SUNDAY 19TH AUGUST 2018

Kofi Annan, Ex-UN Sec Gen, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Dies at 80 World leaders mourn, Obasanjo, Jonathan, Anyaoku, Saraki, Govs pay tribute

Our Correspondents The world responded to the death of former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday with a torrent of tributes, with leaders of various political

hues extoling the virtues of the man who was widely recognised as one of the most influential international diplomats.

Annan died Saturday morning at a hospital in Switzerland after a short

illness, the Annan family and the Kofi Annan Foundation said in a statement. The statement said Annan was “global statesman and a deeply committed internationalist who fought throughout his life for a fairer and more peaceful

world.”

It said the Ghanaianborn diplomat, Nobel Prize winner, and first black African to lead the UN “felt a special responsibility towards Africa. He was deeply committed to African development

and deeply engaged in many initiatives” for the advancement of the continent.”

The statement said, “The family kindly requests privacy at this time of mourning. Arrangements to celebrate his remarkable life

will be announced later.”

But world leaders loudly eulogised the life of the departed UN envoy.

Anyaoku: He did a great service to Nigeria Continued on page 10

How Powerful Forces Blocked President's Earlier Plan to Fire Daura... Page 12 Sunday 19 August, 2018 Vol 23. No 8523

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I Feel Good, Says Buhari,Vows to Work Harder to Jail Looters Writes National Assembly, resumes work Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday threatened to work harder to ensure that all who looted the nation's treasury are jailed.

Buhari issued the threat while answering questions from journalists after disembarking from the

presidential jet at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

"I will work hard the more to ensure that all those who stole the Nations money are sent to prison," he said.

Fifteen days after he left Nigeria on a 10-day vacation, President Muhammadu returned to the

country Saturday, declaring, “I’m feeling good”. The president was received by government officials at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.

Expressing how he felt after his sixth medical trip since his inauguration on May 29, 2015, Buhari told at the airport, “I’m feeling good. I am feeling good.”

About three hours after he returned to the country last night, the president swiftly dispatched a letter to the National Assembly, informing it of his resumption of office as Nigerian President, upon the completion of his 10-day working vacation. to the United Kingdom.

In a statement, Senior Special Assistant to the President on

Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said Buhari in his letter titled: "Resumption of Office,” which he personally signed, and dated 18 August, 2018, said: “In compliance with Section 145 of the 1999 constitution (as amended), I write to intimate the Senate (House of Representatives) that I have resumed my functions as the

President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with effect from today, Saturday 18th August, 2018,after my vacation.

“Please accept, Distinguished Senate President, (Hon.Speaker, House of Representatives)the assurances of my highest consideration.”

Continued on page 8

Which of these Men Can Defeat Buhari?

Olawale Olaleye

The battle to displace President Muhammadu Buhari in next year’s election has intensified in the last few weeks given the gale of defections in both the ruling and opposition parties, which has ratcheted up the political temperature in the country.

Although there is the belief that the increasing jostle for the nation’s plum job may have been stoked by the perceived ineptitude of the Buhari administration, the president’s men have latched on to the integrity narrative, which remains one of the defining indices in the 2019 presidential election.

Apart from selling Buhari from the point of view of integrity, which appears to be his major selling point in the countdown to 2019, there is also the belief that the president still holds down his traditional political base in terms of voting in the two critical

zones of the North-east and the North-west.

But a majority of his challengers have dismissed those two issues in the 2019 election, saying while integrity would take the back seat for capacity and nationalism, his so-called traditional voting bases have also had a whiff of the current ineptitude and would not vote blindly in next year’s major election as they had done in previous elections.

Although there are almost 20 aspirants presently seeking to displace Buhari in next year’s election, only eight sit on the front row, with equally intimidating profiles and imposing political statures, huge enough to confront Buhari’s menacing machine and cult-like franchise. They include a former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki; Continued on page 8

Atiku

Saraki

Kwankwaso

Tambuwal

Moghalu

Shekarau

Makarfi

Lamido

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͹΁˜ ͺ͸͹΀ ˾ T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R

PAGE EIGHT

Farmers-Herdsmen Clashes Drag Down GDP Growth in Q2, Says Kale Casts doubts on Lagos’ claims on $90bn economy Kunle Aderinokun Statistician General, National Bureau of Statistics, Dr. Yemi Kale, has said clashes between farmers and herdsmen has dragged down the gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the second quarter of the year. In fact, he hinted that owing mainly to this, coupled with ancillary factors, the GDP growth number for the second quarter of this year, scheduled for release on August 27, would be flat.

Kale, who was a guest on AriseNews Channel, yesterday, said, apart from the political uncertainty in the lead-up to the general elections in 2019,what contributed mainly to slowdown in the economy was the unimpressive performance of the agriculture sector, which is the biggest contributor to the GDP, owing to the recent clashes in many communities across the country.

“For example, we have seen challenges in Agric because of

the clashes that are happening in different parts of the country.

Obviously, if people cannot go to the farms, it is going to be a problem. Agriculture is not just crop, when you destroyed a farmland or even cattle rearing is also part of Agriculture, so the back and forth thing is affecting both crop production and livestock and Agriculture is the biggest part of our GDP and that is slowing down the economy,” he noted.

Kale said, although the agency was still putting finishing touches to the final figures, there was a high likelihood that the 9.5 per cent GDP growth rate posted in the first quarter would still be reported in the second quarter.

“I am not going to give the final figure because the work is not even completed but from the numbers I am seeing, it is looking quite flat.

Surprisingly, but I expected the numbers should be much better it is looking very similar to the first quarter. I think the economy

is still struggling out of recession and that is what the numbers are showing,” he said.

Kale nevertheless expressed the optimism that, despite the expected lacklustre performance of the economy in the second quarter, Nigeria would still meet the IMF and World Bank full year GDP growth projections of 2.1 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively. But he added that uncertainty caused by the tensed political activities , may still determine the final figures for the year.

“For the entire year, it is still doable. The political season and most developing countries always affect the economy and it can be positive or negative,” he pointed out.

“Positive in the sense that if the atmosphere is not too toxic, you have increasing activities, politicians and people are spending towards the election and this leaves more money in the hand of the consumers or voters they

can spend on economy, publishing get money because of the political activities. They tend to get more advertisements, the women in the market get money, so there is a lot more economic activities. So, the economy tends to benefit from that,” he explained.

“At the same time, when it is toxic, your foreign investors get scared, I think is part of what is happening in Nigerian Stock Exchange. Investors get terrified and they start pulling out their money, the local investors adopt wait and see, meaning we are not going to put in any money, let’s wait and see what is happening. Nobody wants to pump in money because they are bit concerned. Unlike the US economy, for example, where regardless of the noise being made, the economy is structured in a particular way, (so make as much noise as you want, the economy will continue to move), in Nigeria, we understand the system, before and after election, whoever wins,

everybody is a bit nervous. Is he going to change the policy that has been working in the past years?

Let me just hold my fund. So, when it gets toxic, it has a way of squeezing the economy, people stop hiring, because they don’t want to expand. They hold back all investment decisions, they want to see what is happening,” he added.

Meanwhile, Kale has expressed doubt about the claims that Lagos State, which touted itself as the fifth largest economy in Africa, was a $91 billion economy. “Personally, it is unlikely that the size of Lagos is that big, that will be 40 per cent of Nigeria, but Lagos does have a bureau of statistics that we have worked with before.”

Besides, the statistician general corrected the impression that the NBS did not have data on the states of the federation. He said, “Most of our indicators are broken down by states, although we publish national figures. Whether

it is IGR, FAAC, unemployment, health education, the states are always there and we did the corruption thing as well, it was broken down to states. But in terms of states’ GDP, we have not compiled states’ GDP in Nigeria.

Ironically, we just completed the first 11 states.”

On whether Lagos was one of the 11 states, he said, the nation’s commercial nerve centre was not one of them. “We selected one or two states according to geo-political zones. Lagos was meant to be, but opted out. It was meant to be a joint work between the states, their statistics offices and the NBS and at that point Lagos decided not to be part of it.”

“May be they will be part of the next set of states, which will be 25 states and it's starting soon.

But it doesn’t matter, as I used to say because once we do the other 35 and subtract it from the national, then we know the size,” he added.

he declared recently.

Naturally, experience comes to play for Shekarau, complemented by his capacity to get things done.

His joining the race is largely seen by observers as another factor that would complicate the situation in the state, as two former governors might be in opposition against the incumbent, Abdulahi Ganduje.

Little wonder, Shekarau is seen as standing a good chance, not just as an alternative candidate, but more as one who has what it takes to deliver on good governance. But he is currently facing EFCC charges in connection with campaign funds of the 2015 presidential election. How that will impact his presidential run remains to be seen.

for eight years under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Sixty-nine today, Lamido was one of those who had long shown interest in the presidency, shortly after the incumbent, Buhari, assumed office.

For Lamido, however, experience and capacity are certainly not an issue – having been governor and foreign affairs minister – coupled with his versatility and deep understanding of the Nigerian political landscape. Unfortunately, he has a corruption case still hanging around his neck. It was for this reason he was kept in detention briefly, having stood trial alongside his two sons in 2015 for allegedly embezzling state funds. He is in the race for real and cannot be shoved aside, realistically.

WHICH OF THESE MEN CAN DEFEAT BUHARI? former Kano State governor and senator representing Kano Central, Rabiu Kwankwaso; former Speaker of the House of Representatives and Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal; former deputy governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Kingsley Moghalu; another former Kano State governor, Ibrahim Shekarau; former Kaduna State governor and immediate past national PDP Caretaker Committee chair, Ahmed Markafi, and former Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido.

While it is true that many of the above listed have the requisite administrative and governance experience as well as impressive political standing, both in regional and national politics, the question remains whether anyone of them can really displace Buhari in next year’s election, despite his alleged shortcomings.

Atiku Abubakar

Often described as the most experienced and prepared for the office of the president, an ambition he has nursed since the 1990s, Atiku has many things going for him. His first shot on the presidential ballot was in 2011, when he lost to former President Goodluck Jonathan. He has since kept the dream alive.

A dependable ally of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as his deputy, Atiku literally took charge of the economy, an assignment that very well positioned him and aided him in holding down the nation’s economy with the same approach to his businesses, both at home and abroad.

Atiku is one candidate with acceptability across the various political divides, but without his own base as Buhari, a situation many consider a huge disadvantage.

Besides, he has had to battle the stigma of corruption – no thanks to Obasanjo – even though no competent court of law has found him guilty of graft. It is believed that the only barrier standing between Atiku and the 2019 presidency is Obasanjo, who despite the pressure being mounted on him to let Atiku be and give him a chance, recently said he the reason he was unable to support him was to avoid God’s anger given what he knows about Atiku.

But in the final analysis, he has what it takes to give Buhari a good fight in 2019, particularly with his huge war chest.

Bukola Saraki

A former Kwara State governor for eight years between 2003 and 2011, the current Senate President, Bukola Saraki, is indisputably an issue in the nation’s body politic today. Being the chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum at a time the body was at its peak of political and economic relevance, Saraki seized the opportunity of his office to build a strong political network.

Emerging the Senate President in 2015 against the position of some power brokers within his former party, the APC, Saraki has since carried on in the office, despite opposition and attempts to remove him.

Buhari once described him as one of the most influential politicians in modern Nigeria, not because he is the senate president but because of his capacity to navigate through the most difficult political terrains. He is about the most visible politician and has effectively deployed the goodwill of his office in building useful consensus.

There is no doubting the fact that Saraki has always had his eyes on the presidency, even when he has yet to actually run in any presidential election. To pursue his ambition, he has defected to the PDP, a move that stands him in good stead at the polls. And with the Supreme Court ruling which cleared him of allegations of corruption, and failure to declare his asset, he is good to go. But his candidacy appears weakened by fate. While geographically he is from the northern part of the country, North-central, his spoken language is South-west (Yoruba).

Politics, as they, say is local.

Either way he presents himself to the electorate, northerner or southerner, he is bound to face a tough challenge of navigating the ethnicity barrier. Even more complicated for him is where he picks his running mate from. If he picks from the South, he is going to alienate the North which will see the combination as a Southern ticket. If he picks from the North, the South will view it as Northnorth ticket. But Saraki remains a good presidential material. He looks good to win the North-central and the three Southern zones. But the North-east and the North-west are impregnable for him and these two zones have huge voting numbers.

Rabiu Kwankwaso

Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, representing Kano Central, was governor of the state for eight

years. He is one Kano politician with a cult followership, the type many say can only compete with Buhari’s relevance in the North, particularly North-west.

No wonder he prides himself on being the only politician from that part of the country with strong ties to the three Ks (Katsina, Kano and Kaduna), the same as Buhari.

Presently in a supremacy battle with his successor, Abdullahi Ganduje, a man he had walked with as an ally for years, Kwankwaso’s political followership is as scary as Buhari’s.

The fact that he came second during the 2014 primary of the APC might have put him in a good standing as one of the few that would define 2019 presidential power contest. Kwankwaso has been able to build a strong following under the Kwankwasiyya movement over the years across many of the northern states. But is this enough to defeat Buhari in the North-west and North-east?

Time will tell, but, first, he has to get through the primary.

Aminu Tambuwal

Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal was Speaker of the House of Representatives between 2011 and 2015, a position he clinched against existing political understanding and inadvertently set the polity on fire for four years.

Similar to Saraki’s, the development had pitted Tambuwal against the Jonathan presidency and also brought him into prominence, as he was largely seen as fighting for the independence of the legislature.

Although he had attempted a shot at the presidency in 2015, when it was discovered that his ambition could unsettle many other political calculations, he was prevailed upon to shelve the idea, in order to make the race an easy run for Buhari.

Perhaps, encouraged by his 2015 experience, he is currently seeking to contest in 2019, a desire believed to have been made possible by Buhari’s leadership style. A majority of analysts still feel he is better off continuing as the Sokoto State governor, especially with age very much on his side. It is not certain whether he would accede to such prodding this time. With him, however, many power brokers see a safe bet. He is unlikely to rock the boat and he is largely seen as someone who would run a collective presidency.

He is perceived as someone in the mould of former President Shehu Shagari.

Kingsley Moghalu

Kingsley Moghalu, a political economist, lawyer and former United Nations official, is a professor of Practice in International Business and Public Policy at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. A founder, Sogato Strategies LLC, an emerging markets risk, strategy and macroeconomic advisory firm, he was also a Senior Adviser of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF).

Moghalu, in 2016, founded the Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation (IGET), a think tank focused on the achievement of inclusive economic growth and effective public policy in developing countries. And having served as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2009 to 2014, where he led the implementation of far-reaching reforms in Nigeria’s banking sector, his joining the race has been largely welcomed, given his experience and background especially as he is seen as boasting capacity for the job.

Although he hails from the southern part of the country, a factor many think might count against him, he certainly comes across as a critical alternative to Buhari and more than qualified to change the Nigerian story. While many think he is ably qualified, they are also quick to point out that he is up against a formidable opponent who has been around for a long time. Added to that is the fact that he lacks name recognition.

He is contesting on the platform of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), a little know party.

Ibrahim Shekarau

Cerebral, smart and quick-witted, former Kano State governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, recently declared his interest in the presidency on the platform of the PDP. However, it was not his first time in the race and also not the first time against Buhari.

In the 2011 presidential debate, Shekarau stood out from the lot, explaining that his decision to seek PDP’s presidential ticket was informed by the clarion call of patriots.

“As you may be aware, for quite some time now, since after the 2015 general election, there have been various calls made by individuals and groups from many quarters, nationwide, urging my humble candidature for the contest of the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the next general elections, due in 2019,”

Ahmed Makarfi

Former Kaduna State governor from 1999 to 2007, Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, who moved on to be elected Senator for Kaduna North in 2007 is an active member of the PDP, who was at a time the national caretaker chairman of the party in the period the party had a major crisis. He drove the process that produced the current leadership of the party.

Makarfi, 61, is believed to boast the kind of experience required to steer the ship of the country, after being governor and senator. It is not certain whether he stands a good chance in the power struggle within the PDP, despite having been at the party’s helm. He is a potential alternative that could genuinely and effectively address many of Nigeria’s problems.

Besides, he is one of the few former governors that have not been linked to any case of corruption. He comes forward with that as a plus.

Sule Lamido

Former Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State was in the saddle

Can Anyone of These Defeat Buhari?

The profile of the other aspirants aside, the next election would be largely contingent on the voting disposition of the people. There is clearly a growing number of disenchanted people among the voting population. Across the land there is a feeling of let down by the current APC government, especially among the young elements who enthusiastically embraced the candidacy of Buhari in 2015. Can any of these aspirants tap into that disenchantment and present himself as a viable alternative?

Apart from the fact that Buhari is meant to run on his record as president, placed side-by-side his promises in 2015, his inability to deliver leadership in some of the critical situations that the nation had found itself, is another factor that may not make the Buhari election a smooth ride.

Basically, while Buhari is indisputably the incumbent and still savouring the weight of his status, next year’s election is not guaranteed.

I FEEL GOOD, SAYS BUHARI Before departing Nigeria on August 3, he had transmitted a letter authorising Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to discharge the functions of his office to the National Assembly.

Accordingly, Osinbajo has till date functioned as the acting president, discharging the functions of Buhari's office.

The president was received at the airport by the governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari; and the Minister of the Federal Capital

Territory, Muhammad Bello.

Also on hand to receive Buhari were Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Abubakar Sadique; Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris; and Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu.

The president is expected to preside over a security meeting on Monday before proceeding to his country home, in Daura, Katsina State, for the Sallah break.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ AUGUST 19, 2018

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SUNDAY COMMENT

Editor, Editorial Page PETER ISHAKA Email peter.ishaka@thisdaylive.com

MULTIPLICITY OF POLITICAL PARTIES There is need to look at the criteria for political party registration as proliferation is counterproductive

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he Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu last Wednesday presented certificates of registration to 23 new political parties. With 68 already registered, that brings the total number of political parties that will contest the 2019 general elections to 91. While INEC doesn’t seem concerned about the growing farce in which every politician now establishes their own political party, critical stakeholders are worried by the cost implications as well as its knuckledown effects on our democracy. An unwieldy number of parties is also a source of confusion and distraction to the electorate who will spend much time locating the parties to vote for.

While defending the election budget before the National Assembly last Beyond the week, INEC chairman, Prof Yakubu said the logistical cost of conducting nightmare of administering such the 2019 election has considerably when elections without risen compared with previous creating room for elections because 91 endless litigations, political parties will be on the ballot, a figure he said could there is also the rise in the months ahead, small detail that a largely illiterate as the commission still has applications for party electorate will find 140 registration pending. Yet, a it difficult making situation where parties come informed choices into existence only at election seasons and die off afterin a situation wards can hardly contribute where too many to national development. parties and can such parties that are candidates are on Nor not founded on any ideals or the ballot ideas become instruments of national stability let alone tolerable governance.

While, as we have argued on this page, it is good to have a liberal law that, at least on the surface, encourages popular participation, it is also important for all the relevant stakeholders, including the media, civil society and National Assembly to understand the full implications of having too many political parties on the ballot in an environment such as ours. Beyond the logistical nightmare of administering

Letters to the Editor

such elections without creating room for endless litigations, there is also the small detail that a largely illiterate electorate will find it difficult making informed choices in a situation where too many parties and candidates are on the ballot.

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S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU DEPUTY EDITORS OLAWALE OLALEYE, TOBI SONIYI MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOLAFE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN MANAGING EDITOR JOSEPH USHIGIALE

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, EMMANUEL EFENI DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS BOLAJI ADEBIYI , PETER IWEGBU, ANTHONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS ERIC OJEH, PATRICK EIMIUHI ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR SAHEED ADEYEMO CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

s things stand, the schedule of INEC for the 2019 general elections is already hectic.

Less than six months from now, there will be a presidential election; governorship elections in 29 states; senatorial elections in 109 districts nationwide; House of Representatives election in 360 federal constituencies; Houses of Assembly election in 991 constituencies and with the Federal Capital Territory election also due, the commission will conduct polls for six area council chairmanships and 62 councillorship positions.

In a milieu where politics is a do-or-die affair and where politicians fight elections almost like wars, how will INEC cope with an unwieldy number of parties most of them representing no more than the personal interests of the promoters? Besides, under the Electoral Act 2010, the parties must submit the list of their candidates 60 days to election while INEC is charged with the additional responsibility of monitoring their primaries.

Since most of our politicians rely on technicalities to win at the court what they lose at the polls, INEC has been burdened with repeat elections that are needless and that trend can only multiply as the number of political parties and candidates increase. Under what is termed “unlawful exclusion”, for instance, elections can be nullified for so many things, including a wrong spelling of names, even if such candidates have no electoral value.

Perhaps no election exemplified the mess called unwholesome proliferation of political parties than the 2011 elections when some 20 political parties out of the then 68 registered ones fielded presidential candidates.

At the end, only four parties made some impression. The rest scored less than one per cent of the votes.

Even if people have the right to form political parties, proliferation is counterproductive to our democracy, especially when they are not built around any ideology or interest group, but more as “business ventures”. And from past experience, many of them are unlikely to exert any remarkable influence good enough to win elections.

That then explains why the nation must recover its senses and we urge the National Assembly to begin to look at the enabling laws. A situation where every politician believes they must have their own political party is antithetical to the growth of genuine democracy in our country.

TO OUR READERS Letters in response to specific publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-200 words) and straight to the point. Interested readers may send such letters along with their contact details to opinion@thisdaylive.com. We also welcome comments and opinions on topical local, national and international issues provided they are well-written and should also not be longer than (950- 1000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive.com along with the email address and phone numbers of the writer.

Curtailing Challenges of Security In FCT

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ecurity as one of the major concerns of humanity, whether at the individual, community, state or national level has always been a challenge that faces governments all over the world. Its importance is emphasized in the constitutions of countries all over the world and Nigeria is not an exception.

The importance of security is amplified vividly under section 14b of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended, and provides inter alia that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary responsibility and purpose of government. Also section 24 of the same constitution provides that it shall also be the duty of citizens to render assistance to

appropriate law enforcements agencies in the maintenance of law and order.

When we juxtaposed the provisions outlined by the constitution above, we can see that the management and control of crime is a collective responsibility of both the government and its citizenry.

The government has a responsibility in protecting the lives and property of its people and it can do this by workable and practical policies carefully conceptualized and propagated to achieve these objectives.

It therefore behoves the FCT administration to develop the policies for the FCT which the people must key into and make the city safe and habitable. The funding and implementations of these critical policies must be

taken into account because they will require agencies, men and material that will carry out the objectives.

It is a fact that the jurisprudential value of law is predicated on its enforcement, hence Thomas Hobbes asserted that without the enforcement of the law so enacted, society will collapse.

The FCT is supposed to be an epicentre for what is obtainable in our country. It is a vivid reflection of what our overall society looks like. The laws of our country should always be implemented without fear or favour. Security is the responsibility of all. We can never claim to have achieved as a government or community if any part of our society is threatened.

Measures identified to solve security problems differ from

country to country, but government at all levels in our country must first acknowledge that constitutionally and morally, its first responsibility is the security and welfare of its people.

I must state here that the first measures needed to solve 50 per cent of our security problems is the welfare of the people. When the people see that its government is working and seems to be working for its overall interests and welfare, the people shall obey the laws of the country and also see that just as the governments has a responsibility, the led also equally has responsibility in achieving the goal of securing the society.

A careful study and research on graffiti crimes such as burglary and drug-related prevalent in our society today shows the crimes are behavioural related, caused by poverty and deprivations. Governments are hereby advised to incentivise and

subsidize education in low income communities and to invest more in the skills development sector of education. The FCT administration must create and formulate laws quickly that will reform our criminal justice system for better results.

Today’s prisons administration all over the world is not punitive-based but reformatory.

A situation where our prisons churn out hardened criminals into the society after the expiration of their incarceration is a dangerous security problem for the society. Governments at all level in the FCT must continue to finance the police force for the effective policing of the territory. The police have an indispensable role to play in the realization of the security dream of residents. The government should fund the logistic needs of the police.

–– Jamila Musa, Abuja.

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Tributes Pour in for a Quintessential African Diplomat Former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Emeka Anyaoku said Annan was a conscientious diplomat, good friend of Nigeria, and a pride of Africa.

Anyaoku told Arise TV, “Kofi was a very, very effective, quiet diplomat. He was not given to noisemaking. He worked quietly but very effectively.

“I think the world will miss a diplomat focussing on his objective and pursuing it diligently but quietly. By Kofi Annan's death, the world and in particular, Africa, has lost a truly great statesman and peacemaker.

“Kofi Annan's tenure as Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006 brought huge pride to Africa and made lasting global impact.”

The former Commonwealth secretary-general listed some of Annan’s achievements at the UN to include effecting “a far-reaching reform of the UN secretariat’s administrative structure. Second, Kofi Annan led the world to adopt the resolution on responsibility to protect. I suppose after the shocking experience of the Rwanda and Srebrenica genocides, Kofi Annan was determined that the world would do something about it and I was as Secretary-General in a position that he spoke with me on a number of occasions and told me about his concerns, and the UN General Assembly in 2005 adopted the resolution on responsibility to protect. The meaning of this resolution was to empower all the global community to intervene in countries where the population are seriously threatened by genocides and serious abuse of human rights.

“Thirdly, Kofi Annan was responsible for the adoption in the year 2000 after the global summit of the Millennium Development Goals that were adopted by the UN. This is one of his achievements. He was also responsible for the establishment of the global fund which was established for tackling of such global pandemics like HIV/AIDS and other diseases threatening humanity.”

Anyaoku said, “He was undoubtedly a champion of peace.

He should be remembered as the Secretary-General who in 2003 urged the United States and the United Kingdom not to invade Iraq. He didn't earn their pleasure after that. So, Kofi Annan was by all measures a great statesman because even as after his tenure as Secretary General, he continued to be active. He set up the Kofi Annan Foundation through which he intervened for peace and development in African countries.

“He was , I must say, a personal friend of mine. We were friends for over 50 years. I was present in Geneva; I travelled all the way from New York in 1965 to attend his wedding, his first wedding, when he married a Nigerian, Titi Alakija.

“He was a good friend of Nigeria. His last service to Nigeria was in January 2015, when I asked him and he came and joined me in presiding a workshop that resulted in the adoption of what was known as the Abuja Accord, which committed all the 12 presidential candidates then, including the incumbent President Jonathan and the aspirants, such as General Buhari and the others, that committed themselves to a violence-free campaign and more importantly acceptance of the election results. This is

a great service to our country.”

Obasanjo: He dedicated his life to fight for global peace Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said Annan was “a brother and friend”. In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, Obasanjo said, “I received the shocking news of the demise of former United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, with deep sadness at the loss of a brother and friend.

“I commiserate with the Annan family, particularly Mr. Annan’s widow – Nane Maria – and their children Ama, Kojo and Nina; the Government and People of Ghana; the Secretary-General and staff of the United Nations; and indeed all lovers of peace and progress across the world on this great loss.”

Obasanjo described Annan “as a global statesman who dedicated his life to democracy, peace, stability, security, equity, justice, human rights, development, and progress, which culminated in not only his appointment as United Nations Secretary-General in 1997 but also in his well-deserved honour with a Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 for having revitalised the United Nations and for giving priority to human rights.”

Jonathan: Distinguished and accomplished diplomat Immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan called Annan a “distinguished and accomplished international public servant and one of Africa’s most prominent diplomats.”

Jonathan wrote, “I am deeply saddened by the death of @ KofiAnnan , a world-renowned icon of peace and diplomacy.

He was a distinguished and accomplished international public servant and one of Africa’s most prominent diplomats.”

Atiku: He was a quintessential promoter of global peace Abuja, Nigeria 18 August, 2018: Former Vice President of Nigeria Atiku Abubakar mourns the passing on of Mr. Kofi Annan, a former Secretary General of the United Nations.

In a press statement by his media office in Abuja, the former Vice President describes Mr. Annan as a quintessential promoter of global peace; a great African, an astounding diplomat and one of the leading lights in the African continent of this century.

Atiku laments that a leading light has passed out of Africa and called on Africans of the present generation to emulate the late Anan’s commitment to the well- being and development of the African continent while serving as Chief Scribe of the United Nation’s Organisation.

The PDP presidential aspirant recalls that during his days at the United Nations, this great African diplomat and Ghanaian citizen, served the international community with distinction and for this reason, his period of service as UN Secretary General was to a large extent peaceful internationally because of his wisdom, patience, persistence and integrity.

For this reason, Kofi Annan was bestowed with the Noble Prize for Peace, in 2001 by the Alfred Noble Foundation, an award he shared with the UN, which he led, Atiku recalls.

Atiku states further that the late Kofi Annan was much respected and trusted by members of the UN who took his position and counsel on issues seriously.

The Waziri Adamawa says

Kofi further that even after retirement from the services of the UN, Kofi Annan, never indeed retired from playing critical international roles that advanced the well- being of Africa and the world.

According to Atiku, the late UN Chief Scribe set up the Kofi Annan Foundation which he employed as a platform to keep alive, public discourse on issues that affect Africa and the World as well as lend a hand to promote better global governance and strengthen the capacities of people and countries to achieve a fairer and more peaceful world.

Atiku conveys his deepest condolences to the Annan family, the Kofi Annan Foundation, the international community, the government and people of Ghana and all Africans on the passing on of this global statesman.

Saraki: He was a quintessential African diplomat Senate President Bukola Saraki said Annan was an exemplary diplomat who exhibited extraordinary finesse, restraint, and wisdom on the world stage. In a statement by his media adviser, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki said, “Annan was an African avatar and God’s messenger of peace to the world. His demise is a huge loss to the international community and to humanity. Africa has indeed lost one of her best.

He shall be sorely missed.”

Saraki added, “Annan deployed his vast capacities to tackle intractable global challenges ranging from hunger, conflict, epidemic and restoration of peace in war-torn countries."

was deeply committed to global peace and conflict resolution.

The highly revered diplomat will be long remembered for his towering role and dedication to improving lives through peaceful coexistence among people of diverse race.”

Obaseki: He made global impact Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki stated regarding Annan, “He lived a noble, courageous life and was an example of excellence in public service. From his humble beginning in Ghana, Annan grew to conquer the world, displaying an expert understanding of the complexities of the world and working to entrench the respect for human rights in the UN system. I commend his impact on global peace.

"Serving as the 7th Secretary General of the UN, he contributed immensely to global peace, which was acknowledged with the award of the Nobel Peace Prize, alongside the UN."

Melaye: He was a great peacemaker Senator Dino Melaye said Annan was a promoter of peace with the zeal to feed the world. Melaye stated, “There is no doubt that he was a humanitarian with a zeal to feed the world and to improve conditions of the impoverished and victims of humanitarian crises when he held sway as the United Nations scribe. His country of origin, Ghana; Africa; and the whole world have all lost a leader, peace maker, global icon and father of all in Mr. Annan.”

Okowa: He was a global statesman Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa described Annan’s death as “a great loss to the international community where he led efforts to finding peaceful solution to conflicts globally". Okowa said in a release by his chief press secretary, Charles Aniagwu, “We have lost a global statesman who

Tinubu: He was a distinguished global icon National leader of All Progressives Congress Bola Tinubu said in statement, “In his lifetime, Kofi Annan distinguished himself as an international statesman, global icon, finest diplomat and tireless champion of human rights for all. His diplomatic achievements, both before or after becoming the UN Secretary-General, are legion.

“Specifically, he will be remembered for his important contributions to the fight against HIV/AIDS epidemic, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, and his commitment to defending vulnerable populations the world over, demonstrated by his key role in the development of the UN’s epoch-making Responsibility to Protect doctrine.”

Dangote: We lost a great champion Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, tweeted, “My heartfelt condolences to the family of Kofi Annan. An invaluable proponent of world peace, justice, and equality. Humanity has lost a great champion of peace.”

Okonjo-Iweala: A tall Iroko has fallen Former finance minister tweeted, “A shock and a great loss! Kofi Annan Africa’s foremost son and international diplomat, our tall Iroko tree has died. His many contributions to Humanitarian, Development and Governance issues will not be forgotten.

“These contributions came not only as Secretary General, but also through his foundation, his work at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the Elders, and the Africa Progress Panel. He was incredibly charming with a wry sense of humour and a quick wit.”

T H I S D AY ˾ SUNDAT AUGUST 19, 2018

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ AUGUST 19, 2018

NEWS How Powerful Forces Blocked President’s Earlier Plan to Fire Daura tDaura, not SSS, under probe Tobi Soniyi in Lagos and Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja Revelations emerged last night that President Muhammadu Buhari had two weeks before departing for London on a vacation, concluded plans to fire the ex-DirectorGeneral of the Department

of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura.

A top presidential source who did not want to be named told THISDAY last night that two weeks before Buhari left Nigeria for the United Kingdom on a 10-day working vacation, he and the Vice President, Prof. Yemi

Osinbajo had reviewed the appointment of Daura and resolved to ease him out.

According to the source, the move to give Daura the boot however, failed because certain influential forces in the corridors of power swiftly moved to block the plan.

The source added however,

that whereas such influential forces had thought that they had effectively frustrated the plans to lay off Daura, it was unknown to them that there was yet another undisclosed plan by both the president and his deputy to sack some security chiefs including Daura after jointly reviewing

YOU ARE WELCOME

President Muhammadu Buhari with Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello and Secretary to the Government of t he Federation, Mr. Boss PHOTO: GODWIN OMOIGUI Mustapha on his arrival from a 10-day vacation at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport , Abuja ....yesterday

their activities.

The source further disclosed that while the president who returned to the country yesterday evening was away, Osinbajo was always in touch with him, discussing emerging issues with him and both of them agreeing to decisions made before proceeding to carry them out.

The source said it was not only the dismissal of Daura that was jointly taken by both Buhari and Osinbajo, other decisions such as the latter’s order to overhaul Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS) as well as last Thursday’s decision of the National Economic Council (NEC) to constitute a committee to come up with how best to decentralise the Nigeria Police had both been pondered by both men.

He said the president always encouraged the acting president to do whatever was necessary to be done and ensured that he fully took charge of the reins of power in his absence.

“Even regarding the overhaul of the SARS which the Acting President announced recently, top sources in the Villa explained that the matter had featured prominently in regular interactions of both the President and the VP and also interactions by both of them with the InspectorGeneral of Police.

Although Daura may have some explanation to do, the service itself is not under

probe, a highly placed official in the Presidency told THISDAY. The source said the clarification became necessary in view of the fear in certain quarters that a secret service was being subjected to a public probe that might threaten its operations and efficiency in the future.

The source also explained that no substantial incriminating evidence was found following the searches conducted so far in the residences and guest houses of Daura.

However, he said investigating authorities were holding on to suspected depletion of funds he inherited from his predecessor, Ekpenyong Ita. Another source who confided in THISDAY said all the funds handed over to Daura were in the public domain.

He said: “The monies handed over are a public knowledge. When the director general of such service hands over, copies are customarily sent to the President, the National Security Adviser, the service itself, the incoming and outgoing directors general would have their copies.”

Investigation reveals that Ekpeyong handed over to Daura various sums of money including $21.2m ($21,237,435.72), N12.96 billion (N12,960,480,740.38) of pension fund as well as N2.2 billion (N2,207,647,550.03) in serial account.

r Cont’d on pg 86

Citing Violence, Ballot Snatching, INEC Suspends Rivers Bye-election Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt

The Independent National Electoral Commission yesterday suspended Port Harcourt Constituency 3 bye-election, citing widespread violence, ballot snatching and other electoral infractions.

Announcing the suspension of the election, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Obo Effanga said elections had started peacefully but that midway into the exercise,

hoodlums unleashed violence on both voters and electoral officials with armed security officials giving them cover.

Effanga said: “The commission in full readiness for the said election deployed personnel and materials to the 142 polling units involved.

The election commenced peacefully in all the units with all the INEC personnel with their materials reporting to their duty posts well ahead of time.

“However, midway into the3 elections, miscreants and hoodlums accompanied by heavily armed security personnel in uniform stormed the various polling units and Registration Areas disrupting voting activities, destroying and carting away election materials including smart card readers and ballot boxes.”

In addition, the resident commissioner noted that many electoral officials were manhandled, injured

and held hostage.

He said the commission in accordance with the provisions of Section 26 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) had decided to suspend the elections forthwith as a result of this widespread and wanton disruption of the electoral process as reported from the field by the supervising presiding officers and supervisors from the commission and also having reviewed the situation,

In most of the polling units THISDAY visited, there were reports of violence, ballot snatching and vote buying.

Some big wigs of the All Progressive Congress (APC) were seen escorted by heavily armed security personnel moving from one polling unit to the other and collecting the ballot boxes.

They were also seen luring voters with cash ranging from N2,000 to N5,000. Unconfirmed

report said one person was killed at National Filling Station in Mile 3, Diobu.

At Obaziolu Street, Mile 3, Chief Azubike Nmerukini, father of the PDP candidate, Chiemaka Nmerukini, ran for his dear life when suspected APC thugs invaded the Ward 18 Polling area meters from his home, snatched the ballot boxes, leaving victims with various degrees of broken bottle injuries on their trail.

Fayose Berates APC for Attacking Recruitment Exercise Another Retired Supreme Court Justice is Dead Victor Ogunje inAdoEkiti

Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose yesterday berated the All Progressives Congress (APC) from criticising the recruitment of 1,000 teachers and another 1,000 various categories of workers into its public service.

Fayose, also, deplored the Governor-elect, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, saying rather than acting like an alternate government, Fayemi should wait till October 16 that he would begin to enjoy the benefits of the July 14 electoral fraud.

This was contained in a statement his Special Assistant on Public Communications & New Media, Lere Olayinka issued yesterday, asking the governor-elect and his party to wait till October 16 before running the affairs of the state.

The statement pointed

out that with less than two weeks to the end of his tenure in 2014, Fayemi appointed eight permanent secretaries, noting that all of them “are still in office up till now.”

Apart from appointing eight permanent secretaries, the statement revealed that the governor-elect also recruited several workers behind closed doors and they are still in the service.”

Rather than acting like an alternate government, according to the statement, Fayemi should wait till October 16 that he will begin to enjoy the benefits of the July 14 electoral fraud. The statement said: “It is on record that Fayose announced in January that recruitment will be made into the state public service and this was followed up with distribution of employment forms in May. “This was consequent

upon the existing vacancies in the public service, especially the teaching sector. There are schools without adequate teachers in critical subjects like Mathematics, Physics, English and others. So the students that are resuming in September should wait till Fayemi assumes office?

“Most importantly, Fayose will carry out all the functions of his office till October 16 and since there is need to employ workers, the state government will do so through a transparent process.

“Is it not funny that the same APC people that criticised the state government for constructing a modern Oja Oba Market in Ado Ekiti are now kicking against allocation of the shops to the people? So Fayose should build the market for Fayemi to come and allocate the shops to his cronnies?”

Tobi Soniyi in Lagos

A month after the death of a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, another retired justice of the Supreme Court, Denis Edozie, has died.

His death was announced via a statement from the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen.

Edozie reportedly died at his home town in Enugu State on August 18, at age 83.

“The CJN has been informed of the demise of a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Hon. Mr. Justice Dennis Onyejife Edozie, CON, who

died in his country home at Independence Layout, Enugu State on Saturday, August 18 at the age of 83 year “On behalf of himself and the entire Judiciary, the CJN commiserates with the family of the late jurist and urges the family to take solace in the fact that their patriarch served his country patriotically rising to sit on the Bench of the country’s apex court for nearly three years.

The statement added that Edozie was born on November 10, 1935 in Enugu, South East Nigeria, and was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court on January 6, 2003.

He served in that capac-

ity till his retirement on November 10, 2005 when he attained the mandatory retirement age of 70 years.

The statement said the CJN was informed about the death of the former Justice, by a son of the deceased.

“The deceased son, Mr. Chikezie Edozie, confirmed the demise of the former Justice in a telephone call to the Chief Registrar of the Court, Mrs. Hadizatu Mustapha on Saturday.

“The Chief Justice of Nigeria prays for the peaceful repose of Justice Denis Onyejife Edozie and for God to grant the family the fortitude to bear the loss,” the statement said.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ AUGUST 19, 2018

NEWSXTRA Tinubu Bows to Pressure, Set to Endorse Ambode for Second Term How Osinbajo, Akiolu, others intervened Olawale Olaleye The All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has finally agreed to endorse Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode for another term, THISDAY has learnt.

However, Tinubu’s resolve to endorse Ambode was made possible with the interventions of Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, both of whom the governor allegedly asked to wade into the situation that hitherto threatened his reelection in 2019.

An authoritative source confirmed the development to THISDAY at the weekend, noting that the two eminent Nigerians approached Tinubu at different times and prevailed on him to reconsider his stand on Ambode’s re-election, considering the larger implications.

The source noted that the APC leader yielded to the intervention of the vice president and the monarch out of respect for the two leaders.

This development regardless, the political class was still believed to be angry with the governor over alleged lack of respect and poor treatment of the people, who made it possible for Ambode to become governor in the first place.

The source said although Tinubu was displeased with the running of the government, he did not have any fundamental differences with the governor, the reason he yielded to the pleas to let Ambode return.

While the debate on Ambode’s fate in 2019 lasted, according to the source, Tinubu deliberately stayed above the

fray because he did not want to get involved in the politics of conjectures about the governor’s re-election, more so that it might not be totally in his interest to do so given the state of the party and government at the national level.

Another source hinted that one of the problems the governor had with Tinubu and many of the political leaders in the state was, because he wasn’t consulting on critical issues of state and had at a point, alienated everyone in the political class in the running of the state.

The source noted that while Tinubu had managed the situation with the best of political maturity, it didn’t take away the fact that he also had disagreement with Ambode over some of of his decisions and was displeased with the way the governor handled some critical issues.

“You’d agree that Asiwaju boasts an undeniable father figure and so, we cannot continue to attribute some of these petty politics to him. Yes, he may not be happy about certain things in the government, he really does not have any fundamental differences with the governor. That much I know. So, to your question, it is true there have been interventions and he is set to endorse him in order to put paid to some of these speculations,” the source said.

Fears that Ambode’s second term bid might have hit the rocks started to manifest significantly after the recent stakeholders meeting chaired

by Tinubu himself at the party’s Lagos secretariat on Akilo, Ikeja. It is pertinent to state that the former Lagos State governor and Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, went

Shekau’s Attacks Make Life Difficult for Muslims, Says Boko Haram Faction Bayo Akinloye A faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) under the leadership of Abu Musab al-Barnawi has accused Abubakar Shekau of indiscriminate killing, which has made life difficult for Muslim to celebrate Islamic holidays publicly.

However, the United States Government has declined comment on whether the closure of its Abuja embassy in Nigeria has any connection to a possible attack from Boko Haram or ISWAP. This was stated in a newly released book by the terrorist group titled, ‘The Islamic State West Africa Province vs. Abu Bakr Shekau: Cutting out the tumour from the Khawarij of Shekau by the allegiance pledge of the people of nobility.’

The faction loyal to ISIS condemned what it called Boko Haram’s unprovoked attacks on Muslims during religious festivities like the Eid-al-Fitr.

Al-Barnawi, one of the

sons of the late Boko Haram leader Muhammed Yusuf, said: “Since 2014, Shekau has directed the aperture of his weapons against the Muslims, killing them and taking their offspring captive.

“Since that year, Shekau has been observing gathering places in which monotheists are presumed to be present, like stations, Sunni mosques and places of prayer on feast occasions, and then he sends a suicide bomber to blow himself up amid the gathering.

“Since that time, the Muslims have not prayed their feasts in peace without an explosion or pursuit from Shekau while he threatens the Crusaders (professed Christians) with empty threats ‘like the brayer in the enclosure,” the book said.

It added that no explosion “has been heard, nor trampling, nor even a hollow spit at a Crusader while they hold their feasts in their churches in security and safety, and perhaps he has resorted to killing the Muslims while abandoning the Crusaders.”

through similar re-election baptism with Tinubu, but many people in the state rose early in support and defence

of Fashola, which forced Tinubu to yield and eventually endorsed Fashola.

Thus, a similar stakehold-

ers’ meeting was organised during Fashola’s time and it was at the meeting that Tinubu laid to rest all the speculations

surrounding his re-election by raising his hands and pronouncing his second term a fait accompli.

COURTESY VISIT L-R: Vice Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University, Prof. Eyitope Ogunbodede; former Director General of National Troupe of Nigeria, Mr. Akinsola Adejuwon, and Chief Executive Officer, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, during a visit to the bank headquarters in Lagos...recently

Police Rescue INEC Staff, Eight Others from Kidnappers Okon Bassey in Uyo A team of security operatives yesterday rescued a staff of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and eight other persons, who were abducted by kidnappers in Akwa Ibom State about three months ago.

The victims, comprising two men and seven women, were rescued from the den of kidnappers in Iwukem in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area of the state.

The State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Adeyemi Ogun-

jemilusi disclosed the release of the victims at a news conference he addressed at the state police command, Ikot Akpan-Abia, Uyo yesterday.

At the conference, the police commissioner noted that the victims had been in the custody of the kidnappers for about three months.

He said the victims were rescued by men of a joint task force code named “Operation Purge” specially stationed in the Etim Ekpo and Ukanafun Local Government Areas to checkmate cult and militant activities in the areas.

THISDAY checks revealed

Confusion as Landslide Rocks Anambra Community David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka Indigenes and residents were yesterday thrown into confusion as landslides rocked Nanka, a community of Aguata Local Government Area, Anambra State. However, no case of death was reported.

THISDAY checks gathered that the landslides occurred in a section of the community that had been abandoned by indigenes of the community due to the grave consequence of gully erosion in the area.

A resident of the community, Mr Ralph Igwe explained that the landslides might have been caused by the unprecedented intensity of rainfall, which the community and its environs had been experiencing in the recent time.

He explained that the people of Nanka “have suf-

fered untold hardship as a result of gully erosion related landslides. This time, they were faced with even bigger threats, judging by the intensity of rainfall.”

Reacting to the threats faced by the people, the Country Coordinator of Rural Communities Development Initiative, Mr. Ikenna Ezenekwe said that the community “is facing a bigger threat than they imagine.”

Ezenekwe said the affected community presently was on the verge of another catastrophic landslide should government fail to take immediate actions.

Ezenekwe blamed the state and federal governments for abandoning the community to their fate, not minding that proactive measures can help save residents from the impending calamity.

that none of the kidnappers were arrested during the rescue mission as the latest operation occurred two weeks during which two of the notorious kidnappers were killed and five persons rescued.

Ogunjemilusi said: “am happy to inform you that at about 12.00 pm, my men of ‘Operation Purge’ saddled with the responsibility of flushing out the hoodlums terrorising Etim Ekpo and Ukanafun LGAs achieved a great breakthrough with the rescue of nine kidnapped victims, one of whom is the

staff of the INEC.” He also said the police squad had recovered rifle, uniform and bullet proof vests collected by the kidnappers from one of the gallant officers, Sgt Shedrach Stephen and a military personnel murdered at Iwukem, Etim Ekpo LGA on August 16.

He added that two officers were murdered when they went for rescueoperation of a young boy, Master Joseph Monday Udoh Idung, of Ikot Inyang Abia in Ukanafun LGA and an unknown young lady presently in comma.

Wamakko: PVC Only Weapon to Vote Credible Candidates Mohammed Aminu in Sokoto The Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, Senator Aliyu Wamakko yesterday said the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) was the only power the electorate could use to vote credible candidates of their choice.

Wamakko, former governor of the state and currently representing Sokoto North in the Senate, made the remark when he received various youths and women groups on solidarity visit at his residence in Sokoto.

According to him, the PVC is a very potent weapon to either vote or reject any candidate seeking to occupy any elective office. Without it, any Nigeria will not be able to exercise his constitutional responsibility of casting his

vote during the forthcoming elections.

Wamakko urged the people of the state to strive to collect the PVCs, noting that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) “is still distributing the cards. Any electorate, who fails to collect the cards, will disenfranchise himself during the forthcoming general elections.

Wamakko, also, urged the people of the state “to shun all acts capable of breaching peace and unity. Peace is a veritable tool for national development and without it no country can prosper to greater heights.”

Wamakko noted that politics “is not a do or die affair and that people are more important than any egocentric interests, acknowledging the equal rights of all Nigerians to aspire to any political office.

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ͯͷ˜ ͰͮͯͶ ˾ THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

OPINION Demystifying Political Masquerades in 2019 Oludayo Tade urges Nigerians to alter the political arrangement in 2019 by going for those who have something to offer

A

bubbling trade of political jumpology has engulfed the Nigerian political market in the past few weeks. This has laid to rest the thought of whether there is any difference between Nigeria politicians irrespective of whatever ideological or religious clothing they are dressed in. The market is liberalised, and the investor-politicians are looking to pitch tents where the highest possible dividends can come from.

In this shameless activity of mindless political alignment and re-alignment of forces, the masses do not come into the picture.

Although they dress themselves in the ‘populist’ apparel, the deaths in Benue, Zamfara and Maiduguri are less important; what is important is how to fraudulently reach another alliance where Nigeria and Nigeria’s home-grown colonisers will continue to exploit the political entity, its resources while the docile and gullible inhabitants would rather ask the supreme being to ‘fight their battle’ rather than take up the battle and fight for intra-country decolonisation.

Our system is what Femi Falana (SAN) has aptly described as a predatory neo-colonial entity where the few ruling class are united in their goals: they use the people to gain ascendancy to power through flowery promises, keep them in perpetual beggarly circumstances, fail to fulfil any promises or feign ignorance they made promises, they blame their governance failures on fellow home-grown colonisers, and seek to lift them out of their precarious circumstances when given another chance to enrich their primordial groups.

They are nationalist during electioneering season. They position themselves as pro-people even though they have used the system to fester their family and political interests. Their party logos are symbolic of what they can offer. While the broom favours only the holder as it cleans only its part and pushes dirt into the spaces of others; the umbrella first provides comfort for the holder. While it covers three-quarter of the holder every other person who joins only have their heads covered with threequarters of their body parts exposed to rain or sun. Either way, the parasitic holders of these symbolic objects are united against those they purport to help.

For majority of Nigerians, neither the broom nor the umbrella, irrespective of differential season of usefulness has allowed Nigerians to hold its base. In other words, peoples’ interests hardly ever inform the policy focus of these parasitic political

actors. They publicise building ultra-modern schools yet their wards are better attending UK and American universities. They flaunt building modern health care facilities, yet they hurriedly jet out to the UK to attend to even non-threatening cough. They claim to build modern roads but use air-space as navigator. They claim they have fixed insecurity yet fear to travel by road. They tell people not to pay ransom when kidnapped but hurriedly dole out millions when their political allies fall into the hands of abandoned, uncared for Nigerian youths who have decided to fight back on a system that has been predatory to their lives.

Despite these economic higgledy-piggledy, political chaos, and governance loopholes, these political masquerades in their seasonal festival are out again with their lies. Methinks only those not tired on suffering will be fighting to re-elect band of fortune hijackers.

Inspired by these chaotic circumstances, Ogbomoso born hip-hop musician, Abolore Adigun (9ce) unburdened his heart in the album Economy.

According to 9ce the uninspired state of things in Nigeria occasioned by battered economy, insecurity, loss of jobs and comatose electricity has created insurgent citizenships. Saying “you dey promise and fail, so so charade”, 9ce characterises Nigeria’s political space as populated by liars who are (more likely) not going to fulfil what they brandish as electoral promises and manifestoes.

Consequently, granting them the favour of one’s vote is to invest in ‘lootocracy’. .He detests political masquerades and their lies which have made life difficult for Nigerians when he submits that “if I see your lies political masquerades”. Abolore Adigun would have thought that after three years of ‘asking where is the power’, our political masquerades would not return with the same lies but he

Political masquerades are deceitful and wicked. They are autocratic but present themselves as democrats.

They are selfish but present to the people altruism. They are frogs who only seek a moist environment to hibernate

must have underrated the copy and paste tendency of Nigeria politicians.

What more than a liar is he who stated that his reason for jumping ship is to take his people out of darkness into light.

Is it not bizarre that this only occurred to him after milking his people’s collective patrimony for 19 years! He must have deliberately kept them in darkness by only enjoying the political allowances from being state legislator, executive governor and now as senator with humongous salaries and allowances. It is due to this chameleonic character that 9ce warns against ever trusting in the ‘lies of political masquerades’.

Political masquerades are deceitful and wicked. They are autocratic but present themselves as democrats. They are selfish but present to the people altruism. They are frogs who only seek a moist environment to hibernate. They spice up their livelihoods with humongous wealth of the nation yet allow their people to work with poverty-assuring wages. Can Nigerians spot the difference between those who claim they are fighting against the return of corrupt people but organise grand receptions for people “migrating” from the other party of the so-called thieves?

The consequence of being fooled by masquerade politicians rings loud in the almost comatose state of our education, health and infrastructure. Those who suddenly become welfarist towards electioneering are political masquerades.

Those who begin their intervention in your neighbourhood to fix road and help the needy when they expect the favour of votes are never to be trusted. If those you voted into office over three years ago are not answerable to you now when they need your votes for a second term, they will not when they do not need you again as exemplified in governors’ performance scorecard on their second term of office. As 2019 draws nearer therefore, those armed with PVC need to unmask the masquerades that present themselves as messiah.

Just like our traditional masquerades, demystifying the goodfor-nothing ‘big masquerades’ should be the focus for voters.

Underdogs have so much to prove and deliver. Big masquerades take people for granted after riding on them to power. Nigerians need to alter this political arrangement in 2019 by going for those who have something to offer. Returning parasitic masquerades and their cronies will put Nigeria and Nigerians in another four years of boredom.

––– Dr. Tade, a sociologist, sent this piece via dotad2003@yahoo.com

Leveraging Big Data to Drive Development Big data, if effectively harnessed, is a catalyst to development, writes Kazeem Tewogbade

T

he relevance and use of big data – large data sets which are analysed to track trends and patterns in information, and used to determine and reveal outcomes – has steadily grown in recent years. The amount of information that can be collected from big data sets is vast and is critical for improving decision-making. Mostly used by private organisations globally, it helps companies to improve business performance and better understand their target audiences – provide early warning signs, real-time awareness and real-time feedback on issues and required areas of development.

This ability to draw information from millions of different sources is especially beneficial to developing countries with a predominance of rural areas and poor institutional capacity, as it has the potential to better lives by forecasting poverty and shared prosperity through mobile phone data, using satellite imagery to monitor and map electrification of rural areas, to better understand the targets of financial inclusion and climate smart agriculture, to name a few. This activity has been implemented by private organisations in various African countries: in Kenya, a solar energy provider – M-kopa – uses cloud technology to generate data and manage its solar panel devices. They generate more than one million device readings every day which provides information related to the batteries, temperature of the devices, and sensors, as well as geographical data on where the devices are located; they have also been able to use data to calculate their customers’ savings – up to have US$338 million since they started five years ago. Farmerline, based in Ghana, provides local farmers with access to accurate, up-to-date weather forecasts and market prices, thus, they gain immediate knowledge of competitive pricing and often larger and steadier yields. Increasingly, the power of big data is now shifting from being used solely by private enterprises, to being used by governments, especially in public-private partnership initiatives, to identify development gaps; assess areas for improvement; citizens’ identity; and manage/mitigate risk.

Despite these successful use-cases, digital divide and slow adoption and operation of advanced technology in most developing countries have, so far, limited the possibility for the potential and capabilities of big data to be fully harnessed. This is being addressed by international institutions such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation (OEC) and the United Nations Develop-

ment Programme (UNDP), which are working to reduce the infrastructure and skill divide in order to effectively facilitate the use of big data in developing countries. An organisation called Big Data 4 Africa is also working in partnership with the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data to close the data gap in Africa, by improving availability and accessibility to data and analytics in sectors such as food security, healthcare, financial services, etc.

In Nigeria, big data is still in the early stages of implementation, even more so in the public sector; in the private sector, it is mainly being used by multinational technology companies and start-up tech companies, such as IBM Innovation, Dell EMC, Terragon Group, etc. A few companies in the FSI sectors are exploring big data too. TLcom Capital recently invested $5M into Terragon Group, a data analysis organisation because of the potential big data analytics has in making an impact on the country. The first Big Data Economy Summit in Nigeria also took place on 12th October 2017 had representatives from Diamond Bank, MTN, Data Science Nigeria and other nationally prominent organisations. Bluechip Technologies also recently released BluePrime, an analytics software that is positioned to revolutionise business-to-consumer relationship management – providing valuable, in-depth insights into customer behaviour, trends, experiences, and sentiments, and through a campaign engine, also provides messaging templates for businesses to tailor their communications to their target customers.

Nigerian telecommunications companies began to make use of Big Data through the SIM registration process; they adapted their BI platforms to integrate data analysis, in order to better understand the customer and use the information more efficiently. However, the method of collection and categorisation then was flawed due to its simplicity, as only one data set –location – is used for analysis, rather than multiple sets. This caused a number of problematic loopholes, as traders and business CEOs end up in the same category because they both make calls to certain locations around the country; therefore, practices to target that demographic would then have varying impacts on the people in the category.

In 2014, Ogun State announced the opening of 300 tertiary control points to boost survey access and conduction across the state in an effort to upgrade and re-equip the Department of

Survey in the State Bureau of Lands and Survey. The control points were also going to collect data from tertiary workers’ registrations as well as surveys with the aid of three Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) as the data collection medium. This attempt to collect data through survey points appears to be a good idea on the surface, but when implementation began, it proved more difficult. The lack of technological advances caused the project to stall, as the data quantity increased over the years. Also the lack of consolidated and continuous efforts caused the project to lag behind.

In Edo State, the first Nigerian open data portal was launched, which is expected to have a two-fold benefit. Firstly, advocates contend that making government data available to the public in open formats increases government transparency and accountability. Furthermore, open data should enable third parties to leverage the potential of government data through the development of applications and services that address public and private demands. In reality, open data has not fully taken off in Edo State because of the digital divide and the information lag by the government i.e. state government bodies are slow to upload results and the public do not often use the data because of the lack of data analysts at their disposal, which are also costly.

Despite these seemingly false starts, knowledge and recognition of the importance and potential impact is on the rise, with the private sector taking bold steps to making use of effective data collection and management techniques in order to meet their business objectives. The potential for impact across developing nations like Nigeria is clearly boundless, but it can only be attained if it is treated as a matter of priority across both the public and private sectors. The increasing demands from customers and citizens who are mostly mobile and connected, places demand on both private and public sectors. While it has not yet been diversified as extensively for public sector use due to the culture, absence of data privacy laws and the lack of skilled personnel, the continued use by private sector bodies will translate through public-private-partnerships, and eventually, through to government itself, once tangible results are recognised.

––Tewogbade is Managing Director of Bluechip Technologies

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ AUGUST 19, 2018

LETTERS

GIVING THE HEALTH SECTOR A BOOST

I

t is the duty of the government to make healthcare services available and affordable to those who truly need them. Denying citizens healthcare services to the point of abrogation is as good as denying them their right to life. Nigeria’s statistics for maternal mortality ratio, infant mortality ratio and life expectancy are very scary.

The pattern of financing healthcare in Nigeria will determine if and when Nigeria will attain universal health coverage.

The government must spend more on healthcare services. In line with the Abuja Declaration of 2001, the federal government is encouraged to allocate at least 15% of its annual budget to health. The annual appropriations to the Federal Ministry of Health in the 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 budgets are 5.63%, 5.78%, 4.13% and 4.17% respectively of the overall budgets. The total allocation of 356,450,966,085 to the Federal Ministry of Health in the 2018 budget is commendable but can also be improved upon.

If the Abuja Declaration benchmark of 15% can-

Prof. Adewole

not be met because of other competing needs, the federal government should allocate about 7.5% of its annual budget representing half of the Abuja Declaration benchmark to its commitment towards meeting acceptable health standards.

Upon attaining 7.5% budgetary allocation to healthcare, the fed-

eral government can then progressively increase the budgeted amount up until a time when we will be able to meet the benchmark of the 2001 Abuja Declaration.

Beyond increasing the budgetary allocation to healthcare, there is need to also ensure that the bulk of the allocation goes to capital expenditure. In the 2018 budget of the Federal

Ministry of Health, 24.26% of the allocation went to capital expenditure while 75.74% of the allocation went to recurrent expenditure. This has also been the trend in previous years.

Going forward, it will be in the best interest of the nation to increase the percentage allocation to capital expenditure.

In order to make more money available for the health sector, the National Health Insurance Scheme Act should be amended to make health insurance compulsory and universal.

New funding sources like a minimal surcharge on imports, a special sin tax on alcohol and tobacco, and minimal tariff on telecommunication services could be explored to fund healthcare services. The federal government should also consider the establishment of a Health Bank of Nigeria.

The Health Bank of Nigeria will provide long term loans at single digit interest rates to healthcare infrastructure, human resources and healthcare institutions. Regional and international development partners should be encouraged to support the man-

Why Some Customary Practices Are Illegal “As legal practitioners, you cannot close your eyes to the social, political and economic problems of our time. Therefore, you have a duty to help rescue our society from pervasive lawlessness, corruption and anti-social activities.’’

— Hon. Justice W.S.N. Onoghen

L

egal practitioners who shy away from condemning ridiculous cultural practices in our society, have not only betrayed their callings, but the entire existence of man. Hence, it would not be deemed out of place for budding legal practitioners like me to criticise some anachronistic customary practices in our society.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onoghen affirmed this, too, at the July 21, 2017 call-to-bar ceremonies while addressing the new wigs. It should be noted that customary practices like ‘Oro’ and ‘Agemo’ as prevalent in some Yoruba communities are not only repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience, but incompatible with the provisions of our laws, and against public policy.

Let it be known that these customary practices are very illegal and thus are alien to our jurisprudence. Though, Section 315(3),(4),(b) and (c) and section 265 and 280 gives special attention to customary law and makes provision for the establishment of the customary court of appeal for the Federal Capital Territory as must as of customary courts of appeal for

each states respectively.

Importantly, in law , it is settled that for a customary law to be deemed to be valid, it must pass through some validity tests, which customary practices like ‘Oro’ and ‘Agemo’ have failed. Hence, they cannot be rendered to be valid. The court has held in the celebrated case of Agbai V. Okagbue that the importance of these validity tests is to fine-tune customs so they might maintain relevance in our legal system.

Section 315 of the 1999 Constitution is the basis of these tests. The repugnancy test is the first test of validity. This test requires that any custom or customary law must not be repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience. Natural justice is obviously a test of fairness and fair hearing of a custom.

This is upheld by the grundnorm where Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution guarantees the fundamental right to fair hearing. In the popular case of Guri V. Hadejia Native Authority, it was exclusively held by the court that such Malik custom preventing fair hearing of a suspect accused of high way robbery was not fit to be classified as customary law as it was against natural justice.

It would be of golden benefit to note that natural justice upholds two key principles: 'audi alteram partem' which guarantees fair hearing and 'nemo judex in casua sua' which also prevents one from being the judge in a case of interest to him. See the landmark decision in the celebrated case of Garb & Ors. V. University of Maiduguri. Hence, for traditional

rulers to display fascist-like tendencies by decreeing that punishments will be meted out to those that have refused to follow their anachronistic, draconic and illegal orders is everything but an insult to our sacred laws. Let it be known! In the same vein, customary laws must not be against equity and good conscience. Equity in its totality is fairness, rightness, and justice.

Any custom must have the nature of equity while it must be born of good conscience, purpose and reason. See Inasa V. Oshodi. Another test is the incompatibility test. This test requires that any rule of customary law must not be incompatible with any existing provisions of the constitution nor any existing statute for the time being in force in such a community in Nigeria.

See Re: Effiong Okon Ata where the court held that the right to administer with the property of a slave was now incompatible with the Slavery Abolition Ordinance No. 35 of 1916. Pursuant to the above, it is crystal clear that this is where the traditional rulers have goofed. What a big time goof!

It is a common knowledge that during these ‘Oro’ and ‘Agemo’ festivals, the fundamentally guaranteed right to the freedom of the inhabitant of such communities are always restricted.

See Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution.

It should be a point of note that during ‘Oro’ and ‘Isemo’ festivals, females are mostly restricted to their homes as they are not allowed to move freely. This is not only an aberration of their rights to

freedom of movement, as expressed herein above, but also a gross infringement of their right to freedom from discrimination as provided in Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution and several international covenants and protocols like the Covenant on the Eradication of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), though not yet domesticated in our jurisdiction.

Notwithstanding, the proviso of the grundnorm still holds sway. No doubt, this prompted the decision of the court in Mojekwu V. Mojekwu where a customary law discriminatory against female children was held to be against Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution and not enforceable.

Lastly, as a matter of necessity, customs or customary law must pass the public policy test.

Public policy principally centres on the security and welfare of the people which is the primary purpose of the government as provided in Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution. This formed the line of decision in Okonkwo V. Okagbure.

In the final analysis, to predicate on the above expostulations of the law, it can be deduced that customary practices like ‘Oro’ and ‘Agemo’ as trodden in some Yoruba communities are not only repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience, but also mitigate the provisions of our laws and against public policy. Hence, they should be jettisoned. ‘ ––Yinka Oyesomi, Secretary-General, Legal Minds for Good Governance Initiative.

date of the Health Bank of Nigeria. The Central Bank of Nigeria should provide long term bailout funds for the health sector. In line with the provisions of the 2014 National Health Act, the recent decision of the federal government to allocate one per cent of the consolidated revenue fund amounting to 55.150 billion to basic healthcare provision fund is commendable.

However, all hands must be on deck to ensure that the appropriated 55.150 billion is fully released, cash-backed and judiciously utilised. Going forward, the dedicated amount of the consolidated revenue fund for basic healthcare should be domiciled in the statutory transfers of the annual budget rather than the service-wide votes of the annual budget where it is currently domiciled in the 2018 budget.

All ongoing efforts towards local vaccine production and sustainable immunisation financing should be strengthened.

Bi-annual funding for the procurement of vaccines should be encouraged in order to reduce delays due to procurement bottlenecks, partial releases, cash-backing and utilisation of funds. Ongoing efforts geared towards nationwide revitalisation of Primary Healthcare Centres must seek the support of state and local

government areas. Worthy of note is the fact that the federal government pays more attention on the construction of primary healthcare centres than it does on provision of resources for the daily administration and management of the primary healthcare centres. This implies that any effort of the federal government towards construction of primary healthcare centres that does not get the collaboration, commitment and support of the states and local governments will likely lead to fully constructed but non-operational primary healthcare centres.

What is the utility provided by a fully constructed primary healthcare centre that is under lock and key?

The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency should develop a smart tool for functionality assessment to determine the degree of funding each primary healthcare centre will receive.

Also, the National Assembly is encouraged to elevate primary healthcare to justiciable fundamental human rights as enshrined in chapter four of the 1999 constitution. This will go a long way to promote transparency and accountability in the sector ––Martins Eke, programme officer, Centre for Social Justice.

Olaosebikan, Youths And ‘OJO OLA OYO’

D

epicting preparedness and readiness to serve, one of the leading aspirants for the gubernatorial ticket of the ruling party in Oyo State, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Kehinde Olaosebikan hit the ground running recently with a clear message and target specific theme for his campaign for the exalted governorship seat of the Pace Setter State. In a modest ceremony, Olaosebikan launched Ojo Ola Oyo, the tomorrow (future) of Oyo State in what is now seen as a movement and rallying point for the youth and parents.

Captivating and a complete departure from the usual over used themes such as Transformation Agenda, Rescue Mission and panegyrics like Gba Fun Lagbaja, Omoluabi, Kobomoje, etc., Mr. Olaosebikan, a veteran journalist decides to make political theme convey messages of hope and appeal to all.

This thoughtful and well-articulated theme has got tongues wagging across the state owing to the simplicity yet message

driven force it bears.

Not just asking the youths to register and vote , Olaosebikan went beyond the ordinary of teaching the youth how to fish as we were used to, the selfless politician is encouraging the youths to partake in the building of the nation and the control of all the resources therein including the human, rivers, mines , forest.

Everyone “from 18 years and above,” Olaosebikan said should “participate in the development and politics of your area…be involved!”

This is surely equipping the youths for the responsibility of today and strengthening them for the challenges of tomorrow as they prepare for real leadership positions in future. With this the general docility and little political consciousness among the young Nigerians would soon be a thing of the past. A politician, they say, thinks of the next election while a good leader thinks of the next generation. Kehinde Isiaka Olaosebikan is truly a good leader.

–– Peter Osahon Oke, Orogun, Ibadan.

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ͯͷ˜ ͰͮͯͶ ˾ THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

INTERNATIONAL Canada-Saudi Arabia Diplomatic Feud: A Conflict of Sovereignty and Threat to Global Security

T

he disorderliness that often characterise the conduct and management of international relations is, more often than not, a resultant of what the French people have always called ‘ordre et contre ordre égalent désordre,’ that is, ‘order and counter-order amount to disorder.’ But true, if we espy the saying well, order and counterorder do not result directly into disorder. They first amount to an encounter or a situation of tension, which is described as a crisis situation in polemology. It is when this encounter or crisis is not well managed that it degenerates into conflict and disorderliness. Encounter, put differently, is the diplomatic stage which requires the prompt nipping in the bud and prevention of the situation of order and counter order from amounting to disorder.

More significant, the issuance of an order and the reactive counter-order, in the context of the diplomatic feud between Canada and Saudi Arabia, is also a direct emanation from the exercise of national sovereignty, which is generally considered an attribute of nationhood. All Member States of the international community are considered to be equal, at least, rhetorically.

They are considered to have sovereign equality, and this is how independence and sovereignty of decision-making processes has become a hallmark of inter-state relations.

The truth, however, is that this issue of equality is only valid as a principle and not in deed. It is only valid to the extent that a nation-state is able to defend it. In general diplomatic practice, there is nothing like equality in the face of power play. For instance, the introduction of veto power at the level of the United Nations Security Council and its limitation to some five countries (Britain, China, France, Russia, and United States) clearly points to inequality in design and purpose. Put differently, the mere fact that the Security Council comprises some Permanent Members and Non-Permanent Members is an illustration of the inequality in the exercise of sovereignty in international relations.

And perhaps more interestingly, in many financial institutions, the number of votes a Member State has in such institutions is determined by how much such a member is contributing in terms of assessed dues to the institutions. This is one reason why the 54-Member States of the African Union can conveniently make noise when debating, but all to no avail when it comes to voting and having majority at the level of their development partners. A good illustration of this point is evidenced by voting at the African Development Bank in which very few development partners have more financial contributions than the whole of African countries and, by so doing, do have more and casting votes.

Most interestingly, but also more disturbingly, it is the mania of exercise of the right of sovereignty that creates problems or pave way for peacemaking. It is within the context of this framework that the analysis and understanding of the current Canado-Saudi Arabia diplomatic imbroglio should be located.

Canada and Saudi Arabia are two different countries, both of which have tried to exercise their right of sovereignty for the purposes of self-preservation. In the imbroglio, Canada is trying to behave from the position of a more powerful sovereign who has to dictate the direction of the bilateral relationship.

On the contrary, Saudi Arabia is responding from the position of a contestant and another proponent of sovereign equality.

In other words, while Canada is acting as a superior sovereign state, Saudi Arabia is vehemently objecting to any consideration of being an inferior sovereign. The outcome is the diplomatic row in the relationship, with the potentiality of further generating new international economic crises, if not also aggravating the

PM of Canada, Justin Trudeau

VIE INTERNATIONALE with

Bola A. Akinterinwa Telephone : 0807-688-2846

e-mail: bolyttag@yahoo.com

misunderstanding between and among the states in the Middle East. In other words, Canada represents one civilisation which it is strenuously trying to promote, if not impose. Saudi Arabia is also trying to promote Islamic culture by force of necessity, but which is in conflict with what Canada is preaching. Canada, in general, enjoys the support of the Western countries when it comes to the politics of protection of democracy and human rights. In the same vein, Saudi Arabia has the active support of the Arabophone countries. This is the foundation of the problem. Its politics is another problem of its own.

The Problem and its Politics At the level of Saudi Arabia, the subjects of dispute are Samar Badawi, a female human rights activist and her brother, Raif Badawi, the dissident blogger, who was arrested and jailed in Saudi Arabia for ten years in 2014 for allegedly insulting Islam.

At the level of Canada, the problem is its foreign policy interest.

Canada’s foreign policy strategy is to use the detention of Samar Badawi to make a case for diplomatic protection within the framework of private international law, as the wife and children of Raif Badawi are Canadian citizens by naturalisation and are asking the Canadian government for protection in the face of alleged denial of justice and unfairness in Saudi Arabia.

Additionally, Canada’s foreign policy strategy is to underscore the promotion of democratic ethos and fundamental rights. The trending belief is that democracy is the best form of political governance, which promotes respect for freedom of thought, freedom of association and protection of fundamental human rights, regardless of colour, religion and ethnic bias. In this regard, it is the issue of Canada’s perceived non-protection of human rights by Saudi Arabia that is at the root of the current diplomatic row between Canada and Saudi Arabia.

Right from 2015, Canada has been showing concerns about perceived abuse of human rights in Saudi Arabia. In December 2015, Mr. Stéphane Dion, the then Foreign Minister of Canada raised the issue of abuse of fundamental human rights, especially the detainment of human rights activist, Raif Badawi, with his Saudi counterpart, Mr. Adel al-Jubeir. Besides, in 2016 following the execution of 47 civilians found guilty of engagement in terrorism, Mr. Stéphane Dion requested the Government of Saudi Arabia to respect due process, as well as follow standard international norms regarding human rights, especially in light of the need to prevent possible sectarian friction in the Middle East.

In fact, on Thursday, August 9, 2018 Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates jointly launched an airstrike targeting a bus carrying children through a market in Sa’ada Province in Yemen.

There were many casualties. As recorded by the International Committee of the Red Cross, 51 people have been killed, 40 of whom were children, and most of whom were under 13 years

PM of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

of age. Since the airstrike, Saudi Arabia has been variously criticised.

In defending the airstrike killing non-combatants and children, Saudi Arabia wrote to the United Nations, explicating that the airstrike was ‘a legitimate military action, ... targeting Houthi leaders responsible for recruiting and training young children, and then sending them to battle fields.’

As revealed by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, there have been more than 17,000 civilian casualties in Yemen since March 2015. 6,592 of them were fatal. What is particularly noteworthy about the airstrike is that majority of the casualties (10,500) were not only a resultant of the Saudi Arabia-United Arab Emirate-led airstrikes in Yemen, but most of the victims are civilians and children.

Again, if we espy the logic of the airstrikes, Saudi Arabia is considering that there is a good basis to enslave or endanger the Yemeni children. And true enough, encouraging kid soldiering is not internationally acceptable. Arming Yemeni children necessarily raises the extent to which the armed children should not be attacked, especially when looked at as terrorist children.

For Saudi Arabia, Yemen is a terrorist country and should be fought to standstill.

Canada looks at the issue differently, and has by so doing, become a self-appointed external policeman, with the responsibility of monitoring the respect or abuse of human rights in Saudi Arabia. It is therefore not surprising that Canada, again, raised the issue of imprisonment of Samar Badawi in early August, 2018. Canada not only criticised the arrest of women rights activists and other civil society activists in the Arab Kingdom, but also requested for their immediate release.

As stated on August 2 by the Foreign Minister of Canada, Mrs. Chrystia Freeland, Canada is ‘very alarmed to learn that Samar Badawi, Raif Badawi’s sister, has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia. Canada stands together with the Badawi family in this difficult time, and we continue to strongly call for the release of both Raif and Samar Badawi.’

More important, on August 3, the Foreign Minister added that Canada ‘is gravely concerned about additional arrests of civil society and women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia, including Samar Badawi.’ She urged the Saudi authorities ‘to immediately release them and all other peaceful human rights activities.’ And perhaps most importantly, Madame Freeland made it clear that ‘Canada will always stand up for human rights in Canada and around the world,’ in the strong belief that ‘women’s rights are human rights.’

True, women’s rights are human rights, but who has the right to protect the rights? Has Canada more rights than its allies which have kept silent on the matter? Without doubt, Canada is on record to have been one of the leading countries fighting against injustice the world over. Canada played an active role in the anti-Sani Abacha military oppression in Nigeria. Leading the international condemnation of the detention of Samar Badawi in Saudi Arabia only points to consistency in Canada’s foreign policy calculations.

However, the manner of going about the protection of human rights appears not to be compatible with diplomatic decency, especially from the perspective of dictatorial directive issued to a sovereign state like Saudi Arabia. For instance, Canada urged Saudi Arabia to release immediately the people under detention or in prison. The word ‘urged’ implies encouragement and, therefore not necessarily offensive and unfriendly. However, when giving a specific time within which to release the prisoners, ‘immediately,’ in this case, the encouragement becomes manu militari in design and therefore very unfriendly. This appears to be one major dynamic of the attitudinal response of Saudi Arabia to Canada’s request.

Saudi Arabia’s government first considered the request by Canada as ‘a major, unacceptable affront,’ a violation of the ‘kingdom’s sovereignty,’ as well as ‘a blatant interference in the Kingdom’s domestic affairs, against basic international norms and all international protocols.’ Apparently aggrieved, Saudi Arabia declared the Canadian ambassador to its country a persona non grata, directing him to leave the country within 24 hours following the issuance of the notice. Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Canada was also immediately recalled.

Third, the Saudi government banned new trade with Canada, suspended flights to Toronto, as well as educational exchange programmes. The Saudi government also stopped the sending of sick patients to Canadian hospitals while directing that those Saudi patients already in Canada should be relocated to another country. And most importantly, Saudi Arabia announced that it does not want any effort at mediation with Canada, not only arguing that there is nothing to mediate in the matter as ‘Canada made a big mistake and a mistake should be corrected,’ but also capitalised on the Arabic proverb that ‘he who interferes with what doesn’t concern him finds what doesn’t please him.’

By jettisoning any mediation in the misunderstanding, what does Saudi Arabia want to send out as signals? Can the Saudi position enhance the quest for global peace and security? Can any foreign country really mediate the misunderstanding beyond the level of Canado-Saudi Arabia bilateral ties? We doubt much for various reasons.

(See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ AUGUST 19, 2018

BUSINESS

Editor Kunle Aderinokun 08033204315, 08111813084 Email: kunle. aderinokun @thisdaylive.com

Marina Lagos

Fixed Income, Currency Turnover Tumbles 24% in July FX, TBills major drivers of FIC market at 74.26% Bamidele Famoofo An unprecedented disruption was recorded in the activities of the Fixed Income and Currency (FIC) market in the month of July as month-on-month turnover plunged about 24 per cent.

Turnover for the period ended July 31, 2018 as reported by FMDQ OTC Securities stood at N13.09trillion compared to N17.23trillion in June, representing a 23.99 percent or N4.13trillion month-on-month (MoM) decline.

Notwithstanding the sharp drop, activities in the market remained upbeat as 13.53 per cent (N1.56trillion) increase on year-on-year (YoY) basis was recorded in the review period.

Month on month, turnover largely declined across all segments of the FIC market, excluding the repurchase agreement/buy-backs market which recorded a 5.22 percent (N0.12trn) MoM increase in July.

Reacting to the situation in the market, a Lagos-based economist and former banker, Dr. Boniface Chizea, said, “If turnover drops to the extent of 23 per cent between the month of June and end of July, one month duration, the there is cause to worry.” What this translates to automatically is that effective demand has dropped substantially. Without knowing if this decline in turnover is due to reduced appetite in a particular area or whether it is due to decline in appetite in either intermediate or final products, this must only be due to sharp decline in purchasing power due to inflation or rising unemployment.

The treasury bills (T.bills) and foreign exchange (FX) segments remained the major drivers of turnover in the FIC market, jointly accounting

for 74.26 per cent of total turnover in July, although there were 5.09 percentage points (ppts) decline from their levels of contribution in June.

Total FX market turnover in July was $12.61billion, a 36.31 per cent ($7.19billion) decline from the turnover recorded in June ($19.80billion). Turnover at the Investors & Exporters (I&E) FX Window in July was $3.39billion, representing a 13.74 percent ($0.54billion) MoM decline from the value recorded in June ($3.93billion).

Despite the MoM decline in turnover at the I&E FX Window, its contribution to total FX market turnover increased from 19.85 per cent in June to 26.88 per cent in July, bringing the total year to date (YTD) turnover at the I&E FX Window to $33.67billion.

Analysis of FX turnover by trade type showed a similar MoM trend to the total FX Market turnover in July, with Member-CBN trades recording the highest MoM Percentage decline of 38.11 percent ($2.14billion), while Member-Clients trades recorded the highest MoM decline in value of $4.06billion from $11.21billion in June to $7.16billion in July.

Analysis of contribution to total FX turnover by trade type indicated Member-Client and Member-CBN trades remained the major drivers of turnover. However, the contribution of Member-CBN trades declined marginally by 0.76ppts to 27.52 percent, while the contribution of Inter-Member and Member-Client trades to total FX turnover increased marginally by 0.73ppts and 0.16ppts to 15.78 per cent and 56.78 per cent respectively.

In line with the MoM trend in the FX market, analysis by product type showed that turnover

in FX Spot and Derivatives declined MoM by 35.01 per cent ($4.25billion) and 41.85 percent ($2.78billion) respectively.

A review of activities in July showed that the 25th Naira-settled OTC FX Futures contract (NGUS JUL 25, 2018) with a total open contract size of $405.66million, matured and was settled on FMDQ, whilst a new 12-month open contract (NGUS JUL 24, 2019) for $1.00billion at $/ N363.58 was introduced by the CBN to replace the matured contracts.

In July, the USD/NGN rate in the parallel market appreciated by $/N2.00 to close the month at $/N360.00 (from $/N362.00 as at June 29, 2018), while the Naira depreciated at the I&E FX Window, losing $/N1.08 to close the month at $/N362.40 (from $/N361.22 as at June 29, 2018), resulting in the closing USD/ NGN rate at the parallel market being N2.40 lower than the USD/NGN rate at the I&E FX Window for the first time in 2018.

Similarly, the CBN Official Spot rate also depreciated in July, losing $/N0.15 to close at $/N305.90 (from $/N305.75 as at June 29, 2018 Fixed Income Market (T.bills and FGN6 bonds).

In July, the total turnover in the fixed income (FI) market was N6.16trillion, representing a 21.54per cent (N1.69trillion) MoM decline from the turnover reported in June. Turnover in the T.bills market recorded a MoM decline of 21.06 percent (N1.40trn) while turnover in the FGN Bonds market declined MoM by 24.28 percent (0.29trn.)

Total T.bills outstanding as at July 31, 2018, stood at N13.47tillion, representing a 2.13 percent (N0.29trn) MoM decline, driven by the continued redemption of T.bills in the month of July.

Conversely, total FGN Bonds outstanding increased marginally by 0.86 percent (N0.07trn) MoM to close at N7.90trillion evidencing the FGN’s continued stance to refinance some of its short-term obligations with longer term instruments.

Monthly Trading Intensity in the T.bills and FGN Bonds markets declined from 0.48 and 0.15 in June, to 0.39 and 0.11 in July respectively.

T.bills within the 3-6 months maturity bracket remained the most actively traded, accounting for 31.92 per cent of the total FI market turnover in July.

Weighted average yields across the short and long-term maturities on the sovereign yield curve both increased by 1.08ppts, 0.05ppts respectively, while the weighted average yield across the medium-term maturity declined by and 0.05ppts respectively. Yield spread between the 3-month T.bills and the 10-year FGN Bond increased by 193bps to close at a 3.25 percent in July.

Meanwhile, turnover recorded in the Unsecured Money Market (i.e. Repos/Buy-Backs) was N2.44trillion for July, representing a 5.22 per cent (N0.12trillion) MoM increase from the value recorded in June (N2.32trn) and a 94.62 per cent YoY increase on the turnover recorded in July 2017.

Besides the demand factor, Chizea said the sharp drop recorded in July could also be attributed to the instability arising from the killings in some states in the country as well as the forthcoming general elections.

“Also, the federal budget, which helps to boost demand as allocations are released is comatose as politics seems to have trumped economics,” he added.

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21

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ AUGUST 19, 2018

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Emefiele’s Policy Options for a Strong Economy The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, in moving the economy moving forward, has proposed what needs to be done and how the CBN is taking the lead.

In this report Nduka Nwosu reviews Emefiele’s policy options for a strong Nigerian economy Rebuild Infrastructure nvesting in basic infrastructure including roads, bridges, airports, railways, and information technology is not only good in terms of immediate job creation, it also acts as a catalyst to the movement of goods and services across the country.

Although Nigeria has relatively better infrastructure than many of its African peers, its core stock of infrastructure is estimated at about 25 percent of GDP. Given that most middle income countries of Nigeria’s size have core infrastructure of about 70 per cent of GDP, the African Development Bank estimates that the country has an infrastructurefunding gap of $300 billion.

I

Innovative Mechanisms and Ideas Obviously, Nigeria’s fiscal resources alone would be inadequate to finance this gap. Therefore, it is critical that it begins to consider innovative mechanisms and ideas to do so. For example, Nigeria needs to attract private capital into this space and explore opportunities for public private partnerships for opportunities in infrastructure projects that could offer lucrative returns to investors and help drive economic growth across the country.

Pursue Growth-enhancing Fiscal Policy More than ever before, it is now critical to concentrate its best efforts on ensuring that fiscal policy is targeted at improving productivity of labour, increasing disposable incomes for workers, and deploying resources to creating an enabling environment for investors. It needs to look at how fiscal policy can help household consumption and business investments. These two make up more than 85 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP by expenditure. It should also consider how to increase disposable income for households, cut red tape for businesses, create incentives for new investors, etc.

Pay Closer Attention to Agriculture and Agribusiness Whatever Nigeria does to jumpstart growth in the economy, it just cannot afford to ignore this sector at all. Agriculture remains the largest employer of labour in Nigeria and contributes about 24.2 percent of our GDP. In addition, a good share of the demand for FX today goes directly to importing agricultural produce. So the CBN has both a direct and indirect rationale to ensure that this sector is revived in a significant way. In this regard, many Nigerians are gratified that the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, together with other initiatives like the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme and NIRSAL, are proving to be successful in several states.

The bank has committed close to N23 billion in the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme with active participation across 14 states of the Federation.

In Kebbi State, over 78,000 smallholders are now cultivating about 100,000 hectares of rice farms.

It is expected that over one million metric tonnes of rice will be produced in that state alone this year. When considered against the backdrop that Nigeria consumes about 6.1 million tonnes annually and only produces 2.5 million metric tonnes, this will go a long way to make rice available on our tables. The CBN remains committed to do more in the identified crops such as rice, maize, sorghum, tomatoes, cassava, cocoa, cotton, dairy, and groundnut.

Following President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive, the minister of agriculture and rural development, the governor of Kebbi State, and I have been on an assessment tour of wet season rice output across the country.

Attract private sector investors in agriculture In addition to the actions of the CBN, we also have to consider attracting selected private sector leaders who will commit themselves to invest in

Emefiele

certain agricultural produce on a large scale while government may need to give some incentives to encourage them to invest. We also need to find ways to make land titling much easier especially for smallholder farmers.

This can immediately result in converting “dead” land assets of these farmers into valuable, tradable and exchangeable assets that will unlock the flow of finance to the rural agricultural economy that absorbs 60-70 percent of Nigeria’s population including largely the youth.

Explore Opportunities for More Revenue There are several ways we can raise additional revenue to finance the increased expenditure that is needed to engender fast and sustainable growth in the economy. I think we can consider introducing a negligible telecom surcharge to be entirely borne by the initiator of a call. In order to protect the poor and vulnerable amongst us, we could structure it to only take effect after the third minute of talk. Some analyses have indicated that the government could earn about N100 billion per annum from this alone. Obviously this surcharge will mainly be borne by middle and upper class people since I do not know many poor people who make calls for more than 3 minutes!

We could also consider introducing minimal property taxes across the country. This not only raises money for the government but also could be a veritable weapon against corruption since it creates a database of who really owns homes in this country.

Another option to consider would be to fully implement the 2003 Cabotage Act for increased revenue, job creation, capacity building, and significant backward integration.

Though the Act stipulates all cargoes and passengers in the inland and coastal waters be

transported by ships and ferries built, owned, crewed and manned by Nigerians of about 600 ships that operate within our waters, only about 60 of them are owned by Nigerians. Industry sources suggest Nigeria may be losing as much as N2 trillion annually from this anomaly Pursue Non-oil Exports Nigeria can benefit significantly from tapping into the market for certain goods, which are in high demand. For example, the demand for Halal meat and sesame across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries is huge. In fact, we have credible information that the Saudis may need up to 120,000 heads of frozen goat/sheep per week from Nigeria. Similarly, the demand for cashew nuts and shea nut butter across the world is rising.

Nigeria has comparative advantage in all these products and can quickly tap into the vacuum created from the sharp fall in supply of these products from their erstwhile major suppliers.

From these, we can earn foreign exchange to bolster our Reserves while also creating jobs and engendering broad based economic growth.

Pursue Import-reducing Policies If oil prices remain low, FX revenue inflows will remain low, with relatively low FX Reserves.

Therefore, we need to take bold and decisive actions at fundamentally changing the structure of our economy. Of course, Monetary Policy alone cannot achieve this but it must do its part.

The CBN believes it is high time we started looking inwards and stopped supporting the importation of items that we can produce locally using Nigeria’s hard earned Foreign Exchange. This implies that importers who may want to bring in such goods or services will have to source their Foreign Exchange outside banks or BDCs. It is important to remind everyone that the exchange rate is simply a price that is determined by the

forces of demand and supply. Having adjusted the currency in response to supply shortfalls, we believe that it is critical to ensure that the demand side bears some burden of the adjustment.

In this regard, I must hasten to add that while they may seem controversial, variants of this policy have proven to be highly effective in other climes and even here in Nigeria. For example, throughout the early days of South Korea’s economic renaissance, the government intermittently used excessively stiff tariffs, quantitative restrictions and prohibitive inland taxes to effectively ban many items with potential for high imports, and simultaneously, offered generous and subsidised loans to firms for export promotion causes.

In the case of Taiwan, the government applied a range of non-tariff barriers including the tying of import licenses to export performance, strict restrictions on which countries can bring in goods into Taiwan, and which companies can import them. It is therefore not a coincidence that both South Korea and Taiwan experienced the fastest growth and development surge in the history of capitalism between 1960 and 1990.

The U.S. prohibits imports of generic Canadian drugs that are way cheaper than but just as effective as those locally made. In the last Presidential election the major reason Donald Trump won is his consistent vow to protect American manufacturing and jobs against China and Mexico.

On 11th June 2011, taxi drivers across major European cities staged coordinated and highly disruptive demonstrations against the new, less costly, and more efficient American taxi company, Uber while Indian retailers have been waging a war against their government’s proposal to open up the retail sector to more efficient global players like WalMart.

And here at home, variants of this policy were used to achieve significant sufficiency in cement, a product whose importation could have been costing us over US$3.2 billion in FX Reserves annually. In effect, therefore, this policy needs to be supported not just in response to the pressure on the Naira but as an opportunity to change the economy’s structure, resuscitate local manufacturing, and expand job creation for our citizens.

Implications for a Changing World These two events and the trends of public discourse raging in France and Germany are bound to change or alter trade policies and international economic cooperation between the countries and the world at large.

Two very key issues in the British referendumBREXIT and the USA elections were Immigration and Economy in particular free trade, both affecting trends of public discourse raging in France and Germany.

The outcome of the referendum and elections centered on the desire of the citizens to take back their sovereignty, which they believe had been concessioned away by their past leaders. As for the USA election, the President elect promised to be tough on immigration and to protect US industries to ensure that US jobs are no longer exported to other countries; while , for those industries that had left the US, they would be given incentives and encouraged to return the industries back to the US. Also the former Chair of the US FED had signaled that interest rate hike would come sooner than later on the back of a strong US economic report.

These two countries have no doubt set a tone which may be followed by other countries. The main issue for us as a country is to examine the implications of these actions on not only Free trade and dumping in Emerging and Frontier markets but also on the entire world order. For Nigeria, the question is how prepared are we to shield our teaming masses and our country to manage the ultimate fallout.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ AUGUST 19, 2018

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Buhari

Oniha

Adeosun

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly of Nigeria’s Debt Nigeria’s debt portfolio has recorded a progressive growth at least in the last six years. As at June 2018, the figure has risen to N22.4trillion or about $73.2billion. Though government financial managers have argued that the rate of increase still remains within a manageable limit, financial experts and the World Bank have disagreed, warning that the country was headed for a disaster. Bamidele Famoofo reports.

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igeria’s debt servicing problems began around 1985, when the Nigerian government’s total external debt to all creditors amounted to $19 billion.

The government at that time was able to pay creditors more than $35 billion even though it borrowed less than $15 billion. Nevertheless, its outstanding external debt at the end of 2004 grew to almost $36 billion.

Intense domestic pressure then convinced the then President Olusegun Obasanjo to seek a deal that would eliminate the country’s $31 billion of debt owed to the governments of the U.K., France, and other aid-giving countries that use the Paris Club process to restructure debt that countries cannot repay.

The Paris Club creditors proposed an unprecedented operation—it’s first-ever buyback at a discount—that would cancel all of Nigeria’s debt to them in exchange for a cash payment of roughly $12 billion.

Despite sharp criticisms that greeted the deal, it sailed through, and Nigeria was able to heave a big sigh of relief from its heavy debt burden.

Present It would not appear that Nigeria has been able to learn any meaningful lesson from its deliverance from the yoke of debt some 13 years ago, as it has further gone neck- deep into borrowing to run the economy, which has many sources of revenue leakages.

According to the Debt Management Office (DMO), the country’s debt stock as at June 30, 2018 stands at about N22.4 trillion, or $73.2 billion. It represents a progressive increase from $62billion recorded in fiscal year 2014.

The debt portfolio rose 30 per cent to $62 billion in 2014, up from $47.6 billion as at September 2013.

According to DMO Director General, Patience Oniha, the current debt stock consists of domestic and external debt stocks of the federal government, 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Oniha noted that the current debt stock decreased by 1.44 per cent from N22.71 trillion in March 2018 to N22.4 trillion. The decrease, she explained, was due to a 3.38 per cent decline in the federal government debt stock between March and June, 2018 and 2.75 per cent in the domestic debt of states.

“The federal government’s domestic debt declined from N12.59 trillion in December 2017 to N12.58 trillion in March 2017 and N12.15 trillion in June 2018, she said.

Oniha attributed the reduction to the redemption of N198 billion Nigerian treasury bills in December 2017 and another N639 billion between January and June 2018.

Future To be able to finance the 2018 budget deficit, Oniha said the government would borrow N1.643 trillion. Already, the federal government has sourced about N410 billion funding from the domestic financial market to finance the 2018 capital budget, the DMO disclosed recently.

According to DMO, about $3 billion was raised through Eurobond to refinance maturing domestic debts as part of the debt management strategy to replace high-cost domestic debt with lower external debt.

Oniha, disclosed this in Abuja while presenting the update on the country’s public debt as at June 30, 2018.

Debate Oniha has dismissed insinuations that the huge borrowing by the government between 2015 and mid-2018 was excessive, saying: “All government borrowings follow rigorous

interrogation by the legislature before passing the requisite Appropriation Act to support the borrowing implemented by the DMO. “If the government did not borrow so much in the last three years, it would not have been able to function as a government.

“The huge borrowing became necessary, following the fall in revenue as a result of the fall in the price of crude and the attendant devaluation of the Naira from the use of the external reserve to defend the National currency,” she argued.

The DMO boss noted that the implementation of the Public Debt Management Strategy which overall objective “is to ensure that Nigeria’s debt is sustainable, is already yielding positive results.”

Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, sometime in April at the 2018 IMF and World Bank meetings in Washington DC, said the country’s public debt level was under control and sustainable. This was in spite of the warning by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that debt levels in African economies were on the increase.

Adeosun said she owed no one an apology because the country had to borrow to exit economic hardship on its citizens.

But Nigeria’s Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts have aired a dissenting voice against the claims of government, insisting that Nigeria needs to lower its debt profile in order to make financial resources available for priority projects.

Chairman of the committee, Shehu Sani, who made the call a few months back during a courtesy call to the office of the Vice President, said the country’s borrowing which was heightened during the period of recession, needed to be cut. Though Sani agreed that borrowing during the recession to invest in infrastructure, agriculture, mining among others, with multiplier implication

of increasing employment and reflating the economy was justifiable, he said it was high time government curbed it.

The lawmaker harped on the need to make conscious effort at reducing the debt ratio, saying, “There is a clear need to lower this ratio in order to make financial resources available for priority projects, for the benefit of Nigerians.”

Analysis Nigeria’s domestic and external debt ratio as at June 30, 2018 stood at 70:30 compared to 73:27 in December 2017. Similarly, the ratio between long-term domestic debt to short-term domestic debt was 76:24 in June 2018 compared to 72:28 in December 2017.

The DMO said this resulted in lower interest rates for the benchmark FGN securities from about 18.5 per cent in January 2017 to 11-14 per cent in the first half of 2018.

Also, with the redemption of about N840billion of Nigerian treasury bills more funds were available for lending by banks to the private sector. External capital raising activities also contributed to the increase in external reserves.

On the state governments’ indebtedness and their capacities to pay back, the DMO DG said by law they were not allowed to borrow more than 40 per cent of their internally generated revenue (IGR) to allow for the remaining 60 to be used to run their states. Some of the beneficial outcomes, DMO stated, included the rebalancing of the country’s debt stock; reduction of the domestic to external debt ratio from the 60:40 target to 75:25 between long term and short term domestic debt.

Adeosun has however given the assurance that the government would keep monitoring and analysing Nigeria’s debt levels at every stage so that the country doesn’t fall into the trap that most African states had fallen into.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ AUGUST 12, 2018

BUSINESS/MONEY

Stanbic IBTC and its Financial Supermarket Proposition Stanbic IBTC’s new television commercial is a study in creativity and directness. In this piece, Raheem Akingbolu examines the TVC, highlighting the key aspects and messaging and how they stack up against Stanbic IBTC’s brand essence and value proposition

T

he new television commercial (TVC) from Stanbic IBTC is a compelling watch. It has the hallmark of a great TVC: short, roughly 30 seconds; it is visually artistic; it is simple yet profound; and the creative use of allegory is outstanding.

The talking head, single scene format employed by the commercial is particularly effective for ease of appreciation as there are no ambiguities in presentation and messaging. This, no doubt, is very useful for brand positioning and image projection.

The TVC catalogues a series of faces representing society’s broad socio-economic spectrum: from the young to the old, male and female, student and worker; the well-heeled and the upwardly mobile and to the retired. There is a smart play on the inherent features that define the heroes of the commercial using the direct second-person personal pronoun ‘You’ as a technique to underscore these features. As the faces scroll by, we hear a voice reeling out their unique qualities: ‘you are beautiful’; ‘you are extraordinary’; ‘you are talented’; ‘you are dauntless’; ‘you are iconic’; ‘you are intelligent’; ‘you are strong’; ‘you are determined’; etc. And then the bold promise by Stanbic IBTC: Whoever.

Wherever. Whenever, we are here to enable you to be you.

By projecting the faces that are representative of the different demographics in the society, Stanbic IBTC’s message in the TVC is simple: we are a financial institution that proffers financial solutions to everybody, irrespective of the stage of or position in life you are. Again, this is Stanbic IBTC reiterating the fact that it is a total solutions organisation not an elitist company as sometimes erroneously perceived by some Nigerians.

Perhaps, with this latest TVC, the elitist perception should be forever dispelled. The last two TVC’s had similarly addressed this fact.

For instance, the most enduring element of the previous TVC was the scene where commuters tried to get the engine of a Volkswagen ‘faragon’ commercial bus painted in the yellow and black stripes of Lagos commercial buses, popularly called Danfo, to start by pushing the bus. The Danfo is the commercial vehicle of choice for the masses in Lagos state and indeed in many other parts of Nigeria. The use of Danfo is symbolic of the mainstream, associated with most people, and recognised by all.

Another very significant element in the previous TVC that captured the imagination was the girl hawking her wares close to the Danfo, impervious to associated risks. Hawking in motor parks and on the streets is a common sight in many parts of the country. The Danfo and the hawker were brilliant shots that spoke to the mainstream and signified the growing accessibility of the brand by many more people, even in socio-economic demographics that are several steps below the top-end of the market.

In similar fashion, the latest TVC ingeniously exploited the traits Nigerians are known for such as determination, strength, intelligence, hard work, self-belief, pragmatism, etc, and smartly tie them in with Stanbic IBTC’s enduring brand essence, which speaks to reliability, competence, expertise across the financial services spectrum, professionalism, stability, innovation, quality service, financial strength, excellent management, and ethical practices.

The new TVC is simply Stanbic IBTC’s latest pitch to Nigerians that it is an end-to-end financial institution that has different services and solutions that match their different needs at different life stages. And that it would go

Port Harcourt Refinery

to great lengths to ensure they actualise their dreams and achieve success. The promise is this: “You can be rest assured that from your first day in school till you want to pass on your wealth to your loved ones, Stanbic IBTC is able to and will always have your back and enables you to thrive.”

To address the question of an upper class image as a mitigating factor against customer acquisition, Stanbic IBTC continues to show through its product lines, branch network and other touchpoints that it is an enabler of people, businesses, the economy and it is more than just a bank. And as far as its banking proposition goes, it has demonstrated a strong play in retail banking; many of its branches are situated within or around markets, close to the masses. Some of its products are targeted at the retail end of the market. For instance, the Personal Asset Acquisition Scheme loan and the SME Quick Loan, which are unsecured facilities, have made it possible for people who ordinarily would not access financing to get credit facilities. Its payment cards and mobile banking offerings are available for all classes of customers. The financial institution says it continues to strengthen its brand image and let people know and understand that there is more to Stanbic IBTC than just pensions and investment banking, and that it is a universal financial services institution.

With solutions that cover the entire spectrum of financial intermediation, the new TVC addresses its target audience. Stanbic IBTC’s pension arm is the leading pension fund administrator in the country, with over 1.6 million customers and asset under management in excess of N2.5 trillion, a major milestone under the contributory pension scheme; its corporate and investment banking unit is regarded as the leading investment bank in the country. It recently midwifed the issuance of a N50 billion commercial paper by Dangote

Cement, the largest such issuance by a Nigerian business. To underscore its leadership, the bank won the prestigious Euromoney Awards as the Best Investment Bank in Nigeria in 2018.

Added to this is the phenomenal growth in its footprint across the country. From just a handful of branches about seven years ago, Stanbic IBTC has a branch network of over 177 currently, ATM points of close to 600 and POS deployment in their hundreds, making its services and products available to Nigerians, well beyond the commercial city centres.

Perhaps the most significant element in the TVC is the reiteration of the assurance that Stanbic IBTC is a partner in progress. One that understands who you are, can reach you where you are and is available to provide bespoke solutions any time you need such. The heroes of the commercial were all beaming with smiles, with their faces exuding satisfaction and contentment. Again, this is a clever allusion to how Stanbic IBTC makes you feel by giving you a chance to prosper.

Another aspect of the TVC that speaks to what Stanbic IBTC embodies is the use of the images of the elderly people, who are ageing gracefully and in comfort. The allusion to age is a metaphor for experience, resilience, stability and competence, which aptly describe Stanbic IBTC. The institution is a member of the 155-year-old Standard Bank Group of South Africa, the largest financial institution in Africa with operations in over 20 African countries. So, Stanbic IBTC is not only able to draw on this unique pedigree to provide sterling services, it also, through the link, is able to provide its clients access to markets across Africa and beyond. The young and youthful faces in the commercial speak to the brand’s nimbleness and innovativeness while the elderly faces address stability and experience.

Without a suite of solutions to meet the needs

of people in different socio-economic brackets (market women, artisans, farmers, petty traders, etc), the whoever, wherever, whenever promise and the overall messaging in the TVC would have been implausible. However, Stanbic IBTC has a bouquet of solutions for everyone. The financial institution says its mobile money service is the first step towards bringing people in the informal sector into the formal financial services system. The service, with its low entry requirements and minimal documentation, unlike the documentation required for opening a regular bank account, will readily appeal to these sets of people. They, in any case, already own mobile phones, the fundamental requirement for opening and operating a mobile money account.

Stanbic IBTC’s well-regarded pension, investment and advisory services, positioned to meet the needs of a highly aspirational group of people (Nigerians are known to be quite ambitious) in the different socio-economic brackets, will appeal to the people represented in the TVC. According to Stanbic IBTC, “Our model is based on a financial inclusive strategy. We are keen on targeting clients across the societal spectrum.

Our aspiration is to bank everyone across the socio-economic spectrum, all demography and target groups without any exclusion.”

Overall, it is a well-produced commercial, encompassing some of the distinctions that define Nigerians and which help situate the Stanbic IBTC brand as youthful yet experienced, innovative yet stable, knowledgeable yet willing to understand clients’ needs, and a provider of bespoke solutions without compromising quality.

The commercial reinforces the Stanbic IBTC message as a one-stop, all-inclusive financial services partner that helps individuals and businesses to grow from vision to reality and to further success. This is all encapsulated in its famous tagline – Moving Forward.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ AUGUST 19, 2018

BUSINESS/WOMEN IN THE MEDIA

Yinka Ogunde: How to Change the Nigerian Narrative, Re-orientate Our Values Armed with first degree in English Language from the University of Lagos, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde, the Chief Executive Officer of Goals and Ideas, an advertising firm, had one ambition: to become a leading voice in the nation’s broadcasting industry. Her joy knew no bounds when National Youth Service Corps posted her to the Nigerian Television Authority for the one-year compulsory service. On completion of the programme, she was employed by the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS). But she did not stay long at BCOS before fate played a fast game on her and she found herself in the world of advertising.

Currently the chairperson of Women in advertising, Ogunde believes Nigeria’s potential can be explored by changing the country’s narrative and re-orientating the citizens, writes Raheem Akingbolu, who had an interview with her

W

ith a degree in English, good voice and beautiful face, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde would have been a delight on the television screen. Of course that was her ambition before fate brought her into Advertising.

According to the creative Amazon, her journey to advertising was both by accident and choice.

“I think a combination of both; initially, I loved the idea of broadcasting. I found myself in the newsroom as a cub reporter during my NYSC days. I remember the joy I felt when I got my first report on TV; it was awesome. But I finally settled into the world of advertising because my uncle, Segun Adegbiji, was in the agency business and he told me to choose from the three leading agencies then; Promoserve, Eminent or Partnership. My first port of call was Promoserve and I got the job. I was employed as a trainee client service executive. After getting in, I fell in love with the business, the creativity, the pitches, the low moments, the delighted clients and the not-so-happy clients. So, it is a bit by accident and then by choice,” Ogunde said.

Coming from a family of professionals – a father who worked in the civil service and a mother who worked as a teacher – young Ogunde had no choice but to be committed to her education early and be disciplined.

“My background influenced me greatly. My father, who was then in the civil service, was one of the early University of Ibadan graduates in Linguistics and Classics and my mum was a teacher. I attended our Lady of Apostles for my O’ levels and Methodist Girls High School Yaba for my A’ levels. I proceeded to the University of Lagos for my first degree in English and I came back for my master’s in Mass Communication. I began my career in broadcasting as a reporter with BCOS after my youth service with NTA. “From broadcasting I moved into the world of advertising. The first agency I worked with was Promoserve and the organisation was led by Allan Olabode though founded by Prince Kehinde Adeosun (one of the founding fathers of advertising). While in Promoserve, I worked on several multinational accounts before moving to Magnum Gold and subsequently setting up Goals and Ideas,” she narrated.

Ogunde is one of those few people around who don’t believe everybody must be in sciences to excel. She does not think that law, accounting and medicine are superior to mass communication in rating in those days and that most students wanted to study any of the three professional courses at all cost.

“Mass communication was not too far behind in those days. In fact, accounting was not for me. I never passed Mathematics after Form 2 and clearly Science was not for me too. Maybe I could have gone in for law but I guess I would have eventually ended up creating programmes for the sector rather than going into litigation or corporate practice,” Ogunde added.

Considering the demands in the creative industry, she also believes it is a male-dominated industry but she never allows that to deter her, rather she excels by creating a special niche for herself.

Ogunde

“Yes, it is a male-dominated industry that is why it is important to choose how you want to practise within the business. For me, it was clear: I want to do things that would impact lives. I want to use my skill to drive change. Those were key things for me and I try not to lose sight of that. You will recall in the early days of Goals and Ideas, one of the programmes we created was ‘Stepping into the marketing communication industry’, a one-day free training programme for fresh graduates. A lot of young men and women found their way into the business of advertising through this.

“We did not have much but we were supported by media houses, my clients and friends. At that time, it was something new and fresh. It helped to define my person and the impact I desired to make in the business. It was not a case of being male or female. The demand of the business makes it a tough one for females undoubtedly. I remember I had to stop working when my daughter had a domestic accident while I was at Promoserve and we had to be in the hospital for a month. The conditions are different now. Technology is redefining the way we live and do business. There are more opportunities even for the female who choose to work from home. Think through and choose your path,” she explained.

Decades after going into the business, Ogunde said it has been an interesting journey. She stated that the journey has taken her through various agencies and taken her into social entrepreneurship.

“It has seen me drive various projects targeted towards driving reforms in our nation. My background in marketing communications has equipped me to be able to initiate and drive many projects successfully. We have worked with governments, parastatals and the private sector,” the Goals and Ideas CEO said.

According to her, the journey has helped her firm to create many projects, including, ‘We Are The Future of our Nation (WATFON), a programme that said to have impacted thousands of young Nigerians in the last 13 years and Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition (TOSSE) which has existed for 10 years.

But unlike most people, Ogunde did not go far to identify her role model. To her, her mother, Mrs. Mrs. Elizabeth Modupe Adetunji, fits in perfectly to what a role model should be.

“I learn from everyday people. I study them and I read books. I pick qualities I love and admire various women. I would not wish to mention names but my mom, Mrs. Elizabeth Modupe Adetunji, is simply amazing. She single-handedly raised four graduates from

a teacher’s salary,” she said.

As a mother and wife, she disclosed that she had to stop working for a while because her children were young but got back her groove when they were of age. Today, she no longer does school runs and so things are much easier now that they all have their own lives.

She is married to Oluwemimo Ogunde, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria – son of foremost Nigerian actor and playwright, Hubert Ogunde.

The husband, who is the principal counsel of The Latter House Chambers, was a former attorney general and commissioner for justice in Ogun State. Their paths crossed at a literary and debating event when Ogunde was just a teenager and subsequently when she finished secondary school.

On whether her husband is comfortable seeing her mingling with prominent people as she discharges her duties as an advertising practitioner, Ogunde said there has not been any problem with that because of confidence, trust, and faith they have in each other and the fact that they have been together since their teenage years.

At what time did it occur to her to start her own agency? Ogunde paused and smiled before giving her an answer. She went on to state that while at Magnum Gold, she knew she wanted to run her own business. Her first impression was that doing so would allow her to have more time for the home front but she was soon to be proved wrong.

“Forget it, the journey of an entrepreneur; it takes all of you. If you are not careful,” she said.

Speaking on her company’s staying power in the industry, Ogunde said what has kept the firm going through the ability to initiate and create.

“As an entrepreneur, you must be a reader – a reader of trends, of opportunities, of people, and of yourself. It is important you read the people where are they, what are they doing, and what is occupying their time. For example, we saw the importance of the social media and knew we had to look for ways of engaging the kind of people we want. We don’t hesitate; we move ahead. You must also be ready to respond to change; you must embrace it. The sector is so dynamic and lively. Don’t close your mind.

Love it; embrace new things even if it appears odd and crazy. Learn about it and find out how it can work for your client,” she advised.

Asked if she is planning to retire anytime soon, she replied: “I have too many projects lined up to think of. You know I recently got certified as a trainer, coach, speaker with the John Maxwell Team. I am now an executive director with the John Maxwell Team and it is opening up for me another world entirely. With my skills as a marketing communication professional and with other colleagues we are unveiling very soon various programmes designed to re-orientate citizens of our beloved nation, Nigeria.

“Project Nigeria is on my mind and I intend to be at the forefront in transforming Nigeria at various levels. It is about vision; it is about passion.

It is about the desire to give people a better life. I don’t think retirement is on the radar at all, though I love the sound – speaks of serenity, beach side, travels and other interesting places.”

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ AUGUST 19, 2018

THE EXECUTIVE

Obaro o

ETOP UKUTT

JOHN OBARO

TSA is an Opportunity to Showcase Indigenous Technology to the World Although FinTech is a financial technology that supports banking and financial services, it has been preconceived as a disruptive technology. In Nigeria as well as other countries, there are fears that the initiative may take over the role played by the banking institutions. In this interview with Kunle Aderinokun, Managing Director of SystemSpecs Ltd, Mr. John Obaro, dispels the perception. SystemSpecs is Nigeria’s leading fintech firm and owners of Remita, a payment software, which currently serves corporate organisations across the country and the Treasury Single Account. Obaro opens up on the process that led to its selection as theTSA operator and once again clears the controversy surrounding its transaction fee. Obaro also speaks on how SystemSpecs, which he founded over 26 years ago has continued to change the landscape of financial technology in the country while highlighting the company’s extensive social investments in education and health. Excerpts:

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ AUGUST 19,2018

THE EXECUTIVE

Nigeria Has All it Takes to be FinTech Capital of the World

Cont’d from Pg. 25

F

inTech companies are always

perceived as threats to banks.

From experience, what are the challenges SystemSpecs has encountered in cooperating with mainstream financial institutions?

In the first place, it is not quite right that FinTechs are a direct threat to banks. They are a threat to traditional banks that choose to remain conservative.

Forward-looking banks will be excited about the possibilities of FinTechs. They will look at how to maximise partnerships with technology companies.

In Nigeria, not all the banks are on the same level of cooperation with the FinTech industry. Some banks recognise that they stand to gain more by embracing FinTech, but some are still a bit confused and will need to be further informed to be part of the future of banking. FinTechs are only firms that have been able to use their resources to re-engineer some of the processes in traditional banking. FinTechs cannot go alone, they need banks and that is where the partnership comes in. So, the confident banks recognise the need for this kind of partnership and the win-win model comes in. For instance, SystemSpecs came up with a solution for clients to see and oprated their accounts across multiple banks on a single screen. Initially some banks were scared but the truth is, the focus should not be on the banks, it should be on the customers. What do your customers want? A typical customer has account in multiple banks for various reasons. If you want to have an idea of what is going on, while Bank A may then think giving that solution to their customer is a threat to their own business, Bank B recognises that the way to hold customers is to give them what they want because after a while these customers will begin to shift their businesses to banks that put their own priority first and not banks that are trying to lock them down by any means.

SystemSpecs started over 26 years ago, how have you been able to remain relevant in the industry despite the proliferation of start-ups?

The interesting thing about software development is that you have to be innovative. Things change a lot. So yes, we started out twenty-six years ago and better still, I left school 39 years ago. At first, we did accounting with a foreign firm, then we did payroll and human resource management by ourselves indigenously and those were very successful. About twelve years ago when the PENCOM Act was enacted, we saw that those processing payrolls will need to prepare schedules for different PFAs (Pension Fund Administrators). That was when we conceived Remita. We found a way to move salaries from the employers’ bank accounts to the employees’ bank accounts, irrespective of where they are.

At the same time, we started thinking of how we could deliver schedules to PFAs and PFCs as well as pay tax. That was how we started the first version of Remita. I will probably call it Remita 001. It was well received, I remember we launched the product then with Late Fatai Rolling Dollar, we just wanted to use him to represent pensioners.

After we had conquered the payroll payment space, we went for a presentation at a multinational firm and the expatriate finance director made an observation: “This is a very good product, it will help me to meet salary payments, but I have a lot of other payments. Do you mean that I will continue to do those payments manually? It is going to create confusion to have some processes automated, some manual.” That day, we lost the deal but went back to the drawing board; we started brainstorming on how to include vendor payments. That was how we created a solution that will not only do bulk payments for salaries, but also do single payments for vendors. That solution laid the foundation for our involvement in the implementation of Nigeria’s Treasury Single Account, TSA.

What are the challenges SystemSpecs encountered in executing the TSA? Well, we have had challenges and we have had fun. Overall, I will say it has been good getting to know a lot of things. The biggest challenge was that we probably came ahead of our time.

As at the time we implemented the Treasury Single Account, not many people understood what it was about, so we became a victim of the backlash of that development. Initially, a lot of negative emotion was whipped up because people were not willing to listen or understand the value that Remita was bringing to the table.

Obaro

There was a bit of controversy about our charge too. Remita, banks and the Central Bank of Nigeria share 1per cent transaction fee, which is actually a non-issue in the overall scheme of things both in terms of international pricing or even in terms of local pricing. Most PoS payments in Nigeria are 1.5per cent, only recently was it reduced by CBN but generally it is 1.5per cent and outside the country you will get rates above 3per cent. At 1per cent, it was an excellent deal for government but because many people didn’t understand what we were getting, there was an uproar. It was further compounded by the fact that many people see SystemSpecs as apolitical and that if you’re going to play in that terrain you need strong political presence. But we felt no, there is a place for politics and there is a place for professionalism.

Now, more people now understand what TSA has done for the economy and we remain proud that an indigenous company is behind this. Just before we came in, the previous government had decided to delay TSA for at least another two years because they believed that there was no technology that could support it. We showed that it could be done, it was quite some rigorous process to reassure the CBN and foreign consultants that we could handle the project. We feel very proud and happy that we were able to pull it through.

You said that the government planned on delaying the TSA for another two years, were you involved at the initial stage?

They had planned to delay it for another two years because they had concluded that there was no technology before they became aware of Remita.

Incidentally, CBN came in for their inspection of electronic platforms in Nigeria and that was when they saw what we were doing. Thereafter, we were invited to Abuja to make our presentation and we got the TSA project.

TSA actually started under the previous administration and we managed the project from the beginning, but it was of a smaller scale.

The payments were less, just about 200 MDAs were on the TSA then for out-payments. The collection side was still on the pilot. This current administration was the one that gave life to whole process when the President adopted it as a full policy of the government and directed that all MDAs should come onboard.

Before TSA, has SystemSpecs ever worked with the government?

Yes, we had worked with some state gov-

ernments. We had worked with the Federal government through the World Bank on IPPIS, Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System. SystemSpecs did the pilot for the TSA with seven MDAs, later leading to thirteen MDAs. It was a World Bank bid, we competed with 14 other firms, mainly international software providers and we were selected. If you read former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s book on his presidential years, he commended SystemSpecs. He was proud that the company that brought IPPIS that successful bond was a Nigerian company, SystemSpecs.

So yes, we have worked with the government.

Remita is often confused as a product owned by the federal government, can you please clarify this by explaining the role you play in your business with the government?

Remita is a software that allows you to move money from point A to point B. We also deliver payment schedules to match payments where necessary. We started out actually supporting corporates, our focus was more on the corporate world. Yes, when the federal government opportunity came, it was a big one, but that is not where we started. In fact, it came about because we had succeeded in the corporate world.

So, we had a number of oil companies, many multinationals and some indigenous companies that were already using Remita. That was part of what gave assurance to the government to bring us on board. It is a big project and we are grateful for that opportunity, but that is not where we started. It is certainly not our last bus stop. After stabilising TSA now, our next port of call is actually going to be SMEs and MSMEs. In the next few days, we are doing a launch for that focus because it is the same concept that you are using to run TSA that a typical business should use to run itself. You want to be able to have a single view of your operations. Many corporates have accounts across multiple banks.

You need a dashboard to be able to see what you are doing and what is happening there. So that is part of what we will bring to the table. It is also for individuals to be able to keep track of their finances. Pay your bills, we have a number of dealers on the platform. You pay your bills, make transfers, create standing orders, view your balances, all on the single platform.

SystemSpecs is now mostly famous for Remita, what led to the development of Remita?

We had a human resource application focused on payroll. We were running payroll for quite a number of organizations and at the end of the month, we will prepare bank reports to be attached to a schedule to take to each bank. With changes in technology, it got to a point where we could deliver the schedules on CD, in those days. It was an interesting innovation at that point that you would write schedules on CDs and these organisations could take the CDs to the banks.

Interswitch came in along the line and we felt instead of taking CDs to the banks we might as well electronically transmit data through Interswitch to the banks. Our very first customer on Remita was Interswitch. We were able to transmit data to the bank but unfortunately, at that point in time, Interswitch itself was also settling down and had some challenges with bulk payments. We thought, we might as well write our routines to take care of bulk payments. That was how we applied to CBN for our own license and we started bulk payments. After we perfected bulk payments we moved on to single payments, which is the one for vendors. In summary, we started from payroll, to transmission to the banks, to bulk payments and then single payments and today we are a full blown FinTech organisation.

Apart from Remita, what are the other products SystemSpecs offer and what problems dothey solve?

Incidentally, part of the challenge we have had is that we started from Human Manager, talking of our own indigenous products, but Remita itself now has an inbuilt payroll and HR which is supposed to be a lot easier for organisations especially SMEs and Micro SMEs to implement by themselves. So, within Remita, we have a payment module, a collection module, a payroll, and a HR module. We have also moved into the loans market. We are working in partnership with loan providers to provide a platform for them to give loans to our clients. For instance, quite a number of organisations pay their salaries through our platforms we are able to work with banks and other loan providers to give loan to them while we assist in the repayment process.

That way everybody is happy. Our customers are able to get easy access to loans, banks are better assured of repayments and therefore the interest rates can be lower because the default rate would be lower. We are bringing lenders and borrowers together in a secured platform to create a win-win for all parties.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ AUGUST 19,2018

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THE EXECUTIVE

FinTechs are No Threats to Banks This means that SystemSpecs is like a party to recovery of loans?

The Remita Corporate Champions Cup is in its fourth season, what values are you promoting by sponsoring the annual tournament?

Yes, and it is a very simple thing. If somebody earns maybe a hundred thousand naira monthly, we’ve seen the pattern, we have the data and we have his history over the last one year. Therefore, the bank can feel comfortable to lend maybe twenty thousand or thirty thousand to such a person, knowing fully well that the chances of default are very minimal.

It promotes two things, work-life balance and networking. It started from us as a group, we wanted to find a way for our staff to be able to relax and have some fun and we thought this will even be better if we share with our customers and then with the industry where we play. We were able to work with MediaVision to craft this Remita Corporate Champions Cup, which brings together the champions from different industries. It is a good time for our own staff, our customers and the industry generally to come together during weekends and have fun; and also meet with people who have made their mark in soccer. We have been able to work with legends like Peter Rufai all the while, just to encourage even the younger ones on what you can do.

Do you think that with this product, the interest rates paid by borrowers may increase because the bank will need to pay for the service you have rendered?

It is actually the reverse. It is going to reduce the interest rates. This is how it works, one of the reasons why interest rates are high is because the banks also have to make provisions for defaults.

They are not able to give loans easily, in terms of the scope of people they give loans to, because they need to be sure. So today, a good portion of that is done manually. They have to monitor and go through a lot of paperwork before taking a risk, and of course they have to price that risk, so you won’t blame them if the rates are high.

But working with partners like us, we have the data for these applicants, so it becomes easier for them to appraise each individual. The risk is better controlled. They can afford to offer lower rates because they know, with a higher degree of certainty, they will get back their money. It may not happen immediately, but that will be the direction because they can grow the volume and better manage the risk.

What can you say about the future of FinTech in Nigeria?

There are many brilliant minds in the FinTech space. I just hope they can be allowed to blossom.

CBN also has a role to play in that area in terms of regulations that protect the customer but at the same time allow for innovation. It is a very tricky balance and exercise so that you don’t shift to one extreme. If we can get that balance, I still believe that Nigeria may be the FinTech capital, not just of Africa, but even of the world. We have human intellect, we also have a market.

Do you think Nigeria’s fintech industry has what it takes to compete globally?

SystemSpecs is one of the major partners of Lagos State government on Code Lagos, Educate Lagos, and Ready, Set, Work. How do these schemes benefit the participants in the long run?

The Ready, Set, Work is in its fourth year now, and it is a scheme we are happy to be involved in. We are preparing our youths for the real world after school. Many graduates have to go through a longer learning curve before they can settle either in the corporate world or become successful entrepreneurs, but with the Ready, Set, Work, they get to meet people in the industry. They get to benefit from experiences on the practical side of life. We have been involved from inception and we have had some of the products join us in SystemSpecs.

A few days ago, I signed a full employment letter for one of the beneficiaries that came in from attachment, then eventually did youth service here.

We find them readier to kick off in the business than people who have not had that benefit of experience. For the Code Lagos, an ambitious game, again to create that awareness and get young startups and people to see the potential in understanding how to code. They are learning more current coding languages to use. So people who go through such programmes are more likely to be of immediate benefits to us than people who have gone through traditional institutions, knowledgeable but not quite current. That is why we are involved in those two programmes.

Recently, your organisation was in the news for building a Social Welfare Centre in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and renovating classroom blocks for children in a special needs school, what informed these projects?

As part of our CSR, two of the major areas we look at is education and health. Incidentally, my father worked in Kano for a little over thirty-five years, so it was a good opportunity to go back to my roots. My dad was a nurse; today his first son is a Professor of Radiology in the UK and his last son is a Professor of Paediatrics is in the US. I didn’t study medicine but the project is the closest I can probably go in showing that I still identify with the medical field which was his own. We had an NGO in Kano that was able to bring this to fruition and we are very grateful for that opportunity and to the Kano State Government who also did quite some work. The Social Welfare Centre will cater for a number of people from the rural areas who have to come to Kano for treatments and need a stopover centre, a rehabilitation centre, a kind of halfway home, a structure and that is what we focused on.

Why did you decide to leave your flourishing career in the banking sector to set up SystemSpecs?

I started my career in the 90s, for briefly six months I was supposed to be selling computers.

Obaro

I realised that I wouldn’t do well selling what I don’t know so I decided to leave to practice my craft which was software development. I joined UBA, I was there for about two and a half years, then I moved on to then International Merchant Bank, where I was for seven and a half years.

Six months after I got there, I was appointed as the head of department. For those seven years, it was like I was doing essentially the same thing. I was being promoted almost every year or every other year. The money was good.

For a young man I had all the perks of office, the fully serviced duplex in Victoria Island, five minutes from work, you know, every young man would love that, but I didn’t see my future doing something repeatedly, so I took the plunge and left. At that point in time, banking was the only sector of the economy that had some level of computerisation and then of course the oil companies.

The other sectors of the economy especially the manufacturing industry which is stronger than they are today, lacked the efficiencies of computers. And we saw an opportunity there.

We partnered with a company in the UK now known as Infor Systems, and supported their product called SunSystems in Nigeria for about twenty-five years. It was only about a year ago we ended the partnership because Remita had grown and required a lot more of our attention.

So, we were with Infor for about twenty-five years, we benefited a lot from the relationship before we drafted our own home-grown solutions.

with government can also be very challenging especially if you choose not to be a conventional business man. In a society where agreements mean nothing, you take a higher level of risk working with governments. Then of course the usual problems of the society, though I won’t call them problems per se. Things like power, because in fairness; for power, you can always create your own solution.

What were the initial challenges at SystemSpecs’ budding stage?

SystemSpecs is said to be a fully indigenous company, what is the percentage of expatriates to Nigerians in the workforce?

Starting is not always so easy. We had a number of young people that we trained, but they left in search of greener pastures. The greener pastures, ironically most of the times, were not local. Sometimes in a year you may lose like ten people to Canada, US, because these countries, especially Canada, have legalised entry for Computer Science graduates. So, when you have people from SystemSpecs, they apply, within a few months they go. It has been a challenge for the company.

The nature of business that we do is something that will benefit government but doing business

How would you describe the journey so far and what would you say is SystemSpecs biggest achievement till date?

The biggest achievement is that despite all the odds, by God’s grace we have been able to remain standing for 26 years. In those twenty-six years, we have seen a lot of bright IT companies come and go. The environment has not been very friendly, especially when we had the TSA distrust. Somebody stood up on the floor of the Senate with wild allegations that the company was making twenty-five million naira daily, and it became an issue. But come to think of it, if this country wants to develop we need to open up our minds to appreciate good numbers for good jobs. A few days ago, Apple was being celebrated in the US for making a trillion-dollar mark. In Nigeria, if you make a billion, there is a pulling down syndrome. We need to outgrow that and encourage people who are doing proper work to make good money. That is the only way you can encourage young people to also do good and not cut corners.

There is something called zero per cent. No expatriate has ever worked with us. The closest we have had to what you may call expatriate is that we have had a number of Nigerians return from the Diaspora.

We have had a few come join us who understand and can see the vision of what we are trying to do but in terms of foreigners, we have not had the need to engage any. Remita and Human Manager were developed right in Obalende, the heart of Lagos, by Nigerians.

In terms of the competence, we have what it takes to compete globally. I read recently that a major bank in the UK is being celebrated because they have now been able to aggregate balances for their customers across multiple banks. Remita has been doing this for close to ten years, but we have not had the privilege to make that noise on a global scale.

What would have been a good opportunity is the TSA, which if we had the support of the government, would have been a good opportunity to showcase indigenous technology to the world.

There are a number of interesting things coming up. I meet a lot of other tech companies with brilliant ideas, these are not only pioneer solutions, but are solutions that if they are able to project it properly to the world, can be made to scale. Rather than condemning ourselves that nothing good can come out of Nigeria, we need that mental reorientation to celebrate our own successes and then the world will join us in celebrating.

The software industry in Nigeria is dominated by foreign companies, what do you think is responsible for this and what should be done?

I believe there is a lot to gain from these companies. Like I said earlier, we supported a foreign company’s product in Nigeria. However, we need to consciously give preference to Nigerian solutions, such that even when they are not as good as the foreign products but have the potential to be good, we adopt them. For instance, if a foreign product scores 90per cent in an evaluation and a local product scores 60per cent, we should rather give the local product and help that local product to scale, rather than always give preference, for whatever reason to foreign solutions.

Today, the central accounting package for the nation is a foreign product from a country, Estonia.

It is a good product, but I honestly believe that if we encourage Nigerian companies, there is no reason why in the not too distant future, we can’t domicile the operation of such in Nigeria.

SystemSpecs pioneered IPPIS, but somewhere along the line, some people said it should be given to a foreign firm when it was time to scale. Such self-defeatist attitude is a mental mindset we have to change because most of those foreign companies do not understand the Nigerian environment.

They are not customised for operations and so they cost way beyond the software cost because most times the support and the revision costs can easily get out of hand.

In the next five years, where do you see SystemSpecs?

By God’s grace, we want to have entrenched more especially in the SME market. We want to have moved out to a number of African countries and certainly be more visible. Five years is such a long time but with the foundation that we have now, I believe that we are set to be a major player in the FinTech industry globally.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ AUGUST 19, 2018

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TRAVEL

Edited by Demola Ojo Email demola.ojo@thisdaylive.com

Jumeirah, Arabian Adventures, Ritz Carlton, Others to Storm Lagos for Travel Expo Demola Ojo

F

ifteen travel and hospitality ooutfits from Dubai are confirmed for the Akwaaba African Travel Market slated for early next month in Lagos.

The leading tourism destination in the Middle East sees Nigeria as a priority market and has indicated their intention to lure as many Nigerians as possible to Dubai’s famed tourism offerings by repeated participation at West Africa’s leading tourism exhibition. About 300,000 Nigerians pass through Dubai every year.

Led by the official trade and marketing department of the Middle Eastern Emirate, the 15 companies attending Akwaaba for this year include; Jumeirah, Red Apple, Khimji, Sun and Sand and Alpha Tours.

Rayna Tourism, Arabian Adventures and the Ritz Carton Dubai are also billed to exhibit, as well as the Dubai Health Authority.

Jumeirah operates two extraordinary hotels brands offering exceptional guests experiences across the world.

Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts are regarded as among the most luxurious and innovative in the world, and have won numerous international travel and tourism awards including 76 prestigious accolades in 2017. In 2018 Jumeirah launched a second brand, Zabeel House by Jumeirah, created in response to the continuing and growing travel trend for exploration and enrichment through travel experiences. The launch of the new casual-upscale Zabeel House by Jumeirah brand was a significant milestone for Jumeirah in achieving strategic expansion, and provides an opportunity for Jumeirah to access new localities and destinations.

Some Jumeirah properties include, Jumeirah Beach Hotel Dubai, Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel Dubai, Madinat Jumeirah - the Arabian Resort in Dubai which includes Al Qasr Hotel, Dar Al Mashaf Hotel, Mina A’Salam Hotel and Jumeirah Al Naseem, Jumeirah Creekside Hotel Dubai, Jumeirah Zabeel Saray Dubai among others.

This comes as Gambia Tourism Board seeks to

Fountain at Al Qsar entrance renew its presence in Nigeria. As part of latest efforts to increase awareness for The Gambia as an all year tourism destination for discerning Nigerian visitors and prospective investors, the Gambia Tourism Board has announced its participation at the 14th Akwaaba which will be held September 9 to11. It will be a return after three years of absence from the annual

trade show in Nigeria.

The Gambia’s participation includes a 20-man delegation to be led by the Director General Gambia Tourism Board.

Earlier this year, the Akwaaba travel market team had organised the ‘Banjul Bantaba’ event with a familiarization trip to the Gambia and a high powered

B2b session which showed Nigerians the amazing potentials of the West African country.

Gambia is set for a Jollof rice contest on the first day of the expo before Day 2 when the Gambia Day proper will hold. The Gambia Tourism Board wants vto take advantage of increased access to the ‘Smiling Coast’ offered by Asky and Air Peace.

Emirates, Etihad Revamp Premium Class Amenities Olushola: NTDC Needs to Exploit Digital Space

Emirates has unveiled a new range of amenity kits and products for its premium customers, as well as new Bowers and Wilkins headphone for first class passengers.

New amenity bag designs see Emirates continue its partnership with Bulgari, with a total of eight designs and colours in both business and first class.

The Gulf carrier has also partnered with Byredo to provide first class passengers with the firm’s travel wellness range of skincare products.

Passengers will benefit from a cleansing face towelette, facial toner, eye cream, chamomile roll-on sleep oil, and chamomile pillow mist spray. The new kits are paired with a faux leather notebook and pen.

First class customers will also receive new Bowers and Wilkins Active Noise Cancelling E1 headphones, created exclusively for Emirates using “a unique hybrid noise cancellation technology optimised for the Emirates first class cabins”.

Both the amenity products and headphones were initially offered on Emirates’ new B777 suites, but are now being rolled out across aircraft with first class cabins.

This is as rival Gulf carrier Etihad recently launched new amenity kits in partnership with Italian fragrance brand Acqua di Parma.

Travellers flying in Etihad’s premium cabins will be getting new amenity kits developed in partnership with Italian fragrance brand Acqua di Parma starting next month.

The new kits will be offered to passengers flying in first or business class on board long-haul flights as well as passengers travelling in the airline’s The Residence cabin on its Airbus A380 superjumbos, which operates routes from Abu Dhabi to London, Paris, New York and Sydney.

For first class passengers, there is just

one choice of colour with all kits being in a vibrant yellow. These kits contain a bottle of Colonia perfume, a 40ml bottle of body lotion and lip balm.

Cabins also feature Colonia hand wash and hand cream toiletries, while the Colonia bathroom amenity kits have shower gel, body lotion, shampoo and conditioner.

Curiously, business class passengers do get a choice of colour for their kits, with both yellow and black bags available.

Etihad describes these as a “unisex wallet

bag”, which can also be buttoned to make a valet tray. A Colonia sampler along with hand cream – also available in the business class bathrooms – will be included in the business class kits.

For those travelling in the airline’s most elite The Residence cabin, a bespoke range of toiletries and fragrances are available in the private shower room alongside a Colonia amenity kit. Men are given Colonia Pura cologne, while women receive Magnolia Nobile perfume.

Etihad first began partnering with Acqua di Parma in 2014, with the company’s amenities being featured exclusively in The Residence.

“Extending this partnership through an exclusive selection of products in The Residence, first and business class, centred around our signature Colonia fragrance, was a highly anticipated extension and development of this long-term association,” said Laura Burdese, Acqua di Parma’s CEO and president.

Acqua di Parma products will also be available at the airline’s First Class Lounge & Spa in Abu Dhabi.

President, Wikimedia Nigeria, Mr. Olaniyan Olushola, has emphasized the need for the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) to further explore the digital space to sell the rich tourism and cultural potentialities of Nigeria to the global world.

Olushola said this during a training session to introduce some members of staff of the Corporation to the workings of Wikipedia and how it could help bridge the content gap between Nigeria’s natural and historical sites and the people. The training was held at the Corporation’s headquarters in Abuja, recently.

Wikipedia, the world’s largest encyclopedia, is a global movement whose mission is to bring free educational content to the world.

The Wikimedia Nigeria boss disclosed that the partnership between the organization and NTDC was to ensure that the good assets and history of Nigeria are given better visibility on the global internet space.

He said: “We need to show the beauty of our history to the global world, and also, correct some of the erroneous information on the internet and put them in better perspective. “It is worrisome that there are lots of misrepresentations in the content related to Nigeria on the internet.

For instance, you would see Zuma Rock being captioned as Idanre Hill.

“Nigeria doesn’t have enough content on the global internet space, hence we need to contribute our own content to this information platform. This, the global world will surely appreciate, and through this, we can change the perception of the whole world about Nigeria.”

Olusola, while discussing the operations of Wikimedia said, through various projects, chapters, and the support structure of the non-profit Wikipedia Foundation, Wikimedia strives to bring about a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of knowledge.

He also noted that the ongoing Wiki Loves Earth (WLE), an annual international photographic competition usually held during the month of May, organized worldwide by Wikimedia chapters, groups and local Wikipedia volunteers, also gives Nigeria the opportunity to promote her history, cultural heritage and tourism potentialities.

He said the basic aim of the competition is to collect photos of natural heritage sites – such as nature reserves, land scape conservation areas, national parks, scenic/landscape areas, remarkable gardens, etc. – to illustrate articles in the worldwide free encyclopedia Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation projects.“The focus is not only on sites of national importance, but also on those protected at the regional level, and on the widest variety of natural sites possible: forests, parks, gardens, rocks, caves, or whatever part of nature is protected in your country. This means that most users will be able to find several natural heritage sites close to them.

“Participants take pictures of local natural heritage and scenic landscape in their countries, and upload them to Wikimedia Commons. For all participating countries there are separate competitions corganized by local teams, so periods, rules, prizes etc. might differ a bit,”Olushola said.

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WEEKLY PULL-OUT

18.08.2018

Aisha Waziri Umar I’m Never Restrained Because I’m a Woman ASSISTANT EDITOR OLUFUNKE OLAODE/funkola2000@gmail.com

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GLITPOLITY

Aisha Waziri Umar

Playing the Politics of Passion With an illustrious pedigree, she was primed to dine with the high and mighty. Prodigious in thought and prolific in accomplishments, she exudes class in simplicity. International in exposure and astute in grassroots approach, she is a paragon of passion and patience.

Aisha Waziri is the new Amazon in northern Nigeria’s politics. Expansive in outlook and devoted to dreams, she turns odds into opportunities. The daughter of a maverick politician, Alhaji Ibrahim Waziri – the founder of the Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP), Aisha is following in her father’s footsteps, as she seeks to represent the people of Jere, Borno State, in the House of Representatives. She talks with Stanley Nkwazema about the battle of gender equality, the problems and politics of poverty The face behind the mask y name is Aisha Umar Waziri, a legal practitioner based in Abuja. I am married with three children.

I am currently ya partner of a law firm, Prodiverse and the proprietor of Centre for Children with Special Needs. I am also the founder of INARA Foundation which is a non-profit organisation that was set up to support vulnerable people and to assist with education and economic empowerment. More so, I am a cofounder of Revive Nigeria g Group g p of people p p that have come – a group g p together as professionals interested in g g the quality y of politics by y upgrading encouraging professionals to go into politics.

M

Politics of female representation P Let me make it clear that Borno State is actually state. We y a progressive g have had a lot of women wome wo men me going into politics. We have had d

members in the House of Representatives before. But we have not had any y female senator or governor. g We are still at the level of the House of In terms of acceptability Representatives. p of women, I don’t think we have a problem. I feel the time has come for people like us to go into politics because we are very involved with the people – very y close to the grassroots. g But limited in terms of our ability to influence decisions; because we are not in politics and that has seriously tied our hands as it were. There is so much that I want to do but because I am not in politics that makes it difficult.

Being g part p of Borno reconstruction, rehabilitation Actually, the insurgency has seriously abated. Jere used to be unstable and people were not able to go about their daily business. But right now back n no w they y have gone g to their farms and t people peeop p ople

Waziri

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GLITPOLITY

The Nigerian Girl Who Rocks New York Modelling are beginning to pick up the pieces and start their lives again. The state is already doing a lot of work in reconstruction and rehabilitation. We, the NGOs and the civil society need to get involved. We have been able to meet people and travel. We have flights now to Maiduguri. We are able to go in and out and meet the stakeholders.

that was my calling. I felt that it was divine that I had all the exposure and education. I have a responsibility to go down to the grassroots and impart all the knowledge – to hold their hands and lift them out of their plight and bring them to a level that is acceptable.

It is not a choice. I feel this is what I should do.

I have all credentials to be a federal lawmaker In terms of the House of Representatives, I know the basic qualification one must have is the Secondary School Certificate. I think I am more than qualified. I have first and master’s degrees in law. I was called to the Bar in 1988. I have practised for many years. I have worked in a commercial bank, FSB International.

I have attended a lot of training programmes including INSEAD which is one of the top business schools in France. Just recently, I concluded a oneyear programme in Oxford University on Global Business. So I am fresh out of one of the top schools in the world.

In terms of qualifications, I think I have more than enough that is required.

Love, motherhood and politics To prepare your kids, they learn by example. So when they see a hardworking mother, they also adopt that hard-work mentality. For me, I don’t have any problem with stay-at-home mothers. It is always a positive thing for them to have a hard-working mother, especially being a northerner where people around me chose to stay at home. I think a working mother in this age is necessary. We need to go out of that mindset that the woman should stay at home and the husband should work. We (she and her hubby) support each other. I support him to work and he supports me too. To be honest, I don’t think it has ever been an issue because when we met his mother was a very hard-working woman. I know they say that it is what you see that you follow. He saw a very hard-working mother and so it is what he expects. It is not new to him that his wife is also working.

Battle of the sexes in Borno What has happened in the last few years is that there is this realisation that women are more likely to fulfil their promises. That is the feedback I got. Of course, when the time comes to vote you will see what happens. There is no doubt about the fact that people trust women more and there is no doubt about it. I have been told over and over again, and I think that they would not mind a woman at all provided that the woman has all the needed qualities. It is not enough to say just because you are a woman you take it for granted.

You also have to campaign and you must have a very clear mandate of what you want to do and must have the character, personality to be very patient because you are dealing with many people – and kind because they have gone through so much, especially in Borno. Even without the insurgency, the quality of life is not the same. They are in abject poverty. They don’t have basic amenities and other things that are needed to make life worth living.

Problems and politics of poverty in North-east It is not only the women I endear myself to. I am actually endearing myself to everybody. What happened actually was that I went with my NGO to start assisting and supporting people – the victims. While I was there, I got very close to people at the grassroots.

This exposed me so much to their plight. People go into politics and make all sorts of promises and our people are very disillusioned. We have a very pathetic situation and the politicians have been very selfish – there is that feeling of distrust. Because I went in as an NGO working with the civil society, I became very close to them before politics. When I decided to go into politics, they knew me and the things I had done in Borno. I started with nutrition at a time – in 2012, at the height of the insurgency. There was serious hunger and malnutrition.

That was the first intervention to go and feed the people and also clothe them because they had been displaced.

In 2015 the issue of education came up when I started getting involved with public schools, getting resources, supplies like books and computers to help them get the needed training.

Now I have moved to the area of economic empowerment because of the level of unemployment. Now we are working on the anchor borrower programme to get farmers access to the

Playing politics of the future I think that the awareness and the issue of stomach infrastructure bother me so much. I think that the short-term gain of what you have is sacrificed for the long-term prosperity.

I really think that Nigerians should think about the long term when they are taking a decision on who to vote for. I would urge them not to think about short-term benefits but look to the future. A lack of planning has got us into a lot of trouble and I think we have to be disciplined. We have to plan and stick to that plan.

Waziri

market and inputs for their farms. We have registered 1,000 farmers and we are going to use 1,000 hectares of land to access this facility at the Central Bank of Nigeria. We have established the INARA Foundation. We have partnerships with many organisations that work with us because we are on the ground and in touch with the grassroots.

Gunning for the House of Representatives I think people are extremely anxious about who they will vote for because of countless disappointments and disillusionment. I found out that people at the grassroots understand politics very well. You can tell that they have had a lot of experiences as well. People come and tell them stories and leave – never to come back again. I found them very engaging. They ask questions like if you do get this seat, what you plan to do.

They are quite discerning.

Politics without bitterness You know that because of my exposure, I have been very fortunate.

My father, the late Waziri Ibrahim, is the reason I am using the slogan of politics without bitterness. My father believed in girl-child education. He believed that women could do more and always encouraged us to fulfil our dreams. I never felt restrained or limited because I am a woman. It was actually a plus as far as my father was concerned. He had a lot of girls and treated us the same as the boys. I am well-travelled. I went to Queens College, Lagos for secondary school and had that exposure of being outside the North. Subsequently, I went to the UK and did my A Levels; then my law degree. All that time Western education and lifestyle opened your mind. My working with FSB International Bank also helped shape my thinking. I was always thinking ahead because that is what you do when you have a business. At the end of it all, the only place left I had not touched was the grassroots. I ended up going to the grassroots as a humanitarian worker.

The moment I got there, I realised

Women in politics and 35 per cent affirmative I think that it has become very obvious to Nigerians that women have emotional intelligence and they are more likely to have empathy.

Emotional intelligence and empathy are the most important criteria in leadership. This is the new type of leadership and it has to do with times.

At a time like this, we need leaders with emotional intelligence. Indeed, this is something the women possess naturally. That to me is important for more women going into politics or elective offices. I don’t even think that 35 per cent is enough. I think we should aim for 50 per cent. But if we get 35, it is far too low. We are in a time of crisis in this country. At times like this, we want to uplift people. We really need women who have the kind of characteristics in a period of crisis.

If finally elected First and foremost, I think the National Assembly should focus more on their actual role. The rate at which they make laws now is so poor that we waste a lot of resources. I have an issue with the amount of funds that are channelled into the National Assembly. To me, it is just putting money into a black hole and we are not seeing the results. The first thing that I would do is that I will challenge and champion transparency. I really think that we need to be transparent about the value for money. I am not seeing tangible results from the National Assembly.

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with VANESSA OBIOHA 08081789737, vaysylver@gmail.com, entertainment@thisdaylive.com

ENTERTAINMENT

AMVCA: Then and Now In 2013, the movie industry witnessed the berth of Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA), a platform created by by Africa Magic in partnership with MultiChoice, to reward excellence and talents in the budding movie industry. At the time, Nollywood was considered an industry fit for only small screen titles and low budget straight to TV films. The thought of a Nollywood movie at the cinemas was unthinkable. There were dozens of straight-to-home videos which flooded the market but there was hardly any film worthy of picking a cinema box office ticket; even marketers got in the movie making business with little or no care for quality production values or storylines. All that changed with the launch of AMVCA as the platform played a key role in positioning

the African movie industry as an industry with limitless opportunities, immeasurable potential and a strong cultural and economic export for Nigeria. More so, it plays an incredible role in the country’s economy - contributing immensely to the GDP and providing direct and indirect employment for the country’s teeming young, ambitious, talented and creative youth.

Long before the actors, movies, top notch cinematography and art direction were praised at the AMVCAs, MultiChoice already laid the foundation for the industry with its variety of TV stations which were dedicated to showcasing the African film and TV industry in all of its glory. MultiChoice’s initiative in setting up Africa Magic and its resultant language channels (Africa Magic Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa) was way ahead of its time when the stations initially

began airing and was the first of many moves that allowed the movie industry flourish and cultivate an audience.

However, as the industry grew, Africa Magic grew with it, lighting the torch for indigenous movies. Hence, when the time came for Nollywood, and by extension the African movie industry to be properly celebrated, there could be none other only but Africa Magic to champion this cause. The AMVCA has seen actors and creatives earn well deserved accolades for their efforts since its inception. It has become the pinnacle of success for Nollywood acts. as the name implies, AMVCA gives the viewers the power to determine who takes home the award.

It operates a transparent voting process where filmmakers submit their works for consideration, while the viewers decide who gets the gong. This

School Debate, Dance Competition to Kick Off Felabration With just few months to the annual week-long celebration of the music, life and times of Afrobeat legend, Fela AnikulapoKuti, the organising committee has unveiled pre-events to kick off the festivity. In its usual tradition, this year’s Felabration will open with its secondary school debate. About 10 schools will debate on the topic ‘Creation of State Police in Nigeria’.

They include Ipakode Senior Grammar School, Ikorodu, Epe Girls Senior High School, Epe,

Herbert Macaulay Senior Girls High School, Sabo Yaba, Ajara Senior Grammar School, Badagry and Ejigbo Senior High School, Ejigbo, Lagos.

Founded by Yeni AnikulapoKuti, the eldest daughter of Fela, Felabration School Debate was established not only to bring out the best in logical thought processes of the school-children, but also, to sensitise them on burning topical national issues.

Over the years, this segment of the annual festival has attracted

the best of secondary school students in Lagos.

With the support of the Lagos State Ministry of Education, the educational programme is adjudged the biggest debate platform for secondary schools in the state.

According to the organising committee, the debate is a way of giving back to the society “by impacting on these kids, the fundamental knowledge required to become world class debaters.”

This year’s debate will hold on October 10, 2018 at Freedom Park, Lagos Island.

Meanwhile, entries are now open for the Felabration Afrobics dance contest, an initiative

system ensures that every stakeholder in the industry is involved in the awards, including the people that pay to see these movies and TV series.

Beyond what the awards represent in terms of pride and reputation for the winners, what the AMVCA has been able to do is set a standard for what is expected in Nollywood and celebrate the remarkable progress the industry has made thus far.

Five years later, AMVCA is still a towering platform in the industry. Over 151 awards have been handed out and more will be given at the sixth edition of the awards which will hold on September 1. Just like last year when critically acclaimed movies like ‘76 and Oloibiri stole the headlines for their well-earned accolades at the AMVCA, this year the awards will be

introduced last year to globally promote the afrobeat dance styles created and made popular by the legend. With of the contest are given the opportunity to perform their winning dance styles on the massive global Felabration stage.

Contestants are required to visit the Felabration website to sign up. Auditions will be held at the New Afrika Shrine and the Freedom Park while the final contest will be held at the New Afrika Shrine on a later date.

Judges for the various stages of the competition include Segun Adefila, Founder of The Crown Troupe; and renowned dancer, Adedayo Liadi, popularly known as Ijodee.

Triple Celebration for T.W.O

T

hirty years ago, Tunde and Wunmi Obe met each other while playing in a band. They were both undergraduates and had lost their respective fathers but they found a common ground in music. Their passion for music and entertainment ignited a spark that has stood the test of time. Ten years later, the couple wedded. It’s been 20 years they walked down the aisle together.

Their love has continued to wax strong despite the increasing rate of divorce in the entertainment industry today. Tunde and Wunmi Obe, popularly known as T.W.O. have somehow found the magic cord that binds them together after three children.

Also, Tunde will hit the halycon age in

August.

Friends and loved ones of the couple are putting together a series of events to mark their 30 years on stage, 20 years of union as well as the 50th birthday of Tunde. The initial plan was to have a grand celebration but the untimely death of Wunmi’s older brother and Chairman of Punch Newspapers, Wale Aboderin, the event was scaled down to a remix of ‘Without Your Love’, one of the couple’s hit singles from their 2014 album ‘T.W.O. Plus’ and a birthday dinner for Tunde in August.

‘Without Your Love’ encapsulates the love and which has sustained the couple through the years.

“The truth is when we first came together,

SHINA PELLER MARKS AQUILA’S THIRD ANNIVERSARY

at Aquila Records is that we are a family,” said Peller.

Peller who also owns Quilox Night Club expresses optimism that his record label will encounter more successes as it continues to grow.

Shina Peller and his family turned heads recently at the Aquila Music Concert held at Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos to mark the third anniversary of his music record label, Aquila.

Celebrities like DJ jimmy Jatt, Dammy Krane, Jaywon, Iyabo Ojo and others were among the famous faces at the show as Naomi Peller and Burna Boy thrilled the guests with songs that kept fans asking for more.

“I’m so happy for the achievement we’ve made in the past two years. One of the most difficult businesses in the world is running a music record label because your product is human, especially when you are dealing with different people with different characters and different emotions. The good thing about us

SCOOP NETWORK JOINS KWESÉ TV

Africa’s newest entertainment channe,l Scoop Network Africa recently launched on pan-African satellite TV broadcast network, Kwesé TV. Scoop Network’s programme schedule consists of a mix of light entertainment magazines with movie, music, fashion and celebrity news.

For a truly pan-African feel, the channel is fully localised with African Voice Overs, a daily locally produced entertainment news show and other local productions.

Scoop Network, which is already available

it was more of professional relationship. We found that beyond the music, there was a connection between us. I think the first thing that connected us together was that we had both recently lost our fathers who were the main breadwinners in our families. Some people will not understand when you are used to a particular lifestyle and then you lose a parent, some things change and you have difficulty adapting to that change. So we were able to connect on that level,” said Tunde.

The event which was endorsed by the Nigerian German Business Association will draw friends of the couple from the corporate world and the public sector, including Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode. in multiple territories around the world, joins Kwesé TV’s exciting entertainment line-up with an exclusive tailor-made feed produced by a dedicated editorial team from Dutch Indie FCCE based in Nairobi, Kenya for English speaking African territories.

“We’re really proud to work with Kwesé as a partner in 18 African countries. The new editorial team in the FCCE Nairobi office, our own studio facilities, local crews and local presenters and reporters will guarantee the local tone of voice and content. It’s the first fully localized feed of Scoop Network.We’re very confident the local audience will enjoy the mix of national and international content,” said Justus A. G. Verkerk, CEO of FCCE. Joseph Hundah, Econet Media President and Group CEO said “Kwesé prides itself in offering exclusive cutting edge entertainment programming to cater

T.W.O.

for our dynamic young audiences. Scoop is a channel enjoyed by many across the globe and we are excited to be the first TV network to introduce it to the African market.”

In addition to the daily entertainment news, other programming highlights include a weekly Saturday Night’s ‘Spotlight On’ magazine show, showcasing celebrity events, awards shows, fashion weeks and so much more. Other local shows include ‘Snoops’, an all-African gossip show presented from Nairobi; and ‘Entertainment Catch Up’ both anchored

by African talent.

Up’ both Meyrah anchored by African talent.

Warri Fashion Show Debuts After successfully horning her skill in Vanguard newspaper where she fashion for close to five years and foremost fabric company, Da Viva where she was media relations officer for close to seven years before calling it quit to establish Arhecal fashion, a fabric outlet, Carol Arhere-Obi is on the match again with the debut of Warri Fashion and Style Week being put together by Arhecal Synergy Limited. The first ever fashion show in the Niger Delta city is in collaboration with Fashion Designers Association Of Nigeria, (FADAN). Proudly sponsored by Da Viva and Canoe Detergent of PZ CUSSONS, the theme of the two day show tagged “SHADES OF CULTURE”, will showcase the fashion culture of the state over the years.

Speaking on the motive behind the fashion show, the promoter, Arhere-Obi, “We are planning to showcase the best of Nigeria Delta sometime in September. This is the first of its kind in the city of Warri in Delta state, Nigeria. The purpose of the fashion week is

auditioning of upcoming designers where the to discover designers in the making, established best 10 candidates will be picked to showcase at designers and tailors with just basic knowledge the first day of the fashion week thereafter, the of sewing. There are millions of young designers best three designers will emerged and finally that are yet to be discovered, yet they have a the best among the three will be crowned as the lot of creativity to show to the world. WFSW Warri Best Designer Of the Year 2018. However, is not only to discover them and leave them the remaining two and the winner will be all by themselves, they will be empowered by empowered with cash and material prizes to attaching them to established designers in Warri start their own fashion career. and Lagos for further trainings. We are also WFSW, will be concluded with a recognition aiming to prepare them for bigger fashion award ceremony to appreciate some shows in Nigeria and outside Nigeria.

Deltans who have excelled in their The show has economic relevance chosen career and have shown because it is designed to run good influence on the youths in annually and geared towards Delta state. helping the country to realise Arhere-Obi seized the the full potentials of the fashion opportunity call on the industry by showcasing Delta upcoming designers to take State’s undiscovered fashion part at the talent hunt to live talents and pushing them into their dream as fashion designers limelight,” she said. also established designers to Highlighting the lined up showcase their collection on the programmes she stressed that he Arhere-Obi runway and exhibit at the exhibition fashion week will start with pregrand.

TEAM ASSITANT EDITOR OLUFUNKE OLAODE REPORTER VANESSA OBIOHA DESIGNER WAHAB AKINTUNDE THISDAY ON SUNDAY EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU DEPUTY EDITORS WALE OLALEYE TOBI SONIYI THISDAY NEWSPAPERS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOLAFE

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GLITZ PERSONALITY

Deborah Odutayo

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Being AMVCA Judge At the start of every edition of the AMVCAs – Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards - call for submission of films, made-for-television movies and television series is made. The winning entries are by a judging panel led by a head judge. For the 2018 edition of the awards slated for September 1, that head judge is Deborah Odutayo. In this interview with Ferdinand Ekechukwu, she speaks about her appointment, her passion for the film industry, and the AMVCA task before her

H

ow do you feel about being appointed as the head judge to lead a team you have being part and parcel of right from the outset?

I feel humbled. Because I’m a very private person, I like to keep my life simple, private and just concentrate a 100 per cent on my work.

But it has been a humbling experience and so while the whole process goes on usually the first year, second year and third year and then I had that call from Mnet this year to be the head judge. I knew the responsibility because I have seen some of the processes. You don’t really see what goes on behind, but you see the tense moment that Uncle Femi Odugbemi (past head of jury) has putting everything into it. So I knew it was going to be a really tough time and I knew it was going to be also an experience that will humble me more because I’m also passionate about the industry.

What does this appointment mean to you having been a member of the panel from the foundation?

It means me making sure that everything about this industry grows better. You see it’s not about the appointment because the appointment was really just a phase of it all.

It’s looking at what the industry has become.

What Nollywood is doing and what television is doing. A lot of people keep saying you cannot judge movies and drama series. Yes, they are two different genres. But how do you now identify an actor whether it is in a movie or drama series – is all about talent. So I think to a large extent, we have that right. But, yes, you may say for a drama series the actor does not give it the story or how you are judging the person does not allow you the way you do in a movie because a movie is like one hour, two hours and you are done. A drama series is continuous. So the character will evolve and will develop and all that. But at the end of the day it is still acting. Don’t forget this is just the sixth year. So at this point when the noise is so much we are listening. We associate with it; we understand as well. But the judging process, the way it goes, does not really affect whether it’s in a drama or movie, we are judging an actor.

Is it right to conclude that your appointment saddles you with some extra responsibilities?

Yes, it does. Don’t forget that with the AMVCAs, I think also the industry needs to be more educated whether we would have to have workshops; we would have to have training – to say how to even enter for the AMVCAs. You know a lot of directors – I’m not saying everybody. Maybe one or two of them have made that mistake of entering, without even notifying the director; without even notifying the executive producer. And you follow the due process: it gets to the jury, they score it. It gets nominated and then the director starts wondering: ‘What is going on? Why is he the one nominated? Why am I not nominated?’

The judges cannot help the movie. The judges cannot help change that process. That process is telling us that the directors, the owners of these movies, those that have entered it need

to really check. Because it’s a very taxing process and we do not joke with it. We get into that process by 7:00am every day. Sometimes, we don’t leave until 1:00am or 2:00am. They finish at around 11:00pm or 12 midnight. As the head judge, because I have to ensure that everything works, I don’t leave there until about 1:00am or 2:00am. So practically, we are locked up in a place – no other life; no other thing – and you are stuck because you must watch. You must give a fair hearing. You must give a fair watch of everything – all the processes and all the entries. They are massive.

You are watching series and you are watching movies but because we know the strength of our jury, we differentiate whose strength is in what. For instance, if it’s writing, we have judges that take care of that. We have directors.

We have people like you (critics) as well. So if my make-up in this movie was very good and my director did not enter it and then the other movie that wasn’t as good was nominated because that one entered for it, there’s no way we can change the entry of the producers or the directors or the executive producers. As a filmmaker, as a producer, as a director, you should be able to pay attention to details in ensuring and knowing the gravity of what that entry is for you. Because sometimes they enter those names and if we have to look at everybody how somebody has made a mistake or how somebody has not done it properly, some entries will not even scale through at all.

They think it’s a joke that once they send their movies that’s it. Sometimes you see where the producer has written the title of the movie and they have put one person’s name. How fair is that? And then when we look at the end credit just to be sure sometimes, we see two persons’ names. What do you do? And there’s no feedback; no way to get back to them.

What is new on the 2018 AMVCAs because it is learnt that films made for television movies or television series previously entered into or nominated for an award are eligible for submission which wasn’t the case previously?

On the contrary, the window is much wider and all films, made-for-television movies or series are eligible for entry to the AMVCAs if they are broadcast or publicly screened during between October 1, 2016 and March 31, 2018.

This means the eligibility window is now 17 months – an improvement from last edition’s 11 months. Thus, we’ve catered for a whole array of film titles. There are TV movies and series made within a certain period of time. No, it’s not just made. It’s exhibited within a year.

There was one or two that we had to go online to actually check. Because that’s the best thing we can do. Sometimes, when we see or there’s a discomfort or if there are any challenges like that we just go online and check the producer to see what year it was released and if it’s still eligible. That process is done before it gets to the judges. So whatever is being judged, it has passed through about five phases of screening before it gets to us.

How many categories are there for the 2018 AMVCAs? There are a total of 27 categories with seven

Odutayo

categories open to public voting and 20 being categories to be decided by the AMVCA panel of judges.

Why are there more categories this year?

This change reflects the established importance of the AMVCAs amongst film and TV stakeholders on the continent and the need for a more critical approach to some of the categories. The viewers will, nonetheless, continue to select their favourites in critical categories including Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Short Film or Online Video.

There are few other television and film awards on the continent. How has AMVCA distinguished itself, especially as it is considered the biggest celebration of film, television production and talent in Africa?

Yes, you have (other awards organisations).

But are they also internationally acclaimed?

Even before the AMVCA there are ones that have been there and still big and still there. And so is AMVCA. There’s no competition really.

The more awards we can acknowledge to our filmmakers I think the better for them all – for us all, actually. Although the awards have always made room for inclusion, it has become even more so. We introduced region-specific recognition a few years ago and it has been well received across participating countries.

How has the AMVCAs helped improve the quality of entries received year after year?

The quality of entries has improved and we have also seen the expansion of the categories.

Even as the entries continue to reflect the Pan-African importance of the awards while fostering partnerships among filmmakers across the continent. Without a doubt, in its six editions, the AMVCA has established itself and remains the biggest celebration of African film and television talent.

It is believed that after every edition

of the AMVCAs the panel sits and reviews the outcome. Could there have been any occasion where the panel feels remorse for the outcome of a decision taken which unexpectedly puts them in a negative light for any recognition or award given?

Well, like I said it cannot happen really because there is an intense process that goes on. From day one that I have been part of this process, it has been like there are no compromises – I promise you. So there has never been any regret. Yes, like I said, don’t forget it’s an industry thing. And it’s not what we want that makes it. It is the entries that we see. So there are no biases there.

Sometimes, the public get to frown upon some decisions, thinking that some recognition and awards fall short of expectation But you know that is not unexpected. In everything in life that would always happen and you know why? It’s because you cannot satisfy everybody. And what you are looking out for may not be what we are looking out for.

A particular scenario played out in 2016 in the movie, ‘Dry’ by Stephanie Linus, which won the Best Overall Africa Movie 2016 but didn’t win in the regional category for Best West Africa Movie it emerged from which Genevieve’s ‘Road to No Where’ You know it could have been just a minor thing – I don’t know what it was. I can’t remember what it was because that process had been done. But it could have been a tie.

It could have been just a mark or half a mark.

You never know. These things are just so close that if the auditors bring it to you, you will also wonder. Or, maybe they just didn’t get it right here and so they missed that just one or half a mark. Sometimes these gaps are not as wide as you guys think. It could be just that attention to detail. It could be music skipped somewhere.

It could be a frame skipped somewhere – anything.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ UGUST 19, 2018

PERSPECTIVE

Atiku: The Burden of Statesmanship Odilim Enwegbara

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n a recent interview Atiku Abubakar the PDP presidential hopeful said among other things, “If I am elected as the President in 2019, I give an undertaking that I would only do one term…I am prepared to sign an undertaking to do only one term.” Most were quick to doubt this promise of his given that such a promise was made by President Buhari in 2015 and that the same Buhari is today seeking second term in 2019. But Atiku has been swift in insisting that he’s ready to sign any undertaking to prove his seriousness.

This same statement credited to Atiku Abubakar truly attracted my attention too especially when one considers his reasons for wanting to do only one term. By announcing his readiness to do one term, Atiku has demonstrated to Nigerians that he is not eagerly interested in occupying the highest office of the land for the purpose of occupying it because should that have been his reason for seeking the presidency, of course he should be looking at doing two terms as the constitution allows.

That is why for me, Atiku’s insistence that his decision is truly based on ensuring that equity and fairness prevail.

It reminds me Rufus J Fears’ extensive work on why citizens should always elect statesmen because their moral compass is rooted in a sense of absolute right and absolute wrong.” Whereas electing politicians is to elect tyrants, relativists, and liars who are only governed by public opinion polls.

With this singular decision, Atiku has proved to the world that he is not another African leader who once he gets to office, occupying as long as he can technical prolong his stay, and possibly die in office becomes the most important agenda of being in power. Atiku knows that this announcement of wanting to do one term in office puts him in the same category with Nelson Mandela Africa’s foremost statesman.

But now that Atiku has raised the bar, let us also hear from other PDP contestants in order to know whether they too have agreed on a single term should they win the PDP ticket and become president in 2019. Of course, Atiku this should become one of the bases for winning votes in the south, particularly southeast, where Buhari has been telling southeasterners that after his second term which ends in 2023, he is going to hand over power to a south-easterner. It is an important decision made by Atiku because with this, Buhari will no longer take the advantage of telling southeasterners that if they vote for him definitely he will hand over to one of their politicians come 2023.

I believe Atiku because as a good businessman he knows keeping promises is a must or else one loses one’s most important ingredient of succeeding in business — trust. For such statesmen, political rhetoric is always tailored to reflect realities. It also tells why while facts are the best friends of business, fictions and propaganda seem to earn politicians the mileage needed in winning elections.

I believe Atiku will keep this promise of his after all without having to focusing on any form of reelection planning he will have all his attention focused on setting in motion the policies that will leading to the transformation of the economy. Right policy steps will make four years enough for accomplishing good legacy for oneself.

What differentiates great statesmen from politicians is their selflessness which has always been driven by the eagerness to serve the people. It is this rare gift that makes statesmen focus on solving the people’s problem. Whereas instead of serving the people with all their abilities, the politicians spend more of their time strategizing on how to win next elections. For this reason, efforts are made to divert public funds for the execution of the next election.

That is why nations that always elected statesmen as the leaders rather than politicians have always elected leaders who spend most their time in office solving economic and social problem confronting such nations. Above all, such statesmen pay more attention on making their nations prosperous and equalitarian.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, US President (1933-1945) was a America’s foremost statesman. And because he was more preoccupied with solving America’s intractable economy that resulted from the Great Depression he succeeded in in transforming America into the world’s biggest and best run economy.

The same was true about Deng Xiaoping (1978-1992) whose statesmanship made him to succeed in turning his provincial Chinese economy to the world’s fastest growing economy to the extent of becoming the world’s second largest and its most socially inclusive economy with 600 million record job creation and an unbelievable one billion Chinese permanently lifted out of poverty in less than four decades.

But more amazing is the case of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai whose statesmanship continues to transform his desert emirate into one of the world’s best run service economies.

That is why if Nigerians are determined to get their country out of its present economic and social hopelessness, unanimous electing Atiku Abubakar should be the right decision. Known for his visionary leadership Atiku possesses that rare gift that made

him excel in business judgments and above all ingeniously finding best unconventional solutions to difficult to solve problems.

There is no great business leader who does not possess excellent experience in negotiation and consensus building. These are unique skills Atiku is going to bring to bear as the president of Nigeria when he has to confront world leaders to discuss trade and economic diplomacy. More important are these skills when it comes to formulating economic policies that are designed to challenge powerful status quo. These are the skills Buhari hardly has and as a result he has always confronted the legislative arm of government. It is the same reason why his government continues not to its way in the judiciary.

Unlike Atiku, Buhari has never worked his way the leadership ladder given that his entire life has depended on benefiting from the status quo. Little wonder his presidency has been the presidency of protecting and promoting the status quo. After all, it is difficult to bite the finger that feed. Understandably competition driven by dealing with intelligent challenges is alien to President Buhari and will always remain so.

Without dropping chauvinism we will not recognise these Atiku’s rare qualities in Atiku and without recognizing and embracing them we will lose the unique opportunities this country stands to gain with Atiku becoming the country next president. I wish I could find a better way to reveal to fellow Nigerians how it is in Atiku Abubakar’s hands that the much awaited lifting up our country lies.

Unfortunately, that will require everyone having the same trained eyes needed in seeing beyond our emotions and our biases. It is okay after all we are all emotional beings. After all, nearly Americans wouldn’t have voted Roosevelt their president as his political opponents continued to tell the electorate that he had was caught by the paralysing polio; and Deng nearly lost out in the power game in China when Chairman Moa Zedong refused to anoint him his chosen successor, or Al Maktoum who had to patiently wait for his father to leave the scene before exploding and exposing the rare leadership gifts, which are in some cases against the status quo.

Mohammed Abba Gana, the former FCT Minister, in a recent interview argued that for PDP not to repeat the mistakes of 2015, the party must nominate a political “field marshal,” someone whose “solid capacity and message must mobilize and galvanize” voters for PDP in 2019. Luckily, these are the rare qualities that are in abundance in Atiku Abubakar because not only that he has such an exceptional intellectual capacity with his real world experience remaining the envy of his political opponents.

These are the reasons why he has such exceptional popularity in southern and middle belt states. It is the same reasons he is highly favored by majority of the youths. Besides, being religious moderate, Atiku is also the favorite of Christians across the country.

Of course, these are some of unbelievable advantages he has that force his opponents to bear grudges. But at the end of the day there is no one politician in the present Nigerian political space that has what it takes to successfully defeat Buhari in the forthcoming presidential election, let alone to successfully clean

up the present economic and social messes caused by the present administration. That is not to mention uniting the highly traumatized fellow citizens who as a result have to flee for safety to their respective ethnic and religious enclaves.

Further making Atiku to stand out of his present political peers are his doggedness, his big hearted, and his strong-will waiting to take our economic problems head-on. This is unlike President Buhari whose only achievements since being forced out of power in 1985 are few hundreds of cattle, not even furthering his education beyond his controversial secondary certificate, and who gained everything in life not out of sheer hard work and merit, but rather out of outright favors.

There is no way handing an untrained doctor the surgery knives to conduct a brain surgery shouldn’t have caused more complication to the patient. The same way handing Buhari our economy to fix has ended up causing more damage to economy than fixing it. This explains why we from an exchange rate of N197 naira to a dollar in early 2015 to N350 today, from the fuel pump price of N97 per liter before he was sworn in to N145 today. It is the same reason we have such an unfavourable business environment, with investors fleeing Nigeria or else to join the thousands of local businesses that have since gone bankrupt.

Little wonder over 8 million jobs have been lost under Buhari’s watch and as if not enough recently Nigeria surpassed India to become the country with the world’s largest concentration of poor people. What about now being rated as the country with the largest number of civilians killed without being a civil war country? Of course, with these the painful figures in our minds, coupled with his failing health as a result of old age, we — the clueless 200 million citizens of Nigeria, lacking the boldness to say enough of this mess — are still eager to reelect Buhari president come 2019 and willingly would hand him our economic destiny till 2023.

While as an astute businessman Atiku will quickly stop the bleeding economy by putting to an end the current policy somersaults inherent in Buhari administration which forced most foreign and domestic investors to stay away from Nigeria, definitely Atiku’s nightmares will be reconciling all diverse ethnic, religious and cultural groups. Truly the Atiku presidency is going to work hard on building a new national unity where all citizens recognize themselves as equal and as a result believe that hard work and intellect excellence pay.

With anti-graft war today being focused on intimidating political opponents, President Atiku has got a lot of reorganizing and refocusing of the country’s anti-graft war. This would require the complete overhauling of our current judicial system along with our criminal investigation and prosecutorial processes. Without promoting a just and fair society, where the rule of law is always supreme, there is no way we can win the anti-graft war.

Crippling kidnapping, banditry and other violent crimes in the country will take front roll in an Atiku presidency. Otherwise there is no way we should expect meaningful economic growth in a country rated as among the five most dangerous countries in the world to live. Atiku is already planning how to urgently modernize Nigeria’s outdated policing system in a way that federal police, state police and community police have to work together.

Recognizing that why most of these problems have defied solutions is because of over centralization of the country, Atiku has since been championing the restructuring even when it was unpopular. He knows that without restructuring insecurity and communal conflicts are unavoidable, and with such volatile environment there is way any meaningful economic development could take place and without meaningful economic activities taking place, there no way internally generated revenue could grow, without which salaries are hardly paid without government going to borrow.

Atiku knows that allowing the status quo to continue would amount to allowing the nation to degenerate to the level of economic comatose state. That is why not to allow us get to this sorry state, he is advocating for restructuring. Unfortunately, I don’t know if President Buhari knows why restructuring remains the only out of our present economic mess because had he known definitely there is no way he should be opposing it; and did he know that restructuring will favor the north more than it will favor south, I doubt if he would continue to insist that it is not necessary.

But one thing I am certain about is that unlike Buhari who seems not to be in the know the workings of restructuring, certainly Atiku is fully aware why restructuring remains our best way to begin to develop and grow the country’s economy with northern economy becoming a trillion dollar economy within a decade. And this will be possible simply because as a result of restructuring northern leaders will see how some aggressive focus on agriculture, food processing, solid mineral mining and processing, and tourism and hospitality is the shortest way of achieving mass prosperity with millions of job.

-––Enwegbara, an Abuja based development economist can be reached at basil_enwegbara@yahoo.com (See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

AUGUST 19, 2018 ˾ T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

High Life

61 WITH LANRE ALFRED 08076885752

...Amazing lifestyles of Nigeria’s rich and famous

A Jolly Good Fellow: When Kennedy Uzoka Bobbed and Bubbled At Greg’s Gig

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ennedy Uzoka, the MD of UBA is a man perpetually in his element; his strides are blooming into peerless vistas and echoes of his attainments resound across the business and social firmament, like the silky-smooth refrain of a grand opera.

However, some bank bosses try so hard to develop a lifestyle that would never request their presence.

Some would attend every party as a measure of courtesy but having got there; fade into the background. But some become the life of the party.

Gaiety is the most outstanding feature of the latter. Unlike many other bank MDs and CEOs of financial institutions, they endeavour to lose themselves and have undiluted fun thus dismissing the notion top bankers and bank bosses can never take time away from their hectic schedules to unwind. Yet, in the midst of the mouth-watering revelry

that heralded the 60th birthday of billionaire oil magnate, Greg Uanseru, in Eko Hotel, Uzoka, was a standout surprise. A man that cannot be mentioned in the same breath with social butterfly, anything that has to do with his bosom friend, Greg, is always top priority. Soaking up the merriment without recourse to frivolity, Uzoka, cutting a picture of good health and happiness, tippled his favourite bubbly, shuffled and swayed intermittently and backslapped and chatted heartily with the purveyors of prosperity that crowded the soiree. Despite the elevation of the birthday banquet to an upper-class feast with fascinating luscious sights and vivacious sounds, not for the handsome, upbeat Kennedy who conveniently finished a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label, were the thoughts of the economic turmoil. He stayed till the wee hours and sure had a ball and a blast and a breather.

Kennedy Uzoka

Like Mother, Like Daughter: Zina Anumudu Catches the Fashion Bug

Zina Anumudu

Nkiru Anumudu

A fruit, it is said, does not fall too far from its tree. Zina Anumudu, the daughter of fashion enthusiast, Nkiru Anumudu, is a chip off the old block. The young lady, who is in her early 20s, has no doubt been bitten by the bug of her mother’s love of fashion. Dark-complexioned and pretty, Zina was sighted at an event in Lagos recently dressed to

the nines. She flaunted a beautiful outfit that put her great physique on display. Nkiru remains one of Nigeria’s most expensively dressed women. She and Zina have graced a number of red carpet events in company of each other and the younger Anumudu has received accolades for her exquisite style.

After the Storm, Risqua Murtala Muhammed Hits His Stride There is no gainsaying Risqua Murtala Muhammed, one of the children of the late Head of State, Murtala Mohammed and the boss of the indigenous oil and gas company, AMG Petroenergy Limited, displays unusual abilities and passion for excellence. He is rock solid in depth and proficiency hence his unfading appeal to the hierarchies of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

He is now extremely powerful in the oil and gas sector. Nobody jostles with him or butt heads with him within NNPC and the private business sector. So reputable is Riqua that he effortlessly commands the respect and loyalty of his numerous clients

and associates within and outside government and private business circuits. No wonder, he was one of the oil barons from the north that President Buhari gave crude oil lifting contracts. All thanks to the Mr President, Riqua has bounced back big time. Sometime back, the company was ordered by a Federal High Court not to tamper with their funds in any financial institution in Nigeria pending the hearing and determination of a debt recovery suit filed against them by Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB). GTB had filed the suit against the defendants (AMG and Risquat Mohammed) over their refusal to liquidate a multi-million dollars credit facility obtained from the bank despite

repeated demands of payment.

GTB granted AMG Petroenergy Limited two import finance credit facilities in the sum of $40 million to the defendants, with an additional existing term loan of N630 million, for the purpose of financing the establishment of local letters of credit in favour of NLNG, NNPC/PPMC and NGL to fund the payment of Gas/ Condensate/Naphtha lifted based on allocation to the company by the Federal Government. However, business did not go as planned and Risquat and his company defaulted in repayment. Today, Risqua is bobbing and weaving with excitement.

Risqua Murtala

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HIGHLIFE

The Expensive Silence of NAPIMS’ Former Boss, Dafe Sejebor

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ike a human giraffe, sniffing at mortals beneath his gaze, Dafe Sejebor, the former Group General Manager (GGM) of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), had the poise of a beautiful bride when he was in power. He was more or less a tingod. Friends and political associates worshipped the ground on which he treaded. Today, like all man-made deities, Dafe stopped resembling a ‘god’ or something like one after he was removed; he began to lose worth like the last fading smile of a cosmic Cheshire cat. Yes, they hardly talk about Dafe now unlike few months ago. At the end, everything passes into insignificance; power, fame and the applause of man’s most patronizing gallery too. And none other perhaps understands this much than Sejebor. Since he was replaced with Roland Ewubare, Dafe must have realised how fleeting power

and affluence could be. He reigned supreme. Guys worshiped him, ladies adored him, and whenever he appeared at social events in those days, ground literally trembled. No more is he the darling of every lobbyist, contractor and political associate with a plan.

He must have learnt too that there is no permanent enemy or friend, only permanent interest. With unbridled power at his beck and call then in NNPC, the present looked grand and the future looked even more promising. But today, things have changed. He certainly rides the tide of the rough, rude sea of the petroleum industry, like a stormhardened sailor. Today, he is not as relevant as he used to be NAPIMS nay NNPC’s power You couldn’t have forgotten so soon when Dafe was invited to sit before an investigative hearing conducted by the House of Representatives’ Committees on Petroleum (Upstream) and Public Procurement over an alleged $260 million “illegal” contract by NAPIMS.

Itohan Salami

Dafe Sejebor

Oil Magnate, Tunde Folawiyo, Hosts Classy Wedding For Sister The feast of the rich are never for the faint hearted; glamour and lyre, pageantry and cut stones are simply flashes of the cache unapologetically put on display; there is always more treasure to be showcased, more pleasure to be had.

Penultimate weekend, the wedding ceremony between Mojisola Folawiyo and Rotimi Oladapo took place in Lagos. The event was held at Habour Point Event Center, Victoria Island.

The bride is the daughter of the late Chief Wahab Olayinka Iyanda Folawiyo, the billionaire businessman and former Baba Adinni of Nigeria.

Predictably, the creme de la creme of the Lagos society circuit, turned out in large number at the event. They were at the event at the behest of the bride’s elder brother, Seriki Tunde Tijani Folawiyo and his siblings.

The event was planned and coordinated by Funke Buckner-Obruthe Zamphaire Event, while Shakirat Balogun of Bunnie Bees supplied the aso ebi packages.

Tunde Folawiyo with hubby, Mojisola

On Deolu Adeboye’s Enviable Lifestyle Deolu Adeboye navigates youth like one who knows that true maturity comes neither from a moment’s eloquence nor from creeping manifestation of age, but from enduring patience, tact and the accumulation of wisdom from a lifetime’s experiences. Deolu, the son of the General Overseer (G.O.) of the Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG), Enoch. A. Adeboye, conducts himself in such a way that evokes feelings of pride and enduring filial affection in his father. While his father dedicates himself to winning more

souls for the kingdom of God, Deolu commits himself to the expansion of his business and brainchild, Wisemen Apparel, a leading fashion house in Nigeria. And so doing, he courts neither scandal nor the characteristic excesses of many a celebrity scion.

However, while his father and siblings embrace a Spartan lifestyle, Deolu lives glamorously and makes no pretensions about it. He however, manages to temper his love of glamour and luxury with decency and judgment anticipated of the son of a popular and respectable pastor.

Deolu Adeboye

Where is Folake Itohan Salami?

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ne ‘star’ of the immediate past government who appeared like one that would shine for a long time was Folake Itohan Salami. Folake was not just another appointee when she held sway as the Executive Director, Business Development for the Nigerian Export and Import Bank (NEXIM).

She was powerful and ubiquitously influential during the era of former President Goodluck Jonathan. In actual fact, her influence as a key figure in the government earned her the sobriquet, “Patience Daughter” because she was highly favoured by the former first lady with whom she globe-trotted most of the time.

Times have changed, as she has since retired to her anonymous cocoon.

It is scooped in some quarters that she has relocated from Nigeria while others said she has been hibernating after going through a litany of litigation resulting from her alleged questionable stewardship when she was at NEXIM. Folake’s qualifications for her appointment at NEXIM came under scrutiny in 2015. She became a subject of interest when a civil rights group, the Centre for Social Justice, petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the appointment and activities of the former banker, which they claimed was undeserving. “As the situation stands, we have carried out private investigations on the credentials of the said Mrs. Folake Itohan Oke Salami and discovered that she committed fraud and told huge lies on oath in order to occupy the aforesaid position,” the letter written by CSJ read in part. The group, which is a coalition of civil rights groups, addressed a press conference claiming Salami had falsified her experience status in the banking sector to influence her appointment into that position.

The agitations put the divorcee and mother of two under blasts from some angles, and she has since disappeared from the radar.

AUGUST 19, 2018 ˾ T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

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HIGHLIFE

The Real Reason Kike Fajemirokun Filed to Divorce Louis Mbanefo

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he first time Kike saw Louis, she thought she had found her trophy of undying love. She held him with her eyes and dreamt of cuddling him in warm embrace.

Then she won his heart and her love flamed in his heart with wild, passionate intensity, like a bonfire of the vanities in the dark. Louis Mbanefo too, thought being married to a silver-spoon kid, Kike Fajemirokun, the beautiful daughter of Chief Dele Fajemirokun, would be magical. Hence he sought the hand of his belle in marriage. Kike agreed, out of love. On their wedding day, in London, the couple seemed overwhelmed with joy.

Louis, in particular, was full of enchanting songs. Butterflies flit around his stomach and the fireflies danced in his eyes like the orbs of the eastern muse. Everything was falling into place. He was marrying the woman of his dreams. But marriage isn’t music. Few months into their wedlock, things got really ugly for the couple. Like most of their silvers-poon peer, they couldn’t juggle the demands of marriage with the rage of their rich status.

Marriage became one great furnace to Kike. Realizing that she was the only one getting burnt while her husband was having a ball, she decided to cash out.

Hence she filed for divorce.

Like a rodent of the cesspool, fleeing the ambush of an unrelenting sewer cat, Kike filed for divorce to escape her troubled marriage with Louis, contrary to reports that it was the latter that requested for divorce. The marriage, according to sources close to the couple, soon became a prison-house for Kike. It became a dungeon, exactly like the ones built in an arena of flickering flames that scorches the body and scalds the eyes, in medieval times. Hence Kike’s decision to call it quits. Sadly, Kike and Louis’ marriage, like most celebrity and silver-spoon kids’ marriages, crashed and they have officially divorced. Although their marriage had all the trappings fame and money could give, their marriage was probably ill-fated from the start.

It is indeed sad to note that such an extravagant wedding which was held in London could last for only few months.

Sad! Kike Fajemirokun and Louis Mbanefo

On Oil Magnate, Funsho Philips’ Perpetual Bachelorhood

He was reputed as one of the wise men that made answer to the question, ‘When should a man marry? – ‘A young man not yet and an elder man not at all.’ Unrepentant bachelor, Funso Philips, probably subscribes to such witticism. To the consternation of friends and family, Funso, a copiously blessed dude, has refused to get married. This is no doubt amazing, given the fact that Funsho is endowed with all the

attributes that make a woman swoon over a man; he is rich, sophisticated and flaunts ruggedly handsomeness that could make even the most prim and proper lady weak in the knees.

Notwithstanding his folkloric status, Funsho is yet to settle with any of his female admirers. This has been severally attributed to his elitist temperament which continually sends many potential brides scampering away from him. Till

date, the dark dude has too many ladies seeking his attention and he never denies them anything from the abundance of his material and more importantly, physical endowments, it was reliably gathered. Lively, amiable and full of promise, Funsho has been linked with quite a number of ladies in the past but none has been able to win his heart for keeps. Though he allegedly has a lovechild schooling in an Ivy League school in the United

Kingdom, Funsho does not seem to be considering marriage anytime soon thus inciting speculations about his decision to stay single.

While some jocularly insinuate that he might be waiting for his daughter to get married before he also gets married, others aver that the rich dude simply dreads the hassles involved in getting married and staying married. Let’s hope he has a rethink soon enough.

Alleged Husband Killer, Maryam Sanda Names New Baby After Father in-law

maryam sanda with her baby

A mother’s twilight should be full of grace and unchecked splendor. But for Maimuna Aliyu, it descends in a haze of pain and sparse joy. Hope she nurtured in her youth unfurl in her twilight like frayed flags that quilt graveyards of unfortunate soldiers of humanity’s lost wars.

If Maimuna Aliyu thought motherhood was about getting old in bliss, she has learnt, albeit painfully, that it’s about losing the people you love.

Few months ago, her daughter, Maryam Sanda, the alleged killer of her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, on Wednesday in Abuja named her new born baby according to Islamic rite.

Maryam was granted bail when it was discovered that she was pregnant and there were no facilities to take care of her at Suleja prison.

The baby boy was named Bilyaminu, after the deceased father.

A family member, who craved anonymity, however, said that the delivery and naming of the new baby put paid to doubts and insinuations that Maryam was not pregnant.

Maryam was alleged to have killed

her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, on Nov. 19, 2017, through multiple stabbing and was arraigned alongside three other persons.

The three other persons, Mrs Maimuna Aliyu, Maryam’s mother; Aliyu Sanda, her brother; and Sadiya Aminu, her housemaid, were charged with conspiracy in the murder case.

The deceased, Bilyaminu, was the son of a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Haliru Bello-Muhammed.

Maryam was granted bail by Justice Yususf Halilu of the FCT High Court, Jabi, on the grounds that she was pregnant at the time of trial.

She was equally believed to be asthmatic and could not have faced the rigors of prison.

Affiku Kuje, Legal Adviser to Justice Halilu confirmed that Maryam was granted bail because she was pregnant, adding that it would be inappropriate to allow her deliver in the prison.

Kuje added that the Suleja prison facilities were not conducive enough to allow for save delivery, hence she was granted bail by the judge.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ AUGUST 19, 2018

Adebayo Adeoye bayoolunla@gmail.com; 08054680651

SOCIETY WATCH

Another Drumbeat of War Among The Sarakis?

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uch as the recent defection of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, from the All Progressives Congress, APC, and his running battle with the Presidency are talked about what appears to be the major topic of discussion, particularly among the people of Kwara State, is the dramatic return of his sister, Gbemisola Saraki, to the political terrain in the state.

The beautiful lady is throwing her hat into the ring for the Kwara Central Senatorial District, the same constituency, where her brother is currently representing at the Senate.

This development, according to political watchers, could yet be another war that may further literally tear the family apart.

It will be recalled that a serious crisis erupted within the family in 2011 when Saraki supported the incumbent governor, Abdulfathai Ahmed, against his sister, who was then his late father’s preferred candidate in the state’s governorship election.

At the height of the family feud, Saraki was said to have disclosed that it was morally wrong for her blood sister to succeed him in office as governor.

Now, the woman, who had also represented the constituency in the past, is allegedly planning to take her own pound of flesh on her brother over his failure to support her ambition seven years ago.

Also, the thinking in some quarters is that her return to politics is to score a point, especially as his brother is reportedly scheming to run for president in 2019.

Gbemisola, who had in the past represented Kwara Central Senatorial District at both the House of Representatives and Senate, experienced a sharp decline in her political career when she lost to Ahmed.

Ever since, her political profile has waned, leaving her with just an appointment as the Board Chairman of the newly established Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State.

Amosun’s Brutal Steps

I

t took many by surprise when Senator Adeola Solomon, a.k.a.

Yayi, reportedly withdrew from the governorship race in Ogun State.

Until the news broke, he had committed a lot of resources, both human and financial, towards the actualization of his dream.

But Society Watch can authoritatively reveal that Yayi was forced to drop his ambition in the face of stiff opposition from the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

Amosun is alleged to have used his closeness to President Muhammadu Buhari to put a spanner in the works of Solomon, whom he sees as a thorn in his flesh.

At various fora, Amosun had reportedly declared that Yayi would never succeed him at the Government House, no matter how hard he tried.

Though many have taken umbrage agaiinst the governor, he seems unfazed, relying on his closeness to the President.

Society Watch gathered that a few days ago, Amosun approached Buhari and the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, requesting that they restrain Yayi’s ambition.

“I would say he resorted to blackmail as he urged Buhari to order Yayi to drop his governorship ambition in Ogun State. He told the President

Amosun

that Tinubu should be able to command Yayi to go back to the Senate from Lagos since he is one of his boys.

“Amosun pointed out that since Asiwaju Tinubu is in charge of reconciliation in the party, he should

be able to talk to Yayi to drop his governorship ambition and go back to the Senate.

“He also told Buhari that the party should not continue to allow people like Yayi to disturb the peace of the party in Ogun State and that he should allow him to shop for a successor from the party,” said a source.

The source added that Tinubu told the Buhari that if what Amosun wanted was for Yayi to drop his governorship ambition, he had no choice than to cooperate with him.

It was also revealed that Tinubu informed Buhari and Amosun that the former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, would be asked to drop his ambition of going to the Senate from Lagos West.

According to the source, Tinubu stated that he only “rescued Obanikoro from the mess in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)” and that it was not a do-or-die affair for him to move to the Senate now.

Consequently, Buhari and Tinubu were said to have resolved that Yayi should drop his governorship ambition and allow Amosun have his way of producing the party’s candidate for the 2019 governorship election in the state while he (Yayi) should be allowed to return to the Senate from Lagos West.

Hajia Fatima Tukur’s Headache

Fatima Tukur

If a soothsayer had told Hajia Fatima Tukur that she would someday be abandoned by those she had helped, she would have dismissed the prediction with a wave of the hand.

But today, beautiful Hajia Tukur, who wielded a lot of power and influence when her husband, Bamanga Tukur, was the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, knows better.

Until recently, the youngest wife of the former old Gongola State governor was a cynosure of eyes at social gatherings.

However, as soon power changed

hands and her husband’s relevance in the political scene waned, most of her friends and beneficiaries who once turned her home into a Mecca of sorts have reportedly abandoned her, leaving her to her own fate.

Apart from the fact that she rarely attends public functions nowadays, she is also said to have abandoned her The Crying Child, a non-governmental organization, which was launched with pomp and circumstance in 2013.

But this may not be her only headache, as she is said to be nursing some other pains in her heart.

Segun Adewale: Tale of A Desperado

I

Bukola and Gbemi Saraki

t is no sin to be ambitious but it is bad enough to allow your ambition to blind you.

This is the tale of Lagos businessman and politician, Segun Adewale, a serial contender in Lagos West Senatorial District.

In 2007 and 2011, the Ekiti Stateborn multimillionaire contested election into the state’s House of Assembly, but lost amidst allegations of rigging.

In 2015, he also contested election into the Senate under the Peoples Democratic Party but was defeated by Senator Adeola Solomon.

Already, the man who was a factional chairman of the party loyal to Senator Ali Modu Sherrif before he was sacked by the court, has been described a confused and desperate

politician, particularly when he recently contested the governorship poll in Ekiti State on the platform of Action Democratic Party, ADP. The boss of Aeroland Travel has, once again indicated interest in becoming a Lagos senator.

Our source informed that he is contesting on the platform of the PDP, the party he dumped before going to Ekiti.

The source further disclosed that the man in the past few years has lost millions of naira to his political ambition, a development that took a toll on his businesses but he never cared.

“I don’t think anyone would reckon with him and trust him with their votes,” a source said.

Adewale

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SOCIETY WATCH

Ndidi Obioha’s Success Story High-flying Ndidi Obioha, CEO of Enthyst Events Limited, is a successful entrepreneur who has her fingers in many pies.

She runs an event management company, also a fashion and style consultant. In all of these, she has proven to be a success particularly when you consider the profile of her clientele.

The creative and brainy International Relations graduate of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) had worked in the advertising, financial as well as telecoms sectors before she launched

her own business, which has now given her fame.

She created Enthyst Fashion Klinic because of her passion for dressing people and being stylish.

For her, it is a case of turning your hobby into business. She recorded her breakthrough when she was engaged as the official stylist for the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria (MBGN) pageant.

Over the years, the woman of substance, who won the City People Magazine’s 2014 Most Stylish Young Diva of the Year, has been recognized locally and internationally.

Ogunwusi Obioha

Sola Adedoyin, Oba Alao’s Inspiring Love Story Princess Sola Adedoyin, the beautiful daughter of Chief Samuel Adedoyin, has tasted the seriocomic side of life, almost in equal measures.

When the former Managing Director of City Express Bank was hovering between life and death, having been laid up with cancer, no one, including her doctors, believed she could survive.

But the ordained pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, held on to her faith in God and she miraculously survived the ailment.

Shortly afterwards, her career was threatened when City Express Bank failed to survive the Central Bank of Nigeria’s new regulations. But the graduate of Marketing/Accounting from the St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia did not despair. As if that was not enough, her marriage to her husband of many years Adeoti, later hit the rock.

Oba Alao and Sola Adedoyin

Abimbola Kasamu’s NewFound Love

F

or some time now, Bimbola Kasamu has been living her life to the hilt. Even those who have encountered her say she doesn’t look like anyone who is troubled in anyway. Apart from the fact that she relocated to Lekki, Lagos State, she is seen with some high-flying guys around the country.

Though some of the people who have seen her are happy for her, tongues are still wagging about her single status, after her marriage to Yomi Folawiyo crashed in 2017.

Society Watch gathered the source of her newfound joy could be connected with her new man, an Abuja- based flamboyant pastor. The Edo state-born pastor as disclosed is showering her with so much love and gift items.

While the marriage lasted, both Yomi and Abimbola were a delight on the

social scene.

Sadly, a few years into their marriage, there were rumours of a crack in the wall of their marriage. Many had hoped that they would do the best within their power to resolve the issue threatening the foundation of their marriage. But they seemed to have made up their minds to go their separate ways.

Though it was widely reported that Abimbola was very cantankerous and disrespectful to Yomi, a source close to the couple hinted that Yomi did not just feel secure with her presence around him since he was hit by an ailment that has reportedly confined him to the wheelchair.

Abimbola, owner of Her Majesty Skin Care Products, is a niece to Senator Buruji Kashamu. Her mother is one of the daughters of the late Ijebu-Ode multimillionaire, Prince Bode Oshinusi.

Abimbola Kasamu

Not Yet a Wedding Bell for Oba Ogunwusi!

S

ince his celebrated marriage to beautiful Olori Wuraola crashed, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, has been linked to several ladies.

Though the revered monarch has always denied any romantic affair with any of the ladies, it seems he will have to contend with such tales for a long time to come. Reason: many beautiful ladies are practically throwing themselves at him.

In the past months, a number of women have reportedly tried to outsmart one another in the bid to worm their ways into his heart, but none could be said to have been successful.

Sometime ago, a fair-complexioned lady, Abishine, who posed for a photograph with him was mistakenly touted to be the replacement for Wuraola. At that time, many had said that the Ojaja had even paid the bride price to her parents in Abeokuta, Ogun State. But this was quickly dismissed as a wicked rumour.

Also, another lady touted to be the next Olori was Bolanle Emmanuelle Ropo. But she later came out to deny the claim.

As if that was not enough, it was once rumoured that the dark-skinned royal father planned to take one 27-year-old Tobi Philips, a top model and former beauty queen, as the next Olori.

Yet again, just last week, the rumour mill was agog with the story of his romance and possible marriage to the co-convener of Hope Alive Temitope Adesegun.

But as soon as the story hit the street, it was refuted by people very close to the Oba, saying, “It was sponsored by some unscrupulous elements. It is nothing but an element of farce and falsehood.’’

Also, Prince Jide Fadairo, CEO, House of Oduduwa Foundation and husband of Princess Folasade, the monarch’s eldest sister, described it as a fairy tale taken too far.

“Ooni’s marriage cannot be done secretly; it involves not only the Royal family, but also the Yoruba custom and a lot of elders. Our tradition is to be taken into cognizance. Please, dismiss the story; it is fake news.

“That is not on His Imperial Majesty’s mind. Marriage is not something he wants to do right away. Many names have been bandied around, but I can tell you the time is not propitious for the monarch, who is immersed in the renaissance of Yoruba culture and promotion of the race’s customs and traditions globally,” he said.

Another confidant and friend of the Ooni, Muyiwa Leroy Afolabi, said: “Kabiyesi will carry every Ile-Ife’s son and daughter along whenever it’s time to pick another Olori (Queen) for us.

Let’s always verify the fact before sharing it.”

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KEMI LALA AKINDOJU: TELLING NAKED STORIES PAGE 70

PUBLICATION

19.08.2018

ARETHA FRANKLIN

THE SOUL OF AMERICA DEPARTS...

EDITOR OKECHUKWU UWAEZUOKE/ okechukwu.uwaezuoke@thisdaylive.com

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ARTS & REVIEW\\TRIBUTE

ARETHA FRANKLIN: THE SOUL OF AMERICA DEPARTS...

Death may have snatched away the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin but not her imprints on music scene, writes Yinka Olatunbosun

I

t was only a matter of time.

The news of the impending death of the worldacclaimed Queen of Soul, Aretha Louise Franklin, had been travelling at a super-sonic speed for days with the world watching, helplessly. Finally, she took a bow on August 16 after a protracted battle with pancreatic cancer. This 18-time Grammy Award winner was more than just a pianist, singer and feminist, she was the world’s blueprint for soul music artistry.

“In one of the darkest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our heart,” according to a statement released by her family to CNN. “We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family.

The love she had for her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins knew no bounds.”

“We have been deeply touched by the incredible outpouring of love and support we have received from close friends, supporters and fans all around the world,” the family’s statement added. “Thank you for your compassion and prayers. We have felt your love for Aretha and it brings us comfort to know that her legacy will live on. As we grieve, we ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time.”

Franklin’s voice vehemently intruded into normal radio broadcasts back in the 1980s.

It would nip plans to tune to another station in the bud. It was as though there was a conspiracy in those days to play her music on radio. There was no Google then to ask why Franklin’s voice was everywhere, even on television shows like Soul Train. Dedicating an exercise book to writing down songs and listening to OAPs for the corresponding names at that time when presenters had the habit of introducing the song and the recording label before airing it seemed to be the only alternative.

In later years, it became clear that good music earns a natural ubiquitous status, with massive airplays and aggressive ascension on the music charts.

Franklin made such tremendous impact in music cultural life with her medley of hit songs like Late Aretha Franklin “Respect”, “Think”, “(You Make fondly and in fact as “Michigan’s Natural Resource” Me Feel Like A Natural Woman)”, “I Say a with no disrespect to another Detroit ambassador, Little Prayer”, “Don’t Play That Song (You Eminem, who is a multiple Grammy winner and Lied)”, and the collaborative song, “A Rose first rapper to win an Original Song award at the Is Still a Rose”. Like most African-American Oscars, Eminem. musicians, she cut her teeth in music from Back to Franklin, she was a great friend to the civil the church, performing gospel songs at rights’ activist, Martin Luther King. She broke into the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, mainstream music with songs about women liberaMichigan where her father was a minister. tion. A case in point is her signature song, “Respect”, She lost her mother at 10 and was raised by released in 1967, a period that was marked by civil her grandmother. She learnt to play the piano right movements in United States of America. It was by ear and grew thick skin to comments and like a maternal necessity on Franklin’s part to lend a questions about her early pregnancy. She was voice to social liberation at the tempo and crescendo reportedly pregnant at 12 and by 15, had two that was compatible with her mezzo-soprano. That children. She would later be twice her lifetime explains songs like “Spanish Harlem”, “Young, a bride, and blessed with two more children.

Gifted and Black” and “Lady Soul”.

Her father was a charismatic preacher who The commercial success was a crowning touch to attracted a lot of celebrities to their home. One her hard work in and out of the studios, switching of them was Clara Ward, whom Franklin took from Columbia to Atlantic records for the good as a role model. stuff. She had an enviable portfolio: 41 studio Till her death, Franklin would be described albums, 112 singles on Billboard, 17 top-ten singles,

45 songs on top 40 music chart, 100 R&B entries, 20 number one R&B singles, remaining the most charted female artist in the Billboard chart history. She won 18 Grammy awards, eight of which was in the Best Female R&B Vocal Performance category, in consecutive years. It meant that from 1968 till 1975, any artist nominated in that same category with her must come to the Grammys with handkerchief.

Franklin will be remembered as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 75million records sold worldwide. She is arguably the most decorated female artist of all time, perhaps, owing much to a scandal free career, prestigious performances before a President and a Pope. In 2005, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from George Bush and a National Medal of Arts from President Clinton. Prior to that, in 1979, she received a star in the Hollywood Walk of

Fame and in 1987, she became the first woman to be inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Grammy Hall of Fame.

If those details are not impressive enough, perhaps the video of her 2015 performance at Kennedy Centre Honors online would dispel all doubts.

Her rousing vocal performance evoked emotions in the audience including former President Barack Obama, who couldn’t help a few tears. Hitting the piano with a profound sense of possession to accompany the song, “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman”, she left the audience in a standing ovation situation.

Franklin’s one of the few women of colour to have made it to the cover of Time Magazine in her lifetime. One amazing fact about Franklin was her unwavering interest in new music artists. She was adopted as an honorary aunt by the late R&B diva, Whitney Houston who called her “Auntie Ree”.

Recently, she did a cover of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” which travelled up the music charts upon its release. Before then, she worked with Lauryn Hill in “A Rose is Still A Rose”, which is a song to cheer up a woman who is always falling into bad relationships. The song has some ingredients of Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians’ song, “What I Am” and was her last top 40 hit song.

Franklin’s health decline started in 2010 when it was first reported that she underwent a surgery for an unknown ailment. She initially debunked the rumours about the pancreatic cancer that was making rounds in news media.

She embarked on a weight loss regimen because she gained weight after she quit smoking in 1992. Her post-surgery recovery necessitated cancelled shows, less tours and less performances.

Her battle for life started again last year and since the beginning of this year, there has been calls to pray for Aretha Franklin.

The story of her life had inspired biographers one of whom is David Ritz, who said in an interview that it took 18 years to get Franklin to work on her biography and autobiography. She had left the world in awe, leaving no question on her voice being a symbol of civil rights and equality.

Meanwhile, in a tribute deemed disrespectful to the music icon, the US President Donald Trump thanked the late musician for working for him before alluding to her exploits.

“I want to begin today by expressing my condolences to the family of a person I knew well.

She worked for me on numerous occasions. She was terrific – Aretha Franklin – on her passing,” Trump was quoted to have said at a White House cabinet meeting.

This was before he followed up with the following tribute: “She’s brought joy to millions of lives and her extraordinary legacy will thrive and inspire many generations to come. She was given a great gift from God – her voice, and she used it well. People loved Aretha. She was a special woman. So just want to pass on my warmest best wishes and sympathies to her family.”

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OLUJAZZ’S FIRST HOMECOMING CONCERT Stories by Yinka Olatunbosun

O

ne of Nigeria’s finest jazz music exports to the United States of America, OluJazz is returning home with a jazz revolution on August 26 in Lagos. OluJazz, who had been performing in Nigeria before relocating to Los Angeles, California will also launch his two albums during the concert scheduled to take place at the Shell Hall, MUSON Centre. The co-headliners for the show include Wole Oni, Tim Godfrey, Ranti, Lawrence and the Covenant, Onos Ariki and IBK. OluJazz began his romance with wind instruments in the 90s starting with the trumpet.

He demonstrated other multi-instrumental skills with his dexterity with the drums, clarinet, flutes amongst others. In 2003, he started playing saxophone. “I had already understood from childhood that I was going to be a saxophonist. but there was no saxophone around then. Those in music shops were very expensive and I could not afford it,’’ he told THISDAY. Fortunately, he met some people who assisted him. He enrolled at the Peter King School of Music in Badagry, Lagos where he learnt to play the saxophone. He would practice for three hours every day for about six years. Eventually, he left Nigeria for the US and studied more about the saxophone for another two years.

EXHIBITION A Solo Show for Wire Paintings

Y

esterday, the first solo exhibition of wire paintings by Tolulope Michael Okunlola opened to the public at the National Museum In Onikan, Lagos. Titled,Audacious.

This show is a compilation of experimental project by Okunola whose interest in using copper wire as a medium of painting led him on this audacious course.

The 2012 graduate of ObafemiAwolowo University originally specialised in painting. He began teaching art in secondary schools where he earned a very meagre salary. He kept developing his skills by locating a wire work centre where he could learn to make fashion accessories with copper wire. From time to time, he’d remind himself that he was an artist so he wasn’t going to be a jewel designer.

The wire work techniques opened his eyes to the possibilities of painting with copper wire. So, he invested a large chunk of his salary in wires.

The first wire painting he attempted taught him some lessons. “My salary then was N18,100 at the school in Ibadan. I would take N5,500 to buy the material and it wasn’t enough to complete the work. I thought to myself that this is an expensive venture so, I stopped for a while,’’ he said.

During his service year at Delta State, he was able to raise more money to buy the wires. In all, the first work took about four and a half months to complete. He was glad. Okunlola is not contented with being just an ordinary artist but one who makes outstanding statements with his works.

When a friend of his saw his first wire painting, “The Birth of Wire�, he advised him not to show it an any group exhibition yet, but to keep producing more like it for future show.

The future has arrived now for this artist as the Director, TRIAD Studio in Obalende, DotunAlabi found his pieces intriguing.At the press preview of the works in Lagos recently,Alabi described the forthcoming show as “control testing� for the artist’s experimental paintings. “Isolation is not good in valuing works,� said Alabi who runs a studio that is designed to groom young talented artists.

The works, mostly made of wire, glue and gum has great durability. The artist offered suggestions for good maintenance of the pieces during the interactive session. “You can just dust it with brittle brush and picture vanish�’ he said. Some of his 30 pieces for the exhibition include “The Celebrant�, “African Queen�, “Inevitable Feelings, and “Reflections�.

His works are predominantly steeped in Yoruba cultural life and world view. For instance, the painting titled, “Orisun EdeAyan�, meaning “The Source of Drummers’ Language� brings the viewer face-t-face with the significance of the tonal expressions made by the drummers.

This solo exhibition runs till Friday,August 24.

Olujazz

OluJazz had been dubbed a talkative on the saxophone by the comedian, Kofi for his peculiar way of playing the instrument. “He likened it to the way a saxophonist would speak in tongues,� he explained. “He said I couldn’t be calling myself OluSax anymore because of the way I performed which he observed to be deep so he called me OluJazz D’ SaxTalkative.�

His homecoming concert is to show that Jazz can have a cross-over appeal regardless of where it is performed. “It promises to be a soldout show as everyone that matters in the society will grace the show. Government officials, politicians and corporate big-wigs.

We are hoping to make it an annual event,’’ he disclosed.

For the three-hour show, which will be preceded by a cocktail at sundown,

OluJazz will collaborate with other musicians from the urban music category.

OluJazz, who hails from Kogi State, has performed at Santiago Jazz Festival, Chile and California. He has had music tours in countries like France, Germany, Ethiopia, Canada, Brazil and Puerto Rico sharing the stage with music legends such as Gerald Albright, Richard Bona, Kenny G, Hugh Masekela as well as Nigeria’s Omawunmi and Tiwa Savage.

Though away from the Nigerian music scene for a while, he had kept tabs on the development and is quite impressed with the quality of music productions by Nigerian music artistes. But as regards the predominant lyrics of popular music, he has his own preference, with no apologies. “I am a moralist. I don’t play music that are out of the norms. I am a gospel musician and a minister of God. Souls are not won in the church alone. We have to go to the hood and win souls.

Some people are criticized gospel musicians who feature secular musicians in their songs. To me, I don’t see anything that is wrong with that as long as the artist is pure in heart.�

His assessment of the cross-cultural music variations across the borders had taught him a few things about the rich African cultural heritage. “Every European music actually comes from Africa,� he claimed, citing the variations in different genres. This music thorough-bred is arguably one of the most influential contemporary jazz musicians from Nigeria.

The Inverted Pyramid; Adapted from a novel by Emeka Dike

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ARTS & REVIEW\\ENCOUNTER

KEMI LALA AKINDOJU: TELLING NAKED STORIES Vanessa Obioha

O

ne Tuesday afternoon, actress Kemi 'Lala' Akindoju hooked up with Dara Shyngle, Brenda and Kenneth Uphopho to discuss the narrative and direction of her show, Naked, which was performed, recently. It was the second time the play would be staged for Lagos audience.

The first show took place in February at Freedom Park Lagos Island, as part of the British Theatre Festival. Lala who played the character in the one-woman show was exceptionally lauded for delivering a spectacular performance.

A famed Nollywood talent, Lala gave life to the poetic lines of Titilope Sonuga, a celebrated spoken word artist, as she held her audience spellbound with the riveting tale of a woman's journey – navigating through life, love and career until she finds her path. Drawing from her own experience, she narrated the struggles of being a woman; from discrimination, success, failures to low expectations.

At first, she was sceptical about the idea. There was so much about her in the public space. As a Nollywood actor, people remember her for her daring roles in Tunde Kelani's Dazzling Mirage, Kunle Afolayan's The CEO, and more recently Biola Alabi's film, Lara and the Beat. A drama instructor herself, she also runs The Make It Happen Production and has produced some of the most talked about plays in Nigeria including the V Monologues, The Wives and London Life, Lagos Living. In real life, her bold decision to play the best man role at her best friend OC Ukeje's wedding further proved her valiance But when it came to revealing her journey to the public, she got cold feet.

"I always wanted to do a one-woman show," she said. "Brenda has insisted that it was time.

I thought we would find a story to tell and perform something. Then the first meeting we had, Brenda and Dara thought it would be better if I tell my personal story. They are quite close to me so they know a lot about me. I was like no way I'm going to tell my story. People don't really know me that way and I'm okay with that.

“But Brenda insisted that I have to share my story. She suggested that my friend Titilope Sonuga write the poems. I was hoping to get some encouragement from Titi when I spoke to her about it but she shocked me instead. She felt it was the only way for me to really pass

Akindoju the message across. Moreover in the industry now, truth and vulnerability is the only form of storytelling that people are really interested in.

People are tired of the facade."

Despite her fears, Lala couldn’t ignore the persuasive voice urging her to go the extra mile. Before she knew it, she and Brenda were co-producing Naked while Dara assumed the role of associate producer and Kenneth, the director.

Naked served as a metaphor for Lala to bring to the open certain issues that are whispered in the closet.

"The first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word naked is no clothes. And if we look at it, if we all stripped now, there are things our clothes, inner garments are hiding.

But when we wear our outfits, we look the way we want the world to see us or the way we

are feeling at the time but it is not the way we really are. The core of this show is really about conversations of how we really are, using myself as a point of contact. It's worse now because now there are so many things to talk about. There is pressure, social media, false aspirations that people have and nobody is really telling the truth about their journeys, even insecurities. There are many things that many have gone through but they are ashamed to talk about it. There are failure stories, people only want to share their success stories, and nobody knows the number of ‘nos’ you got before you got that one deal. So I thought maybe if we should share this, we can start getting people to be honest and talk about their highs and lows. It is okay to be on the low side but our mustn't stay there. You must get back to your feet."

For its second run, however, Lala and her

partners flipped the script. Still embedded in feminism, the creative brains opt to tackle other issues that most women grapple with but are barely discussed.

Celebrated author and feminist Chimamanda Adichie's latest squabble in the media was a starting point for the discourse.

"She didn't say that a man shouldn't open the door for a woman," Lala voiced out strongly to her colleagues. They were in a sparsely furnished living room in a residence on the Mainland.

None of the women was preened for this interview. They were all dressed casually with no make-up. The women were so engrossed in their discussion that they didn't bat an eyelid when this reporter walked in.

"People misinterpreted her," added Dara.

Sometime in June, Adichie was pilloried on social media for condemning the chivalry act of men opening doors for women during an interview with South African comedian and host of the Daily Show, Trevoh Noah.

"I think gestures like holding the door shouldn’t be gender-based," Adichie said. "I think it’s a lovely thing to hold the door but we should hold the door for everyone. Like, I hold the door for men and for women. And so I think the idea of someone holding the door for a woman because she’s a woman is what I have trouble with.

“I’m quite happy for people to hold the door for me. But I’m like, hope they’re not doing it because of this sort of idea of chivalry. Because chivalry is really about the idea that women are somehow weak and need protecting. But we know that really, there are many women who are stronger than men," concluded Adichie.

It is from this standpoint that Lala and her friends chose to approach feminism for the production.

Feminism means different things to these women. It goes beyond shattering of glass ceilings, but rather cast a light on humanity as the basis for gender equality.

"I totally agree with Chimamanda," remarked Lala. "The thing with most feminists today is that they choose the period they want to be feminists.

Sometimes they are feminists, other times they are the weaker sex. The point she made about women being put aside because they are weak during crisis is very critical. It really has to stop.

If we really want to base a woman's weakness on hazardous circumstances, what about the children, people with disabilities, the old and sick ones?

(See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

PHOTOGRAPHY

Emotions at the Grand Finale of Fashola Photography Foundation Prize Yinka Olatunbosun

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t was a long wait for the winner of the 2018 edition of the Fashola Photography Foundation Prize to be announced. The sensual sounds of the bass player set the stage for suspense. The premises of the Temple Management Company in Victoria Island, Lagos had been transformed generously into a lush view to welcome the children of the Late Alhaji Ademola Fashola including the Honourable Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola and wife, Dame Abimbola Fashola.

For the second time, a female photographer has emerged as the winner of the photography competition which was instituted to immortalize the legacy of Late Ademola Fashola who had passion for photography.

The winner, Ebun Akinbo, who incidentally is the only female finalist at the workshop leading to the contest, is a full-time photographer. She edged out nine other contestants to win the top prize of Canon EOS 5D as well as an exclusive exhibition at the Lagos Photo Festival in October.

She humbly thanked her other competitors for their support throughout the season which in her words “didn’t feel like a competition.’’

The emotions written on the faces of the other finalists who didn’t get any consolation prize countered the winner’s statement. It was indeed a competition for they were apprehensive and

FPF participants and facilitators with Hon Minister, Babatunde Raji Fashola and family later quite blue when they left the stage without The grand finale came on the heels of a any of the mouth-watering prizes. week of free intensive workshop where the The second runner-up, Oyedeji Fawaz and salient aspects of photography such as street the 1st runner-up, Nnamezie Asogwu won photography. documentary making, video art Apple Mac Book Air and Nikon D7100 respecand portraiture as well as curatorial and technical tively. Other finalists at the workshop who were skills were taught. honoured with the certificates of participation Professional photographers with years of include Anthony Onyejesi, Ralph Eluehike, experience and street sense made up the team Adedokun Oluwatoyin, Akhenebiri Joshua, of facilitators at the workshop. These include Adekunle Bryan, Christopher Nelson and Uche Okpa Iroha, Charlotte Langhorst, Adeola Stephanie Ugwu.

Olagunju, Uche James Iroha, Isaac Emokpae

and Tam Fiofori. More interventions came from other facilitators such as Emmanuel Oyeleke, Oyinda Fakeye, Abraham Oghobase, Lukman Olaonipekun and Logor Oluwamuyiwa Adeyemi.

At the maiden edition of the Fashola Photography Foundation Competition, the duo of Vivian Nwobi and Kehinde Yusuf emerges as winners. They were honoured with an all-expense paid trip to a month-long training course at the New York Film Academy.

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CICERO

Editor:Olawale Olaleye Email:wale.olaleye@thisdaylive.com, SMS: 08116759819

IN THE ARENA

In the Name of Politics President Muhamamdu Buhari’s refusal to assent to the Electoral Act amendment bill appears a decision informed more by political considerations than the stated constitutional reasons, writes Olawale Olaleye

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or an inauspicious second time, President Muhammadu Buhari last week vetoed some of the proposed alterations to the Electoral Act amendment bill, this time citing likely constitutional infraction. These drafting issues, the president reportedly said could affect the interpretation and application of the principal act.

In separate communications to the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Buhari held that some of the provisions of the bill could adversely affect the operations of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), with the elections just a few months away.

Curiously, the veto, in a sense meant a rejection of some of the other critical clauses in the amendment bill, including the use of electronic card readers for the conduct of the 2019 general election; the constitutional intervention into unintended succession crisis as was experienced in the case of Kogi State governorship election and also not reckoning outright, the issue of the timing for party primaries, which proposes a time not earlier than 120 days and not later 90 days to the elections.

Although the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang, who confirmed the development, had also maintained that a third bill on the same subject passed on July 24, 2018, was still pending before the president, close watchers of the polity have said the president’s decision could awfully impair a credible electoral process.

Unfortunately, when this is compared to some of the recent events in the nation, what it brings to mind is the failed third term agenda, alleged to have been proposed then by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Apart from the third term agenda of that year, which the entire nation had vehemently Buhari signing an Executive Order...recently opposed, the constitution amendment of 2006 had several other critical and important provisions what it means is that the floor might have been opened that were germane to the development and growth of to all sorts of manipulations, including conjuring figures the nation but thrown out altogether, thus discarding the and numbers to make up for a certain candidate and baby with the bath water. party.

Relatedly, Buhari’s rejection of the Electoral Act The controversial emergence of the Kogi State Goveramendment bill has thrown out three very important nor, Yahya Bello, is still fresh in people’s minds. Bello, issues that could have not only helped with a credible who came second during the party primaries, was picked 2019 elections and thrown up impressive process, but to replace the late former governor of the state, Abubakar addressed some unintended electoral shortfalls that Audu, who died before he was declared winner of the might crop up as Nigeria progresses in her journey of 2016 elelction as governor in 2016. nation building.

The development, which created an emergency For instance, the card reader remains one important constitutional crisis, had left the filling of the vacuum at factor in a largely credible election. Recall that the the mercy of the already biased political leadership of the election of the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike party and state, which bypassed Audu’s running mate, was thrown out at both the Tribunal and Appeal Court Hon. James Faleke and settled for Bello, who was not part levels, but it was upheld at the Supreme Court, because of the campaigns, to inherit the collective effort of Audu of the factor of card reader, which the apex court refused and Faleke. to admit as part of the process. But the rejected amendOf course, the reason the rejected amendment bill ments would have addressed the issue. proposed that the conduct of party primaries should be However, with Buhari’s refusal to assent to the bill, at a time not earlier than 120 days and not later than

P O L I T I CA L N OT E S

S Osinbajo

90 days to the main election, was to contain the issue of time that might creep into the process. But this too was thrown out for sheer political considerations.

Interestingly, when these issues were allegedly raised

by Senator Abubakar Kyari from Borno North during a meeting between the APC leadership and senators elected on the platform of the party penultimate Monday in Abuja, National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshimhole, was said to have told them that the decision was imperative for political reasons, because they would not take a decision that could give the opposition undue advantage.

Sadly, what the whole power game signifies is nothing altruistic but an engagement that seems to massage their ego and protect the interest of a few at the collective expense of the masses. The throwing out of the amendment bill will naturally take its toll on the 2019 elections, evidently indicating again, that nothing instructive has been learnt by this rather self-serving crop of political class.

Osinbajo: The Deal is Sealed!

ome of the political commentaries on the fate of Acting President Yemi Osinbajo as the running mate to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 have been quite distasteful. The idea alone that there is a move to drop Osinbajo has pervaded the polity especially considered as part of the winning extrapolations for the 2019 presidential election.

But this misconception was cleared last week by the Presidency, when the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said Osinbajo would run on the same ticket with Buhari, adding,“Decisive victories in senatorial and state assembly elections in Katsina, Bauchi, Kogi and states were an indication that the Buhari/Osinbajo presidential ticket that won the 2015 election will ensure an encore in 2019.”

Perhaps, those pondering the idea of a different running mate from another ethnic stock to balance, in their imagination, some of the current imbalances in the polity as well as position themselves for the 2023 elections would have to return to the drawing board for a review. At least, it is clear now that Osinbajo’s 2019 deal has been sealed.

After all, it is a known fact in close power corridor that there is a move by the cabal to upstage Osinbajo and bring in a running from the South-east, and invariably, pave the way for aYoruba Senate President, because according to them, there is a general consensus amongst theYoruba leaders that with the way incumbent Senate President Bukola Saraki has managed that office, it is definitely better to seek that office in 2019. But with this development, plans have changed.They may have to let go.The Osinbajo deal is sealed!

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ AUGUST 19, 2018

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BRIEFINGNOTES UN Report and How FG Is Building a Terrorism Industry with Ransom Payment A recent United Nations’ report accusing the Nigerian government of paying huge sums of money to secure the release of kidnapped victims calls for collective concern, writes Olawale Olaleye

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xpectedly, the Nigerian government has come out to deny a recent United Nations’ report that, contrary to official template narrative, it actually paid huge sums of money in ransom to secure the release of the over 100 schoolgirls kidnapped on February 19 by the Boko Haram insurgents from Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State.

In the “Twenty-second report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team submitted pursuant to resolution 2368 (2017) concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals and entities,” which was submitted to the UN Security Council, released July 27, 2018 but monitored Thursday, the UN said a “large ransom” was paid by the Nigerian government to obtain release of the Dapchi schoolgirls.

An excerpt from the report stated: “In Nigeria, 111 schoolgirls from the town of Dapchi were kidnapped on 18 February 2018 and released by ISWAP on 21 March 2018 in exchange for a large ransom payment.”

Frowning upon the development, it noted that such an approach is what has continued to fuel terrorism.

Signed by the coordinator of Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, Edmund Fitton-Brown, and Chairman, the Security Council Committee, Kairat Umarov, the report added that “Boko Haram (QDe.138) and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have had a similar impact in their areas of control, including the Lake Chad basin. The predominance in the region of the cash economy, without controls, is conducive to terrorist groups funded by extortion, charitable donations, smuggling, remittances and kidnapping.”

However, insisting that no ransom was paid to secure the release of the Dapchi girls, the federal government in a statement in Ilorin, Kwara State, by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, challenged anyone with evidence of payment to publish such. ”It is not enough to say that Nigeria paid a ransom, little or huge. There must be a conclusive evidence to support such claim.

Without that, the claim remains what it is: a mere conjecture,” he had said.

This sharply contrasted the report which harped on the fact that the cash economy currently being operated by Nigeria was substantially aiding the activities of Boko Haram.

The report which focused on the activities of terrorist groups was submitted to the UN Security Council committee, TheCable, an online news portal, had reported.

The UN was even the more disturbed

Boko Haram insurgents on the move

that a number of doctrinally based nongovernmental organisations sending funds to local terrorist groups had been on the increase, adding that member states were concerned that radicalisation was increasing with commensurate threat level.

“The predominance in the region of the cash economy, without controls, is conducive to terrorist groups funded by extortion, charitable donations, smuggling, remittances and kidnapping. In Nigeria, 111 schoolgirls from the town of Dapchi were kidnapped on 18 February 2018 and released by ISWAP on 21 March 2018 in exchange for a large ransom payment,” the UN claimed.

Seeing it for what it is, the thrust of the UN report is not totally new. Since the Muhammadu Buhari government has been making efforts at rescuing kidnap victims, especially from the den of insurgents, there have been mixed feelings in the country on how the deal might have been brokered.

Often times, two theories have consistently been propounded. While there are those who alleged that there were terrorists-kidnap victims’ swaps during some of the deals, others claimed outright payment of huge ransom for many of such releases. In other cases, however, there were allegations that what went down in some of the deals were both money and swaps.

From the foregoing, it stands to reason that there must have been some elements of facts in the report of the UN much as government would not want to admit to.

The truth is that the Buhari government has been dishonest with its situation report on the insurgency in the North-east. From the government’s boasting of technical defeat to celebrating a flag that had been dismissed as fake and claiming to having rescued the recently kidnapped Dapchi girls, the government has dishonestly moved from one deceit to another with reckless abandon as far as security is concerned.

Little wonder that while the government relishes in its folly most of the time, reports of constant onslaughts by the terrorist group have always proven to the country, further exposing the insincerity of the government.

It was either that a military convoy was ambushed or their base was sacked by the insurgents, carting away the already insufficient weapons of the Nigerian troops and many of their men either killed or missing.

It also stands to reason that with a recent report, which alleged that hardened terrorist fighters were being sneaked into the country, there is a plausible conclusion that they probably found the country one of their comfortable operational bases in terms of mobilisation and financing.

To begin with, how does anyone even reconcile the fact that many of the terrorists, who were initially caught and arrested by the nation’s security agencies, often with the help of their counterparts in neighbouring countries, were let off the hook, either through funny court judgments or official conspiracy.

There is no debating the fact that negotiation is part of the ways to contain terrorism.

However, whenever the indiscretion of the insurgents scales up abysmally, the expectation is that the government should go all out to tackle the menace in a way that boosts the confidence of the people.

Like it or not, this debate is not whether the government accepts the UN report as true, it is that the report has turned out a damning verdict on the insincerity of the current administration in the fight against insurgency, especially that of combating insecurity, remains one of the campaign tripod upon which Buhari was elected as the president.

The government must review its strategy and take a position on how best to tackle insecurity without as much sustaining insurgency as an industry. If hard choices were not made with respect to this escalating menace and instead, government chose to negotiate its way out of every unsavoury juncture, then, insurgency might have found a haven in Nigeria.

NOTES FOR FILE

Taming the Fake News Generation

Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture

One of the reasons those, who would give anything for authentic news reports would continue to wait for a reassuring authentication from the traditional media is the current culture of fake news, which has become the insignia of the social and new media.

So, when the social media breaks new development, the traditional is waited upon to authenticate. This is where and how the lovers of genuine news reports are able to sift authentic news reports from the often trending fake news.

Interestingly, the culture of promulgating fake news is not peculiar to Nigeria or Africa alone.

Indeed, the President of the United States, Donald Trump has fought the menace of fake news almost since he assumed office. He had, at different times, gone out of his way to speak

about fake news and its effect on nation building and even called certain media outfits unprintable names.

In Nigeria, however, it is a growing culture, which constitutes serious danger to the health of the nation. Often, reports capable of setting the nation on fire are just concocted by some impossible minds, shared by their gullible allies and before anyone knows it, it would have become what everyone would need to come together to fight.

As it is, there is a compelling need to tame the fake news generation. At least, someone must know there would be consequences for either master-minding or being an accomplice to sharing fake news. That way, the society may begin to savour some respite.

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Ashiru

Kish

Sidi

Yero

Hunkuyi

Mikati

A Peep into Kaduna’s Governorship Race The battle to unseat Governor Nasir El-rufai of Kaduna State by aspirants from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party is real. John Shiklam reports

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ith the gale of defections in the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the alleged non-performance of Governor Nasir El-rufai of Kaduna State in the past three years, the chances of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 elections in the state appear bright.

But this may not come easy unless the party presents a credible and acceptable candidate.

The chances of the PDP will also depend on its capacity to manage the contending political interests among its diverse stakeholders especially, the political heavyweights and the array of governorship aspirants, who have indicated interest in the party’s ticket.

How the PDP conducts its primaries and how it manages the grievances and discontents that always crop up at the end will also determine whether it could wrest power from the incumbent governor.

Desperate Nigerian politicians are always fond of defecting to parties that can give platform for their ambitions. These are some of the challenges the PDP in Kaduna may face if its primaries are not conducted satisfactorily.

An official of the party, who pleaded anonymity, said the “PDP cannot afford to mess itself up this time around. We have learned from our ugly experiences in 2015 and we will not repeat such mistakes again. It will be at the detriment of all of us if we don’t unite,” he said.

He confided in THISDAY that in order to ensure the party is not polarised along key interest camps like Senator Ahmed Makarfi and former Vice President Namadi Sambo, a gentleman’s agreement had be reached between them to avoid showing preferences for any aspirant.

An official, who confided in THISDAY, added further that the party leadership was considering bringing all the aspirants together to a round table to explore the possibility of a consensus candidate.

“If that doesn’t work, then we will have to go for primary elections. But first, the candidates must discuss consensus among themselves. Everything was done to ensure fairness and justice in producing a candidate.”

According to the official, “We will conduct free, fair and transparent primaries if attempts at a consensus candidate fail.

The APC in the state has failed woefully. El-rufai has little or nothing to show for all the promises he made. Some of his policies have inflicted pains on many people, so the stage is ripe for PDP in the Kaduna to take back power in 2019.

“But we must do everything possible, including sacrificing our personal ambitions in order to defeat him. That is what we have been preaching to our members especially, those who are aspiring to contest the governorship ticket.”

Among those who have indicated interest in the state’s top job are Hon. Isah Ashiru, a former lawmaker; Mr. Jonathan Adamu Kish, former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice; Mohammed Sani Sidi, former Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA); Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi; a former governor of the state, Mukhtar Ramalan Yero and Shuaibu Idris Mikati, a businessman.

Isah Ashiru

He is from Kudan local government area of Kaduna State in the Northern senatorial zone. He is a former lawmaker, who served two terms each in the state House of Assembly and the House of Representatives.

He represented Kudan state constituency in the state assembly between 1999 and 2007, and after serving two terms, he was elected to the House of Representatives, representing Kudun/ Makarfi federal constituency for another two terms between 2007 and 2015.

A master’s degree holder in Public Administration, Ashiru was the chairman of the Kaduna State House of Assembly

committee on Appropriations and Implementation.

In 2014, he left the PDP for the APC and contested the party’s governorship primaries with Governor El-rufai and three others.

He lost the ticket to El-rufai, who defeated him with 1,965 to 1,379 votes.

Ashiru is seen as one of the major contenders of the PDP ticket and is believed to enjoy the support of prominent PDP stalwarts in the state. He said the APC administration has brought about poverty, hunger and increasing wave of violent crimes on the people and should be voted out in 2019.

Jonathan Adamu Kish

Kish is from Kaura Local Government Area in the Southern Kaduna senatorial zone. He is one of the emerging political leaders in the zone.

A former lawmaker in the state House of Assembly, Kish also served as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice during the administration of the late governor Patrick Yakowa.

Kish said his desire to seek for the governorship ticket is out of his desire to serve the people. His catchphrase is: “The people, my heart beats”. He said his approach to governance will be totally different with the people as his focus.

“Running for this position is not a decision you take just like that, it requires a lot of extensive consultations, which I have undertaken over the years,” he said.

Kish is one of those, who are optimistic that the PDP would return to power in Kaduna State in 2019 and urged El-rufai to start writing his handover notes.

“This government should start writing its hand over notes.

They should prepare to leave, because the citizens of Kaduna State are not happy. We have never been this divided. The government doesn’t seem to have respect for anybody. I do not see how this government could get its mandate extended,” he said in an interview.

Mohammed Sani Sidi

Sidi is from Kagarko Local Government Area and holds a master’s degree in business administration. He was a special assistant to the former finance minister, Nenadi Usman between 2003 and 2007. He is seen as a political godson to former Vice President Namadi Sambo.

Under the Sambo administration as governor of Kaduna, Sidi served as commissioner in the ministries of Environment and Natural Resources, Works and Transport and Culture and Tourism from 2007 to 2010. He was appointed Director General of NEMA in 2010, following the elevation of Sambo as vice president. He was relieved of the position in April 2018, by the federal government.

Speaking at the declaration of his intention to contest the governorship ticket, Sidi said his decision to run for the position was informed by his passion to rescue Kaduna from total collapse.

“My desire to run for the office of Kaduna State governor springs from my burning passion to rescue our dear state from systematic destruction. My aspiration is a rescue mission – to save our state from further drift into total collapse.

“My vision for Kaduna State is one of a peaceful, united and prosperous state. God has endowed our dear state with abundant human and material resources, and one of my main goals is to provide the necessary visionary leadership that harnesses these resources together to transform the state for our collective good,” he said.

Mukhtar Ramalan Yero

Like Sidi, Yero too owes his rise to limelight to former Sambo, who is believed to be his benefactor and political godfather.

An accountant by profession, he worked at a private firm, Nalado Nigerian Limited, owned by Sambo. He was appointed Commissioner for Finance, when Sambo was elected governor in 2007.

Yero was later appointed by the late Governor Patrick Yakowa as deputy in 2010, when Sambo was appointed Vice President and Yakowa, who was deputy governor, became governor. However, in December 2012, Yero became the governor following the death of Yakowa in a helicopter crash in Bayelsa State.

He was the candidate of the PDP in the 2015 elections, but was defeated by El-rufai due to what observers described as “his lackluster and clueless administration” in Kaduna State. He is said to have since fallen out with Sambo shortly before he left office as governor.

In June this year, he alongside three others, were arraigned by the EFCC at the Federal High Court sitting in Kaduna, over alleged money laundering. They were arraigned on a four-count charge, bordering on laundering over N700 million in 2015. The case is billed to come up on September 26, for hearing.

He said his decision to run again was informed by the genuine concern of the people and the numerous calls he received, urging him to contest. He said governance since May 29, 2015 has been a series of half-hearted trial and errors, with disastrous consequences on the people.

“I believe that my humble track record of academic achievements and working experience in both the private and public sectors have earned me tremendous knowledge, skills and capacity to understand the multiple expectations of our people across the state” he said.

Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi

He is one of the APC defectors, who returned to the PDP recently. He was once a member of the PDP before moving to the APC in 2014. He is seen as a kingmaker. He headed the campaign that led to the victory of the APC in 2015.

In 2003, he also headed the Makarfi campaign team. He was a close ally of El-rufai before they fell out and became bitter political rivals. In this heated rivalry, his house was demolished by the state government for allegedly violating “land use laws”, when he converted the house to the secretariat of a faction of the APC. He has vowed to ensure that El-Rufai does not return in 2019.

For rejecting the $350 million World Bank loan approved to Kaduna state, El-Rufai has also vowed to ensure that Hunkuyi, senators Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central) and Danjuma Laah (Southern Kaduna) do not return to the senate on the platform of any political party.

An educationist, Hunkuyi was a teacher before he ventured into politics.

He was a one-time Chairman of Kudan Local Government during the Babangida transition programme. He was commissioner for finance during Makarfi’s first term as governor from 1999 to 2003. He has defected from the PDP on several occasions only to return to the party afterwards.

In 2003, Hunkuyi defected to the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to contest the governorship election against Makarfi, but lost.

He later returned to the PDP to also contest for the governorship primaries in 2007 and 2011 unsuccessfully.

Shuaibu Idris Mikati

He is a business man and a former manager of Dangote Flour. Mikati has contested the governorship in 2007 and 2011, but lost at the primaries. He brags of his vast experience in the private sector and wide contacts in the business and corporate world.

He said he has ideas that will transform Kaduna State for better development and insisted that only a credible candidate could defeat the incumbent governor.

“I believe I have goodwill to move Kaduna to greater heights.

We should look deep down and see who PDP can present that will match the incumbent in terms of knowledge, intelligence, ability and performance,” Mikati added.

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Akpabio and APC leaders at his defection rally

What is Akpabio Worth in APC? Former Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio’s political weight and influence are currently being called to question with his recent defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress, writes Okon Bassey

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hen the news first filtered out that a former Senate Minority Leader and immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio had defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the people of Akwa Ibom had initially received it in disbelief. The Akwa Ibom chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the elders in the state had said it could not be true, because Akpabio never hinted at such an adventure let alone consulted them.

However, his formal declaration to the APC on Wednesday, August 8, 2018, appeared to have partially caused panic in the state. Many of the citizens, who were at the Ikot Ekpene township stadium, actually went there to see and also confirm the defection story of Senator Akpabio to the APC. Akpabio came to political limelight, when he contested and won the governorship race in the state in 2007 and succeeded to do a second term in office in 2011. Although he had been a commissioner in the state for eight years, his emergence was not an easy task following a strong opposition by his predecessor, Obong Victor Attah, who would rather someone else.

But elders in the Eket and Uyo Senatorial Districts, prevailed on Obong Attah to allow Akpabio emerge as the governor of the state. Attah saw reasons and gave up the fight. On board now as the new governor, Akpabio, knowing that he had no godfather in the state following the experience of his emergence, had quickly built his own political empire across the state. And for the period he reigned, he was generally described as a generous giver.

The support given to him mostly from the Ibibios ethnic group culminated in many decisions he took to build the state and to produce Governor Udom Emmanuel as successor to the proponent of uncommon transformation of the state.

Since Emmanuel came on board, he had tried to ensure that his predecessor and benefactor, Akpaabio was not a victim of witch-hunt given his perceived misdeed as governor. The opposition APC had on many occasions demanded of Emmanuel to publish statements of accounts of the state left behind by the former governor, to which he allegedly declined each time he was faced with such requests.

Curiously, the relationship between Akpabio and Emmanuel started to grow bad last year, when Akpabio laboured to find fault in the administration of the state, including alleging that Emmanuel had abandoned some projects he initiated. Little did Emmanuel know that Akpabio was planning his exit from the PDP, and needed to justify his decision.

Thus, while announcing his decision to join APC, Akpabio started by saying he was first a nationalist.

“People are saying why APC? You need to know that I

Here, Akpabio visited Buhari in London am a nationalist. In trouble times like this when a country is at war, all hands must be on deck to salvage the situation. This is a difficult time in Nigeria, when insurgents are attacking us from Bornu, all the way to Plateau, through Benue to Taraba, Adamawa and even up to Akwa Ibom.

In a period of a national emergency, everybody should put hands together to support the government, to bring peace to the people”.

But reacting to Akpabio’s defection story, Emmanuel said he was not perturbed by his predecessor’s action. At a solidarity visit by local government chairmen from the 31 council areas of the state, vice chairmen and councillors, the governor noted that every person was entitled to exercise his fundamental human rights of free association.

“The political atmosphere is helping to deepen democratic governance and reinvent the consciousness of the PDP that every member would be proud of,” he said.

Since Akpabio’s defection, pressure groups have continued to pay loyalty to Emmanuel.

The State Chapter of PDP also appears not shaken by Akpabio’s defection. On the contrary, the party urged its faithful not to take Akpabio’s defection as serious, because of who he is, even as he has not attempted to remove his name from the party register in his ward, Ukana West 2 in Essien Udim

“For the few persons (all of whom were his personal staff, relatives or former employees) whom he showcased as co-defectors, their respective ward chairmen are charged to immediately delist them from our register”.

The party disclaimed the story that the entire members of the National and state assemblies were joining him, describing it as either a very expensive joke or an outright lie.

“The Speaker and other 24 members of the Akwa Ibom state House of Assembly are intact” he said, except two who defected with him, adding that the two members of the House of Representative, who defected with him, might have serious challenges returning in their constituencies.

The party also announced the resolve to commence legal action to activate the provision of section 68 of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria (1999 as amended) as it relates to the erring legislators.

“Nigerians are watching keenly to see how the actions of the defectors will match their defection sermon. But did we hear Senator Akpabio well? When he mentioned Tropicana? We hereby demand that Senator Ben Bruce accept the challenge thrown by the former Senate Minority leader to either complete the Ibom Tropicana or give reasons why it could not be completed, in addition to why it took so long Also, the leaders of the state, who spoke under the

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CICERO/ REPORT t‘WHAT IS AKPABIO WORTH IN APC?’ Continued from Pg. 74 umbrella of Akwa Ibom State Leaders Vanguard, said Akpabio’s defection was a big relief to the Emmanuel administration, noting that with his exit, a new era for the state administration had commenced.

They described Akpabio as a defiant senator that Emmanuel had over the years tolerated his overbearing influences, huge debt burden left behind, uncompleted projects fully paid for and other negative legacies he left behind.

Spokesman for the group, Senator Anietie Okon, said Akpabio’s defection to the APC called for celebration by every genuine lover of Akwa Ibom State.

“It calls for celebration, because finally we have the biblical Jonah out of our boat of progress. Henceforth, Governor Udom Emmanuel will fully focus on the development of Akwa Ibom State with every financial resource at his disposal instead of being distracted by a so-called political godfather with huge basket of demands.

“His decampment is a welcome relief to the PDP, both at the state and national levels. This is because of the moral and political burden of managing a party member, who was daily facing threats of prosecution, a development that brought shame and reproach to the party. It was unbearable. By divine arrangement, God has lifted that opprobrium from us and had taken it elsewhere.

“Governor Udom Emmanuel will no longer spend meagre resources of the state in endless legal interventions whenever anti-graft agencies move against Senator Akpabio,” he said.

The leaders also announced the withdrawal of the recent endorsement of the people of Ikot Ekpene senatorial district for Akpabio and declared his seat vacant, stating that the action was not a sign of anger or disappointment but necessary, because Akpabio failed to consult the people, whose mandate he is holding.

They further disclosed that Akpabio left the PDP, because he had become dissatisfied with what he was getting from the state administration, declaring that the burden of PDP had been taken over by APC. Commissioner for Information and strategy in the state, Mr. Charles Udoh, said the governor still remained focused as the defection of Akapbio would not cause major changes in the state executive council, although Akpabio’s nominees are the highest.

On how the state government received the news of his defection, Udoh said, “The signs were clear. The governor shows respect to his predecessor. This government is not playing politics with governance. You will never hear him abuse the minority leader and he (Emmanuel) acknowledges him severally”.

Explaining why the governor sacked two commissioners, an action being interpreted as fallout of the Akpabio defection, Udoh merely debunked claims by Mr. Victor Antai, former Commissioner for Culture and Tourism and Barrister Ibanga Akpabio, former Commissioner for Labour and Productivity that they resigned and not sacked and left it at that.

Truth is that Akpabio’s defection is not being taken kindly by the people of Eket and Uyo senatorial districts especially, when recalling what happened in 1983. It was another political disappointment, when the Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District was said to have betrayed their son, Clement Isong from Onna LGA in Eket Senatorial District to pick second term ticket as the Governor of then Cross River State.

Emmanuel is from Onna and Eket Senatorial District of the state. Akwa Ibom is traditionally PDP state the defection may only reduce the winning streak of the party in 2019 and not alter it completely.

When Akpabio visited Tinubu in the countdown to his defection

Emmanuel’s Show of Strength

In a move designed essentially to balance whatever threat that Akpabio’s defection constituted to the chances of the PDP in the state especially, his rally, the PDP too had immediately announced a formal endorsement rally to honour Emmanuel.

Tagged ‘Eket Senatorial District Mega Endorsement Rally’, the event for Emmanuel has been scheduled to hold tomorrow, Monday, August 20, at the Onna Township Stadium, the same venue as Akpabio.

The Media and Publicity sub-committee jointly headed by member of Mkpat Enin state constituency, Hon. Otobong Ndem, and Mr Ekerete Udoh, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, stated that the occasion would be chaired by Sir Etim Okpoyo, former Deputy Governor of the state.

“Among reasons cited for the celebration of the Governor by his senatorial district are his ingenuity, which has led to numerous industries, job opportunities, free education with WAEC fees, stability in power supply, improved healthcare delivery, affordable and sufficient food supply and security, and lots more,” read the statement.

Recall that the Ikot Ekpene and Uyo senatorial districts had recently rallied support in separate endorsement ceremonies, where Emmanuel was unanimously put up for a second term.

However, ahead of tomorrow’s rally, women in their thousands and drawn from the three senatorial district, last week, marxhed through the streets of Uyo, the state capital in support of Emmanuel’s re-election.

The women, who sported different traditional attires, sand and danced around the streets before berthing at the Government House, where they declared loyalty and support for Emmanuel and also vowed to mobiloise support for him, while at the same time throwing shades at Akpabio.

The current power standing in the state would put to serious work, the strengths and weaknesses of both leaders, more so that the difference in the voting capacity of

At one of Emmanuel’s endorsement rallies their people is about one hundred thousand. As a result and because the state is traditionally PDP’s, Akpabio has to first double his efforts with a view to leveling up before he is able to duel competitively with the governor.

Indeed, there is a general admission amongst the people and analysts alike that Akpabio’s defection might have made Emmanuel’s re-election much easier than it

could have been as well as further entrench the foothold of the PDP in the state.

But whilst such remains in the realm of speculation, there is every opportunity for this extrapolation on both sides to be brought up to reality and that opportunity would be made possible during next year’s general election.

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SUNDAYINTERVIEW Rear Admiral Peter Ebhaleme

Ebhaleme

Photo: Julius Atoi/THISDAY IMAGES

Current Crisis in Nigeria Is History Repeating Itself Rear Admiral Peter Ebhaleme, the author of ‘From Cassock to the Sword’, understands the nuances of Nigeria’s polity like the back of his hand. The former member of the Gen. Sani Abacha regime’s Provisional Ruling Council and later that of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, in this interview with Funke Olaode, posits that Nigeria is going through the vicious cycle of history and his optimistic that the storm will soon be over.

Ebhaleme, who had once served as the governor of Cross River State and chairman of the Military Pensions Board, also narrated his encounter with Abacha –how he was summarily dismissed from the Presidential Villa – and his time with Prince Charles of the United Kingdom

C

ongratulations on your birthday anniversary. How would you say life has treated you in the last 70 years?

I must say that life in the last 70 years has been as Paul the Apostle said, ‘I am what I am by the special grace of God.’ The grace of God has sustained me through the seminary and the military; through all the trials and tribulations. It is only God otherwise I don’t know how I would be alive. God has done everything for me: delivered me from challenges, tribulations, (assassination) attempt on my life, the stroke I had and many accidents. But I came out victorious. Thus, I have been motivated to write an autobiography (which was launched in July when I turned 70) to share my story and motivate others.

That autobiography titled, ‘From Cassock to the Sword,’ revealed a lot about your early life. Why did you abandon the seminary for a career in the army at age 16? Were you influenced by your father who fought in World War II? No. Naturally I am a very adventurous person. As I said in the book, when you stole my father would not cane you he put a tag or label around your neck with the inscription: ‘As you see me so I am a thief, I stole …’ depending on what was stolen. I would have to carry that to school for two weeks. The Reverend Father saw me with it several times so he asked me to come and live with

him and that was why he pushed me into the seminary. I went there because of the influence of the Reverend Father, Father Chukwudozie of blessed memory. I can say that my going into the Nigerian Armed Forces was by providence and my adventurous nature. During the holidays, I saw a young soldier about my age in British uniform who was attending a military school. Incidentally, I found out that we studied the same subjects (Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics).l I marvelled and asked, ‘You’re a soldier?’

And he said, yes. So I could say peer influence in a positive manner motivated me to join the military. So out of adventure I joined the army. My father did not know but found out when he saw me returning home with army uniform rather than a cassock during the holiday.

You partook in the maintenance of peace as a ‘boy solider’ during the first military coup of 1966. What was your experience like? How has that episode changed your view about Nigeria as the ghost of that era continues to haunt the unity of the country?

Generally, after the coup there was a general upheaval; what we called ‘AWARE’, meaning let’s divide. You know there were a lot of killings, especially Igbo and a lot of people were brutalized. We tried our best to do our jobs.

The most horrifying experience was when some people ran into the church, they were chased and slaughtered. I remember the reverend father of that church committed suicide because he could not stand it. Unfortunately, it seems as if history has been repeating itself as the nation

is currently going through a trying period. I believe that Nigeria has a role to play in the comity of nations. The devil is the one fighting but will not succeed – when and how we’ll triumph, I don’t know. But God will help us out.

You served in the Nigerian Navy and according to you – in your book –, you did what others did and got away with it. Was it a godfather factor or what helped you?

No. I did what others did and got away with it; the things I did I don’t know how many army officers would have got away with them. I stood by my faith. In Calabar, I said I would not touch what is not mine. It is the reason I showed Admiral Murtala Nyako my testimony in form of my autobiography. I brought him the day of the book launch to share the testimony because he knows all that happened in 1995. In 1990, I nearly lost my life because I said don’t steal and I insisted I would not be part of illegality. In the Military Pensions Board, I said I wouldn’t touch a dime. If I did, may I not live. I am what I am by the grace of God. You became a member of the highest ruling body under the Abacha regime and later that of Gen. Abdulsalami. Do you have any regrets being part of those regimes?

Sincerely, I have no regret because the Bible says all things work for good for those that love Him. God is alive

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CICERO/INTERVIEW t ‘CORRUPTION IS EVERYWHERE AND THE MILITARY IS NOT EXEMPTED ’ tContinued from Pg. 76 and I believe He is only allowing some of these things so that we can come out stronger. I am happy I have served this country and I am still serving. My faith is what is holding me. I won’t want to do anything that when the heavens hear it, they would be ashamed of me – that is my stand and I have tried to maintain it.

In that book, you said you had a lot of issues with Abacha on law and principles. What gave you that courage to confront the man many feared to face?

The truth is that when we went for the Navy board meeting, for instance, Gen. Sani Abacha was a man who didn’t work with the rule of law. Let me give you an instance: If someone commits an offence and the person is court-martialled, perhaps two years loss of seniority or two years’ imprisonment. He (Abacha) might disregard it. It was very embarrassing. I would say to the chief of naval staff, ‘let’s tell this man what the law says.’ When I began to quote the law as it says in my book, I would think he was enjoying what I was saying. Instead he asked, ‘Did I send you to read law so that you can come and quote it to me in the Villa?’ So he asked me to walk out of the Villa. I have to trek from the Villa to the gate. It was very embarrassing and it’s an experience I can never forget.

Again, while other military officers were retired, you were one of the officers chosen to remain in service after May 29, 1999. How would you rate Nigeria’s democratic setting in the last 19 years?

I believe strongly that we are still a nation under construction. What we must know is that we are still young in democracy compared to other nations that are over 200 years old in democracy. You must agree with me that this is the first time that we have a steady democracy and there are bound to be mistakes. People learn from their mistakes. All these years after the first coup, we know that it has been one military interruption or the other. I believe that where we are now is a learning stage and whatever the mistake we are going to come out of it.

If we compare ourselves with Malaysia and all these Asian Tigers, we should find out how many years they spent in democracy before they got to where they are. I would say that civilians should be allowed to learn from their mistakes and we are going to grow better.

You once attended Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, St. Vincent Division, with Prince of Wales, Prince Charles. What’s your experience? Was Prince Charles given preferential treatments?

Prince Charles was not given any preferential treatments.

Sincerely, he attended classes like us. The only difference was that we didn’t have access to his result because it was not placed on the notice board like every other person’s.

And also as a senior officer in the Navy, he put his cap under his armpit – it means ‘don’t disregard me’. When you see him coming, his cap is under his armpit so he nods. Besides that, there was nothing different. The truth is that he was very humble.

You started your career with the late Gen. Teidi, Tunde Ogbeha and Sen. David Mark. How would you describe your experience with these men?

In the case of Gen. Teidi, he was my childhood friend and we have come a long way from the military school.

Teidi helped to boost my academic progress. He was more experienced than me. I was his best man at his wedding and I was with him the night before his death. It was a loss and I cannot forget. As for Tunde and David Mark, we are good friends or we were good friends, especially in sport as I mentioned in my autobiography. David Mark was an all-rounder just as Tunde. They were extremely good at sport, especially football. We call Tunde ‘flying Jones’ as a goal keeper – a ball would not pass through him. He used to fly like a butterfly and David Mark was always a centre forward. It was an attraction to watch football. They were also good at hockey and golf. These men were excellent and represented military schools even up to national level.

Why didn’t you join politics like them?

Even though we all started military school together I believe politics is a calling and if you’re not called, you’ll crash. I look at myself as a professional soldier. I joined the

R-L: Vice –President, Prof YemiOsibanjo; celebrant, Rear Admiral Peter Ebhaleme (rtd) and wife, Elder Dorothy Ebhaleme during 70th birthday celebration and book launch in onour of the Rear Admiral Ebhaleme held recently in Abuja

military at the age of 15. My ambition was to be at the top as a general. I didn’t leave the seminary as a result of any deficiency; it is a calling which I decided to take.

In your days as a naval officer, illegal oil bunkering was hardly unheard of. These days vessels miss on the high sea with allegations that naval officers connive with pirates and bunkerers. What is your take on this?

What it happening there is as a result of high level of corruption. Corruption has eaten deep into the fabrics of our very existence and a fight against corruption is the most difficult thing to do because corruption must fight back. Eradicating corruption is a process and it takes the grace of God to fight corruption in Nigeria.

As a one-time chairman of the Military Pensions Board, you narrowly escaped being lynched by pensioners who besieged your office in Ikoyi in 2001.

What actually went wrong?

In any system when you attempt to fight corruption it must fight back. It is everywhere – the military is not exempted. It is not an easy task: you must be ready to face it. But I thank God the committee that probed the cause of the attack on me at the Military Pensions Board was able to get the truth. To God be the glory, Dr. Uyi was delegated all the way from London to give account of what happened. The report is very clear and I was vindicated.

God used him to save my life. Initially, he was on the side of the pensioners, believing the Federal Government was unfair to the people who fought the war and the same man was the person God used to save my life.

But you were later summoned by the National Assembly to give account of N32 billion. Has the issue been laid to rest?

After the coup there was a general upheaval; what we called ‘AWARE’, meaning let’s divide. You know there were a lot of killings, especially Igbo and a lot of people were brutalized. We tried our best to do our jobs. The most horrifying experience was when some people ran into the church, they were chased and slaughtered. I remember the reverend father of that church committed suicide because he could not stand it. Unfortunately, it seems as if history has been repeating itself as the nation is currently going through a trying period

The report of the National Assembly on how generals looted pension funds released in September 2004 tells the story. I am humbled by the report. Sometimes, I ask myself: am I so good? I know this can only be God and I give God the glory.

Displayed in your living room – for everyone to see – is the military uniform torn by the pensioners.

Seventeen years after, why do you still keep it here?

I have kept it in a glass case to always remind me that if not for God I would not be alive today. Therefore, I am determined until I take my last breath. I will not eat the king’s meat. Like Esther said, ‘if I perish, I perish.’ So keeping the torn cloth is a reminder.

With the Mainagate pension saga that seems to have been swept under the carpet. What is the way forward to ensure that Nigerians no longer labour in vain?

The truth is the pension saga is just a minute microscope of the main picture of overall corruption in Nigeria and still it takes Nigerians to have a change of mindset that we came to this world with nothing and will go with nothing.

Sometimes I see emancipation of wealth as a disease because you cannot sleep on two beds at the same time.

You can’t drive two cars at the same time. Sometimes, you start wondering about the amount of money individuals amass – it’s frightening.

You claim to heal the sick during your sojourn in the navy. At what stage did you go ‘spiritual’?

I couldn’t have claimed to heal the sick because I’m not Jehovah Rapha. Whatever happened is to the glory of God because God uses human vessels to do his work and I am privileged to be a vessel of honour. In 1990, I tried to give my life to Christ through the instrumentality of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International (FGBMFI).

Even though it was a work in progress, working out my salvation I caught the Rhema in 1994 like Esther and I said I would not go back to my vomit.

What is it about Nigeria that keeps you awake at night?

Sincerely, I don’t have anything about Nigeria that keeps me awake at night because I believe that weeping may endure a night but joy cometh in the morning. I can see Nigeria coming out gloriously to take its rightful place in the comity of nations. It is an emerging giant in the world economy. I look at Nigerian sociopolitical challenges as a temporary setback. It is just as one is going through the wilderness, which is not a permanent. I see Nigeria coming out stronger in spite of all its problems and difficulties.

I have very strong hope and believe that tomorrow will be a better day for Nigeria.

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SOCIALMEDIABITS Last week on social media, the Vice President overhauled SARS, Solomon Dalung got schooled by FIFA, and Davido proclaimed a new dawn for Osun State in Port Harcourt...

E

arly in the week, one of Nigeria’s most accomplished footballers decided to hang up his boots. Victor Moses announced on Twitter that he was retiring from the Super Eagles to concentrate on club football and his family. Slipped into his statement was that he would like to give the next generation an opportunity to wear the Eagles’ colours.

His decision is surprising because he’s just 27. He’s supposed to be the leader of the new generation he’s stepping aside for. Many Nigerians his age would rather the political class step aside instead. For example, Sports Minister Solomon Dalung.

Dalung was the second reason Nigerian football was in the spotlight last week. It still

is; the country’s teams may be banned from football activities by FIFA tomorrow.

Apparently, in a bid to keep pushing his preferred candidate as Nigeria Football Federation President, Dalung allegedly sent a request to FIFA to visit its Zurich headquarters with a 17 man delegation that included Chris Giwa, who is banned by FIFA. Let’s just say Dalung was shut down by the football governing body and given a lesson in the right way to approach matters relating to Nigerian football, which is to go through the NFF president recognised by FIFA, Amaju Pinnick.

The sports minister’s misadventure led to Cont’d on pg 81

with DEMOLA OJO demola.ojo@thisdaylive.com

AUGUST 19, 2018 ˾ T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

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SOCIALMEDIABITS an appeal to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo: get rid of Dalung and save Nigeria the embarrassment. You can understand why Nigerians think this is an option. The Vice President’s sack former DSS honcho Lawal Daura penultimate week is still fresh in our minds.

And early last week, he followed it up with a directive for the infamous anti-robbery squad which went by the acronym SARS, to be overhauled. From reactions on Twitter however, this isn’t enough. They’ve been calling for the IGP’s sack too. ‘Overhaul’ is a nebulous word they argue. There’s probably some merit to the argument. Apparently, SARS still exists, but under a new acronym – FSARS. On the plus side, the social media campaign to EndSARS certainly got loud enough for the presidency to notice. Another example of the power of social media to effect change. More please...

Meanwhile, the agenda that an effective Police Force goes beyond just clamping down on one of its units was pushed during the week when the VP’s wife and the wife of the

president attended a conference on the role of Defence and Police Officers’ Wives in National Defence, Peace and Security. Really?

In what should be considered more important news, five Nigerian teenage girls won a major tech award despite their limited tech knowledge. It’s another reminder of the potential waiting to be unlocked in millions of Nigerian youths, if only they’re empowered.

On the subject of youth and their power, Davido is deploying his to help his uncle and Osun PDP win the governorship contest in the state. Despite “serious and damaging irregularities” in his documents, Senator Ademola Adeleke was cleared by a court to contest elections because he doesn’t need a certificate to prove he was educated to secondary school level. Wow! What’s the use of a certificate then?

You certainly don’t need one to understand what IK Osakioduwa did with his ToastingTuesday example. You might need one to understand Assistant Commissioner of Police Yomi Shogunle, and his Sallah ram tweet.

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AUGUST 19, 2018 ˾ THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

THE COVER

Oshiomhole dances at a party rally as other leaders watch

The Inside Story of Oshiomhole’s Failed Coup The siege, penultimate Tuesday, to the National Assembly, which eventually cost a former Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura his job, has been told from different angles with different accounts often in bits and pieces. There has not been a sequential details of what truly transpired. However, THISDAY was able to break through some senators, who offered detailed information on what happened the night preceding the siege and the Tuesday turmoil. They also provided insight on the planned impeachment of the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, explaining why it might be difficult to unseat the duo. Olawale Olaleye writes

NIGERIA I t was Tuesday, August 7, 2018 and time was 8p.m. Office of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, situated on 13, Aso Drive, Abuja, had already been flooded at the time by APC senators. A text message had been sent out the previous night by the Senate Leader, Senator Ahmed Lawan, who was assigned the task of rallying the other senators for such meetings.

Why a majority of the senators had arrived early as instructed, Oshiomhole and some other senators considered members of the inner caucus of the president and the party like Senators Ali Ndume, Abdulahi Adamu, Hope Uzodinma, Ovie OmoAgege and Abdullahi Gume arrived by 11pm, a move that suggested they had met earlier at another venue.

Some of the senators, who had been waiting before the ‘grand arrival’ of their leaders, were of the view that Oshiomhole and others had probably met with the then Director General of DSS, Lawal Daura, at a separate venue before coming for the meeting. Oshiomhole and his cohorts had suspected there were moles among the senators and so were not carried along in their meeting with Daura.

Upon arriving, Oshiomhole laid the template for the discussion that was to ensue, describing the meeting as one of political survival and relevance for the attendee senators. He told them that the party

understood the challenges that some of them were going through in their respective states, adding that the meeting was meant to address those issues with the assurance that they would all secure automatic tickets, for as long as they remained loyal to the party.

Soon after laying the template, Omo-Agege introduced the issue of Saraki’s defection and alerted the gathering almost immediately that the main thrust of the meeting was to perfect his removal “by any means possible”, addressing also the imperative of urgently reconvening the Senate for the new leadership that was to be installed.

Just as he gave his submission, Senator Danjuma Goje interjected and said if Saraki must be removed to which he had no issue with, there were laid down procedures and that the removal might be impossible without two-thirds of the senators which he reckoned would be difficult to secure given the current situation.

He, therefore, advised that the gathering should be guided by the rules of the Senate and the constitution of the land, that history would not be kind to them if they went outside the known rules of impeachment, which is not the same as electing the leadership.

Sensing that the deliberations had begun to prove difficult, Oshiomhole took over the floor and said pointedly that Saraki was a traitor, for whom the APC had done a lot of favour. He promised to list

some of the things the party had done for him at a later date, but for now, his impeachment could not wait.

The APC Chairman senators that he and Acting President Yemi Osinbajo had done everything humanly possible to prevent Saraki’s defection, but later discovered that he was merely buying time for himself, adding that when they realised this, they decided to “smoke him out of the party”.

He also posed a direct question to some of the former governors now senators, who were present at the meeting, that as governors would they have allowed an opposition lawmaker head the legislative arm of their government?

He therefore reiterated that Saraki must be removed at all cost and as such, charged all the APC caucus members in the Senate present at the meeting to make the decision a personal assignment on behalf of the party.

With his disposition, senators were said to have concluded that the national chairman had obviously come to the meeting with a mindset, such that positions had already been taken on all issues and that whatever they felt or said did not matter at that point in time.

Even when he was asked which was to come first between removing Saraki and reconvening the Senate, he said he must be removed first, to which Cont’d on Pg. 84

2019

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SUNDAYCOVER

The Inside Story of Oshiomhole’s Failed Coup

Tinubu...the unseen hand

Lowering the Standard of Party Chairmanship By his own design, the one thing the Comrade Adams Oshiomhole chairmanship of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has exposed in political governance and administration is that the office of the national chairman of any political party, much less a ruling party, is by far a much bigger responsibility than being the governor of a state – not even Lagos State – the most cosmopolitan in the country.

Clearly, the administrative immaturity of Oshiomhole, which was unduly glorified by his headship of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and concealed through mediocre elevation of his reign as the Edo State governor has merely been put to simple test as the national chairman of the APC in less than a month of assuming office.

Character, acceptable minimum attitudinal disposition, human relations, maturity, guarded and measured utterances and the likes, which ordinarily are rudimentary expectations of leadership at whatever level are evidently missing, however, not by sheer orchestration of the chairman himself but because he is unable to give that which he innately lacks.

Although he once gave some inkling to this disposition, when as governor, he told off a widow and asked her to ‘go and die’ – the afterthought that necessitated the eventual management of that situation could not change what was habitually inevitable hence the current flight of common sense in the running of the affairs of the party.

From the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to then opposition Alliance for Democracy (AD), which had changed name a few times to Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and now APC, to the All Peoples Party (APP), which also became All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the Labour Party (LP) and even the Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), which is now a major stakeholder in the APC, not to talk of the other fringe parties, there has always been a minimum standard in the choice of persons that led and still lead all these parties.

There was never a time that any political party’s national chairman resorted to the ‘motor park approach’ in the pursuit of any agenda, not even at the polling units. The baton of party leadership was always handed characters with pedigree, sound education, value-adding network of contacts, who no matter the case at hand, could hold down their heads.

Unfortunately, the APC has broken that record of enviable standard in party administration with its choice of Oshiomhole as national chairman. That the new APC chair would not respect the principle of separation of powers nor mind to subvert the sanctity of the constitution as well as the extant laws if they would prevent him from achieving his goals, points to one thing: the APC already has a problem – won ti ni problem!

Today, in the APC, decency and honesty in leadership are rare virtues even though intelligent politics long took flight the moment some of its brilliant minds started to quit its rank. It is interesting to know that some of the APC top notch members have already realised that there is a serious crisis on their hands with the rate Oshiomhole is going, charging at any and everything.

Yet, the management of the menace he constitutes at the level it is now, is very important before it goes out of control, otherwise, Oshiomhole’s current disposition is capable of sending Nigeria backward many years unintended.

Continued from Page 83

Lawan addressing journalists after a meeting of the National Working Committee of the APC some of them retorted that it was utterly impossible to get that done first. But he was said to have dismissed their admonition.

Senators Binta Garuba (Adamawa) and Magnus Abe (Rivers) refused to be railroaded by Oshiomhole’s obvious bullying as they both sued for caution in the heat of the debate.

Specifically, Abe was said to have warned that if the plot was mismanaged, the PDP could secure public sympathy, the support of the international community as well as the human rights clan, which would never buy into the manner of approach to the removal of the Senate President.

Sharing the same view, Senators Danjuma Goje and Ahmed Yerima warned that President Muhammadu Buhari was a man of due process and respect for the rule of law and that anything to the contrary would not be acceptable by him, a statement of fact he urged them to factor into their already coloured considerations.

But the national chairman stuck to his guns and insisted Saraki must vacate the office of the president of the Senate, irrespective of the backlash that the senators had envisaged.

Discontentment started to creep in when Oshiomhole was asked with specificity, those he had in mind as replacement for the leadership about to be impeached. He did not mince words, when he hinted at Ahmed Lawan, saying as the most senior of the senators and the Senate Leader – he should be elevated to the office of the Senate President.

But Senator Yerima told him the choice of Lawan was not a smart one because the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara is also from the same North East as Lawan and so, the Senate could not produce a leader from the same zone again.

He went on to chip in, albeit jocularly, that if he claimed the choice of Lawan was suitable because he was the most senior in the caucus, then, the caucus should also appoint as his deputy, the second most senior senator in the person of Bala Na’Allah, if it was about seniority.

When asked about the replacement for the current Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, he said any of the four senators from the South-east: Hope Uzodinma, Andy Uba, Sonni Ogbuoji and Benjamin Uwajumogu would fill that up.

He, therefore, reiterated that “loyalty begets loyalty” and that they could only be guaranteed their return tickets if they were ready to do the party’s bidding by removing Saraki and Ekweremadu.

To seal this, he came up with a resolution with the assistance of a former governor of Ekiti State, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, who was allegedly delegated some secretariat responsibilities in the office of the national chairman.

The resolution read that they had agreed to change leadership; that they would reconvene the Senate by all means possible and that all members of the APC caucus were duty-bound to carry out those instructions ‘from the top’.

But when he asked them to sign, they declined that they would not except they agreed with clarity and unanimity the replacements for the current leadership. Against this backdrop, he asked for an hour’s break to make some calls and clear the grey areas. At this time, it was already about 1.00 a.m. on Tuesday.

After the one hour-break, they reconvened around 2.00 a.m., Oshiomhole came back to say he could not get to speak with the people at the top and then moved for adjournment untill 11.00 a.m.

When they finally reconvened at 11.30 a.m., he said he had consulted directly with Buhari and that a decision had been taken that Lawan should succeed Saraki, regardless of the arguments so far made against his choice, even though senators felt all along he had been speaking to a former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, and not the President.

But just as the meeting commenced, the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, breezed in, exchanged pleasantries with the senators and left almost immediately.

All along also and unknown to the senators, arrangements had been made by the party leadership for them to be conveyed by a bus to the National Assembly complex, the moment the understanding was sealed for them to carry out the impeachment of Saraki and Ekweremadu.

Thus, to give weight to his plan and the new leadership arrangement, Oshiomhole claimed that the president had endorsed Uzodinma as Lawan’s deputy, and that Senator George Akume had been tipped as the next Senate Leader. He went on to say other positions would remain as they are, that is, Senator Olusola Adeyeye as the Chief Whip; Bala Na’Allah as Deputy Senate Leader and Senator Francis Alimikhena as Deputy Chief Whip.

It was at this point that Senator Sani Mustapha from Niger South got up and told Oshiomhole if it ever occurred to him that they were not his ‘small boys’ that he could order around at will or dictate to, wondering where he derived the powers he suddenly arrogated to himself especially, as it concerned the leadership of the National Assembly.

He reminded the party chairman that the office of the Senate president was zoned to the North Central, to which some of the leaders of the zone even thanked the president, saying, “Where do you think you derived the powers to just change the whole thing?”

Perhaps, spurred by Mustapha’s submission, Akume too stood and thanked the chairman for finding him worthy. But he reminded him that the North-Central supported the president and the party in 2015, “not because of Buhari but in spite of Buhari”.

He noted that while he was not averse to leadership change and Lawan being the Senate President, because he knew Lawan long before he came to the Senate, as it is the North-East already has more than its fair share in terms of appointment.

He posited that “Speaker Dogara is from the zone,

NIGERIA

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ͯͷ˜ ͰͮͯͶ ˾THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

SUNDAYCOVER

The Inside Story of Oshiomhole’s Failed Coup

Buhari and Saraki in a warm handshake before the renewed onslaught

NIGERIA the Secretary to the Government of the Federation is from the zone, the Chief of Staff is from the zone, the National Security Adviser is from the zone, Chief of Army Staff is from the zone, Chief of Air Staff is from the zone and the Comptroller-General of Customs is also from the zone.

“But no one from the North Central is currently holding a position of responsibility and they blindly supported the president in 2015. Therefore, it is not fair that the Senate President should go to the North East again.”

Oshiomhole cut in here and first agreed with him that his points were valid, however, do not change the fact that Lawan had been chosen and as such, remained the choice for the office of Senate President.

“He literally overruled everyone,” one of the senators at the meeting told THISDAY, adding, “Oshiomhole is a dictator.”

The choice person, Uzodinma, for the office of the Deputy Senate President did not also go down well with the South-east senators, who were allegedly worried about his public image.

Senator Andy Uba, specifically, questioned the factors that informed the choice of Uzodinma above him and insisted he would not accept it. Some senators from other zones, therefore, rose up and canvassed for a neutral choice apart from Uba and

Uzodinma.

On this one debate, Oshiomhole excused himself from the meeting and went out again to consult with “President Buhari”. By the time he came back, he said after consultation, it was agreed that Senator Sonni Ogbuoji from Ebonyi was chosen in the place of Uzodinma and it was accepted by other senators.

Curiously, the Oshiomhole arrangement was said to be completely contrary to what the other senators believed to be loyal to the APC had envisaged.

For instance, Ndume was said to have wanted to return to his former post as Senate Leader, while Abdullahi Adamu had positioned himself as the successor to Saraki, with Uzodinma as his deputy.

In the same vein, Omo-Agege had eyed the seat of the deputy chief whip.

But evidently, the choices provided by the party did not go down well with a majority of the senators, particularly Ndume and Adamu, who were said to be unapologetically opposed to Lawan taking over as senate president.

It is also worthy that about 38 senators were present at the meeting that ended with them going away with some ‘compensation’ for their time, albeit after signing the resolution, which consented to leadership change.

THISDAY gathered that, according to the cur-

rent Senate record, Senators Uzodinma, Ogbuoji, Godswil Akpabio, Fatima Raji Rasaki, Joshua Dariye (who is serving his time in prison) and Philip Aduda are still members of the PDP, because they have yet to declare on the floor of the Senate their defection.

In other words, the number of senators being bandied by the APC, minus those who just won the recent by-elections in Katsina and Bauchi, is not in sync with the actual number in its kitty, a development that is said to already make their claim of numerical strength flawed in a sense.

With Oshiomhole’s recalcitrant stand on the matter, the meetings continued last Monday, August 13, between the party and its members. A text message was again sent out by Lawan to each senator for a meeting and it read: “My distinguished brother, the APC Caucus holds an EMERGENCY meeting today, Monday, 13/8/2018, at No 13, Aso Drive, at 8pm prompt. Kind regards, Senate Leader.”

There was supposed to be another enlarged meeting of the National Assembly members and governors of the party the following Tuesday.

THISDAY gathered that this enlarged meeting was initially slated to hold penultimate Wednesday but, because of Akpabio’s defection rally, it was moved to the next day, Thursday, which was also hampered by the Katsina rally, before eventually agreeing to have it last Tuesday.

At the end of the day, members reckoned the siege to the National Assembly by hooded operatives of the DSS, which was lifted by the acting president, failed for two critical reasons: the ‘bullying and intimidation’ by Oshiomhole and second, the discontent over the party’s choices of those to emerge the new leaders of the Senate.

While it is already public knowledge that Oshiomhole is not backing off from his Senate obsession anytime soon, the unconstitutionality of their approach to leadership change has inevitably attracted concerns from diverse quarters, including the international community, a development that has further put the nation on a grubby global spot.

It is, therefore, important that Oshiomhole and those travelling this undemocratic route in the name of the president should pause for a few minutes and ponder the implications of their action in the event that it blows up in their faces. Otherwise, history would be most unkind to them and deservedly so.

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Sharing the same view, Senators Danjuma Goje and Ahmed Yerima warned that President Muhammadu Buhari was a man of due process and respect for the rule of law and that anything to the contrary would not be acceptable by him, a statement of fact he urged them to factor into their already coloured considerations. But the national chairman stuck to his guns and insisted Saraki must vacate the office of the president of the senate, irrespective of the backlash that the senators had envisaged

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NEWSXTRA

In Brief NGO Laments Heart Related Deaths

A nongovernmental organisation, Joe Nwiloh Heart Foundation lamented highrateof heart-related deathinthecountry.

Theinitiatorofthefoundation,Dr.JoeNwilohexpressedthisconcernduring a medical outreach programme he organised recently aimed at impacting knowledgeonhowtoperformcardiovascularresuscitation(CRP)onvictims of cardiacarrest.

AccordingtotheWorldHealthOrganisation(WHO),heartdiseaseisthenumber onecauseofdeathintheworldandthesecondhighestcauseofdeathinAfrica.

TheoutreachprogrammeheldattheIgbobiCollegewastargetedatsecondary school students,parentsand medical personnel of secondaryschool.

It had in attendance participants from the host college, Igbobi CollegeYaba; Methodist Girls High School, (MGHS) Lagos, CMS Grammar School Bariga, all inLagosamongothers.

Highlightsoftheonedayeventincludedteachingparticipantshowtoperform cardiovascular resuscitation on victims of heart seizure and failure, how to inculcatehabitsthat preventsheart failureand practical demonstrationsof how CRP isperformed.

Certificatesofparticipationwerealsoawardedtopartawardedtoparticipants and partners of the organisation. Participants including students, parents, teachingandmedicalstaffofparticipatingschoolsalsotookturnstopractice how to performCRP. Duringtheprogramme,Nwilohexplainedthatstudentsweretargetedbecause itbelievedeverybodyneedstheunderstandingofhowtosavethelivesoffamily membersand strangersalikewhentheysuffer heart seizure.

WARM RECEPTION A rousing welcome for the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki by women at the Uyo Airport, during his solidarity visit to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, on Friday

FG Threatens Sponsors, Sympathisers of Boko Haram Insurgency Laments increasing humanitarian crisis Kasim Sumaina in Abuja The federal government yesterday asked those showing sympathy to the terrorists through forced recruitment, funding and provision of weaponry to desist from such acts or face total annihilation.

The government, however, lamented the increasing humanitarian crisis in the country, noting that consequences resulting from the crisis had been devastating and slowing down development in the nation.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha expressed this concern yesterday at a public forum organised to mark the 2018 World Humanitarian Day in Abuja yesterday.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Office of the SGF, Mr. Gabriel Aduda, Mustapha acknowledged that humanitarian crisis was only a recent phenomenon in

Nigeria, though had gulped a lot of resources that should have been used for economic and social development programmes.

He warned those sponsoring terrorists through forced recruitment, funding and provision of weaponry “to lay down your arms and embrace peace and reconciliation to avoid total annihilation by our gallant armed forces.

“In the spirit of the celebration, all Nigerians should not only show solidarity to humanitarian workers but also support the vulnerable and those caught in the web of humanitarian crisis,” Mustapha said. Mustapha pointed out that the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East region has become one of the most challenging crises, though claimed that it was committed to end the insurgency.

In Nigeria, he explained that the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East region had become one of the most

challenging crises, though the federal government “is committed to end the insurgency.

In doing so, the rights and protection of civilians and humanitarian workers will be guaranteed.”

Mustapha noted that the campaign “is the protection of civilian and that they should not be the object of attack during crisis. Every year, the scope and complexity of the challenges faced by the humanitarian community are expanding giving the dimension of natural induced disasters/conflicts.”

As the world becomes more volatile, he noted that it was imperative to stand in solidarity with the humanitarian actors working in risky and hazardous environment around the world to assist the vulnerable people affected by disasters or conflicts and giving them hope and ensuring their speedy recovery.

He said: “As humanitarian actors, we must not contin-

ue to work in silos responding only to humanitarian crisis.

We must spread our hands of fellowship to those on the development platform to find out the root causes of some of the conflicts and develop early warning strategies that will help us reduce or eliminate the possibility of conflicts that can lead to humanitarian crisis.”

Mustapha, therefore, called for early warning systems and forecasting, which he argued, had a very important role to play in the reduction of the impact of natural or human-induced disasters.

Also at the forum, the Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr. Mustapha Maihaja, who visited the site of the collapsed building, in Jabi axis of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), confirmed the rescue of seven persons and the death of only one person died against the reported two.

Family Honours Pioneer Marine Scientist

ThememoryofoneofthepioneerNigerianresearchersinmarinebiogeochemistry andcoastalmanagement,Dr.JuliusIbukunAgboolacamealivewhenhisfamily unveiled afoundationinhishonour recently.

Aspartofactivitiesfortheevent,hispublications,lecturesandotherresearch materials were on display to enable research scientists’ benefit from his scholarship.

In celebration of the second anniversary of his life and time of Agboola, his familyspearheadedbyhisbrothers,Tope,AyoandLekeAgboola,decidedto honourhimbymakingdonationstothelastplacehesleptbeforehisdeath,at themalemedicalwardofLagosStateUniversityTeachingHospital,IkejaBed8.

Otherdonationsare30piecesofbedsheetsandpillowcaseswithtwobrand new32inchLGtelevisionsetalongsidetwooxygengaugeareitemsdonated to theward.

TopeAgboolasaid:“Whatwedoonearthechoesineternity.Whilemostpeople keepawayfromplacesthatremindthemofthedeathoftheirlovedones,the Agboolafamilydidthemosthonourablethingbymakingmaterialdonationsto sameplacewheretheirbrotherspenthislastdaysonearth.Thisindeedgoes alongwayto show thekind of personDr.JuliusIbikunAgboolawas”.

MegaCrusadeTakesoffinIkotEkpeneThursday

All is set for a two-day mega crusade, beginning onThursday, at Ikot Ekpene TownshipStadium,AkwaIbomState,withthetheme“RedeemingtheLand”.

Tagged‘IkotEkpeneSenatorialDistrictCrusade’,theevent,expectedtospark offagreatspiritualre-awakeningandmiraclesofhealinganddeliverancewill featureBishopEmmahIsong,aleadingPentecostalclergyaskeyspeakerand chief host withtheartiste‘Freke’ at themusicals.

Isong,GeneralOverseerofChristianCentralChapelInternational(CCCI)and national publicity secretary of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, told thecrusade’splanningcommitteeinUyothatsimilareventwasbeingplanned for Eket and Uyo Senatorial districts.

Isongsaidasidetheyearsofhardshipthathavebeenworsenedbyagrowinglevel ofinsecurity,manyNigerianshavebecomevictimsofdiversesicknessesand satanicattacksthatneededthepowerofGodfortheirhealinganddeliverance.

PastorObongAkpaekong,headofthecrusade’sPressRelationssubcommittee, said there can be no better time for mega crusades in the country than now when the population is facing lots of sociopolitical and economic problems thatrequiretheinterventionofGod.Hesaidalargenumberofthesick,poor, oppressedandsociallytraumatizedareexpectedattheevent,whichhasthe backingofChristianAssociationofNigeria(CAN),thePentecostalFellowship of Nigeria (PFN), and a large number of church denominations across the 31 local governmentsof AkwaIbomState.

How Powerful Forces Blocked President’s Earlier Plan to Fire There were also various amounts like N2.2 billion) (N2,206,259,191.89 ) for insurance and 20 others.

On what Daura is actually being probed for, the source said: “We are not probing the operations account of the service but certain bulk figures that there may be questions as at June this year when the balance from the fund stood at less than N6 billion from the N12.9 billion that was handed over to him. And there is a law that prescribes jail terms with no option of fine if one diverts pension to any other use.

“Did he divert? If so, who authorized it? Just some basic questions that he may need to provide answers but mind you, this is not a probe of the SSS.” Daura was on July 24 removed as the head of the se-

cret police by the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo following a preliminary inquest into the blockage of the National Assembly by hooded operatives of the service.

He was said to have been placed under house arrest, interrogated and a preliminary report was reportedly submitted to the Acting President.

Daura took over from Ekpenyong Ita in July 2015.

His tenure was somehow enmeshed in controversies chief among which was the much condemned “sting” raid of high court judges and justices of the Supreme Court residents. The prosecution of the cases ended in fiasco.

But an Abuja based security consultant, Ben Adamu, and other high ranking serving officers said the probe if done would be against the tide in

any inquiry into intelligence matters all over the world.

They argued that their position was in tandem with the conclusions of the Babagana Kingibe-led committee set up

by President Muhammadu Buhari last year.

The committee had advised the president, and it was approved, that matters of intelligence should be discreetly handled by a special body of former members of the community and the report turn in to the President for necessary actions.

“This would be a clear case of blatant disregard of the presidential directive arising from the report of the committee, and the norm all over the world”, Adamu said.

“If it goes this way, nobody would volunteer information that could be processed

into intelligence, there may be no bilateral collaboration between Nigeria intelligence agencies and some known cracked foreign agencies in the world like the FBI, CIA, MI5, MI6 and more, for fear that they could be exposed, compromised and the lives of their operatives compromised in the course of open probe.

And I know that we (Nigeria) have enjoyed that goodwill over years.

“An open investigation by outsiders might just be penny wise, pound foolish. A bubble of pyrrhic victory that would evaporate and expose Nigeria to ridicule.

“Either way, even if there’s misdemeanour anywhere, any inquiry without a presidential imprimatur in line with the world best practices and as

recommended by the committee would be a bastardized effort”, he said.

When huge sum of money was discovered in an apartment in Ikoyi last year and a probe was instituted, a former Minister of External Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, objected to the probe saying such probe would have negative effects on the external security and intelligence operations of the nation.

President Muhammadu Buhari had then set up a three-man panel, headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, to probe how the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) left about N15 billion in an apartment in Osborne Road, Ikoyi.

In a statement he issued then Akinyemi faulted the composition of the probe panel for being devoid of an external

intelligence expert. He also kicked against the plan by the House of Representatives to conduct its own inquiry into the cash recovery.

The statement read: “When the news broke that some millions of dollars had been found hidden in a flat in Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, I was quite frankly indifferent as it has become a recurrent decimal. I was not even bothered when nobody initially stepped forward to claim it.

PUBLIC NOTICE

I formerly known and addressed as OBICHUKWU UDODI MICHAEL, now wished to be known and addressed as OBICHUKWU UDODI MBA. All former documents remain valid, the general public should please take note.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ AUGUST 19, 2018

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SUNDAYSPORTS

Edited by Demola Ojo Email demola.ojo@thisdaylive.com

Chelsea Edge Past Dogged Arsenal in Five Goal Thriller

D

espite the valiant efforts of Alex Iwobi and hisArsenal teammates, MarcosAlonso’s late strike handed Chelsea a narrow victory in Maurizio Sarri’s first home match as Blues manager.

Arsenal had come back from two goals down but with nine minutes left the Spaniard struck to seal all three points from a lively encounter at Stamford Bridge.

Pedro put the Blues ahead after nine minutes by sweeping in anAlonso cross on the counter, before Alvaro Morata doubled the lead with a smart finish following Cesar Azpilicueta’s long ball.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang spurned a glorious chance just moments before Morata’s strike, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan also blazed over from a fine position in the box after the Gunners went two goals behind.

But Unai Emery’s side continued to cut Chelsea open and they hauled themselves level in dramatic fashion, scoring two goals in four minutes as Mkhitaryan drove in fiercely from the edge of the box before Iwobi converted the Armenian’s cut-back before the break.

After half-time, Ross Barkley brought an impressive save from Petr Cech and N’Golo Kante saw a promising shot blocked by Sokratis, while Aubameyang had a goal correctly ruled out for offside on the break.

Chelsea’s KepaArrizabalaga almost spilled a cross straight to substitute Alexandre Lacazette, and Kante might have done better with a close-range header in the box.

But Alonso made no mistake with a tidy finish from close range after substitute Eden Hazard’s run and pass across goal set up the winner.

The game was a heavyweight Premier League clash for the managerial newcomers Sarri and Emery - and they were provided with plenty of food for thought after an engrossing 90 minutes.

Emery is perpetual motion in his technical area, pacing it constantly from almost the first minute, a blur of gesticulations and dramatic effect with cajoling and encouragement throughout. The

Iwobi (left) scored for Arsenal but could not prevent a 2-3 loss to Chelsea

Spaniard is still trying to put his imprint on this Arsenal team after the end of Arsene Wenger’s 22-year reign and he is very obviously a hands-on figure.

It is also clear from the manner in which Arsenal got back into the game - even though they ended

defeated - that his new players are fighting for their manager.

Sarri, dressed casually in a t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms, was far less animated than Emery but was still keen to get his message across and it is already clear he is determined to repeat the brand

Ronaldo Makes Winning Start to Juventus Career Cristiano Ronaldo made a winning start to his Juventus career as his new club came from behind to beat Chievo 3-2 in a dramatic start to the Serie A season yesterday.

FedericoBernardeschiscoreda93rd-minutewinner, moments after Juve had a goal ruled out by VAR with Ronaldo at the centre of the incident.

The Portugal captain, a £99.2m signing from Real Madrid, handled the ball before colliding with Chievo goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino in the build-up to Mario Mandzukic’s goal, which referee Fabrizio Pasqua ruled out on review.

Sami Khedira had put Juventus ahead from close range in the third minute, before Mariusz Stepinski headed in the equaliser.

Emanuele Giaccherini won and scored a penalty to put Chievo in front on 56 minutes, but a Mattia Bani own goal pegged them back before Bernardeschi struck late on.

Ronaldo forced several saves from 39-year-old

Sorrentino, who left the match on a stretcher after his late collision with the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

Ronaldo’s presence in Verona led to Chievo selling out their 39,000-seater Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi, as they more than doubled their average attendance.

Speaking before the match, coach Massimiliano Allegri said he is yet to decide Ronaldo’s best position in the team.

With Gonzalo Higuain on loan at AC Milan, the former Manchester United forward started up front on his own against Chievo, with Paulo Dybala in the number 10 role and Douglas Costa and Juan Cuadrado on the wings.

His first chance came in the 19th minute, when he dragged a shot wide from 20 yards. Ten minutes later he tried to volley a left-foot shot across goal from a tight angle.

Ronaldo grew into the game after the break and

made his intent clear with a fierce dipping shot from distance that forced Sorrentino into action. He then directed a free header straight at the goalkeeper.

With the introduction of Mandzukic as a central striker in the 64th minute, Ronaldo moved out to the left. He seemed more effective cutting in on his right foot, and his best chance came when forced a diving one-handed save from Sorrentino with a curling shot.

Alast-ditch tackle by Fabrizio Cacciatore deflected another Ronaldo shot onto the roof of the net, before Sorrentino saved a trademark free-kick.

Troost-Ekong to Debut for Udinese against Parma Udinese manager, Julio Velázquez, will hand the club’s new signing, William Troost-Ekong, his debut in today’s Serie A clash against Parma at Station Ennio, Tardini.

Troost-Ekong completed his switch from Turkish club, Bursaspor, to Udinese on Friday but Velázquez is ready to throw him into action immediately.

“WilliamTroost-Ekongisreadytogo.Hehasalready played this season and scored too,” Velázquez stated during his pre- match interaction with the media ahead of the game.

“D’Alessandro won’t be involved tomorrow as he hasn’t been training regularly the last few days.

Teodorczyk hasn’t got 90 minutes in him but he’s available.”

Troost-Ekong was part of Nigeria’s squad to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia where he played

in all three games for the Super Eagles.

He scored for Bursaspor in their Turkish Super Lig match day one fixture against Fenerbahçe which they lost 2-1.

RESULTS & FIXTURES Cardiff Everton Leicester Tottenham West Ham Chelsea Burnley Man City Brighton

0-0 2-1 2–0 3-1 1-2 3-2 v v v

Newcastle Southampton Wolves Fulham Bournemouth Arsenal Watford 1:30pm Huddersfield 1:30pm Man United 4pm

Ronaldo made his Juve debut yesterday

of attacking play that made his reputation as he makes his mark at Stamford Bridge.

These two experienced managers will add plenty of character and colour to the Premier League’s A-list cast of managers - and both will have much to keep them occupied.

Mourinho Calls Man City Classless over Documentary

Jose Mourinho has accused Manchester City of a lack of class after the airing of their behind-the-scenes documentary ‘All or Nothing’.Afilm crew followed Pep Guardiola’s side as they won the Premier League title with a record points tally in the 2017/18 season.

The eight-part series was released on Friday, showing clips from inside the dressing room, the boardroom and on the training ground.

The second episode features City’s win at Old Trafford in December, with the narration saying: “It is Guardiola versus Mourinho once more; possession versus defence; attacking football versus ‘park-the-bus’”.

The same episode later shows City fans chanting ‘park the bus’, intercut with clips of Mourinho in his post-match press conference, dismissively responding to questions about possession statistics.

Asked about the publicity surrounding the documentary, Mourinho told Sky Sports: “You can have a fantastic movie while respecting others.

“You don’t need to be disrespectful to have a fantastic movie. You can be a rich club and buy the best players in the world but you cannot buy class and they showed that clearly, that was really obvious.”

After finishing second last season, United will be looking to topple City this year. But Mourinho is expecting a tough campaign, especially as several top-six rivals have strengthened over the summer.

“Last season, we put ourselves in a difficult position, because to do better we can only finish first,” said Mourinho.

“When I read sometimes and watch sometimes, it looks like we finished sixth or seventh and everybody did better than us. We finished second. Liverpool are trying to win the title with their amazing investment. Chelsea have a fantastic squad, Manchester City have a fantastic squad too, Tottenham made an incredible investment by keeping their players, that’s the best investment you can make.

Sunday August 19, 2018

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MISSILE

Father Kukah to Nigerians “All of the character being shown, whether it is defection today or carpet crossing, is evident that something is internally wrong with us.”

– Bishop of the Sokoto Diocese of the Catholic Church, Dr Mathew Hassan Kukah speaking at the 60th birthday of the Chief Executive Officer of Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Mr Austin Avuru

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simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com, sms: 0805 500 1961

Killing Small Businesses Softly

S

ome years ago, I was at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra state, for a public lecture. An obviously popular lecturer was invited to the podium to make his contributions.

Students went gaga, screaming his nickname and giving him a standing ovation. In the euphoria, he posed elegantly in front of the microphone and started making a proposal on how to tackle unemployment in Nigeria. Wait for this: he said all federal ministries should be directed to employ one million people annually for the next five years “to wipe out unemployment from the land”. The students jumped on their feet, clapped frenetically and screamed his nickname again. I laughed until I forgot my name.

Let’s not say a word on the office space required to accommodate one million new employees a year, or the wage bill, or the job description. I would rather leave that to accountants, economists and personnel managers. But how many people can the government employ in a country of 185 million people? Globally, the biggest employers of labour are not the government, Apple or Microsoft. They are the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). They are recognised as the engine of any economy. The Buhari administration has developed quite a number of policies to support entrepreneurs, with a lot of emphasis on the ease of doing business.

In fact, the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, was set up in July 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari “to remove bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria, and make the country a progressively easier place to start and grow a business”. The council comprises 10 ministers, the head of civil service of the federation, the CBN governor and representatives of Lagos and Kano state governments, the national assembly and the private sector. A lot has been achieved, no doubt, and this is evident in Nigeria’s improved ranking in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index.

Osinbajo, while acting as president in May 2017, said: “The powerhouse of the economy, the fastest and most efficient job creators are private businesses – both small and large investments, local and foreign. Everyone who starts a business, invests in an existing business or expands a going concern creates opportunities for jobs.

Jobs mean money in people’s pockets… whole families can survive, live well and pay taxes, so that government can continue to provide services, build schools, hospitals, roads and other infrastructure. But small or large businesses cannot be created or can be frustrated out of existence if the environment for doing business in a country is harsh or difficult.”

Good talk. Now let us discuss the enemies of progress. I quote Osinbajo again: “It is the public service that provides the services that determine whether the business environment will be friendly and welcoming for business or whether it will drive away business and destroy opportunities for job creation… So, when a potential business owner wants to register a company, collect tax clearance certificate or obtain NAFDAC registration or SON certification, expatriate quotas, any other papers, approvals or certification from government and we do not willingly and efficiently help him or her, we are killing the jobs and prosperity that he would have created.”

Exactly. And this is what I intend to discuss

Obasanjo

today. The business I run falls under the SME category, with a staff strength of 20. Compared to other lines of business, however, I have little to complain about in terms of the shenanigans of government agencies — apart from the overauditing by the inland revenue service. A friend told me that the constant “tax audit” is because we remit taxes regularly. Those who don’t bother about paying taxes are hardly bothered by the tax authorities, he said. What an incentive! I am honestly OK with the audits; when I listen to other SME owners complain about all the stress they go through, I realise I am enjoying life!

Two years ago, I wanted to go into table water production. I spent quite a lot of money on feasibility studies. One thing I kept hearing was the constant troubles from government agencies under the general guise of regulation. I was told that if I wanted to site the factory in Lagos state, I would have to deal with regular harassment from these agencies: National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission (LSWRC), Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Lagos State Ministry of Environment and Lagos State Ministry of Health.

I’m not done yet. Other agencies waiting to pounce are: Lagos State Fire Service, Federal Fire Service, Local Government Environment Service, Local Government Health Department, Local Government Fumigation Department, Local Government Food Department and the health office nearest to the factory. SON, meanwhile, will inspect four times a year. Ministry of Health inspects at least twice a year. Ministry of Environment visits two times a year. By the way, all these inspections often come with extortion.

There is nothing wrong with regulation — we have to enforce standards — but you and I know that the least interest of these guys is health and safety.

Needless to say I was discouraged from going ahead with the water business. I lost possible income — and I probably would have created at least 50 jobs. That is loss of revenue for government as well. You can accuse me of chickening out. You can remind me that despite all these challenges, many Nigerians are still opening new businesses and making it. I have no intention of arguing against that, just that the threshold for stress differs from individual to individual. When a matter puts me completely at the mercy of the regulatory authorities — as

represented by their sadistic field agents — I am not cut out for such a life. And I can imagine there are thousands of Nigerians like me.

My friend owns a bakery in Abuja. She regularly complains to me about the stress she faces from all manner of government officials who come to the bakery everyday from all manner of agencies. It is nothing short of harassment, intimidation and extortion. It is terrorism. One day I sat down with her and asked her to list all the fees she pays, all the agencies she deals with and all the threats she faces all the time.

I walked away feeling so sad but still thankful that the business is nonetheless thriving — in spite of the enormous odds mounted by the government. It is as if government is doing everything within its power to kill SMEs. The determination is unmistakable.

The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSTIF) had just notified her of another “health inspection”. She was horrified. At least three units from the Abuja Municipal Council Area (AMAC) do “health inspection” every year.

Two of the units charge N25,000 each while the third takes N50,000. NAFDAC, NSTIF and SON all coming for “health inspection”! One agency can do all the health checks, trust me.

There is a N25,000 annual licence for “operating in FCT”. She pays N34,000 fee for “using a car to distribute bread”. She pays Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and AMAC N40,000 each for “fumigation”. It’s a major racket — the agencies MUST supply the fumigators!

AMAC collects two tenement rates from her — they say there are two buildings on the same plot of land. That’s N150,000. I find this very strange even in a land of strange things. There is also the AMAC “sanitary inspection” fee of N30,000. AMAC’s department of environment collects N150,000 yearly to inspect — you guessed right — the environment. There is also the N30,000 AMAC fee for “food and water-related handling”.

I know I am boring you with figures, but you need to see how we have made life very difficult for those who run SMEs. You can imagine how many SMEs are struggling or dying because of this regulatory tyranny and legalised extortion.

It’s time to conclude and shut down my laptop so I can watch some football to calm my nerves. We cannot expect the economy to grow if government agencies that should incentivise productivity are the ones stifling it.

I understand that government is desperately in need of revenue, but how much is too much?

You cannot say you want SMEs to grow and be taxing them to hell at the same time. That will be counterproductive. Regulation should be about enforcing compliance, not raising revenue. You can’t milk businesses dry and expect a boom.

There must be regulation, sure, but it needs to be streamlined. We need to create one-stop centres to handle issues about standards.

Also, there is an element of sadism that we need to deal with. NAFDAC once shut down my friend’s bakery over a flimsy excuse, and the agency’s team leader boasted about how many factories she had shut down that day alone. How can any sane human being celebrate hurting legitimate investments that employ people? It is nothing but despotism. There must be checks and balances and room for redress for businesses that have grievances. While I commend the Buhari administration for its ease of doing business initiative, there is more to be done to create incentives for SMEs to thrive and create jobs.

Government can definitely not employ one million people yearly.

And Four Other Things…

MUZZLING MEDIA In a country where a serving minister is accused of forging an NYSC exemption certificate, you would expect the police to be investigating the allegation and briefing the public. But, no, not in my dearly beloved country. What the police would really love to investigate is the source of a reporter’s story. The letter over which the police are harassing Samuel Ogundipe, Premium Times journalist, was widely circulated on WhatsApp almost as soon as the inspector-general, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, signed it. May I remind the IG yet again: the Nigerian media will see your end. We have survived the most brutal of regimes, led by Gen. Sani Abacha. Idris, you are but a small fry.

Rethink.

MEAN FREEZE The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recently froze the accounts of Benue state government. I’m sorry, but I don’t understand where we are headed as a country. The federal government may have an axe to grind with the governor, Chief Samuel Ortom — who recently defected from APC to PDP — but freezing the accounts of a state and paralysing its activities is completely out of order. If there is suspicion of corruption, there are a million ways of dealing with the governor and other officials rather than blocking government accounts. Grounding the entire activities of any state government for any reason is extremely draconian. Unacceptable.

THE EL-RUFAI EXAMPLE Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, remains one of the most focussed public administrators Nigeria has ever had. On Thursday, he became the first governor to present his 2019 budget, giving priority attention to education and health. He pledged that his administration would complete all the projects it started and pay up all its contractual obligations before the end of the year. I also remember that he was the first to nominate commissioners in 2015 — even attaching their CVs and portfolios to the list he sent to the house of assembly. You may not be a fan of his politics but you cannot deny that he understands how government should run.

Kudos!

AND FINALLY… The New York University has made tuition free for all its current and future medical students.

The scholarship is worth over $55,018 this session. All students are eligible, no matter their financial need or academic performance.

Meanwhile, my dearly beloved Nigeria is desperately in need of doctors but it is not only prohibitive to train them, most of those who want to study medicine cannot even get admission.

Instead of expanding training facilities and capability, Nigerian universities even boast about how they reject applicants every year, as if there is a prize to be won. Do we really think in this country? Absurd.

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