certainly, some of the players I brought to Congo Brazzaville will have to give way.”

Siasia added: “I never imagined losing to Burkina Faso, but then my midfielders played so well, my defenders and attackers let me down, can you imagine my attackers not being able to convert about eight chances that came their way?

“To make matters worse, the defenders were asleep on a day they should have been up and doing. Who told the central defenders to keep offside trap the way they did?

“I am totally disappointed; we can’t play like this in Senegal

the team least expected to offer a challenge to win the title among the top four sides.

However, Enyimba have a big schedule ahead of them as they welcome Wikki to Aba on Sunday before traveling to Owerri to face eastern rivals Heartland as well as games against city rivals Abia Warriors, Shooting Stars and title rivals Warri Wolves and Sunshine on the last day of the season.

Meanwhile, Sunshine also have difficult ties against midtable sides Akwa United, Lobi Stars, Enugu Rangers as well as reigning champions Kano Pillars and second-placed Wolves in their final run-in.

As has been the tradition of the NPFL, the team with a better away record and a tight leash at home would stand the best chance of winning the title.

With eight games to go, there’s a lot to play for among the favourites.

Ghana striker out to drown Sharks

and expect to qualify for the 2016 Olympics. No way!

“We were so bad that anytime the ball beat the defenders, even my goalkeeper could not stop any of the shots fired at him.

“Football is a team work where errors are bound to occur, but it’s the ability of fellow team mates to cover for one another that makes a team great, that I didn’t see today.”

Siasia said he will take the blame for the team’s showing at the AAG. “I am not a man of excuses. I take all the blame for this collapse and will certainly make amends before the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations,” he promised.

Abdul Usman Biffo Godbless Asamoah

Samson Siasia

Dolphins’ Ghanaian forward, Godbless Asamoah, has revealed that he is out to score and hurt city rivals Sharks when the two clubs meet on Sunday in the Glo Premier League.

In the first meeting between the sides at the Liberation Stadium, Asamoah’s late goal cancelled out Yusuf Jaiyeola’s strike to secure a point for his team and now he wants to see his team claim a first league victory over their rivals in three years.

Asamoah recognises that it is “a local derby” and wants to leave his footprint in the game.

The Wassaman United forward is also keen on playing his part in the survival race of Dolphins, who sit one point above the drop zone and in 15th

position.

“Remember, my first ever goal for Dolphins was against Sharks at our home. Now I pray to God that I can do same at their home.

“It’s a local derby. Remember the last time I scored against Sharks was my first goal in the Nigerian league so I believe I can do same again as we continue on our way to escaping relegation.

“The league is still going on and I know if I cannot be league top scorer, then I can be for Dolphins, just like Emem (Eduok) did last season.

“Then after this season, I can continue my goals adventure next season,” said Asamoah.

Asamoah made his debut against FC Taraba and has since scored six goals in the division to make him Dolphins’ leading scorer.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 54

AFN abandoned me for less qualified American athletes, says Opara C hristy Opara-Thompson is angry even when a group, Falconet beauty pageant and award night (FABPAN) honoured her amongst a list of excellent performers in sports.

The nation has abandoned the generation of women athletes who laid the golden egg but whose efforts are made to be further destroyed due to the nation’s preference at a high cost for lesser qualified foreigners.

At Sheraton’s Ladi Kwali hall, during the long night award ceremony organised by Falconet beauty pageant and award night (FABPAN), a group advocating for gender equality in sports promotion and grassroots sports development in Nigeria, it was a repertoire of awards.

Opara-Thompson, a gold, silver and bronze medallist at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, lamented the exclusion of ex-athletes in the affairs of the sport that brough them to fame.

She said that, “I have a sports park in Abuja where I am breeding young athletes. I have met them but they are not ready to support us. I’m a graduate and I’m not begging anybody for a job.

“I just heard they employed two Americans as Sports Performance Director in my country. It’s the lady, Angie Taylor, I am bothered about here. What’s her qualification? I’m better qualified than her. I can count no less than 10 Nigerian former athletes who are better qualified than her but they don’t value what they have.

“We lived in America and defeated the Americans over and

again right there in their country.

Angie has a house and earns about $10,000 but your heroines are not given anything. They don’t want to see us because they say we know our rights.”

Christy Opara-Thompson, a Barcelona ’92 Olympic Games 4x100m bronze medallist, was collecting an award; she said “It does not make sense to celebrate Blessing Okagbare alone on the track.

Where are the other athletess?

A tree cannot make a forest. In my time, we had at least eight athletes in each event. If you were out, others will take your place.

But we now have a situation where we have only Blessing; once she’s injured, it’s over for Nigeria. It is sad. We need a fresh breathe of air in our athletics.”

“In our time, we had Beatrice Utondu, myself, Mary Onyali and a whole lot of others. There were about 12 of us, all of good in our rights. There were healthy competitions. We were growing up in strength. Our nation was better off. The pressure was never on any of us to deliver at all cost unlike what obtain now. Here we are, a one-athlete sport and nation.”

She thanked the organisers for a worthy look at the great contributions of female athletes to the nation’s sports glories from pre independence and beyond independence.

Even in the All African Games that just ended in Congo Brazzaville, most of the medals in athletics are from the women folk.

Sadly, we are not always being

Christy Opara-Thompson recognised. Here, we are singled out for recognition. Certainly, this must be an omen for great future,” Since the 2008 Olympic Games, where she won a bronze medal in long jump, Blessing Okagbare has become the sole symbol of Nigerian athletics.

At international events, the onus of the Nigerian nations rests on her frail but feminine shoulders to win a medal for the country. Haba!

The pressure has largely killed the athlete. Most of the time when she fails to perform when it matters most on the world stage, just like she did in Beijing, what a lot of people don’t appreciate is, she is bearing the pressures.

It is killing inside. That probably explains why she bursts easily to defray the pressure.

Okagbare was scheduled to compete in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay events in Beijing!

Is she super human? After a

poor outing in the 100m final, where she came last, a hamstring injury reportedly stopped her from competing in the 200m.

She also failed to compete in the 4x100m relays for women.

Astute sports administrator and deputy Governor of Nasarawa state, Silas Ali Agara, who was to be the Special guest was honoured. Eleven Nigerians were honoured by the organisers.

Inyama frowns at slow pace of football development in Nigeria

By Albert Akota

B

Emeka Inyama

oard member of Nigerian football federation (NFF) Emeka Inyama has raised an alarm over the slow pace of development of the game in the country, saying that if the trend is not urgently addressed it portends a bleak future.

Chairman of the Nigerian National League, NNL, also lamented that football has not grown in the past years as it ought to have, because Nigerian football has not had a new major sponsor in five years.

According to Inyama, while featuring on a Lagos radio on Saturday, “if the monies are not coming in, then the tools to grow the game are missing.”

He further revealed that NFF is suffering from the bad reputation it has endured in the past, citing the war that nearly consumed it.

He lamented that the war still haunts the NFF like the

plague.

A major crisis rocked Nigerian football in the wake of dismal outing of the senior team, Super Eagles at the last FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

The crisis, which started in July, 2014, nearly attracted FIFA ban on Nigeria but claimed the head of the President of the NFF, Aminu Maigari and a new election that brought Amaju Pinnick into power.

Meanwhile, former Super Falcons coach, Rolandson Odey, believes the NFF is complicit in the Falcons’ poor performance at the 2015 All Africa Games and must wake up to its responsibility.

The Nigerian female senior team coached by Chris Danjuma lost in the bronze medal match to Ivory Coast-second time the Ivorians would defeat Nigeria in the competition-on Friday to finish the championship on a disappointing note.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 26 - sunday 27, September, 2015

PAGE 55

Remy ready to get physical in Costa’s absence

C

helsea striker Loic Remy says he is prepared to get physical if he fills in for Diego Costa during the striker’s three-match suspension.

Costa has been given a retrospective ban for his clash with Laurent Koscielny during the club’s 2-0 win over Arsenal on Saturday.

He sat out the first match of his suspension in the Capital One Cup victory over Walsall on Wednesday, with Falcao disappointing in his absence.

Remy could be called upon to replace Costa for the games against Newcastle and Southampton and he is ready to adapt his game accordingly to replicate his team-mate’s robust

style.

“I don’t have a choice,” he replied when asked if he was willing to change his style. “I have to do it because when you play for Chelsea it’s a question of giving the best, 100 per cent, every game.

Of course, I will do the best I can.

“We will miss Diego because he is so important to the team and winning games, but whoever is on the pitch, we just try to do the best we can. It’s a shame for us to have lost him for three games.”

Remy has been forced to play second fiddle to Costa since joining the club from QPR last August and he admits he considered his future at the club over the summer.

Chelsea strikers Loic Remy and Diego

CAF CL: USM Alger face tricky trip to Sudan

A

Al Hilal’s Souleymane Cissé in action against Zamalek last season

l Hilal will host USM Alger in Omdurman on Sunday, in the first leg of their 2015 CAF Champions League semifinals tie.

The Sudanese earned their spot in the last four courtesy of a second-place finish in their Group A behind TP Mazembe, while USM Alger finished top of their Group B ahead of Al Merreikh on a record 15 points.

Brimming with confidence at the end of their group stage campaign, the Algerians have just been dealt a massive blow after it emerged that star striker Youcef Belaïli received a two-year suspension from all competitions from the Confederation of African Football, after testing positive for an unspecified banned substance following a CAF Champions League tie between MC El Eulma and USMA on 7 August 2015.

The former Espérance de Tunis hitman has been instrumental in USMA’s road to the semifinals of

the prestigious competition, with four goals and three assists to his name during the group stage.

The ‘Red and Black’ coach Miloud Hamdi will also have to cope with the absence of defender Hocine Benayada and forward Oussama Derfalou, who are on duty with the national military team.

However, the Algerians are determined to go all the way in the competition.

“We will travel to Sudan with high spirits, the boys’ confidence is sky-high,” striker Mohamed Amine Aoudia said.

“This game is very important and we are going to do everything to come back with a positive result to boost our chances of qualification for the final.

“The Champions League is one of our main objectives this season.

The players are aware of their responsibilities and are determined to achieve something special in Sudan.”

How Plateau United, Niger Tornadoes return to premier league

J

ohn Kim’s second minute goal was all Plateau United FC of Jos needed to claim a 1-0 victory over Kogi United FC of Lokoja at the Rwang Pam stadium in Jos in a match witnessed by a large crowd including Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong.

The Confluence State club threw all they could to level up but were denied by a slippery pitch as a result of heavy down pour and a near perfect defending by the Plateau United.

Head coach of Kogi United, Fatai Osho, who wasn’t happy with the result believed his side deserved at least a point in Jos noting that all hope is not lost for his side to remain in the NNL. “Actually, my prayer is that we should escape the drop, I mean this team can actually get a promotion to the Premier League next season.

I’m so sure about that. I will stay with this team, I’m not so happy this time around because we should have at least gotten a point from here, you can’t believe that with what the fans are saying but I’m

so sure by next season, the people of Kogi State will be happy they have a team to challenge for top places.

“The officiating was excellent today, I’ve experienced this before while at Remo Stars when we won in Port Harcourt (against Delta Force) with two games to go and the top referees did well then, that’s what we had today and I hope those we have in the NNL will be doing something like this,” the former Supreme Court Technical Adviser said.

Coach Osho however remained optimistic that the Wada Boys could end the season on a high adding that they will fight till the end.

Assistant Coach of Plateau United, Mansur Abdullahi, admitted that the Jos based side were lucky as Kogi United stretched his boys till the last minutes of the game.

Kogi United, who are still awaiting the decision of the NFF on their stalemated match against Adamawa United will be hosting Jigawa Golden Stars in the final fixtures in Lokoja on Saturday. They will

Manchester City desperate to bounce back against Tottenham

need the entire three points at stake.

In Minna, excitement was in the air as the Abdullahi Usman Biffo tutored Niger Tornadoes back to the Nigeria Professional Football League.

Tornadoes were relegated to the second tier in the 2012/13 campaign have won seven matches, drawn two and lost two in the ongoing Nigeria National League campaign.

Biffo whose magical touch inspired Giwa FC to promotion to the elite league in the 2012/13 season got it right again with the Lolo Boys in the 2014/15 Nigeria National League season with one game to spare.

The game played at the Bako Kontagora Stadium behind closed doors started on an electrifying note with the homers making their intentions clear with their ultra-attacking system.

A deadly cross from Kunle Isa was headed home by Kayode Agboola 12 minutes into the match. Mighty Jets tried in vain to peg back the Tornadoes in the highly explosive battle.

With time running out, there was still more in the offing for Tornadoes.

Substitute Samson Adeleye converted a 90th minute penalty after Kunle was hacked down in the box.

Tornadoes have amassed 23 points from a possible 33 and have one more game to play before rounding up the season.

Coach Biffo was a happy man after his tactical prowess in steering the club to the NPFL. “We deserve the victory and promotion ticket,” an elated Biffo spoke to newsmen shortly after the game.

“I’m so happy today for the trust the management of the team had in me and the encouragement from the fans after my appointment here. This promotion ticket is for the soccer loving Governor of Niger State Abubakar Sani Bello for his unrelenting support.

Striker Agboola said he was delighted to have made history with Tornadoes. “I am very happy to have helped my club return to the top division of the Nigeria League.

This is where we belong,” he said.

Man City midfielder Yaya Toure

Y

aya Toure is desperate to return to winning ways in the Premier League when Manchester City travels to Tottenham today after their surprise defeat at the hands of West Ham. City started the league season in perfect fashion with five wins from five matches, but their 100 per cent record came to an end when they were beaten 2-1 at home by Slaven Bilic’s side last Saturday.

Manuel Pellegrini’s men bounced back with a convincing 4-1 League Cup victory at Sunderland on Tuesday and midfielder Toure has now set his sights on taking all three points at White Hart Lane.

Pellegrini may have to make do without a number of first-team regulars at Spurs, as the likes of captain Kompany, David Silva (both calf), Eliaquim Mangala (muscular injury) and Samir Nasri (knock) all missed the trip to Sunderland.

But Sergio Aguero is fully fit again after he picked up a knock in the win at Crystal Palace a fortnight ago, and the Argentina striker - who has scored 10 times in seven Premier League outings against Spurs - is set to lead City’s line at the Lane.

Tottenham, meanwhile, will be looking to move on from Wednesday’s League Cup defeat against arch-rivals Arsenal and continue their climb up the table.

Mauricio Pochettino’s men failed to win in their opening four Premier League games, but have taken maximum points from Sunderland and Palace in their last two outings.

Pochettino has no new major injury worries ahead of City’s visit, with Nabil Bentaleb as their most notable absentee due to an ankle problem. Ryan Mason (knee) remains a doubt.

BIG PUNCH We will continue to disgrace them; we will continue to catch them...

No ransom was paid. I will let you know if anybody was apprehended later.

—IGP Solomon Arase

Peoples Daily WEEKEND, SATURDAY — SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 - 27 , 2015

Saraki: Removing trousers through the head

I

don’t blame Saraki for becoming senate president.

I rather blame the APC and the president for creating a chance for him. The APC and the presidency will certainly pay the price of their initial mistake, which created the crack Saraki entered in the senate caucus. As we say in Hausa, until there is a crack in the wall a lizard finds a place to live.

I’m waiting to see how senators will screen President Buhari’s ministerial nominees without a hitch before the end of September.

With the raging cross-arm spat between the presidency and the senate, it is unlikely that ministers will be fully screened by the end of next month.

Trust the senators, they would grill and reject most of Buhari’s ministerial nominees.

But if we, at the lower rung, see what happens to the senate president, Bukola Saraki, as a triumph against corruption, the senators see otherwise. For them, it is an affront, which they will retaliate after licking their wounds.

Whenever an episode of the Saraki serial drama is played, I take mental notes. APC’s margin is not too wide in the senate. That bothers me. President Buhari is yet to nominate ministers for screening. This bothers me more.

If Saraki is finally jailed as the anti-graft campaigners want, PDP’s Ike Ekweremadu may likely takeover. It is obvious proSaraki senators will team up with the PDP senators to make that happen. And this will garner more support for Saraki better than ever in the senate.

Dealing with Saraki through the Code of Conduct Tribunal may appear easy — just as “easy” as removing trousers through the head. Those hatching this plan should have weighed its implications before embarking on it.

Take the issue of ministerial nominees again. I know there will be stormy sessions and no nominee will have an easy sail through. The senators will surely make mincemeat of some nominees, while making Yahuza suya of many others. It will be ‘mandako’ or “kuli-kulin kubura” for Tinubu’s nominees.

I know senators will subject each nominee to rigorous scrutiny.

They will check as far back as a the nominee’s days in nursery school to see if an ‘undeclared’ lunchbox or a pack of crayons was ever found on him. If you are a ministerial nominee, know that senators won’t brook a “crime” as little as nicking a kobo under your mom’s pillow to buy Bazooka Advert: business: news: lagos:

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Saturday Column By

Jaafar Jaafar

Senate President Saraki or condensed milk. Senators will check wether a nominee once “brought down” his father’s piggybank as a kid.

Nigerians will surely watch the most interesting screening ever! Believe me, there will be an intriguing drama, melodrama.

There will be a stalemate and checkmate. There will be suspense and suspension (of sittings).

There will be presentation and re-presentation of nominees.

“

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The president’s aide on National Assembly will have an uphill task in the coming weeks or even months.

Even when there is cordial relationship between the two arms, the senate screening often raises some dusts. During Obasanjo’s tenure, while some senators were allegedly bribed to screen nominees, other senators failed the (bribery) test. One can recall how Ambassador Bayo Yusuf

was rejected outright by senators during that era. I remember how Professor Babalola Borishade was presented three times before he finally “bribed” his way into Obasanjo’s cabinet in 2003. Now think of screening under someone who does “not” interfere.

Now we are in the era of puritanism. Baba is puritan, and senators will help him get people of his moral standing to man his cabinet. I’m just imagining that

Now we are in the era of puritanism.

Baba is puritan, and senators will help him get people of his moral standing to man his cabinet. I’m just imagining that dramatic scene when the Rotimi Amaechis of this world will stand before Saraki for screening.

dramatic scene when the Rotimi Amaechis of this world will stand before Saraki for screening.

Every sensible person knows there is a force behind the Saraki travail. One knows it is not about corruption when one realises the same APC gave Kogi and Bayelsa governorship tickets to Abubakar Audu and Timipre Sylva respectively. While Saraki was in the dock answering charges, APC was in Yenagoa crowning Sylva as the party’s candidate. If one cannot differentiate fighting against corruption from vendetta, then it will be hard to differentiate Nivea cream from ice cream.

If really Buhari, Tinubu or a cabal is behind Saraki’s ordeal at this material time when the Buhari administration is yet to have its essential component approved by the senate, then he is doing more harm than good to the administration.

I don’t blame Saraki for becoming senate president. I rather blame the APC and the president for creating a chance for him. The APC and the presidency will certainly pay the price of their initial mistake, which created the crack Saraki entered in the senate caucus. As we say in Hausa, until there is a crack in the wall a lizard finds a place to live.

As I have always said, the choice of Senator Ahmed Lawan against Senator George Akume for the senate presidency set the pace for this crisis and created the crack where Saraki is residing — uncomfortably though. premiumtimesng.com

DAN GAYE

We can’t abandon Jonathan - Shekarau

Does he give a damn?

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