Saturday 25th February 2017

PDP Must Not Die in Your Hands, Anenih Tells Sheriff

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

Party elder and former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih has asked the court-reinstated national chairman of the party, Ali Modu Sheriff to make sure

that the party does not die in his hands.

THISDAY gathered from a reliable source that Anenih advised Sheriff and his loyalists who had a closed-door meeting in his house yesterday that he should utilise the opportunity available to him

to reach out to all aggrieved members so as to rebuild and reunite the party.

Although both Anenih and Sheriff failed to give details of what transpired during their less than 30 minutes meeting when Journalists posed questions to them, it was learnt

that the chief offered what could be regarded as hard choices for a return of peace.

However, when asked to shed more light on his discussions with Sheriff, the former Minister of Works and Housing, said: "I have spoken to my son and he

will carry out my advice."

When prodded further, Anenih said that he would not disclose the issues since "it is a family matter" On his part, Sheriff said his team had a very fruitful deliberations with the former BoT chairman, “and was of-

fered suggestions” on what should be done to rebuild the PDP. "Anenih is not just a former PDP BoT member; he is a leader in Nigeria. This PDP we are enjoying today and Continued on page 8

North-east Senators Demand N100bn Allocation to Address Humanitarian Crisis ... Page 53 Saturday 25 February, 2017 Vol 22. No 7982. Price: N250

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Speculators, Currency Traffickers Lose Heavily as Dollar Continues Freefall CBN pumps more dollars to BDCs, rate now N450/$ Many resorting to fake Dubai and Turkish visa/travel tickets from unconfirmed agents to buy PTA

Obinna Chima Speculators and naira traffickers have gotten their fingers severely burnt as the naira sustained its upswing against the U.S. dollar on the parallel market yesterday.

It closed at N450/$, stronger than the N480 to the dollar from the previous day on renewed confidence in the forex market, gaining N75 in just three days as a result of the new policy actions introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The sell rate of the dollar also improved yesterday to close N430/$, as against the N460/$ at which it closed on Thursday as speculators are wary of buying dollars at higher rate, as many have already lost millions of naira.

Yesterday, the Central bank pumped more dollars into the market with each BDC getting $8,000. The apex bank has pledged to sustain the supply.

THISDAY investigation revealed that many of the Continued on page 8

Court Orders Forfeiture of 17 Vehicles of Ex-Customs Boss to FG Defence stalls Dasuki’s trial with fresh motion Paul Obi in Abuja

Justice S.M Shuaibu of the Federal High Court sitting in Kaduna has given an interim order for the forfeiture of 17 vehicles found in the warehouse of former Comptroller General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko Inde to the

federal government.

The order was sequel to an exparte application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seeking, among others, the forfeiture of the vehicles to the Nigerian Government,

Continued on page 8

SUNSHINE STATE GETS A NEW GOVERNOR...

Rotimi Akeredolu being administered the oath of office as the new governor of Ondo State, by the Ag. Chief Judge of the state, Justice Temitayo Osoba ...yesterday

Naira Strengthens to N450/$ On Parallel Market ... Page 9

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SATURDAY, february 25, 2017 • T H I S D AY

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Akeredolu Sworn in, Promises to Rebuild State James Sowole in Akure At a capacity filled Akure Township Stadium, in the state capital, the new Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu was yesterday sworn in with a promise to rebuild the state economy, resuscitate damaged infrastructure, restore hope and return the state to a prosperous land.

Akeredolu, who was elected on November 26, 2016 on the platform of the All Progressives Congres (APC), was sworn in along with his deputy, Mr Agbola Ajayi.

The duo were sworn in by the Acting Chief Judge of Ondo State, Justice Temitayo Osoba a ceremony attended by dignitaries from all walks of

life and party supporters from within and outside the state amidst tight security.

Some of the dignitaries at the occasion were the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Lasun Yusuf, the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John OdigieOyegun, the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, and many party leaders from different states.

Also among the guests at the inauguration were the governors of Ekiti, Oyo, Ogun, Edo, Jigawa, Kogi, and Sokoto states, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, Abiola Ajimobi, Ibikunle Amosun, Godwin Obaseki, Muhammad Badaru, Yahaya

Bello and Aminu Tambuwal respectively while Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode was represented by his deputy, Mrs. Idiat Adebule.

Akeredolu in his inaugural speech entitled “Journey to Redemption,” said the administration was ready to transform the state, calling all the people of the state to join hands with him in achieving the goal of transformation.

“We are determined as an administration to break down the barriers that have made stagnation possible.

“We will break down the barriers to honest leadership, to comprehensive development, to physical growth and social security. These we intend to do through the promotion of

transparent leadership, rule of law, extensive consultation, quality and accessible public utilities and social security; all in a sustainable manner”, he said.

The legal practitioner who admitted that there were challenges ahead for his administration said he could not do it alone without the support of the people of the state.

He said: "There are many mountains before us to climb.

As we climb up these steep mountains, sometimes we may trip or slip, we will get back up.

We will focus on the journey.

We will never stop. In the end, we will reach our goal.

"For all these to happen, I am humbly going to ask only one thing from you. What I ask for is attitude. We need to

come with an attitude of belief and transformation " He promised to create job through agriculture, entrepreneurship and industrialisation.

He also pledged to provide massive infrastructural development and maintenance.

Akeredolu also promised to provide functional education and technological growth for the people of the state.

He said there will be "provision of accessible and qualitative health care and social service delivery, rural development and community extension services."

He charged the civil servants in the state to collaborate with his government to transform the economy of the state, saying the economic challenges facing the state will be successfully

addressed with the support of the state workers.

“Our administration shall, decidedly, try to close the gap between the hinterland and urban centres. Real development can only be actualised and accentuated through an active symbiosis between the two, an understanding predicated on collaboration and co-existence designed for amity and progress.

“Our people will be encouraged to participate in the massive reconstruction contemplated by our administration in this regard”, he stated.

The governor said the administration would make the welfare of the people priority and that the government shall be for everybody in the state.

NNPC: Our Seismic Work Not Responsible for NLNG Pipeline Explosion Chineme Okafor in Abuja The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday said that seismic work being conducted by its subsidiary, the Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL) could not be linked to the pipeline explosion which affected one of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) pipeline

in Emohua area of Rivers State because the site of its operation was 798 metres away from the blast site.

NNPC, in a statement by its Group General Manager Public Affairs, Ndu Ughamadu, said IDSL's operation crew which was engaged in acquiring seismic data for Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Oil Mining Lease (OML)

17/22 ROBO 3D prospect, observed approved safe distance standards contained in the Department of Petroleum Resources’ (DPR) regulations and as such could not be the cause of the blast.

NLNG had earlier said that an explosion occurred in the afternoon of February 22, 2017 on a section of the Right of Way housing two gas transmission

pipelines, one of which belongs to it.

But the IDSL said in the NNPC's statement: "Our activities involve the use of seismic explosives of size 2kg and detonators. The drilled and exploded depth is 45 metres.

At this depth, the effect on the surface cannot affect any structure."

It further explained: "The

suspected gas leakage on the gas pipeline between Eveku and Rumodogo 1 communities in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State of February 22, 2017 was not caused and cannot be caused by NNPC, IDSL Party 05 seismic operations. Our closest activity around the incident area yesterday was 798 metres away from the pipeline."

It noted that as a responsible corporate body, the IDSL crew on operation in Emohua observed to the letter, DPR’s regulations governing such activities which include maintaining a minimum distance of 25 metres from tarmac roads, 50 metres from houses, 100 metres from pipelines, and a minimum distance of 200 metres from well heads or oil wells.

grand failure. But really it is logical that if you remove a large junk of demand from the parallel market as the recent measures are bound to guarantee that the rates would inevitably appreciate.

"One thing you could say about the parallel market rates is that the rates are very responsive to the movement in demand and supply situations. One thing which the monetary authorities must guard against to ensure success is diversion and no round tripping must be countenanced in this respect.

Otherwise the full benefits of the recent measures would not be realised," Chizea added.

On his part, the CEO, Global Analytics Consulting Limited, Mr. Tope Fasua, faulted criticism of what some had described as the frequent changes to the country's FX rules, saying that "the role of a central bank is to tinker with policies."

He commended the central bank for what he termed as its dynamism, saying: "Nobody has a singular

policy and then goes to sleep. This economy is not a developed economy. Even the developed economies, they tinker with monetary policies.

But I think Nigerians should put themselves in the shoes of these policy makers. I am not saying that they get it all the time. A good central bank must be dynamic and that is what we have been seeing.

"You can't leave FX supply in the hands of BDCs. What they have just done by allowing the banks to open retail outlets in airports is the best because they (CBN) would be dealing with banks that they can control. No matter what some people feel about the central bank, I personally think they are on the right track. If we look at the accretion to the external reserves, you will see that some of their policies are actually having effects. When people need little amount of FX for school fees and PTA, they should be able to get it without hassle and that is what the CBN has done."

SPECULATORS, CURRENCY TRAFFICKERS LOSE HEAVILY AS DOLLAR CONTINUES FREEFALL parallel market operators are trying to slow down the fall of the dollar to mitigate the heavy losses they are currently suffering.

Some of them who spoke to THISDAY revealed that they had bought huge volumes at over N500/$ in the hope that the naira will continue to fall, only for CBN to dramatically intervene, leading to the naira gaining substantially against the dollar.

A CBN official who pleaded anonymity promised that the bank is ready to supply the BDC more dollars than they will know what to do with.

"We will create supply glut

in the market, school fees, PTA, medical expenses will all be covered, there is enough dollars to go round. CBN is ready to flood the market, we will meet everyone's dollar need."

Further investigation have revealed that many people, smarting from the strengthening naira now fake letter/ travel tickets to Dubai and Turkey with which they apply for PTA in order to benefit from the 20% above the interbank rate for travellers and payment of school fees.

This is relatively easy because visas to these countries are stamped on arrival and so don't need to present it as

a pre-condition to purchase the PTA. The CBN had in a statement titled: “New Policy Actions in the Foreign Exchange Market,” on Monday, among other things, resolved to ease the burden of travellers and ensure that transactions are settled at much more competitive exchange rates and had directed all banks to open FX retail outlets at major airports as soon as logistics permit.

Furthermore, as part of efforts to further increase the availability of FX to all endusers, the CBN said it decided to significantly reduce the tenor of its forward sales

from the current maximum cycle of 180 days, to no more than 60 days from the date of transaction.

Speaking on the new FX actions, the Chief Executive Officer, BIC Consultancy Services, Dr. Boniface Chizea, pointed out that the reduction of the wide gap between the official interbank window and the parallel market rate was the major reason for the recent changes to the approach to the determination of the exchange rates.

"And if the recent steps did not breach the gap between the official and parallel market we must then consider this experiment a

COURT ORDERS FORFEITURE OF 17 VEHICLES OF EX-CUSTOMS BOSS TO FG pending the conclusion of investigation and determination of the case.

In his ruling yesterday, Justice Shuaibu held that “the seventeen (17) vehicles, which are now in the custody of the applicant (EFCC) and as properly described and listed in the schedule marked exhibit EFCC 2 attached to the affidavit in support of the application, are hereby forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria in the interim pending conclusion of the investigation.”

Operatives of the EFCC had on February 20 stormed the warehouse of the former Customs boss on Nnamdi Azikwe Street, Kaduna and discovered 17 exotic vehicles worth hundreds of millions of Naira, suspected to be proceeds of crime.

Meanwhile, the trial of

a former National Security Adviser, NSA, to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Col. Sambo Dasuki (Rtd) before Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT High Court sitting in Maitama, scheduled to commence yesterday, February 24, 2017 could not go on due to a fresh application

by Dasuki’s counsel, Ahmed Raji, SAN. Raji told the court that he was not ready for the commencement of trial because he had an application for consolidation, pending before the court.

“It will amount to a waste of time if the issue of the application is not resolved because it has a connection with the sister case,” he said.

Counsel to EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, decried delay in commencing the trial,

adding that after arraignment in 2015, the trial was yet to commence.

“Your lordship gave a sufficient time since the last sitting on January 24, 2017 in which the 2nd defendant (Dasuki) could have filed any motion, but he filed it only yesterday, and the sister case has commenced already.

“He just wanted to try his luck, this should not be a legal gambling,” Jacobs lamented. In the sister case, Dasuki was arraigned on a 19-count charge, bordering on diversion of funds.

All the cases are now pending before Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf.

After listening to the submissions from parties, Justice Baba-Yusuf adjourned to March 2, 2017 for hearing on the motion.

EFCC Head of Media and

Information, Wilson Uwujaren said: "Dasuki is facing a 22-count charge of illegal diversion of N19.4billion from the Office of National Security Adviser, ONSA account. He was docked alongside former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa and his son, Sagir.

"Others arraigned with them are a former Director of Finance and Administration, ONSA, Shuaibu Salisu and a former Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda.

"They are alleged to have conspired to steal the funds which was part of the $2.1billion meant for the purchase of arms to combat terrorism in the North-east using a company, Dahaltu Investment Limited, listed as the 4th defendant in the charge as conduit pipe for the alleged diversion."

PDP MUST NOT DIE IN YOUR HANDS, ANENIH TELLS SHERIFF everybody is claiming, if there are two founding fathers, he will be among them. I came to consult him, I came to inform him about the situation we are in and he as the father who founded this party should be able to guide and advise us on how to restore the party to its 1999 status. He has given advice on what do on all

the matters."

The former National Vice Chairman of the PDP (SouthSouth), Dr. Cairo Ojougboh who was appointed by Sheriff to serve as Deputy Chairman (South) in replacement of Prince Uche Secondus, told journalist yesterday that he would be ready to step-down if that would bring about peace.

T H I S D AY SATURDAY FEBRUARY 25, 2017

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER •FEBRUARY 25, 2017

NEWS

News Editor Ahamefula Ogbu 08116759810 (sms only) Email ahamefula.ogbu@thisdaylive.com

2018 Census Will Not Be Manipulated, Says Population Commission Christopher Isiguzo in Enugu The National Population Commission (NPC) says it has devised strategies that would help in eliminating all forms of manipulations in the 2018 Population Census even as it appealed to the federal government to ensure that all the necessary funds meant for the exercise were released in good time.

The Commission said since the 2018 census would be biometric based and would seek to capture the facial impression and fingerprints of persons during the exercise, any hope of gaining advantage through manipulation of the area demarcation would be an illusion as only persons physically seen would be counted and biometrics taken.

Briefing newsmen at the commission's headquarters in Enugu as part of activities for the flag-off of field work for the third phase of the Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD) in Aninri local government area preparatory for next year's census, the NPC Federal Commissioner in the state, Dr. Festus Uzor said the commission had already come up with a scientific approach which would eliminate human errors during the census.

While noting that the EAD exercise was one of the core preparatory activities for the main census exercise, Uzor said the EAD constituted the foundation on which the entire census architecture stood, add-

ing "it forms the basis for the planning and execution of the census project".

Explaining further, the NPC commissioner "in the pre-census period, the total number of EAs and its distribution are required for census planning, particularly the deployment of personnel, logistics and materials for the pre-test, trial census, the main census and the post enumeration survey.

Also, in the post census period, the products of EAD are required for effective dissemination of the census data. The EAD is therefore the vehicle that drives the entire census process in the pre-census, actual enumeration and post census period".

He said it was in recognition of the importance of EADs that the commission had adopted a meticulous and gradual approach to the 2018 census by introducing a demarcation process that allowed for practical experimentation of the methodology and necessary adjustment in implementation and flexibility.

He said the significance of the demarcation exercise as far as the commission was concerned, should go beyond the conduct of the 2018 census "as we plan to establish and maintain a national frame including locality list and house numbering for future censuses and surveys", adding that they hoped to be only required to update figures in future censuses.

"It is in this regard that we are deploying sophisticated

FG Sacks NCAA Management Chinedu Eze The federal government may have dissolved the entire management of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

THISDAY learnt that the Director General of the agency, Captain Muhtar Usman returned from Abuja yesterday and announced that the management had been dissolved.

The NCAA management is made up of the Director General and 10 Directors, although some of the Directorates are headed by officials on acting capacity.

The directors affected by the dissolution include Alhaji Salawu Ozigi (Director of Finance and Accounts), Dr. Joyce Nkemakolam (Director of Aerodrome and Airspace Standards), Mr. Aba Ejembi (Director of Administration) and Mr. Emmanuel Ogunbami (Director of Licensing).

Others are Mr. Benedict Adeyileka (Director of Airworthiness), Mr. Justus Wariya (Director of Air Transport Regulation), Alhaji Adamu Abdullahi (Director of Consumer Protection), Capt.

Ayodele Sasegbon (Director of General Aviation and Mr. Austin-Amadi Ifeanyi (Director of Human Resources).

The affected directors were immediately ordered to handover to the next in command in their various directorates who would in the interim take charge of activities.

The General Manager, Public Affairs, NCAA, Mr. Sam Adurogboye in a telephone conversation, confirmed the development

He simply replied that he was aware of the sack of the directors, adding that they were all political appointees.

“It is true that all the directors have been disengaged, but I don’t have details of their disengagement,” he said.

NCAA source told THISDAY that all the directors might have been sacked and it was only the Director General that would not be affected because his position is tenured for five-year term, which is confirmed by the Senate.

Informed source told THISDAY that no explanation was given for the sack of the management but this may become clearer by Monday when the agency would throw more light on the reason for the sack.

THISDAY also learnt that all the Directors may have lost their jobs, despite the fact that some of them were due to be retired by in few months.

THISDAY learnt that the dissolution of the management may not be unconnected with the shake up that has been going on in the industry, as sources indicated that some of the Directors were said to had stayed too long in the agency and had become lackadaisical “and therefore they need to be removed so that younger people with zeal will come in.”

Reacting to the dissolution, an operator who expressed shock at the action said government might have a plan for dissolving the agency’s management, adding that some of the directors had actually stayed too long in their positions.

PAINFUL PARTING...

L-R: Former Minister of Environment and the new Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Mrs. Amina Mohammed; President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki and Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, during a valedictory reception at the Presidential Banquet hall in Abuja. PHOTO: SUNDAY AGHAEZE

technology in carrying out the EAD. The methodology for the census is designed to achieve full Geographic Information System compliance. High resolution satellite imagery will be used to ensure that no area is left undemarcated or no place is duplicated. This process will not

allow imaginary Enumeration Areas and any attempt to include non-existent households and buildings in EAs will be detected through satellite imagery.

"Personal Digital Assistance (PDA) will be used in capturing spatial data and estimate EAs during demarcation. This will

eliminate human elements as the process is capable of detecting human errors and preventing manipulations. The EAD will be professionally undertaken in order to avoid overlapping EAs, oversized EAs, under sized EAs and non-existent EAs," he said.

He disclosed that the com-

mission had carried out the second phase of the EAD in Enugu South last year, and would carry out the exercise in the remaining 15 councils in the state before the commencement of the actual census by the first quarter of next year barring funds' availability.

Court Sentences Killers of Fadipe, Bayelsa Official to Death by Hanging Akinwale Akintunde in Lagos and Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye of an Ikeja High Court yesterday, sentenced to death by hanging, a 27-year old man, Oluwaseun Oladapo for the murder of Mr. Kunle Fadipe, a Lagos based human rights lawyer.

In Bayelsa, two young men, Izibefien Tamuno and Izibekuma George, were adjudged responsible for the death of Edi Kolu, a Bayelsa government official in a mob attack have been sentenced to death. He was said to be on an official duty to a community in Yenagoa. Justice Nayai Aganaba, ordered that the duo should be hanged.

On Fadipe, the judge sentenced Oladapo to death after finding him guilty on a five-count charge of murder, armed robbery and assault occasioning harm.

Justice Ipaye in her in a twohour judgment said, “I pronounce you guilty and sentenced to death.

“On count one, you Oluwaseun Oladapo, is to be hung by the neck till you are dead.

“On count three, you Oluwaseun Oladapo, is to be hung by the neck till you are dead.

“On count four, you Oluwaseun Oladapo is sentenced to three years in prison.

“On count five, you Oluwaseun Oladapo is sentenced to three years in prison.

“The terms of imprisonment of counts three, four and five is that they should run consecutively.

“This is the judgment of the court.”

According to the prosecution led by Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, the Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and Mrs. Idowu Alakija, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Oladapo, allegedly murdered the lawyer at 3am on July 4, 2014 at his residence located at No. 1 Harmony Estate, Ifako-Ijaiye, Iju, Lagos.

The convict was also charged with the murder of Mrs. Cecelia Owolabi, the mother-in-law to the late Fadipe, but the charge of murder was commuted to assault occasioning harm by the court.

Justice Ipaye explained that the reason why the murder charge of Owolabi was rejected was because the prosecution failed to prove a direct link between the actions of the Oladapo and the death of Madam Cecelia Owolabi.

“He is however, found guilty of the assault occasioning harm of Madam Cecelia Owolabi.”

During the trial, the wife of the late lawyer, Mrs. Kemi Fadipe, in her testimony gave a graphic narration of the events of the night of the murder.

Kemi, a school proprietress said: “My husband came in late from the office at 10pm and he was preparing for a flight to Abuja the following day, we both had retired to our bedroom.

“Our home is a five – bedroom duplex and there was no electricity that night, the home was well lit because the generator was on.

“At 11.45pm, power was restored and my son Folahanmi

went to put off the generator, a few minutes after he left, he came running upstairs screaming for help.

“He had a stab wound on his head and was being pursued by the defendant who was armed with a knife.

“The commotion alerted my husband and I and we rushed to the ante-room upstairs where we saw the defendant and Folahanmi.

“The defendant was saying that someone had to die today and demanded N500,000, threatening us that members of his gang had surrounded the house.

“We knelt down to plead with him and my husband instructed me to get a white envelope containing cash from the jacket of his suit.

“When the envelope was handed over to the defendant, he was dissatisfied and demanded for laptops and phones and we told him those items were downstairs.

“He for no reason, lunged at Folahanmi with a knife and my husband stepped in to save him and he was stabbed in his neck and his chest.”

Kemi said after her husband was stabbed, Oladapo ran downstairs where he unfortunately encountered her mother.

“My mother came out from her bedroom downstairs to investigate the source of the commotion and the defendant ran into her, stabbing her in the chest.”

“I, the maid and my sister struggled with him in the living room downstairs, he was hit on the head with a stabiliser but he was behaving in a wild and crazed

manner and very strong and hard to subdue.

“My husband and Folahanmi ran out to get help but my husband collapsed in the premises.

“Folahanmi got help from the security guard of the estate who subdued the defendant by shooting him with a gun.”

She said that Fadipe was rushed to a hospital where he gave up the ghost at 4am, her mother who came to Lagos from Ibadan for an eye operation was discharged from the hospital but died in Ibadan from the shock and trauma of the incident two weeks later.

“My son Folahanmi, a student of one of the tertiary institutions in the country, lost a year of school due to the trauma of the head and chest injuries he sustained during the attack,” Kemi said.

Miss Biola Owolabi, the sisterin-law to the late lawyer in her testimony during the trial attested to the strength of Oladapo.

“He scaled the fence of the house and lay in wait at the generator house where he threatened and attacked Folahanmi whom had come to put off the generator.

“It was difficult to subdue him during the frenzied attack, he was like a man possessed, he had the strength of 10 men, everyone sustained injuries” she said.

A pathologist, Dr. Sunday Soyemi in his testimony, revealed the cause of Fadipe’s death.

“The cause of death was rapid and severe blood loss caused by the severe slice of the left jugular vein,” Soyemi said.

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FEBRUARY 25, 2017 • THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

RingTrue

Yemi

Adebowale Ali Modu-Sheriff, it’s Time to Say Goodbye 07013940521 yemi.adebowale@thisdaylive.com

A

vibrant opposition party is a necessity in any genuine democracy. It is essential for its success.

The developed democracies in Europe and America owe their feat to this essential ingredient.

This is what is lacking in our democracy today. Our dear nation is fast turning into a one party state, with every Tom, Dick and Harry trooping into the ruling All Progressives Congress. Those who fought for this democracy and are sincerely interested in the progress of this country must consistently stand for a vivacious opposition party. This is why I am concerned about the spiteful situation of the supposedly opposition Peoples Democratic Party. It has been in turmoil for almost two years, largely due to self-induced problems and the mediocrity of our judicial system.

This country needs an energetic opposition party that can keep the ruling APC on its toes. For now, it is only the PDP that is capable of doing this. The APC knows this and truly wants the PDP dead. I am convinced that the fifth columnist stoking the PDP crisis is the APC. Security agents’ sealing of the International Conference Centre, Abuja on Monday, hitherto announced as the venue of the PDP stakeholders’ meeting is a clear pointer to this avowal.

This flagrant manipulation of critical institutions of democracy is not only dangerous, but depraved for Nigeria’s democracy.

I have taken time to study the issues and key characters in the PDP crisis.

I don’t think this is the time to start apportioning blames. However, one fact that has been so difficult to run away

Sheriff

from is that those that matter in this party don’t want the reinstated national chairman of the party, Ali Modu Sheriff.

A very close look at the big names at the stakeholders’ meeting of the party on Mondayreflects this. Virtually all the key organs and bodies of the party are clearly averse to Sheriff. The founding fathers of this party are unenthusiastic about the chairmanship of Sheriff. The fact that the party’s Board of Trustees is solidly behind the Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee is a clear

The Ugly Side of $1bn Bond It is disheartening that virtually everything has been reduced to propaganda by the ruling APC. The completed $1 billion Eurobond sale has suddenly been turned into an achievement. The oversubscription to the tune of $ 7.8 billion at an interest rate of 7.88% is being celebrated as if we are getting free money.

For those who don’t know, a bond is an instrument of indebtedness of the bond issuer to the holders. Nigeria has simply borrowed money from a certain class of investors abroad and agreed to payback these funds after a specific period of time and at a given interest rate. We have borrowed with the promise that we will pay back in 15 years and at an interest rate of 7.88%. By the time this country exits this bond, we would have conservatively

paid an additional $1 billion as interest.

This bond was issued in dollars; therefore Nigeria must pay back in dollars.

The interest could go higher as the Naira plummets. So, they have simply pushed Nigeria to continue wallowing in more debt.

Again, what is the big deal about $1 billion in relation to this country’s infrastructural needs? $1 billion is just a dip in the bucket relative to Nigeria’s infrastructural needs. We are at a level that we now celebrate this meager $1 billion loan in a ridiculous manner. Years back, it was estimated that about $14 billion would be required to bridge our infrastructure deficit. We would probably require about $100 billion to do that now.

Searching for Foreign Investors Amidst Insecurity

The President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr. Nike Akande was apt, when she remarked that the raging insecurity across Nigeria was doing a lot of damage to investor confidence and Foreign Direct Investment. The LCCI boss stressed: “There is the need for Nigeria to address this challenge speedily to make the business environment more secure. Security of life and property is a very critical factor in the investment environment.

Managers of the Nigerian economy, as a matter of urgency, must prioritise developmental efforts in addressing the security situation in the country.

The country has been grappling with

security issues bordering on terrorism, religious and ethnic crisis, attacks on oil installations, kidnapping, armed robbery, attacks by herdsmen and the likes.

The impact of these security challenges on business is phenomenal.

I just hope our governors and federal government officials that are persistently travelling abroad in search of investors will listen to Akande and do the needful.

This idea of wasting resources on bogus trips abroad in search of investors must stop. We must put our house in order before going to look for foreign investors.

In fact, foreign investors are the ones that will come looking for Nigeria, once there is an enabling environment.

pointer to this. Just as former Vice President Alex Ekwueme remarked recently, “The party opened its doors to some people who did not know how it was formed to hijack it.”

Ekwueme did not mention any name, but any right-thinking person knows those he is talking about. Those around Sheriff are largely charlatans and political-rent collectors. I don’t need to mention names here. We all know them.

The reinstated PDP chairman has been all over the place, saying if need be, he is ready to relinquish his office for peace to reign in the party. “I am determined to make my honest contributions to the success of this party. I am ready to make any sacrifice for the success of this party.

We don’t want PDP to lose elections again. We need people to patronise our party. Democracy is about people, you either give them their right or they leave. What we are trying to do is to give the party back to the people,” remarked Sheriff. This is the time to walk the talk. If the PDP is to achieve all that Sheriff listed, then, he must step aside immediately and allow the caretaker committee to function.

PDP needs an untainted and credible leadership to effectively play its role as an opposition party. Sheriff cannot lead the PDP because of the many issues around him. When the average Nigerian sees Sheriff, what readily comes to mind is Boko Haram. Many see him as a symbol of terrorism.

It could be a perception but it can’t

disappear in years to come. This is the reality Sheriff must face if he truly loves the PDP as he wants many to believe. A large number of Nigerians will surely not patronise the PDP, with Sheriff at the helms for a short or long period.

Last Sunday, I heard Sheriff reiterating that he was invited to come and lead the PDP and that he gladly accepted it. Now that those that asked him to come and lead have now told him to leave, he should also gladly honour this by stepping aside.

Sheriff is clearly not qualified to lead Nigeria’s main opposition party. He has to step aside, in order to urgently reposition the PDP and halt the mounting tide of opposition within its fold. His emergence has divided leaders of the party and divided the rank and file. If urgent steps are not taken to halt the slide, the party may not recover from it. Sheriff has to make room for someone who would be a unifying factor – instead of the divisive factor that he has become.

This morning, I want Sheriff to deeply reflect on the statement of a member of PDP’s Board of Trustees, Chief Bode George, who said: “Handing back the leadership of the party to Sheriff is a step backwards from repositioning the PDP. The judgment reminds me of the decimation of the old Action Group and that does not portend a good omen for democracy. Entrusting the leadership of the party to Sheriff, who has yet to learn the ropes, understand the terrain, the culture and customs of the party, is a dark day for democracy in Nigeria. Sheriff’s faction lacks the capacity to do a proper opposition job.”

Deceit in Southern Kaduna Continues Southern Kaduna is brimming with security operatives, yet it remains a killing field. This week, 21 people were killed in fresh attacks in four communities by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

Several houses were also reportedly burnt in the attacks. The affected communities were Ashim, Nissi, and Zilan in Atakad District, Kaura Local Government, as well as Bakin Kogi, Goska

District of Jama’a Local Government Area. These killings will most likely continue if the federal government fails to take proactive action in line with the wish of these traumatised people. This job should not be left alone to the biased government in Kaduna State. As a first step, only security agents from outside the region should be used for operation in this area.

Governor Ikpeazu Should Treat Teachers with Dignity Teachers in public primary and secondary schools in Abia State have been going through hell under Governor Okezie Ikpeazu due to huge unpaid salaries and allowances. They were on strike for almost two months until about three weeks ago. It is a shame that those responsible for shaping the future of our children are being treated with disdain, while Ikpeazu and his cohorts are living well. Many will be shocked to know that Ikpeazu spends millions of Naira maintaining two clubs – Abia Warriors and Enyimba - in the Nigerian Professional Football League, yet, salaries of teachers are irregular. Things like football clubs should be private sector-driven. That is the standard in sane societies. Ikpeazu must do away with frivolities and give the welfare of teachers and other civil servants priority attention.

Retired Abia civil servants are also going through hell, thanks to the tedious and unending verification of pensioners.

The daily process has been cumbersome, unfriendly, rigorous, stressful and harmful to the health of these retirees.

Ikpeazu should come up with a better way of doing this to reduce the pain of the pensioners.

Ikpeazu

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FEBRUARY 25, 2017• THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

COMMENTARY

GODWIN OBASEKI’S FIRST 100 DAYS Edo State is in good hands, writes Idemudia Oviosun

F

rom every indication, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo State, has made quite an impression on the people of the state – myself inclusive as he clocked 100 days in office on February 20, 2017. I was not an enthusiast of his while he was campaigning for the election, but then, I was neither enthusiastic about Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.

While his clergyman act was and continues to be fascinating, it did not particularly have any effect on me.

Mr Obaseki’s quietness also made me doubt, like every other concerned son of Igodomigodo, whether his regime would really be his and whether he even had any plan for what path his government would take. In 100 days, he has corrected that notion and even made me blush like an errant analyst for harbouring such a notion in the first place.

His January 1 speech this year was the first sign I perceived of a man of steel. Without batting an eyelid, he ‘upped and done away’ with manual tax collection in Edo State. Some cynics, quite unsatisfied about the genuineness of his intent with that move, labelled it a political move to curtail the overreaching influence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) youth leader, Comrade Eriyo Osakpanwa.

I beg to differ. In 100 days, Mr. Obaseki has been able to show that he has little time for politics because he has a state to run. To buttress this, he has warned political figures not to come to the Government House in Benin City without prior appointments otherwise, they would not be granted audience.

Valid reports from dailies and workers at government house prove that he has thus far stuck to his guns with that policy. The Government House has now developed some significant level of decorum, and even loitering around the place could earn an individual some questioning. This, I believe is how a government house should be.

Still keen not to let politics interfere with his administration, he has delegated the task of political appointments to the various wards and local government councils.

However, while in 100 days he is keeping a level head with political affairs, he has also done commendably well with his interim appointments thus far – he has appointed mostly young fellows and women who know their onions.

Yet, he operates without a cabinet or any permanent appointments.

Based on how well Mr. Obaseki listens to the people’s voice, he seems like he already understands that the people of Edo whisper in the streets that it is about time he appointed his cabinet so that people will know who is who in the state.

However, he is a careful man. He takes his time and plans exceedingly well before implementing any decisions. What will it profit him if he allows himself to be carried along in a haste by people’s whispering and then he appoints the wrong people who may even end up sabotaging his government? It is better to take a shot once and hit the target than

IN 100 DAYS, MR. OBASEKI HAS BEEN ABLE TO SHOW THAT HE HAS LITTLE TIME FOR POLITICS BECAUSE HE HAS A STATE TO RUN. TO BUTTRESS THIS, HE HAS WARNED POLITICAL FIGURES NOT TO COME TO THE GOVERNMENT HOUSE IN BENIN CITY WITHOUT PRIOR APPOINTMENTS OTHERWISE, THEY WOULD NOT BE GRANTED AUDIENCE

to misfire severally.

Having excluded politics from the equation in his administration, Mr. Obaseki has shown genuine concern for the people, for though he may have a heart of steel, this heart beats, and it beats with emotion and care for the people.

He understood pretty well the power women have when given the chance to excel, and he has accordingly appointed what has come to be known as lady mechanics to fix the broken vehicles at The Government House in Benin City.

In addition, he hosted religious leaders to a breakfast in The Government House where he discussed, among things, how to sort out the issue of street children. They talked at length with the religious leaders proffering solutions on how to handle the issue.

To that end, Governor Obaseki is set to get the educational sector functioning at its optimum capacity so that even when the children have been lifted off the streets, they will be grafted into a functional educational system.

Meanwhile, his economic policies also seem to have developed a pattern in tandem with his 2017 budget philosophy. The idea of the budget philosophy was to “develop a modern and progressive Edo State, where every citizen is empowered with opportunity to live life in its fullness”. These were modelled along the following pillars; Economic Revolution, Infrastructural Expansion, Institutional Reform, Social Welfare Enhancement, Culture & Tourism and Environmental Sustainability.

He has since held a strategic dialogue with stakeholders in the production industry, and has started working to make sure that technical colleges around the state are what they are meant to be. He has also held an agribusiness conference, and he has put plans in place to make Tayo Akpata University of Education in Ekiadolor an excellent tertiary institution. The essence of these moves is to groom talents locally in the state.

The truth is that highlighting Governor Obaseki’s achievements in 100 days would take a small book. He has however indicated enough zeal towards executing his mandate that we, the people of Edo, can rest easy in the knowledge that we have not shopped in error for a governor, despite what misgivings we may have initially harboured.

Still, the good governor must neither relent nor rest on his oars. His conduct thus far has revealed a tendency for extra meticulousness in his affairs. That is a commendable trait and people need to come to the realisation that if every leader Nigeria has witnessed had been this careful, perhaps we would not be as bafflingly backward as we are in our affairs as a country. It is only just 100 days, and time’s winged chariot has not yet found reason to hurry Mr. Obaseki along. He is so far on the right track, and in the next 100 days, there is some hope people will start seeing action.

Dr. Oviosun wrote Benin City, Edo State

WHY I STAND BY JAMES IBORI

I

Tony Ademiluyi argues that the former Delta State governor is a victim of a fraudulent system

t was a loud rejection of the flawed and biased system that didn’t satisfy the dictates of the maxim that ‘he who comes to equity must come with clean hands.

The corruption issue is one of the crafty strategies that the Caucasian imperialists have used to keep this country divided. Nigeria as the most populous black nation on earth is of strategic importance to the neo-colonialists and so it is in their best interest to perpetually keep this nation divided.

In my bid to critically understudy the nittygritty of divide and rule, I made it the subject of my final year thesis at the University of Lagos where I earned a degree in English and Literary Studies.

My focus was on how this ancient strategy played out in the then British colonies of Nigeria and Kenya using Chinua Achebe’s evergreen ‘Things Fall Apart’ and Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s ‘Weep Not Child as sturdy case studies.’ My project supervisor was the University of Sheffield-trained Dr. Gabriel Adetokunbo Pearse who had also taught extensively in over 10 American institutions.

My choice of him was strategic as he had vast experience in political consulting in the United States of America and nearly became a congressman. The late visionary Engineer Funsho Williams brought him back to the country after two decades in Uncle Sam to coordinate his campaign for his 2007 gubernatorial run.

I was in my maternal grandparents’ house

in Benin City when the news headline on July 27, 2006 read: ‘Prominent Lagos Politician brutally assassinated.’ My instincts told me it was Funsho Williams that was murdered. I waited with breath as my worst fear was unraveled. My political mentor and hero was no more! I passed out and woke up in the hospital. The hope for good governance in the ‘Centre for Excellence’ was gone like a candle in the wind. I recall the extensive discussions I had with him as a then student member of Network Alliance and then the Williams Campaign Organisation. In 2003 at the risk of my personal safety and life, I mobilised many Akokites to cast their vote for this former alumnus who was a gentleman per excellence despite the fact that the then Olusegun Obasanjo- led government shut down all the Nigerian universities. How could captain be murdered? I recall when my paternal grandmother died in 2005, he drove himself with his beautiful wife to the funeral without any police escort.

James Onanefe Ibori is no saint and like every mortal has his good and bad sides.

After a six year incarceration in the United Kingdom, the tumultuous reception that was accorded him could be interpreted differently depending on the perspective you chose to view it. From mine, it was a loud protest against the conspiratorial forces of imperialism that incarcerated him. It was a loud rejection of the flawed and biased system that didn’t satisfy the dictates of the maxim

that ‘he who comes to equity must come with clean hands.’

I have always been suspicious of the overt interest of imperialist institutions in the backing of the corruption fight in Nigeria. It is no news that the British Department for International Development (DFID) massively funded Ibori’s trial so as to get a large chunk of the 250 million pounds booty. The international agency for destruction with a more than passing interest in the exporting of gay rights, abortion, euthanasia and all other nauseating cultures of death didn’t lift a finger to ensure that the funds got back into the coffers of the Delta State Government in one bit. It was a total travesty of justice for them to have interfered in the entire judicial process and Ibori was absolutely right when he opined that he was no an ex-convict.

Some of his vociferous supporters are silently clamouring for a state pardon but in my candid view, the basis for it doesn’t even exist as he can’t be truly regarded as a felon.

Until Nigerians realise the divide and conquer strategy of the imperialists and reject their poisonous overtures, this country will never develop.

Nationalists like Kwame Nkrumah, Zik of Africa, etc., led the struggle to rid the continent of colonial rule. The Osagyefo proved more visionary as he used his influence as President to spearhead PanAfricanism and wisely tapped the talent of maverick Senator Francis Arthur Nzeribe

to spread the ideals to all the ends of the continent. Nkrumah was miles ahead of his peers as he established the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute in 1961 to entrench ideological consciousness among Ghanaians.

Tragically, the incursion of military rule made the grand vision hit a cul-de-sac.

The new buzzword that will shape the development of the African continent will be a strong leader that can damn the imperial west and massively influence the rest of the 53 countries to toe a similar line in the manner reminiscent of how Nigeria played a primordial role in the political liberation struggle of most African countries.

Ibori has the grit to spearhead this much needed anti-imperial struggle with his unjust incarceration that will act as the much needed bulwark. History often repeats itself as there is nothing new under the sun. We won’t forget Mandela’s and Obasanjo’s prison to presidency story in a hurry.

Omisore’s and Nkrumah’s also followed the same trajectory!

The coincidence of his and Obama’s birthday – August 4 is similar to the nexus of the much told John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln legendary story.

Obama represents the worst of the antiAfrican agenda while Ibori will be thrust by incontrollable circumstances to act as a counterfoil to lead the continental struggle of breaking the yoke of imperialism.

Ademiluyi wrote from Lagos

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FEBRUARY 25, 2017 • THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

INSIGHT

Are new gains sustainable?

Xenophobia and South Africa’s Ingratitude

T

he recurring decimal of premeditated brutalisation of Nigerians by South Africans in their country has become a handshake beyond the elbow, calling for a vicious wrestling combat.

That, in itself, is a most unfortunate development.

What with Nigeria’s famed Big Brother role in the African continental politics and economy? What about spearheading the struggle to free the country from the iron-grip of the blood-letting and asphyxiating Apartheid policy that claimed some 21,000 innocent lives, going by statistics from International Human Rights Organisation (IHRO)?

It therefore smirks of gross ingratitude, quite antithetical to the African union Charter and the much-cherished African traditional ethos of hospitality that Nigerians should be at the receiving end of the transferred aggression of the same South Africans! According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Mr. Ikechukwu Anyene, President, Nigeria Union, in a telephone call from Pretoria confirmed attacks on members and looting of Nigerian-owned businesses in Pretoria West on Saturday.

In his words: “As we speak, five buildings with Nigerian businesses, including a church have been looted and burned by South Africans. One of the buildings is a mechanic garage with 28 cars under repairs, with other vital documents, were burned during the attack. The attack in Pretoria West is purely xenophobic and criminal because they looted the shops and homes before burning them. Also, the pastor of the church was wounded and is in the hospital receiving treatment.” He said that the union had reported the incident to the Nigeria Mission and South African police.

This statement has since been confirmed by Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs. In spite of urging Nigerians in South Africa to exercise caution and calling on the host government to institute measures to protect them, there are reports of series of threats to the lives and property of Nigerians living in that country. Yet this is not the first, second or third of such attacks on Nigerians and other Africans in South Africa.

Equally important is that of Erewa reminding the South African government that further xenophobic killing and maiming of Nigerians would have dire consequences. And honestly so. Its business relations with Nigeria is grossly skewed in its favour. For instance, as at March, 2016 when its President, Jacob Zuma addressed the joint session of the National Assembly he disclosed that South Africans own some 120 companies here in Nigeria. Notable amongst these are its telecommunications giant, MTN, the

DSTV brand, Shoprite, Food Concept Plc and Retail clothing line, PEP store. Most are thriving, with huge profits made repatriated back home. What about the recent irony of the infamous shooting of ‘Big Brother Nigeria’ there in South Africa! A disturbing feature of the inequitable relationship between the two countries is what Mrs. Rita Orji, the Chairman of the House Committee on Diaspora Affairs has rightly tagged ‘conspiracy of silence’. She noted that while South African businesses here enjoy maximum protection the same cannot be said of ours there.

Enough of such arrant nonsense, that one would express greater love for another, other than himself.

The holy books never taught us so. The despicable inhuman treatment meted out to Nigerians in some countries, especially Malaysia, Indonesia and Libya leaves much to be desired. About 171 Nigerians have just been deported from Libya where they were forced to drink their own urine!

To find lasting solutions to the avoidable loss of lives of Nigerians in South Africa, we should take a look at the root causes. A report by the Human Sciences Research Council identified four broad causes for the violence.

Ayo Oyoze Baje, ayobaje@yahoo.co.uk

Understanding the Buhari/Osinbajo Presidency

M

ost pairings in politics are meant to balance the ticket. In many cases, the two persons are like-minded, have a harmonised action plan and work in the same direction. Nonetheless, these two could also be at variance on certain issues, have conflicting views of certain phenomena and maybe sometimes disagree on other things.

Nigerians are used to sit-tight leaders at all levels that see political positions as personal, abhor delegating authorities, see their deputies as rivals and a threat; leaders that often have disdain for their second-in-command; ones that will never support their deputies in anything, let alone transfer power to them to act in their absence. Nigeria has witnessed numerous cases of leaders and their assistants turning against one another. Some have even turned out to become sworn enemies- The Obasanjo/ Atiku feud is a good example.

But President Muhammadu Buhari and Acting President Yemi Osinbajo have re-established the ideal of one presidency and it is working well for the good of the country and democracy. Prior to the president’s absence and during his absence, the two have redefined how we view the president vis-a-vis

T H E S AT U R DAY N E W S PA P E R

EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU DEPUTY EDITOR YEMI ADEBOWALE MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOLAFE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN

T H I S DAY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, ISRAEL IWEGBU, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU GROUP FINANCE DIRECTOR OLUFEMI ABOROWA DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS PETER IWEGBU, FIDELIS ELEMA, ANTHONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS HENRY NWACHOKOR, SAHEED ADEYEMO CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI GENERAL MANAGER PATRICK EIMIUHI GROUP HEAD FEMI TOLUFASHE DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

the vice-president. They have created an atmosphere of progressive political synergy never seen in Aso Rock Villa in recent times.

The relationship between President Buhari and Osinbajo looked promising since the campaign days.

Both have unique chemistry. Civility of the two distinguished men has kept the Buhari/Osinbajo relationship close, warm and friendly. Buhari and Osinbajo see each other as brothers. The president has immense respect for the vice-president, while the vice-president doggedly supports the president.

The Buhari/Osinbajo presidency is one. It is sheer illiteracy to think that Osinbajo as acting president takes unilateral decisions without discussing with President Buhari.

So far, so excellent is Osinbajo’s performance.

He has performed according to the expectations of most Nigerians and in line with tenets of President Buhari. Acting President Osinbajo in his capacity has been a good representative of the Buhari school.

He has shown that he has not been a figure-head vice-president, rather an astute complementing figure to President Buhari’s drive to take Nigeria to greater heights.

A few politicians are not happy with the way the acting president Osinbajo is running the affairs of the nation according to President Buhari’s expectations. These politicians were those that campaigned against Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 just for personal gains. Their expectations from the Muhammadu Buhari government have not materialised. These politicians have forgotten that the only item that kept and is keeping Buhari ‘afloat’ is the ordinary man in the street. If not for the ordinary-man’s belief in Buhari, is there a political leader in Nigeria that can take some of the stringent decisions Buhari took and most Nigerians will still not spill into the streets?

So far, Osinbajo has inaugurated five commissioners of the National Population Commission, he has constituted the Presidential Task Force on Food Security with the mandate to reduce prices of food items in the country. Osinbajo declared open the Agenda for Consultative Forum on Economic Recovery and Growth Plan. He sent the name of Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Walter Onnoghen to the Senate for confirmation as substantive CJN. The acting president has also inaugurated the National Road Safety Advisory Council which he heads. He has presided over a meeting of the National Economic Council on February 16.

Zayyad I. Muhammad, Jimeta, Adamawa State

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

SUPER SATURDAY 2017 Oscars Award

A Night Before the Oscars…

Every January, the entertainment community and film fans around the world turn their attention to the Academy Awards. Interest and anticipation builds to a feverish pitch, leading up to the Oscar telecast in February, when hundreds of millions of movie lovers tune in to watch the glamorous ceremony and learn who will receive the highest honours in filmmaking. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony will tomorrow honour the best films of 2016 and will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California. The Oscars are always an exciting night, with some nominees dancing in the clouds. Adedayo Adejobi reviews the films, nomination list, analyses the pros and cons of those who might win. Here are our highlights and predictions

A

DIRECTOR Damien Chazelle, La La Land Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge Barry Jenkins, Moonlight Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea Denis Villeneuve, Arrival

WESOME Adele sealed a sensational night at the Grammys, by letting slip she is married.

The Brit singer, 28, is thought to have secretly got hitched to her partner Simon Konecki, 42, over the Christmas period.

She referred to the charity boss — father of their four-year-old son Angelo — as her husband for the first time as she won all five gongs she was nominated for in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

Will win: Chazelle Should win: Jenkins Chazelle deserves much of the credit for why La La Land has become the cat’s meow with its relatable love story and showstopping numbers. Yet Jenkins pulls off an even greater feat by creating a timely, unconventional and extraordinary character piece that follows an AfricanAmerican man from bullied kid to distressed teen to tough drug dealer.

And the Nominees are…

BEST ACTOR Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge Ryan Gosling, La La Land Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic Denzel Washington, Fences

Will win/should win: Washington Affleck was the early favourite for his portrayal of a tragic handyman, but Washington has steadily gained momentum, enough to overtake him. Washington’s role is one of the most iconic in a legendary career, the study of a 1950s garbage man whose boisterous and self-centered personality upends the relationship with his family.

ACTRESS Isabelle Huppert, Elle Ruth Negga, Loving Natalie Portman, Jackie Emma Stone, La La Land Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins Will win/should win: Stone Had Portman not won her Oscar six years ago for Black Swan, there might be a better argument for her knockout performance as grieving first lady Jackie Kennedy. More deserving of adulation this time is Stone, who similarly fuels La La Land’s narrative as its struggling thespian and is the primary reason the musical is such a joy to watch. Her character’s Audition (The Fools Who Dream) song — an ode to the dreamer in us all — might as well have been a call to the Oscar engraver to start practicing her name.

SUPPORTING ACTOR Mahershala Ali, Moonlight Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in ‘La La Land’

Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea Dev Patel, Lion Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals Will win: Ali Should win: Hedges This is the awards season where everybody figured out how talented Ali is, and he’s certainly worthy of his frontrunner status as a drug dealer with a big heart. That said, it’s hard to overlook the contribution of Hedges: He plays a consistently strong role throughout his movie — whereas Ali and Patel only factor into a fraction of theirs — and his complicated teenager balances out Manchester’s relentless grief with needed humour and youthful energy.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS Viola Davis, Fences Naomie Harris, Moonlight Nicole Kidman, Lion Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea Will win/should win: Davis The Oscar gods bestowed Leonardo DiCaprio with his first Oscar last year, and that time is now for Davis as Fences’ put- upon housewife who’s had it with playing second fiddle to her husband. She could have won for Doubt, she should have won for The Help, but — barring the biggest upset in years — she’ll win for Fences.

PICTURE Arrival Fences Hacksaw Ridge Hell or High Water Hidden Figures La La Land Lion Manchester by the Sea Moonlight Will win: La La Land Should win: Hidden Figures With 14 nominations, La La Land looks to have a recordsetting night and has been the front-runner since festival season. La La’s effervescent story and love letter to oldschool Hollywood will appeal to Oscar voters, but Hidden Figures has more going for it: It’s about unsung heroines in a period drama, it’s just as crowd-pleasing as its song-anddance foe, and the history lesson feels more relevant in a divided political climate than a breezy musical. And who knows if we’ll ever get another movie about math that’s this entertaining?

Oscars 2017: 3 trivia about each of the 9 best picture nominees If the 2017 Golden Globes Award ceremony was any indication, the 89th Academy Awards tomorrow is going to have its fair share of impassioned speeches, misspoken names, and an extensively long In Memoriam video.

In recent years, the Oscars have become highly politi-

‘Fences’ star Viola Davis (right, with Denzel Washington) looks primed for her first Oscar

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

15

SATURDAY A NIGHT BEFORE THE OSCARS… cized. In 2016, for the second year in a row, only white actors and actresses were nominated in the top four categories, resulting in the trending hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. From Barack Obama to Steven Spielberg, many people weighed in and protested.

Fast forward a year later and the top four categories now have a total of seven nonwhite nominations. Of the nine best picture nominations, three — Fences, Hidden Figures, and Moonlight — focus on race relations and the struggles of being black in America.

The remaining best picture nominations have storylines that range from a linguistics expert deciphering an alien language, to a toe-tapping musical, to a young man on a quest to find his lost family — to name a few.

While going through the nominations, we came across some interesting trivia about each of the nine best picture nominations.

Here are three highlights from each movie.

Arrivals Montreal artist Martine Bertrand created the inky circular alien language.

To ensure all terminology, graphics and depictions were accurate, scientist and tech innovator Stephen Wolfram and his son Christopher Wolfram were consulted.

When designing the aliens, sources of inspiration included: octopuses, whales, elephants, and spiders.

Fences August Wilson, who wrote the play that the film is based on, insisted that a film adaptation be directed by an AfricanAmerican.

In 2010, Denzel Washington and Viola Davis performed the play on Broadway 114 times.

This is not the first time Denzel Washington has directed Viola Davis. In 2002 he directed her in Antwone Fisher.

Hacksaw Ridge Desmond T. Doss, the U.S. Army corporal the film is based on, received his Medal of Honour from then U.S. president Harry S. Truman in 1945.

This is the first movie Mel Gibson has directed in 10 years, since the 2006 release of Apocalypto.

Mel Gibson’s son Milo has his film debut in this movie.

Hell or High Water Chris Pine and Ben Foster were cast in another 2016 movie — The Finest Hours.

Even though the story is set in Texas, much of it was filmed in New Mexico to take advantage of tax incentives.

Taylor Sheridan, who wrote the movie, is an actor-turned-screenwriter. He has a cameo in the movie as a cowboy driving cattle away from a fire.

Hidden Figures Many of the cast members have worked together in other movies. Taraji P. Henson and Mahershala Ali played love interests in 2008 in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Octavia Spencer and Jim Parsons were in an episode of The Big Bang Theory — The Euclid Alternative — where Spencer played a clerk at the DMV. In 2014, Spencer and

Kevin Costner, appeared together in Black or White. Janelle Monáe and Mahershala Ali also acted in another movie nominated for best picture, Moonlight.

One of the scenes in the movie, where Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe are seen playing cards and dancing, is a historic house in Atlanta where civil rights legends Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King Jr. met.

Besides producing the movie, Pharell Williams also oversaw the music and soundtrack.

La La Land In all the scenes Ryan Gosling is shown playing the piano — that’s really him playing. He took piano lessons just for the role.

For his role, singer and pianist John Legend had to learn how to play the guitar.

From West Side Story to Wall-E, choreographer Mandy Moore drew inspiration from five different movies when crafting the dance numbers Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling would perform.

Lion The movie is based on a true story of a young man using Google Earth to find his lost family. Google partnered with the filmmakers to make the satellite imagery as accurate as possible.

The last scene of the movie was the first scene Dev Patel filmed.

In an interview, line producer Pravesh Sahni said they auditioned 4,000 boys for the role of the young Saroo Brierly.

Manchester by the Sea In 2014, the screenplay for this movie was featured in the 2014 Black List. This is an annual survey of the most liked motion picture screenplays that have not yet been produced.

The actor who plays the funeral director, Kevin Grondin, is also one in real life.

There really is a town in Massachusetts called Manchester-by-the-Sea. Until 1989, it was called Manchester.

Moonlight The movie is based on an unproduced play by MacArthur Fellow Tarell Alvin McCraney, called In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue.

Naomie Harris’s scenes spanned 15 years in the character’s life. They were filmed out of sequence in three days.

There’s a scene where Mahershala Ali’s character Juan is teaching Alex R. Hibbert’s character Little to swim. It wasn’t an act.

Hibbert did not know how to swim when production started.

11 More stars set to present at 89th Oscars Los Angeles- David Oyelowo, Amy Adams, Riz Ahmed, Javier Bardem, John Cho, Dwayne Johnson, Charlize Theron, and others The presenters, including past Oscar winners and nominees, are Nigeria’s David Oyelowo, Amy Adams, Riz Ahmed, Javier Bardem, John Cho, Dwayne Johnson, Felicity Jones, Leslie Mann, Janelle Monáe, Emma Stone and Charlize Theron.“No matter who you are or where you live, movies bring us together,” said De Luca and Todd.

Nollywood’s ‘Historic’ Academy Awards Win – A Valid Dream Biola Alabi

I

t didn’t shock me last year when the Academy Awards became the target of a boycott based on critics’ perception that its all-white nominee list – for the second straight year – reflected its bias.

With notable changes in the nominee list this year, the 89th annual Academy Awards will hold this Sunday at the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood and Highland Centre in Los Angeles. Easily one of the most coveted movie awards, and glamourous events in Hollywood and the global entertainment calendar, the Academy Awards a.k.a the Oscars, has remained ostensibly out of the grasp of Nollywood, Africa’s biggest film industry.

Nollywood and the Foreign Language Film Award The Algerian movie Z was the first African film to win an Academy Award, it won the Best Foreign Language Film Award in 1969. It wasn’t until 1959, 30 years after the first Academy Awards was held in 1929, that a separate category for non-Englishlanguage films was created. This Award is given to a feature-length motion picture outside the United States of America with a predominantly non-English dialogue track.

As of 2016, 90 films have been submitted from across Africa, eight out of that number went on to be nominated, and only three of these films have won the Best Foreign Language Film Award. Interestingly, Nollywood has had no submissions to the Oscars so far.

We could easily attribute this to the fact that the Nigerian Oscars Selection Committee (NOSC) was only recently approved.

The NOSC is a 12-member committee of Nollywood stakeholders charged with the responsibility of vetting and selecting one film for consideration for the Best Foreign Language Film Award. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) approved the committee in 2014 ahead of the 2015 Academy Awards. Another important point to note is that majority of Nollywood’s, arguably, best productions are English-language films, and as such immediately do not qualify to be considered in the Best Foreign Language Film Award category at all.

Can Nollywood win the Oscars?

It is very important that we understand that the Academy Awards is actually an American awards event to recognise excellence in cinematic achievements in the United States film industry. Hence, a boycott and criticism of the awards by Hollywood actors and filmmakers does little or nothing for Nollywood’s dream of winning the Oscars.

Is it then possible for Nollywood to win the Oscars?

Although not simply, but the answer is YES! Nollywood must not get stuck in the dream of just competing for the Best Foreign Language Film category. The industry needs to begin to look beyond this award and aim much higher. Lupita Nyong’o proved this to us when in 2013, fresh out of graduate school, she had her first feature film role in Steve McQueen’s historical drama 12 Years a Slave, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and became the first Kenyan to win an Academy Award.

Nollywood is as much African as Lupita is, and she proved to the rest of Africa, and the whole world that it is possible.

Nollywood actors/actresses and filmmakers can indeed excel in Hollywood, gain global recognition and win international awards.

Bridging the Gap

Alex Hibbert and Mahershala Ali in ‘Moonlight’

One of the major rules for qualifying for an Academy Award other than the Best Foreign Language Film Award, is that a film must open in the previous calendar year in Los Angeles County, California and play for seven consecutive days.

So far, only one Nollywood movie has premiered in Los Angeles. Flower Girl, a romantic comedy film set and shot in Lagos, was screened at the Hollywood Black Film Festival in 2013, and also had its US premiere at the festival screening in Los Angeles in 2013.

Global distribution and marketing for Nollywood films is key if it is to break new ground at the Oscars. Premised on

Alabi

its popularity across Africa and the diaspora, global reach for Nollywood films has already taken off since the movie adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s book Half of a Yellow Sun. The movie starred Academy Award winner, Chiwetel Ejiofor and showed at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013. Last year, eight Nigerian films screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), including Izu Ojukwu’s 76 and Kemi Adetiba’s The Wedding Party.

Video on Demand (VOD) platforms like iRoko TV, Dobox, DSTV ShowMax, Wabona, and Netflix, are further propelling the global consumption of Nollywood movies.

Already, there’re a number of Nollywood titles available on Netflix: Kunle Afolayan’s October 1, Andrew Dosunmu’s Mother of George, and Biyi Bandele’s Half of a Yellow Sun, to name a few.

Young filmmakers are also exploring the boundless opportunities that the Internet provides to reach a wider audience. Online TV Channels are popular on YouTube now as well as other digital content start-ups leveraging Nigerian content to a global audience.

There is much promise

Nigeria already has some footprints in the Academy Awards. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Sophie Okonedo, are both Academy Award winners and of Nigerian origin.

Nonso Anozie, Caroline Chikezie, Gbenga Akinnagbe, David Oyelowo and more, are all Nigerian exports to Hollywood who in recent times have expressed enthusiasm and interest in Nigeria’s film industry to herald the next phase of Nollywood’s growth.

A few of Nollywood’s superstars have also broken into the Hollywood space, a move that is very necessary if Nollywood truly intends to bridge this gap.

In June 2013, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde made her US TV debut when she starred in the VH1 American drama television series Hit the Floor. She made a brief guest appearance in the 5th episode where she acted alongside popular musician Akon. A year after that, Stephanie Linus Okereke featured in a Hollywood movie called Boonville Redemption, where she played the role of a slave girl named Doris.

The Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), the Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards (AMVCA), and other local awards already do a great job of recognising and awarding remarkable Nollywood productions, but there is much promise and capacity for more. What emphasises this promise of a global award for Nollywood soon is evident in our unique stories and our ability to interpret them well. We should focus on stories that belie our unique realities as Nigerians. Stronger stories, better interpretation of these stories and excellent direction means better acting and production, which will inadvertently lead to appreciation that in turn means recognition and awards. And as we keep getting better at interpreting these stories that define us as Nigerians and as Africans, the day draws nearer when a Nigerian film will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

Biola Alabi is the CEO of Biola Alabi Media a Lagos-based strategic media consulting Company and a content creator. The creators of “Bukas and Joints”.

16

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

THE ALTERNATIVE with Reno Omokri The True Colour of Buhari and El-Rufai

W

ith President Muhammadu Buhari’s lawyer’s N500,000 ‘gift’ to Justice Adeniyi Ademola while the certificate case was being tried before that judge and with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation’s Grasscuttergate scandal, can we all stop pretending and accept that the anti-corruption war is

dead?

I believe I now know the reason why God allowed President Buhari to come back to power. It was to expose him for who he really is. Not a saint he potrays himself. A so-called anticorruption crusader who writes letters to cover his corrupt Secretary to the Government of the Federation and whose lawyer gives gifts to a justice that is being tried for collecting gifts from others. Do as I say, not as I do!

Things were already bad enough until the President’s spokesman released his statement trying to justify the ‘gift’!

When Femi Adesina, President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, says PMB’s lawyer’s N500,000 payment to Justice Ademola was a ‘gift’, not a bribe, he must think that Nigerians are on the bottom of the ladder in the rational thinking food chain!

So if I take a bribe and call it a ‘gift’, according to Femi, it automatically transforms from corruption to ‘gift’? So President Buhari believes in the Transformation Agenda after all!

Who would have thought so!

So why can President Buhari’s lawyer give gifts but Andrew Yakubu cannot accept ‘gift’? The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) should just release everybody they are trying because they took ‘gifts’ not bribes. After all, President Buhari and his lawyer have shown us the way!

The Justice Ademola that is currently being tried is accused of taking bribes because people gave him gifts. So why were their gifts proceeds of corruption and Lawyer Awodein’s (Buhari’s lawyer), a proceed of friendship?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a bribe is defined thus: bribe/verb 1. persuade (someone) to act in one’s favour, typically illegally or dishonestly, by a gift of money or other inducement.

Now if you consider the favourable way the certificate case against the President has being going for him in the matter before Justice Ademola, you may be forgiven if you quote Proverbs 18:14 and say “a man’s gift makes room for him”.

With all apologies to the publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary, let me say that they have to alter the meanings of some words in their dictionary.

With Nigeria’s situation on my mind, I suggest the following edits to the definition of the word, gift gift/noun 1. New word for BRIBE as approved by the current President Muhammadu Buhari-led Nigerian government for exclusive use of All Progressives Congress members.

And while we are at it, I am feeling some generosity to my readers. If any of my readers will like a GIFT, then they should send me an email. But if they would prefer a BRIBE, then they should send me a hand-written letter instead. If you as my reader do not know the difference, then contact President Muhammadu Buhari’s lawyer!

Everybody gives gifts but some gifts are more equal than others. For tips on giving the EFCC approved gifts, see President Buhari’s lawyer! The DEODORANT has been sprayed on Lawyer Awodein and the INSECTICIDE is being sprayed on Justice Ademola. Now I understand Shehu Sani!

But this President Muhammadu Buhari knows how to code better than Mark Zuckerberg! Look at the code word his team used for the payment made to Justice Ademola. The ‘gift’!

I am tempted to ask what else they have coded. Is the 2017 budget codedly (I invented the word codedly since we are all making edits to the Oxford English Dictionary) padded?

Have they coded INEC to produce only inconclusive elections? Is Babachir’s grass-cutting contract a means to get more resources to provide future coded gifts?

In fact, I am reliably informed that APC members give GIFTS while PDP members give BRIBES but if you were once a Peoples Democratic Party member and you are now in the APC, you give GIFTED BRIBE! Now we understand why Rotimi Ameachi said he never gave nor received bribes. As an APC member, maybe he gave and received ‘gifts’. After all, there is nothing wrong with that! Our leader has shown us the way!

And President Buhari is not the only hypocrite in town.

His mini-me, Nasir Elrufai, the unofficial Vice President and Khalifa of the Buhari personality cult is as hypocritical as they come.

Many Nigerians were shocked to find out that Malam Nasir Elrufai, the Governor of Kaduna State, instigated the arrest of Audu Maikori, Nigeria’s version of Jay Z and the CEO of Chocolate City, a man who has made many stars including Africa’s number one rapper, MI Abaga.

What is Maikori’s crime in Elrufai’s eyes? That he erroneously tweeted false information that he had been by his driver who misled him for the purpose of obtaining financial favours from him.

When Maikori realised he had been duped, he immediately apologised. But that was not enough for his governor. He was accused of incitement because of his tweets!

But the thing is that the Elrufai that is now so sanctimonious is actually by far guiltier than Audu Maikori in what he accuses him of. In fact, El-Rufai is the grandfather of making

Buhari

El-Rufai

false and inviting comments on Twitter and other social media platforms and I will prove it.

On November 25, 2014, Nasir El-Rufai, the current Governor of Kaduna State, in a tweet questioned whether then President Goodluck Jonathan was travelling to Chad to plot attacks with the Chadian President. On September 8, 2014 Elrufai, via a tweet accused then President Jonathan of funding Christians masquerading as Boko Haram and accused the then President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor of being the commander of the so-called Christian Boko Haram. On the same day, he also tweeted that pastor Ayo had been paid N50 billion and a jet for the purpose of his Christian Boko Haram whose purpose was to “tarnish the name of Islam”.

On July 24, 2014 El-rufai, via another tweet, accused then President Jonathan of meeting with his terrorists from Nasarawa State. On January 2, 2014, Elrufai alleged that he was number six on a list of politicians to be assassinated by then President Jonathan. He also claimed that the current President, Muhammadu Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Rotimi Amaechi were on that list.

On November 9, 2013, as then President knelt praying to his God, Elrufai tweeted a picture of the President and said (and I quote) “Many prayers of the lazy, docile, incompetent, clueless, hopeless, useless leader!”

On July 15, 2012, shortly after then President Jonathan had issued an Executive Order to the military to fish out killer Fulani herdsmen that had turned some parts of Plateau state into a theatre of war, Elrufai tweeted the following: “We will write this for all to read. Anyone, soldier or not that kills the Fulani takes a loan repayable one day no matter how long it takes.”

On January 28, 2013, this same El-rufai had tweeted thus: “If Jesus criticises Jonathan’s government, Maku, Abati or Okupe will say that he slept with Mary Magdalene”.

On October 2, 2010, Elrufai posted on facebook the lie that the Jonathan administration had spent 64 billion Naira celebrating Independence Anniversaries during its time in office. His exact words were as follows: “This is the APC/PMB change we voted for. Independence anniversary expenditure for the past five years: 2011 – N13bn; 2012 -N15bn; 2013 – N14bn; 2014 – N22bn; 2015 N70 million” Well, a Freedom of Information request was made by activists to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and even though this administration hates the guts of former President Jonathan, they were forced to admit that Nasir El Rufai lied and that the Jonathan administration spent only N333, 600, 000 for four years to hold independence day celebrations. An amount that is less than 1% of what El Rufai claimed was spent.

As I write this to you, Nasir El-Rufai HAS NOT apologised for shy of these strings of misleading information!

Yet, this is the same El Rufai that has now instigated the arrest of Audu Maikori for allegedly inciting the public by spreading lies. This is the biggest act of HYPOCRISY I have seen and I urge you my reader to individually Google these tweets and facebook posts. Do not take my word for it.

When a man who has a history of falsely attributing such deviousness to Christians (as he did with his September 18, 2014 tweet accusing Christians of being behind Boko Haram) becomes the governor of a state, should we be surprised at the fate that has been visited upon the Christian people of

Southern Kaduna?

If you can believe that Christians were behind Boko Haram to “tarnish the name of Islam” as he himself tweeted, who can tell what he would do to get revenge on them when he finds himself in a position to do so as governor?

If without power Nasir El Rufai showed open bias for the Fulani people as he did in his tweet of July 15, 2012, can any reasonable person expect him to be objective while he is in power? That would be like expecting a man who cannot keep his hands off a woman when he is dating her to become chaste with her after he has married her. It is not possible!

Knowing the manipulative tendencies of Nasir El Rufai and his Machiavellian, the-end-justifies-the-means approach to power, I will not be surprised if he starts sponsoring articles against me as a Fulani hater, so let me be pre-emptive.

I love the Fulani. They are perhaps the most beautiful Black people on planet earth. I am now a pastor and have been faithfully married for the last thirteen years to the same woman who I expect to stay married to until Jesus returns or I die, but before then I was in a relationship with a Fulani from Taraba State. I do not need to go into too much detail but suffice to say that I did what most young people would do in a relationship (this was before I re-dedicated my life to Christ).

In the course of that relationship, I visited and spent time in Taraba, in Gembu and Nguroje to be specific. My time was spent with a beautiful clan of Fulani people who would not have minded having me as an in-law. They taught me some Fulfulde and I remember my time with them with nostalgia. I still have pictures from that time.

There is no way I could have got so close to the Fulani and even contemplated becoming their in-law if I did not and do not admire them.

Moreover, perhaps my best friend while I was in Law School (1999-2000) was Abbas Ibrahim, a pure Fulani from Maradun in Zamfara State who now works in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Abuja.

This article is not targeting the Fulani. No. rather, it is identifying one of them who has, perhaps more than anybody else in Nigeria today, sown seeds of discord, hate and division by his words, actions and writings. Nasir El rufai is not an example for Fulatanci and this may explain why he tries so hard to show loyalty to virtues and traits that are a given to the well brought up Fulani I have come to know and respect intimately. His Pulako is doing great harm to the Fulani Peoples of Nigeria.

Finally, let me end this piece by saying that I was so glad to hear President Muhammadu Buhari’s voice as he spoke to Governor Ganduje of Kano State the other day. I hope by this call, people can leave the man to “rest” in London and not disturb him with their eye service visits to him.

To those who have done so and to others who are contemplating doing so, I hope and pray you get treated like the Guardian Newspaper reporter who was almost arrested when the residents of Abuja House (President Buhari’s current residence) called the police to help get rid of him. But just in case you do not get arrested, permit me to write a new version of an Old Nursery Rhyme for you.

Old Version:

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat Where Have You Been?

I’ve Been to London to See The Queen

New Version:

Sycophant, Sycophant, Where Have You Been?

I’ve Been to London to See Buhari!

Plus

PLUS EXTRA LOUD WHISPERS SPY GLASS AUTO GLOBAL SOCCER FASHION FILE

pg. 20 pg. 22 pg. 23 pg. 26 pg. 29 pg. 41

Bala Ibn Na’Allah

The Best Moment of My Life Is When I Am Flying a Plane

18

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER FEBERUARY 25, 2017

PEOPLE

I Have No Regrets Being Al-Mustapha’s Lawyer at Oputa Panel Pilots and airmen always have the best moments of their lives when they are in the skies. That is where they claim worries are buried in the clouds. In the family of Senator Ibn Bala Na’Allah, the Deputy Senate Leader, who is from Kebbi State, all but the mother and wife can fly a plane. The lawmaker, who claims he reluctantly became a politician, takes Stanley Nkwazema on a journey through his years as a member of the House of Representatives, his roles in the Red Chamber, his penchant for planes and why he supported the controversial move to regulate the social media. He also talks about Biafra and a united Nigeria

S

A Honest Man? enator Ibn Bala N’Allah does not claim to know himself more than he does and he readily acknowledges this.

“Honestly, I don’t know myself more than I know myself. I am from the Wasagu Ruling House in Kebbi State and grew up in several places with my brother in the police. He kept moving from one place to another. My primary school was in Sam Gomo Primary School. I had my secondary school education at Government Secondary School in Zuru,” he stated.

To him, growing up was fun. He did not grow up with his parents. He was sent to live with his uncle, Mohammed Musa Sakaba; because in those days, some parents never believed that you could be the best living with them.

That was where the man called Ibn was moulded until he gained admission into higher institution.

“When I got admission to study History in school, I rejected it but went to Sokoto State College of Arts and Science before proceeding to Ahmadu Bello University in 1982. I was in the same class with Damian Dodo, Adoke Mohammed and others. We studied under a very intelligent criminal law professor, Amanqua, a Ghanaian. I obtained my Bachelor of Law in 1985 before proceeding to the Law School in Lagos and was called to the bar in 1986. For my NYSC, I was posted to the Nigerian Army cantonment in Obinze, Imo State, where I was the legal adviser. I went back to Sokoto and was thereafter appointed as the state counsel when the present Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states were one. I rose to the position of senior magistrate and acting chief magistrate. I left to join the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. It will also interest you that I trained at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, (NCAT), Zaria, and South Africa. I am a qualified pilot,” the senator stated with measured pride.

Law Practice and Lawmaking In 1992, Senator Na’Allah left public service to practice law.

“I lived in Lagos and had my office then in 111 Tokunboh Street, Lagos, before moving to Eti-Osa House. Law is very interesting and what I am doing today at the National Assembly is part of law if I am to say. I was first elected into the National Assembly in 2003. I was there till 2011. I was there again in 2015, elected by the good people of Kebbi South to represent them in the Senate,” he recalled.

Senator Na’Allah won’t shy away from discussing the politics of the Senate. He was the one who replaced Ali Ndume as senate leader.

He said about the political dynamic that threw Ndume out and brought

him in, “Whatever you see as coming from the Senate must be as a result of politics. For whatever reasons like I said, it is the decision of the Senate if they want to change the leadership.

I was not even aware of the plan to change leadership as it happened in my absence. In a democracy, and in parliament, the majority decision must always be respected by whoever is a member of that parliament. I was not in the country (when signatures were collected and Ndume was removed); and I was not privy to the information.

We are very close friends. We are like a family. Maybe because senators have realised the fact that I am so close to him, they therefore kept me in the dark. That is why I told you that the politics of the Senate is determined by the minute, not even by the day.”

What happened after the change of fortunes between Na’Allah and Ndume?

The senator said, “We were in the House of Representatives together but he came to the Senate in 2011 before me. Everybody knew us as very close friends. His father sees me as his son.

The father will prefer he gives me an assignment rather than giving it to Ali Ndume, just to tell you how close we are. But you see, in life, I have learnt to accept what I have no control over.

We are all here by providence. What is important is that the decision is binding on us all.”

Mustapha Senator Na’Allah believes a lawyer must attend to a client the moment he is approached unless there are other compelling reasons against it. According to him, those reasons must not necessarily be personal but professional; maybe conflict of interest.

He said, “I don’t think there is anything extraordinary about representing Al-Mustapha. I have handled some very exciting and sensitive cases even before that of Mustapha but because those people were not public figures, it did not attract the kind of media exposure that one suffered. From the beginning, I told Mustapha that it was not going to be easy but that justice would prevail at the end of the day only to tell the truth about what happened. As a lawyer, I had a job to do and I was fully briefed and I did my best to fulfill the obligation that I owed my client as far as that Oputa panel was concerned. And there was the subsequent trial of Mustapha by the Lagos State Government when the present Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, was the state’s attorney general. But overall, I will tell you that I felt so happy and it was an opportunity for me to know this country very well and to know certain things that I believed were impossible and which became clearly possible with that matter. I was the main conductor of the case. I have been vindicated.”

Why I Represented Major Hamza Al-

The ‘Reluctant’ Politician…

I don’t think there is anything extraordinary about representing AlMustapha. I have handled some very exciting and sensitive cases even before that of Mustapha but because those people were not public figures, it did not attract the kind of media exposure that one suffered. From the beginning, I told Mustapha that it was not going to be easy but that justice would prevail at the end of the day only to tell the truth about what happened

19

FEBERUARY 25, 2017 • THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

PEOPLE As a Politician and Senator, I Still Cook for My Family

For whatever reason, the only thing Senator Na’Allah hates – and which incidentally he is into – is politics. He explained the discomfort his family feels when it comes to politics.

“I remember when my son felt bad and wanted me to resign simply because somebody went on Facebook and said I was a drug baron. To pacify him, I said he needs to know that the Federal Republic of Nigeria has a whole institution that is vested with the responsibility of determining who is a drug baron and who is not. That institution has not said I am one. You cannot prevent somebody from going on social media to raise all kinds of things that he believes are capable of tarnishing my image. I think that should be what should comfort you. I equally didn’t like politics before. But I have found myself in it and I think because it gives me the opportunity to make certain contributions to make my country a better place, I am happy being in politics now,” the senator reflected.

But how did he become a politician and ended up in the National Assembly as a lawmaker?

This is what he said, “It was not my decision. I was on my way to Jeddah for lesser Hajj. I tried getting a seat on the economy class but it was near impossible. So I had to cough out money for a first class ticket. I met Senator Adamu Aliero, the then Governor of Kebbi State, for the first time in my life. And if I remember very well, he was in the company of the (then) Yobe State governor and few others.

He now wanted to open the discussion saying that the state is very proud of me and that I should come home so we could develop Kebbi together. I did not give him any firm position. He kept on saying that he believed that it was the time for me to come back home, having heard so much about me. He had seen me at the Oputa Panel and he believed I would be very useful to him in his determination to change Kebbi.

“I was so reluctant and I did not give him a firm response. But when we got to Jeddah, there were some people from my constituency who were on board that same aircraft. I did not know because we were in the first class cabin and they got down before us because of the configuration of the aircraft. When we got down and went to pray, he then told them that as far as he was concerned he had made up his mind: Na’Allah must come and contest and be a member of the House of Representatives. He told the Emir and they started calling me.

“After four years, he insisted that I should go back – I was given a form to fill. Back in 2011, they wanted me to go the Senate but I had a friend who had invested so much to go to the Senate, so I backed out. Aliero is still alive; he will tell this is exactly how it happened.

Since then I have been trying to move my leg, one in and one out and it has not been easy. That is why I believe you don’t start it (politics) in the first place. When you start it, you never can tell when you will go out.”

His Family and Flying His children want to be like him: they wanted to be lawyers but somewhere along the line, his son AbdulHakeem, born in 1990, decided to go to the flying school in Cape Town, South Africa. The son is a biker and again, everybody in the family wanted to buy a bike just to make him feel loved. The second son, qualified as a pilot at the age of 17 but could not do his checkride until December 2008 because he was underage.

Na’Allah explained further, “My first son, after leaving the University of Manchester, decided to start flying also. His brother has completed series of flying programmes and certifications in the United States of America and will soon return to join the family. The only daughter of the family is at the Aviation College in Ilorin (Kwara State)

Na’Allah

where she is also learning the rudiments of flying. I don’t know how to describe it. I think that we are just one family that will always want to be the same. My second son complains about my absence from home. You can’t have both. I cook for them so we have fun around.”

Does he love flying?

“What gives me joy the most is to be up in the sky. I am not afraid; it is by far safer up there. The person who wants to kill, kidnap you and use you as an object of gossip is here on the ground. The person who wants to treat you badly is on the ground. Up there, you are at peace with your God. That period that you are up in the sky is so reassuring and I will tell you: if you go around and find out from pilots, you will find out that it is the best moment of their lives (being in the sky),” Na’Allah said with delight.

Worrisome Aviation Sector The federal lawmaker lamented over the country’s aviation sector. Why? He answered, “When we came to the Senate in 2015, less than a month after our inauguration, the first motion I moved was to look at the aviation sector; the unstable nature of aviation in Nigeria and to see what can be done about it. The senate inaugurated the Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso committee and we came out with 21 resolutions for implementation.

As of today none (of that) has been implemented. We are experiencing what we are experiencing now because actions that ought to have been taken were not taken. This is how we run our affairs in this country and that is very worrisome. If the whole senate could come together and look at things dispassionately, agreed that these resolutions were necessary but nothing was done, things will continue to get bad.”

Why Biafra Can’t be Great Senator Na’Allah admitted that the Igbo are fantastic human beings. To him, if they keep their acts together, they can recover from whatever injustices they claim to have suffered in the process of building the country.

“I will tell you why there is virtually no corner of this country that you will not find an Igbo man who is doing very well and who has blended with the community where he lives. In the entire part of my village, virtually everywhere, there is an Igbo man and they are happy. Now, if you begin to say you want Biafra of your own

because of anger or whatever; that you have suffered injustice in the process of developing this country, how long will it take you to build a virile country in Biafra? Can you do it alone? You need and should know that no country has become great without other people coming to join hands in doing it. There is no way Biafra, the dream of those who are agitating for it, can be a great nation without Yoruba, Hausa, Kanuri and others going there because what God has given the Igbo is that they are very enterprising . Nobody can take that away from them. They are highly educated people and very diplomatic.

But the elders must accept the fact that they cannot continue to promote that agitation because people who never knew how this country was built form the majority of those who are in the agitation,” the senator advised.

About His Social Media Bill Furore Senator Na’Allah believes anyone who is versed in the history, nature and content of the country will understand that the complexity that exists at the moment cannot lead the nation to the Promised Land if people are allowed to continue to divide the country based on falsehood. Is that why he sponsored the ill-fated Social Media Bill?

“If you have reasons to say something and what you are saying is factual, there may be somebody with more valid reasons as to why your own point may not be correct and he will be able to say it. That is not the same thing with falsehood. As of that time, I was aware of three things that happened. One of my friends told me where an attempt was made to recruit some people who were to damage and destroy the character of any person who is perceived to be against government. To me, that was wrong and I felt something must be done. Then along the line, there was another group that were recruiting people to make sure that whatever the government does is turned the opposite way so as to continuously make the government unpopular for a period of four years and that will provide a platform for them to take over government. There were also those who worked as freelancers, who felt that certain people were occupying certain positions they were not happy about.

“Therefore, they felt, the social media must be used to bring them down. All these things put together, I wondered if it was possible for us to have a sane society. How is it going to benefit us? I felt that we would be doing favours to

Therefore, they felt, the social media must be used to bring them down. All these things put together, I wondered if it was possible for us to have a sane society. How is it going to benefit us?

I felt that we would be doing favours to this country if we attempt to define the limit of what we can do with this very important medium of communication so that if we defined it, our unity may not be in danger; our relationship, our progress will not be affected. For example, if all your life you have been a businessman and you are able to make fortunes out of business and by the mere expedience of going to Facebook to say you are a kidnapper, somebody can bring you down. It discourages other like-minded people who want to put hard work as a basis for making progress in life which is not good for us this country if we attempt to define the limit of what we can do with this very important medium of communication so that if we defined it, our unity may not be in danger; our relationship, our progress will not be affected. For example, if all your life you have been a businessman and you are able to make fortunes out of business and by the mere expedience of going to Facebook to say you are a kidnapper, somebody can bring you down. It discourages other like-minded people who want to put hard work as a basis for making progress in life which is not good for us,” he pointed out.

His Love Story The lawyer-turned-politician narrated how he met his wife.

“We used to go and buy masa and (my) grandmother was always joking that she was my wife. It happened and now we are married. She is a graduate of Usman Dan Fodio University Sokoto but she has chosen to be a housewife to take care of us. She does not fly like us,” he said about his wife.

20

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER FEBERUARY 25, 2017

PLUS EXTRA

Rags Riches

From to

Dreams do come true especially when you least expect it. Young Kenyan couple, Ann Wambui and Wilson Mutura, got their happy ending despite dreary beginnings. From t-shirt on denim to designer wedding trousseau and all-expense paid honeymoon in Dubai, love definitely conquers all.

Omolola Itayemi reports

W

Love and at least $1 for the rings edding ceremonies across the continent have generally become extremely lavish as couples spend thousands of naira to have their dream wedding.

A couple in Kenya recently did the opposite, spending just $1 on their wedding, proof that you don’t have to be extravagant and break the bank to wed the person you love.

T-shirts don’t make the best wedding trousseau but not the Muturas who went against all odds to get hitched in simple t-shirts on denim skirt and trousers. Devoid of any finery, they took their oaths and became a couple on January 22 making them an internet sensation after photos from their simple wedding went viral.

If money played any role in their union it was minimal as the wife had no make-up on, a common staple with wives and guests during marriage ceremonies and their rings were two steel circles. Their wedding took place at Community Christian Worship

Centre, in Kasarani area, Nairobi, officiated by Pastor Jasper Ojwach.

The two exchanged vows after the sermon.

Not only did their wedding story trend worldwide, the couples who had dated for three years before deciding to tie the knot were inundated with gifts and packages from Kenyans thanks to their 1$ (Kshs. 100, N1500) frugal wedding. Social media was abuzz with excitement and amazement on how a couple could hold a wedding so cheaply.

The romantic story of Wilson, 27, and his bride Ann, 24, fruit sellers who live in a poor suburb of Nairobi captured the attention of many people across the world.

“I was marrying the person I fell in love with, so I couldn’t wait until I become financially stable. My financial situation couldn’t allow me to have a big wedding. Furthermore, I was marrying the love of my life,” said the groom, Muturi.

The wedding day The couple boarded the public transport on Sunday, 22 January 2017,

Teary–eyed love birds at their second designer wedding

21

FEBERUARY 25, 2017 • THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

PLUS EXTRA

Love at no cost

Taking their vows

A Kenyan Couple’s from Rags to Riches From Rags to Riches and walked to the church, where the pastor was waiting for them with a few members of the congregation. At first, the congregation thought it was all a joke, until they started exchanging vows.

There were no flowers, or lavish venue, no cakes, nor decorations and no gown for the bride not even a suit for the groom. Just red t-shirts worn by the two, a symbol of their love.

The $1 catered for the rings that they exchanged during their wedding ceremony, there was no lavish reception, no honeymoon, just the exchange of rings, vows and a kiss.

After the wedding, the couple went home cooked Ugali and kales (an affordable Kenyan delicacy.

Previously, Wilson and Ann had to postpone the wedding twice in 2016 because the budget was $300, which was for wedding gown, and transport.

The church paid for the pair’s marriage/wedding licence fee.

“I believe money should not stop young people like us from getting married. If people love each other and want to marry they should,” Ann said.

Weddings are always colorful and behind the glitz and glamour, the couple will eventually sweat to foot the bills, soliciting for support from every corner, taking loans, and sometimes having to live in debts.

The Mutura’s have however proven that you don’t have to be extravagant and break your bank to marry and wed the person you love. All you need is love and at least $1 for the rings From Sh1 to Sh3.5M wedding However, the humility of the couple appears to have paid off as several companies have come out with huge detailed package for the couple including a first class wedding, honeymoon

and many more goodies.

The wedding took place on Valentine’s Day, 14 February, when the humble Kenyan couple finally had their second wedding ceremony, a lavish one at the Eden Bliss Gardens in Kiambu County. The ceremony planned by one of Kenya’s top events planner, Slique Events Planner Limited had high-end decorators and caterers.

Any woman’s dream is to walk down the aisle in a beautiful wedding gown and Ann was not disappointed this time as she strolled down the aisle of her classy-elegant designer with Wilson also decked in designer wears for free by city’s top designers.The groom’s family were equally ferried in vans from Ndunyu Njeru in Kinangop while the bride’s family from Karandi in Nyahururu to Cinema to witness the day.

Good things comes in threes they say and that’s the luck of the Muturas with Bonfire Adventures and Event offering an all-expense paid honeymoon package. Fine Cinema Production for free make-up artist and photo-shoot.

Lilian, a volunteer in U.S has pledged start-up capital for a small business whichever Anne will find appealing.

Moses Meingati has offered one goat as a wedding gift. Geoffrey Ngari has pledged a cake to the couple.

Lessons learned Wedding ceremonies in Nigeria are generally very expensive events, sometimes affecting negatively the finance of the couple. The pressure from society to do it ‘well’ has been listed as one of the reasons for divorce.

Basically, the Muturas, situation is a reference for celebrating weddings or other social events as you can afford, and who knows, lady luck might just smile at you, as it did the Muturas.

Happy ending… all expense paid honey moon

Their wedding cake

22

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017 with JOSEPH EDGAR (09095325791)

LOUD WHISPERS

Maikori

Audu Maikori: I had Warned Him I was really not surprised when the arrest came. It came just as he was preparing to go to the loo. I hear the people did not wait for him as they had express instructions to get him to Abuja before oga had his breakfast. So straight to the night bus, remember AMCON had just seized Arik Air and there were no flights.

My brother landed in Abuja in his boxers and slippers with only one wish - that his picture should not be taken and tweeted or instagrammed to the millions who follow him. Well, for me, it is not the issues that led to his arrest or the powers that be that stepped in to get him out, but the seeming recklessness, unbridled power and the irresponsible use of social media in today’s Nigeria. The seeming cheapness and relative use of social media has in a way dropped buttons of pocket nuclear bombs in the hands of a largely restive and near-illiterate youthful population and any attempt to curb this will get the so-called human rights groups screaming blue murder. For Audu, I am particularly disappointed because one would have expected someone of his pedigree to be a little bit more responsible in handling his own ‘small power’. Rushing to tweet on a very sensitive issue like that only from information provided by your driver who may have been owed like four months’ salaries is very irresponsible. Authorities cannot be battling the bastards who cause all these mayhem and at the same time be battling uproars caused by irresponsible statements like that of Audu, caused simply by a tweet on a toilet seat. Please this write-up is to those like Audu who have turned themselves into self-appointed social media influencers to self-regulate their activities or they simply would just push the country into an undeserved carnage due to the highly irresponsible use of this potent weapon. I have said my own, you guys can come and fight, I am waiting, shebi na Twitter and Instagram, they will use to abuse me, me I will wait on the street to fight. I no kuku get Twitter or Instagram. I no sabi use am.

Ayodele Fayose : A President in Waiting Me, I am throwing my weight behind this Amala-eating, fire-spitting gadfly for President. What else can we wish for in a country that has produced people like Awolowo and the great Azikiwe but has now thrown all that illustrious pedigree to the dogs with years of misrule, corruption and misogyny that today, revisionists are now seeking the highest position in the land? What will we stand to lose with a Fayose presidency, my people? Nothing. After all, what else can happen to us with the dollar at over N500, inflation at 18%, unemployment over 20% of working population and tribal and ethnic conflagration burning through the land and despair being our soul mates? Not only Fayose should come out, even Charly Boy and Denrele should also come out, nothing go happen. I like Fayose as a person, I have never met him but I must tell you clearly that I admire his consistency even though he laces it with tomfoolery, you can actually see his deep love for the nation. His constant screams against the government has made him the sole opposition party despite the fact that most of his statements are pedantic and sometimes assumptive; his cries, I believe, keep the government awake. But

Fayose

Chris Ndulue, Arik Air MD

Ladi Balogun: A Great Guy You see, this very handsome chap is like Udeme. Udeme is that black guy in one of the alcoholic beverage firms’ TV Commercial called great.

Ladi is a great guy. The outgoing Managing Director of FCMB is truly one of those people you come out of a meeting with asking yourself why you were created in the dark. I met him on my first day on the job at FCMB. I had just been recruited by his also very nice younger brother, Gboyega to join them; thereby bringing to an end my three months’ joblessness foisted on me by one Nicholas Nyamali. That one is not such a great guy. The guy just woke up one morning say make I resign saying I am a cultural misfit. Who does that in this kind of economy?

Well that is a story to be powerfully told in my upcoming biography. So that was how I walked into Ladi’s office. He was looking very handsome and well dressed; he was in a hurry, running to meet up an appointment with Aliko Dangote and asked me to join him in his official car so that we could talk. In the car, he talked about the burden of leadership, the vision of taking FCMB from a merchant banking pedigree to a retail market, the challenges involved in that move and the reason for my joining as a great grassroots man. My head did not stop swelling as I watched this fine gentleman speak with so much conviction, putting in so much

a Fayose presidency even if a pipe dream shows the decline in our national fabric, a thaw in national cohesion, a loosening of a collective sense of reasoning and the emergence of a poverty-fuelled surge towards just anything to end this suffering.

It is like someone confessing to murder just to put an end to the unending torture being carried out by his tormentors. This impending presidency if not properly put

sacrifice to take a platform built by his equally illustrious father to the next level. I was giddy with excitement that by the time he dropped me, I was walking in the clouds.

His tenure at the bank is coming to an end and I must tell you, my 15 months at FCMB brought me really close to his leadership style. I read his regular circulations to staff, his attempt at playing football at the Ezekiel Adamu’s annual beach soccer tourney, his funny attempts at dancing during the end of year costume parties and his penchant for replying every mail. This was truly a great guy and coming from a mad critic like me, you guys should take this seriously. I hear he would be moving to the Group as the Group Chief Executive of the holding company, I feel he is doing the nation a great disservice by limiting himself to the FCMB group. He should lead a young and highly-talented professional push into public service and give us a real change, not the kind we are seeing today. Ladi, well done and for your efforts, I will be sending you VIP Tickets to Isale Eko, The Play. Kindly send that your beautiful assistant, the one that sits just before we enter your office to come collect the tickets in Shomolu. If you can’t send her, don’t worry about the tickets, I will send something else. Diran go kill me ooo. Ladi, I wish you well, you truly deserve the best.

in context will suddenly emerge the same way the Trump presidency crystallised on the Americans. The wide-scale suffering and impoverishment could lead to a popular revolt against symbols of the establishment, throwing up a Fayose-type leadership as a legitimate alternative to a rudderless leadership. What we will now be getting would be leadership by Amala, a mimickry of our nationhood and

Ahmed Kuru, AMCON MD

a virtual continuous circus like what the Americans are seeing now. I have spoken as I see from my crystal ball, a Fayose presidency is not too far away. It is indeed a very strong possibility if we continue on this path of insensitivity to the plight of the common man. I keep quiet.

Big Brother Naija : Of What Value?

I have never understood why and how people would just be sitting down and watching people sleep. This fascination with the morbid boredom that comes with this phenomenon called Big Brother continues to amaze me. But please, it seems millions of Nigerians continue to remain in stupendous absurdity as they remain fascinated with the antics of juveniles who have been given the opportunity by a wasteful network to carry out hedonistic pursuits, all in front of millions of zombies spread all over the continent.

This particular edition is the lowest so far with a married Lothario cavorting with ladies from otherwise good homes but apparently with easy virtue in an almost pornographic slant. I have banned the watching of the programme in my house as I have teenage children who I would not like for them to watch these people carry out open sexual and other socially unacceptable behaviours all in the name of entertainment. So I ask today, of what use is this Big Brother Naija? What values are being promoted? This is wasteful, damaging to our cultural ethos; damaging the institution of marriage, legitimises illegal anti-social behaviours and foists on our youths, ethos that can only be damaging to the fabrics of society. This is truly bad, I have said my own, if you like, take it; if you don’t like, ignore. As for me and my household and I think other right-thinking households, NO MORE BIG BROTHER. It is a disgrace Period!

Arik Air - About Time Me I was very happy when AMCON finally took over this beleaguered airline. It was about time, the debts were mounting, the service epileptic, and the damage to Nigeria’s reputation unquantifiable. They carried on like a leprous carrier destroying lives, wrecking havoc to businesses and generally attempting to represent to the outside world, a symbol of Nigerian ineptitude. The Chairman of the Airline has come out to accuse AMCON of taking over his airline in a commando-style manner, citing an ‘inflated’ debt figure as against the fact that they owe a little less billions than has been announced by the authorities. Is this oga serious? He should be very grateful for this takeover. He should just quietly go into sleepy retirement, that is if the EFCC does not come after him.

Business leaders must be awake to their corporate responsibilities that come with running a business especially one with the kind of strategic importance as Arik. Leaders must know when and how to throw in the towel. It was very obvious that the Sir Ikhide-led team had bitten more than they could chew. They had built something that was now bigger than their joint corporate leadership skills; they should have handed over the thing and be enjoying their dividends and other benefits. But no, they kept on running the place thereby disgracing themselves and throwing Nigerians into untold suffering. This takeover was even too late in coming abeg. It should have come sooner. Good riddance.

23

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

SPY GLASS

with Bayo Adeoye ....08054680651 was gathered that she’s on the mailing and phone list of some of the best brands in the world.

Untold story of Sen. Iyiola Omisore

Finally! Ejindu, Anumudu Reconcile

Both Fifi Ejindu and Nkiru Anumudu are high- flying socialites. They used to enjoy the company of each other very much.

They shared so many things in common and were best of friends. In fact, Anumudu was Ejindu’s maid of honour at her celebrated London Dorchester wedding in 2001. For this, many reportedly tried so hard to know the secret of their friendship out of sheer curiosity.

But surprisingly, they fell out in 2012 and the crack in their relationship shocked many of their fans. No one could have imagined that the two classy ladies could go their separate ways.

Following the development, many top personalities had tried unsuccessfully to reconcile them. But the two businesswomen would not want to see eyeball to eyeball.

Spyglass can authoritatively report that the two elegant women have finally sheathed their swords. They resolved to be friends again at a burial ceremony penultimate week in Calabar.

It was gathered that Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, who was also at the event, had brokered the peace, amidst cheers from concerned fans. At the meeting, Mama Bakassi, as she is fondly called, was said to have emphasised that they should sheathe their swords rather than engaging in a blame game.

In deference to the 71- year- old woman of style, the two ladies promised to be friends again just like before when they were items in the nation’s social scene.

Ejindu, a highly polished and extremely civilised Princess, had her education in some of the best institutions in the US. She graduated with first class in Architecture from the prestigious Pratt Institute of Architecture and later graduated with distinction in Building Engineering from the Boston’s School.

She has astronomically shot up the ladder of prosperity by dining and wining with the kings and rulers of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates. Her contact base is said to be very inclusive of world financial power brokers.

On her part, Anumudu, wife of billionaire Globe Motors honcho, Willie Anumudu, is a style icon. She never ceases to dazzle and sizzle in many of her various very upscale designer garbs. It

To most people, Senator Iyiola Omisore, a former deputy governor of Osun State, is regarded only as a politician. It will, however, be preposterous to assume that he has no other life.

What many do not know about this Ife, Osun State- born Prince is that, before he ventured into politics, he had been a successful businessman, whose story will inspire anyone planning to go into business.

In other words, his wealth of experience as a businessman and owner of a corporate body, where he has had to manage both human and material resources, is the secret of his leadership quality as a politician of repute.

Right from his early life, he had demonstrated very rare qualities, which not only set him apart from his peers but prepared him for community leadership and services.

Not many are aware that the well- loved man holds a Ph.D in Infrastructure Finance from the International School of Management, Paris, France.

He started his early professional life with the firm of Drake and Gordham in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s. He received on-the-job training and rose to top management positions. The same firm Drake and Scull (Nig. ) Limited took him back home to Nigeria, where he worked on major engineering projects. It was while working at Drake and Scull that his project management skills were honed.

He later established his own engineering firms, Mechelec Consultants, an engineering consultancy outfit and Chrisore Eng Limited, an electrical engineering firm.

Omisore was involved in many consultancy projects such as execution of several World Bank- assisted projects and ADB/ ADF, assisted projects in virtually every part of Nigeria. Chisore Engineering Limited was also involved in the execution of many projects for blue-chip companies, banks and embassies, shipping companies, etc.

In fact, he was in the process of taking Chisore Engineering to be listed on the stock Exchange when the need to serve his people took the front burner in his agenda.

Omisore is an embodiment of intelligence. His patriotic zeal and engineering acumen came to play tremendously when he was in the Senate between 2003 and 2011.

The man with deep pocket detests poverty with passion and would never allow it in the life of his people. His philanthropic gesture is legendary, though he doesn’t brag about it It was gathered that thousands of students are under his scholarship scheme while many widows and orphans are under his monthly payroll.

Omisore is the grandson of late Olufe-

wara, Kabiyesi Oba Titus Adetoba of the Oseganderuku ruling house in Ifewara, where his mother, Princess Emila Ademola, ruled as a regent until her death in 2006.

Nnamdi Ekeh: Proud Son of His Father

Naturally, one of the prayers of every parent is to be blessed with responsible children who would make him or her proud in all ways. This, today, is what Nnamdi Ekeh, founder and vice president of Yudala, means to his parents.

Spyglass gathered that he was supported by his billionaire father and Chairman of Zinox Computers, Leo Stan Ekeh, when he approached him with the idea of Yudala online retail, the dream he had been nursing since he was 19 while in the university.

No doubt, the young Ekeh hit the ground running immediately he received the desired financial intervention from his father, as he turned the business into a mega fortunes a few months after. Indeed, within the first one year of operation, Yudala became the best online retail market in the country.

Today, the 24-year- old is in the league of many successful young men who have turned their dreams into reality around the world.

Though it started with ICT products, it has since diversified into a one-stop online and offline retail outpost for a wide assortment of goods, including consumables, choice wine and staples. It is also considered to be the preferred channel for shoppers with eyes for quality, real time delivery and support.

Yudala currently boasts of over 300 staff and this figure is expected to increase substantially with its growing network of Experience Stores all over the country.

According to the promoter, the longterm vision is to have a Yudala store in every local government headquarters in Nigeria. The direct implication of this, he added, is that “staff strength is certainly going to witness a huge leap from the current figures.”

Aishat Buhari Dazzles @ 46

For Hajia Aisha Buhari, wife of President, Muhammadu Buhari, turning 46 last week was a big deal. She refused to celebrate it to high heavens though, the day didn’t go unnoticed as many of her fans and admirers poured encomiums on her, particularly for her role towards the uplift of the less privileged in Nigeria.

It will be recalled that until her husband won the presidential election in 2015, the woman of influence and power was minding her own business as a wife, mother and businesswoman. But suddenly, she was literally uprooted from her seeming cocoon and thrust into the public consciousness. This was after her husband, the then presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, launched his campaign for the presidential

election.

Interestingly, her emergence on the nation’s political scene has been a blessing of sorts, as it has now made a lot of people to know her better.

The Adamawa State-born First Lady has, on many occasions, displayed her sense of humility to the amazement of all. Her humility, carriage and disarming simplicity have endeared her to the hearts of many in and around the state.

A blue blood, her father was the late Emir of Malabu in Fufuore Local Government Area of Adamawa State.

Bukunola Gadzama, Stickler for Excellence

Bukunola Gadzama the CEO, Buildcon Global Services, is making waves in the nation’s real estate sector.

Hers is a classic case of a professional blessed with a clear vision. She saw an opportunity and grabbed it with both hands.

Today, the accountant-turned real estate professional is taking the industry to a greater height in Nigeria, as her firm just completed its architectural masterpiece building, Pracht Gardens Estate.

According to her, the estate, which would be ready by April this year, consists of 40 units of four and five bedrooms fully detached duplexes as well as fourbedroomed terraces, and sits on a 21,000 metres square parcel of land in the Ikota area of Lagos State.

The estate, which is designed with the state-of-the-art facilities, is comparable to what is obtainable in other parts of the globe and structured to meet the basic requirements of subscribers who have taste for luxury.

It also boasts of a water treatment plant; fully-paved road; suitable shopping centre; 24 hours security electrical power transformer; closed-circuit television (CCTV) security technology; ample parking space; power supply and distribution; street lights; recreational centre for children; crèche as well as electrical fence wire.

It is being constructed by highly skilled architects and engineers who also have vast knowledge of interior designs that are expected in a dream home.

Gadzama comes across as a woman who is not intimidated even by men in the sector. And she has been very successful in the field simply because of her abiding belief in handiwork, honesty and attention to details.

Indeed, this is the secret of her successful exploits and relevance in the nation’s real estate sector.

However, in spite of her giant strides in the industry, she believes that the best has yet to come for BuildCon. Happily married to Ayuba Gadzama from Borno State, she had worked as assistant general manager with CMB Building, Integrated Micro Finance Bank Nigeria Limited, British American Tobacco Nigeria Limited and National Bank of Nigeria.

24

FEBRUARY 25, 2017 • THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

POLSCOPE

with Eddy Odivwri eddy.odivwri@thisdaylive.com 08053069356

It’s Like We Had a Fraud Promo

I

have not ceased wondering how Nigeria has managed to remain a diplomatic going concern. Everything needed to ruin and imperil the country has taken place. From the stretch of bad governance, through poor leadership, down to the allwrecking malaise called corruption, Nigeria has had more than a fair share of these vices to cause it to go under. I do not know of any nation, not even Hungary that can survive the degree of mindless pillaging the Nigerian treasury has suffered, and perhaps continue to suffer.

Almost everyday, we are assailed with tons of recovered loot from those who held offices yesterday. It is as if Nigeria once ran a fraud promo. And all the participating contestants struggled to win the premium prize.

And you wonder what kind of system we run. What kind of system makes it that easy for rogues in government to cart away our commonwealth unchecked and undetected?

Haba!

Already, many of the accused persons, from whom huge sums have been recovered, still have the effrontery to go to court to challenge one thing or the other in the name of exercise of fundamental human rights. Arrant nonsense! What right does a treasury looter have?

With a fraction of what they looted, they hire the best of lawyers who sure know how to throw spanner into the wheels of the prosecution in such a way that the prosecution takes almost forever, while they gallivant round town in the allure of their lucre.

Pray, where are/were the internal and external auditors when the nation was being robbed blind by these persons?

It is either the auditors are collaborators in the raid of the nation’s treasury or they do not know their work. Either way, they deserve to be put in the dock and dumped.

We do not all need to be economists to know that the signs and symptoms of the present economic recession have been activated long before now. How can a country be this robbed and raped and not go into a coma? Nigeria is a living paradox.

We wallow in the poverty of our wealth and in the wealth of our poverty.

Nothing else but bad leadership and sickening corruption explains why we are as we are: abjectly poor. For a country to be this blessed and endowed, yet this depraved and degenerate, bespeaks of something fundamentally wrong with our collective gene. That is why I am convinced that the crave for restructuring of the polity will not necessarily end our woes as a people. Will restructuring of the polity, for instance, mean that all the wizardry in corruption will cease? No, I dare say!

In other words, corruption and unbridled roguery, and not an unrestructured polity is our greatest threat to growth and develop-

Yakubu

ment. The terribly depraved persons in high places will be restructured into somewhere, where they will continue their nefarious acts.

I have always advocated a crusade for moral re-armament. I admit that I do not know, in finite details, how it will work, but I know that there is something verily wrong with our attitude to life and living. And unless we change our attitude radically for the better, Nigeria will continue to be tethered to the poles of penury and stagnation.

What kind of restructuring, for instance, will make all the Andrew Yakubus (former GMD of NNPC) of this world not to mass up and store away in fireproof cabinets, the sum of $9,772,800 (Nine Million, Seven Hundred and Seven Two Thousand, Eight Hundred United States Dollars) and another sum of £74,000 (Seventy Four Thousand Pound Sterling) cash, in a facility belonging to him in downtown slums of Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna? This is a man in his 60’s.

What does he need that staggering sum for? This is a man who has more than the basic necessities of life, given the privileges attached to his former office. What does he need that sum for? Indeed, it is because he does not need it that is why it is hidden away in a bunker, while the nation groans.

He practically ran a mono-transactional cottage bank.

But Yakubu claims it is a gift from an unnamed friend. Gift my foot! Even if it is, he must have compromised his office most dearly to land such a humongous and embarrassing gift. And that same Yakubu, has shamelessly gone to court to challenge the forfeiture order granted by the court.

Few days after the recovery of the Yakubu cash, another huge sum of $37.5 million was recovered from a house (in Banana Island, Lagos) belonging to the former Minister of Petroleum, Mrs Diezani Allison Madueke.

This is apart from the several other sums that have been recovered from her since she left office in 2015. She has indeed been in the mire of several fraudulent controversies whilst she battled her cancer affliction in the UK. She recently spoke, admitting that she may have made mistakes, like all human, while in office, but denied being a thief.

That declaration was however closely followed by the discovery of the $37.5 million in her Lagos mansion on February 10, this year, whereas she has been in London for nearly two years. Another stashed away fund!

There is no gainsaying that the NNPC has been over-milked by those minding it over the years. And that is why it has failed to replenish the nation.

The NNPC is the equivalent of Brazil’s Petrobras. Both oil corporations have essentially the same history and functions, but parallel result. While both corporations handle about the same volume of oil production (2.3 mbpd), the income they rake into their various countries are very different.

As at three years ago, Petrobras had nearly 81,000 staffers. But Nigeria’s NNPC is yet struggling with about 5,000… all because the NNPC is not growing, unlike Petrobras with ever expanding subsidiaries.

In Norway, the country is busy saving up all her earnings from oil. But in Nigeria we are not only hugely indebted to other nations and global financial institutions, we are unable to justifiably manage even the funds we borrow. Something is wrong with us!

But our NNPC is wracked down by corruption. Every and anybody appointed into the NNPC as anything believes he/she is been given a ticket to automatic wealth.

That is why the corporation has produced wealthy crooks rather than a wealthy nation.

When the then governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and now emir of Kano, HRM Sanusi 11, raised the alarm that some $20 billion was not remitted by the NNPC into the federation account, he was harangued and sacked. Today, we are gradually seeing where those monies went.

Canticles...

The Metamorphosis of a Sick Narrative

H

ello, my brother, you have been scarce. I suppose you travelled. Which of the two destinations did you travel to?

Two destinations? What are they?

Need you ask? For most Nigerian politicians seeking relevance both now and in the future, there have been a swarm to either Oghara or London.

Oghara and London? What is the connect?

Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem?

Are you not aware that the great man of Delta politics, Chief James Onanefe Ibori imprisoned by UK authorities is back and he is hibernating in his hearth, Oghara, Delta State, while the great man of Nigerian politics, President Muhammadu Buhari is held up in London? Are you not aware that these two destinations have been playing host to many Nigerians in the last three weeks?

Why should I waste my time going to London to visit a hale and hearty man who just went on 10-day holiday but decided to extend it ad infinitum?

Why are you talking like that?You mean you have not been praying for the quick recovery of our president?

Were you told that he is/was sick? Were we not told that Mr President is going on his annual vacation for just ten days and that while he is resting, he will just undertake routine checks with his doctor and that there is nothing to worry about? Did they not deny that the president was not going for medical vacation but just mere holiday? Did the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo and the Information minister, Lai Mohammed not declare that the President is “hale and hearty”? So why should we be fasting and praying for a “hale and hearty” man enjoying the British autumn weather? Did Shehu Garba, one of the president’s spokesmen, not declare that the President was fine and was even home sick and would be back home sooner than later?

Didn’t they all create the impression that nothing was amiss?

Don’t forget they are to say only what they are permitted to say. Remember they are not the principal themselves, but the principal’s subordinate.

What kind of argument is that? Should subordinates not have the courage to tell the truth or keep their lips sealed? Look, we are talking about the health of the number one citizen in the most populous black nation in the world. Why can’t there be transparency about it?

Indeed, if the president had been able to return after the initial ten days, there would have been a strong denial that he was ever sick by his handlers.

Look, Mr President is a human being, just like you and me. Yes, he has immunity from court litigation while in office, but he is not immune from sickness. So, like all mortals, he can take ill Buhari at any time.

Nobody is arguing about that. He is as vulnerable like any other human. But as a public votary, there is a limit to which his so-called private issues will remain private. To cover up the sickness of Mr President is to suggest that he is superhuman. He is not. So if he is ill, he should say so and not dance around the bush.

But he was the same person who formally wrote the Senate to say he has some medical tests to take, hence he is unable to return after the initial ten days. He then wrote again to say the results of some of the medical tests he had taken demand that he rests a little longer in the UK than he had envisaged. Is that not transparent enough?

You don’t get the point. There is no total disclosure. It is piecemeal information. Nigerians need to know what is wrong with their president. Not just saying he is taking some tests and the results thereof demand longer rest period. For God’s sake, what kinds of tests have the president taken?

Just what is wrong with Mr President? We need to know. He is 74 or so. It is normal for a man of such age to get weak and have troubling ailments. We should know. But there are older people in power. President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe just had his 93rd birthday in office. He does not hide his sickness. He is also African!

I don’t think Mr President has really hoarded information about his health. When he had ear problem, he announced it and went for treatment. When his body chemistry gave him sign that he needs some rest and medical check, he said so. What’s more, he not only transmitted relevant letter to the National Assembly, he handed over power to his Vice, who has been carrying on the business of government. And I think, that is a refreshing difference from the previous ugly experience we had under the late President Musa Yar’Adua.

Do you know the visit of politicians to London to see Mr President, not the Queen, is just to dispel the strong rumour that he has passed on? Is that not why there is serious effort, by those visiting, to take photographs with the president to reassure Nigerians that he is not dead? Did the pictures not show a very lean President Muhammadu Buhari, thus betraying the seriousness of the hidden sickness? And is that not why many Nigerians are demanding that he should speak to them live, to be sure he is not merely photo-morphed in those visits? The nugget of information being miserly pitched in has turned many Nigerians to present day Thomas. Thus far, it has developed from just looking in to see his doctor to being literally detained medically in the UK , for an undisclosed sickness and for a period no one can determine. In all, the metamorphosis of the sick narrative has heightened the curiousity of Nigerians.

Ok. Now that the whole truth is inadvertently popping out, will you join the band of prayerful Nigerians interceding for the quick recovery of Mr President?

Sure, I will.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

EXPRESSION

MEDIAGAFFES BY

GTBank, Lagos State Slip

T

HISDAY of February 18 welcomes us today with GTBank full-page advertisement slip: “GTBank-Lagos State Principals Cup 2017” Playing by the rules: Principal’s Cup 2017 “London Police launches (launch) criminal investigation into…” Police: always plural verb “…courage and vision to make a difference in (on) our political landscape.”

“Peugeot models poise (poised) for 2017” The next blunder is from a full-page congratulatory advertorial signed by the PDP Caucus (House of Representatives): “This has informed the numerous recognitions and honours conferred on you in recent times.”

A rewrite: This has informed the recognition and honours conferred on you in recent times.

‘Recognition’ is uncountable.

“I pray for God (God’s) continued guidance….”

Yet more full-page advertorial improprieties: “Your investiture today, as The Sun Man of the Year 2016, is a glowing testament of (to) your unwavering devotion to the development of society….”

“We therefore join the good people of the State (needless capitalization) to celebrate you and wish you many more successes as you continue to redefine the character of Governance (otiose capitalization) with people-oriented projects.” Would they have been fish-oriented projects?

“Media tasked on balance (balanced) reporting” DAILY SUN of February 13 takes over the baton from THISDAY: “Power generating (Power-generating) companies’ transactions hit N331bn in 2016” “I and my family (My family and I) celebrate with our father in the Lord” “…observers say (another comma) may be the final nail on the coffin of the party.” (DAILY SUN Politics & Power, February 16) PDP crisis: the nail (no embellishment—the final nail—on the coffin of the party (the party’s coffin, preferably in the spirit of tight writing) Did you know that ‘write me’ as contained

on the front page of Saturday PUNCH of December 14 is American English, while the formal (standard) form is ‘write to me’?

“Round-the clock news from around the world” (StarTimes Full-page advertisement from the above medium) Adjectival entry: Round-the-clock news National Mirror of December 19 contained an avalanche of mistakes starting from the following watery headline to its Views and Editorial Pages and other equally wobbly departments: “Ajimobi commissions (auspicates, inaugurates, opens, establishes, launches, initiates, unveils…) Asejire water plant, 17 years after” The verbal context of ‘commission’ here is utterly wrong and shows a poverty of vocabulary. I do not understand why journalists keep fumbling ridiculously and lousily with this word every day despite innumerable corrections here! This is sheer misrepresentation of the 65-year-old diligent and pacesetting Oyo State Governor, Senator Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi.

“Katsina PDP: Why late (the late) President Yar’Adua’s close associates are defecting to APC” “It is in the interest of the nation (Nigeria is a country—not a nation, by the way) that the press should at all time (times) expose corrupt officers….” “…to the consternation of majority (a majority) of the citizens who look up to such businesses to serve public needs.”

“Administrator advocates more scholarships for indigents” When did ‘indigent’, an adjective, become a noun?”

“People who cannot read or write and who have never seen the four walls of a secondary school….” Education Today: the walls (not four walls)!

Lastly from NATIONAL MIRROR Back Page Banner of December 19: “Right sizing the civil service: A more realistic approach” No lexical asunder: rightsizing DAILY SUN of December 11 fumbled twice: “These big masquerades (masqueraders) entered the world and destroyed sacred….”

Masqueraders wear masquerades, masks, etc.

“Man remanded over (for) alleged killing of wife”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY MAGAZINE of December 8 disseminated just two solecisms: “…in this piece pays tribute to one of Africa’s notable poet (poets) as he enters the winter of life.”

“Small business start ups tips” Get it right: start-up tips “Its (It’s) been 7 years since you left us but memories of you lingers (linger) in our hearts.”

(Full-page advertisement, The PUNCH, December 6)) “Congratulations…for (on/upon) participating in the National Growth Challenge September to December 2013…sponsored by Unilever” DAILY SUN of December 4 comes next: “Borno reviews 24hrs (sic) curfew” and “Igbo community in Kano elects new officers” This way: 24-hour curfew/24 hours’ curfew. The community elected officials (not the otiose ‘new’)—if they were old officials, you re-elect!

“Japanese diplomat arrested over (for/in connection with) fire at DRC embassy” “Torching (Touching) lives of orphans through sports” “Campaigners accuse Shell over (of) weapons” “Aregbesola, Tinubu, Oritsejafor pay last respect (respects) to Obadare” “FG hands tanker drivers 48hrs (48 hrs’) ultimatum to relocate from MMIA” By the way, what difference would it have made spelling out ‘hours’?

“In its stead comes a mind-blowing display of opulence that has suddenly taken a firm root among the elite and nouveau riche….”

Singular: nouveau riche; plural: nouveaux riches “Before now, weather forecasts from NIMET were never taken serious (seriously) because….”

“As part of the build up (build-up) to the event….”

“At least one person was feared killed on Thursday morning when a 12-man armed bandits (12-man gang of bandits) struck at….” ‘Banditry’ involves the deployment of a measure of violence with sharp objects/instruments/weaponry during robbery. So, ‘armed

EBERE WABARA

ewabara@yahoo.com, 08055001948

banditry’ is sheer verbosity! Of course, robbery and armed robbery “Ban condemns crack down (crackdown) on Cairo protesters” Lastly from the Back Page of The PUNCH under review: “…whereas they are kept at arms’ length.” Friday musings: arm’s length “Former Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko (right), paying his (it could not have been another person’s!) last respect (respects) to the late (we do not pay last respects to the living!) General Evangelist…at the lyingin-state and commendation service for the late (again, what’s going on with this back page caption?) clergyman in Akure…on Thursday.”

(Source: as above)A rewrite: …Mimiko paying last respects to the General Evangelist…at…for the clergyman…. “…said that (sic) the aforementioned are (were) the younger generation of leaders who failed the nation.”

“State of emergency has restored normalcy in (to) North” “NIMASA alerts ships (ship owners, you mean?) on (to) danger spots” “Besides, the state government on Sunday began the fumigation and clearing of drainages in six areas of the Maiduguri metropolis….”

Conscience, nurtured by truth: ‘drainage’ is uncountable.

“Bank of England’s rate policy may highten (heighten) inflation” “Maid set ablaze dies in hospital, as police pledges (pledge) justice” “They may not have triumphed in their efforts to (at) nation-building....”

“Your wise counsels and dogged commitment to the progress and unity of this nation has (have) remained exemplary.” (Full-page congratulatory advertisement by Dikko Inde Abdullahi, CFR, Former Comptroller General, NCS) ‘Counsel’ is a non-count noun.

“Some allege without proof that Tinubu is the force behind Bamidele in his determination to confront Fayemi….” If the word ‘allege’ means ‘to assert something without any proof’, then delete ‘without proof’ from the extract!

PERSPECTIVE

Trump: Nigerians and the American Dream

Adesegun Ojo

I

t must be said that, there is nothing in Trump’s past to suggest that he has ever advocated on behalf of the downtrodden or supported policies or initiatives to help out poor Americans in his life time. Yet, the assumption is that he is now the chosen one to change Washington. In fact, from the data published by the New York Times on November 11, 2016, as part of the exit polls following the election, the income distribution of voters clearly shows that those with income below $30,000 voted more for Hillary Clinton than Donald Trump by a margin of 53 to 41 per cent. Also, those with income between $30, 000 and $49,000 voted for Clinton over Trump with 51 to 42 percent respectively.

On the question of the American dream; it is predicated on the idea of democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity and equality. It involves opportunity for all, and especially those who are ready to work hard regardless of their social class or circumstances. Many around the world sees the American ethos enumerated above as a standard to be strived for by all nations and all peoples and government.

This is why the United States remains the most attractive destinations of people seeking what is best for their family from around the world. And Nigerians are part of the global migration to America.

According to the Migration of Remittance Factbook 2016, Nigerians in the diaspora sent home about $21billion in 2015, which makes Nigeria the sixth largest receiver of remittances in the world. Out of the $21 billion, Nigerians in the United States sent the most remittances in the amount of $5.7billion (followed by those in the UK with $3.7billion) in 2015. To demonstrate the power of the United States as the land of immigrants, the country is the top remittance sending country in the world with $56.3 billion. Interestingly, Nigeria is still the third most preferred destination

Trump for migrants in Africa after South Africa and Ivory Coast; and the fifth emigration country behind Somalia, Burkina Faso, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

America is seen as the land of immigrants because with the exception of native Americans, everyone else came from somewhere.

This has always been the source of American power.

The Trump phenomenon of the past three weeks is now being held in check by the judiciary for the time being because his party (the Republican Party) controls both chambers of the congress. Trump’s original order blocked immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. This order did not include Nigeria, although many who travelled during the initial takeoff of the order were subjected to a lot of discomfort because there were extra layers of questions and time spent at the point of entry into the

United States.

If you have a green card and legal documents with clean record, you have no problem in this new America. There is no doubt that those applying for visas and entering into the United States will henceforth receive extra attention. And those Nigerians with criminal records or living in the US illegally are going to find their stay in the country more difficult under the new administration.

The growing trend of Nigerians going to deliver their babies in the United States may face some extra scrutiny as well. Nigerian studying or planning to study in the United States may also receive extra scrutiny too.

This will be the new normal. If you are in the United States and in the process of changing your status, it is imperative for you to consult an immigration lawyer. If you are waiting for a visa or you are planning to join a family in the United States, it is also important to consult a lawyer for your own good.

The recent development in America should be one of the reasons for a total overhaul of our government policy toward protecting Nigerians abroad. The purpose of consular services is not just about sustaining diplomatic relations and engaging those who want to come to Nigeria but to assure that Nigerians abroad are protected and guaranteed, their government assistance when necessary.

This is one of the weaknesses of our consular services. We need to also develop the policy of effective reintegration of returnees from abroad. Encouraging them to return so that they can contribute to the development of Nigeria; we need to provide them the incentives to do so. This should include assurance of economic and physical security. Inasmuch as we are unable to develop a Nigerian-centred educational curriculum and continue to retain the current inherited colonial inspired system, we are more likely to constantly train our students for the labor markets outside our shores.

The developed countries of the west are

suffering from the greying of their population because of the declining baby boomer generation and therefore need to attract newer skilled immigrant into their economy.

The eventual outcome, regardless of the current immigration uproar, will be to look to countries of the developing world like Nigeria as the source of their future skilled and labor needs. We will have to revamp our system because we will not be able to compete with these countries because of the developed infrastructures and the peace and security that exist in those countries.

The United Kingdom and Europe are facing migration crisis as well and hence saturated and China is also a developing economy. As you can easily guess there are more Chinese in Nigeria today than ever before. As indicated earlier, Nigeria is also the destination of many Africans followed

by South Africa. The two countries that may be welcoming to Nigerians are Canada and Australia. They are looking for skilled immigrants and therefore very receptive to migrants.

I personally think it is really risky for Nigerians to travel to any other African countries for opportunities because of the socio-economic malaise and rampant political instability in many other African countries. The risk that our compatriots are taking by travelling through the desert, to Libya and across the Mediterranean is unfathomable. We also saw what happened in Zimbabwe and South Africa in the past few years where many African immigrants were attacked. Those type of incident will continue to increase because what is driving many out of Nigeria awaits them in other African countries.

––Ojo is Professor of Political Science & International Studies School of Criminal Justice, Political Science & International Affairs Fairleigh Dickinson University Teaneck, New Jersey. USA

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

AUto

Toyota i-TRIL Concept

Toyota to Unveil Autonomous-Capable Concept at Geneva Stories by Bennett Oghifo

A

n electric-powered Toyota concept - positioned as an alternative to city cars, other electric vehicles and motorcycles - will be unveiled at next month’s Geneva motor show.

The world premiere of the Toyota iTRIL Concept will showcase numerous

innovative aspects of Toyota’s research into ever-better and more engaging environmentally friendly mobility solutions.

The i-TRIL Concept is aimed at people who want to have fun even while driving at slow speeds around cities and is also capable of operating autonomously.

It features a one-plus-two seating layout and Active Lean technology - a

system that angles the vehicle when cornering to provide high levels of stability, safety and comfort.

The i-TRIL Concept was developed

by Toyota Motor Europe in collaboration with the company’s ED2 design studio in Nice.

At Geneva, Toyota will also introduce the 2017 Yaris alongside its sporty derivative, the Yaris GRMN. The upgraded Yaris range will feature

a more dynamic exterior design and upgraded interior finish.

The Yaris GRMN hot hatch is a model designed primarily for the European market.

Inspired and influenced by Toyota’s return to the World Rally Championship with the Yaris WRC, the Yaris GRMN will be powered by a supercharged 1.8-litre engine that will produce more than 156kW.

Maduka Named Investor of the Year

D

r. Cosmas Maduka, President and CEO of Coscharis Group, one of Nigeria’s leading conglomerates, was recently recognised as the numero uno Investor of the Year in Nigeria during the recently held Sun Award 2017 ceremony in Lagos.

This was in recognition of his doggedness in building Coscharis Group into a household brand from scratch and contributing immensely towards economic growth in Nigeria and in the area of job creation.

In receiving the Sun’s Investor of the Year award, Dr. Maduka described it as a prized recognition for his struggles and challenges over the years which he had turned to opportunities to build a timeless organisation.

According to the organisers of the award, The Sun Publishing Limited, Dr Maduka had built a global brand with a local brand name in Coscharis having secured the confidence of globally respected auto brands with exclusive franchises of brands as BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Ford, MINI and Rolls Royce over the years as their representative in Nigeria.

L-R: Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi; President, Coscharis Group, Dr. Cosmas Maduka; and his wife, during the Sun Award ceremony in Lagos... recently

GUO Comforts Passengers over Owode Crash

T

he management of G.U.O. Transport Services Ltd, has reacted to the accident involving one of its luxury buses last week at Owode-Elede in Lagos, saying it was unfortunate and saddening. The company said it sympathises with the affected passengers and their relations for the inconveniences and losses suffered in the crash.

A survivor of the accident recounted that the Lagos-bound bus which departed Aba Thursday at about 8:00 pm, hit a concrete demarcation on the road early Friday morning at Owode and ran into the nearby river resulting in the death of three passengers.

The rest of the occupants of the 59-seater vehicle survived with a few rushed to hospitals for the treatment of injuries.

Reacting to the incident, the Managing Director of GUO Transport, Mr. Maduabuchi Okeke, expressed the company’s gratitude to the first responders at the scene, for the efficient and professional manner they handled the situation.

“Prompt response by the agencies, including the Federal Road Safety Corps {FRSC}, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), the Police, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and other, agencies, helped in the rescue of many of the passengers”, Okeke

remarked.

The Managing Director disclosed that as soon as the company was informed of the incident, mobilised a team which joined the agencies to ensure that the injured received adequate medical attention.

“We at G.U.O. Transport wish to express our utmost sympathy and regret for the distress experienced by the passengers and their families as a result of the accident involving our luxury bus”, the Managing Director stated, appealing to them to “bear with us during this sad period”. Okeke said it was premature to comment on the cause of the crash, preferring to rather wait for “the report and updates from investigations by the agencies” However, a survivor of the accident, Mr. Kenneth Aaron, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria {NAN}, said the accident may have been caused by a slippery surface.

His account: “I entered the bus in Onitsha with four of my brothers. The bus passed through Ikorodu because of the ongoing construction on Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

“It seemed an accident happened in the area before which spilled diesel onto the road.

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

27

AUto Cadillac Debuts More Connected and Intuitive Infotainment System

C

adillac has debuted an updated infotainment system in the CTS sedan.

The new system can be personalized, has a more intuitive user interface, and features more app compatibility.

2018 Mercedes AMG GT

Mercedes-AMG to Debut a Panamera-Fighting Sports Sedan Stories by Bennett Oghifo

M

ercedes-AMG will give a preview of its upcoming Porsche Panamera fighter at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show.

The German automaker is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and will start things off in Geneva next month with a four-door sedan concept called the GT4. It will preview a future production model powered by a new 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine generating around 600 horsepower. Autocar reports the Mercedes-AMG GT4 will replace the CLS

Shooting Brake in the U.K. when it arrives dealerships in 2018.

But since the North American market doesn’t get the CLS Shooting Brake, the GT4 will essentially be a new addition to the company’s lineup, competing with other four-door coupes in the segment like the BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe, Audi A7/S7 and, of course, the Porsche Panamera.

Interestingly, the GT4 won’t ride on the same platform as the existing Mercedes-AMG GT sports car. Instead, it will be underpinned by Mercedes-Benz’s modular rear architecture (MRA) currently used on the C63, E63 and S63 models. It has been modified so the GT4

has a “unique” wheelbase and track width measurements, according to AMG insiders.

Along with the new 4.0-liter engine that has already been confirmed for the new E63, it’s believed AMG is considering pairing the engine with a newly developed integrated starter generator (ISG). The ISG would be able to provide short bursts of extra power with the 20-hp electric motor mounted within the gearbox, as well as instant start-up for seamless stop-start performance.

Check back with AutoGuide.com for more information on the Mercedes-AMG GT4 Concept once it debuts at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show in March.

[Source: Autocar]

“The next-generation Cadillac user experience is a dynamic platform that can be adjusted over time to meet a customer’s evolving connectivity needs, leveraging the cloud to enable personalization, available connected navigation, and applications via the Collection app store,” Cadillac said in a statement.

Making the system faster and more intuitive was a big goal for Cadillac, and now it operates more like a smartphone. A new Summary View displays all the key functions (climate, audio, phone, and navigation) on one screen and personalized driver profiles and settings can now be saved via the cloud and accessed in other Cadillacs equipped with the system.

Cadillac’s OnStar 4G LTE internet connection allows over-the-air updates and can act as a wifi hotspot for up to seven devices and now two Bluetooth devices can be connected at the same time. Of course, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are included.

The new system will be available in the XTS and ATS when 2018 model year production begins and is expected to make it to the rest of the Cadillac lineup in the future.

12th Lagos Motor Fair & 6th Autoparts Africa Expo Get Date

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he organizers of the annual Lagos International Motor Fair & Autoparts Expo Nigeria have announced a date and venue for the forthcoming edition. According to the Managing Director BKG Exhibitions Limited, Mr. Ifeanyichukwu Agwu, who is also the Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the event the 12th Edition of the Motor Fair as well as the 6th edition of the Autoparts Expo will hold at the Federal Palace Hotel, Ahmadu Bello Way Victoria Island, Lagos on from the 24th – 29th, 2017 and 26th-29th, April, 2017 respectively.

According to Mr. Agwu at a press briefing to announce the kickoff of arrangements for the event, the theme of this edition is: “One Expo; Continental Spread”. He said that this is informed by the determination of the Organizers to

champion the development and thriving of autoparts subsector as leeway to fast-tracking the development of Nigeria’s automotive industry. “In this edition as we have been doing for sometimes now we will champion the autoparts section to seeing to making Nigeria become the hub of the business in Africa. We want to make it a strong point of real taking off of a realizable auto policy.”

The Chairman of the Organizing Committee called on the Federal Government to focus should be more on spare parts manufacturing in place of assembling. Spare parts is the place where the real technology transfer takes place. It involves precision and proper planning more than the coupling that takes place in assembling. This will give rise to establishing of more Original Equipment Manufacturers and increase employment”. He said that there should be a review of the ongoing auto policy to make it achieve the desired ends.

Chinese electric car

The Nigeria Road Safety Strategy: A New Dawn SAFE

L

ast week thursday was perhaps my best thursday since I ported from the media to join the services of the Federal Road Safety Corps. It is also a day I believe the average operatives of the Federal Road Safety Corps will forever cherish because of its significance in our desire to make real the onerous task of fulfilling the Corps mandate to rid our roads of avoidable deaths. If you think the 1988 move setting up the FRSC was novel, wait until the whole significance of last thursday inauguration of the National Road Safety Advisory Council unravels because it demonstrates the highest political will by government to say enough deaths.

From the moment the Acting President, Professor Yemi osinbajo inaugurated the National Road Safety Advisory Council under his chairmanship, with 6 governors each representing each of the geopolitical zones of the country and some ministers as well as professional bodies as members, to the late night media appearance by my boss,the Corps Marshal of the Corps, Dr Boboye oyeyemi on the Nigerian television Authority (NtA)to shed more light, I have been reeling with excitement.

In fact, I symbolically rolled the red carpets, beat

DRIVING with

JONAS AGWU

amnipr, mcipr,mprsa,arpa (Corps Commander) Corps Public Education Officer Federal Road Safety Corps. + 2348033026491

the African drums and solitarily clicked a glass of wine over what any concerned follower of road safety in Nigeria since the FRSC was birthed in 1988 would regard as a milestone that deserves appreciation of all Nigerians to the government and also the support needed to make the goals realised.

Please permit me to take you back memory lane to 1988 when the then Military President, General Ibrahim Gbadamasi, travelled a path that was alien to Africa, the developing climes and even some countries in the developed WoRLD when he birthed the Federal Road Safety Corps to tackle the scourge of crashes and avoidable deaths which as at that time had placed Nigeria tops in terms of road crashes alongside Ethiopia. Although we never realized the novelty in that move, everything

about the establishment of the Corps as couched in the enabling decrees singled out the agency as a lead agency in traffic management and road safety administration. Despite the hiccups with respect to its existence and relevance, it took years before the World Bank after a thorough study of its mandates and activities adjudged the Corps as the model lead agency in Africa and the developed world.

What then is a lead Agency and what role do lead Agencies play?Before I dwell on this ,please allow me to first paint the picture of what the World Health organizations (WHo)says about road fatalities in sub-Saharan Africa which it says is projected to increase by 112%, from approximately 243,000 in 2015 to 514,000 in 2030. this increase is said to be a far greater percentage increase than any other region of the world, and is in stark contrast to the projected reduction in fatalities in Europe, Central Asia , East Asia and the Pacific. the Reports shows that road fatalities per capita are projected to increase by 51% over the period 2015-2030, at the same time fatalities per capita is projected to decline for both HIV/ AIDS (-18%) and malaria (-24%). Road fatalities it further notes are projected to overtake the number of malaria fatalities in the Africa during this period. to cause a shift from this global tragedy, WHo

recommends a system based intervention which gives priority to institutional management and capacity issues. According to WHo, “a key factor in tackling the growing road traffic injury burden is the creation of institutional capacity across a range of interlinking sectors, backed by both strong political commitment and adequate and sustainable resources”.

What is making me stand tall is the historic political will demonstrated by government last thursday. You can describe it as the icing of 29years effort by government because it keys into the template for best global practices and for me it is a new dawn for road safety in Nigeria. this best template is clearly spelt out in the six recommendations in the report which directly addresses institutional management issues in the next decade: top among the recommendations is the need for a lead agency which the Nigerian government proactively did in 1988 when it gave birth to the establishment of the Federal Road Safety Corps as the lead agency of traffic management and road safety administration. Following that is the need to assess the problem, policies and institutional settings relating to road traffic injury and the capacity for road traffic injury prevention in each country and thirdly prepare a national road safety strategy and plan of action.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • February 25, 2017

FAMILY HEALTH

Are Beetroots Really Natures Answer to Certain Illnesses?

T

he sight of Beetroot gives you a very unassuming lazy vegetable. The colour is so unattractive and dull. But within it is a world of nourishment that can excite and nourish your whole body to fullness of life. It is indeed a miracle plant. In addition, beets are a good source of folate, manganese, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B-6, pantothenic acid, choline, betaine, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and selenium. The remarkable benefits of beets are most effective when they are enjoyed raw in a fresh juice. Beets are one of the healthiest foods you can juice, hands down. If you have not ever tried beet juice, now is the time to start. Beet were regarded by many ancient cultures not as food but as medicine, a testimony to their potency.

What is beetroot?

Beetroot is a part of the beet plant that is consumed all over the world. It is also known as red beet, golden beet, table beet or garden beet. It is one of the varieties of Beta vulgaris, which is cultivated.

Apart from its use as a food it is used as medicinal plant and also for food coloring.

At first, beets were valued specifically for their leaves, which are loaded with nutritional and therapeutic value. However, now it is well known that beetroots themselves have much to offer. In the same family as spinach and chard, beets contain vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber. They are also high in vitamins C and B6, folate, manganese, betaine and potassium. Beets are rich in a very unique source of phytonutrients called betalains. Both betanin and vulgaxanthin, two highly researched betalains found in beets, have powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and detoxification properties.

Nutritional Profile of Raw Beets: Here is a breakdown of what one cup of raw beets contain: 58 calories 13 grams of carbohydrates 2 grams of protein provides 15 of vitamin A, provides 2% of calcium provides 11% of vitamin C provides 6% of iron In addition, beets are a good source of folate, manganese, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B-6, pantothenic acid, choline, betaine, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and selenium.

The remarkable benefits of beets are most effective when they are enjoyed raw in a fresh juice. Beets Help Lower Blood Pressure.

Great benefits include : In one study, researchers found that drinking just one glass of beet juice lowered systolic pressure by 4 to 5 points. In another study, participants who consumed beet juice for a month had a reduction in blood pressure, improvements in endothelial function, and reduced arterial stiffness.

• Beet Juice is Detoxifying Beet juice is a super effective detox drink that can help your liver dump damaging toxins and stimulate liver cells. This is due to methionine and glycine betaine that help to keep fatty acids from building up.

• Beets Protect from Premature Aging Although there are many products on the market that promise to protect your skin from the damage that free radicals cause, beetroot juice does an amazing job protecting from the inside out. The antioxidants in bets protect the skin by neutralizing free radicals. The lycopene in the juice helps to keep the skin elastic while protecting it from the sun.

• Beets May Help Protect You from Cancer Research using raw beets found positive results.

Researchers concluded that beets can help fight against both cancerous tumors and leukemia. In another more recent clinical trial, 22 patients with advanced inoperable cancers were given 10 ozs. of beet juice for 3-4 months and showed dramatic improvements. Studies have revealed that beets are good at preventing skin, lung, and colon cancer, since they contain the pigment betacyaninis, which counteracts cancerous cell growth. Nitrates used in meats as preservatives can stimulate the production

with

BOBO BODE -KAYODE

lifeissuesfromwithin@yahoo.com, .Cel, 08053372356

so beets and their potassium content are quite a health booster! What is more impressive is that studies have shown the effect to be ongoing. Blood pressure will continue to drop over the course of 24 hours, as though beets are naturally delaying their effects so the body can adjust, rather than plummeting the blood pressure at a dangerous speed.

• Beet Juice Can Improve Sexual Performance At one time in history beets were used as a primitive Viagra. Ancient Romans regarded beets as medicine and drank juice and ate whole beets when they wanted to boost their libido. Research has indicated that beets are a rich source of a mineral called boron that is directly linked to the production of sex hormones. In addition, the nitric oxide that is produced in the body when you eat beets increases blood flow and give your sex drive a kick start.

Side Effects of Drinking Beet Juice Beet juice is very powerful so a little goes a long way.

Start off with a small amount until your body adjusts. You may notice that drinking beet juice turns your urine and bowel movements a pinkyred. This condition is harmless

of nitrosamine compounds in the body which can also result in cancer. Studies have now shown that beet juice inhibits the cell mutations caused by these compounds. Researchers in Hungary have also discovered that beet juice and its powdered form slows down tumor development. Adding a healthy weekly amount of beets to your diet can keep your body cancer-free for a very long time.

• Beetroot juice can lower blood pressure: In fact, when you consume the juice, you will find your blood pressure drop instantly and stay lowered for up to twenty-four hours. Researchers believe that this impact on blood pressure is due to naturally occurring nitrates found in beets. All vegetables contain nitrates, but an average-sized beet contains 20 times more dietary nitrates than any others. In fact, beets are top-rated for Nitric Oxide production. Keep in mind naturally occurring nitrates are healthy but the ones found in processed food like hot dogs and lunch meet are not.

• Prevents Respiratory Problems: Beetroot is a source of vitamin C that helps to prevent asthma symptoms. The natural beta carotene in beetroot also helps to prevent lungs cancer. Vitamin C is also a powerful antioxidant that boosts the immune system in a number of ways. Besides acting as an antioxidant itself and defending against the effects of free radicals in the body, vitamin C also stimulates the activity of white blood cells, which is the body’s main line of defense against foreign bodies, as well as viral, bacterial, fungal, and protozoan toxins that can result in a multitude of infections and illnesses. Vitamin C’s range goes from fighting the sniffles to reducing the chances of cancer, and beets has plenty of vitamin C! • Prevents Cataracts: The presence of betacarotene, which is a form of vitamin A, helps to prevent age-related blindness called cataracts as well as a reduction in macular degeneration that commonly occurs as we get older. Vitamin A is considered a powerful antioxidant substance that is involved in many essential activities in the body.

Some other known benefits of beet juice include • May help reduce the pain of arthritis • May help cognitive function • May help eyesight (especially if you juice the greens)

• Drinking Beet root Juice Can Help Improve Digestion Drinking beet juice helps to stimulate your intestines and breakdown food. Drink ½ cup of beet juice prior to meals or anytime you have an upset stomach.

Caution : Side Effects of Drinking Beet Juice Beet juice is very powerful so a little goes a long way. Start off with a small amount until your body adjusts. You may notice that drinking beet juice turns your urine and bowel movements a pinkyred. This condition is harmless.

• Beet Juice Fights Inflammation The betaine in beets is a powerful nutrient that protects cells, proteins and enzymes from environmental stress. It also reduces inflammation, protects internal organs, reduces vascular risk factors .

Juice storage tips Fresh juice, such as beetroot juice are not meant to be stored for long periods of time. It is best to prepare the juice daily and consume it within 24 hours for best results. Over time, and because of oxidation, the potency of the juice diminished. If you must store the juice longer than 24 hours, be sure that you put it in the fridge and add some lemon to it to help it stay fresh. Always use an airtight glass container for storage.

• Energy Boost: If you find yourself dragging through your workouts, you may want to give beet juice a try. In one study, people who drank beet juice just prior to working out were able to push their workouts 16% longer. This valuable benefit of beet juice is most likely due to those naturally occurring nitrates which turn into nitric oxide and reduce the oxygen cost of low intensity exercise while increasing tolerance to high-intensity exercise.

• Beet Juice Can Lower Blood Sugar: Good news for people who struggle with blood sugar issues, beet juice can actually lower the amount of glucose in the blood. This benefit is due to the soluble fibers found in beets.

• Strokes: A deficiency of potassium in the body increases the risk of stroke. Therefore, the potassium-rich beetroot is recommended to boost heart health for that reason as well. Potassium is called a vasodilator, meaning that it relaxes the blood vessels and reduces blood pressure throughout the body. When blood pressure is reduced and the vessels and arteries are no longer contracted, blood clots are far less likely to form, or get stuck, and the plaque that may have built up along the walls of your blood vessels will not accumulate more detritus to form additional clots. Clots are what eventually lead to heart attacks and strokes,

Other great uses Beet juice works equally well when used topically as it does to ingest internally. Beet juice, when applied topically can do the following: Beet juice helps remove dead skin cells and keeps the skin supple and glowing Beet juice can lighten skin and help even out complexion Beet juice can helps remove dark spots and blemishes Beet juice can help reduce the irritation of a dry and itchy scalp Beet juice draws impurities from the skin and scalp Applying beet juice to your face daily can help reduce dark circles If you would like a nice natural tint to your lips but don’t want to use lipstick, try beet juice.

It will also keep your lips soft and supple Beet juice can help to moisturize your skin when applied daily Using beet juice can help improve the strength, shine and manageability of hair.

GLOBAL SOCCER

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • JUNE 16, 2011

A

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

25.02.2017

WEMBLEY SHOWDOWN PAGE. 29

Tammy Abraham Still Waiting for Super Eagles’ Shirt

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

GLOBAL SOCCER

Still Waiting for Super Eagles’ Shirt

Tammy Abraham tries to go past Kolo Toure during the 2015-16 Premier League season

Since assuming office as the President of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Amaju Pinnick has never hidden his intention to woo players with Nigerian parentage, who have featured only in agegroup competitions for foreign countries. So far, he has not done badly in that regard. However, one player who may have to wait much longer to wear the Eagles colours than he may have wished is British-born Tammy Abraham. It is not because he’s not doing well, but injury and out of the field action may cost him a national team invite, at least for now, writes Kunle Adewale

W

ith the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, having concluded plans for two friendly international matches against Senegal and Burkina Faso on March 23 and 27 respectively, an opportunity for Coach Gernot Rohr to have a look at some of the home-based and new foreign-based players that are likely to be injected into the 2018 World Cup bound Eagles, Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham may have bungled a big opportunity of making an impression on Rohr.

Abraham, who is on loan to Bristol City, sustained a thigh injury during his club’s recent 2-1 loss at Leeds United and he has since returned to parent club, Chelsea for scans. The England Under-21 international limped off during the first half of the

encounter.

Last month, Abraham was also involved in a car accident. At the time of the accident, he was driving without a licence or insurance and was summoned to court.

The 19-year-old has been in sensational form for the Championship side this season having bagged 21 goals in all competitions and has been a shining light in a poor season for the Robins.

Bristol City boss, Lee Johnson, said after the clash at Elland Road that 19-year-old feels the injury could be a serious one.

"Tammy Abraham has done something to his thigh. He'll have a scan over the next day or two. He is gutted because he feels like it might be a bad one but hopefully that won't be the

case," said Johnson.

Johnson has however revealed that scan showed that Abraham will be out for two to three weeks.

While Bristol City will not be happy that Abraham is injured, the extent is much better than initially feared as he is only out for two to three weeks.

“Tammy is a big loss, because of the goals he has scored for us this season, how he has been in training and what he has done for the team. But it could have been a lot worse and this is the best case scenario really. I’m quite pleased about that, because at one stage, it looked as though he might be out for six to eight weeks. We’ll miss Tammy, but we have other options and this gives a chance to someone else,” Johnson said.

During the English Football League,

EFL, Cup against Fulham, Abraham came off the bench to score the winner and Johnson said: “Tammy is the trump card and he carried the weight for us once again.

The world is his oyster; he can do anything he wants.”

Johnson has no doubts that his loaned hit-man is ready to lead the line for his parent club in the Premier League. But he however offered some words of advice to the teenage star.

He said: “He could go into Chelsea‘s team now, no doubt about that. The test will be, does he keep his feet on the ground? He needs to continue to love football and not be in love with being a footballer.”

Pinnick has indeed expressed optimism that some youngsters of Nigerian origin who are doing well in England and other leagues, including Chelsea’s Abraham will wear the Nigerian colours at the appropri-

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FEBRUARY 25, 2017 • THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

GLOBAL SOCCER

Tammy Abraham

ate time, stating that Tammy was like his son to him, because he grew up with the lad’s father in the same neighbourhood and he vowed to bring him to play for Nigeria.

He said it had been in the plans of the present NFF board to build a young Super Eagles team ahead of the 2022 World Cup, adding that the federation was monitoring several Nigerian players that are making waves in the various leagues.

“The initial plan was to take our players in the various clubs, but now, what are trying to do is what we call VIP scouting – talking to these young players that are playing abroad to play for their father land.

“If you talk about Tammy, he is like my son, his father and I grew up in the same neighborhood. So, when they talk about him, I just laugh because I know what to do. I am yet to see a Nigerian that is regretting being a Nigerian. No Nigerian, even if they have four or five passports, they are always excited being Nigerians. I can assure you that we shall get them to play for us at appropriate time,” Pinnick said.

In an earlier chat with THISDAY, the NFF boss said Alex Nwobi’s decision to play for Nigeria as against playing for Three Lions of England earned him the respect he’s enjoying at Arsenal today.

“Nwobi started earning respect at his English club after he was given a national team call-up. Calling him to the national team made Arsenal to respect him and that is the truth. Today, he is one of the key players in Arsenal and we are proud of what federation had been able to do for his football,” Pinnick said.

He said the country boasts of one of the youngest best talents in world football today.

“Nigeria has the youngest and the most enterprising team in the world today.

Today’s football is about youth, players between the ages of 18 and 21,” he noted.

Corroborating Pinnick’s stand, former Nigerian international, Tajudeen Disu, in an interview with THISDAY said youths were always the bedrock of any sport.

“If you look at most of the teams that dominated football in the world, they are always clubs with youths that grew up together. The Ajax team that won the Champions League in 1995 and went on to play in the final the following year were mostly youths that developed together.

“The same thing was what we experienced with the present Barcelona team that had dominated club’s football for almost a decade. It’s always an advantage if a team can boast of young players that develop together. Aside from the great understanding the players will enjoy,

they will also dominate for a long time,” the former Captain of Abiola Babes of Abeokuta noted.

Abraham joined Chelsea at U-8 level and progressed through the clubs academy system. He was part of the Chelsea youth side which recorded back to back triumphs in both the UEFA Youth League and the FA Youth Cup in 2015 and 2016. In the 2016 edition of the UEFA Youth League, Abraham pitched in with a return of eight goals in nine matches, making him the tournament's second highest goal scorer. He carried his form over in to the FA Youth Cup and scored the winning goal in Chelsea's victory over Manchester City. During the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons he scored 74 goals in 98 matches across all competitions for Chelsea's various youth sides.

His form at youth level caught the attention of interim manager, Guus Hiddink, who invited him to train with the senior team at the back end of the 2015-16 Season.

In May 2016, Hiddink handed Abraham his Chelsea debut in a 1–1 Premier League draw with Liverpool, before his home debut at Stamford Bridge the following week against Leicester.

In August 2016, Abraham signed for Championship side, Bristol City on a season-long loan from parent club Chelsea, with no recall clause, and was assigned the vacant number nine shirt upon arrival. He made his debut for the club the following day, coming off the bench to score City's first goal in a 2–1 come-from-behind win over Wigan Athletic.

On 31 January 2017, Abraham scored his 16th Championship goal in the 2–2 draw against Sheffield Wednesday, thereby breaking the record of former Fulham striker, Moussa Dembele for the most goals scored by a teenager since the beginning of the Football League Championship era.

Abraham has represented England at both U-18 and U-19 level, but remains eligible to represent Nigeria through his father and has in the past been sounded out by the Nigerian Football Federation.

If you talk about Tammy, he is like my son, his father and I grew up in the same neighborhood. So, when they talk about him, I just laugh because I know what to do. I am yet to see a Nigerian that is regretting being a Nigerian.

No Nigerian, even if they have four or five passports, they are always excited being Nigerians. I can assure you that we shall get them to play for us at appropriate time

G LO B A L S O C C E R ASSISTANT EDITOR KUNLE ADEWALE WAHAB AKINTUNDE THISDAY ON SATURDAY EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU DEPUTY EDITOR YEMI ADEBOWALE THISDAY NEWSPAPERS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOLAFE

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

GLOBAL SOCCER

Southampton Stand Between Mourinho, Fourth EFL Trophy The first major silverware of the English season will be decided on tomorrow when Manchester United take on Southampton in the EFL Cup final, at the Wembley Stadium and all eyes would be on Jose Mourinho as he targets his fourth EFL Cup win and second silverware for The Reds

J

ose Mouriho’s love for the EFL Cup continues and his record is something to be admired; never been defeated in 90 minutes resulting in three tournament wins.

This bodes well for Manchester United. Considering Mourinho also opened his United career in a 2-1 Community Shield win against Leicester at Wembley, makes it seem that silverware is on the cards.

Standing between Jose and Cup number four is a resilient Southampton side. Southampton saw off Liverpool with 1-0 victories in both legs of the semi’s.

However, Southampton are plagued with injury problems - both Austin and Van Djik will miss out on the big game. As they always do, though they will come together with strong teamwork and desire, mean they are certainly no push overs.

Mourinho surprised a few pundits by playing most of his star players against St Etienne in the Europa League on Wednesday despite the fact United went into that clash with a 3-0 advantage from

the first leg. And while the Red Devils punched out a 1-0 win in France the victory came as a cost with Michael Carrick and Henrikh Mkhitaryan hobbling off with calf and hamstring injuries respectively.

United have now lost just one of their last 25 matches in all competitions and such ominous form has made them favourites at Wembley tomorrow.

However it's worth remembering that Saints are here on merit; they beat Arsenal and got past Liverpool over two legs after a titanic tussle in the semifinals.

It may be a first League Cup final since 1979 for the south coast club but they have, rather incredibly, yet to concede a goal in the competition en route to the final.

When the teams met in the league back in August United ran out 2-0 winners at Old Trafford with Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring twice.

The brilliant Swede has netted a remarkable 74 goals since the start of last season, more than any other player in Europe.

Meanwhile, United’s midfielder, Juan Mata, said victory over Saint-Etienne in the Europa League on Wednesday would boost The Reds in Sunday’s game, admitting he was delighted

with the performance, claiming it will stand them in good stead for S EFL Cup final clash with Southampton.

"From the first minute I think we were very professional. We scored one goal which made it easier for us and we are very happy.

You know it’s not just about qualifying but winning and going into the EFL Cup final on Sunday with more confidence.

"It was the best way to face the final qualifying and winning and we have more confidence. We have now three days to rest.

Southampton haven't played in the last week so they may be more fresh but I think we face the final with confidence and will try and win the second trophy of the season," Mata told BT Sport.

Cris Smalling also reckons the adrenaline from success is driving United on and tiredness won't come into it.

He said: "People talk about the number of games we've got and the final coming up. But I think when you're winning games it doesn't matter how many games you've got. We'll be relishing Sunday and I can't wait to get my boots back on."

Smalling reckons United's greater experi-

ence of Wembley gives them the advantage over the Saints and the England defender added: "To be able to go back to Wembley so soon, and hopefully pick up our first silverware of the season, then that sets us up for the last big two or three months of the season.

"I think quite a few of us as players have played a number of games there and maybe some of their players haven't. So hopefully we can take that edge on Sunday and it can work in our favour."

While United have been busy making progress to the last 16 of the Europa League and FA Cup quarterfinals, Southampton have been able to focus entirely on Wembley since a 4-0 win over Sunderland in the Premier League on February 11.

Their league form has been patchy, but Puel's team have come alive in the League Cup, beating four top-flight teams.

No wonder keeper Fraser Forster is confident of spoiling United's day.

"If you look at the teams we've beaten on the way to the final, there's no reason why we can't do that when we face United. We've got huge respect for Man United but there's nothing to fear," he said.

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FEBRUARY 25, 2017 • THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

GLOBAL SOCCER

Fairytale Goes Sour for Ranieri

T

he anguished tone in Kasper Schmeichel's voice told the story of the turmoil gripping Leicester as the Premier League champions slumped into a relegation crisis that triggered Claudio Ranieri's brutal sacking on Thursday.

"We're the reigning champions and quite frankly it's been terrible.

It's been embarrassing," the Leicester goalkeeper told a television reporter after a dismal 3-0 defeat at home to Manchester United on February 5.

"It's time for every single one of us, right from the top to the bottom of this club, to stand up and be counted because if we don't, we're going to end up getting relegated."

A year on from a stunning 3-1 win at Manchester City that sent them five points clear at the league summit, the loss to United left Ranieri's men a solitary point above the relegation zone.

Leicester's Thai owners felt compelled to issue a vote of confidence in Ranieri, but the team remained in dire trouble after an even more damaging 2-0 defeat at fellow strugglers Swansea days later and the beleaguered Italian was about to pay the price.

Reports emerged that Ranieri was unable to quell squad unrest over his tactics and selection decisions, with the former Chelsea boss forced to deny claims his players were unhappy he had banned chicken burgers from the training ground canteen.

A 1-0 loss at third tier Millwall in the FA Cup fifth round on last Saturday, in which his lethargic side were out-fought by 10 men for much of the second half, was another huge blow to Ranieri's credibility.

His team had lost their past five league matches and were the only side in the top four English divisions without a league goal in 2017.

The final straw came in Sevilla, where Leicester were beaten 2-1 in a Champions League last 16 first leg clash that the Spanish side could easily have won by a far greater margin.

Ranieri had only signed a new contract in August, but by the time Leicester arrived home, he was a dead man walking.

Only 292 days after Leicester's title triumph climaxed with the trophy presentation amid fireworks and a fanfare from opera singer Andrea Bocelli, Ranieri discovered his time was up.

Ranieri...

When the going was good

Unforgivable It was a stunningly abrupt end to Ranieri's reign and many had sympathy for the genial coach's demise.

"After all that Claudio Ranieri has done for Leicester City, to sack him now is inexplicable, unforgivable and gut-wrenchingly sad," Leicester legend Gary Lineker said.

But money talks loudest in the Premier League and the risk of losing over £150 million in television and commercial revenue if Leicester were relegated was too much for vice chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha to stomach with only 13 games remaining.

Leicester's woes were embodied by the woeful form of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, the rough-cut attacking stars whose goals and assists catapulted the Foxes to the title.

N'Golo Kante, Leicester's other stand-out player last season, was the only departure during the close season and the club have failed to plug the hole created by his move to current leaders Chelsea.

Injury has hampered Nampalys Mendy since he signed from Nice and with Daniel Amartey an unconvincing stop-gap, Leicester splashed out £15 million to sign Wilfred Ndidi last month.

Leicester lost head of recruitment Steve Walsh to Everton after last season's triumph and their transfer activity since has been patchy.

Premier League Chelsea Man City Tottenham Arsenal Liverpool Man Utd Everton West Brom Stoke West Ham Southampton Burnley Watford Bournemouth Swansea Middlesbrough Leicester Hull Crystal Palace Sunderland

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TODAY Chelsea v Crystal Palace v Everton v Hull City v Southampton P - P West Brom v Watford v SUNDAY Tottenham v Man City P-P MONDAY

Seria A Juventus Roma Napoli Inter Atalanta Lazio Milan Fiorentina Torino Sampdoria Chievo Sassuolo Udinese Cagliari Bologna Genoa Empoli Palermo Crotone Pescara

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Alexis Sánchez Romelu Lukaku Diego Costa Zlatan Ibrahimovic Harry Kane Jermain Defoe Sergio Agüero Dele Alli Sadio Mane Eden Hazard Christian Benteke Michail Antonio Theo Walcott Roberto Firmino

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Arsenal Everton Chelsea Man Utd Tottenham Sunderland Man City Tottenham Liverpool Chelsea Palace West Ham Arsenal Liverpool

Goodbye Ranieri

La Liga Madrid Barcelona Sevilla Atletico Sociedad Villarreal Eibar Bilbao Celta Vigo Espanyol Alavés Las Palmas Malaga Valencia Real Betis Deportivo Leganés Sporting Granada Osasuna

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Spanish La Liga Fixtures

Premier League

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Ranieri

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TODAY Alavés Betis Leganés Eibar

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SUNDAY Espanyol Atlético Bilbao Sporting Villarreal

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Osasuna Barcelona Granada Celta Vigo Madrid

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Bundesliga BBayern Leipzig Dortmund Hoffenheim Frankfurt Hertha Köln Leverkusen Freiburg Schalke B’gladbach Mainz Augsburg Wolfsburg Hamburger Bremen Ingolstadt Darmstadt

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Serie A Fixtures TODAY Napoli Juventus SUNDAY Palermo Chievo Crotone Genoa Lazio Sassuolo Inter MONDAY Fiorentina

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Atalanta Empoli

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Sampdoria Pescara Cagliari Bologna Udinese Milan Roma

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Torino

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

34

GLOBAL SOCCERR\\OTHER SPORTS

Pupils of Yellow House and their officials celebrate winning the Beehive School 2017 inter-house sports competition at the school's sports arena recently

Action in the on going 2017 NPA Lagos International Polo Tournament

Djokovic Accepts Wildcard to Play in Acapulco Novak Djokovic has accepted a wildcard for next week's ATP event in the Mexican city of Acapulco.

Djokovic has not played since aggravating a shoulder problem during Serbia's Davis Cup tie against Russia earlier this month.

The world No 2 was scheduled to return at Indian Wells next month, but he will now participate in his first ATP tournament in Latin America after a speculative request from the Acapulco

organisers.

"Great news, you'll see me back on court next week in Acapulco," Djokovic said on Twitter. "Did you miss me?"

Six of the world's top 10 will now compete in Mexico next week, with Milos Raonic, Rafael Nadal, Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem and David Goffin already confirmed.

"When we saw the chance we did not hesitate to offer an invitation," tournament director Raul Zurutuza

said. "We knew it was tough, but we were gladly surprised when we got his answer.

"Novak is thrilled to come to Acapulco for the first time and to be a part of the best field in the tournament's history.

"Having Nadal, Raonic, Cilic, Thiem, Goffin and now Djokovic makes us very proud, there are just of handful of tournaments in our category that can brag about having six of the top 10 players in the world."

Atawodi is Guest on Glo-sponsored African Voices

Nigeria’s polo queen, Uneku Atawodi, will be guest on Glo-sponsored African Voices, where viewers will be treated to the amazing story of the woman generally regarded as the world’s only active black female professional polo player,.

A statement from Globacom said 28 year-old Neku was guest on the CNN magazine programme which goes on air at 10.30 a.m. on Fridays with repeat editions at 2.30 p.m. on Saturdays, 12.30 a.m. and 7.30 p.m. on Sundays. Viewers can also watch the show on Mondays at 11:30 p.m. and on Tuesdays at 5.30 a.m.

The company said Neku would be joined on the programme by two other sports icons who are making waves on the continent - Bianca Buitendag of Victoria Bay, South Africa and Shehzana Anwar of Nairobi, Kenya.

Neku, who has a British Horse Society stage 4 riding accreditation is expected to take viewers through her journey into professional polo which started when she fell in love with horses at age 13 and how, despite subtle discouragement from family members, she stayed focused on her ambition. Her interest in the game

generally dominated by the men folk was ignited by her fascination with the smell of dirty leather.

Neku is gradually growing into a legend on the sport. She has played professional polo in over 14 countries, and represents Nigeria at the Federation of International Polo.

Buitendag is a South African professional surfer, born in Western Cape, South Africa in 1993, and grew up near the beach of False Bay outside of Cape Town where she learned to surf at age eight with her two brothers.

FXTM Gets the Inside Track with Formula One Sponsorship FXTM are to sponsor the Sahara Force India Formula One team to become the “Official Forex Partner” for the 2017 season. The team jumped onto the watch list of international sports media and Formula One fans when they finished fourth in the Constructors Championship in 2016. They beat other top teams, including McLaren and Williams, who operate with higher budgets, which makes the achievements of Sahara Force India all the more impressive.

Olga Rybalkina, CEO of ForexTime Ltd said: “The Sahara Force India team was a natural choice for us, they reflect the values and goals of our company, and there are some interesting synergies.

Like us, they are young and dynamic,

growing in size and stature and have their eyes firmly set on the top spot of the podium.”

This year heralds a new driving pairing for Sahara Force India; Esteban Ocon will be replacing Nico Hulkenberg to join Mexican Sergio Perez, who has been with the team since 2014. Esteban impressed the selection team when he tested the Force India car in 2015. Perez has established his reputation as one of the top talents in the sport scoring four podiums with the team since 2014.

He is only the fifth Mexican to drive in Formula One. “We feel that these exceptional drivers, and the wider Sahara Force India Team, reflect the way we run FXTM.

They adopt and implement leading-edge technology, they value skills enhancement, and their goal is to out-perform their competitors. We are very excited to align our brand with the quality and excellence the team is known for and is looking forward to an exciting season of racing.” Says Rybalkina. The much anticipated unveiling of the teams’ new car took place on February 22.

FXTM is a global award winning forex broker which prides itself on setting industry standards through its client education programs, innovation and, customer service. Rybalkina says, “We believe that both FXTM and Sahara Force India will reach unrivalled heights this year.

Yellow House Wins Beehive School Inter-Sports Competition Yellow House was crowned the champions of the Beehive School 2017 inter-house sports competition held at the school’s sports ground at the weekend.

The house came tops with a total of 27 medals -13 gold, 10 silver and four bronze medals.

Blue House was second with 26 medals, 13 gold, eight silver and five bronze medals while Red House was third position with six gold, nine silver and 15 bronze medals, while Green House, ended up in pole position with 22 medals- three

gold, eight silver and 11 bronze medals.

The event, which was held at the school’s newly constructed sports arena, witnessed a large turnout of parents, invited guests and pupils from schools around the Ikeja environs who participated in the schools invitational relays.

The sports competition saw pupils take part in various track and field events such as the 25 metres and 50 metres race for the nursery section while the primary pupils took part in the 100metres and

relay races, high jump, sack race and filling the basket event.

It was an atmosphere of fun and excitement as guests participated in parents’ and grandparents’ race.

Speaking at the event, proprietress Beehive School, Mrs. Latifat Dosunmu expressed her excitement at the fact that pupils now have a standard pitch for sporting activities. She promised to continue investing in facilities to ensure that the pupils can develop their potentials to the fullest.

2017 NPA Lagos International Polo Tournament

Lagos Ribadu Clinch Italian Ambassador’s Cup …Kano Agad, Eat N’Go battle for Low Cup final spot Lagos Ribadu emerged winners of the Italian Ambassador's Cup by beating Lagos Awolowo 6-4 in the 2017 NPA Lagos International Polo Tournament which will end on Sunday.

Lagos Petrosmith also defeated Lagos Lintex 5 1/2 - 4 and Kano Agad were also victorious on Friday as they triumphed 10 1/2 - 2 over Ibadan Oluyole.

For the Italian Ambassador's Cup, sponsored by Elper Oilfield Engineering Nigeria Limited, Sixgoaler, Santiago Cernadas and Ossama 'Disco Baby' Debs (0), got Ribadu to a flying start. Tom De Bruin pecked the lead to just a goal. Senator Toks Ogunbanjo (+1) scored to give Ribadu who are completed

by Leroux Hendriks (+5), a 3-1 lead to end the first chukka.

De Bruin got another goal at the start of the second chukka to keep Awolowo, who also have Sani Dangote (+1) Bayo Amusan (+1) and Halifa Ibrahim (+3), in the game as the latter drew them level before the end of the second chukka.

Argentine Cernadas scored all three goals in the third chukka to give Ribadu a 6-3 lead and despite Ibrahim's goal for Awolowo, the display of Cernadas was enough to see Ribadu bag a two-goal margin victory in a match watched by the ConsulGeneral Italian Embassy, Andrea Pompermaire.

In the second match of the day, three-goaler, Hamisu Buba opened score with a low shot to give Petrosmith 1 1/2 - 0 lead against Lintex. He converted a 30-yarder moment later but Nasiru Lukat (+1) scored a 30-yarder to narrow the deficit for Lintex.

Buba influenced the match and kept his team in the lead 5 1/2 - 4 at the end of the third chukka. There was no goal scored in the final chukka as both sides missed series of chances.

In the day's opening tie, Kano Agad defeated Ibadan Oluyole with the game galloping-off on a comical note as Salisu Ibrahim putting his shot wide despite being the only one on the field.

Ibrahim had kicked off the match being the only player ready as others are still dressing up but after moving freely with the ball for over 120 yards, his shot drifted to the side of the goal.

Agad, who featured Nabil Dantata (0), Sadiq Dantata (+1), Idris Badamasi (+2) and Abdulmalik Badamasi (+2), made Oluyole paid for that inexplicable miss as they lead 3 1/2 - 0 at the end of the opening chukka.Oluyole, completed by Bola Adeyemi (+1), Jibrin Ali (+1), and Babao Lawan (+2), were made to chase the game all through as Agad surged to a 8 1/2 - 2 lead going to the last chukka before seeing out the match 10 1/2 - 2.

The semifinals of the Low Cup holds today as Lagos Eat N' Go confront Kano Agad while Lagos Balmoral International clash with Lagos United.

The day's activities would be rounded off with an award night.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

WRITERS’ WORLD

Literary Agents as Writers’ Headache?

In traditional publishing, literary agents are supposed to help writers find publishing outlets. But with the process getting more difficult, agents, who insist on the spectacular or exceptional manuscripts, are becoming gate keepers of the narrowing needle’s eye. Below is a compilation of the views of writers and agents from various sources

A

literary agent represents writers and their written works to publishers and, producers; and assists in the sale and deal negotiation of the same. Literary agents most often represent novelists screen writers and non-fiction writers. They are paid a fixed percentage (usually twenty percent on foreign sales and ten to fifteen percent for domestic sales) of the proceeds of sales they negotiate on behalf of their clients.

They exist largely to provide services to authors. According to Wikipedia, these services include connecting the author’s work with appropriate publishers, contract negotiation, ensuring payment of royalties, and acting as a mediator if there are problems between the author and the publisher. With the help of Agents especially young authors are able to get known by the public.

Agents also assist publishing houses and others in expediting the process of review, publication, and distribution of authors’ works.

Many well-known, powerful, and lucrative publishing houses are generally less open than smaller publishers to unagented submissions. A knowledgeable agent knows the market, and can be a source of valuable career advice and guidance.

Literary agents are often very experienced members of the publishing industry who usually transition from years of working in the industry before moving on to being agents.

Though self-publishing is becoming much more popular, literary agents still fulfill the role of acting as the gatekeepers to the publishing world. And they insist they don’t make life difficult for writers. Below here, some agents show how access the needle’s eye.

Literary agents speak Andrea Barzvi, President of Empire Literary, LLC: First of all, “prescriptive nonfiction” basically means nonfiction books that are not memoir or narrative nonfiction.

And if you are writing such a book, you must have a platform when you submit your work or else most/all publishers will not even consider your idea. This is because with nonfiction, most of the marketing falls upon your shoulders, and you will be expected to build a platform before you need it—before the book comes out. A platform consists of all the elements you have in place to market yourself and your books right now—such as your blog, website, newsletter, public speaking appearances, media contacts, social media numbers, and more.

Kathleen Rushall, Andrea Brown Literary Agency: As you research agents and build your list of reps to target, you should be giving some consideration to all agents who might consider your work—both established agents and new ones. Both have advantages, and it’s typically new/newer agents who are actively seeking clients right now.

Jacquie Flynn, Literary Agent at Joelle Delbourgo Associates: Many, many agents are on Twitter. And by reading their tweets, you can get a deeper understanding of what they seek as well as what kind of writing excites them. Use an agent’s online footprint and research them. Read their blog

interviews. Review their website. This helps you better target agents to query, and it also helps you learn more about each rep, giving you information you can use to begin your query letter.

Sara Megibow, Literary Agent at KT Literary: This is still true in 2017, of course.

A friendly reminder that if you are querying fiction of any kind, the manuscript must be 100 percent complete before you send it. But as we’ve already discussed, it should be not only complete but also revised and rewritten as much as needed before submitting.

Please note that most agents treat memoir submissions like novel submissions in that they want to see the full, edited memoir upfront.

Abby Saul, Agent at The Lark Group: This is some of the best and simplest submission advice you will find out there. If you want to know how you, an unpublished author with no name recognition, can entice agents (and readers) with your book pitch as well as your first pages, look at those like you who succeeded and learn from them. In the words of agent Sara Megibow of KT Literary: Go to the bookstore and pick up debuts in your genre from the past two years. Then examine what they did successfully concerning their pitch (found on the back cover or inside jacket flap cover) as well as their first pages.

Renee Nyen, KT Literary, Gryffindor: Before you submit, you should understand basic word count expectations. Someone recently contacted me asking me to critique their 33,000-word novel. But that is not a novel. By definition, that word count is a novella, and much too short to be a novel— meaning that agents will not consider the work.

Stacey Donaghy, Literary Agent and Founder at Donaghy Literary Group: First of all, understand that when people use the word “exclusive,” they can mean 1) contacting only one agent at a time while submitting, or they can mean 2) when an agent asks to review your full manuscript but be the only one reviewing the full thing for a limited length of time.

Taylor Martindale Kean, Literary Agent with Full Circle Literary: Understand your genre before you submit. If you’re confused, do research and ask questions.

Saying it’s “women’s fiction/sci-fi” does not make sense. Probably the most common confusion is whether a book is middle-grade (for readers 8–12) or young adult (readers 12–16). Saying it’s both, or worse yet saying it’s “middle-grade/young adult/adult” will only come off as amateurish. Yes, material can cross over from one age category to another, but fundamentally, it is starts as just one category.

Marlene Stringer, Literary agent: Before you submit, you need an independent analysis of your work—i.e., you need other people to critique it. This means either having talented writing peers/friends review it (look for people who are smart, critical, and honest) or hiring a freelance developmental editor. You should have your manuscript revised, overhauled, and battletested before submitting it for publication. Or else you’re essentially sending out a work in progress that will not reach the finish line.

Julia Weber, Freelance fiction editor.

Literary agent: It’s unwise and risky to self-publish your book just to see how it does, and then plan on submitting it to agents later if sales do not materialize. Once you self-publish a book, you’ll have to disclose that decision to an agent, and then an agent will be wondering why the book did not

BISI DANIELS bisi.daniels@thisdaylive.com Blog: www.bisidaniels.com, 08050220700

sell. Your query letter will sound like this: “I wrote a book and self-published it. It went nowhere. Would YOU like to rep it???”

Marisa Corvisiero, Literary Agent, Attorney, Speaker, Publishing and Mindset Coach: No matter what you are writing, you will need a query letter. Not all queries or the same or are trying to achieve the same thing.

A novel query tries to suck you in with the pitch and voice. A nonfiction book query puts massive emphasis on the platform and bio. A picture book query is short and sweet, almost more like a cover letter. But in all cases, you will indeed need a query letter. Do not try to skip this step and instead just send an agent a hyperlink to something, or attach your manuscript.

Jane Friedman, writer Understand Your Work’s Commercial Potential: There are different levels of commercial viability: some books are “big” books, suitable for Big Five traditional publishers (e.g., Penguin, HarperCollins), while others are “quiet” books, suitable for mid-size and small presses. The most important thing to remember is that not every book is cut out to be published by a New York house, or even represented by an agent; most writers have a difficult time being honest with themselves about their work’s potential. Here are some rules of thumb about what types of books are suitable for a Big Five traditional publisher: • Genre or mainstream fiction, including romance, erotica, mystery/crime, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, young adult, new adult • Nonfiction books that would get shelved in your average Barnes & Noble or independent bookstore—which requires a strong hook or concept and author platform.

Usually a New York publisher won’t sign a nonfiction book unless it anticipates selling 10,000 to 20,000 copies minimum.

If your work doesn’t look like a good candidate for a New York house, don’t despair. There are many mid-size houses, independent publishers, small presses, university presses, regional presses, and digital-only publishers who might be thrilled to have your work. You just need to find them.

Decide If You Really Need a Literary Agent: In today’s market, probably 80 percent of books that the New York publishing houses acquire get sold by agents. Agents are experts in the publishing industry. They have inside contacts with specific editors and know better than writers what editors or publishers would be most likely to buy a particular work. Perhaps most important, agents negotiate the best deal for you, protect your rights, ensure you are paid accurately and fairly, and run interference when necessary between you and the publisher.

The best agents are career-long advisers and managers.

Traditionally, agents get paid only when they sell your work, and they receive a 15 percent commission on everything you get paid (your advance and royalties). It is best to avoid agents who charge fees other than the standard 15 percent.

So … do you need an agent?

It depends on what you’re selling. If you want to be published by one of the major New York houses (e.g., Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster), then you more or less need to have one—and want one on your side.

If you’re writing for a niche market (e.g., vintage automobiles) or wrote an academic or literary work, then you might not need an agent. Agents are motivated to take on clients based on the size of the advance they think they can get. If your project doesn’t command a decent advance, then you may not be worth an agent’s time, and you’ll have to sell the project on your own.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER •FEBRUARY 25, 2017

FAIRGROUND

A Night of Love at MTNF-MUSON Concert

with

AZUKA OGUJIUBA

azuka.ogujiuba@thisdaylive.com

T

he atmosphere at Agip Recital Hall at MUSON Centre, Onikan last week was splendid as the MTNF-MUSON alumni unleashed what would for a long time remain one of the best shows on a Valentine’s Day’s eve. Guests at the venue were prepped for the thrilling experience with scintillating tunes from DJ Ozone, who took the guests down the memory lane.

With a lot of food and drinks to savour, the atmosphere around the ‘love garden’ which served as the holding area for the guests resonated what a love experience should be. By the time the show got on the way, the guests were held spellbound as the alumni delivered melodious tunes across jazz, funk, blues and folklore performed on string and wind instruments. As the performances switched between classical and contemporary tunes, the frequent standing ovations from the audience signified a night of pageantry.

An ecstatic Executive Secretary of the MTN Foundation, Ms. Nonny Ugboma, said, “This is a good justification for MTN Foundation’s investment in promoting music education and enhancing youth development through partnerships.

Nonny Ugboma, Olusola Teniola, Ajibike Teniola, Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, Pascal Dozie, Aishatu Sadauki, Dennis Okoro, Oyeronke Oyetunde “We have sponsored over 250 students in the 10 years of this programme. What we saw this night is a demonstration of the quality inherent in the programme. So long as we can, as a Foundation, we will always support the development of these talents across Nigeria.”

In her remarks, Director of the MUSON School of Music, Mrs. Marion Akpata, thanked the MTN Foundation stating that “MUSON had impacted greatly in the Nigerian music and music education.”

Some of the songs performed include: Ifunanya and Bank Alert

by P Square; Mad Over You by Run Town; Elephant Medley from the Moulin Rouge; I’ll Always Love You

by Whitney Houston; Colour of the Wind by Alan Menken among others.

The MUSON School of Music was established in 1989 to train school age children and members of the general public interested in learning to play musical instrument and in voice.

Aishatu Sadauki and Omasan Ogisi Becky Obaze

Emmanuel and David

Joshua David and MIracle Ogbor

Linda Anumba

Linda Anumba

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER •FEBRUARY 25, 2017

FAIRGROUND

Iyabo Ojo Covers the Refreshed Issue of Simple Magazine

N

ollywood Actress, Iyabo Ojo, makes the latest issue of SIMPLE magazine.

Ojo, who was recently endorsed alongside Monalisa Chinda, as the face of luxury shoe line, Larrit, talked about her life as an actress, mother and multiple-business owner.

The refreshed entertainment and lifestyle magazine also features soul singer and businesswoman, Oluchi Fidelis. In a society where woman are indirectly and sometimes ridiculed with the ‘other room’ limitation, Songstress, Oluchi Fidelis see no limits, as she pours

out her heart in this issue.

This issue also comes packed with exclusive interviews with director of Africa’s biggest movie export (in the creek), Tarila Thompson.

Tarila Thompson who is respected in the industry for pioneering the English speaking movie industry in the land, talks about his landmark film project that took over four years to shoot and more.

Ok, that’s enough! You have to grab yourself a copy to enjoy the rest of the gist.

SIMPLE also highlighted Wizkid’s continual galactic growth at the top, in its ‘act focus’ section. Make sure you read

that.

The much anticipated entertainment and lifestyle title brought freshness with this edition with a reboot and redesign of its masthead. “The work on this edition has taken different turns at every intersection. We redesigned our masthead and gave it a fresher more simplified carriage but all-the-same bold and ever present.

The design process, brainstorming with the team, moments that comes with the sweetest inspirations.” Explained Adedamola Edun, editor-in-chief of the magazine. The issue is available magazine stands near you. Go grab yourself a copy now!

Iyabo Ojo

Goldberg Excellency Tour: Otapo Bata Drummers Emerge Winner of Cultural Contest in Abeokuta

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he Goldberg cultural contest in Abeokuta, Ogun State among local drummers, praise- singers and dancers which ended on 18 February saw Otapo Bata Drummers the overall winner with a cash prize of N250,000, in a show which involved five top performers at the final stage.

The second position went to Ayanwale Drummers while Omo Aribido Drummers clinched the third position with cash prizes of N150,000 and N100,000 respectively; while Ayandare Drummers and Paramount Band that were among the five top finalists got cash prizes of N50,000 each.

It was a keenly contested competition of drummers, praise singers and dancers among 12 groups that were involved in the audition process at the Cultural Centre, Abeokuta, with selected five for the final stage at a contest with lots of people in attendance.

Among the contestants for the competition were Otapo Bata Drummers, Ayanwale, Omo Aribido, Omo Makinde, Ayandare,

L-R Josiah Akinola, Funso Ayeni, and Lucky Oiwoh

Ogungbayi, Asore, Paramount Band, Bata Batik, Ayokorode, among others.

The contest which began on 17 February, started with a proces-

sion through major streets of Abeokuta by drummers, praise singers and dancers showcasing their talents in both old and contemporary Yoruba songs with

various talking drums as well as traditional instruments.

The people of Abeokuta were thrown into excitement as the cultural contest organised

by Goldberg Larger Beer also known as ‘Your Excellency’ was seen as a mark of respect for the culture of the people of Ogun State and the South West in general.

The audiences at the event commended Goldberg for the vital role it has played in promoting talent and the rich cultural values of the people of the South West.

Hours before the commencement of the contest, the people of Abeokuta trooped out en masse to the venue of the event to show their support for their groups, chanting slogans and dancing to rhythms of popular songs. The huge turnout shows the people’s high regard for their cultural norms and values.

Speaking at the event, the senior brand manager, Regional Mainstream Brands, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Funso Ayeni, stated that Goldberg Excellent tour would be taken to five other

cities after that of Abeokuta, in line with the brand’s -point agenda of culture, respect and tradition, and that other cities include Ilorin, Ado Ekiti, Ikare Akoko, Ile Ife and the ancient city of Benin in Edo State.

He said the event in Abeokuta was aimed at promoting local talent, as the competition brought out the best skills from the performers who see the contest as an opportunity to show cultural skills over others.

‘As a brand, Goldberg also known as ‘Your Excellency’ ensures that it identifies with cultural values of the people of Ogun State, a situation that resonates the brand’s 3-point agenda and which would also be replicated in other locations,’ Ayeni affirmed.

While commenting on their victory, the leader of Otapo Bata Drummers, the group with the first prize, Mr. Afolabi Mufutau, said it was a thing of joy to see his group clinching the first prize. He said it was the work of God, though they had been engaged in series of trainings in the past.

O’jez Evergreen Mate to Revive ‘Elders’ Forum’ with Liberian Miatta Fahnbulleh, Jimi Solanke

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he wedlock between O’jez Entertainment and Evergreen Musical Company has given birth to a reinvigorated Elders’ Forum, the once very popular monthly highlife music show that was also used as a medium to recognise and honour individuals who have distinguished themselves in the arts and music industry.

So come this Sunday, February 26, all roads will lead to celebrity restaurant, O’jez, inside the National Stadium, Surulere-Lagos where the revived Elders’ Forum will open in a grand style with the presence of Liberian International singer, Miatta Fahnbulleh alongside Nigeria’s acclaimed folklorist, playwright and actor Jimi Solanke.

Time is 5pm.

The Elders’ Forum according to Chief Joseph Odobeatu, Chief Executive Officer of O’jez Entertainment Group, was rested for about three years to enable it come back in a different shape and style. “We had to go back to the drawing board and work out a way to make the every last Sunday of the month event that rocked Lagos for almost 15 years look fresher and better. So, O’jez went into a partnership with Evergreen Musical Company to make this happen. What you

will witness on Sunday is a sharp departure from the past editions because we will strive to reinvent ourselves,” Odobeatu said.

Meanwhile, Miatta Fanhbulleh has been reharsing with Jimi Solanke as both of them will be on stage for the better part of Sunday event.

Fahnbulleh according to her biography posted on allmusic.com, remains one Africa’s finest voices. She always wanted to sing, but the bug really bit her at 16, a desire that caused problems with her father, the Liberian Ambassador to Sierra Leone. Liberia was not very progressive, and women, especially ambassadors’ daughters, didn’t sing in dance halls and clubs, so Fahnbulleh pursued her craft on the down-low. She once came in second in a talent contest that she couldn’t attend because her father found out and wouldn’t let her go; the judges graded her from a tape. At 19, after graduating from high school in Sierra Leone she moved to Nairobi, Kenya to attend Junior College.

She dropped out and moved to Monrovia, Liberia to D.J., alienating her father who wrote her out of his will and distanced himself from her.

She started singing professionally, often making more money in one night than most Liberians made in a month. Shortly after

that, her father was sentenced to 20 years in prison for treason and other charges.

Seeing no future in Monrovia, Fahnbulleh boarded a plane in 1968 for New York. She immediately displayed her singing skills by entering a contest at the Apollo Theater and coming in second. Fahnbulleh not only sang, but composed and produced her songs also. She never made an impact in the States because of bad advice, bad luck, and the paranoia that everybody wanted sexual favors in return for helping her career, which went against her Muslim upbringing. Her breakout should have been with Donald Byrd, whom she wrote and composed songs with for an LP. A meddling friend, however, convinced her she was getting ripped off and she backed out of the project before the recording date.

A contract with Ed Townsend, who later broke the bank with “Let’s Get It On” for Marvin Gaye, literally went up in smoke when Townsend’s recording studio mysteriously burned down. At the time, Townsend and Motown Records were embroiled in a lawsuit over the use of Townsend’s studios to record the Isley Brothers’ “It’s Your Thing” while they were under contract to Motown.

She never came close to cementing a deal again and returned home in 1974.

Miatta Fahnbulleh

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER •February 25, 2017

February 25, 2017 • THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • February 25 , 2017

INTERVIEW Adeyoyin Adesina

At Corona, We Brand Our Products For Global Leadership Adeyoyin Adesina, the Principal of Corona Secondary School, Agbara, who has been elevated as the CEO of the Corona Schools Trust Council, showcases a track record of over16 years. With academic exposures garnered locally and abroad, Adesina’s cutting edge in the growth and development of children to global relevance, has helped to place the college on international pedestal in modern learning. She speaks with Nduka Nwosu on why Corona will remain a reference point that has produced some of Nigeria’s best, including acting President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Bukola Saraki, former Governor Donald Duke and many other greats in the polity

C

an we start with a brief history of Corona?

In 1955, a group of mainly Irish and British women under the chair of Mrs. MacDonald established an organisation called the Corona Women’s Society. The society’s main aim was to establish suitable schools based on the British educational model. These schools were open to children of all races. It started then with the Corona Day Nursery in Ikoyi and over the years has expanded to about eight schools within Lagos and Ogun states including a Teacher Training College.

Corona Secondary School, Agbara is one of the eight schools of the Corona Schools’ Trust Council. Located within the serene environment of Agbara Residential Estate. The school boasts of world-class facilities that boost learning and the development of a total child in and outside the classroom. The classrooms are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities are also technology-enabled so that students can take charge of their own learning with or without the teacher. Like all other Corona schools, it is established on esteemed values such as integrity, service to the community, team work, and commitment to the development of a total child amongst others. The school is affiliated to reputable bodies such as the Association of International Schools in Africa (AISA), the Association of International School Educators of Nigeria (AISEN) and Council of British International Schools (COBIS).

What was the aim of the founder or founding fathers?

The focus of the Corona Schools’ Trust Council is the development of world-class schools and students; world-class in all facets of our operations such as curriculum, teaching methodologies, staff quality, libraries, technology, buildings, resources, facilities and management. A Corona student is a confident learner, one who is globally minded, who can successfully compete with contemporaries all around the world.

Our school was established in 1992, as a co-educational boarding school and we have successfully presented our students for Nigerian and British external examinations.

We also have a campus that provides an appropriate setting for all that we set out to achieve.

The college is a teacher finishing school and has the ultimate objective of making teaching an attractive career option by improving and updating the skills of teachers, while broadening and deepening their knowledge base.

The Trust Council provides a collage of experiences and richness of diverse cultures for the children. We endorse enthusiasm for life and learning in a manner that allows every child to excel and be valued in his or her sphere of influence. Our aim is to make leaders of these children who have the self-confidence to meet the challenges of the future; the humility to acknowledge the success of others; the compassion to support others who encounter difficulties; and the maturity to take responsibility for their own actions How is this aspiration resonating with the Corona schools of today especially the college?

Our overarching objective is to ensure that our students are able to live and work successfully in the hyper-turbulent, globalised and technological world that they are going to work in. In line with the avowed mission of the Trust Council, we want to educate the

Adesina

whole child. Working with a committed team of professionals, we ensure that our promise to each child who comes to Corona is that they can become multi-talented, flexible, competent individuals who are intellectually active, physically, verbally, socially and academically competent, empathic, caring and fair, creative and curious, disciplined, self-directed and goal-oriented, critical thinkers, confident, cared for, valued and loved, enabling them to be globally competent and adaptable.

who bring their wealth of experience and versatility to bear in content development, teaching methodology and facilitation of knowledge. Our staff work in line with global best practices whilst upholding the ethics and core values that the Corona brand is known for. Continuous professional development is a shared vision of exemplary teaching practice which ensures delivery of our academic program to our students and helps our teachers stay in tune with global trends as it affects the profession.

Is Corona purely an elitist school, otherwise how does the common man exploit the advantages the college offers?

Our brand is targeted at providing world class education for intelligent students who meet the Corona academic standard and appreciate the uniqueness of the Nigerian culture embedded in our school’s curriculum.

Scholarships are awarded to exceptional students on a yearly basis, regardless of their social status.

Would you say Corona prepares its students and pupils for future leadership roles and how?

One of our values is to prepare children for a life of service and commitment. Our students understand clearly that leadership is service. They attend international conferences that help them experience actual leadership positions where they learn how to solve global problems. Our students take on leadership roles within and outside the classroom with a system to help them evaluate their performance constructively. Corona students regularly give back to the community by rendering selfless service to the less privileged within the community by donating classroom blocks, science laboratories, and toilets in neighbouring schools and markets, caring for the old and raising money for children in orphanages through various initiatives.

How does Corona prepare its students for foreign and local examinations as well as admission to Ivy League?

The unique curriculum allows all students to study for local (NECO), regional (WAEC) and international (IGCSE) qualifications which equip them not just with the knowledge they will need in the future but also the skills that will allow them to be life-long learners. In order to do this, our dedicated staff create an environment that enhances learning and as well as provide unflinching support for the students beyond the call of duty. Our results are proof of this and with our alumni in top ranking schools and organisations of the world, Corona has become an ever reliable brand. Our students are alumni of reputable universities like Kings College UK, Queen Mary College, Imperial College, MIT, Birmingham, Rutgers, Purdue, Georgia, University of British Columbia, University of Alberta, York University, to mention a few.

What is the quality of Corona staff ranked along with similar institutions locally and abroad?

We have a team of qualified professionals

Nationwide and globally, can you point to past Corona students in the Hall of Fame?

Our alumni consist of highly placed members of local and international settings.

Notable amongst them is the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Donald Duke, Bukola Saraki, Tonye Cole – CEO Sahara Group; notable American cardiologist, Yele Aluko, veteran actress Dakore Egbuson-Akande, ace comedian Olateju Oyelakin also referred to as Teju Babyface, popular TV presenter, Morayo Afolabi-Brown, MD/CEO Nuli Juices Ada Osakwe, Okey Ofili, Jemine Rewane, Chizoba Imoka, Tomi Davies, Henrietta Joseph, Bola Adesola, and others attended various Corona primary schools.

Most schools in the category of Corona are often accused of confining students to the classroom without exposing them to other activities that may expose hidden talents. Is that true?

At Corona, we believe in developing a total, all-rounded child. For this reason, we have since taken learning out of the classroom by ensuring our students participate in community and service learning within and outside the country. Our students participate in extracurricular activities which include arts and crafts, chess – which exposes them to analytical thinking, vocational skills, aerobic and sporting activities – athletics, football, basketball and swimming, religious activities, public speaking, literary and confidence building activities, fashion and style, amongst others. At Corona Secondary School, each student is unique and then treated like an individual, encouraged to explore whilst learning in a structured environment until they become the best version of themselves.

Each year group has a planned excursion ranging from local to foreign travels and interests, which includes a mandatory 10-day leadership training at Sea School. .

Your college focuses on mentoring, can you shed more light on that?

Mentoring is a crucial aspect of the school’s Students Learning Enhancement Programme.

It is a system in which people with lots of relevant experience and vital knowledge of a diverse nature advise, help and guide young people in school. The LSP initiative aims to increase students’ motivation and improve students’ achievements in various aspects. It helps staff to take individualised approach to help students succeed. There is, through a profiling of both the mentor and the mentee, a positive match between the two; this is done with a view to achieving helpful communication between them.

The mentor, with well-honed interpersonal skills, effectively communicates with the mentee while establishing a sound basis for interacting with subject teachers and pastoral staff towards ensuring the well-being and progress of the mentee.

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FEBRUARY 25, 2017 • THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

FASHION FILE

VANSKERE 2016 Classic Collection

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FASHION FILE

VANSKERE 2016

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legant, yet conservative, are the words that come to mind when viewing this collection. But why not use the words stylish, and sophisticated as well? The Vanskere brand has once again shown its creative ingenuity in this tailored to perfection pieces for that upward functional man.

According to the designer -Evans Akere,”the collection is a reflection of the brand philosophy, inspired by colours, yet for that conservative and confident man.”

Credits: Models: Deyemi Okanlawon, Emmanuel Ikubese, Michael Nwanchukwu, Ifeanyi Kalu, Dominic Mudabai, Idris Saibu.

Photography: Barret Akpokobayen Makeup: Omowunmi Makeovers Styling and Direction: Evans Akere PR: Morsi PR

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

By Azuka Ogujiuba azuka.ogujiuba@thisdaylive.com

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

WITH

MARKET PLACE

OMOLABAKE FASHOGBON 08033621009

L-R: PR and Communications Lead, OLX ,Uche Nwagboso; Honorable Commissioner for Science & Technology, Olufemi Odubiyi; Senior Manager, Business Development, OLX, Mayokun Fadeyibi and Business Operations & Finance Manager, Goodluck Ikporo during a courtesy visit to the Ministry of Science and Technology’s office in Ikeja, Lagos...recently

L-R: Etihad Airways Marketing Lead, Nigeria, Fola Akinboro; Grand prize winner of the SPAR ‘Shopper of the Year’ promotion, Mrs. Fola Otuyelu; and Head of Marketing, Artee Group, John Goldsmith, during the presentation ceremony in Lagos...recently

Glo Subscribers Fume over Poor Network While the indigenous telecommunications service provider, Globacom, has been commended for its cheapest data plans initiative, subscribers however decry the persistent poor service experience on the network which had already compelled some customers to exit the network.

Some visibly angry customers who spoke to Market Place noted that Glo’s attractive data tarriff was probably a strategy from the service provider to entice more and unsuspecting customers to its service in order to offset cost, having realised its weaknesses.

Adrant Partners Unveils News Website A news site, www.propertynews.com.ng, dedicated to construction and real estate coverage has been unveiled by Adrant Partners.

According to the firm, the news platform which is an effective guide for practitioners, investors, as well as, individual property owners provides in-depth reports and analysis of events, activities and developments in the industry.

The Chief Executive Officer of Adrant Partners, Mr Ranti Adedeji, stated that the platform was enriched with comprehensive content from different segment ranging from building planning, sellers’ request, buyers’ request, documentations, real estate, investment, supplements, projects and Interviews.

Explaining further, Adedeji said building planning for instance, focused on the stageto-stage processes involved in building a personal house.

“It provides practical and result-oriented guidelines about all you need to know about building your own house and dissect matters that relate to property acquisition and ownership; building development control agencies; documentations of landed property; hiring building contractors; various building materials as well as finishing your building to suit your taste. To say the least, it answers all questions that needed to be clarified in the course of planning and building your personal house.”

He added also that the site was a right floor for landlords who have property to sell and estate agents who have direct instructions to dispose a property, to publicise their requests while buyers too can indicate their demand, that they will be matched with property in the organisation’s database.

“We also provide free consultancy services about property documents like survey, land information, certificate of occupancy and building approval. This is in conjunction with experienced property lawyers and relevant government agencies,” Adedeji said

In his comments, Oluwole Isreal pointed out that “Of all the cellular network providers operating in Nigeria right now, Glo has the cheapest data plans. The GSM network has always come to the rescue of Nigerians, introducing insane tariffs that often make other network providers adjust their plans and pricing. When it introduced its latest data plans recently, a lot of Nigerians thought liberation had come and I wasn’t an exception.

“It’s a known fact that Glo network isn’t the best around but it is actually getting worse. I subscribed to the 24GB data plan

for N5,000 and I ended up regretting this move. The network quality has been so terrible that I haven’t been able to cross 50% of the data allocation and it’s almost 20 days.

“MTN offers this same amount of data for N10,000 and I thought getting it for 5,000 with Glo was a great way to save some money. I was wrong.Network quality on the Glo network varies by location, everyone knows this. However, the coverage in most regions is terrible.”

Although, there had been general problems with browsing from all the networks

French Company Launches New Champagne A French company producing Francois Voyer Cognac champagne and Vollereaux champagne has officially launched the two products into the Nigerian market.

Made from natural grapes, the manufacturers of the products said that it had brought the product to the country to satisfy the urge and taste of Nigerians adding that it sought to control the champagne market in five years time.

The Sales Manager of Francois Voye Cognac champagne, Morgan Moutetat, said at the official launching of the product in Lagos recently, that the product being a family brand was traditional and made from the best ingredients.

“Though, the product is new in the Nigerian market, so far, it has been very accepted by Nigerians because the quality of the product has nothing to be compared with.”

Moutet said he was optimistic that the product would thrive in the country irrespective of present economic challenges.

In the same vein, the Expert Manager of Vollereaux Champagne, Julien Breuzon, noted that the firm strongly believed in Nigeria’s potential as the market for the future, hence, the launch of the latest, first in Nigeria before other African countries.

“We have a great product with good quality. We want Nigerians to get the benefit of their money. When they think about champagne, what should come into their minds should be Francois Voye Cognac champagne and Vollereaux champagne.

We are not here to compete with other brands in some ways, but we want to be champagne that everybody knows, we want to be known as the quality champagne,”he added.

IBMN Holds Summit to Mark 10th Anniversary As part of activities to mark its 10th year, the Institute of Brand Management of Nigeria, IBMN has said that it would, in addition to holding its annual brand summit, confer fellowship awards to qualified individuals.

This year’s summit, themed:’Positioning Made in Nigeria Brands in the Contemporary Global Market; issues, Challenges and Future Prospect’ being a high-level brand thought leadership premium events, is designed to address contemporary problems that brands face in today’s challenging business world.

The event’s organising Secretary, Desmond Esorougwue disclosed that the Nigerian Brand Director summit, NBDS 2017, sought to sort out measures at repositioning Nigerian brands to fit in global market.

The focus of the summit was as a result of present economic challenges in the country, with a view to enhance the value of made in Nigerian brands.

“Poor Perception of locally made goods

among Nigerian consumers is driving domestic manufacturers to pseudo brand their products as made in Asia or made in Europe, while also packaging them in in foreign containers in order to sell at higher prices and make more profits.

“The 2017 NBDS promises to also brainstorm on issues bordering on strategies for growing brands in recession and the competitiveness of Nigeria brands in the global market”, he said.

Identifying some of the potentials of the event which is billed to hold at LCCI conference centre Alausa, Ikeja, on March 10, Esorougwue said the forum will serve companies with broad Knowledge of global branding discipline and help them to gain general insight and understanding to all key issues pertinent to building global brands out of Nigeria as it will also provide opportunities for key stakeholder from different sectors of the economy to discuss and exchange ideas on how to best position Nigerian brands for optimum result.

especially since the introduction of fourth generation/long-term evolution (4G/LTE) of which many people said that its arrival was like a salt added to an injury, customers said that the Glo network was most frustrating both in it data and voice services.

They added that Globacom present status has not been justified by performance as they do not get value for their money,hence,feel exploited.

Effort to get the company to comment on this didn’t work out as the series of phone calls put to its was not successful.

Nobel Carpets, Travel Next Door Kick off Contest Nobel Carpets and Floors, indigenous maunfacturers of all kinds of rugs and carpets and an online travel agency, Travel Next Door, have announced the opening of ‘My Nigeria Travel Story’ competition second edition.

The game, which was initiated to promote Nigeria’s cultural heritage and the tourism sector, is in form of write-ups and photographs on travel experience depicting the endowment, festivals, culture and lifestyle in Nigeria.

The General Manager of Lucky Fibres Limited, Mr. Jitesh Pamnani, who expressed delight over the company’s partnership with TopTravel Agency at bringing the initiative to reality, said that entries were welcome from interested participants from all works of life, noting that the competition recorded about 88 entries when it debutted last year, 60 from the photographs section and 28 inspiring write ups .

“As an organisation with huge investments in Nigeria, we are constantly enthralled by the splendour of the Nigerian people and culture, and this uniqueness has been of tremendous influence on our product designs over the years. We are therefore excited about this competition as it would further unveil the undeniable beauty of the country, amazing scenery, yet unknown tourist attraction sites, the rich cultural heritage and unique lifestyle of the people” stated Pamnani.

Providing further clarification, the project coordinator; Mr. Pelu Awofeso, said, “the major entry condition for this year’s edition is similar to that of the previous year. The story or picture must be Nigerian-specific, and it could either be from past or present trips which could include road trips, train journeys, hiking & sightseeing; theme parks & resorts; tourist sites & attractions; picnics & beaches; festivals & traditional events; shrines and centres of worship; community profiles, indigenous lifestyles and practices; communal spaces and markets.”

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

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SHOWBIZFLAIR

Tosin Clegg

07062816737 e-mail: tosinclegg@hotmail.com

BAYEGUN OLUWATOYIN

Growing Up, My Parents Used Proverbs to Discipline Me

Bayegun Oluwatoyin, popularly known asWoli Arole, is an MC, actor, stand-up comedian, brand analyst and prophet. He broke into the entertainment scene a few years ago with his comic, Yoruba display of preachers, and signature smile, setting him apart. In this interview with Tosin Clegg, he talks about family, education, career and how he broke barriers to enter into the industry

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Nigeria. I learn from them. I learn from all the comedians in and outside Nigeria, but I don’t have a mentor or role model among them. I just learn one thing or another from them all.

Introducing Myself

y name is Bayegun Oluwatoyin, and I’m from Ikare Akoko, Ondo State.

The third child in a family of three and I’m also very handsome.

Growing up and education Growing up, for me, was very humble.

I was raised by my parents and I enjoyed discipline with proverbs and beatings.

My primary school was in Ibadan at Olapade Agoro, and from there I went to secondary school also in Ibadan. I then studied at the best University in the world, the one with the highest terabytes, Obafemi Awolowo University.

Goals for my career My greatest goal as a comedian and as an actor is to raise so many comedians and actors as well. I want to raise a lot of mentees in this industry. That’s my greatest goal.

How I started acting Then, I attended Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry, where I used to act the devil and I acted it well. I also acted in my church fellowship at the university, and acting has been a part of me since then. I have acted in four movies now - 200 Million; Alakada Reloaded; In-laws; and Obun Part 2. Three of them are cinema works. I have acted alongside Basorge Tariah, Chris Attoh, Toyin Amaikhu, Saidi Balogun and more.

Working with big stars home and abroad Yes very much, I would love to act at home and abroad. I would love to do something with Tyler Perry and other Hollywood stars. I would love to do something with them, and by God’s grace, I would love to do a world tour to different countries, and do comedy alongside other foreign comedians like Kevin Hart, Aries Spears, Trevor Noah and the like.

Becoming Woli Arole It all started in September 2015, I was still going to church then, when I did a video of a funny prayer point and I kept working on it. I have a strong CAC background and my mum also is a prayerful woman. So, it inspired me to just create a character called Woli, meaning a funny prophet that conveys messages in a funny way. So, Woli Arole was inspired by God. The experience has been awesome One of my challenges in the industry is that people felt I was using a particular language, Yoruba, to do comedy, but that is what is paving way for me.

First of all, it’s putting food on my table and on the table of my families and it has also helped me to reach out to more lives, with laughter, all across the world. My Selling point is my language, alongside my attitude, charisma and Grace of God. I am a real prophet I have a gift of prophecy in real life, as a spiritual gift from God. Being a prophet for me is in two ways; first of all, it is a character of a comical messenger of God that talks about people, places and events and also conveys his

Oluwatoyin

messages in a very hilarious way which is the Woli Arole personality. Also, there is the aspect of being a prophet that is a spiritual gift from God which gives the person the ability to see real visions and say words inspired by God to someone and it would be as if the person has met you before. So, for me, I operate as a comical character and also as a spiritual gift. So, you can say Woli Arole the

comical prophet and Woli Arole a real prophet.

Role models and mentors For me, they are people that are not comedians; they are Ministers of God; persons such as Pastor E.A Adeboye, Bishop David Oyedepo and Dr. D.K Olukoya. These are my mentors and role models, and I admire all comedians in

My plan for the next five years It is to produce my own movies, have a TV series that is running well, doing a world tour and raising lots of mentees, and the Woli Arole brand would have been a household name that people can reckon with. Also, in five years, the brand would have more global appeal and people speaking different languages can also enjoy the humour.

Female fans are wonderful They are so lovely; my fans are people that appreciate my works. So, I treat them with love and respect, including the male fans. I love them all and I treat them well.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

SHOWBIZFLAIR

MY STORY ETISALAT SIGNS SIMI AS BRAND AMBASSADOR Nigeria’s most youthful and innovative telecommunication company, Etisalat, has signed soul music sensation, Simisola Bolatito Ogunleye, popularly known as Simi, as brand ambassador for the telecom brand.

Speaking at the formal signing of an agreement between the company and Simi, held in Lagos recently, Director, Brands and Experience, Etisalat Nigeria, Elvis Ogiemwanye, said Etisalat was happy to welcome Simi into the Etisalat family.

He added that the decision to sign the youthful and talented artiste further affirmed Etisalat’s commitment to encouraging and supporting home grown talents in different endeavours, including art, sciences or even business, to realise their potentials.

Since its launch into the Nigerian market in 2008, Etisalat has consistently supported several talent development initiatives, including the sponsorship of DJ Xlusive’s All Whilte Party, Kado Picnic and Be A Nigerian Concert, among others.

I Started Music at 13 Iwuoha Uzonna Christian, whose stage name is Kriss, kicked off his career with a humble background and recently was signed by GMG Records as one of their lead acts. In this chat with Tosin Clegg, he talks music, life and lots more

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two years.

HOW ARAMIDE IS CHANGING THE FACE OF MUSIC As the Nigerian music industry grows, music enthusiasts are coming to terms with the diverse talents springing up. Many of the artistes, however, still give what music lovers are used to, albeit, in a different way, making the place of change unavoidable. Afro Soul diva, Aramide is proving with time that we don’t need to stick to what we already have and that something new and refreshing could be infused into the Nigerian music.

Her choice of genre of music, Afro Soul tells part of it.

Though some have compared her to Asa, but a closer look will reveal that both artistes are not in for the same strife. Asa has a different sound and rhythm that characterise her kind of music.

Aramide’s genre is known as Afro Soul, a fusion of Soul and African sound, while Asa does soul sometimes with foreign sound. Aramide

KRISS

stated that Afro Soul music, for her, came up as a result of the various sounds that influenced her.

With the release of her debut album, Suitcase, the stage is set for continuous change. Anyone who has listened to Aramide’s Suitcase album would notice something unusual.

Unlike what many artistes would do just to get attention, Aramide does music for its sake.

No lewd lyrics or indecent songs.

What we have rather is a story telling experience that tells her journey to the world. Each song takes listeners to situations that they can relate to.

The 15-track album signifies consistency, decency and the art of music at work. She has been able to get good followership with her kind of music because there are music lovers out there who subscribe to her kind of music.

ell us a bit about your background?

I’m Iwuoha Uzonna Christian and I‘m from Imo State. I’m the third born of a family of two boys and a girl. I grew up in Surulere, Lagos state with my family but lost both parents within a space of

When did you begin your career?

I started my music career at the age of 13 when I discovered my talent. I was pretty young then and I have kept up with the struggle up till now.

What kind of music do you do?

I do RnB, Highlife, Afro Beat and Soul.

Who are your mentors and music influences?

My mentors are 2face and Wizkid, while I regard Banky W as my musical influence, as his style of music is exceptional.

What’s exceptional about you?

My way of life is what makes me exceptional, and that sets me apart from the rest.

New Label, GMG Records Begins Operations in Lagos

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reat Masters Generations (GMG) records owned by businessman, Chief Stanley Okoli was officially launched in Lagos recently. A mini concert took place, during which the guests were treated to performances by the acts.

The label also unveiled artistes under its management and, these are: G Sharp, Emex EOT, Famous and Chris. According to the General Manager of the record label, Maic Fidel, the label is here to stay and hopefully would be one of the notable record labels in Nigeria.

Plans are also in place to push their music largely across the industry and gain their rightful spot among industry heavy weights. Also, the label is rooted with the very best of resources, a world class studio, and a mansion for the acts on the label.

GMG Records team

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

MARITIME BITS

WITH

JOHN IWORI

08057763164

R-L: Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Customs Area Controller (CAC), Eastern Marine Command (EMC), Comptroller Usman Kankara Bello presenting a plaque to the Commandant, Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Rivers State Command, Mr. Mohammed Haruna when the NSCDC Chief paid a courtesy visit to the CAC in his office in Port Harcourt…recently

L-R: A marine instructor at Charkin Maritime and Offshore Safety Centre, Captain Uche Okocha Mba showing something of interest on the screen as Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike tries his hand on the latest state-of-the-art simulator at the centre shortly after the formal unveiling of the first ever land ship in Nigeria, MV Rivers Pride and the foundation laying of 200 cadets accommodation block in Ozuoba, Port Harcourt…recently

Indigenous Shipping Firms Crumble Under Debt Burden More indigenous shipping firms in the country are going under as the ills plaguing the Nigerian economy exacerbate as a result of the recession, THISDAY investigations have revealed.

Though many of the Nigerian shipping firms were not doing well but their woes were compounded by downturn in the economy, especially the low price of crude oil in the international market.

Hitherto, these companies had added enormous value to the economy through job and wealth creation, revenue to government-payment of taxes, and levies including cabotage fees.

Though the fate of these companies varies, one of them stood out as a sore thumb in the mouth. Established since 1987 as a wholly owned indigenous company with interests in banking and finance, real estate, agriculture, trading, media and publishing and hospitality, the promoters of the company who preferred anonymity decided to venture into the oil and gas industry in 1997 with the establishment of its shipping division.

Not a few stakeholders in the maritime industry saw the decision as not only bold but also timely considering the niche and absence of local players in the then lucrative industry.

With the support of some financial institutions led by one of the leading banks in the country, Diamond Bank in the past 20 years of existence, the shipping division of the company has continually invested millions of United States of America (USA) dollars in the acquisition of a fleet of state-of-the art ships.

The acquisitions were mainly platform supply vessels (PSV) and security boats of various capacities, sizes and shapes.

In spite of the fact that the shipping division of the company has offered cost effective and quality services to leading multinationals including ExxonMobil, Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC), Total, Addax and other national oil companies, the current challenges facing the oil and gas industry has put local players in distress.

This is not unconnected with the drop in the production level of international oil companies (IOCs) as a result of the fall in crude oil price, militancy in the oil and gas rich Niger Delta region, among other reasons.

THISDAY checks revealed that the situation is so bad that most of the IOCs have off hired vessels of their clients leaving them with no other viable alternative option than

Ali, Adeosun Rift Deepens The face-off between the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Colonel Ibrahim Hameed Ali (rtd) and the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun has worsen with Ali’s continuous promotion and sack of men and officers of the service without recourse to the ministry which is statutory the head of the NCS Board of Customs and Excise.

Apart from those he sacked for various reasons, the retired military officer who was a former military administrator of Kaduna State also approved the promotion of 1, 561 junior officers to various ranks without the authorisation of Adeosun.

Apparently not pleased with the development, Senate Committee on Customs and Excise recently invited Ali to the National Assembly to quiz him on the authority and power he was using to promote and sack customs officers without the express permission of the Minister of Finance who is the head of the supervising Ministry of the Customs.

The Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) which legalizes the operations and administration of NCS recognizes the Minister of Finance as the Chairman of the Board of the Customs.

The Act among other things recognises the Minister of Finance as the person who should authorize the sacking and promotion of officers and other key matters concerning the operations of NCS but the CG has been doing this with impunity.

Ali was said to have told the Senate that he derived the powers he has been exercising in NCS from the letter given to him personally by President Muhammadu Buhari when he was appointed nearly two years ago.

It was gathered that Ali accepted the job on the condition that he is allowed to run the NCS independently to enable him sanitize its operations.

THISDAY checks revealed that it was based on the acceptance of these conditions that Ali was given the three Rs mandate. That is reform, restructure and increase revenue.

to drastically reduce their workforce through dismissal, downsizing and rightsizing.

In some instances, some of these shipping firms have either close shop or at the verge of doing so this year.

Already, some of these companies cannot afford to run their offices any longer not to talk of having funds to maintain the minimum standard of their vessels lying fallow in the ports (due to non- availability of contracts).

The sad development has quietly led to mass retrenchment in the oil and gas sector leaving many to join the large army of the unemployed.

This is the reason behind the calls in some quarters for the Federal Government intervention before things totally go out of hand in the shipping sector of the economy.

According to some stakeholders, it will be suicidal if the Federal Government continues to watch the sad trend continue without intervention in the months ahead.

In the light of the foregoing, the commercial banks and other financial institutions, may have to reconsider various options of supporting local companies during this trying time by considering rescheduling payment of outstanding debts which are mostly in USA

ICC Welcomes WTO Trade Agreement The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has welcomed the entry into force of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).

Regarded as the first multilateral trade agreement to enter into force in over two decades, the TFA aims to make trade easier and simpler by cutting red-tape at borders. ICC has estimated that the deal could support the creation of some 20 million jobs worldwide, especially in the developing countries of the world.

The TFA is regarded a landmark global trade agreement which could provide a boost to global trade flows of over $1trillion. At the last count, no fewer than two-thirds of WTO member states have ratified the TFA. Rwanda, Chad, Oman, and Jordan recently become the latest of 110 countries to ratify the agreement.

Reaching this threshold means the TFA now becomes an official part of the multilateral trading system which covers more than 96 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP).

Apparently pleased with the development, ICC Chairman, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal in a statement obtained by THISDAY said: “The entry into force of the TFA is a watershed moment for global trade. The reality today is that many small businesses find themselves unable to trade internationally due to complex customs requirements. By cutting unnecessary red-tape at borders, the TFA will have a transformational effect on the ability of entrepreneurs in developing countries to access global markets.”

Continuing, Mittal said: “The TFA can help ensure that, for the first time, all companies—regardless of size or location—can benefit from global trade.

The entry into force of the agreement could not come at a more important moment given the imperative to make global growth more inclusive.”

It is on record that ICC has been a leading proponent of the TFA, playing a key role in the 2013 negotiations that led to the agreement and working closely with the WTO and other international organizations to coordinate and support the deal’s implementation.

ICC Secretary General, Mr. John Danilovich, said: “ICC has tirelessly championed the TFA because we know that making trade easier through simple customs reforms can provide a major boost to small business growth.

It is estimated that the TFA could increase SME exports by 80 percent in some economies.

This means more jobs, more consumer choice and—ultimately—more inclusive development.”

He called on governments to take action to implement the TFA, even as he enumerated the benefits that member state stand to gain from it.

His words: “The entry into force of the TFA is just one step to making the potential benefits of this landmark agreement a reality. Governments must work without delay to implement the provisions of the TFA working hand-in-hand with local businesses to identify key bottlenecks to trade across national borders.”

Several stakeholders across the globe have also welcome the development with ICC Ghana Secretary General, Mr. Emmanuel Doni-Kwame saying that ICC Ghana with the support of AGI, World Trade Centre Accra, GUTA, Ship owners Association of Ghana, Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, FAGE, Ghana Employers Association, Ghana Journalists Association, West Blue Consulting, Ghana Shippers Authority and the BUSAC Fund encouraged the Ministry of Trade and the Parliament of Ghana to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement. This goal was achieved in January when Ghana became the 104th member country to ratify the TFA.

dollars. Many of these loans were gotten years back when $1 was exchanging for N100 or N160). Presently, $1 is exchanging for N375 and N520, official and black market rate respectively.

Analysts have opined that this is the best time to assess banks on their business friendliness and support even as they pointed out that the once lucrative sector had in the past yielded millions nay billions of naira/dollars for the banks.

Besides the Federal Government intervention, there is urgent need to strictly enforce the provisions of the Cabotage Act 2003. This is the only way to stop the flagrant abuse of the Act with the signing of waivers, the continuous engagement of foreign owned vessels for jobs strictly meant for indigenous ship owners.

Stakeholders including government agencies such as the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), need to come together and deploy resources so as to prevent a bad situation becoming worse in the months ahead.

Stop Witch-hunting Abdullahi, AML Tells EFCC The Association of Maritime Leaders, AML, has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to avoid victimising a former Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Inde Diko Abdullahi.

The association in a statement issued in Lagos noted that the recent operation carried out in his Kaduna residence by the commission was an act of intimidation.

It argued that while it was not averse to the ongoing investigation of Abdullahi, it wondered why the anti-graft agency was surprise that someone who attained the former NCS boss level owned the cars discovered at his Kaduna home.

AML in the statement signed by its President, Mr. Marcilinus Udeogwu, accused the anti-graft agency of double standards, noting that the vehicles might have been legitimately obtained or bequeathed to the former Customs Chief.

“The fight against corruption is laudable and the concern of every Nigerian. That is why we have been supportive of the EFCC. We are committed to anything that would make Nigeria corruption free. But to achieve that, victimisation, double standards and vindictiveness should not be the cardinal principles of the EFCC. Unfortunately, we have seen the commission exhibit this on a few occasions to the extent that Nigerians are beginning to lose confidence in the commission and its leadership. ‘’A case in point is the recent invasion of the Kaduna residence of Alhaji Inde Diko Abdullahi who meritoriously served this country. That the cars were discovered is not a big deal but what we find disturbing is the fact that the commission failed to realise that a man who had occupied various sensitive position could have legitimately owned such number of vehicles. Of course, this is Africa where the practice of goodwill is prevalent.

Abdullahi may as well have done legitimate ventures that earned him money all these years.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

PERSPECTIVE

Obaseki’s Edo State Quandary Crusoe Osagie

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y conclusion is that Nigerian political leaders are drawn to power and political offices mostly because of what they stand to gain for themselves and their close family and friends.

Otherwise how do you explain individuals who are elated to take on Herculean tasks of governing local governments, states or even the entire nation to the point that most of them sell their properties and sometimes their very souls in order to get into offices.

Pondering on the sheer magnitude of the problems that these political leaders are elected to solve and observing the state of mind and body language displayed as they ride to office, it is easy to conclude that an incredibly large percentage of these individuals have not heeded that good counsel of counting the cost before embarking on the onerous task of governance.

Watching leaders of developed countries like the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, among others and examining their approach to their jobs as leaders of municipalities, states and nations, it is unequivocally clear that their motivation for power is different from ours.

Donald Trump, a billionaire businessman rose to power in the United States on the back of a populist ideology of putting America first and the immediate financial benefits to him for serving his country as the president is one dollar ($1) a year.

The private plane he flew on as a businessman is perhaps as luxurious as the Air Force One he is now being flown on as the president of perhaps, the greatest country on earth.

There were arguments about the need for him to sell off his many businesses or place them in a blind trust to avoid any potential conflict of interest.

He had to declare that when foreign nations patronise his numerous luxurious hotels, apartments and resorts around the world, the proceeds will go to the United States government, while he handed his businesses to his two sons who may not be able to run them as satisfactory as he did, considering his vast experience.

In essence, Trump has had to take a massive pay cut and concede huge personal, business and financial gains in order to serve his people.

The case is exactly opposite when it comes to political office holders in Nigeria.

They often look forward to the massive

Obaseki benefits to themselves, their families and friends and clearly never really take stock of what price they have to pay and the intractable problems they are confronted with as leaders of largely dysfunctional political entities.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s frequent medical vacations abroad are good examples.

While I sympathise with him and pray that he gets well soon, it is important to draw a parallel between his case and those of other senior citizens who have served Nigeria creditably like Buhari himself has done, but would never have the opportunity of accessing world-class health care simply because it is unavailable in their country and they cannot afford to go to the United Kingdom or any other first-rate nation for that matter.

Going by the amounts published by Buhari in his asset declaration just before he took office, which stated that he had around N30 million ($60,000) to his name, I doubt that he would have been able to embark on two medical vacations to the UK as he has done in the past 6 months. As for Governor Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki of Edo State, perhaps it is too early to pass judgment.

However, from my interactions with him and judging from the very austere characteristics of many of them from the Obaseki family in Benin City, he deserves an opportunity to show that he is in a class different

from that which is occupied by the majority of Nigerian leaders.

Obaseki, like most governors in Nigeria, has nearly impossible problems in his hands.

Unfortunately, many of these governors come to their various assignments completely oblivious of the challenges ahead of them.

If the United Nations has declared that people with incomes equivalent to $2 (N1000) a day are living in poverty, then perhaps 80 per cent of people living in Edo State are poor.

A N1000 per day’s wage would translate to N30, 000 a month if the individual works for the entire 30 days of the month. But if like the average person in Edo State, the individual does not work on Saturdays and Sundays, it means that the monthly wage will be around N20, 000 which is less than $2 a day.

With a government minimum wage of N18, 000 monthly and private sector minimum wage in Edo State which is lower because most of the private sector operators are micro or at best small enterprises, coupled with the vast unemployment figures as high as 40 per cent, it is clear that 80 per cent of the 3.2 million population of the state are wallowing in abject poverty.

How, therefore, do you throw a big party of opulence and grandeur when you are elected to serve a population of mostly hungry people? You do so only if you have not carefully considered and taken time to appreciate the enormity of the problems you have been beckoned on to attempt to solve.

When the 2017 budget for the state was announced and recently signed into law, as an indigene of the state with a fair knowledge of its vast socio-economic and infrastructural needs, I chuckled. N150 billion ($300,000,000) is the figure.

The population of the state of Iowa in the United States is just about the same as Edo State, around 3.1 million people. Conversely, the budget figure for Iowa in the year 2015 was $21.8 billion (N10.9 trillion) and on average, this figure rises at the rate of 6 to 7 per cent every year.

Even the University of Iowa had a budget of $3.5 billion in the year 2015, a figure which is over 10 times larger than the entire Edo State budget figure for the year 2017!

A superficial analysis of these figures sufficiently tells the precarious state we find ourselves as a nation and if our leaders consider these kinds of issues carefully, they will certainly handle their responsibilities as chief executives of states, local governments and the nation with more reverence and sacrifice.

Gone are the days when opulence is displayed in political leadership. The

resources available to you as the governor are grossly inadequate to meet the most basic of the needs of your people.

As for Obaseki, the opportunity that has come to him to lead Edo people, instead of stirring misguided elation should elicit philosophical calmness and deep meditation.

Even the entire budget sum for the year cannot equip the Central hospital along Sapele Road in the heart of the city with the necessary equipment and manpower to ensure that citizens who need diverse medical care do not have to leave the state to get help or die from their condition.

The entire sum cannot make the stateowned university, Ambrose Alli University in Ekpoma a world-class institution, thereby ending the citizens’ quest for better education outside the state and outside the country. The full budget if spent on building roads will hardly fix 10 per cent of the roads across the state in desperate need of rehabilitation and reconstruction.

It will therefore be criminal for some portions of this wretched budget to be set aside for compensating political party stalwarts and feeding the avarice of political godfathers.

It will be the height of ungodliness and morbid insensitivity for parts of this grossly inadequate budget to be expended on state dinners for friends and well-wishers of government and settling the greedy members of the House of Assembly in order to make political headway.

As a servant of the state, before you put your hands in the till of government resources, you must ask yourself if the expenditure will be for the benefit and survival of the much greater majority.

You must daily put your conscience to task and be true to yourself that most of the time if not the entire time, you are acting and standing on the side of the most vulnerable in your sphere of governance.

Usually, it appears as if there is no consequence for bad and terrible leadership in Nigeria. As long as political alignments are right, leaders always seem to walk free after years of dishonest leadership has led to the demise of many. But we must always keep in mind the injunction of the Holy Bible in Ecclesiastes 8:11-13 which says: “11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong.12 Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him.13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.”

Anchor Borrowers’ Programme as an Effective Tool for Food Sufficiency Ndubuisi Francis

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ith the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), an initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the right chord appears to have been struck towards food sufficiency, writes Ndubuisi

Francis Prior to the launch of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme by President Muhammadu in Kebbi State on November 17, 2015, Nigeria was beset by a combination of a precipitous falling oil prices and skyrocketing food import bills.

Rice imports alone gulped, a about $2 billion annually-- a development the Governor of the CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele described as unsustainable, considering the nation’s depleted foreign reserves.

Prior to the advent of the scheme, the rice import cabal in the country fed fat from dumping the staple food on hapless Nigerians at exorbitant prices; a development the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) perennially frowned on because of the contentious nutritional value.

Importers frustrated every effort of government to grow rice locally such that when the federal government banned its importation through the land borders and embarked on tariff hike when imported through the seaports, they still devised strategies to smuggle the item into the country.

Again, when the CBN included rice as

one of the 41 items on the foreign exchange (Forex) prohibition list, they literally engaged the apex bank in fisticuffs.

However, despite the sustained campaign of calumny against the ABP, the successes recorded so far have vindicated Emefiele’s disposition that given the right incentives, Nigerian farmers will meet local food demand.

Since the ABP took off in 2015, about 17 states have embraced it with total disbursement from CBN as at December 2016 stands at N26, 998,143,566.

Emefiele had said that it was the beginning of rice revolution in the country. Thousands of jobs have also been created along the rice value chain.

Currently, rice production in Nigeria, according to available statistics, stands at 4.5 metric tonnes and out of this figure, 2.5 metric tonnes is from the CBN ABP. Aside that, Nigerians insatiable appetite for foreign rice has waned considerably in the last one year as consumers have come to appreciate the freshness of local rice unlike the foreign brands that have been stored for upward of half a decade under questionable conditions, before being dumped in the country. So, it was the need to reduce the pressure on the nation’s scarce foreign exchange (Forex) for the importation of foods like rice, milk, wheat, fish, etc; create jobs, guarantee food sufficiency and open export windows that Emefiele insisted the country must immediately start local production of these items using the ABP as the fulcrum.

Hence, the scheme became one of the vehicles the CBN used to move from concen-

trating only on price, monetary and financial system stability to act as financial catalyst in specific sectors of the economy, particularly agriculture.

N40 billion, out of the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) has been earmarked as loan for farmers at a single-digit interest rate of 9 per cent. The CBN also released the simplified guidelines on how any business-minded stakeholder could access the fund all in its efforts to return Nigeria to the early 1960s to mid-1980s era, when visionary leaders like Chief Michael Okpara in Eastern Nigeria, Obafemi Awolowo of the Western region and Tafawa Balewa of the Northern flank, made agriculture the main stay of the economy.

Okpara revolutionised oil palm; Awolowo built the economy of the western region with cocoa, while Balewa spearheaded the groundnut pyramids which the north was known for.

The apex bank targets that by 2021, the ABP will have created at least 1,000,000 direct and indirect jobs in the processing segment of the identified value chains.

Unfortunately, it was the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantity in the 50s and 60s that panned successive government’s attention away from agriculture, thus vandalizing the nation’s economy and leaving it in prostrate state till date.

Emefiele said the ABP, which is being implemented under the auspices of Presidential Task Force on Rice, Wheat, Cassava and Tomato with the involvement of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, aims at creating economic linkages

between over 600,000 smallholder farmers and reputable large-scale processors with a view to increasing agricultural output and significantly improving capacity utilization of integrated mills. This, he noted, would close the gap between the levels of local rice production and domestic consumption, as well as complement the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) Scheme of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development by graduating GESfarmers from subsistence farming to commercial production.

Many individuals and corporate bodies like the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), the National Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI) have lauded the ABP, which encompasses the commercial production of rice, wheat, tomatoes, cassava and other crops. They describe it as a timely and effective scheme that should be sustained and replicated in other sectors. They urged various Ministries to work with the CBN to see areas of immediate collaboration in the urgent task of diversifying the nation’s economy.

They said the CBN should not succumb to the pressure from some quarters to exclude rice and other foods from the 41 items on the Forex ban list. MAN President, Dr. Frank Jacobs, while appraising the programme described it as laudable and encouraged other states that are yet to key in to come on board.

“The scheme is good. Any programme that will encourage local production either in agriculture or other area is a welcome development. We applaud the ABP. It has helped create jobs for many farmers and other investors. It’s the right way to go and the CBN should be encouraged”, he said.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • February 25, 2017

INTERVIEW Nyesome Wike

There’s no Reconciliation with Sheriff Governor Nyesom Wike is one of the last men standing in the Peoples Democratic Party. Not a man that will retreat in the heat of attacks, he is firing on all cylinders. He described the loss by Makarfi at the Court of Appeal to Alli Modu Sheriff, whom he tagged a mole as a temporary setback. In this interview with Ahamefula Ogbu, he insists the media deceived Nigerians and literally foisted the All Progressives Congress and President Muhammadu Buhari on the country; and that the media should tender a public apology to the nation. To him, the crisis in Rivers State was occasioned by politicians who could not adjust to losing control of power in the state

W

ith the Appeal Court ruling giving Ali Modu Sheriff the chairmanship of PDP, it seems to have complicated the crisis in PDP rather than resolve it. What is the

accusations especially the issue of trying to compromise INEC officials. Can you tell us what happened because the police seem to believe that they have evidence that you tried to compromise INEC officials?

Ordinarily, I would not have reacted to this but because you have asked; we are already in court, I took the IG to court.

Before now, I had said severally that the security agencies particularly the police had a predetermined mind on how to rig the election and throughout my political career, I have not seen where instead of members of the party directly rigging, you see security agencies directly rigging by themselves. So it is not a question of aiding, and of course, do you expect the police to say that they came to rig elections? It is very unfortunate. It was even on television how the police were brutalising electoral officers. They denied that they were the Nigerian Police, it tells you where we are heading to, so the issue of whether INEC said I compromised or not is laughable. I can tell you how they plotted everything but since they said they have evidence, let them take it to court and show the people how the money was kept in one place, who said he came to me and I gave them the money. All I can say is that their so-called report is laughable and at the end of the day, we shall meet in court. We are not afraid, that is why we say we should allow the institutions to work.

When we were preparing for that election, we did not know that we were not only contesting with another political party, we were also running against the police.

Is Sheriff making moves to reconcile with the stakeholders?

There is nothing to reconcile because everybody has seen his actions so you don’t need anybody to tell you that he is a mole; even those who are parading him, you can see the characters, you can see how they romance with the ruling party. He is not going to work for the party; rather he wants to see that the party is decimated before 2019. There are so many people who see this as a business, I can say with authority that those people around him are people with questionable characters and it is difficult even to believe until they come around you and you see the stuff they are made of. So the issue of reconciliation does not arise since he is not quarrelling with anybody, all we are saying is that we cannot allow a wolf to be the chairman of our party.

But even the DSS is also giving the same impression as the police on the election…

I am not a man anybody can cow or intimidate to talk good about the government when you know there is nothing good that comes out of the government, I am not going to do that. That the DSS and the Police are trying to portray me to the public as if there is nothing good that comes from me is unfortunate. Let them compare developments in APC states with what I am doing in my state and see whether the difference is not clear. I have refused to be distracted.

I remain focused, not bothered about those laughable allegations by the DSS. Don’t you see when people demonstrate in their favour in Abuja, they don’t say anything but when somebody demonstrates against them they say oh, they are trying to cause a crisis. So these are the types of fake things you see them come up with; I don’t have sleepless nights about their so-called trumped up charges.

way forward?

As far as I am concerned, you may say it is complicated but I will rather say it is a temporary setback because I don’t like commenting on all these judgments but I know that this is not the final bus stop; the final bus stop is the Supreme Court.

Obviously, we reject the judgment. Sheriff is a mole in the party and so if it were a situation you know it is someone who has the interest of the party talking, then you begin to see how you can move from there.

Having identified that the mole has been working for APC, it will be difficult for any right-thinking politician to say oh, let us allow him, it will be very, very difficult. We are going on appeal; we will take a major decision after the final appellate court that is, the Supreme Court has given its verdict, so I am not worried. I know that in politics this is the way it goes, you don’t expect things to be smooth all the time.

Sometimes it is rough; it will threaten you and sometimes it enables you to know that this is the type of human beings you are working with so you can know the kind of characters they are made of. Luckily, it was not a unanimous judgment, it was a split decision of two to one; you can appreciate the fact that there is still hope as we go to the Supreme Court

There have been alleged threats after the appeal court judgment that they will push you out of the party, why that?

That also tells you he is just talking; he is not the one speaking. He is saying what people told him to say and they believe that if the threat is issued, it could amount to anything. He does not have what it takes to push me out of the party. Anyway, that is unthinkable but that tells you his mindset. If he pushes me out of the party and a state like Rivers is not in PDP what happens? So that tells you where the man is coming from.

The recent rerun has generated a lot of acrimony, accusations and counter

The Vice President was recently in your state and appeared to have been impressed and even called you Mr. Projects; coming from. How does that make you feel?

I was not surprised, when you see an experienced intellectual, exposed and at that level, what did you expect? There are people that do not play politics with everything. With all sincerity, that was my first time of being close to the vice president and he gave us a good impression that this is the type of person Nigerians should talk about. He saw the reality, he saw what

Wike

49

FEBRUARY 25, 2017 • THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

INTERVIEW The Press should Apologise to Nigerians for Misleading them to Elect Buhari was on the ground and of course said, you are doing well but if it was some of them, because they are always playing politics, they would see white and would want to turn it into black. No rational person that will come to Rivers State today and say that there is nothing going on unless it is somebody that is blind, somebody who sees nothing good. The fact is that they are shocked at all we are doing. Despite all the harassments, this government can still sit down and think of everything we are doing to improve the lives of our people. You can see that we are really encouraged by the words of the vice president who didn’t come to play politics even though they did everything to stop him from staying the night and not to visit the project sites. He is a very decent person, very decent; he talks like a professor, an intellectual. I am quite impressed, I must tell you.

You were talking about conspiracy between the DSS and the police in the alleged role they are playing to rope you in and they constitute the security ring around you, how safe do you feel with them?

They do not constitute my security, it is God and my people that give me security.

I am not doing anything that is hidden but I can’t talk about certain things so that I won’t let the cat out of the bag about how I handle my personal security. The truth of the matter is that I don’t have trust in them and they know that.

Do you now support the creation of State Police?

Certainly, with what is happening why won’t I support the creation of state police?

You can see what is going on. You can be going out at night and they withdraw your aides and you can’t go out so at that point, it is no longer you. If the security aides of a governor could be withdrawn at any time without letting him know, then it means the governor can be kidnapped, can be assassinated and the plot was to assassinate me. I have said it severally that the IG’s mandate was to make sure that I am assassinated and that was why when he was in Kano in 2015, a REC was burnt together with his family and up till today, nobody has set up a panel to find out what happened to that REC and the family that were all burnt to death; what has happened? So there are people they have decided that they want to eliminate, because they believe if they don’t do that, it will be a problem for them in 2019. So all they are doing is to make sure I am assassinated whatever it takes and that is why they could withdraw my security aides anytime.

How is that affecting security in the state?

Obviously, the security agencies through the IG have frustrated every security arrangement we put in place to checkmate crime, so you can see what is going on.

In fact, mine is the only state that has had about eight or nine commissioners of police within 21 months. When this commissioner comes, he stays five months and you move him. Another one comes, stays six months and he’s removed. How can you have security architecture in the state? It is orchestrated by them to make sure you have a security crisis. But for God, we don’t know where we would have been today. I can tell you that everything we have done with security is being sabotaged intentionally by the IG and the DSS. You embarked on disarmament of militants recently, how did that turn out?

I can tell you by the grace of God, we might not have achieved total peace as we wanted, but I think that the amnesty programme to a large extent provided succour for the people. It brought about peace, that is why today you can go about your normal business in the state. Like I said, it was tough for us, even the police was not cooperating. The credit should go to the Nigerian military, the soldiers did very well in that amnesty programme.

Police sabotaged it and they were given directives by the high command not to be

Wike

part of the amnesty programme but the military worked hard. The report I am getting now show they are hell-bent on making sure that lasting peace does not return to the state but they can tell you on the pages of newspaper that it is not true.

That is why when they post a commissioner of police, they post a confrontational one so that he does not work with us to bring about peace in the state.

What has become of the recovered weapons?

I think they have been destroyed. They were handed over to the military.

The Ogoni clean-up is one of the biggest federal interventions in the state; at what stage is it now?

All I know is that they say there is a clean-up, they don’t involve the state. They only involve the state when they are coming for one occasion or the other or when they need logistics. In order not to seem as if you are not interested, you just allow them to do whatever they want to do. As I speak to you, we are not directly involved; they say they can achieve it without the involvement of the state government, so it is part of the gimmick they are playing, using it politically to say that oh, the APC government is doing something to clean up Ogoniland but since it was launched, all we are hearing is that they are launching this one and that one. We are praying, I would like Ogoniland and other areas to be cleaned up because they have suffered for years. I can tell you the truth that I don’t know how they are going to achieve that without the state being directly involved.

Kidnapping has become a national security issue, what is your state doing about it?

Truly speaking, I think I was one state governor that raised the alarm when kidnapping started but the federal government never came to my aid, the IG never came to my aid. I worked with the security we had and to some extent kidnap cases reduced though it is trying to rear its ugly head again. We are addressing it. Luckily, it had gone round the entire country, so it is

no longer peculiar to Rivers State.

In terms of legislation, what is the penalty?

Life imprisonment and you also have to forfeit the property you acquired through this kidnapping and whatever money you have in the account would be forfeited to the state.

Federal government is talking about refunding money that states expended on federal projects, especially roads, is Rivers State included in this scheme?

That is the hope but they may not pay because of Rivers State. It is such a funny situation we see in this country. They make up their minds against a state and it doesn’t matter whether the state is even involved in that; it doesn’t matter whether the state is entitled to it; they may even play politics that they are starting with some states just to make sure that the states they don’t want do not benefit, so we are hoping they pay us.

How much do they owe Rivers State?

From the last calculation, they owe Rivers State between N60 and N80 billion.

Has your state received the Paris club debt refund?

We are supposed to get 25 per cent, they did not pay us 25 per cent, particularly states like Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom and the rest. They paid others 25 per cent of the 50 per cent Mr. President approved.

We got about N14 billion which was not only for us, local governments money was about N1 billion and we gave them their money. All the other money. We put it into projects that can be seen. That is why when they are talking about investigating it and all that, in any case, what are they investigating? We are running a federal system; I’m not accountable to you. You see, the problem we have in this country, we go and share money that belongs to all of us, you take your own, I take mine and you tell me you want to set up a panel to come and check what I have done with my own money; you are not my supervisor, the law is clear and that is why the state

government had to go to court to say, you have no power except the state house of assembly says, look we want to look at what you are doing and we have found out this or that and therefore we have to invite any financial crimes commission.

But it is as if we are running a military government where somebody will say, set up a panel to investigate this government, where somebody will say, set up a panel to go and investigate this state - to ask how they are using their money.

You said you were no longer going to Abuja which you described as a city of lies. How do you now relate with the federal government?

You relate by communicating, if there is anything I have to do, I write to them.

What are you going to Abuja to do? By going to Abuja, you are further alienating yourself from your people who elected you.

I want to connect with my people. What are you going to do in Abuja, to go and lie?

I should go to Abuja when there is a need; when there is security council meeting, NEC meeting; when there is appointment on security issues. Why should I leave my home, my state and start going to Abuja, to go and do what? To go from one office to another to let them know that I support them or what? No, I am not going to do that. It is wasting of taxpayers’ money.

The state forfeited the two armoured helicopters because it could not pay about N5 billion duties on them and you said the state didn’t really need them. Why were they acquired in the first place?

Again, that tells you the priority of people; I was not the one that purchased them.

I learnt about them when Aero, which was operating one of our helicopters, started having problem. There is one helicopter we have which was bought by Dr. Peter Odili’s administration, not armoured, it is being used by Aero. So Calverton because of the crisis Aero had, wanted to take it over and I said no, it will be wrong because we have a contract with Aero and the crisis did not affect the wingless. It was from there they told me that our state imported two

50

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • February 25, 2017

INTERVIEW PDP Crisis Festers because Virtually all Leaders Want to be Vice-President armoured helicopters and that they can help us clear them. That was how we came to know about the aircraft. So there was no formal records to show the state bought armoured helicopters. It was in the course of that we now wrote and was told to pay about N5 billion as duty and we said how could any state government do this? Why should I spend that amount to pay duty on armoured helicopter which is not commercial? In any case, am I going to use it? The intention was to hand them over to security agencies if we got them. So I personally met with Mr. President and brought it to his notice. He told me that I should put it in writing which I did, that was sometime between August and September 2015 and then I started writing; I wrote to the Chief of Staff, I wrote to the National Security Adviser that you can now take it over from there and they wrote the state government acknowledging it and copied Customs, so I was so shocked when they turned around to say oh, they don’t know who imported the helicopter. What type of country are we in? Must we play politics with everything?

When they know it was their minister who imported it, they know when it was imported. They have the documents. How can I import an amoured helicopter, are we in a war zone? If you imported an armoured helicopter, that also shows that there was serious security challenge in the state and even closer to Boko Haram activities. Even in the fight against Boko Haram, the Nigerian Army never used armoured helicopter. They spent over $20 million, which is about N10 billion today. I can tell you with that money, I can execute so many projects. Do you know what it can do in communities?

The elections have been won and lost; can’t APC and PDP work together for the development of the state instead of pulling in different directions?

No, no, no; it is not a matter of Rivers people. You see, the problem is that Rivers State government invested so much money in the election of APC in 2015 so they believe that they owe the minister of transportation, whatever he wants because of the funding; was the funding from his father’s account? It is from Rivers State money, we saw it, even when you write EFCC or Police, they will not do anything, In fact, we don’t even want to go there because it will be a waste of time and energy. The point is that election has been won, there is a government; all they are doing is to make sure that the government does not perform and that will be an excuse to say look, you cannot allow this government to stay again because there is no performance but unfortunately for them, the government is moving so it is greed.

Someone believes that look; you mean I am not the one in charge again? I am not the one controlling who is there? That is the problem. They would have made the House of Reps to take over the functions of the assembly and then I wouldn’t have had my budget. All kinds of things happening, including maybe, a declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers.

In the midst of recession you are commissioning projects, where are you getting the money from?

That is why we are running the Jesus economy because where hope is in God, you won’t have problems. You may trivialise it but it is very key, key in the sense that sometimes I won’t know where the money is coming from but all I know is that we have money. But again, what is most important is being prudent. We have money from allocations. If we have N6 to N7 billion, we try to pay salaries and pensioners; then you have internally generated revenue, so I divide it. I say every month, give Julius Berger this, pay RCC this, every month pay this company this, so work is moving on. Again, a project of N1 billion, the previous administration will put it at about N4 billion. Take a case in point of Sakpenwa – Bori Road, the bill of quantity designed for that road was to be done with laterite, a 16-kilometer road, their budget was N16 billion. Now I came and said I want to use sharp sand which is more expensive, do you know that the

Wike

So, the point I am making is that Nigerians were misled; the press sold lies to Nigerians. Take for example, when Jonathan wanted a partial removal of subsidy, they brought the issue of Occupy Nigeria, that the whole country would be brought down; now the new administration came and removed the entire subsidy, what happened? What did the media say? The media kept quiet and even hailed the government. So the media is the problem as far as this country is concerned because they could not tell Nigerians the truth. Just because they wanted Jonathan to get out of power. And you know that these guys control the media houses; they used that to their advantage and were able to do what they did. Where are the so-called activists who joined the APC to spread lies? money we are using to do the road is N9 billion? So if at their own time they were to use sharp sand, it would have been over N28 billion – that was fraud. Some of the abandoned projects were because of the

high rate of inflated costs and you come and tell us, you know the terrain of building roads in the Niger Delta is expensive, that is right but not to that extent.

The rerun polls is slated for today, what is your message to Rivers youths?

Well, I have told you that nobody wants to conduct any rerun poll. They want to say they want to conduct the election and kill Rivers people again and say that the place is violent , to create a situation whereby they will say it is a violent state.

This rerun, what are you doing it for? The PDP man is already leading with 10,000 votes, he ought to have been declared winner; they have already done that with an APC man. To send these security men to start killing people again? They should allow elections to be free and fair. As I speak to you, I will sleep and PDP will win but from what we have heard, the IG is planning to make sure that our people are slaughtered again, to make sure they bring in the result that has already been written again and which our people will resist and in resisting, they kill our people, then they will come out to set up a panel on how the violence happened. Ordinarily, they know they cannot win that election but they are coming with force so that they will say we said it that if there is security we will win, just mark what I am telling you. They are not coming for the poll, they are coming to announce that APC won. They are coming to begin to arrest our people. That is the instruction from the IG. What is your view of INEC in of all these?

Is INEC independent? INEC has released the report of the panel that they set up on the last rerun election and indicted the security agencies. SARS commander who I had written several complaints against to the IG was indicted in that report. But the IG ignored me. In advanced climes, those people indicted will not stay a day longer in office. But here in Nigeria nobody cares because they feel they can get away with anything. INEC’s own report has revealed its unpreparedness for the election. It has vindicated all that I was saying. I really don’t have any confidence in INEC which should hide its head in shame and that is why I said there will be no election in 2019.

With all authority, there will be no election, don’t deceive yourself. These people have so made up their minds that they don’t care whether Nigeria collapses or not; they are only shouting change, which change?

They are only using it to deceive Nigerians.

PDP handed over in 2015 and within a few months the economy is in a into recession. As a participant in the process, tell us, did Nigerians make a mistake in rejecting your party at that poll?

Mistake is an understatement. It is the media and their associates that sold the dummy to the entire country. As of the time Jonathan was there, what was the exchange rate? 175 to the dollar but today we are at N510 to the dollar and by next month, who knows, it may get to N600?

People just come with excuses, oh, it was corruption, oh, it was this and that. When you said it was corruption, some of those who are ministers today, were they not governors in the last administration? What rubbish are they talking about? Would there be recession by only the activities of the federal government? When people say that PDP did not perform in 16 years, I just cringe. Who among them that was not a PDP member? Is it Wammako? Is it Aliero, or is it Kwankwaso? So, the point I am making is that Nigerians were misled; the press sold lies to Nigerians. Take for example, when Jonathan wanted a partial removal of subsidy, they brought the issue of Occupy Nigeria, that the whole country would be brought down; now the new administration came and removed the entire subsidy, what happened? What did the media say? The media kept quiet and even hailed the government. So the media is the problem as far as this country is concerned because they could not tell Nigerians the truth. Just because they wanted Jonathan to get out of power. And you know that these guys control the media houses; they used that to their advantage and were able to do what they did. Where are the so-called activists who joined the APC to spread lies? Now, see where we are; before you can correct anything, it will take another eight to ten years. This APC damage has taken the country backwards. Some of us said, allow them, soon Nigerians will know they have dug their own graves. You came and told Nigerians that if they voted for you, you would do this and do that but now you are saying it was the previous government that caused all the problems.

You are saying you didn’t tell Nigerians that you would solve the problems in two years, whereas you said then that if you were voted into office, one naira would exchange for one dollar.

For me, the media should tell Nigerians: “Sorry that we misled you so that they can be forgiven.’

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

POLITY Paschal Onyemaechi

How Nigeria Can Develop Better Housing Policy Framework Nigeria has about 14 million housing deficits, with the low-income earners constituting the major part. In the light of this development, Dr. Paschal Onyemaechi, an author and financial economist, with research interest is public-private partnership, low-income housing and urban development, discusses how Nigeria can develop a better housing framework policy among other sundry matters, with select journalists. Olaoluwakitan Babatunde was there

T

What motivated you to write your new book? he publication is part of the findings of my recently concluded doctoral research. The essence of a doctoral research is to contribute to knowledge and fill a gap that will better human existence. Now, if you do a PhD and decide to keep the thesis on the shelve, that is not good enough.

You have to disseminate the knowledge and the contribution the study has made.

This is why I decided to publish the model developed by my study. In this case, the study developed a model for the successful implementation of public-private partnership - PPP in housing and urban development for low-income groups in developing countries like Nigeria. Again, I am passionate about it because the model developed will make a significant contribution in addressing the housing deficit in Nigeria, especially for the poorer groups in the informal sector The model is a pro-poor PPP framework built to work on a home micro-finance (HMF) scheme aimed at the low-income group, the urban poor and the poorer groups in the informal sector. The home micro-finance will assist those in the informal sector who are informally employed to formally save so that they can formally borrow to acquire a house or improve their houses in the informal environment.

The new pro-poor PPP framework have expanded the partnerships to multiple partners including the third sector. This is to guarantee affordability to those at the bottom of the income ladder. This is very critical for any meaningful solution to the housing challenge faced by the low-income and urban poor in Nigeria. Under the new thinking, the source of funding for this model is equity (not debt). This is the key financial solution. Of course, its not that the present practice does not produce houses, it does, but at what cost per unit and affordable to who? Another critical area the new model has addressed aside affordability, focus group and source of funding, is project hijack and profiteering by the business class. Under the model, there are no profit for rentage or property re-sale.

The rest you will read up when the book is presented on the 25th of February.

How will you describe the housing situation in Nigeria?

The housing situation in Nigeria is heading for a crisis if not addressed. I say this because available records show that Nigeria has about 14 million housing deficit; this is very high. The low-income constitute large percentage of the deficit. So, majority of low-income urban dwellers live in poor housing conditions, with proliferation of slums around the major cities. This has great consequences for the quality of life, standard of living and even the economy of Nigeria.

We should not only measure economic growth, but we should measure standard of living of the people too. As you know, housing is an important component of human settlement and is ranked second as basic need of man. It is a pre-requisite for the survival of man. Affordable and adequate housing has a strong link to the

The policies focused on the formal sector, whereas the problem lies in the informal sector. Large percentage of the people with critical housing needs are in the informal sector. The petty trader, the butcher, the tailors, those in informal employment and with irregular income. They have need for housing and even as a right. This is why the deficit figure keeps going up. Again, we must see urbanisation as a positive force that can trigger economic development.

And then prepare for it Onyemaechi need for security and safety and it is a significant determinant in the measure of the standard of living and welfare of citizens of any nation. Other developing countries like India, Malaysia, Brazil and South Africa have left us behind due to a dynamic and pro-poor housing and urban development policies they have adopted.

But it is not too late to effectively and adequately address the shortfall.

Why has government policies on housing always failed to meet up with housing demands of the masses?

The policies focused on the formal sector, whereas the problem lies in the informal sector. Large percentage of the people with critical housing needs are in the informal sector. The petty trader, the butcher, the tailors, those in informal employment and with irregular income.

They have need for housing and even as a right. This is why the deficit figure keeps going up. Again, we must see urbanisation as a positive force that can trigger economic development. And then prepare for it. We shouldn’t say, ‘lets take some basic amenities and agriculture to the villages so that some youths will stay back and not populate our cities.’ No. That have shown not to be effective. Studies have shown that over 90 per cent urbanisation globally occurs in developing countries. This trend is particularly prevalent in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the two poorest regions of the world. Thirdly, there is a problem with the model being applied both during the government-led approach and the private sector-led approach and the same issues have not been addressed.

These problems predate the present administration and even their predecessor.

It has been with us for a very long time Does the Land Use Act pose any challenge?

The Land Use Act is a major challenge, a huge obstacle, it has to be amended.

However, the book advocates the activation of some latent laws already in the land use act that can enable us move forward and progress well while waiting for the amendment.

The record of building collapses is high especially in Lagos and Abuja.

Why do you think it is happening?

The handiwork of quacks; Nigeria has very good and competent builders and engineers. But when quacks take over any discipline, you know what happens.

How can Nigeria develop a better housing policy?

Good. This is the right question. I can say that the problem of the ‘know how’ has been significantly addressed. That is why the new thinking (The Book) started by asking what many experts in the subject matter consider as ‘the right question’. ‘How can we make millions of poor Nigerians own quality homes without having millions in their pocket?’ The book concluded that for us to achieve this, we have to keep the housing policies and access to housing finance within the reach of the low-income and poorest groups. But that is not the end. It provided a practical roadmap to achieve this. For instance, the model developed from the new thinking has the capacity to generate over 100,000 low-income houses and slum upgrade annually without sweating the budget. I mean without any single financial budget-

ary allocation from the government. The model generates its own funding. This is why I said this model have challenged all of us and the policymakers in particular.

You know, in the existing framework, the government assumes the private developers have the money and wants to invest in PPP housing. However, in many cases they don’t, they just sign the project and go to the commercial banks to borrow and you know the going market rate and you can imagine what that will produce in terms of the final cost of units of houses produced. This model is a complete departure from all of that. Infact, under the new thinking, the developer only brings in their expertise to construct the buildings.

Is that the solution to the housing problem?

You are not wrong, the model has been validated by notable PPP housing experts within and outside Nigeria. It is now left for policymakers to implement.

Do you support the merging of the Ministry of Housing with Works and Power?

That is not a problem. I appreciate the fact that the ministry is big and a huge task to the Minister, however, the current Minister has managed not just a state but the metropolitan city of Lagos.

So, I think he can deliver power,works and housing excellently if the enabling environment is provided by all stakeholders. The point is that, even when we had a dedicated ministry for housing, did that solve the problem? I think it is about the right policies, adequate and effective model and not the size of the ministry.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

POLITY

A Tribute to My Wife Caroline Ikazoboh

I

Emmanuel Ikazoboh

t is hard to accept the death of a loved one, especially when you didn’t have the chance to say goodbye, especially when the deceased was taken so suddenly and so shockingly at the prime of life and most especially when it seems like an irreplaceable part of ones life is gone.

The grief and pain can be unbearable; you cry a river and your sorrow knows no end.

You never really know what it’s like until you are there yourself, but you look to God because he is the only one who can comfort you.

Death and indeed a death so sudden and painful like the death of my wife on 16th February ( last week Thursday ) , makes me realize the brevity of life. It brought clearly to the fore the thin line between life and death. We often take life for granted, too much so.

Her death has made me sit down and reflect. It has made me put things in perspective. I am still in a state of shock.

Carol and I lived as husband and wife for 40 years 2 months and 5 days. All through this period she was my pillar of support. Our relationship started from our teenage years when both of us were among the 3 primary school students who won the national UAC scholarship for secondary education.

Carol was my friend, my colleague, my sister, my companion, my partner and my wife.

She gave up her career (even though she was more intelligent than I) to support our children and create a happy home for me to make a success of my career. I gave so much time to my profession and less time to her in the last 40 years and she accepted it with equanimity. I always figured that we still have plenty of time ahead of us to catch up after the children and grandchildren are on their own. I

Late Caroline Ikazoboh

on earth with all your heart. You can no longer be seen by human eye, but your soul and love that you gave so many will never die.

Since you are with the angels, please we ( our children, grandchildren and I ) need you as our guide and intercessor in heaven.

I wish I could tell myself that you will be back someday and will be back to be with me again. I guess this is the way life goes. God’s will must be accepted.

I miss a million things, every detail of who you are. I miss your mind , body and soul.

I still say I am one lucky man to have been given the gift of you.

There are many things I think I should have done for you. Please forgive me for procrastinating.

You thought me so much by your actions in the time we spent together.

You thought me the value of a family.

You thought the value of the truest of love.

I know that I should not question God obviously because he He knows and has His reasons but I can’t help constantly asking myself “ Why did you have to die”? We have a number of dreams we hoped we will realize. You served God fervently. Anyway God knows best.

I take it you are the best of the roses in the garden and the almighty wants the best.

I know what you will love to hear and see and I will endeavor to always do those things.

I wonder if I had lived the way you did, if God would have taken me too?

They say only the good die in their prime.

Farewell my darling.

Good night.

– Emmanuel Ikazoboh

wish I could go back in time.

Carol was deeply religious. Though she was an Anglican when we got married, she converted to a Catholic on her own volition and studied the catechism of the church so deeply and was a strong member of the Opus Dei. She gave her life to Christ completely.

She was involved in so many charities anonymously and her last activity on the day she passed on was to go and transfer funds to some of the charities she was sponsoring.

Carol I miss the wonderful plans we made. The memories we shared will never fade.

Having you in my life, was the best dream come true. Since you have left this world, words cannot describe the emptiness inside me. I get so lost without you but I am sure you are with the Lord.

You are with angels singing and praising the almighty whom you served while

PHOTO NEWS

L-R: Managing Director, West Blue Consulting, Valentina Mintah; Secretary General, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Ghana, Mr. Emmanuel Doni-Kwame; and the Vice President, Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation, Donia Hammami in Accra, Ghana…recently

R-L: Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Otunba Fiwagboye of Owode-land, Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu; his father, Sir Kesington Adebutu and Olu of Owode land, Oba Mathew Sunday Akindele, during the installation of Adebutu as Otunba Fiwagboye of Owode Yewa ...recently PHOTO: KOLA OLASUPO

L-R: The Managing Director, Chemical & Allied Products (CAP) Plc., Mrs. Omolara Elemide; the President, Dulux Decorators Club, Lagos State Chapter, Mr. Sam Unwene, member of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Mr. Allen Oseghale and the Marketing Manager, CAP Plc., Mr. Dominic Oladeji during the 2017 Dulux colour of the year briefing in Lagos ...recently

L- R: Director, Ministry of Environment, Ogun State, Alhaji Oduntan Owolabi; Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility, Etisalat Nigeria, Oyetola Oduyemi; Head, Public Policy and Government Affairs, Etisalat, Mohammed Suleh –Yusuf; and Community Leader, Damola Omosanya, at the kick-off of Etisalat Community sanitation support programme in Abeokuta, Ogun State...recently

Heart Minders Societal Advancement Initiative in partnership with Lagos State Government, Office of Civic Engagement, at its annual sensitisation walk and campaign against rape in Lagos...recently PHOTO: SUNDAY ADIGUN

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER •FEBRUARY 25, 2017

53

NEWSXTRA

In Brief Gowon on Sickle Cell Scourge

Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon has urged the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency, do all it can to step up interventions measures to tackle the sickle cell scourge. Gowon while lamenting the inability of his administration to do anything about the disease, stated that, had it been known to him back then, his government would have taken steps to combat the disease. The former Head of State while speaking recently to newsmen during the public presentation of two books written by a Senior Pastor of Foursquare Gospel Church, Asokoro, Babajide Olowodola in Abuja, said, “I hope the government will take it more seriously to assist in this particular case especially when you hear that 75 per cent of cases of sickle cell disease in the world occur in Nigeria.

NAF Strikes Boko Haram at Tagoshe

IN HIS VINEYARD...

L-R: Supervising Bishop, United African Methodist Evangelical Church, Abule Ijesha, Yaba, Lagos, Rt. Revd Zaccheus Sanyaolu, with a newly installed Patron of the Church, Sir Kessington Adebutu, KJW, the Dean of the Church, Very Revd Ola Timothy and his Colleague, Revd Emmanuel Ogunyombo after the Investiture of Sir Kessington Adebutu KJW as a Patron of the Church at its 10th Year Anniversary Conference, Thanksgiving Service...recently

North-east Senators Demand N100bn Allocation to Address Humanitarian Crisis OmololuOgunmadeinAbuja

North-east lawmakers in the National Assembly yesterday demanded an increase of N55 billion from the N45 billion allocated to the Presidential Committee on North-east Initiative (PCNI) in the 2017 budget to bring the total vote for the region to N100 billion.

The lawmakers in a statement in Abuja, said only N12 billion was allocated to Presidential Initiative on North East (PINE) in 2016 budget out of which they said only 75 per cent was released. The amount, they added, was less than 10 per cent of the $449 contributed by international donor countries and agencies.

According to them, the allocation "was grossly inadequate to address

the emergency humanitarian crisis we are faced with compared to the $1.0 billion which is equivalent to over N305 billion that the International Donor Countries and Agencies are trying to raise."

They tasked the federal "government to work in synergy in coordinating the human response action in the North-east and other crisis affected areas in the country to ensure efficiency, transparency and accountability."

They also called on state governments, individuals, religious organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGO) to come to the aid of the affected states in North-east just as they appealed to the media to continue to galvanise support to the affected region.

They added that besides PCNI,

National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Dangote Foundation, Borno State Emergency Management Agency, some NGOs and individuals such as General T. Y Danjuma (rtd.) and business magnate, Aliko Dangote, "Nigerians are just watching us going through this horrific experience in our life time."

They added that Borno State Government was overwhelmed, noting that with the meagre resources coming to the state, there is little the state government could do as "the state and local governments were using almost all they get to do the basics of feeding the internally displaced persons (IDPs), paying salaries and reconstructing, resettling and rehabilitating the recaptured and accessible areas.

While highlighting the impact of Boko Haram crisis on the region, they said 14.8 million people were affected by the crisis with the estimated cost of destructions put at over $9 billion while up to 7.0 million people in the North-east are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Other effects of insurgency in the region which they listed included the emergence of 1.8 million IDPs; 2.5 million children malnourished with majority of them in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe; 1.3 million children having no access to education; 65,000 children orphaned due to the crisis; 500 schools destroyed in Borno State alone; over 100 churches and mosques destroyed; 1.0 returning lDPs without anything to start life with and 100,000 people lost their lives as a result of the crisis.

UNICAL Principal Officers Allege Drug Cartel Abandons Heroin at MMIA Fresh Kidnap Threat for him. After I bought the items, he Chinedu Eze Bassey Inyang in Calabar Groups operating on the platform of The Academy, and Combined Concerned Workers of the University of Calabar, UNICAL, have raised the alarm, alleging that there were plans in some quarters to kidnap some principal officers of the institution.

They raised the alarm barely year after some senior staff and students of the university were kidnapped, and released only after some ransom in cash paid to their captors.

The groups who addressed a joint press conference in Calabar on yesterday said from facts available to them, hoodlums had been threatening to kidnap some principal staff of the university, their children or wards, if they find it difficult to kidnap the officers.

Coordinator of the Combined Concerned Staff of UNICAL, Comrade Johnson Inyang, while speaking on the issue said they would not take it lying low considering ugly incidents of last year when some senior staff and their children were kidnapped by hoodlums.

Inyang expressed surprise that such threats were coming

again at this crucial period that the university community was preparing for its 30th convocation ceremony.

The coordinator, therefore, appealed to students and members of the numerous unions within the university community to rise up the security challenge confronting them. He said members of the university community should not allow themselves to fall victims of the merchants of mischief.

Inyang, a senior staff in the faculty of arts, appealed to security agencies from within and outside the school to be vigilante so as to save the university from further embarrassment.

Chairman of The Academy, Dr. Sampson Uzuanke, said they got information that some hoodlums, working with some strange forces from outside the university, have concluded plans to kidnap top principal officers or their children or wards.

Uzuanke, who doubles as the Acting Head of Department of Modern Languages, disclosed that intelligence report at their disposal indicated that those behind the dastardly plot had gone ahead to recruit cultists and hoodlums to cause mayhem within the university community.

Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said they have discovered 6.158kg of heroin allegedly abandoned at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos.

The agency said in a statement that the consignment, which originated from Pakistan was left unclaimed on the conveyor belt at the arrival hall during the inward screening of passengers on Etihad Airways flight.

NDLEA also said it arrested two suspected drug traffickers at the airport while attempting to smuggle 2.035kg of cocaine concealed in cassava flour to Nairobi, Kenya and 2.485kg of cannabis to Qatar.

NDLEA commander at the airport, Ahmadu Garba said that the abandoned heroin was hidden inside a bag of clothes. "Officers detected 6.158kg of heroin hidden amidst clothes in the abandoned luggage. Oluwasheto Abiodun, 39 year old electrician was found in possession of 2.035kg of cocaine while Ibe Divine, 33 year old welder was caught with 2.485kg of cannabis. Both cases are currently under investigation" he stated.

Oluwasheto told officials that he was asked to send the drug to Nairobi by his childhood friend. "I am an electrician based in Lagos.

My childhood friend asked me to buy perfumes, sunglasses and shirts

then called that somebody will give me cassava flour to add and send to Nairobi in Kenya. However, during search operation at the airport, two parcels of cocaine weighing 2.035, was hidden inside the flour.

This was what led to my arrest. I was only given the sum of three hundred thousand naira (N300,000) to buy the items, but my action has led me into detention" Oluwasheto who is a single parent lamented.

He hails from Ondo State.

The second suspect, Ibe Divine who is a welder said in his statement that he wanted to sell the cannabis in Qatar for a high profit.

"I am a welder but I have been working in Qartar as a labourer.

I bought the cannabis for N15,000 in Nigeria with the intention of making very high profit from it in Doha. In all l had 10 parcels of cannabis hidden inside jeans trousers in my luggage. During search of my luggage, I was arrested after the drug was detected" he stated. Ibe is married with two children and hails from Imo State.

Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah (retd.) in his response assured members of the public that the Agency would continue to improve its screening capability in drug detection, arrest and prosecution of drug barons. "The NDLEA will continue to wax stronger in counter narcotic operations.

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) yesterday bombarded Boko Haram terrorists’ location and hideout in Tagoshe, Borno State, North East Nigeria. NAF Director of Information and Public Relations, Group Captain Ayodele Famuyiwa explained that the bombing was carried out in conjunction with ground military forces. He said: "The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) struck a Boko Haram Terrorist (BHT) location at Tagoshe/Mandara Mountain general area about 10km Southwest of Gwoza in Northern Borno. Intelligence report by sister surface forces had it that remnants of fleeing BHTs were gathered at the location. This report was confirmed by NAF Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft before combat platforms were called in to strike the location," he said.

‘No Vacancy in Anambra State House’

Former Nigerian Ambassador to Spain and wife of the late Ikemba Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu has said that there is no vacancy in Anambra State House. The former beauty queen disclosed this to THISDAY in Oraifite in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of the state during the burial ceremony of Pa. Godfrey Okwuosa, yesterday. The widow of late Ikemba, revealed that the state had witnessed tremendous development under the administration of the incumbent government of Dr. Willy Obiano and that it would be in the interest of the state to allow Obina continue the good work.

According to her, "the governor of Anambra is doing spectacular work in the state. Under the administration of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

‘Reverse Ban on 200HP Boat Engine’

TheAssociationofBoatsandWaterTransportersofNigeria,ATBOWTON, has urged the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, to reconsider its stand on the ban of 200HP boat engines from operating on the waterways. The association which expressed its grievance on the regulator's decision said that such would further paralyse activities in water transportation, hence, weaken the general economy.ThePresidentoftheassociation,TarzanBalogun,whilespeaking to news men recently, said that the implications of the order was that movement would be restricted as there were certain areas on the waterways that could only accommodate boats that were powered by 200HP engines.

Wordfaith Seminary Opens in Lagos

An international bible college,Wordfaith Theological Seminary has opened in Lagos for the training of men and women who have divine call to shepherd the flock of God. The seminary located at Ajegunle, Apapa, Lagos, operates in affiliation with Rhema College of Theology, Nigeria. The new bible school which is structured to satisfy the hunger in biblical knowledge and maturity in the things of God without limitation by any church policy or doctrine, is also aimed at providing higher education within the context of Christian values and work of the ministry. Speaking at the opening ceremony recently, the Founder of the school and Pastor, Revival Group Christian Mission, Ajegunle branch, Rev. Linus Uwa, stated that lectures in the college would be "based on the pure word of God and academic standards, with practical applications and spiritual development".

FCBescola Scholarship Programme

Preparation is in top gear for the official opening of the FCBESCOLA Football Academy Lagos today at the Main Bowl of theTeslim Balogun Stadium,SurulereLagosat10am.ThiswasaccordingtotheBrand/Marketing Manager, Blaugrana Group,Yurena Medina at a media parley in Lagos on Thursday. "We are excited to say that this is our own way of wetting the ground. However, it is to encourage full experiential participation and to give guests especially children opportunity to enjoy themselves, in the process win various take home items." This Academic session ushers in the 100 best talented students on full scholarship.

Michaels Mentorship Programme

Senior Pastor of the Glorious Ministry, Dr. Victoria Michaels-Jefferson is hosting a one-day mentorship programme for Nigerians today as part of giving back to the society and helping to impact the lives of Nigerians from various walks of life. The Programme hold today at the Mercy Tabernacle, Ogba, Lagos and is interdenominational which is open to people of all faiths. It will be hosted by Michaels-Jefferson who is a life coach as well as an inspirational speaker.

ToLet.com.ng Launches Prestige

ToLet.com.ng, Nigeria’s premierreal estate portaland oneof Africa’sfastest growingtechstartuphasofficiallylaunchedPrestigeMagazine,Nigeria’sfirst luxury real estate and lifestyle magazine.The aptly titled glossy magazine is filledwithpremierpropertylistingsfromtheportal,offeringitsclientsadditional exposurewhilesimultaneouslycateringtotheneedsofthehighnetworthreal estateconsumers,internationalpropertyinvestorsandNigeria’sburgeoning expatriatecommunity.Theover12,000copiesofthefreeglossymagazinehave alreadybeendistributedviaanetworkofhandpickedlocationsacrossNigeria including4&5starhotels,‘Membership-Only’Clubs.andAirportVIPLounges.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • FEBRUARY 25, 2017

NEWSXTRA

ICPC: Corruption Not Only Physical Stealing, Abuse of Office Inclusive Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa

Chairman of the Independent Corrupt and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Ekpo Nta yesterday in Bayelsa State declared that corruption was not only physical stealing of money, but also includes any action leading to abuse of office.

Nta, who visited Governor Seriake Dickson and later attended the Bayelsa Anti-corruption summit at the Diepreye Alamieyeseigha Memorial Banquet Hall, also kicked against plea bargain for persons who defraud pensioners of their entitlements.

He said it was unacceptable for government officials to literally kill pensioners and then enter into plea bargain with the anti-corruption agencies.

Nta questioned the rationality behind stealing from innocent retirees, arguing that it was unimaginable that some people would want to be patted on the back and exempted from thorough prosecution, when their actions have sent people to their early graves.

He maintained that work done on the popular East-west road, which he said he plied while on his way to Bayelsa, was not commensurate with the

quantum of money expended.

He said: “I went through the East-west road and I am fully aware that money had been budgeted for this road.

And I ask myself if the work done is commensurate with the quantum of money. That is why when we were called to investigate those responsible. I didn’t waste time seizing their personal property.

“We have to make corruption very unprofitable. Even if they are arrested and charged to court, will it not be better if we had found someone with the fear of God to monitor that project. Even if they are jailed

for 50 years, will that bring back those who have died on that road?

“What about the babies trapped on the road because their mothers could not get to the hospital on time? These are some of the things that irritate me when they come and say ‘let us beg the ICPC chairman, if there’s anything he can do about it.’

He noted that his mission was to change the perception of Nigeria as a corruption haven by the international community by ensuring heavy sanctions for criminals and by deploying the preventive approach.

Council Elections Hold in Taraba as Monitoring Group Kicks Elections into the 16 Local GovernmentCouncilsinTarabaState takes place today. The exercise is expectedtoproducesubstantive members of the councils which includechairmenandcouncilors.

However, civil society organisations interested in monitoring the election complained that the state electoral commission was shrouding everything about the exercise in secrecy.

Campaign for the election peaked a few days ago with Governor Darius Ishaku joining street-to-street convoys of some candidates of the PDP in Wukari and Takum LGAs in his senatorial zone.

Friday was declared a workfree day in the state to enable the people,particularlycivilservants to travel to their wards to vote.

Gov. Ishaku also arrived Takum hishometownlastnightinorder to be able to vote in his ward. He hadearlierappealedtothepeople ofthestatetoconductthemselves in a very mature manner during the election.

The PDP, the ruling party in the state, APC, SDP, APGA, Labour Party and several others arecontestingintheelection.The Local Government Councils in the state are currently being run by caretaker committee appointed by the governor.

However, Uncertainty pervaded the air yesterday with stakeholders lodging several complaints over the way the Gombe State Independent Elec-

toral Commission (GOSIEC) is planning the Local Government Councils elections today.

Ibrahim Yusuf, Chairman of Civil Society Organisations in Gombe State, while addressing newsmen, alleged that the State electoral body had all along kept its activities secret especially the recruitmentofad-hocstaffforthe conduct of the election.

Earlier, a coalition of 10 opposition political parties in the state led by the all progressive CongressAPC, had on Tuesday approached GOSIEC with a complaintthattherulingPeoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the state was using Government machinery to twist the results of the election in their favour.

The Chairman of the Civil Society Organisations, while briefing the press, Thursday afternoon alleged that barely 24 hours before the election, all activities of the electoral body had been kept secret especially the recruitment of staff to oversee the conduct of the election.

According to him, “up till this morning, no list of these staff has been placed on their notice board and no official of the GOSIEC was on hand to make any explanation to us.

We wrote them two weeks back including the National Orientation Agency (NOA) who also said they were not aware of anything. Nobody is just ready to respond to our demands”.

Experts Task FG on Safety Awareness THANKFUL TO GOD...

L-R: Former Ondo State Chief of Staff, Dr Kola Ademujimi; Former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko; his wife, Olukemi, as Fire Service Gets a Facelift wife of Member representing Ondo East and West at the House of Representatives, Queen Akinlaja and her husband, Hon Joseph Akinlaja, at the thanksgiving service for the former Governor of Ondo State, held at RCCG, Power Sanctuary, Ondo town

Constituency Threaten Plateau Deputy Speaker with Recall Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

Members of state constituency of Kanam in Plateau state have threatened to recall their representative in the state House of Assembly and Deputy Speaker of the House, HonourableYusuf Gagdi over claims of insecurity andBokoHaraminKanamlocal government area of the state.

Gagdi incurred the wrath of his constituents when he allegedly moved a motion of public importance seeking to declare Gargadistrictofhisconstituency, whichsharesborderwithYankari GameReserve,“aplaceofabode for Boko Haram”, claiming that Boko Haram insurgents were sighted there and for the close linksbetweentheGameReserve

and Sambisa forest.

Although the deputy Speaker had denied any wrong doing, membersofhisconstituencywho describedthelawmaker’smotion as ‘unguarded’ are now calling for his head. In a statement in Jos yesterday, a group under the aegis of Concerned Garga Citizens (CGC) noted that since the DeputySpeaker'smotionbecame public knowledge, people had been avoiding the community especially visitors due to fear of BokoHaram,adevelopmentthe groupsaidhadaffectedeconomic actıvities in the area.

ThestatementsıgnedbyAlhaji IbrahimAliyu Bawa, the group expressedsurprisethatinsteadof the lawmaker to show remorse for the embarrassment caused

by his “infamous motion”, he had gone ahead to whip up more sentiments ostensibly to divert attention from the obvious security threat his motion represented.

The statement reads in part: “since the motion on insecurity in Garga District as moved by Deputy Speaker, Hon Yusuf Gagdi, became public knowledge, there have been a lot of confusıon and apprehension in the area with regards to his bogus claims. Indeed, we are worried about the fears which his motion has created in the minds of the people.

“This has affected not only the economic actıvities but the influx of the people especially visitors to the community. We

are surprised that ınstead of him to show remorse for the embarrassment caused by his unguarded utterances against hıs people, he had gone ahead to allege that we did not vote for him which is not true.”

While calling on the security agents to hold the lawmaker responsible in the event of any breach of the peace in the area arısing from his motıon, the group called on the Deputy Speakertowithdrawthemotion.

“We also call on him to tender an unreserved apology to the people of Garga for his act of misrepresentation or we will be left with no option than to initiate a further action on the matter in the interest of our people”, the group threatened.

As the Federal Government looks to rebrand the fire service for efficiency, experts have advised that it should strengthen awareness campaign on fire safety mechanisms to prevent and reduce incidence of fire outbreak in the country.

Theysaidthattheincidenceof fire emergencies in the country could be partly attributed to poor awareness level on fire safety measures.

According to the National Coordinator of Safety Advocacy and Empowerment Foundation, Nigeria , SAEF, Kadiri Shamusideen, the national attention given the service after it has been neglected for more than a decade but also pleaded that the N4.6 billion intervention fund dedicated to improve the sector be utilised for visible results.

The Minister of Interior, retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman

Danbazau recently said that the funds would be applied in the purchase of fire-fighting equipment, improve on existing facilities, training, recruitment and welfare of the personnel.

The Program Director of NFPAWA, Mrs Anthonia Beri, added that government should also facilitate the formation of voluntary fire fighters to complement the activities of career fire fighters as the regular fighters were yet to deliver to expectations.

"It will be more rewarding to set up a fire-fighters-club like it is in advanced country, which should be a citizen volunteer organisation like the Red Cross, where able bodied men and women are encouraged to be members and are trained from time to time on the basics of fire safety and firefighting as this would go a long way to enhance the job of firefighting.

Modular Refineries: Operators Laud Osinbajo, Warn against Politicisation Policy Emmanuel Addeh inYenagoa

Operators involved in the refining of crude oil along the coastal communities of the Niger Delta region yesterday laudedActing President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, over the new policy, but warned politicians not to hijack the programme.

Inacommendationlettertothe ActingPresident,thegroupnoted thattheproposedliberalisationof crude oil refining would encourage local participation, massive

employment of youths and increasedproductionofpetroleum product for the nation.

Theoperatorsdrawnfromthe nineStatesoftheregionunderthe aegis of the Izon-Ibie Modular RefineryAssociation, noted that the "the issue of the proposed modular refineries should not be allowed to be politicised and hijacked by politicians."

Signed by the Chairman, Mr Clever Uyabara and Secretary, Okia Perez, the letter noted that those in business at the local

level were aware of the negative impact politicisation of policies could have on the process.

“It will be easier to train local operators for the pilot scheme and we shall be more than willing to work with government to showcase our skills", the group said.

It added : “To us in the region, the declaration of the Acting President,YemiOsinbajoandthe Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu on the proposed coordination

of the perceived ‘illegal’ refinery operatorsintoownersofmodular refineries in the states of Niger Delta, is commendable and welcome.

"This has led to the inauguration of a $50 Million modular refinery at Ikwe-Onna Refinery with a 5000 B/D day capacity in Ikwe village of Onnna Local government area ofAkwa Ibom State. This is already sending the right signals to local participants such as our group. " "Our group, the Izon-Ibie

Modular Refinery Association, is ready and set to key into the new era of proper, safe and environmental friendly proposition from the Federal Government” The group noted that even with its limited knowledge of refining, it’s members had been contributing by creating jobs for thousands of Nigerians.

“Not wanting to sound immodest, the multitude of local refinery operators in the Niger Delta region and Lagos, have been part and parcel of silent

partners in the crude oil refining activities for the benefit of the nation." "In our little way, we havecontributedtotheincreased availability of refined products including AGO, DK,PMS and LPFO in the market.

“In spite of our limited knowledge of crude oil refining, we have absorbed hundreds of thousands of jobless youths including graduates and contributed to peace and security through gainful engagement," the operators said.

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FEBRUARY 25, 2017 • THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

NEWSXTRA

Go Make Peace with PDP Leaders, Anenih Advises Sheriff However, when asked to shed Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

REVIVING PRODUCTION...

L –R: Hon. Salisu Zakari Ningi, Dep. Chairman; Mr. Adekunle O. Onafowokan, MD, Ladgroup Ltd; Hon. Sir Jones Chukwudi Onyereri, Chairman, House Committee on Banking and Currency; Prince (Dr) B. A. Onafowokan, Chairman, Ladgroup Ltd; and Mr. Bashir M. Wali, Acting MD/CEO, NEXIM Bank at the LADGROUP Shea Butter processing factory in Ikenne, Ogun State during the House Oversight Function visit on Thursday, February 23, 2017.

Court Upholds Suspension of Paul Emeka from Assemblies of God Church

Tobi Soniyi in Abuja

The leadership crisis rocking the Assemblies of God Church was yesterday resolved by the Supreme Court in favour of the Acting General Superintendent of the Church, Rev. Chidi Okoroafor and the church.

The apex court dismissed the appeal filed by the ex-General Superintendent and pastor of the church, Paul Emeka on the ground that his case lacked merit and substance.

In the lead judgment delivered

by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the court held that it was wrong of Pastor Emeka to have instituted an action on the enforcement of his fundamental human right to association in a matter involving the church as a non-governmental organization.

Justice Kekere-Ekun said that

the provisions of fundamental human right as enshrined in section 36 of the 1999 constitution did not cover a pastor sacked and expelled by a church.

“Being a pastor, General Superintendent and member of a church is not a fundamental right as envisaged in the 1999 constitution. The remedy for the removal of the appellant as a pastor, General Superintendent and a member of the respondent does not fall within section 36 because the right to be a pastor is not a constitutional one,” she held.

Besides, the apex court in the unanimous judgment agreed that the appellant failed to serve the originating summons on the respondents as required by law.

Specifically, the Supreme Court held that it was wrong of the appellant to have at the trial level, served his originating summons

at No. 5, Mbalano Street Enugu, in Enugu State when the order of the Enugu High court was so specific and categorical that the court process must be served on Evangel House of the Church in Enugu.

The apex court held that the case of wrongful service of originating summons was made clear in an affidavit deposed to by a court bailiff in Enugu that he served the originating summons on one Shadrack Lawrence through one Richard Ake when the Enugu High Court ordered that the summons must be taken to the Evangel House of the Church.

The court said that in the eyes of the law, the originating summons was not served on the appropriate party as required by law, hence the respondents could not be held liable since the issue of service

was a fundamental one in law.

The apex court therefore dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.

The appellant had sued the General Council of the Assembly of God Church seeking enforcement of his fundamental right to membership of the church.

The church has been embroiled in leadership crisis for more than two years, resulting in the emergence of two factional leaders and multiple court actions.

The crisis started immediately after the General Council of the church had on March 6, 2014, suspended Rev. Paul Emeka for violating several sections of the Constitution and Bye Laws of the Church, especially Article 12, which deals with taking or using any other person to drag the church to court for any reason.

Ladgroup Targets Export Market with Shea Butter The House of Representatives’ Committee on Banking and Currency led by its Chairman, Honourable Jones Chukwudi Onyereri has visited the Ladgroup Ltd in Ikenne, Ogun State as part of their 'Oversight Functions', Ladgroup is the foremost indigenous Nigerian conglomerate with a state of the art Oil Mill Extraction factory, which is the largest Shea Nut processing factory in Africa, with an intake capacity of 40,000 Metric tons per annum.

The factory is dedicated to sourcing of Shea Nuts and processing them into Shea Butter of the highest quality, for sale to both domestic and export markets. The firm has set its target on major European importing companies in the Confectionary/ Chocolate industry and Cosmetics/ Pharmaceutical industry based in Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and the UK that import well over

95,000 MT annually.

Commending the NEXIM Bank for its relentless contribution to the Nigerian non-oil export sector, especially in funding factories such as Ladgroup Limited, Hon. Onyereri stated that “The current economic recession facing the country has opened our eyes to the immense opportunities and abundant blessings God has heaped on Nigeria, not just in oil and gas, but more especially in agriculture and solid minerals”.

He called on the Federal Government to increase funding support to institutions like NEXIM Bank, promising that the House Committee on Banking and Currency, would continue doing all within its jurisdiction and mandate to ensure that such funds were applied judiciously.

TheActing MD/CEO, Mr. Bashir

Wali said NEXIM Bank had in March 2015 approved $5,786,163.00 to Ladgroup Limited to set up a Shea Nut processing factory. The facility was made up of Equipment Finance of $2,786,163.00 and Working Capital Facility of $3,000,000.00 and has enabled the Company to purchase and install a Shea Butter Refining Unit, a step down transformer and augment its working capital base.

Addressing the occasion, Mr. Wali stated that “…the interest of NEXIM Bank in Shea Nut processing for export, was borne out of the very high demand for Shea Butter with the impressive potentials for foreign exchange revenue stream as well as massive job creation at various levels of its value chain.”

Citing available statistics, Wali said. that nearly 2 billion Shea trees grow naturally on parklands in 21 African countries stretching from

Senegal to South Sudan with more than 16,000,000 women living in rural communities individually collecting the fresh fruits and the kernel which they process to extract a healthy vegetable oil known as “Shea Butter.” With approximately 600,000 tons collected each year, the industry provides a critical source of jobs and incomes to millions of often poor and underserved communities.

Responding to concerns on the viability of the Bank’s intervention, Wali stated that the global demand for Shea Butter was worth about $10billion and projected to be more than $30billion by 2020, hence the interest of NEXIM in providing funding for increased proactive measures to reposition agricultural products such as Shea as part of its non-oil export sector interventions in the agro-processing sub-sector.

Anti-corruption Agencies Propose Prevention Strategies Bennett Oghifo Worried by the endless looting of the nation’s commonwealth and the slow pace of recovery of such slouch as a result of legal encumbrances, anti-corruption agencies (ACAs) in Nigeria are devising preventives measures of discouraging opportunities, rationalisation and pressure that make corruption happen.

Rising from a three-day Day National Workshop on Corruption

Prevention for Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs), organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes through funding by the European Union, in Calabar, Cross River State, officials of the agencies called incorporation of the logic of deterrence as part of corruption prevention tools by fostering synergy between enforcement and prevention efforts.

In a communique issued at the end of the workshop, the ACAs

argued that “while recognising that enforcement through investigation and prosecution is important in addressing corruption, preventing corruption in its multi-dimensional nature is essential as a means of discouraging opportunities, rationalisation and pressure that make corruption happen. As it is also more cost effective to prevent corruption than to investigate and prosecute it after it has been perpetrated.

I formerly known and addressed as OLUWATOYIN TOUN OJO, now wish to be known and addressed as OLUWATOYIN TOUN AFARA. All former documents remain valid. The

general public should take note.

Elder statesman and former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees BOT, Chief Tony Anenih has asked the court-reinstated national chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff to make sure that the party did not die in his hands.

THISDAY gathered from a reliable source that Anenih advised Sheriff and his loyalists who had a closed-door meeting in his house on Friday that he should utilise the opportunity available to him to reach out to all aggrieved members so as to rebuild and reunite the party.

Although both Anenih and Sheriff failed to give details of what transpired during their less than 30 minutes meeting when Journalists posed questions to them, it was learnt that the chief offered what could be regarded as hard choices for a return of peace.

more light on his discussions with Sheriff, the former Minister of Works and Housing, said, "I have spoken to my son and he will carry out my advice". When prodded further, Anenih said that he would not disclose the issues since "it is a family matter" On his part, Sheriff said his team has had a very fruitful deliberations with the former BoT chairman, adding that he has offered suggestions on what should done to rebuild the PDP. "Anenih is not just a former PDP BoT member, he is a leader in Nigeria. This PDP we are enjoying today and everybody is claiming, if there are two founding fathers, he will be among them. I came to consult him, I came to inform him about the situation we are in and he as the father who founded this party should be able to guide and advise us on how we restore the party to its 1999 status.

PDP Crisis: Our Victory is Assured in Unity…Ojo

Funke Olaode

Aformer Peoples Democratic Party governorship aspirant in Ekiti State, Prof. Adesegun Ojo said for its party to return to power in 2019, it must embrace unity while the leadership of the mega party should meet and find a common and lasting solution to the crisis rocking the party.

Ojo was reacting to the recent decision of the appeal court that upheld former Governor Modu Sheriff as PDP Chairman. To him, seeking legal remedy at the Supreme court to address the current situation as suggested by

the leadership was justifiable but not the most logical and pragmatic approach to the problem at hand.

“There is a legal solution and pragmatic solution. The legal path is the Supreme Court but that is a 50-50 chance of the situation being reversed. There is no advantage in that path. If it is 70-30 or 80-20 chance, one might say let us give it a try. But time is of the essence.

The political calendar is non-stop and in as much as these fractious political situations continue, the Party is dying a thousand death and the chances of winning any election is becoming less and less a possibility.

CHANGE OF NAME I formerly known and addressed as ONYEKWUO CHINONSO OLIVIA, now wish to be known and addressed as CHINONSO OLIVIA VINCENT AGBOIFOH by virtue of marriage to MR VINCENT AGBOIFOH .All documents remain valid and the general public should please take note I formerly known and addressed as MRS. ANTHONIA EGBENOMA AKAKPOR, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. TONIA IRIABE AKAKPOR. All former documents remain valid.The general public should take note.

I formerly known and addressed as MISS ADAGA COMFORT ONYECHE AKAKPOR, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. IDAKWO COMFORT ONYECHE. All former documents remain valid.The general public should take note.

I formerly known and addressed as MISS OLOJEDE O LU WA F U N M I L AYO ADESHOLA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS BANKOLE OLUWAFUNMILAYO ADESHOLA. All former documents remain valid. The

I formerly known and addressed as MISS IZAMOSA MERCY IYOBOSA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ATAYA MERCY IYOBOSA. All former documents remain valid.The general public should take note.

I formerly known and addressed as YUSUF YUSUF BABATUNDE, now wish to be known and addressed as YUSUF YUSUF SHOLA. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

I formerly known and addressed as ONYEKWUO CHINONSO OLIVIA, now wish to be known and addressed as CHINONSO OLIVIA VINCENT AGBOIFOH. All former documents remain valid. The general public should

general public should take note.

I formerly known and addressed as VINCENT ODINBU, now wish to be known and addressed as VINCENT CHILE ODINBU. All former documents remain valid. The general public should

take note.

I formerly known and addressed as MISS ABIGAIL ADEH, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ABIGAIL JOSHUA MAGAJI. All former documents remain valid. The general public

should take note.

take note.

I formerly known and addressed as MISS JOY AYOOLA OGUNLESI, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS JOY AYOOLA ADESOLA AYANDIJI. All former documents remain valid. The general public

should take note.

I formerly known and addressed as SALISU OLUWAKEMI OLUWABUNMI, now wish to be known and addressed as ADEBOWALE OLUWAKEMI OLUWABUNM. All former documents remain valid. The

I formerly known and addressed as ANDREW EGHOSA OSAGIE, now wish to be known and addressed as OSA ANDRE OMO-OSAGIE. All former documents remain valid. The

general public should take note.

general public should take note.

I formerly known and addressed as PAUL IDOKO, now wish to be known and addressed as SULE AKOGWU. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

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MISSILE Fayose to INEC

“While we continue to watch with keen interest, revelations coming from the Edo State Governorship Election Tribunal, the open display of partisanship in the Rivers State rerun elections has made it so obvious that INEC and police have become so shameless in their open display of support for the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

– Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose chastising INEC for allegedly being partisan.

PENDULUM Dele Momodu

dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com

Before President Buhari Returns Home

F

ellow Nigerians, something major is happening in our dear beloved country and it is very positive. Every disappointment they say is a blessing.

While we are very sad that our President, Muhammadu Buhari, has not been feeling too well for some time now and needs treatment and recuperation abroad, I now believe that God wants him to also have some time for sober and deep reflection. Someone asked me about two weeks ago, on Twitter if I have given up on the Buhari government? My answer was an emphatic NO! And the reason I gave was simple and straight-forward enough: I believe in miracles.

What has happened in Nigeria in the past few weeks, even days, can only be a testimony to that miracle I prophesised. When President Buhari left Nigeria he formally wrote to the Senate putting his Vice-President in charge as Acting President until he returns. That singular act which is merely a repetition of what was done during previous extended personal visits abroad by the President is salutary as it is stellar and itself heralded the transformation in this government that we are witnessing. It seems to me that President Buhari knew that his government needed some change in direction, some fillip, and in his infinite wisdom chose a subtle way to initiate that change without seeming to jettison his kitchen cabinet.

When I flew out of Lagos to Johannesburg last Monday, February 20, 2017, a US dollar was selling for about 520 naira in the omnipotent black market. As at Thursday, it was selling at around 475 Naira. By yesterday, Friday 24 February 2017the Naira was exchanging at about 460 Naira to the Dollar. What a difference a week makes. This remarkable resurgence of the Naira is coming on the heels of new policies and directives that the CBN has been mandated to put in place by the rejuvenated economic team that the Acting President is the driving force.

Not just that, I received a report from Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi that the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, paid an unscheduled visit to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on Thursday, February 23, 2016, and caught the airport officials napping. My joy knew no bounds. Only last Saturday, I had complained bitterly about that unfortunate airport on this very page.

In the past seven years, I must have written countless times about that that gory airport.

It was one of the reasons I disliked President Jonathan’s government because it had done a wishy-washy renovation of the place and was celebrating it as if we can now compete with some of the best airports in Africa (note that I did not mention Dubai, Europe or America). I took pictures of dead escalators, comatose elevators, jet bridges in blatant darkness, leaking roofs, cranky conveyor belts, flooded and stinking toilets, murky basements, potential structural deficiencies from a disused underground car park and generally an airport in various stages of disrepair, dilapidation and decay. We did what we could to alert our leaders to the monumental disgrace at that airport.

It is however not just the infrastructure that is wrong with the Airport. At a time when the Acting President has launched a 60-day initiative for making it easier to do business in Nigeria, it is incumbent upon him to ensure that this starts from our international airports as this is the first thing that the foreign visitor and investor sees upon arrival in Nigeria. I have never been able to understand why we must have Security operatives openly checking passports along

Dele Momodu and Professor Yemi Osinbajo during the 2015 presidential campaign their Immigration airports upon arrival at the Airport. In the same vein, I cannot understand why we must stick with the archaic, unhealthy and unsafe practice of manually rummaging through passenger’s luggage when they are departing and having the full complement of security agencies visibly on hand to do this to the inconvenience of passengers and other airport users. Technology has long since gone beyond this. Security and search of luggage is now automated, mechanical and above all unobtrusive. It cannot be the case that our huge unemployment rate is responsible for creating jobs where none should exist thus creating an indolent corrupt workforce. The devil they say finds work for idle hands. Despite our repeated calls for the overhauling of the International Airport, Minister after Minister have however behaved as if the place was virtually jinxed and the gods of Abuja could do nothing to sanction their rascality.

Anyway. The good news is that the Acting President has started doing some of the things we expected and advised President Buhari to do. I do not want to over-excite anyone yet but this is smelling good, like the Americans would put it. We must enter special prayers and intercede with serious fasting so that President Buhari can continue along this path of progress when he returns to office, hopefully very shortly, by the grace of God. I had suggested in my memos to him that what he was looking for in Sokoto (the city) is actually in his sokoto (pocket). He has got

a powerful joker in the pack and that is his Vice President. Professor Osinbajo is not your typical politician. He is a technocrat with the diligence, astuteness and thoroughness of the smart lawyer that he is. He has a passion for Nigeria and its great development that is uncanny and worthy of emulation. Whilst I am relatively close to Prof Osinbajo through my best friend, Prince Adedamola Aderemi, and his family, we do not meet that often.

However, we once met at London Heathrow, long before he ever dreamt of becoming Vice President, if he ever did, and we discussed Nigeria for so long, almost forgetting that we had flights to catch. I remember how we agreed that running a government should not be so difficult. Our paths crossed again during the campaigns. He and our mutual friends, Pastors Ituah Ighodalo and Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye who were with him at the time, shared similar hopes for Nigeria. Our passion alone coupled with temporal faith in the Buhari/Osinbajo administration was enough to move mountains.

So, what went so wrong that this miraculous government began to wobble and fumble as soon as it came to power? It is one of those ironies of politics that a government that came on the promise of ameliorating the suffering of the people actually exacerbated the terrible situation it met on ground.

Many wonder why a government and political party that has an Osinbajo and parades several other political wizards has found it difficult to stabilise the economy? How come a President

that received substantial votes from across the country without much controversy could not unify the nation? Why did Buhari decide to start his tenure with fighting on too many fronts? Here was a leader who already had his hands full from Boko Haram menace. The only reasonable conclusion was that President Buhari was programmed to fail by the same cabal that has held Nigeria by the jugular since Independence. This fact, that Baba was heavily jazzed by some principalities, was actually corroborated by an insider and no less a personage than Mrs Aisha Buhari, the wife of our President.

Truth is Professor Osinbajo is re-navigating the country in the right direction and should be encouraged to do more by President Buhari.

If a man discovers a snake and a woman kills it, it doesn’t matter who did what. The glory ultimately goes to President Buhari for having the wisdom of entrusting Nigeria to such a loyal and dependable ally. Baba should ignore the demons of power who may wish to drive a wedge between them. Any parent or sibling would be proud of a child making the family great. This is what Osinbajo is doing and he should be commended and applauded for it.

Nigeria needs to make a lot of money quickly and reduce the dollar rate since most business people depend on importation of goods and even services. For the time being, our first source of income is oil. Osinbajo has done the most necessary thing by visiting the Niger Delta and offering the olive branch to the militants. I don’t know why Baba thought he could wipe them off the surface of the earth just like that. Thank God, something good is likely to come out of this timely effort at dialogue and negotiation.

The second major task for the Acting President is to resuscitate and revive our ailing companies. Many of them are shutting down and everything must be done to ensure that they resume business properly. Too many Nigerians have already lost their scarce jobs due to the stubbornness of government to free its soul from siege mentality and see businessmen and women as partners in progress.

The third major mission is to ease the palpable tension in the land. President Buhari has done very well in fighting insurgency in the North but, sadly, a new menace is ravaging Southern Kaduna where lives are being wasted recklessly. We pray that government would find a quick solution. Peace must be allowed to reign supreme and Government must be seen not to be taking sides.

The government bureaucracy in Nigeria is atrocious. Everything must be done to curtail the excesses of civil servants who are too set in their ways. The rule of Law must be enforced.

No Nigerian should feel inferior to a fellow citizen on account of ethnicity or religion. No one is comfortable investing in a country full of stress and unnecessary hiccups.

When Baba returns, he should reach out more to Nigeria. Many people feel he has become too distant and a bit standoffish since achieving his dream of attaining power.

I personally believe that this may not be the truth but perception counts a lot. When Baba comes back, he should be less acrimonious and reconcile Nigeria. Nigeria is haemorrhaging dangerously. Prof Osinbajo seems to be waving a magic wand right now. President Buhari will do well to own that magic wand when he returns and build on the progress made by his Vice President. That is the essence of a good team. It is what Nigerians desire and what they deserve after the darkness that they have recently been plunged into.

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