SUNDAY 28TH OCTOBER 2018

Sanusi: Stop Electing Leaders with No Educational Qualification Trillions spent subsidising petroleum products should go into educating our young people

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja Worried by the level of decadence and decay in the country, the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has advised Nigerians to stop

electing into public office leaders without education.

Sanusi said Nigerians had often made the mistake of electing leaders who had no education, saying such leaders cannot give what they do not

have.

The former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spoke yesterday at the sixth convocation ceremony of the Nile University, Abuja, where he was conferred an Honorary

Degree of Science alongside the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III. Sanusi urged the electorate to always elect into public offices leaders who “are educated and know the value of education.”

He said the federal government should invest the trillions of naira it spent on subsiding petroleum products in the education of the country’s youth.

The Emir said, "We have to

take an interest in the quality of our leaders and representatives, in the level of education. If you look around this country, at many levels of leadership, Continued on page 8

Contentious Primaries: Buhari Meets Aggrieved Parties Tuesday … Page 8 Sunday 28 October, 2018 Vol 23. No 8593

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Jaafar: Ganduje Should Face Prosecution for Collecting Bribe Bayo Akinloye Publisher of Daily Nigerian, the online medium that released Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje’s controversial bribe videos, Jafaar Jafaar, has urged the anti-corruption agencies to

take legal action against the governor as a proof of the impartiality of the war against corruption. Jafaar stated this in an interview with THISDAY. The Abuja-based journalist said the videos, which appear to show Ganduje, a member of

the All Progressives Congress (APC) as Buhari, collecting bribes from contractors, was a litmus test for the federal government and APC. He said, “This is a litmus test. If the APC government, the government that has

been preaching the gospel of anti-corruption, preaching the gospel of sincerity, preaching the gospel of equality, fails to do anything about something of this magnitude, then the fight against corruption is just a ruse. He stated that Ganduje

should be punished to serve as deterrent other Governors who in the habit of collecting bribes from contractors.

“As a responsible administration that is fighting against corruption, he should also at the top institute another

independent (investigative) panel to find out the truth in this matter.”

Jafaar, who spoke from a safe house following alleged threat to his life, said his decision to release the videos was driven Continued on page 8

Why Atiku’s Peter Obi Pick Divided South-east How promise of vice presidency to multiple candidates caused a storm Igbo leaders demand agreement on single term

Olawale Olaleye It has emerged that the immediate pushback by South-east leaders against the choice of their kinsman, Mr. Peter Obi, as running mate to the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in next year’s election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was due to an alleged multiplicity of persons promised the same post. Atiku was said to have promised about five people from the zone the same position, but settled for Obi without running it by the others.

Thus, rather than elicit excitement, Atiku’s eventual pick of Obi caused unexpected rage among the political elite in the South-east, as a majority of them considered his decision

without consultation a betrayal.

Among those believed to have been promised the vice presidential position were the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu; Chairman, South-east Governors Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, Chief David Umahi; Obi himself; and two others, whose identities could not be immediately ascertained at the time of going to press.

THISDAY learnt that Atiku was advised by his campaign team to promise as many people as possible the vice presidential position, which was exactly what he did as a way to corner the South-east votes at the convention. It was on the basis of this that many of the potential picks went to work Continued on page 8

THISDAY WEEKLY GUIDE TO 2019… Pages 16-17

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

PAGE EIGHT

L-R: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) and Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo; during an interactive session with stakeholders in the Nigerian entertainment industry tagged: “An evening with the Vice President” at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, on Friday

Primaries: Buhari MeetsAggrieved PartiesTuesday Presidential panel submits report on party crisis Olawale Olaleye Barring any last minute change, President Muhammadu Buhari has been scheduled to meet with all the aggrieved parties in the aftermath of the contentious primary elections that typified most of the state chapters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with a view to finding a lasting solution.

This is believed to be against the backdrop of a report recently submitted by a five-man panel set up by the president to look into the crisis in the affected states especially in Ogun and Zamfra States, which is said to have put so much pressure on the president to step in.

According to sources within the presidency, members of the panel included the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu; the Attorney-General, of the

Federation, Abubakar Malami and the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari.

This move is however coming at the same time Senate President Bukola Saraki has described as unjust and unfair, the current predicament of the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, saying his poor treatment has justified the basis of their exiting the APC at the time he and his people did.

Saraki, who spoke exclusively to THISDAY, recalled the role played by the Ogun State Governor in the period President Buhari was very sick in faraway London, the United Kingdom and proclaimed: ‘Amosun was a true friend of the president’.

But disturbed by the distraction the aftermath of the party crisis has since caused, the president has resolved to intervene in all states with

Amosun treatment justifies our exit from APC, says Saraki

lingering crisis, relying on both security reports and the findings of his five man panel The president is said to have realised that the Oshiomolemust-go agenda was real especially with the involvement of governors, NWC members and some close allies of his, who maintained they could no longer work with him.

He has therefore set Tuesday aside to address the matter once and for all and in all the states affected.

Concerned about the way Amosun was being treated in the matter concerning the primary elections in the state, Saraki, who said he would not interfere in what is purely an APC affair, maintained that Amosun was not one to be treated or made to go through such torture.

Saraki said his respect for

Amosun on his relationship with the president shot up, when Buhari was very sick and there were misgivings across the country especially on what should have been the role of the National Assembly at such a testy period, he said it was only Amosun, who was true to his relationship with Buhari as he was constantly in touch with the National Assembly members, just to make sure everything was fine.

“Honestly, we saw no one else but Amosun. I was surprised that of all the friends that the president had, he was the only one who kept in touch with the National Assembly, making sure nothing went wrong from our end. He would make phone calls and sometime appeared physically.

“He watched the president’s back at a most critical time. Of

course, the president has many friends, but he proved to be more than just a friend at the time. Besides, as a thorough politician, he was smart enough to know what to do, while many of those gallivanting around today were scheming and plotting all sorts,” he said.

While subtly chiding the APC, he said it took the grace of God for him to be led out of the party, wondering what the new national leadership of the party would have done to him had he stayed behind.

“Imagine if I had stayed back in that party. These guys would have taken the party from me and chased me out.

In fact, they would not have sold the senate form to me.

Can you see that my leaving the APC was God’s doing and I’m thankful to God for leading me right to make the perfect

decision. Who, in his wildest dreams would have thought Amsoun would be treated this why? What a party!” he said.

On Atiku’s campaign, he said they were going to roll out soon and that when they do, it would be with a bang, adding that everything was clearly in favour of the former vice-president to take over power in next year’s election.

“You know what we are capable of doing and you know we are not the type that is given to vainglory. You know we don’t run our mouth.

We are not just banking on the fact that everything is playing in our favour to win the election next year, we will however roll out big time, giving it all that it takes to win. We would take nothing for granted and will attack the elections with all our might,” he said.

from the South-east leaders wasn’t so much a rejection of Peter Obi, but more about the disappointment by some of those that Atiku had promised the same position and the lack of consultation that led to the eventual pick of Obi.” The choice of Obi as running mate seems to have particularly affected the political career of Ekweremdu, presently the highest political office holder from the South-east. Should Atiku win the presidency in 2019, Ekweremadu, assuming he goes back to the senate cannot remain Deputy Senate President since Peter Obi would be the Vice President. The position of Deputy Senate President would

naturally be zoned to another region to maintain balance and representation. So what is there for Ekweremadu?

Many are of the view that Atiku bungled the process of picking his running mate and, ultimately, watered down the momentum his emergence had generated. Multiple sources close to opinion moulders in the South-east have expressed fear that should Buhari strike a deal with the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), it may create problems for Atiku.

Already, many of Atiku supporters are believed to be worried about South-east mobilisation in next year’s general election, especially,

since the governors, who are unhappy with the current situation, are effectively in control of their people.

Many stakeholders are now of the view that if the Atiku/ Obi ticket is to have the kind of acceptance expected from the zone, Atiku and his team would have to properly manage the situation without giving the impression that “there is nothing they can do about the decision he has taken”.

THISDAY has also learnt that Igbo leaders are demanding an agreement from Atiku on his offer to do just one term of four years which was one of the selling point to get South-east support.

cover given him when he appeared before an investigative panel set up by the Kano State House of Assembly on the matter. “I would have been attacked on the way. From the top, the IG gave orders that my safety should be ensured before, during and after my presentation before the Kano State House of Assembly. We were escorted from the Mallam Aminu Kano Airport to the

Assembly complex – about 10 police vehicles – three Assistant Commissioners of Police were there to escort me to the Assembly. They also gave me the same security all the way back to the airport. They did not leave the airport until my flight took off. This is really commendable and I see some level of commitment towards ensuring that journalists are protected,” Jafaar stated.

honours, 67 Second Class Upper, 96 Second Class Lower and two Third Class.

"Indeed, the turnover of graduands from the university has justified our vision and mission statement of producing quality graduates who shall be full of knowledge, skills and experience to contribute to technological and economic development nationally and internationally.

"The university expresses its gratitude to all those that

contributed to the success of this occasion which enabled us to actualise our dream of being one of the best tertiary institutions in the world. We particularly felicitate with both graduating students and their parents for their high sense of duty and commitment in making their stay in the university a fruitful one."

The Alaafin of Oyo commended the institution for the award, saying it will spur him to do more for society.

WHY ATIKU’S PETER OBI PICK DIVIDED SOUTH-EAST and campaigned vigorously, mobilising the South-east states to support Atiku’s presidential bid and at the same time committing huge personal resources in the hope that an Atiku win would automatically catapult their political career.

Unfortunately, while they were still celebrating Atiku’s victory and the hitch-free convention that brought him, the news broke on the social media that Atiku had settled for Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, as his running mate.

According to one of the former vice presidential hopefuls, who preferred anonymity because of the

sensitive nature of the issue, he was shocked by the news.

“I thought it was fake news, when I first heard it on the social media,” he said. “I was shocked. It hit me so hard I couldn’t believe it, not even the courtesy of one phone call to let me know things had changed and that the promise earlier made to me was no longer feasible. At least, I would understand.” Another person said to have been promised the same post also lamented the way Atiku eventually made his pick without recourse to them.

He said, “Many of us were disappointed. We expected that having emerged as the PDP candidate the running mate pick

would go through a process that would eventually lead to his pick. But that was not the case. We had even thought of involving APGA to get their buy-in so that the entire Southeast would be involved in the selection process, which would have put us in a very strong position going into the election.

“Right now, Atiku does not have APGA on his side and this is critical if we must mobilise the entire South-east to turn out massively to vote. Don’t forget Goodluck Jonathan lost by about two million votes, if South-east had turned out massively to vote, the story would have been different.

“So, the strong resistance

JAAFAR: WHY GANDUJE SHOULD FACE PROSECUTION FOR COLLECTING BRIBE by patriotic causes.

According to him, “I was driven by two things, really. As a journalist – every journalist will like to have some good reports (exclusives or scoops) that will grab international attention. That’s one. Another point is that the videos can go a long way in providing sanity to our system – especially to the governors collecting kickbacks.

“Because they have seen

the embarrassment videos have caused their colleagues, they will think twice and hard before doing anything unseemly. I think the story will serve as a deterrent and make the society better. This should make the governors stop collecting kickbacks or reduce their frequency of collecting kickbacks.”

Jaafar said though his life was in danger due to the bribe story

he broke, he would publish such a story again of he had another opportunity.

He stated, “No matter what I am being offered in exchange for the story, I will not collect it. Even if the Kano State governor gives me his seat as a governor and says, ‘Come and become governor of Kano State but don’t publish those videos of me collecting bribes,’ I will rather publish

the videos than become the governor of Kano State.

“I want people to know that the videos were published in good faith – for the good of the society. If you asked him to give you the $5 million he collected in the videos, he would give you back instead of have you publish the videos.”

Jaafar, however, expressed his appreciation to the federal government for the security

SANUSI: STOP ELECTING LEADERS WITH NO EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION we have elected and we have chosen to elect people who do not have education. And because they are not educated, they cannot give education.

"We need to lay more emphasis on the quality of people we elect to executive and legislative offices and we need to make sure that those to whom we entrust policy are themselves educated and know the value of education.

"Let us invest more in

education and let us give up some of the privileges that we have, such as the trillions we are spending subsiding petroleum products. That money should go into educating our young people.

"We are spending too much money on roads and bridges and trains and too little money on educating our children. Let us educate these young people and they will build the roads, trains and the bridges. We do not need to invite the Chinese

to do that for us.

"I do understand sometimes that if a governor does not build roads or bridges, he is seen as not having performed by the people.

"We build all these highways and there are more pedestrians on the highways than cars and those pedestrians are most often people without education and help. Development is first and foremost about people."

The emir criticised the northern leaders for their

failure to provide an enabling environment for children to attend schools.

Earlier in his remarks, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Huseyin Sert, said 21 students were awarded First Class degrees out of the 365 graduands.

Sert explained, "In this 2017/2018 session, we are glad to celebrate our sixth convocation ceremony with a total number of 365 graduands made up of 21 first class

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OCTOBER 28, 2018 ˾ T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

SUNDAY COMMENT

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

THE PASSAGE OF DAFINONE AND AYIDA David Dafinone and Allison Ayida, two di professionals, have passed on

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ithin two weeks, Nigeria lost two illustrious citizens both of whom incidentally hailed from neighbouring towns in Delta State. On September 30, an elder statesman and foremost chartered accountant David Dafinone died at age 91, while Allison Ayida, a renowned technocrat and former Secretary to the Federal Military Government passed on October 11, aged 88. Even though both men lived to their ripe old age, their passing elicited remarkable grief because of their enormous contributions to the development of the nation.

Senator David Dafinone was a prodigy. Born on March 12, 1927 in Sapele, Delta State, he had his early education in Benin City, Edo State and Abeokuta, Ogun State before proceeding to the United Kingdom on scholarship to study public administration at the University of Exeter.

He later earned a degree in Economics and qualified as a chartered accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in 1962. He returned to Nigeria and founded his accounting firm, D.O.Dafinone (now Horwath Dafinone) - a firm that has sired and nurtured thousands of accountants across the nation.

Even more, because of his profound skills and professionalism, his services were widely sought after by both the public and the private sectors of the economy including the Central Bank of Nigeria where he was director for so many years. And as a senator representing Bendel South (now Delta Central) during the Second Republic, he provided leadership and distinguished himself with quality contribution to debates and ranked among the most influential of the lots, among them Senators

Olusola Saraki and Jonathan Odebiyi.

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Despite Dafinone’s considerable wealth, he worked hard and brought his family to embrace the discipline of hard work

Letters to the Editor

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

afinone was a remarkable community leader who along with others like the late Olorogun Michael Ibru and Mr. Gamaliel Onosode advanced the cause of his Urhobo people. But perhaps what endeared him to many was his attitude to work. Despite his considerable wealth, he worked hard and brought his family to embrace the discipline of hard work. His defining moment was in 2007 when the Guineas World Records recognised him and his family as the first to produce the largest numbers of chartered accountants.

Similarly, Allison Ayida was a connoisseur, often described as the “quintessential public servant.” Indeed, he was one of those dubbed “Super Perm Sec.” As a testimony to his knowledge, resourcefulness and staying power, he served three heads of states - General Yakubu Gowon (1966-1975), General Murtala Muhammed (1975-1976) and General Olusegun Obasanjo (1976-1979) as secretary. Mr. Ayida initiated many remarkable ideas that shaped the country’s development since the decade of independence.

Born on June 16, 1930 of Itsekiri stock, Ayida was well equipped for the task which later fell on his shoulders. After his early education in Edo State and Warri in Delta State, he attended the prestigious King's College Lagos, and Queen’s College, Oxford where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics in1956.

Upon his return in 1957, he rose quickly through the ranks in Ministries of Education, Finance, and Economic Development and Reconstruction where he became permanent secretary. He became Nigeria’s highest civil servant in 1975, as Head of Service and fifth Secretary to the Federal Military Government. Ayida’s profound impact was remarkable in the initiation and execution of government policies and in providing continuity in all situations and in providing leadership at all times, including during the civil war years.

And like Dafinone, Allison Ayida served as Chairman and member of several boards including United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, National Rehabilitation Commission for Emergency Relief Operation and Post-War Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Ltd and others. He also was a director at Lever Brothers Nigeria Ltd., Chairman of S.G.E.N, Commercial Bank (Credit Lyonnais Nigeria) and CFAO Nigeria Ltd. It is not a surprise therefore that the country took note of the services of both men as they were highly decorated by their communities and the nation at large. May their souls rest in peace.

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.

Lessons From Committee of Wives of Lagos State

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he Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials (COWLSO) was founded by the late Mrs. Olufunmilayo Johnson, wife of the first Military Administrator of Lagos State, General Mobolaji Johnson. The objective was to bring wives of Lagos State Government officials such as governor, deputy governor, national and state assembly members, commissioners, special advisers, permanent secretaries, heads of MDAs, local government administrators, etc., together under one umbrella to discuss issues of mutual interests.

Having been on the wane for some time, the body was rejuvenated by Senator Oluremi Tinubu while she was the First Lady of Lagos State. Imbued with a good knowledge of the vision and mission of the organization, Senator Tinubu put in place various

strategies that led to the resurgence of the body in Year 2000. Under her distinguished leadership, all wives of the state officials were mobilized to complement efforts of the state government in the provision of essential infrastructure for Lagos residents. Focus was mainly set on construction of recreation centres and gardens across the state to promote the culture of good family life among family through embracing a culture of relaxation in serene centres.

Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s passion for the aged, especially retirees who have spent their productive years serving the country, greatly influenced her vision of setting up a Retirement Villa in the state.

When one considers the gross neglect that retirees usually suffer in Africa, the ideal behind the senator’s vision will be better appreciated. Though the vision

of constructing the Retirement Villa was fully realized during the tenure of Senator’s Tinubu’s predecessor, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola, it is to the credit of the leadership and members of COWSLO that the committee has taught our political leaders an invaluable lesson about what continuity in governance is all about.

Under the leadership of Mrs. Abimbola Fashola, the focus of the body shifted to include regular sponsorship of free medical screening and treatment for cervical and breast cancer. This was done across the state, thereby giving vulnerable members of the society access to quality health care.

Consequently, many residents of the state were saved the stress and burden usually associated with certain sicknesses and diseases. It could, thus, be rightly affirmed that COWLSO’s medical intervention in

this direction was a life-saving enterprise.

Presently, COWLSO has initiated a number of carefully selected health projects to complement the state government’s efforts at reducing maternal and child morbidity and mortality. The body is concerned about the good health and wellbeing of mothers and children, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals on the health of citizens. A few of the projects that have been launched include upgraded Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Lagos Island Maternity Hospital, Lagos; and neo-natal hearing screening equipment. The hearing project focused mainly on the distribution of hearing aids to children and adults with hearing impairment as well as provision of free surgical intervention for patients with enlarged thyroid.

The necessity to source for funds to implement its projects devoid of public funds brought about the introduction of the annual National Women’s Conference (NWC) which was an initiative

of Senator Oluremi Tinubu. Money received as conference registration fees for participants including money from sponsors formed the totality of funds used for COWLSO projects. The first edition of the COWLSO NWC was held in 2001 with the theme: The Virtuous Woman.

Ever since, the conference has grown in leaps and bounds. In 2015, COWLSO chose “Relevance in Economic Turbulence” as the theme of that year’s NWC. In 2016, COWLSO held its 16th Conference, which ran from October 24 to October 26, under the theme: “Strong Family, Strong Nation”. The 17th edition of the conference with the theme: ‘She Creates, She Transforms’, was a befitting celebration of the perseverance, deftness and resourcefulness of women and their outstanding contributions towards nation building.

–Tayo Ogunbiyi, Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

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NEWS Atiku: Besides SGF, S’West PDP Demands AGF, CoS Expresses concerns about Fayose’s travails Gboyega Akinsanmi The South-West Zone of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to zone Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Chief of Staff to the President, among others, to the geo-political zone.

Also, the party has expressed concern about the travails of former Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), urging its members to stand with Fayose at his trying moment.

The PDP Vice-Chairman (South-west), Dr Eddy Olefeso

made the request Friday night at a meeting of key members across the six states in the zone held in Lagos.

The meeting was attended by former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George; Deputy National Chairman (South), Chief Yemi Akinwonmi and former National Vice Chairman of the party, Alhaji Taju-

deen Oladipo, among others.

Former Minister of State for Defence, Mrs. Olusola Obada; former Ogun State Deputy Governor, Alhaja Makanjuola Badru and a member of the National Assembly, Sen. Abiodun Olujimi were equally present at the meeting.

At the meeting, Olafeso observed that though the promise of the Secretary to

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the Government of the Federation (SGF) slot by Atiku was a good development, the zone deserved more key political and government positions.

The vice chairman explained that the zone had been schemed out in the power arrangement of the party for the past few years, noting that the presidential candidate should correct it when he assumed power in 2019.

For Atiku to give the zone a sense of belonging and compensate for the years of abandonment, Olafeso noted that he should zone key positions of the Chief of Staff to the President and ÀttorneyGeneral of the Federation to the South-West in addition to the SGF. He said the South-west “has the second highest voting population in the country and will demand its fair share of political positions if PDP wins in 2019. We have been denied for too long.

“In 2011, Nigeria under the control of our party zoned the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives to the zone and it was taken away.

“From 2011 to 2015, we were left just like that and the reverberating effect of that abandonment is the reason why we are still having the hangover of neglect till today.

“Now we are here again, the party is working with a zone with 14million votes, the second largest in the country.

We refuse and we will not

accept where we finish the job in the next election and for one reason or the other, we will not be considered.

“We don’t have to wait till after the election before we say what we want. We want to let the party and our candidate know that certain positions are strategic to governance and we want them.

“The SGF is great. But there is nothing wrong with having the Chief of Staff and Attorney-General on top of it to compensate us for the denials of the past, so that all of us can work as a united front.

We will continue to fight for it, we will speak with a loud voice. We give so much, so the zone deserves a lot.”

While congratulating Atiku on his emergence, Olafeso said the zone was pleased with the choice of Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, as his running mate.

He said the country was faced with serious economic challenges, and Obi had the pedigree that could realise the party’s economic vision for Nigeria.

Olafeso said the zone was concerned about the travails of former governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), over a case.

He urged members of the party to stand with Fayose at his trying moment, saying the former governor was paying for being truthful and standing against injustice.

Nigeria to Produce 3.4 Billion Cubic Feet of Gas Per Day By 2020 Sylvester Idowu in Warri The Federal Government yesterday disclosed that it was working towards delivery of about 3.4 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day to bridge the medium-term supply gap by 2020.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Emmanuel Kachikwu gave the assurance at the 2018 convocation of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, Delta State.

The minister, who was represented by Mr. Idang Alibi, said the federal government had decided to invest in the seven critical gas development projects to achieve the feat by 2020.

Kachikwu, who was conferred with the PTI Life Recognition award by the institute, said that the federal government had started utilisation and monetisation of the abundant gas resources of the country.

He said the federal government “has doubled her efforts

in ensuring effective policies that will drive gas utilisation and commercialisation. We have decided to invest in the seven critical gas development projects in Nigeria.

“These projects will deliver about 3.4 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day to bridge the medium-term supply gap by 2020. Also, federal government is increasing attention to the eradication of gas flaring, utilisation and monetisation of the abundant gas resources of

the country.

“This is in realisation of the place of natural gas as the energy of the future. Although, it is not yet Uhuru as a substantial quantity of this precious resource is still being wasted through routine flaring,” the governor said.

Kachikwu said two out of the 38 approved modular refineries would be commissioned by December 2018 to boost fuel supply in the country, one in Delta and the other in Rivers.

He said that the federal government had set up a Steering Technical Committee to reposition PTI to take additional responsibilities towards meeting the targets for local content development in the Oil and Gas Industry.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the PTI School of Diving should be upgraded to international standards. Efforts are ongoing to actualise the directives.”

Also at the convocation yes-

terday, Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta noted that this was period to train for diversification. “It is not enough to export crude and market a few other products.

We are all aware that the full value chain of the Petroleum Sector is yet to be exploited. I therefore, challenge the PTI to engage in research that will assist the Oil and Gas Industry in achieving its full potentials through value added and finished products,” he said.

Ensure Federal Character Principle Ikpeazu Canvasses Reconciliation Gun Attack: Ekiti Lawmaker Responding to Treatment, Say Police to Facilitate Devt in Staffing, Sheba Tells MDAs Ugo Aliogo Acting Chairman of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), Hon. Abayomi Sheba, has expressed the commission’s readiness to fully implement compliance with the federal character principle in staffing and recruitment of state-owned parastatals across the country.

According to a statement made available to THISDAY by the commission, Sheba said the commission would henceforth view non-compliance with the deserved seriousness and accompanied with appropriate sanctions.

Sheba also noted that the

commission has frowned at the practice of some government agencies in bypassing the required inputs needed from the commission thereby subverting the principle of federal character in their appointments.

The statement further said the act that established the FCC, apart from working out a formula for an allencompassing appointment structure, has the duty to promote, monitor and enforce compliance with the principles of proportional sharing of all bureaucratic, economic, media and political posts at all levels of government.

Tobi Soniyi

Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has warned that it will be difficult for Nigeria to achieve national unity and development if the people shy away from speaking the truth about their past as a basis to seek forgiveness from each other.

Delivering the 3rd Convocation lecture of the Gregory University Uturu, Abia State, Ikpeazu said that there could not be true national unity and development unless the leaders and people of Nigeria speak the truth about their past and consequently forgive each other.

He therefore called on leaders and people of Nigeria to imbibe the virtues of truth, forgiveness and transparency, which he said were panacea to the challenges of rapid development and national unity.

Citing the post-genocide experience of Rwanda to buttress his position, the governor said it was easy for Rwanda to become what she is today because the people and leaders of that country spoke the truth of their genocide experience to each other, and forgave themselves thereby paving the way for national unity and development of the country.

Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

The Ekiti State Police Command yesterday revealed that a member of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Michael Adedeji, who was attacked along Ado-Akure Highway on Friday , is now responding to treatment at the hospital.

The command revealed that the attacked lawmaker “is fast recuperating at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti (FETHI), where he was hospitalised after unknown gunmen allegedly shot at the early hour of Friday.

Adedeji, a member of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) caucus of the assembly,

was said to have been shot in the head during a trip to Akure, Ondo State capital .

He was immediately whisked to Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti (EKSUTH) for emergency medical attention, where he was later referred to FETHI. He was one of the few lawmakers that had strained relationships with former Governor Ayodele Fayose before his exit as the governor.

Adedeji, representing Ekiti Southwest II , also participated actively in the removal of the former Speaker and Fayose’s political ally, Hon. Kola Oluwawole a couple of weeks ago.

THISDAYt SUNDAY OCTOBER 28, 2018

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ͰͶ˜ ͰͮͯͶ ˾ THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

OPINION Nigeria And The APC Change Agenda Bisi Akande clarifies devolution of powers as contained in the APC Manifesto

I

would like to invite APC leaders at the convention and our entire members in the Diaspora to research into and to attempt a clarification of what we describe as 'Devolution of Powers' in our Manifesto, vis-a-vis its mix-up with what is being described as 'Restructuring'. The purpose of that clarification is to prevent our opponents from successfully misleading the general public about the "Report Cards" of our various governments on implementing the APC Change Agenda.

In a paper delivered by APC Deputy National Chairman for the North during the first Convention of the APC-USA held at the LaGuardia Plaza Hotel in New York, from 17-18 September, 2015, Senator Lawal Shuaibu said: "The party's manifesto was encapsulated into three: One, to create jobs; two, to eradicate corruption; and three, to bring peace back to Nigeria. These three summaries of APC manifesto have since become the 'Change Agenda' of our party for Nigeria."

In my understanding, the means to achieving "devolution of powers" is just persuading the national and state assemblies to reduce the exclusive functions of the central government, and to rearrange the concurrent responsibilities between the central government and the state governments in the list of functions recorded in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with a view to giving more residual powers to the states.

With intensive debates and negotiations among all political parties that have members in the national and state assemblies, this can be easily achieved. APC federal government alone cannot do it.

However, the biggest problem will be how to fund the various functions by non-viable states, if Nigeria remains consisted of 36 or more states, and if the existing crude oil rental economy falters or is no more.

This is a most complex exercise in nation building. Only political illiterates would not appreciate what 'restructuring' involves. It is a function of population manipulation within the ethnic nationality spreads and power redistribution.

In the South of Nigeria today, for reasons of variables of Western civilizations, majority of men marry one or few wives and majority of women practise family planning and birth

control. In the North, however, for reasons of culture, majority of men marry several wives, majority of women marry when they are young and prefer to have as many children as possible; birth control is even religiously abhorred. There is more tendency, therefore, for the North to continue to have more electoral representative constituencies than the South in the National Assembly as long as its population continues to grow higher and faster.

By nature, the military that ruled Nigeria for 29 years since independence created states and local governments according to selfish demands by fiats rather than by any scientific political reasonings during their tenures. These states and local governments have been enshrined by the military decrees in the 1999 Nigerian constitution.

They might have inequitably created more local governments per population per state in the North than in the South with a view to making the North continue to benefit from higher revenue sharing from the national treasury.

'Restructuring' is, therefore, the equitable rearrangement and redistribution of the existing local governments and states per population within the various ethnic nationalities, and making appropriate amendments to the Nigerian constitution to accommodate such rearrangements and redistributions. It is sheer political

The means to achieving devolution of powers is just persuading the national and state assemblies to reduce the exclusive functions of the central government, and to rearrange the concurrent responsibilities between the central government and the state governments in the list of functions recorded in the 1999 Constitution with a view to giving more residual powers to the states

illiteracy, however, to think that the word 'equitable' can be easily defined to convince those who might have had extra advantages under the existing constitution to surrender those advantages easily.

We all know that it involved series of foreign military expeditions to translate the consulates into the British colony of Lagos in the mid-nineteenth century. After properly taking hold of and settling down in Lagos, it involved another series of British military expeditions to structure together the villages, towns and settlements around the network of rivers that flow into Lake Chad and into Rivers Niger and Benue to constitute the land mass called the British Protectorate of Northern Nigeria later in the same century.

Hundreds of years earlier, with series of internecine wars, history had witnessed the structuring of what had been known as Bornu Empire, the Zamfara Empire and other empires and kingdoms in the areas being established into the British Protectorate of Northern Nigeria.

It must also be remembered that the century immediately before the advent of the British witnessed the Fulani military jihads that replaced the Habe dynasty with the Fulani Emirates under the Sokoto Sultanate in the same North. The sole design of the Fulani jihads was woven around what they pronounced as "introduction and reformation of Islam", which involved series of wars and inter-communal bitterness.

Towards the close of the same nineteenth century, by similar series of military expeditions, the British Protectorate of Southern Nigeria was also created. Before then, through wars of expansion of one ancient authority over certain numerous communities, Oyo and Benin Empires had been structured for centuries in the area to be eventually established as the British Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. By the same use of force, the British Protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria were amalgamated in 1914 with the Colony of Lagos to establish the British Nigeria colony.

––Excerpts of speech delivered by Akande, former Governor, Osun State and founding National Chairman, APC at the APC-USA Second Annual Convention

A Template For National Development The inauguration of the new Port Harcourt Airport terminal is welcome. But there is need to do more, writes Simeon Nwakaudu

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senior politician once told me that in this era, it is very dangerous to sit on the fence. To drive home his point, he asked me to take a look at a modern fence of a mansion. It is high, with deadly spikes backed by electric reinforcements. In a nutshell, it is suicidal to be on the fence.

It is the same with Nigeria. This is not a time to be neutral. We are experiencing a central government founded on nepotism, injustice, marginalisation, insecurity, high level corruption and disregard for the rule of law. It is suicidal to stay on the fence.

For those in the President's five per cent region, the story is worse. The federal government has refused to initiate a single project for the good of the people. Several key projects have been abandoned. As the elections approach, projects initiated and funded by the Jonathan administration will be dusted for political campaigns.

For me, it is on this premise that I have resolved to personally praise former President Goodluck Jonathan for being a father to all Nigerians, irrespective of their religion, tribe or region. He was a leader, a democrat in office and a lover of everyone.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan initiated and funded 14 new federal universities. Majority of these universities are in the north and they created thousands of jobs. He initiated and funded 150 Almajiri Schools, all in the North. As acknowledged by the Minister of Works, Housing and Power, Babatunde Fashola, Jonathan embarked on the most extensive road construction and reconstruction nationwide.

It is a known fact that the former president revived the dead railways in the country. From Lagos to Kaduna and from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, he initiated the construction of the standard gauge and today, Kaduna to Abuja is on stream.

However, one of the most outstanding areas of Jonathan's landmark improvement was in the area of the nation's airports.

At the time Jonathan took over, the airports were like glorified motor parks. The Jonathan administration transformed the 22 airports across the country. No geo-political zone was left out.

For Port Harcourt, the domestic wing of the airport was remodelled, while the international wing was under construction.

The new Port Harcourt Airport Terminal inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, October 25, 2018 was initiated and funded by the Jonathan administration. In 2013, the administration obtained a $500 million facility from

the Chinese Exim Bank with additional counterpart funding of $100 million to build four terminals at the four major airport terminals in the country, including the airports in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt. (https://www.premiumtimesng. com/news/99235-fg-approves-n106-billion-for-construction-ofnew-airport-terminals.html).

Recall that the Jonathan administration approved the sum of N106 billion for the project and had issued orders for the “immediate take-off of construction work on the five terminals for international flights”. Former Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah announced at a news conference in Abuja that the money was approved at the Federal Executive Council meeting. She said the new international terminal projects are different from the on-going remodelling and reconstruction of 11 airports in the country. Indeed, VicePresident Yemi Osinbajo after inspecting the re-modelling of the existing Port Harcourt Airport announced that the Jonathan paid 100 per cent for the new terminal.

Thus, the contribution of the Buhari administration to the completion of the new airport terminals in Port Harcourt and Abuja is merely the fact that they are in office during the completion period. According to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) brochure for the commissioning exercise, "The New Port Harcourt Airport Terminal building was built by CCECC Nigeria Ltd. The contract sum of the project is 111, 168, 752, 55 USD; 85 per cent of the contract sum came from Export-Import Bank of China as a concessional loan, while 15 per cent of the amount came as counterpart funding from the government of Nigeria. The contract was signed on December 3rd, 2012, but large scale construction commenced on March 1, 2014".

Also in Rivers State, working with former Minister of State for Education, now Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, former President Jonathan established the Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas, Bonny. Other key projects in Rivers State under the Jonathan administration and supervised by Governor Wike include: Faculty of Law, University of Port Harcourt; construction of Faculty of Biological Science Building, University of Port Harcourt; special intervention for Federal College of Education, Technical, Omoku for key projects; ongoing construction of Special Vocational School for Boys at Ogu/Bolo LGA; construction of Junior Model College in Ikwerre LGA; complete rehabilitation and equipping of 22 existing secondary schools in all

three Senatorial Districts of Rivers State; distribution of over four million free textbooks and resource materials to basic education institutions in Rivers State; training of over 20,000 teachers and basic education administrators in Rivers State; siting of National Teachers Institute (NTI) Data Centre in Port Harcourt; Siting National Open University of Nigeria study centre in Port Harcourt; rehabilitation of classrooms, laboratories and hostels at Federal Government College, Port Harcourt; rehabilitation of classrooms, laboratories and hostels at Federal Government Girls College, Abuluoma; rehabilitation of classrooms, hostels and workshops at Federal Science and Technical College, Ahaoda; construction of electronic library, Port Harcourt; construction of electronic library, Federal Government Girls College, Abuluoma; special TETFUND High Impact Development Fund of N1billion to University of Port Harcourt.

Jonathan's commitment to projects and pro-people programmes delivery across the country was legendary. It was never influenced by political consideration. He reached out to all geo-political zones in very fundamental ways.

He re-defined governance, putting in place the template for the rapid development of the country. The new Port Harcourt Airport terminal is a proof of his determination to transform Rivers State, alongside others.

As Jonathan reached out to Rivers and the South-South, he remembered every other Nigerian community. Nobody was marginalised. Indeed, Jonathan was criticised for remembering the north before the rest of the country.

For Buhari, the new airport terminal should serve as a reminder of the marginalization of Rivers State and other states in the South-South and South-East. Aside this project funded by the Jonathan administration, there is nothing else on ground in these states to indicate federal presence.

The APC government should therefore use the time it has left to resume work on the East-West Road, operationalization of the seaports, execution of the Bonny-Bodo Road, clean- up of Ogoni communities and the abandoned federal roads across the state. This last minute reach out should apply to other abandoned states of the South-South and South-East.

Jonathan has set a template for national development and politics. In whatever we do, we must remain grateful to former President Jonathan for placing Nigeria above sectional interest.

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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 ˾ OCTOBER 28, 2018

LETTERS

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Southern Parkway Road And The FCT

he usual traffic gridlock being experienced around Area 11 in the FCT, especially during events at the National Mosque and the Christian Ecumenical Centre is gradually becoming a thing of the past as the critical Southern Parkway road coasts into completion.

This six- kilometre road which was awarded in 2010 was left unattended to by previous administration, despite the traffic bottlenecks experienced around the area.

The road begins around the Area 11 Mosque, passing behind the NTA headquarters and stretches down to the Christian Ecumenical Centre as well as the NNPC office down to ring road one by old Secretariat building. It is a complex road that traverses four key roads in the city’s main business districts of Garki, and Central Business District.

With the completion of this road, motorists rather than relying solely on the Ahmadu Bello Way and the hitherto overstretched Emeka Anyaku street that

W

Mohammed Bello

passes in front of the FCDA building and the NTA to connect Nnamdi Azikiwe road, can now drive on the Southern Park way from CBN headquarters and pass behind NTA to reach FCDA/FCTA, towards ICRC, or connect the Ahmadu Bello Way in front of the FCTA Secretariat complex.

The Southern Parkway is the twin of the Northern Parkway which starts from the National Mosque and goes through Mabuchi down to Life Camp and beyond. The administration is said to be working hard to complete this project before the end of next year and the target is to deliver the road up to the

Muhamadu Buhari way by the end of this year.

Abuja residents and other observers would agree that the near completion of this road has made motoring around the area a pleasure.

It is a departure from the traffic snarl that bedevilled the narrow strip of driveway connecting the FCTA Secretariat from the Tafawa Balewa Way. The connecting strips before now were either clouded with dust during the dry season or mashed up with mud during the raining season which made driving to government establishments located in these areas very unpleasant.

Already, the east-end of the road complex, connecting the FCTA/ FCDA Secretariats, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), National Christian Centre, Nigerian Television Authority and the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) is at its home-stretch.

As the road nears completion, the FCT Secretariat, NTA, National Christian Centre and surrounding areas are beginning to experience traffic relief and

The Curse of Kavanaugh

hy would an unverifiable accusation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh form the basis for opposing his nomination? Would the fact that a person behaved badly even once in his early years be a reason for doubting his integrity forever? Is sincere repentance an impossibility for we humans?

How many of Brett Kavanaugh's accusers have lived impeccable lives as a basis for the trust they now enjoy among their relations, friends, colleagues and acquaintances?

What in the final analysis is the ultimate motivation behind the ridiculous and theatrical opposition to Brett Kavanaugh's nomination as a supreme court judge? Fear and hatred for life; the hallmark of the Devil (the murderer and father of lies). Both the tactics used in the attempt to block Kavanaugh's nomination (unverifiable allegations: lies) and the ultimate aim: the protection of abortion rights (or tolerance of the killing of innocent yet-to-be-born children) all bear the hallmarks of the work of evil one.

It so happens that some pro-choice (abortion "right") activists fear that given Kavanaugh's antecedents as a judge, his presence in the US Supreme Court may finally lead to the repeal of the controversial Roe vs Wade ruling that paved the way for abortion on

demand in the US. That is why the much-talked about coven of witches that was convoked to cast a spell on the newly appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh is most revealing! (https:// www.bbc.com/news/world-uscanada-45928212.)

After having lost the first leg of his battle against Brett and the defence of "abortion rights" the devil has been inadvertently forced to reveal himself through his minions and beneficiaries to us all. The proceeds from much advertised coven will go to the largest abortion provider in the world: Planned Parenthood (who some satirically call Planned Barrenhood)!

Doesn't this pact between Planned Parenthood and witches tell us something about the ultimate nature of abortion and the industry it has spawned?

No doubt, "unwanted pregnancies" presents us with tough moral choices!

But is abortion necessarily the only way out?

Is adoption not a viable option given the rising cases of barrenness among couples? Why have we suddenly become oblivious of the intrinsic connection between sexual intercourse and conception of new life? It seems that the much touted sex without consequences motto of the sexual revolution has truly sunk such deep roots in our psyche that abortion has now attained the status of a "right" to enable us deal with the consequence of failed contraception or lack of continence!

It might be instructive to reflect on a famous case of an "unwanted pregnancy" in order to relearn a few lessons about life (The True Life)! According to the Bible, when the Angel Gabriel informed Mary that she would give birth to a son (Jesus), her immediate objection to that possibility was the fact that she had not had any relationship with a man. Thus reminding us sophisticated modern men and women that new life is not such a strange, unforeseen and therefore unwanted consequence of sexual union.

To the extent that Joseph was not responsible for Mary's pregnancy, her's was an unwanted pregnancy.

Hence the decision Joseph contemplated of sending her away quietly. This is a poignant reminder of the social stigma associated with these pregnancies and the need to be very understanding and supportive with those who are faced with such challenges.

Mary put up with the "shame" and misunderstanding associated with her new situation rather than attempt to avoid it by opting for an abortion to protect her so-called reputation or convenience.

Human life was at stake!

This same fear of new life led King Herod to murder thousands of innocent children around Bethlehem in his quest to do away with a possible contender to his throne in the new born King of the Jews that the Magi from the East sought to find when they arrived

in Jerusalem. The same fate befell the Israelites in Egypt when Pharaoh sought to enslave them because of their growing population.

This same fear of my neighbour's fertility is at work in all the Western sponsored campaign for population control in Africa and other parts of the world. The irony of all these campaigns is the internal contradiction inherent in the lifestyles they promote.

On the one hand, sexual promiscuity even among children is fostered through safe-sex campaigns with their attendant moral, social, psychological and health risks. On the other hand, contraception and abortion is promoted to prevent the most obvious natural consequences of sexual relations!

Abstinence and chastity is hardly ever mentioned as a viable alternative. The reasons are simple. Chastity and abstinence while 100% effective are not profitable for the reproductive health (abortion) industry.

The fact is that safe-sex campaigns are used to groom and expand the clienteles of the reproductive health industry in a similar manner that drug pushers give free drugs to novices in order to get them addicted enough to become their cash cows.

This pleasurable road to enslavement is the devil's trademark. Indeed, Kavanaugh has truly stirred the hornet's nest and forced the devil to bare its fangs.

–Daniel Nyambi, Lagos

ease of navigability. The abandonment of the road for years had made access to these institutions and surrounding areas difficult.

The Southern Parkway, in the Abuja Master Plan forms the major spine of the capital city and one of the longest Abuja roads from the Central Business District traversing all the four phases of the Federal Capital City, with facilities like streetlights, recreational, café centres and under passes among others. It is designed to complement the Northern Parkway, the major arterial running across Mabushi.

Replacement of stolen equipment has also been seen as another landmark achievement of this present administration. As at inception of this government, the whole place was a plethora of open manholes. But these stolen manhole covers are today being replaced with new models that are durable and uneconomical to steal, which is equally very commendable.

It has also been observed that work has reached advanced stages on the B6 and B12 roads also known as the Independence and Constitution Avenue which will enable going to the airport road on dual mode.

The ramps by the NNPC after the Tofa Building heading to the National Stadium have also been constructed and opened and have been of immense use in the evacuation of traffic immediately after

the Friday Jumat prayers at the National Mosque. It is among the more than 20 ramps, flanks and tangent roads which were taken up by the present administration and they have helped to break the traffic bottleneck in major intersections of the city.

Among the major works completed also include the underpass connecting Aso Drive with the Federal Secretariat. The abandonment of this strip of road by successive administrations was the reason all vehicles headed to the Federal Secretariat were congested on the slope, leading to loss of man hours. It was a common site to see huge traffic buildup on Aso Drive most mornings. With the completion of this road, a greater portion of the traffic can pass through the underpass and continue their way into other parts of the city.

All of these recent developments have helped to improve traffic flow around the city even at peak hours.

The opening of the ramps, loops and tangent roads at various intersections could be described as the proverbial stitch that saves nine.

The traditional holdup that builds up around various routes in the city is now marked with free flow of traffic. Much Kudos to Muhammad Bello and his team for these heartwarming improvements.

–Danladi Akilu, Durumi II, Gudu District, Abuja.

Eseoghene, NYSC And Zhidu Community

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ecently, there has been heated debate about the relevance of the compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme and indeed some agitation for the programme to be scrapped or reformed. In the face of this, a few young Nigerians still consider the scheme as an opportunity to travel outside their regions and learn extensively about other regions of the country.

Among the crowd, an uncommon set of corps members appreciate the one-year programme as a platform to go beyond the norm by looking out for location-specific challenges and bringing solutions to those they consider important.

Mr. Johnson Eseoghene, a 2017 corps member in FCT, Abuja belongs to this uncommon few.

It is puzzling to figure how Mr. Johnson mapped out Zhidu community, a settlement in Lugbe axis of Nigeria’s Federal Capacity Territory, Abuja. The peculiarities of this highly ignored community reflect in the absence of social amenities such as schools, water, roads, health centres, etc., There is so

much that could be done in a community like Zhidu.

For corps member Johnson Eseoghene, his contribution as a personal community development service (CDS) was to drill a public borehole, funded by Hope Spring Water, to provide the people of Zhidu community clean water. In his words, “The motivation that has pushed me to carry out this borehole project for Zhidu Community is the lack of safe water around the world.

Many women and children, especially young girls, trek long distances to get water for their family.

A lot of children also die daily from water-related diseases. I believe that providing this borehole will go a long way to save many lives and bring more development to Zhidu community.”

Johnson Eseoghene who is also the president of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) community development service (CDS) group, was well commended by officials of the National Youth Service Corps and the community leaders in Zhidu for his initiative. I also thank him immensely.

––Seyifunmi Adebote, Abuja.

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T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R ˾ OCTOBER 28, 2018

THISDAY WEEKLY GUIDE TO 2019

Amosun

El-Rufai

Ugwuanyi

Yari

The Road to 2019: Flashpoints to Watch (VII) With the ruling APC yet to put its house together following its contentious primary elections in many states and the opposition PDP still addressing the fallout of its pick as presidential running mate, the build-up to next year’s national elections cannot be less intriguing, though some three months away, writes Olawale Olaleye

I

n the week that just ended, it’s been different folks addressing different strokes. And if there are indications that next year’s general election holds impossible surprises, any discerning mind needs not ask further questions.

Even raising the stakes at such incredible extent of expectations are the many predictions that are flying round about the elections.

Since its wobbly primary elections, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has continued to struggle in a majority of states, because the national leadership of the party is believed to have been more partisan than neutral in conducting the primaries. From Ogun State to Zamfara, Imo, Niger, Ondo, Bauchi, Ijgawa, Kebbi, Rivers and many others, reports coming out of these states are not encouraging. Indeed, they should disturb as they are already.

From the PDP axis, whilst the party should by now be capitalizing on the successful outcome of its presidential convention despite the tension that gripped its members in the build up to it, the management of the outcome of such a huge success has been its undoing. What ordinarily should have further aided its rating appears its major problem.

The choice of Mr. Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra State by the presidential candidate of the PDP and former vice-president of the country, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is the issue the party has had to deal with in the last few days.

Interestingly, this problem started to brew from Obi’s very own base: the South-east, thus, technically endangering the home zone advantage, at least, for now.

But generally, nearly all the parties have been uneasy in the last few days, including the fringe ones, as they all gear up for a major election, which in the reckoning of all, could be a make or mar for the country. But then, what has happened in what state in the week that just ended? Let’s take a short trip.

KADUNA Too Much at Once

The impact of the outcome of the party primaries in Kaduna State has not been a good one, sadly on all counts. Although Governor Nasir el-Rufai eventually got his most desired result – denying Senator Shehu Sani a re-election – the last, of course, has not been heard of the political development in that state especially with the reported defection of Senator Sani to another party.

The other factor that is not likely to make this any easy for el-Rufai is that his rejection of Sani is believed to be in clear disobedience to the order and wish of President Buhari, an insubordination that may not go unpunished at the end of the day.

However, even more disturbing was the recent ethno-religious crisis, which also culminated in the kidnap and eventual killing of a traditional ruler in Southern Kaduna, Agom Adara, Maiwada Raphael Galadima.

His killing, clearly, has increased the body counts in a crisis that reportedly started with mere misunderstanding between two people.

For now, this might be a little too much for the state and the government, and as the state approaches the demands of next elections, echoes of issues like this will definitely not be silenced.

OGUN Between Facts and Fictions

The state of the party in Ogun State is generally believed to be one that has continued to give the presidency and others sleepless nights. This is also because of the relationship between Governor Ibikunle Amosun of the state and President Muhammadu Buhari.

Although what is fast appearing a test of the relationship both men had maintained over many years is hanging between facts and fictions of what might have happened and what did not happen at all. Therefore, in addressing the illogic with logic, meticulously sifting between the facts and the fictions has become inevitable.

Whilst there are those who had condemned the governor’s disposition in the run-up to the primary, which they reckoned might have forced the opposition within to travel the route they took, such a position cannot however validate the impunity that transpired, others reckoned.

There is no debating the fact that a direct primary was conducted by Amosun for his candidates, whom he had chosen as consensus of the party and with the backing of other leaders in the state, nothing of such was believed to have held in the other camp which eventually produced Mr. Dapo Abiodun as a counterforce to Amosun’s candidate, Hon. Adekunle Akinlade.

There is now said to be a last minute intervention by the president. But how that would address the deep animosity amongst the contenders, more so at the late hour is yet to be seen. Ogun is definitely an interesting watch in 2019 as history might repeat itself, albeit differently.

ENUGU Indisputably PDP!

Whatever Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi is doing in Enugu State is clearly being done well. Apart from overseeing the affairs of state with great impressions and stellar performance that seem to dwarf those before him, he has also been able to manage party politics in such a manner that brings to the fore, his leadership prowess.

What has gone a step ahead to confirm a majority of these assertions is the everyday endorsement he appears to be getting from everywhere as the state counts down to next year’s election.

While this is not in any way writing off the chances of the opposition, the APC that is fielding Senator Ayogu Eze to unseat a governor like Ugwuanyi might require more than being a ruling party.

However, with Senator Ike

Ekweremadu’s alleged defection recently dismissed, PDP in Enugu cannot be safer, even when the issues that threw up the defection consideration of Ekweremadu are still very much alive.

ZAMFARA A Subsisting Survival Battle

Ogun aside, another state that requires a full gaze of the observing public is Zamfara State, whose governor, Abdul-Aziz Yari is not taking chances in an attempt to undermine him in his state. In fact, unlike the quiet Ogun governor, Yari has publicly threatened fire and brimstone if the alleged manipulation of the primaries in his state were allowed to stay.

Although opposition senator, Kabiru Marafa, who appears to be enjoying support from an unusual quarter, which is up against the governor, recently shaded the governor for moving to remove the national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, Yari is not oblivious of the repercussions of handling things mildly and is not taking chances.

Therefore, the survival battle in Zanfara State is far from being over and as it appears, the contenting forces are not giving up easily either. The battle ahead in Zamfara is not for the feeble-minded.

LAGOS Putting the Past Behind

In Lagos, the dust appears to be settling.

After the initial muscle-flexing from the contending forces, it appears calm has returned to the turf and everyone is ready to work together.

It is trite to state that after Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of the state had lost his re-election ticket to Mr. Babajide SanwoOlu, there was an attempt to also impeach him, because according to the owners of Lagos, they could no longer trust the fact that he could play the spoiler and so, an impeachment plan was set in motion.

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OCTOBER 28, 2018 ˾ T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R

THISDAY WEEKLY GUIDE TO 2019

Udom

Ganduje

Abe

Masari

The Road to 2019: Flashpoints to Watch (VII) But there appears to have been a rethink over this. Even when the speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa tried to dismiss the impeachment rumour, he was not smart enough when he said the idea was not on the card “for now”.

Besides, Kebbi State Governor, Mohammed Bindow, an ally of the Lagos governor, recently came out to speak about the Lagos primary and the disposition of Ambode, moves political commentators thought was conceived to calm frayed nerves and also reassure the owners of the state.

AKWA IBOM A Curious Meddlesomeness

Days ago, the police were reported to have invited the campaign coordinators of Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State for allegedly attacking the opposition candidate in the state.

This move by the police, unfortunately, has elicited unsavoury reactions from the people, a majority of whom hold the view that the development might as well be a precursor to what to expect in the state in 2019, with the police clearly aligning.

Suffice it to say that Governor Emmanuel has since come out to allay fears of undue interference in the state, saying the state was at peace with itself. But analysts see it differently. There could be a plot to take over some strategic states, one of which is Akwa Ibom. How possible that might be is yet to be seen.

KANO A Sad Turn of Events

Kano has always been a state of interest in any political contest, because it is very critical to every win. With the kind of votes it readily churns out, no one can afford to ignore Kano.

Although the fight in the state has always been between Governor Abdulahi Ganduje and his predecessor, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, both of whom had sworn to settle the supremacy battle once and for all, the latest development however shows that Ganduje is currently up against himself.

With a trending allegation of bribery to the tune of $5 million, alleged to have been personally received by the governor and with video evidence, which the ‘up-loader’ was confident and willing to defend, the situation in Kano is fluid and the fate of Ganduje still unknown as impeachment dangles over his head.

This certainly is not a good one for Ganduje, one of the allies of President Muhamamdu Buhari, who is being entrusted with a lot of votes but now battling corruption allegation. The days ahead are surely not promising.

RIVERS A Mixed Bag of Confusion

A recent Supreme Court ruling which threw out the congresses of the party that produced the current executive that midwifed the primary process, which in turn produced Mr. Tonye Cole as the governorship candidate of the APC in Rivers State, has thrown a huge spanner in the works for the APC. It is bad enough that the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi and Amaechi and Senator Magnus Abe would have resolved their supremacy battle in the election of next year, the ruling has just taken their feud to a different level, which leaves the party in a state of confusion.

It is difficult to see a way out of the logjam it has found itself. Will it field candidates for the election or will it not seems to be the question on everyone’s lips. How things would play out here remains to be seen. So many factors lay ahead of the party in the state, the outcome of which does not seem good.

ABIA A Resort to Self-help

A poor management of the fallout of the Abia APC primary election is not looking good for the party with the nearly everyday protest and disapproval of what transpired during the primary.

While the PDP and its candidate, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu are unperturbed about

happening around them, the APC which is fielding Uche Ogah, is clearly not at ease as members now resort to self-help in advancing their cases of injustice. How far they can push this is what is still missing.

BAYELSA APC’s Loss, PDP’s Gain

Both the PDP and APC are running neckand-neck in the state as the elections draw near. Although the elections are staggered, because the governorship election holds at a different time, what is at stake for both parties is so much that they cannot afford to take anything for granted as they count down.

What is being witnessed now is the defection of persons from both parties but as at the last count, the APC had reportedly lost more people to the PDP, a development that confirmed the fact that the PDP wasn’t taking anything for granted. Besides, Bayelsa looks comfortable for the PDP especially that it is the homestead of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

KATSINA Still Latching on Buhari’s Coattail

One state that has been consistently credited with poor showing in terms of performance is Katsina. Unfortunately, that is the state of President Muhammadu Buhari. Thus, Governor Aminu Masari of the state is believed to have continued to enjoy the privilege of being the governor of the president’s state to build a political clout and credibility that can win elections.

Curiously, Masari is often dismissed as one of the governors, who had given the APC a bad name with his poor showing in terms of performance. But he does not appear disturbed, because he could always ride on the coattail of the president to return to office.

KWARA A Storm in a Teacup

Still very safe in the hands of the PDP, what is going on in Kwara today is shaking the state a bit, following allegations that the governorship candidate of the party in

the state, Rasaq Atunwa forged his NYSC certificate.

Atunwa has of course come out to deny any such thing, it is however important to not dismiss how much damage that could do to the party if found out it was true except of course the parties deny having any knowledge of such a crime.

The interesting thing is that Saraki is not perturbed, neither is his candidate. How the opposition can sufficiently take advantage of the situation is what many wait to see.

NIGER No Longer Safe for APC Like many APC states, as the political equation in the country currently stands, Niger State may no longer be safe for the APC as some of its members are beginning to defect to the opposition PDP. It is also trite to say that this has a lot to do with the aftermath of the party primaries in the state.

The Niger State Governor, Abubakar Bello, is believed to be one of those not happy with the leadership of the APC and like many of the North Central States, Niger too might be a hard sell for the APC in 2019 and therefore, no longer safe for the party.

IMO Unending Tales of Woes Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha is taking no prisoners in his rigid bid to install his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu as his successor in office. But that might be long in coming with the reports that the national leadership of the party has recognised Senator Ifeanyi Ararume as the winner of the governorship primaries.

Like other angry governors, Okorocha is ready to fight this with the last drop of his blood and is one of those angling for the removal of the national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole.

It is public knowledge that Imo is the only South-east state in APC and with the state of things in the party in the state, it just might be on its way out of the grip of the party.

Situating the Presidential Run O n the presidential category of next year’s election, a lot has happened and still going to happen, all coming together to make some good sense for 2019.

For President Buhari, his certificate issue has crept into public debate again and it does not seem like it is going to go away soon. Although his men have gone to town to market him, riding on a Town Hall meeting to tell Nigerians what they do not know about their president and his achievements, this is however

colouring their narratives.

That this moves were coming out at a time The Economist, did another report insisting Buhari would lose next year’s election, is enough to stir a rethink of strategy. But it has changed the tenor of campaigns and suddenly, it appears all contending parties see the need for an issuebased campaign.

In the PDP, Atiku is though in faraway Dubai for a short rest, his team is getting ready to hit the space soon with a bang. Although the

former vice-president recently cried to the international community to intervene in the election and not let the ruling party rig him out, his choice of Mr. Peter Obi as running mate is becoming a burden all of a sudden.

However, with a new Electoral Act passed recently by the National Assembly and people canvassing taxable donations for parties and candidates, next year’s presidential election may not be business as usual.

Atiku

18

ͰͶ˜ ͰͮͯͶ ˾ THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

INTERNATIONAL The Savage Killing of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi as a New Diplomatic Dimension of State Terrorism

T

he very cruel killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist and national of Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday, 2nd October, 2018 at the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Turkey, raises some fundamental questions on the maintenance of international peace and security: will there ever be any enduring solution to the recidivist issue of international terrorism? With the sovereign right of Member States of the international community to use force for the purposes of national safety and security, will there ever be an end to state terrorism? Is global peace and security not permanently under threat in the absence of any enduring solution to terrorism? Is global peace not permanently under threat if terrorism has no clue? Terrorism has been the activity of both state and non-state actors. The demise of Osama bin Laden and the good and tight measures put at the entry ports in the United States give the false impression that the people of the United States are now secure. But this is not true.

Americans are more insecure under President Donald Trump than under any US president and the reason cannot be far-fetched: his policies, particularly foreign policy is hostilityinviting. The truth is that terrorists have simply changed their tactics from trying to import bombs into the United States to preparing the bombs and destructive devises on the ground in the US. In fact, contemporary international relations has increasingly been characterised by several challenges of development of modern technology-driven terrorism, state-sponsored terrorism and domestic political terrorism, especially as shown in the savage killing of Journalist Jamal Khasoggi in Turkey and the renewed domestic terrorism in the United States, as shown by the most recent case of Cesar Altieri Sayoc.

Sayoc is an unrepentant 56-year old criminal, who had not only been arrested more than nine times in the past for various offences, ranging from charges of engagement in bomb scare, arrest for larceny at the age of 29, but has also sent on Thursday, 25th October, 2018, 13 packages containing 6”-pipe bombs, battery, energy, etc, to opposition elements in the United States, particularly the democrats and media professionals: Maxine Waters, Hilary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, CNN, etc. He lives in a utility van, having been sent out of home by his parents. He is a delivery driver who is said to be articulate, relating cordially with his female boss, Debra Gurghian, a general manager of a restaurant, but also dangerously deadly. He acted alone, living alone, and has the opportunity of developing 13 new sophisticated bomb devices in his world of loneliness. The big challenge is how to control terrorists acting alone within their private homes? Can Nigeria begin to learn lessons from the American experience? What lessons can journalists in Nigeria learn from the experience of the killing of Khashoggi?

Savagery and Politics The killing of journalist Khashoggi clearly shows the dirtiness of international politics, and particularly the fact that democratic ethic as a value, press freedom, struggle to promote investigative journalism or wanting to die because of the need for fairness, justice and credibility, as added values of good governance, at best, have no credible defenders any more. What currently matters is the determination of which national interest is at stake. With current international politics, the best journalist Khashoggi can have is probably declaratory sympathy or post-humous honour. There is no way the killing of Khashoggi will be allowed to affect the protection of economico-strategic interests of the major partners of Saudi Arabia.

For instance, let us begin with the interest of the Government of Saudi Arabia, the principal suspect. David Ignatius, a columnist with the Washington Post, has given various reasons as to why the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is quite afraid of Khashoggi, and hence probably why he should be after his life. Khashoggi cannot be easily intimidated or controlled. He was uncensored and did not observe the ‘red lines’ imposed by the Crown Prince. As explained by Ignatius, Khashoggi was an insistent, defiant journalist. In light of this and in the eyes of the Crown Prince, therefore, Khashoggi must be very ‘dangerous.’

How should he be dealt with as a dangerous threat? This is where the possible linkage of the Crown Prince to the killing becomes an interesting issue to address.

VIE INTERNATIONALE with

Bola A. Akinterinwa Telephone : 0807-688-2846

e-mail: bolyttag@yahoo.com

Khashoggi Strenuous efforts have been made by the Saudi government to delink the Crown Prince from the murder saga, but there is nothing to suggest that he was not on the know about the whole exercise as revealed by various accounts. Turkish officials not only said one member of the Saudi crew walked into the Saudi Consulate and came out dressed to look like Jamal Khashoggi, the CNN also has a ‘surveillance footage that reportedly shows ‘Mustapha al-Madani, a suspected Saudi intelligence official, exiting the consulate by the back door, wearing Khashoggi’s clothes, a fake beard, and glasses.’

Saudi Foreign Minister, Adel al-Jubeir says the killing was a ‘tremendous mistake’ and that the individuals who did it, did so ‘outside the scope of their authority.’ Additionally, the Saudi government has also posited that Khashoggi was accidentally killed during altercation with government officials at the Saudi Consulate.

While Donald Trump of the United States told the Washington Post, on the one hand, that ‘obviously there’s been deception, and there’s been lies’ regarding the narrative given

by Saudi Arabia on the killing of Khashoggi, he suggests, on the other hand, that Saudi Arabia remains an incredible ally of the United States. In this regard, Donald Trump is not interested in doing anything that can negatively affect the execution of the $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. There is also the business interests of Donald Trump, as well as those of his son-inlaw, Jared Kushner, who has developed very close ties with the Saudi King. The US attitudinal policy is therefore that of double standard and the specific case of the US Treasury Secretary, Mr. Steve Mnuchin, is a good illustration of the point: he refused to participate in the fund raising investment conference ‘Davos in the Desert,’ that held on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2018, allegedly in protest against the murder of Khashoggi, but still met with the Crown Prince to underscore the extent of importance of US-Saudi Arabian strategic partnership.

The position of other powerful countries is not different. Even though the British government strongly condemned the killing,

The indisputable truth, about the murder of Journalist Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate is that state terrorism has actually become a major instrument of Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy.Attempts to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community and suggest the non-involvement of the Crown Prince is a most unfortunate strategic calculation. If not, who are the consular or intelligence agents working for?True, Press Freedom does not include governmental tolerance in Saudi Arabia. More importantly, if a Saudi national can be brutally slaughtered, foreigners cannot but be wrong to expect better treatment.This is precisely what should be borne in mind by all journalists accredited to Saudi Arabia. But who says Saudi Arabia is a lone ranger on this issue of state terrorism?

the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, has it that the British ‘will always be thoughtful and considered in our response, but if the appalling stories are true, they are fundamentally incompatible with our values.’ This statement was made on 23rd October.

What is it that has not been sufficiently revealed to have not warranted a committing statement to sanction, even if investigations have not been finally concluded? If the truth is eventually established, what will the sanctionary measures look like? The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, has suggested that the government will revoke visas of suspects related to the murder of Khashoggi. Is this sufficient a compensation for fighting against dictatorship? This does not suggest any seriousness of purpose.

The mere fact that Khashoggi was brutally slaughtered makes the crime another type of crime against humanity, as Journalist Khashoggi is an epitome of democratic freedom fighter, fighting against societal ills and oppression, fighting against dictatorship.

If this cruel killing is not seriously addressed, especially with a view to sanctioning the culprits to serve as deterrence, the future of global peace and security cannot but be bleak.

Terrorism regardless of the mania of its categorisation and definition is largely and firstly a mixture of frustration, hate, and protest against government’s policy. It is when the frustration is not recognized that there is movement to the stage of protest.

The form a protest takes depends on the extent of anger and on how it is decided to be manifested. Thus, terrorism is one of the critical forms of the manifestation and the crescendo on the continuum of illegal violence.

Terrorism is not simply a violent act. It is largely characterized by inhumanity and brutality. It is, in effect, punitive in infliction and intimidating in design. Without the factor of cruelty or brutality, a violent act cannot be described as an act of terrorism, even though terrorism has been variously defined.

As explicated in the United States Code of Federal Regulations, terrorism is an ‘unlawful use of force and violence against person or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, on any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objective.’

From this definition of terrorism, three factors are noteworthy: use of force, victim and purpose. The three factors are essentially about objective and its means. In other words, the objective of terrorism is necessarily political. It must be in furtherance of socio-political objective. In terms of means, a terrorist act must be coercive, forceful, and for that matter, unlawful. By implication, it must not have been supported by government which can lawfully engage in the use of force. In the United States tradition, it is believed that there is nothing like State terrorism.

But true enough, there is State terrorism when a government gives support to non-State actors that are violent and terrorismengaged, this cannot but be State terrorism. Many countries are on record to have been actively supporting the use of terror in international relations. The US list is quite apt in this regard.

Libya was first listed on December 29, 1979, as a terrorist State.

Iraq, South Yemen and Syria were added on this same day. Cuba was listed on March 1, 1982, Iran on January 9, 1984; North Korea in 1988 and Sudan on August 12, 1993. With improvement in the relationship, South Yemen was removed in 1990, Iraq in 1982 but re-listed following deterioration in the ties and again de-listed in 2004. Libya was removed in 2006, and Cuba in 2015.

North Korea, Sudan and Syria are currently on the list of State sponsors of terrorism. With these factors, there is a legitimate basis for the discussion of State terrorism. It is from this perspective that we posit that the killing of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi is an expression of State terrorism. It is also for the same reason that the terrorism has presented a new diplomatic dimension.

Terrorism has an international and municipal dimensions.

The Khashoggi saga is both municipal and international in character. The municipal character is explained by the nationality and socio-political activities in Saudi Arabia, especially his opposition to the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Internationally speaking, he is resident in the United States. He was slaughtered like a goat in Turkey but within Saudi Arabia’s territory in Turkey on the basis of the rule of ex-territoriality in diplomatic relations. The most recent packages containing bombs and sent to opposition elements in the US is a good illustration of domestic terrorism which shall be interrogated here.

New Diplomatic Dimension of StateTerrorism The main dynamic of terrorism at the domestic level is perceived disregard for individual or public discontent. The disregard arises from poor management of socio-political complaints on the part of the leadership. As we have noted, an act of terrorism is a form of protest and it is generally the act of the weak against the strong. The objective of the weak, in the quest of self-protection and self-projection, is to inflict severe harm on soft targets in order to call the responsibility of the government into question. In other words, discontentment, if not hatred, of the would-be terrorist is the dynamic. When there is discontentment, the other side of the coin cannot but be to react, even if it is not consistent with the rule of law. Terrorists care much less for rule of law.

(See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

19

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͺ΀˜ ͺ͸͹΀

BUSINESS

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Flood-ravaged Rice Plantation

As Ravaging Floods Threaten National Food Security The current flooding in some parts of the country may lead to severe food shortage with attendant implications on the economy, writes James Emejo

F

ollowing the torrential rains and severe flooding in parts of the Nigeria, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) recently declared a national disaster as flood ravaged many states including Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Edo, Kogi, Anambra, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta, Taraba, Benue and Adamawa.

About 103 local government areas (LGAs) across 10 states were reportedly affected by the devastating flooding, which also affected about 1.9 million people.

In the process, several farmlands were washed away, raising concerns over the possibility a food crisis in the near future.

Notably, most of the states devastated by floods are central to agricultural production.

The situation tends to reverse the gains so far recorded in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s interventions in rice production in several states under its Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP), which had recorded huge successes in local rice production.

The celebrated revolution in rice production in the country had reportedly led to huge reduction in the nation’s annual food import bill.

Unfortunately, some of the flood-ridden states including Kebbi, Adamawa, and Bayelsa are currently participating in the ABP. The severity of the flooding was such that the European Union (EU) has had to make monetary donations to help the Nigerian government cope with the losses.

The EU recently announced a €1 million humanitarian assistance in response to the flooding in the country, the scale of which is unprecedented.

The intervention announced by NEMA will support affected families, provide shelter, food and medicine while the further planned to offer technical expertise by deploying environmental expert via its Civil Protection Mechanism.

However, the future implication of the natural disaster on food security and the economy at large continue to pose concerns to experts.

Already, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has warned that unless appropriate measures were taken to replant after the floods, the country might experience rice shortage next year.

He said the country would have to grapple with shortage in the supply of rice, and other grains like millet, sorghum and maize next year.

He said:“We have to find a way to assist farmers, who were affected by the flood. States like Jigawa, Kebbi, Anambra and Kogi were majorly affected. Farmers lost everything they planted.

“We are also hoping that as soon as the rain seized, farmers will replant so that the residual moisture in the soil plus irrigation can give us another crop by the end of December or early January.”

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) had also raised the alarm that the country may not achieve it zero hunger target by 2030 due to flooding.

It expressed worry that Nigeria witnessed flooding in 14 states, which might thwart plans to end hunger in the country.

The FAO, in its recent impact assessment stated that in developing countries, the agriculture sector absorbs about 22 per cent of the total damage and losses caused by natural hazards, adding that, “Disasters jeopardise agricultural production and development and often have cascading negative effects across national economies.”

If anything, the adverse implication of the flooding on individuals and the economy could not be underestimated.

Apart from causing economic losses to farmers and others in the agricultural value chain, it has the potential to cause distortions in the bigger economy.

A food crisis would mean that the country

resorts to food importation especially rice imports, which had already been reduced in recent times through the adoption of best practice.

Reverting to rice importation will increase pressure on external reserves as foreign exchange is required to purchase the items from abroad.

Furthermore, a scarcity of food commodities will lead to hike in prices and worsening inflation, which had been a concern for monetary authorities.

Nevertheless, experts have called for a joint response to minimise the likely impact of the natural disaster on affected communities and states in general.

Ogbeh said, effective collaboration was required among government, private sector and development partners to achieve the global target of “zero hunger” by 2030, especially at a period when the impact of climate change had proved devastating on food production and food security worldwide.

He said concerted efforts were needed to fight hunger, extreme poverty and malnutrition.

Recently, the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) assured stakeholders that the financial institution will pay appropriate compensation to insured farmers whose agricultural farmlands were ravaged by the recent flood disaster across the country.

Unfortunately, the succour is strictly for farmers insured under its policy, and raises concern on the need for government to extend mandatory cover to farmers.

However, on efforts being put in place by government to put the situation under control, the minister said:“Government is aware of the flood disaster that befall our big time farmers and some states like Jigawa, Anambra, Kebbi, Kogi, and hopes to find a way to reach out to the victims as to enable them return to business.”

According to him, a new variety of rice

named faro 66 and 67, which is flood resistant, had been developed, while government is planning to get them in large quantities for farmers to replant after the floods.

Also, Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, had further lamented that the present administration’s commitment for the country to attain food self-sufficiency by 2030 may be hampered by the lingering herdsmen-farmers crises in some northern parts of the country.

He said, to avert a food crisis, state governments must collectively demonstrate seriousness in agriculture by committing at least five per cent of their budgets to agriculture, this way, the country would be able to upscale the agricultural production.

He, however, maintained that the federal government remained committed to zero food hunger by the year 2030, if the present tempo of agricultural activities were sustained.

He said, “The prolonged crisis, especially in the North-eastern part and other parts of the country that have experienced incessant clashes of herdsmen and farmers is also an issue of concern.”

The minister, however, pointed out that the projection could only be attainable, if all Nigerians see and treat Agriculture as serious business and not as mere programme.

According to him, the country must take advantage of its rapidly growing population to invest seriously in agriculture, while the private sector takes the lead in the project, with the government providing the enabling environment, “because government has proven to be bad business manager.”

According to the minister, if Nigeria is able to feed itself, it would have been able to solve the issue of hunger and malnutrition in the black race and by extension Africa, which is, “a bold step in guaranteeing food for all in the world.”

20

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͺ΀˜ ͺ͸͹΀

BUSINESS/ ECONOMY

More Hardship for Nigerians as Inflation Rises Again After recording 18 consecutive months of decline, inflation in Nigeria has taken a growth path, which is not to the benefit of the public, especially as prices of food items rise, with potential hunger and malnutrition as the outcomes, Bamidele Famoofo writes

A

reportbyTheWorldPoverty Clock released sometime in June 2018 showed Nigeria had overtaken India as the country with the most extreme poor people in the world.

According to the report, the 86.9 million Nigerians living in extreme poverty as at the time it was published, represented nearly 50 per cent of its estimated 180 million population.

“As Nigeria faces a major population boom—it will become the world’s third largest country by 2050, its problem will likely worsen. But having large swathes of people still living in extreme poverty is an Africa-wide problem,” the report noted.

Economic experts believe that the struggle to lift more citizens out of extreme poverty is an indictment on successive Nigerian governments that have mismanaged the country’s vast oil wealth through incompetence and corruption, one of the reasons why they said it was practically impossible for the country to meet The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to end extreme poverty by 2030.

Contrary to the projection of the United Nations that by July 2018, 83 million people would have been lifted out of extreme poverty since January 2016, the number was 37 million people fewer than the required to meet the 2030 target.

Inflation The chance of about half the population of the country escaping the threshold of extreme poverty, as anticipated by the United Nations by 2030, is becoming slimmer as inflation has taken a negative twist with the election year approaching. At least in the last two months, core inflation has increased from 11.23 percent to 11.28 per cent as of September, 2018. This has brought to an end, albeit, the 18 consecutive months decline that inflation recorded from about 17.78 percent in February 2017 to 11.14 percent in July 2018.

The consumer price index (CPI) measures the average change in prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living over time. The change is about 0.05 percent points higher than the rate recorded in August 2018.

The latest inflation report from the NBS showed food inflation, on a year-on-year basis, increased further from 13.16 per cent in August to 13.31 per cent.

The government data bureau said the rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of food items such as potatoes, yams and other tubers, vegetables, fruits, meat, milk, cheese and egg, bread and cereals, and fish.

Howbeit, housing and utility prices dropped from 7.27 percent in the previous month to 7.25 percent during the months under review.

Other details included an increase in basic human needs like education and health. NBS disclosed that education price moved up from 9.83 per cent in August to about 9.92 per cent in September, while health increased marginally to 9.65 percent compared to 9.64 per cent in the previous month. In the service industry, prices of services offered in restaurants & hotels increased from 9.38 per cent in August to 9.39 per cent in September, while cost of communication moved up 0.47 basis points to 6.79 per cent from 6.32 per cent.

Meanwhile, other costs dropped in respect of clothing and footwear (10.03 percent against10.20 percent in August); transport (10.50 percent from10.65 percent); furnishings & household equipment maintenance (9.79 percent from 10.07 percent) and miscellaneous goods and services (9.85 percent from 10.03 percent).

Although the NBS said inflation was steady at 8.32 per cent for recreation and culture, it said “all items less farm produce” or annual core inflation, which excludes the price of volatile agricultural products, declined to 9.84 percent in September from 10.02 percent in the previous month.

A foodstuff market in Lagos

The highest increases were recorded in prices of fuels and lubricants for personal transport, vehicle spare parts, dental services, tobacco, carpets, and other floor coverings, furniture, and furnishing, Hospital services.

The statistics agency said latest increases affected all 12 classification of individual consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions and all items levels, which yielded the headline index.

The 12 COICOP divisions included food and non-alcoholic beverages; alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and kola; clothing and footwear; housing, water, electricity, gas; furnishings, household equipment; health; transport; communication; recreation and culture; education; restaurants and hotels as well as miscellaneous goods and services.

The annual urban inflation rate rose by 11.7 per cent during the month, from 11.67 per cent in August 2018, while the rural inflation rate increased by 10.92 per cent in September 2018 from 10.84 per cent in August 2018.

Outlook The prospects of growth for the Nigerian economy is not bright as GDP growth has been downgraded from 2.1 percent to 1.9 per cent by the World Bank as well as a few other economic analysts. According to Cordros Capital, “we cut our growth estimate for financial year 2018 to 1.9 per cent year on year, driven by slower-than-previously expected oil sector growth, flood-induced cutback in Agriculture output, and the absence of structural reforms to propel sturdy manufacturing sector growth even as the FX market remains stable”.

Cordros attributed the resumed uptick of inflation in August to wane in base effect induced gains in the economy. It also added that the year-on-year upward movement of inflation will be sustained till the end of the year. “With the gains from base effect already dissipated, together with our expected higher month on month (m/m) inflation over fourth quarter (Q4, 18) compared to 2017, we expect the year-on-year headline CPI to sustain upward trajectory through the rest of the year.”

Views To ameliorate the suffering of Nigerians, experts recommend the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria must maintain status quo on monetary policy and desist from hiking rate. Besides, it is expected that the CBN must manage inflation by mopping up excess liquidity in the system. “On monetary policy, we reiterate that we do not expect the Committee to hike rate in the next policy meeting, given the still fragile economic growth. However, we believe its hawkish rendition will reflect in OMO issuances through the rest of the year, as sustained foreign sell-offs of naira assets drives pent up demand for FX, with the CBN stepping up paper issuances to arrest speculative tendencies on the naira.”

A research analyst at SY&T Communications Limited, Lukman Otunuga, says the new inflation figure is still in line with the federal government’s target of a single digit rate in the foreseeable future.

According to Otunuga, most investors in the Nigerian stock market were concerned that the latest rise in inflation was not the onset

of another round of inflationary pressures in the country during the final trading quarter of the year.

He, however, said concerns might heighten over inflation edging away from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s target of six to nine percent.

As far as Otunuga is concerned, market expectations were for a cut, any moment, in the monetary policy rate (MPR), the benchmark interest rate, by MPC of the CBN. “The combination of rising inflation, uncertainty ahead of the 2019 elections, global trade tensions and U.S. rate hike expectations are all likely factors to force the CBN to retain status quo (in the MPR) this quarter,” Otunuga noted.

Meanwhile, researchers at Cordros Capital said the impact of inflation on Nigerians will only be stemmed down in the short term, noting that the effect will continue in the long run. “Into the rest of the year, we expect the on-going main harvest in the North and South to further exert downward pressure on food prices as supplies continue to flood the market. However, we expect the foregoing will be limited by the widespread flooding incidence reported across food producing states.

Elsewhere, in the face of increasing energy prices, we believe the NNPC will remain committed towards strategic supply of petroleum products to steer clear of fuel shortages, with the attendant impact leaving core inflation in check. Hence, we forecast month-on-month headline reading of 0.80 per cent for October, with the corresponding y/y reading of 11.33 per cent (December 2018: 11.52 per cent y/y).”

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER Ëž ÍşÎ€Ëœ ͺ͸͚΀

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Ëš

How State Governments Can Be Prosperous Re-tweaking their IGR Models

Lagos state metro rail line under construction...the project is being funded mainly with IGR

Kayode Fadahunsi

A

s Nigeria continues to face revenue challenges despite high crude oil prices, there arises a need for the Federal Government to urgently implement policies aimed at growing and diversifying the country’s shaky revenue base.

Nigeria’s 2018 budget deficit currently stands at N1.954trillion, a reduction of N56billion over last year, on the back of expected increased revenue from oil. Moreover, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO), the nation’s external debt figure stands at N6.779 trillion whilst domestic debt was at N12.15trillion in June 2018.

However, the ugly truth is that, in a matter of years, revenue from oil will be a thing of the past and both Federal and State governments are ill-prepared for this imminent crisis. A look at the sequence of events which unfolded in Osun State when the oil price tanked, leading to a reduction in FAAC, reveals the state’s struggles to pay staff salaries for almost a year.

A bone of contention at Federal Government level at the moment is the proposed sale of the Ajaokuta Steel Company under the privatization programme aimed at raising more money to implement the country’s 2018 deficit-based budget. This is coming on the heels of the recent sale of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company to the Central Bank of Nigeria for similar reasons.

Key national assets like the ASC and NSPMC ought to be guarded as a

projected source of long-term revenue generation, but perhaps that argument is null in light of audit reports that a hefty injection of approximately $652 million is required for the revitalization of the steel factory.

We should not be quick to forget that 24 State governments appealed to the Federal Government for relief packages during the period of the oil price crash, as most were either unable to pay or struggled to pay salaries and dues to their workers. It is sad to say that we have not learnt our lesson because now that oil prices have risen somewhat, we are back to the business of spending as usual.

The reality in Nigeria today is that, State governments struggle to keep up with their expenses and as a result, the gap between the income of most states and their expenses widens daily. For the most part, investment banks assist State governments by financing these deficits.

However, this is not a sustainable practice as expenses continue to outgrow income.

Nigeria copied its democracy from the United States, however, in the United States, cities/states do not have any form of allocation coming from the sovereign arm. All States depend solely on both internally generated revenue and business-type activities to survive, as opposed to depending on borrowings, as we are wont to do in Nigeria. These Business-type activities allow the State to have an income and clear its deficit.

Major sources of revenue for most states in Nigeria are mainly external; the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), Joint Account Allocation Com-

mittee (JAAC), Value-Added Tax (VAT), Dividends and Grants etc., and internal sources; Internally Generated Revenue.

However, there is a third source of funding/revenue which has remained relatively untapped up until now, and this is the funding from the private sector especially those backed by business-type activities or the state’s IGR (i.e. debt serviced from future cash flows from IGR and business -type activities). Also States can partner with the private sector by investing in projects/businesses (by establishing a State corporation), allowing the private sector to run these companies and the State government can re-coup its capital as well as returns from these companies; an example is the Lagos State Municipality Waste Management Company Limited.

Looking at the external sources of revenue mentioned earlier – FAAC, JAAC, VAT, Dividends and Grants – the only area we haven’t realised revenue in, as a nation, is Dividends, as State governments hitherto have not made significant investments in companies and private sector corporations.

A valid example of the benefits of dividends is the Gombe State and GTBank parallel; Gombe State was established in 1996 with FAAC allocation of more than 100million.

In 1991, GTBank began commercial banking operations with less than 100million shareholders’ funds. Today, Gombe State has one of the lowest internally generated revenue of N5.272 billion, whereas GTBank has Gross Earnings of c.N419billion and Net Profit of N169billion. If the state of Gombe had invested up to 50% in GTB in 1996,

Gombe would not be in the state it is in right now, just by getting dividends from a company like GTBank as a significant shareholder.

One key point to note is that, Lagos State currently has the highest internally generated revenue (IGR) in Nigeria. The budget for Lagos stands at N1.4 trillion for 2018. Lagos State is the only state that has been innovative about the structure of financing its infrastructural needs.

The State appointed Lagos Municipality Waste Management Company Limited (MWMCL) as its waste management vehicle and went ahead to issue a green bond backed by an ISPO on the IGR of the State. This is the first time a bond is not being tied to the ever-fluctuating oil price and it remains the single biggest investment in the environment.

Lagos state’s PPP partnership with Visionscape Sanitation Solutions not only results in faster project completions and reduced delays on infrastructure projects, but also frees up State funds to be channeled towards other fundamental sectors such as healthcare and education.

Other States need to realise this is a pioneer move that Lagos State has embarked on, one which they equally need to follow suit. Public Private Partnerships are increasingly being modeled in countries around the world and are not only cost-effective, but if properly structured, will provide a viable profit-sharing system and revenue stream capable of bridging and eventually solving Nigeria’s budget deficit issues.

– Fadahunsi is the chief executive ofďŹ cer of Prosperis Holdings, a principal investment ďŹ rm.

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THISDAYtSUNDAY OCTOBER 28, 2018

THISDAYt SUNDAY OCTOBER 28, 2018

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˜ ˞ OCTOBER 28, 2018

MARKET NEWS

6WDQELF ,%7& +ROGLQJV 5HFRUGV 1 EQ 3URĂ€W LQ 1LQH 0RQWKV Goddy Egene Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc has announced significantly improved bottom-line for the nine months ended September 30, 2018. The results showed a growth of 9.5 per cent in gross earnings, which rose from N154.220 billion in 2017 to N168.801 billion in 2018. Net interest income fell from N62.947 billion to N58.443 billion, net fee and commission income improved to N52.916 billion, up from N43.309 billion.

Trading revenue similarly grew

from N20.195 billion to N25.720, bringing total income to N138.417 billion, compared with N106.893 billion in the corresponding period of 2017.

The financial institution’s performance was further boosted by a major decline in impairment charges that stood at N4.136 billion, indicating a drop of 79 per cent from N20.334 billion in 2017.

As a result, profit before tax jumped by 54 per cent to N70.380 billion, from N45.650 billion, while profit after tax grew faster by 59

A Mutual fund (Unit Trust) is an investment vehicle managed by a SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) registered Fund Manager.

Investors with similar objectives buy units of the Fund so that the Fund Manager can buy securities that willl generate their desired return.

An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is a type of fund which owns the assets (shares of stock, bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, etc.) and divides ownership of those assets into shares. Investors can buy these ‘shares’ on the

per cent from N37.672 to N59.75 billion.

Stanbic IBTC Holding had paid 100 kobo interim dividend in respect of the half year ended June 30, 2018, following an impressive performance.

Hence, the company recommended an interim dividend of 100 kobo per share, which is higher than the 50 kobo paid for the 2017 financial year.

The Chief Exchange Officer of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Mr. Yinka Sanni ahd explained that the company continued to

floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is an investment vehicle that allows both small and large investors to part-own real estate ventures (eg.

Offices, Houses, Hospitals) in proportion to their investments. The assets are divided into shares that are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

GUIDE TO DATA: Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 2510-2018, unless otherwise stated.

deliver stellar performance with PBT growing to N50.73 billion representing a 74 per cent growth from prior year on the back of non-interest revenue growth and recoveries from delinquent assets previously impaired. “ Our credit impairment line has a write back of N5.5 billion as at June 2018 as we continue to intensify recovery efforts on previously classified loans. Interest income increased by six per cent to N59.9 billion predominantly driven by loan growth. This was offset by increase in interest

expense of 26 per cent as a result of interest paid on maturing term deposits and other borrowings.

We are making good progress on our drive to reduce cost of funds which has reduced by more than 100 basis points, manifesting in a 15 per cent reduction in interest cost between Q1 2018 and Q2 2018,� he said.

Sanni said the bank has seen significant growth in transaction volumes across its digital platforms. “The volume of transactions via our mobile banking, SME

internet banking, USSD platforms and ATMs have increased by over 100 per cent each year-on-year as we continued to drive non-interest income growth. Also, we kicked off the initial stage of implementing a virtual banking proposition. Our Africa-China Banking Center was recently launched and it aims to provide bespoke solutions and address the needs of business communities in both Nigeria and China while leveraging our relationship with Standard Bank and the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China,� he said.

Offer price: The price at which units of a trust or ETF are bought by investors.

Bid Price: The price at which Investors redeem (sell) units of a trust or ETF. Yield/Total Return: Denotes the total return an investor would have earned on his investment. Money Market Funds report Yield while others report Year- to-date Total Return.

NAV: Is value per share of the real estate assets held by a REIT on a specific date.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 1 270 1680 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund 163.08 164.08 -8.14% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 11.00% Nigeria International Debt Fund 272.65 273.81 17.89% ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund 0.83 0.84 1.29% ACAP Income Funds 0.62 0.62 6.10% AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 12.00% AIICO Balanced Fund 2.21 2.22 -4.10% ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ARM Aggressive Growth Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Discovery Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Ethical Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund 134.32 135.27 -11.45% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 12.02% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 10.96% Paramount Equity Fund 11.61 11.91 4.72% Women's Investment Fund 102.32 104.95 1.68% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 11.88% CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A N/A N/A N/A EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B N/A N/A N/A FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,166.03 1,166.76 11.16% FBN Heritage Fund 141.41 142.60 0.84% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 12.01% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional $113.34 $113.58 4.08% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail $113.11 $113.34 3.98% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 149.32 151.43 -6.13% FIRST CITY ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD fcamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcamltd.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Equity Fund 1.23 1.25 -4.90% Legacy Debt Fund 3.18 3.18 10.18% Legacy USD Bond Fund 1.02 1.02 1.54% FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coral Growth Fund 2,990.31 3,019.77 0.16% Coral Income Fund 2,733.85 2,733.85 11.67% GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 8.90% Nigeria Entertainment Fund 105.87 106.01 5.36% INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 12.00% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.15 2.17 1.79%

Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 14.20% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 122.70 122.94 6.63% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 1.19 1.21 3.65% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,073.81 1,073.81 11.33% MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: http://www.meristemwealth.com/funds/ ; Tel: +234 1-4488260 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund 11.54 11.64 -11.08% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 11.56% PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund 1.33 1.36 11.98% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.96 12.01 8.31% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 12.21% SCM CAPITAL LIMITED info@scmcapitalng.com Web: www.scmcapitalng.com; Tel: +234 1-280 2226,+234 1- 280 2227 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SCM Capital Frontier Fund 128.50 128.94 -0.92% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.66 1.66 12.07% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund 2,270.99 2,285.71 3.37% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 187.11 187.11 7.46% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.95 0.96 -5.45% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 243.89 243.94 13.01% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 161.09 162.92 -10.05% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 11.41% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 8,612.04 8,717.46 -9.46% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.10 1.10 6.14% UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD unitedcapitalplcgroup.com Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 803 306 2887 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund 1.16 1.17 -1.77% United Capital Bond Fund 1.56 1.56 9.44% United Capital Equity Fund 0.69 0.71 -8.29% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 11.80% United Capital Eurobond Fund 105.33 105.33 5.28% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.08 1.08 3.65% ZENITH ASSETS MANAGEMENT LTD info@zenith-funds.com Web: www.zenith-funds.com; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 11.19 11.36 -6.92% Zenith Ethical Fund 12.08 12.19 -5.85% Zenith Income Fund 20.48 20.48 10.96% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 11.80%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

9.00 138.63 51.55

-20.11% 4.66% 1.42%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

10.50 121.64 92.68

10.60 124.22 94.42

-11.39% -14.84% -15.16%

Fund Name FSDH UPDC Real Estate Investment Fund SFS Skye Shelter Fund Union Homes REIT

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund SIAML Pension ETF 40 Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 Fund

VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697 Fund Name Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund

SPECIALIST FUNDS*

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

4.14 7.50 15.23 14.11 143.94

4.18 7.58 15.33 14.31 145.94

-12.61% -21.54% -12.80% -28.12% 6.93%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

105.44

17.63%

FOR HNI & PROFESSIONAL INVESTORS ONLY

Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

Thevalueofinvestmentsandtheincomefromthemmayfallaswellasrise.Pastperformanceisaguideandnotanindicationoffuturereturns.Fundpricespublishedinthiseditionarealsoavailableon each fund manager’s website and FMAN’s website at www.fman.com.ng. Fund prices are supplied by the operator of the relevant fund and are published for information purposes only.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͺ΀˜ ͺ͸͹΀

25

Enelamah

OKECHUKWU ENELAMAH

With Ongoing Critical Reforms, Nigerians Experiencing Pains to Reap Gains he‚ MØnØsßer‚ ›º‚ —n¸àsßr¡‰‚ rø¸e‚ øn¸‚ —náesßÜen߉‚ Õr΂ ÿÚeúhàÚâà‚ ÖneÛøÜøh‰‚ reáeøÛs‚ œÛøns‚ ù¡‚ ßhe‚ {resظenß‚ MàhøÜÜø¸à‚ ÓàhørØ‚ ø¸ÜØnØsßrøßØ›n‚ ß›‚ ßøúÚÛe‚ úrØßØúøÛ‚ s›úØ›Í eú›n›ÜØú‚Øssàes΂ÖneÛøÜøh‚øÛs›‚ø¸¸resses‚œerßØnenß‚Øssàes‚øººeúßØn»‚ßrø¸e‚øn¸‚ØnáesßÜenß‚ Øn‚ßhe‚ú›ànßr¡‰‚ØnúÛà¸Øn»‚‚ØÜœÛeÜenßøßØ›n‚›º‚ßhe‚NØ»erØøn‚—n¸àsßrØøÛ‚`eá›ÛàßØ›n‚{Ûøn‚ …N—`{†‰‚eøse‚›º‚¸›Øn»‚ùàsØness‚øn¸‚œ›âer‚sàœœÛ¡‚âhØÛe‚»ØáØn»‚reøs›ns‚º›r‚ßhe‚ºe¸erøÛ‚ »›áernÜenß s‚¸eÛø¡‚Øn‚sØ»nØn»‚ßhe‚ÒºrØúøn‚Ô›nßØnenßøÛ‚”ree‚ rø¸e‚Ò»reeÜenß‚…ÒºÔ Ò†Î‚ –e‚sœeøÚs‚âØßh‚Iyobosa Uwugiaren øn¸ James Emejo

26

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͺ΀˜ ͺ͸͹΀

Federal Government is Aggressively Fixing Infrastructure Deficit

A

lmost four years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, what is your view of its efforts to fix issues of industry, trade and investment in Nigeria?

received by the discos is even more. However, the important thing is that we still need more power, but I will tell you we’ve at least doubled the output at the generation.

But you generate power and you don’t have the capacity to distribute what is generated; that is a huge problem. Don’t you think so?

I think it’s an excellent question, because we are in that season when we must do quite a few amounts of stock-taking and reflection on where we’ve been and where we are going. So, we got here in November, clearly, the government is of three and a half years. And from the point of view of the mandate of the president, I think one has to start from the top.

He had a three-point mandate: one was focus on peace and security - maintaining peace in the country. The second was on fighting corruption and the third one on the economy, basically trying to revamp the economy, strengthen the economy to be more inclusive and create jobs.

If I look at our role in that bigger picture for the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, I will say it’s primarily around the economy. We’ll find that, depending on how we go about it, we’ll also impact positively on fighting corruption, and also peace; I think all these points are related.

The distribution is now at least 5,000 megawatts: the truth of the matter is that there’s a lot of investment going into distribution that will take it up. That problem is a problem that we need to solve in terms of working with the discos because you know we privatised part of power and what that means is that a lot the downstream, which is the customer part, is being handled by the discos, but we have something called eligible customer programme, which, basically, means that for the customers that have scale or size, they can get power directly from the grid or generating companies. All these will lead to the solution. I think we have the right formula, but the implementation may be slow, but I think we’re heading in the right direction.

Several MoUs were recently facilitated by your ministry, particular in the automobile industry.When are we going to see tangible results from these?

Let’s take it one after the other The first point I’d like to make is that, as part of the economic management team, we’re all coordinated; we’re all trying to work together for the common goal, which is basically to create a more robust economy that is more inclusive and to make sure that the economy creates jobs and also to make sure that the economy is more competitive,andthere’ssustainablegrowth,which is what the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) is all about.

If you come to the role of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, we have a roadmap from the beginning and that roadmap had a five-point agenda and it’s probably the best way to take stock. Let’s me just say what those five things are. The first one was that we think that the most important responsibility of government is to create an enabling environment for business, I mean in terms of the economy.

Since we are not the ones to do the business, if you think about the role of the ministry as it relates to industry, trade and investment, we consider ourselves the ministry of enabling environment for industry, trade and investment; that’s the first pillar of our roadmap.

The second pillar is on industrialisation, which is the first of the three core mandate that we have - industry, trade and investment.And for industry, basically, our focus was on implementing the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan as well as creating sustainable partnership that’ll underpin industrialisation going forward, knowing again that industrialisation has to include the private sector and other stakeholders.

The third area is investment; and when it comes to investment, basically to pro-actively promotes and attracts investment, both domestic direct investments and foreign direct investments are also other forms of investments.

The fourth area is on trade; basically, to create the kind of trade relationship with other countries and in-country, as well as that, that would basically foster economic growth.

And finally, SMEs; for the SMEs, we believe there’s a lot we can do for them; but they need to have a ministry that takes care of the primary responsibility for the well-being of SMEs. We believe that if you look at our mandate and department and agencies of this ministry, we must accept responsibility for supporting SMEs through these various agencies as well as our departments to make sure they get the support they need from government.

Those are the five pillars. Now, we also have the whole overarching policy of whatever we’re doing to doing it sustainably.

I know people tend to think of government in discontinuity, almost like in this administration, you’re four years - what have we done? My view is that there’s a great saying that you can get a lot done if you don’t care, who will get the credit.

There’s a way to do the right thing even if it doesn’t look it today but it then creates the under-pinning for a greater Nigeria of the future, for the next 30 years.And that’s the kind of minister I want to be.

Even if nobody gives me credit; and the reason is that as a Nigerian, as a business person, as a stakeholder in the economy, that’ll benefit me more, and that’s better than just the praise of men, which you come under pressure, because people want to say what you have done during your own tenure.

Enelamah

Let’s look at your mandate of creating the enabling environment. Look at some of the challenges we have in the country, especially infrastructure and institutional challenges. How far have you been able to address these challenges?

Thank you. I think that’s an excellent question because if we have to do one thing, it has to be the enabling environment for the reasons you’ve very well-articulated, which is what you need to do to create the ecosystem and the atmosphere for the economy to thrive. So the first thing we did, when we came as a government under the leadership of the president, was to acknowledge this enabling environment as a priority of the entire government. So, the president launched the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council in 2016 and the whole purpose of that council, which is chaired by the vice president, is to oversee all the reforms and activities and interventions of government that’ll improve the business climate, investment climate, the enabling environment and making it easier to do business in the country. Now, that council then set up a secretariat called Enabling Business Environment Secretariat, which is worked out of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council and is led by a lady called Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, and basically, we are the oversight ministry and I’m the oversight minister. That council meets once a month. It’s a council that for instance, led the reforms that led to the improvement we saw in The World Bank Report in 2017, when we improved by 24 places, and we were adjudged one of the top 10 reforming countries in the world.

What’s more important is the actual benefit to people, so you start from things like entry and exit into the country. I’m sure you’ve seen the difference at the airport, when you can now get visa on arrival and it’s not a very big thing - it’s a small thing. But those little steps add up. If we want people to come and invest in our country, it sounds logical to me that we should welcome them in; and therefore, we should make it easier for them to come. Even the Nigerians in the Diaspora, who want to come, we should make it easier for them. And I would say that there are 10 areas The World Bank measures ease of doing business: and those 10 areas go to the life cycle of business -- from when you register a company to how you obtain credit to how you pay your

taxes to how you obtain permit for construction, as well as land acquisition, and so on. All those steps we’ve worked on both at the centre, at the federal level and with states to improve on then, and I’m sure you know that those were the things The World Bank measured when it said there’s an improvement. But having said all that, there’s also an Executive Order, which was launched at the beginning of 2017, which focused primarily on making it easier for people to do business with government. The principle of one government, the principle of transparency and the principle that basically states that we have to have the principle of deemed approval, which means you state how long it takes to get approval, and if you don’t issue it that time the person can deem it approved. Now, all these things take time because culturally, government needs to be increasingly service-oriented, in the sense that we have to accept that we are here to render services to the public and to the stakeholders and that’s what this Executive Order is doing.And I believe it’ll happen over time, which was why I made my point earlier that it will not all happen in one administration. I think most objective Nigerians will agree that we have set the tone. One of the most important responsibilities of government is to define the agenda and I think we’ve set the tone that enabling environment matters and we are going to work on it.

But, don’t you think infrastructure is still a big problem, especially given that those who do business in Nigeria spend a lot of money generating power by themselves?

I think you’re right. That overall, infrastructure is an important component of industrialisation, of a robust economy, of ease of doing business and this goes on. I think you will also accept that it’s one of the things this government, right from the president has been harping on - the need to address the infrastructure deficit in the country and to rebuild our infrastructure, which is why we’ve been fairly robust, even aggressive in trying to build infrastructure: the power infrastructure, road infrastructure and all the other infrastructure. If you look at power, when we got into government, power was probably at about 3000 megawatts that was generated, but today, I think what is generated is at least twice that, including the power, which is generated, but not

True, we’ve signed a number of agreements and I’m going to use two or three as examples, starting with the one you mentioned. So, we signed an agreement with Volkswagen, when they came with the German Chancellor,Angela Merkel and that agreement basically is a comprehensive MoU in three stages to basically set up Nigeria as a hub of Volkswagen products manufacturing. Just this week (last week), we had a call with their group managing director for African operations, and we are already setting dates for early workshops, where we’ll do a workshop on that plan to flesh it out in full before we start implementing it. So they’re very serious and we are very serious and I’m confident it would happen. However, just to go back to your point about laying foundation, clearly, the implementation will take a number of years. But it must start now, and I think you’re right that we have to register that the work started now. Before the end of this year that workshop will take place; and I’m sure implementation will start from early next year. So that’s one example.

There’s also an agreement we signed in the area of manufacturing: textile garment manufacturing with a Chinese group known as the Ruyi Group.

We’re in discussions with them and we’ll like to reach an agreement with them by November this year with the idea that they’ll come and invest in our industrial parks; in our special economic zones and they could invest across the country; in Lekki Special economic zone and textile park in Lagos. They’re going to invest in Kano, in the existing industrial park that the government owns there, the appropriate work is just to revamp; and they’re going to invest in Eyinmba City in the east, where there’s industrial city development taking place and the government is a partner in that development. Now, this group, by the time they’re done, they are investing about $2 billion and they’ll make Nigeria a manufacturing hub in terms of the entire value chain from the growing and harvesting of cotton, all the way to spinning to production of textiles and garments. So I think that’s something that will obviously be a game changer because it’ll create a lot of jobs. The other thing to also say is that for those that are already existing, for the players that are already here, we are signing agreement with particular countries and within our own region- ECOWAS andAfrica as a whole with a view to trying to position Nigeria to be a country that’ll be a hub for production not just for Nigeria, but for the sub-region and ultimately for Africa, which is still why we are still working on the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA).

We’re also trying to make sure the ECOWAS agreements are favourable to Nigeria. So, all these agreements should establish the links between investment, trade and industry because the reason those three parts are linked together is because they’re actually inter-connected, and they work hand-in-hand:tradeultimatelyleadstoinvestment and investment ultimately goes into industry and that’s how you create jobs and that’s what we’re engineering here.

The purpose of creating this enabling environment is to be able to employ more Nigerians within the country, but there are both local and international reports that suggest that in the last three and a half years, many Nigerians had lost their jobs. How do you reconcile that with what you’re doing?

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Implementation May be Slow, but We Have the Right Formula It’s a good issue that you raised, and the way I’ll address it is the following and I will make a number of important points: The first thing is to say that when you restructure an economy, there’s some pains you go through to reap the gains. But even before I get to the restructuring, remember that we came in and there was a recession, and the recession was on its way when this government came in. It’s due to the commodity cycle, which had to do with plummeting of the oil prices.And we then tried to address it in a robust way; we first had something called the Strategic Implementation Plan, which was a 12-point plan basically on steps to take for low hanging fruits to address the immediate challenges to help the economy to recover. From there, we then moved into the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), which is a medium-term plan (2017 to 2020) on how you basically regroup and restructure the economy. Now what you’ll find is that between that recession and this plan, yes, certain sectors of the economy contracted, meaning that in some cases, jobs were also lost, but certain sectors of the economy also did well like agriculture. My understanding is that agriculture has actually created quite a number of jobs in the millions; it’s obviously not in the cities; agriculture is done in the rural and hinterlands, and so a lot of those people have changed what they do to working for themselves or working in agriculture. But equally important is that as we implement our programme, we believe we will create a lot of jobs.

Take for instance, manufacturing. These special economic zones strategy we are dealing with will create 1.5 million within five years and the work is already on-going. So, at times, you invest in your future by making the upfront investment so that the jobs will follow. And it goes back to that point I made earlier that when these things start to happen, we should also remember that people laid the foundation and that foundation is what you’ll be seeing. I can tell you that you’re going to see manufacturing expanding. Our target will move from 10 per cent of GDP to 20 per cent.

We’re laying the foundation in terms of infrastructure - industrial infrastructure, industrial parks, industrial zones and power. And each of these parks will employ hundreds of thousands of people, but they have to be built first and it’ll take two or three years to build and that work is already on-going. The Eyinmba City, Lekki Free Zone, what we are doing in Kano, though it’s been dormant for some years, but we are now revamping it, what we are doing in Calabar though it’s been dormant for some years, but we are now revamping it. I think people will look back and give this government credit for a very deliberate approach to nation-building. Nationbuilding has to do with frankly diversifying your economy away from the problem, which is when you are to rely on just one product. But it takes a collective action and partnership to do it. One other thing that I should talk about in that context is the work we are doing in the industrial council.

We have something called the Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council, which is basically a council that was set up primarily on industry and manufacturing, and it’s a collaboration between the public sector and the private sector, including many of the leading people in business, in technology, SMEs and so on.

The whole idea is, why don’t we meet and talk about the specific interventions that are needed to improve industry? And we identified five areas and we are working on all five.

Number one was that we need critical infrastructure, how do you rebuild the infrastructure formanufacturing;criticalroads,improvedpower, we need broadband access for those that do digital economy and so on.

Number two was on financing. How do you provide the kind of financing for growth that would be long-term and that would not be too expensive, maybe around 10 per cent or less as opposed to double-digit people have to pay at times and the loans are usually short-term for one or two years, rather than the usual long term loans that are needed to plan for industry? So, financing is the second area.

The third area is around skills acquisition and vocational training: how do you prepare our people for work in a way that as people come, they’ll receive the necessary training to work?

Number four, is on trade and market access.

How do you create the kind of enabling environment for trade to prosper, including international trade and intra-country trade or domestic trade?

And the final one is on policy, basically the policy environment that underpins industrialisation. For instance things that would discourage dumping, smuggling, sub-standard goods coming into the

The other part hasn’t caught up but it’s growing fast: if you look at the collections from the Federal Inland Revenue Service for the last one year, it’s gone up by 35 per cent, 2016 to 2017 and it just continues to go up. So what we intend to do is to sharpen our five-year plan; we want to move from about 6 per cent of GDP to about 12 to 15 per cent of GDP. The former finance minister made that point, obviously started the work, but now that work has to continue and it’s continuing.

So, I do agree that we have work to do, but I will say that work is to increase our revenue to GDP and certainly do it in a way that is sustainable and robust. What we have now is fragile, which is basically dependent on oil revenue.

You claim that Nigerians don’t have a tax culture, but some people would said the government has failed to establish social contract with the people, people don’t trust government. That once they pay tax, the revenue will be utilised for their own benefit.

And this government in 2015, during its campaign promised to change the narrative.

What happened?

Enelamah

country and we are working in a way that is reinforcing. I believe that those things will produce the results. If you talk to manufacturers they’ll tell you they’re already seeing signs, but there’s still a lot of work to be done and I’ll be the first to admit that.

The delay by the present administration to sign the AfCTA has elicited criticism from some quarters, largely because the agreement is deemed to open up opportunities to expand the country’s merchandise trade.

Do you think the AfCTA will be signed by this administration?

Let me give you the background to the agreement, so you understand why Nigeria is actually not in a bad place. The agreement is something that the African Union Heads of Government or Summit as they’re called, had decided that it’s good for Africa to have to increase intra-Africa trade-the AfCTA - and Nigeria was involved in that and we actually led the negotiations both at the ministerial and technical level with the chief negotiators.

But Nigeria’s also a democracy with robust stakeholders. When the AU Summit decided to sign the agreement in March this year, some of the Nigerian stakeholders rightly pointed out that they had not read and absorbed what the content of the agreement is, never mind the fact that it was a framework agreement. So these included unions, some of them included the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, state government and so on. And the president wisely decided that it was better for us to complete the consultation with them. We’ve done the first round of consultations with them; the President then asked us to do a series of impact studies because obviously out of those consultations they told us what their concerns were and so the president asked us to do some impact studies that’ll help address those concerns raised.And in fact, just recently, you may be aware the president inaugurated a committee to complete this impact study work. So, I’m still confident or hopeful that work can be finished in time during the life of this administration. ‘ But, let me make two observations about the AfCTA. First, we should be aware that the agreement is going to last for 50 years, so it’s not a question of who’s the first to sign the agreement that’s the issue; it’s signing it and making sure you implement it well because the problem we’ve had in the past is poor implementation.

The second point to make is that even for those that have signed they’re still working out the modalities for effective implementation. I mean, we met with SouthAfrica the other day at the UN

GeneralAssembly and we’re in touch with them.

Now that we’ve done our consultation, I won’t be surprised if Nigeria ends up playing a much more effective and pro-active role in the successful implementation of the AfCTA because we’ve done more work than the others who signed first and went back to decide what to do. So I think there’s reason to be hopeful that the agreement will be signed in the life if this administration.

But having said that, it’s not a test of speed but a test of doing it well.

Nigeria’s swelling debt profile is raising serious concerns within and outside the country with the IMF recently raising concern about it and also the National Assembly raising serious concerns. Can you justify the rising debt stock?

I think what I would say is the following: first, in terms of actual numbers, debt as a percentage of GDP for instance, you find that Nigeria is probably still under 20 per cent or about that, debt to GDP, which broadly speaking will be considered acceptable compared to those of other countries. However, the interest on the debt is an issue, which then tells you what the real problem is: so Nigeria has a revenue problem not a debt problem because debt to GDP is just under 20 per cent. It’s like somebody who has a mortgage on his house, the mortgage may be reasonable but if he doesn’t have a job, he had better go and get a job; he can decide to move out of the house but he has to live somewhere.

So my view is that we need to ratchet up and step up the revenue profile of the government and I will tell you why: our revenue to GDP is six per cent, which is abysmally low and the reason is that unfortunately we don’t have a tax paying culture. If you look at people in the tax bracket, even though they say numbers had gone up from 15 million to 18 million, but you’re talking about a country of 180 million , that’s still 10 per cent or less.

And tax-paying is a good culture to have because it creates a social contract between the people and the government. A system that’s based on oil revenues, that’s shared across the tiers of government, is a recipe for abdication of responsibility because it looks as if the money is dropping from upstairs. Whereas if it’s like in other countries, where the money is built up, the people actually feel that government owes them because they are now funding the government.

And I think Nigeria should get back there, which is also part of the diversification of the economy.

What is clear is that the revenue from oil is not enough, which is why it’s just six per cent.

It’s a good point; but let me tell you a story to buttress what I’m about to tell you; I lived in South Africa a while back- about 20 years ago.

When I got to South Africa in 1994, that’s when I started living there, after schooling abroad and on my way back to Africa, I started from South Africa.And when I got there, that’s when Nelson Mandela was elected president of SouthAfrica in 1994. The black South African and in fact, some of the liberal white South Africans were also reluctant to pay taxes - they said basically that social contracts were broken and they were right, but it took them time to accept the tax culture.

I think the same thing is going on in Nigeria, where our governments historically, have not been accountable enough and giving the people social services and infrastructure and all the things that government does. And therefore, there was a reluctance to pay taxes. But as you said, that narrative has to change.

How do you change it?And that’s why we are rebuilding our infrastructure. Number two, that’s why we are diversifying our economy because if you build the economy outside the oil system, it’s Nigerians that’ll do the work and pay the taxes from there. But how do you do that? You make it easy for them to invest in the infrastructure.

That’s why government is borrowing, investing in infrastructure so Nigerians would get the benefits - so when eventually they pay the taxes, the government will then use the money to repay the borrowing, because let’s face it- it’s a chicken and egg problem: you have to invest in a way that the people will feel you are showing good faith and this government is showing good faith.

We’ve been building the railway system, we’re rebuilding the roads, we’re rebuilding power and we’re frankly doing the soft infrastructure as well in terms of enabling environment and ease of doing business. It’s just that these things take time. Like somebody once said, it took many years for the problem to develop, it’ll not go overnight.

However, there must be evidence of progress, which is why we are having discussions like this.

We are actually working flat out to give our best to Nigeria because we’re Nigerians first before people in government.

Minister, people are not feeling the impact of what you’re doing.That is a statement of fact. If you go to the streets and ask ordinary Nigerians, they’ll tell you they’re not feeling the impact of this government.Do you agree?

And there are two things to resolve them, which is why we are having this discussion, the media is extremely powerful. There’s a point of view that the media is also not articulating and telling the story the way it should be told. Obviously, we have to take the first responsibility; we must give you the ammunition or the information for you to then go and tell it, which is why we have some of your people in government as our correspondents or as our advisers.

The government needs to partner the media, not for propaganda, but to get the information out so that people can benefit and it’s important.

I’ll give you another intervention of that: do you know that there is a lot of SMEs and all kinds of funding for them, but most of them are not aware of it? But we have to keep disseminating that information through several channels.

The other point to make to people is also that like I said, when you’re recalibrating an economy, you know we have to change our consumption culture; we were used to imports, we import close to 99 per cent of our goods and people are used to foreign goods.

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Pg. 58 Sound Sultan: The Unconventional Storyteller

Beckhams in Crisis How David Beckham’s

Bombshell Australian TV Interview could Cause New Rift with the Golden Couple ASSISTANT EDITOR OLUFUNKE OLAODE/funkola2000@gmail.com

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Beckham with children

How David Beckham’s Bombshell Australian TV Interview could Cause New Rift with the Golden Couple THE Beckhams are facing their biggest crisis in more than a decade as Victoria was left devastated by David casting doubt on their marriage in a bombshell TV interview. Posh Spice, 44, was furious as she flew into Australia recently following what was thought to have been an uncomfortable 22-hour flight together with her unrepentant husband. They arrived just as the full interview aired on Australian TV, showing David divulge further hurtful details about the cracks in their 19-year marriage after branding it “hard work” in a teaser clip for the show last week. Notably, the former footballer failed to speak about his love for Victoria or how much they enjoy spending time together despite two decades of marriage. Instead, he focused on the challenge of keeping the relationship going and ¬praising his wife’s success in fashion. He admitted for the first time that the troubles in their relationship are down to “being away from each other”.

Becks told interviewer Lisa Wilkinson: “Marriage is always about hard work. Your children, they want your time and they deserve your time. “We are hard-working and we feel that is the right way to bring up our children, to prove and to show to them that you have to work really hard to be successful.”

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ntry.

‘You made a difficult decision like being away’ He added: “We’ve been married for a long time now.”

Finally addressing why he was missing from last month’s photo shoot with designer Posh, their four children and cocker spaniel Olive, he added: “We did a Vogue front cover which was all about Victoria’s ten years in fashion.

“The amount she’s achieved in a short space of time with four beautiful children.

“You know, we have a beautiful dog.

“Obviously, in her business world, to be on the front cover of Vogue was a huge thing and then we did a separate picture for another cover.

“But to have been married for the amount of time that we have, you know, it’s always hard work.

“Everybody knows that but you make it work . . . a difficult situation like travelling, being away from each other.”

Awkwardly, it has emerged Becks gave the revealing chat to shamelessly promote life insurance ¬company AIA, with whom he signed a megabucks deal last year.

It comes after a hellish weekend for Victoria who was forced to join David on a 22-hour flight and put on a united front ahead of their scheduled appearance at Prince Harry’s Invictus Games.

Amid the drama she spent two nights at a five-star, £950-a-night wellness clinic in BadenBaden, Germany.

The Sun on Sunday told how humiliated Victoria had spent two days in tears after her husband’s ill-timed comments which have sparked renewed speculation about the state of their marriage.

Yesterday, son Cruz was seen walking with a protective arm around his mum in Bondi as David walked sheepishly behind.

Posh posted a photo of a bottle of ¬Aussie brew Victoria Bitter on Instagram after arriving Down Under.

Friends are expecting the crisis to cause a further rift between the couple, who are worth a combined £670million.

Their marriage has become increasingly strained since the former England skipper decided to launch a new football team in Miami, which has led to him spending time in the US away from his family.

In June the couple quashed rumours of a

rift after untrue stories spread on social media that David was linked to another woman.

In 2004, David was accused of having an affair with ex-assistant Rebecca Loos while he was playing for Real Madrid in Spain.

In a post on Instagram, Aussie TV host Lisa admitted she had been surprised by David’s openness when discussing his marriage on her show ¬The Sunday Project.

In his most personal chat, he also detailed how: r )*4 CJHHFTU SFHSFU XBT IBWJOH IJT IBJS in corn rows to meet Nelson Mandela r )*4 IPQFT BSF QJOOFE PO EBVHIUFS Harper playing professional football after his sons quit the sport r 5)&*3 LJET MPWF UIFJS DFMFCSJUZ MJGFTUZMF r )& JT UIF TPGU QBSFOU JO IJT NBSSJBHF r )& XBT CSPVHIU VQ UP MPWF UIF 3PZBM Family.

David sat down with Lisa on the eve of his first visit to Australia in seven years.

After admitting he was still shocked by his global popularity, he said kids, Brooklyn, 19, Romeo, 16, Cruz 13 and Harper, seven, loved the perks of their famous upbringing.

He said: “They don’t dislike it to be honest.

They enjoy it as well. There’s a few benefits.

“I know I’m stricter with the boys than I am with Harper.”

‘I want to set the right example for my kids’ He also admitted that some of his hairstyles had been ¬dreadful — and said the one he regretted the most was when he met former South ¬African president Nelson Mandela.

He said: “There I was with one of the greatest and inspirational men and I’ve got corn rows.”

Unsurprisingly, his other regret involves fashion, describing his sarong as “good at the time”.

David, who has attended both Prince Harry and William’s weddings, recalled how he was brought up to love the royals.

He said: “My nan was the biggest fan of the Royal Family and it was passed down to me. I’m very proud of that.”

He has spent time in Afghanistan with the armed forces, and praised Harry for founding the Invictus Games four years ago.

An ambassador for the sports competition, David praised the “incredible” idea for changing the lives of the wounded servicemen, women and veterans who take part.

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Bombshell Australian TV Interview He added: “I’ve always been a big ¬supporter of the armed forces.

“Sport’s such a powerful tool to give them the opportunities to get over the injuries and hard times they have been through.”

It’s now five years since David retired from football and at 43 years old the former Manchester United winger admits keeping himself fit is increasingly tough — though looking after his children keeps him busy.

Responding to a question plugging his AIA life insurance campaign, he said: “It’s a struggle when you get older, waking up in the morning getting all the kids out of the door and out of school on time. I want to set the right example for them.

“Three or four times a week I walk my daughter to school instead of driving her to school, or she bikes home with me. It’s the little things that make a real ¬difference.”

On Harper, he confessed how she was his final hope of continuing to fly the football flag for him.

He said: “She still plays on Sunday. She enjoys it.

“None of the boys play any more apart from at school. . . so maybe it’s going to be my daughter.”

Hypocrite David put his kids in spotlight

By Katie Glass LAUGHING about his fashion mistakes, his parenting style and walking his daughter Harper home from school, David Beckham seemed his usual charming self during his interview on Australian TV – until he was asked about media intrusion.

“The thing we have to do,” he said, “is protect our children.” Sorry – WHAT? Isn’t this the same father-of-four whose kids just posed for the cover of Vogue?

Have you heard of David Beckham’s children – Brooklyn, 19, Romeo, 16, Cruz, 13, and ¬seven-year-old Harper?

Of course you have. How could you not?

The Beckhams promote their kids any chance they get.

Their clan feature in ¬interviews, sit front row at fashion week and flog goods.

Protected from the spotlight? It seems they are bathing in it.

Romeo became a Burberry model when he was just 12.

At 11, Cruz released a Christmas pop single after signing with Justin Bieber’s starmaking manager Scooter Braun. Last year Brooklyn launched a photography book.

Little Harper’s name has been trademarked since she was five.

The Beckhams are worth some £670million, so their kids hardly need to earn their keep.

Yet they are promoted as part of Brand Beckham’s family assets.

While normal mums worry whether to share their kids’ pictures online, the ¬Beckhams constantly post private snaps, capitalising on their lives.

The couple share family moments – birthdays, haircuts, cuddles, playtime, ¬family dinners, holidays and nights out – all broadcast to their combined 74.7million fans.

You don’t see this with all celebrities’ kids They turn private moments into clicks and “likes”, building a social media following that boosts the Beckham brand.

You don’t see this promotion with all celebrities’ kids.

When Robbie Williams’ daughter Teddy acted as a bridesmaid at Princess Eugenie’s recent wedding it was the first time the six-yearold had been seen. Williams ¬prefers to keep her out of the public eye.

Prince Harry has said he doesn’t want his child with Meghan Markle to have a royal role.

Harry – knowing the intense scrutiny public life brings – wants his kids to enjoy a relatively normal life.

Similarly, Stella McCartney is careful to keep her four kids under wraps, never posting on social media about them.

No wonder she was said to be furious when David Beckham posted a picture of her daughter Reiley, then aged six, with Harper at Buckingham Palace.

Showing the girls on Harper’s birthday in July last year, David captioned the photograph: “Happy 6th birthday. . . have the most amazing day we love you pretty lady x”.

It was a cherished moment which, shared, encourages people’s interest in the lives of ¬Beckham’s children.

I once interviewed Beckham. I found him charming.

He trilled about his children while promoting his whisky brand. (Notably, this current interview was to shamelessly promote an insurance brand for which he is global ambassador).

After many years, he was practiced at handling the press.

He’d also chosen, as an adult, to be famous.

But hearing him talk now about protecting his kids from media interest I just wonder, did they have that choice?

How is their privacy protected?

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Sound Sultan

The Unconventional Storyteller Vanessa Obioha narrates her encounter with the Nigerian entertainment superstar, Sound Sultan. The maverick music star, introspective and futuristic in style, sound and sentiments marked his 18th anniversary in the music industry with a musical, ‘The Jungle Story’

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Making Sense of Sound Sultan’s Jagbanjantis

H

e had barely sat at the table when a young man approached him. He shook hands with Sound Sultan and began chatting with him as if he was an acquaintance. Next, he brought out his phone and drew closer to Sultan for a selfie. Then he paused, took one look at Sultan’s face and decided it would be better the artiste remove his sunshades and fez cap.

“Baba abeg comot your glasses so that dem go know say na you,” he pleaded with the artiste who showed no sign of irritation. It was important that he got a selfie with the ‘real’ Sound Sultan in case his colleagues at work doubt him.

After the photo-op, he asked with uncertainty: “Baba I go like get your number make I just holler you. You go fit give me?”

Without blinking an eye, the Naija Ninjas boss took his phone and punched his numbers.

The young man left with a smile as wide as a slice of watermelon.

Could that be Sound Sultan’s ‘real number’ he gave to the young man who identified himself as Uche?

“Yes, it’s my other line. I have had it for 16 years.”

Wasn’t he bothered that he would be swarmed with phone calls?

“I’m used to it. It’s normal. I get such (calls) every day. It’s really no pressure because if I don’t want that, I wouldn’t be on TV. “There was one time when we were little that my father took us to the Trade Fair show.

We were going from one stand to the other.

Then, I saw Soni Irabor. I just left my father and started walking after Irabor, just looking at him. I was ‘jazzed’. Meanwhile, my parents were looking for me. Until I heard my name being announced through the public address system that I start running back to them.

“My family was like what is wrong with me. I told them that I just saw Soni Irabor. That impression of my reaction to Soni Irabor made it easier for me to understand my fans,” he recalls.

It took Sultan a while to focus on the interview. His phones were ringing constantly.

His musical show, ‘Jungle Story’, to mark his 18 years in the entertainment industry just ended few days ago and he is yet to recover from the physical stress of it all. He also had to catch up with 2Baba’s rehearsal for the Buckwyld n Breathless show where he also performed.

Between answering phone calls and replying to text and WhatsApp messages, he managed to field questions.

To fully understand Sultan’s staying power in the industry is to critically examine the different layers that embody his persona. Born Olanrewaju Fasasi, Sultan’s first music love was rap. But today, he has metamorphosed into a singer-songwriter. His style of music is not boxed into any genre. He came into the spotlight in 2000 when he released the hit single, Jagbanjantis. The song was a satirical look on topical issues in the country which was then embracing democracy.

The music industry too was churning out new hip hop stars like the Plantashun Boiz, Remedies and a host of others. With his big brother Baba Dee paving way for him in the industry, Sultan soon had the klieg lights on him. Jagbanjantis also fetched him a recording deal with Kennis Music where he produced four albums. He would later leave the record label and team up with his brother to form the Naija Ninjas, what he described as a sort of empire.

So far, he has produced about seven albums in his nearly two decades spanning career. He is also a comedian and actor. He recently co-produced a Nollywood flick ‘Head Gone’ alongside his brother which is enjoying great views on the online streaming platform Netflix.

With all these glowing titles, Sultan appears to be caught in the middle. His name is not always flashed on major news headlines, or has he moved to Lekki axis which is somehow the hub of A-list celebrities. He still lives in Festac where he and the likes of 2Baba found their true calling.

The perception in the public is that he is yet to get the desired appreciation. But the artiste thinks differently.

“I think I have. I don’t judge by how high.

I judge by how long. If I’m able to celebrate 18 years on stage, there are people who have received loud ovation but are no more around. The best things are when things grow organically on people. It is the best. I am very satisfied with where I found myself and most importantly, everybody has their own part to play when it comes to purpose or the industry.

“My purpose is to be like fine wine. For me, people will always look at me and tell

me what they think, but they are all wrong.

Most people are wrong about me. Those that are close to me know what I am capable of. Over the years people have been able to use my nature to pick one or two things from me. They pick the ones they can easily understand. They pick that and they run with it and I am fine with that,” he explains.

Sultan often likes to see himself as an inexhaustible well that will not take glory from the source of water.

“It is always God,” he enthuses. “Some people will say this person is always talking ple that know about you. Those are the people he level of me deep down. They know the creativity is not something I can brag about because I don’t even know where it’s from.

That is why you see me talk or do less to here is a bigger appear flamboyant because there purpose I feel like I owe to thee person giving it to me. I have to be me and also be strategic in the way I celebrate myself. I’m not the type here is no class to blow my trumpet. I think there in that.” as fetched him This meekness he said has dustry. However, respect in and outside the industry. erculean task sustaining a brand can be a herculean particularly in this era where new artistes d. Though he are springing up every second. ny pressure to admitted he is never under any ried about the live up to its status, he is worried short lifespan of songs today. rack of albums.

“People no longer keep track It’s a new world order. Peoplee buy things mmitment. in sachets now. They fear commitment. anging, not only Everything in the world is changing, DAY. “People in Nigeria,” Sultan tells THISDAY. w now’, like will prefer to go with the ‘now re; scared of they are so scared of the future; o they look for committing for a long time so ody just dance, the short-span songs. Everybody p to the next one. use it, then dump it and jump espan. Even we “Like two months of a lifespan. mand out there the artistes, because of the demand y to satisfy it for such kind of songs, we try by churning out such music and everybody udience too wants to make money. The audience he artistes are on the other hand, feels that the span of music. responsible for this short lifespan at cycle, using So we are all going round that each other. Give some essencee to your music ty and that will because it will give it longevity translate in your brand. And that will ensure ngs.” you last longer than your songs.”

The essence of Sultan’s music lies in the opted over the storytelling format he has adopted opted the role of years. In ‘Jagbanjantis’, he adopted ghting some a Mathematics teacher highlighting issues confronting Nigeria. aying the th he ‘Motherland’ sees him playing ing to o role of a caring friend, appealing a his loved ones in the Diaspora to return home. The musical in n piece examined the brain drain experienced in the country att the time. ‘Hello Baale’ sees him as the snitch who tells hiss master of the sex escapades of he his wife, while admitting at the end that he has also been to bed g he with her. This particular song erican said was inspired by the American ed in R&B singer, R. Kelly’s ‘Trapped the Closet’ hit. d that most mosst If anything, Sultan is glad of his songs have impacted a life.

“There are lots of people that listen to oad, particularly my songs when they are abroad, ke they have to ‘Motherland’, and they feel like ng or reach out to come home and do something ard someone cry people back home. I have heard ong and reach on how they listened to my song aven’t heard out to their son whom they haven’t from a long time. th teary eyes “I have seen someone with tell me that when his brother was overseas, he bought five copies of my album, Out of the Box, circled ‘Motherland’ and sent it y came back to him. His brother eventually motional after that December. He was too emotional listening to the song and felt he may not see his family again. That gave me satisfaction ocess different that people are using it to process kind of thoughts,” he says.

Glimpses of the comical and witty side of ng the interview.

Sultan were on display during o explain why he For instance, when he tried to dustry at a certain marks his presence in the industry time. ars people were “When I celebrated 12 years ed me why like what the heck. They asked y. As I marked and I told them it ‘dozen’ easy. ked me why my 18th anniversary, they asked again, and I replied that my career is now o anything. Ali legal. It can drive, vote and do Baba celebrated 30 years and I told him that y will say you my career is the type that they are old enough to drive a car but his own career, dem don dey look am say make he go

marry,” he says amidst laugher.

For his 18th anniversary, the singer decided to make a musical, ‘Jungle Story’. The musical had a star-studded cast like Jimi Solanke, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Falz, Helen Paul, 2Baba among others. The musical — a satirical look on the political landscape in the country — was shown five times in three days this month at Terra Kulture. Sultan revealed that plans are underway to return the show in December and tour the country sometime next year. Meanwhile he and his brother are currently working on a movie that will be released r d next n xt year. ne

Despite his love for music, Sultan admitted that his main love is basketball. He owns a basketball team, Lagos City Stars.

“I’m overly passionate about basketball.

I’m supposed to rest for one week but I actually went to play yesterday. I translate the passion from basketball into music. I love music very well,” he confesses.

Often times, Sultan has been asked if he forced his wife Chichi Morah, an Igbo lady and a Christian to convert to his religion Islam.

The artiste responds saying, “I always tell people when they ask me that ‘as you see me like this, I fit force anybody do anything?’ It is a thing of choice and understanding. My wife looked at me and saw the reflection of the religion on me and wanted to be part of it. I tell a lot of people this. You have to reflect what you are. Religion doesn’t have to be the reason someone is with you.

“How you behave and what your policies are should reflect on your personality. If you are bad, you are bad; religion has nothing to do with it. The moment you can feel that inner peace with your partner, you are okay.

It’s not really about the world. The world will adjust. It’s not about tribe. My family love my wife so much right now.”

As the interview was rounded off, his phone rang again.

It was Uche. “The call don start”, he sighs.

TEAM ASSITANT ASSITA T NT EDITOR OLUFUNKE OLAODE REPORTER VANE V VANESSA SSA OBIOHA DESIGNER WAHAB AKINTUNDE THISDAY A ON SUNDAY A EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU DEPUTY EDITORS WALE OLALEYE TOBI SONIYI THISDAY A NEWSPA NEWSPAPERS P PERS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO D EPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR DEPUTY KAYODE KOMOLAFE

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LOUD WHISPERS

with JOSEPH EDGAR (09095325791)

Nnamdi Kanu: Please, Don’t Make Me Laugh So the picture was released: The great saviour of the Igbo nation had reappeared in Israel and was standing by one wall like that and was even kissing the wall.

That was the style he used to reappear in our consciousness. Is this one even serious? After running away for over one year he now reappeared with one funny cap and be thinking that we will still have his time? Mbok, since his departure things have been happening o and I don’t think we will still need his irritation at this time.

I do not understand how freedom fighters especially from that region always run away. The other thick-bearded one ran to Ivory Coast after leading a rebellion that killed over two million people. This one, after calling everybody monkey and the nation a zoo simply disappeared and left his people at the mercy of the

US EMBASSY, YOU MUST BE HAVING A LAUGH You know when the Federal Government announced the no-fly list, I did not take it seriously o. Abi, what will concern me with that kind list? So on one beautiful early morning as I was about to jump into my beautifully made fufu and afang soup graciously made by the Duchess, I received a mail from the US Embassy. They had revoked my entry visa into the US due to ‘information they have just received that they did not have at the point of issuance’. I shock, I drop the fufu and almost choke. Kai, who wants to humiliate the Duke of Shomolu like this o. This must be the work of Uncle Lai so all these yabis I have been yabbing him and he feels that the only way he would react is to put me on the no-fly-list. If not for my new pastor and spiritual leader, the exotic and very beautiful Ashley who is based in New York, wetin concern me with America? Is Shomolu not better for me? Well anyways, I sent for the List and na PDP people full the list. I am not there o. I checked, Joseph Edgar - No, I checked Edgar Inibong Joe, NO, I checked Duke of Shomolu NO. So why these people revoke my visa and which information have they received? Abi, my landlord don go report me there or MUDI wey I dey owe small money don go report me?

Since when has the US Embassy become like the EFCC, a debt collecting agency?

Well anyways, I replied their mail and asked them to explain further. I copied, the IG of Police and Senator Dino who I believe would come in handy if the need arises for us to storm the Embassy and sing some war songs. They replied and asked me to re-apply and come for a chat. Honestly, I am not really interested in going for any chat. Is it their fault, if our country was respected and meets all human indices of development, would all this be happening? Discreet information I am getting is that the spate of revocation and denials for Nigerians is at an all-time high and that they are just revoking Visas at the slightest opportunity. So a whole

Melaye

‘oppressors’. This one na mumu no be us and those scrambling to give him relevance by responding to his empty threats are the real traducers. Nnamdi showed very clearly that his fight was quite selfish and narrow focused. He had nothing to offer but his uncanny understanding of the evil machinations with which he used so expertly to wield influence over a poverty stricken people. He raised so much dust that he inadvertently raised the consciousness of not only the Igbo nation but also all other downtrodden people nationwide.

But where it mattered the most, he fell down. I was not surprised because his campaign was hollow, lacking in ideology but filled with semi-literate verbiage that could only engage the very downtrodden.

He got the attention required but as the

Lilliputian that he was, did not know what to do with it. Urging him on was an incompetent establishment who themselves lacked ethos, they didn’t know how to handle him. So the ill-fated so-called invasion of his homestead by the Army now gave him the ruse he needed to do a Usain Bolt into exile and from there appearing in white bedsheet to start sending his utmost empty threats again to the nation. Mbok Kanu just stay where you are make we concentrate for this 2019 matter. Enough of your childish pranks, we have moved forward. Thank you and God bless you. While you are still in Jerusalem, go check the manger, you just might see the three wise men who came from the East with gifts for our baby Jesus make them talk sense into you.

Mshewwww.

Duke of Shomolu will now go and queue and rain will be falling on me and all the single girls will be looking at me and then one Embassy ‘small’ girl will be asking me questions about when I started growing pubic hair? My people, I will not go again.

It’s ok, the one I have gone in the last 20 years is enough. When they are ready they will send for me. When it is time to address the General Assembly of the United Nations, they will bring the Visa to Shomolu, till then, mbok let me enjoy my Afang in peace.

PASTOR OSINBAJO AT THE SHRINE

IBIKUNLE AMOSUN: I AM CONFUSED It was one of my ogas who had asked me to yab ‘this Amosun small’. I really didn’t know what to say and still don’t know what to say but as the oga will be calling me to ask how far, ‘you don yab am? Make I sha write something. I really do not understand what is going on in Ogun but from the little I have gathered, it’s looking like the people of his party are turning their backs against my lord and by extension his candidate. The oga as I am seeing and even heard on the radio is not agreeing but is insisting that his unpopular candidate must by fire and brimstone be the candidate for his party at the next elections. I have heard of threats of defection and all other types of pressures to have his way including a long essay read yesterday which I am hoping is fake news where he was lamenting how he used to borrow our president car when he did not have a car. You see these things are very easy. If you have done well, your wish no go hard like this. If Ogun state was today better off for it after your tenure you will not sweat like this na. You know see when the Jagaban wanted to move against Fashola, the people rose up because he had performed and the great Jagaban calmed down. All these wahala for one person who is not even speaking is totally unnecessary and uncalled for. I need to speak to you, meet me at the US Embassy for a brief chat, no be like this.

Winston Churchill

My first question on watching this footage was ‘why? Who advised this?

And why all this desperation?’ As if Femi was listening to me, he dropped the bombshell and that because of his father, he cannot support Buhari. When Femi is not a bastard, why would he support this government? Abi, Osinbajo did not listen to the Fela classic song, ‘Beast of No Nation’ before he went to the shrine? In fact, leave that one sef. Of what electoral value is going to the shrine? Where is the influence of the shrine in a presidential battle, are we looking at chairmanship of Alausa local government so why expose yourself to such a PR disaster when there is really nothing to gain? So because the French PM went there for his own reason, you sef must carry yourself go there? The dressing was so wrong, the language was so wrong, the posturing was so wrong. So connection with the motley crowd at the Shrine was zero. If Osi baba had gone there in shorts and a T-shirt with Fela handling one big wrap and then he jumps on the stage and pranced up and down like Baba 70 would have done and be shouting ‘basket mouth want start to leak agan ooooooo” then you have seen action. The video would go viral and all hemp loving Nigerians who according to Sowore is in their millions would immediately queue behind APC. But when you go there and wear one dour traditional wear and black cap, carry microphone and be speaking like say you are addressing the supreme court and end it with one small everybody ‘say yea yea’, na wetin you go fine, Palavar you dey find… palaver he go get you ooooooooo. And that is why Femi seeing the disconnection and not wanting to lose his constituency immediately disowned the Veeepeee. But who dey advise these people sef.

AKINWUNMI AMBODE: LET’S IMPEACH HIM

Kanu

our man Ambode is fearing. I just saw a report quoting him as saying that he would fight strenuously to campaign for Sanwoolu and Buhari. That in my thinking is him trying to use style to beg.

And the write-up in one of the National Dailies titled ‘the tiger Ambode rode’ and written by one elderly Afenifere chieftain is not helping his image as a bold and fearless person. Mbok, how much more can one man take, why all these humiliations? If they want to impeach, let them come and impeach. We will not die na. They say, it is his pension they are going for and rendering him politically irrelevant. You see why I always talk of true leadership. When them Awolowo and our forefathers were fighting for our independence, they had a larger vision for our country. They did not care about any personal gains or pension o. The truth is that Lagos needs emancipation and if Ambode does not have the grit to face this fight, then let him spare us all these theatrics and let us concentrate on what we need to do. As my mother used to say, how many people will you beg? So you beg at Bourdillon, you beg in State House of Assembly, you beg in Iga Iduguran, you beg in Abuja, you beg in Shomolu, you beg in Shrine and still you are being embarrassed and humiliated by those who claim divine authority to own us and yet you will not one day stand up and say it is enough? Now, Speaker is giving Executive Orders, he would soon start attending Federal Executive Council meetings and you will still be begging? Me, I am your man any day, but you are not making it easy for me o.

People are laughing at me o. Let’s take a firm position on the side of the people and stand by it. Ite si wa ju eko ----mbok I know know the rest. Whatever, you know what I am trying to say.

NHIS – I AM UTTERLY CONFUSED

So we have been hearing very strong rumours about this impending so-called impeachment and then it is looking like

Today, the Executive Secretary is on suspension, tomorrow he is reinstated.

Today, they have kicked him out of office, tomorrow he will come back Rambo style,

Obi

NHIS boss, Usman Yusuf

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OCTO ͰͶ˜ ͰͮͯͶ ˾ THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

THE ALTERNATIVE

with RenoOmokri

Buhari, Show Us Your Certificate

N

othing could prepare me for the shock that greeted me when I opened the dailies on Friday, October 26, 2018. Right there on the front-page headlines of my beloved THISDAY was the news that President Buhari, again, could not present his West African School Certificate Examination certificate because the original is with the army.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me! That lame excuse could hardly suffice in 2015 when President Jonathan was the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, but it is certainly an untenable excuse today!

How on earth could Buhari again tell the Independent National Electoral Commission that his certificate is with the army. Who controls the army as Commander-in-Chief? Is it not Buhari? We have seen the evidence of certificate less leadership.

We will not accept that excuse in 2018 or 2019.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, has produced his certificate to INEC, while the All Progressive Congress’s candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari has produced his excuse to INEC. By their actions, you will know who is prepared to govern for the next four years and who is prepared to make excuses for the next 4 years. Nigerians will not be fooled again.

What kind of country has Buhari turned Nigeria into?

Nigerian youths, who Buhari called lazy, need to present certificates before they can serve in the National Youth Service Corp, yet Muhammadu Buhari does not need to present a certificate before he can be President and we are wondering why we are the world headquarters for extreme poverty?

Other than the 11 million jobs he lost, the only jobs that Buhari could create in almost four years were the jobs he gave the thirteen SANs that he engaged to go to court to prevent him from presenting his certificate to Nigerians. Now he is telling INEC a cock and bull story!

Which company or business will give you a job if you tell them that your certificate is with your child? Who controls your child if not you? The Nigerian Army is Muhammadu Buhari’s child. If the certificate really existed, Buhari would have collected it rather than come up with this tales by moonlight about it being with the army. How can the Commander-inChief of the army claim that his certificate is with the army?

CERTIFICATELESS LIFELESS CLUELESS Only one name fits all three categories, yet that fellow wants to preside over the people who have the highest educational qualifications of any African nation? How are the mighty fallen.

Muhammadu Buhari, saying as follows: “El-Rufai wishes to remind General Buhari that he has remained perpetually unelectable because his record as military head of state, and afterwards, is a warning that many Nigerians have wisely heeded. His insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity and his parochial focus are already well-known. In 1984, Buhari allowed 53 suitcases belonging to his ADC’s father to enter Nigeria unchecked at a time the country was exchanging old currency for new. Against all canons of legal decency, he used retroactive laws to execute three young men for drug-peddling after they were convicted by a military tribunal and not regular courts of law. Buhari was so high handed that he gave himself and his officials immunity even from truthful reporting. That obnoxious Decree 4, against which truth was no defence, was used to jail journalists and attempt to cow the media as a whole. That tyrannical legislation shows the essence of his intolerance. These are facts of recent history.”

Even his wife knows the type of husband she married and his limited intellectual capacity. She said as much on October 14, 2016 when she said as follows: “I have decided as his wife, that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again.”

So if those around him have rejected him, Nigerians should waste no time to reject the certificate-less one. You can rule over 150 cows without a certificate, but you cannot govern 190 million Nigerians without evidence that you are learned.

Buhari And the sad thing is that in this same paper, there is a headline with the caption ‘Buhari: I’m very disappointed in the Nigerian media’. How can the man who led Nigeria to her first recession in 25 years, the man who led Nigeria into being the world headquarters for extreme poverty, the man who destroyed the Naira’s value, say he is “disappointed in the Nigerian media”. Who should be disappointed in who?

Nigerians should not be deceived. Those around Buhari know that he has nothing to offer Even Festus (Stephanie Otobo) Keyamo knows for a fact that Buhari and the APC are not the best for Nigerians. None of those around Buhari believe in him. This includes Buhari’s own wife and his protege Nasir Elrufai.

In a January 4, 2018 interview with Sahara TV, Festus Keyamo said: “Am I here to think that the APC is the best thing to happen to Nigeria? I will be a fool to say so. Am I here to say that there are no thieves within the APC? I will be a fool to say so. Will I be here to defend APC as the purest political party and the cure to all we have been looking for? No.” Nasir El-Rufai knows his lord and master very well. On October 4, 2010, El-Rufai warned Nigerians not to vote for

Reno’s Nuggets The fastest way to lose friends is to lend them money. To identify true friends, don’t lend any friend money the very first time they ask. When you say no to request to their loan requests, your fake friends will stop being your friend. No more calls. No more hanging out. But your real friends will continue being your friends. Make a note of them. Those are the friends it is safe to lend money to #RenosNuggets

Reno’s Darts Lai Mohammed went to Chatham House in London to say “we don’t need to do anything extra because we have delivered on all our promises and Nigerians are quite happy and satisfied with the government”. It is certainly not a coincidence that this fellow is named Lai. He was born to lie! #RenosDarts

Reno Omokri Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years, and other books. Avid traveller. Tormentor of the APC.

Nigerian Leaders Have Opportunities to Make Innovative Impacts Prof. Neal Hartman is the head of a management division at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His experience spans entrepreneurship, management, intercultural communication, conflict resolution, leadership and innovation.

He is a visiting professor at the University of Cambridge at the CMI-Enterprises, which is part of the Cambridge-MIT Initiative, working with decision makers from the United States of America, Cambridge University, and other European universities to develop their innovative credentials. Hartman, who has consulted for hundreds of public and private sectororganisationsinmultiplecontinentsinNorthAmerica,Asia,Europe,andAfrica,speakswith Bayo Akinloyeabout the need forNigerian leaders and organisations to innovate if they must remainrelevantandsuccessful.Excerpts:

H

ow can a Nigerian leader make an innovative impact in his organisation?

Nigerian leaders have opportunities to make innovative impacts on their organizations in several ways. Their task is to turn their organisations into innovation leaders. Leaders can make intentional changes to organisational processes and products in order to create economic value along with social and environmental benefits.

What skills could be acquired to achieve organisational growth?

It is critical to shift thinking from achieving short-term goals and profits to thinking longterm. Leaders must focus on developing and maintaining relationships with employees, clients, and the community. Leaders also need to explore how they can reduce waste, lower pollution, and decrease the number of natural resources they consume. The essential ingredient to accomplishing these goals is through innovation.

Why should organisational leaders attend TEXEM’s training programme?

TEXEM’s training programme scheduled to come up on 14 and 15 of November at Eko Hotel, Lagos, will offer participants the opportunity to examine in-depth the best practices of innovative and sustainable businesses and to consider what steps need to be taken to reach the potential that Nigerian companies have to become more innovative and sustainable. Through cases, discussions, and activities, the training programme will help leaders to see both the opportunities and challenges for Nigerian companies to navigate the future. Also, participants will benefit from networking with other impressive leaders and future leaders both during the executive development programme and afterwards -In addition to the steeper learning curve that participants will gain, the improved social capital is also a source of bumper return on investment. Please visit www. texem.co.uk Certainly, there are wonderful examples of Nigerian leaders who are working diligently to turn their organisations into innovation leaders as well as leaders who are actively developing and promoting policies to enhance sustainability.

Yet, there are so many examples of the work that remains to be done, focusing on issues of poverty, education, infrastructure, the environment,

improving their capacity to make better decisions and build successful firms that endure to name a few.

How well do you consider an innovative leader valuable to an organization especially in this turbulent time?

An innovative leader is extremely valuable to organisations during turbulent times.

Because these innovative leaders are constantly experimenting and focusing on sustainability, their organisations are better equipped to deal effectively with scandals, employee strikes, consumer boycotts, stiff competition, disruptive technology or global recessions.

Do you think that the skills acquired during this training will be of essence to these leaders?

Having an opportunity to explore best practices of innovative and sustainable leaders and companies, along with time to consider opportunities and challenges for Nigerian companies, will be extremely helpful to leaders in these dire, volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous times. Specifically, themes that will be covered in this programme includes: stimulating drivers’

Prof. Hartman innovation: culture, reward, structure. Inspiring, design in and driving innovative processes; leading strategic change for optimal outcomes; sustaining momentum and organisational focus. Aligning human capital, process and technology and communicating vision and creating urgency.

Continued online www.thisdaylive.com

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Adebayo Adeoye bayoolunla@gmail.com; 08054680651

SOCIETY WATCH

U.S.-Based Nigerian Lady Knocks Ooni of Ife Over Failed Relationship

ani-Kayode

Femi Fani-Kayode’s Antics

F

emi Fani-Kayode, a former Minister for Aviation, is widely known as a politician, poet, essayist and lawyer, all rolled into one.

For some years now, Fani-Kayode has been actively involved in politics in the country. He has, at various times, been a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC. But what many do not know about this Osun State-born politician is that he cherishes friendship a lot. Though he has not yet featured either in a stage play or a home movie, he seems to possess some of the attributes of a comic actor in particular. And he is never in short supply of his comical tendencies. How? In a bid to exhibit his loyalty, last week, he accompanied a former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, to the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in Abuja.

He was seen in the midst of a tumultuous crowd outside the former headquarters of the EFCC in Abuja.

But Fani-Kayode, who was initially barred from entering the EFCC office, where the former governor was to be interrogated, was said to have put up a good defence, saying he was also a lawyer to Fayose. He was also quoted to have said that he had practised as a lawyer upon his return to the country from abroad. This, it was gathered, worked wonders, as he and a few others were eventually allowed entry into the EFCC office, amidst cheers from the crowd.

This is laughable because he himself, alongside two others, is facing trial over money laundering charges at a Lagos High Court.

Interestingly, if you thought that was all, you are wrong! Again, he surfaced at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, on Monday, when Fayose was arraigned, in a dramatic way.

This time, he rationalized his presence and support for Fayose saying, “I believe in the virtues of courage, loyalty and faith in God. I believe in loyalty to country, family, friends and political party. I am a patriot and I believe in loyalty to Nigeria. I also believe in the unity of Nigeria. I believe in loyalty to friends, through thick and thin. Fayose is my friend and that is why I am here.

“He stood with me during my travails and I am constrained to stand with him during his. I am not a fair-weather friend: I am a real friend and I will always stand with the persecuted, the cheated, the marginalized, the voiceless and the oppressed. Fayose is being persecuted like so many other leaders in the PDP and that is why I am here: to stand firm and show solidarity with him.”

Stardom, it is generally believed, comes with a huge price.

If you are not too convinced about the veracity of this timeless claim, you may have to read about the life of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeleye Ogunwusi.

Since the 44-year-old royal father ascended the throne about three years ago, he has been under the watchful eyes of critical, nay nosy members of the society.

His action and inaction have always attracted diverse comments among his compatriots. Indeed, his deeds and, sometimes, misdeeds have either been over-reported or under-reported. How much more price can he pay for stardom?

Only last week, the Ooni of Ife announced that he had finally found a wife after “waiting patiently upon the Almighty, the King of kings.”

His new found love, 25-year-old Shilekunola Moronke Naomi, whom he just married, is a popular evangelist.

The news came at a time when many tongues had been wagging about his continued single status, after his 17-monthold marriage to Olori Zaynab Otiti-Obanor crashed.

Many had thought that the development would have shut up his critics. But it appears he has not yet successfully kept controversy at bay.

A few days after the announcement of his new wife, a an estranged lover, Elizabeth Odunlami, took to Facebook and revealed what alledged transpired between her and the Ooni.

Odunlami, who works at the African Charities of America, alleged that the respected royal father promised to marry her and even used her name for business transactions that ran into millions of dollars!

She claimed that she would not have shared her pains on Facebook, but the humiliation was too much to bear.

In her comment sections, many of her friends consoled her, assuring her that she could still be queen if God wills.

Odunlami, who attends the Celestial Church of Christ and lives in New York,

Oba Adewusi

further claimed that she started dating the king a year ago and was so in love that 90 per cent of her posts were photos of the Ooni of Ife! She wrote: “Kabiyesi Enitan Ogunwusi, I’m thanking you for the disappointment, after using my real biological name to execute your contract from Mr. John in California.

“As a matter of fact, you promised me to be your next queen before Naomi.

Whenever I asked you if you have someone, you were always in denial.

“On certainty, you told me that all your so-called spiritualists positively accepted me as your new queen and that I shouldn’t listen to rumours… always communicating with me everyday, promising me ticket to Nigeria soon.

“Had it been that I knew you’re a liar, do you think that I would release all my personal information to both you and your contractor, who died in a ghastly accident?

You put tears in my naked eyes and give joy to Naomi after getting your plenty million contracts successfully. You also told me after Olojo Festival that you’re sending me ticket to board airline to Nigeria. If I want to deal

with you in the American way, you’ll be arrested in the USA. “But for the sake of the love that I have for Yorubaland, I’ll leave you with the judgment of God, Oonirisa Oba Funfun Nene.

“For those making Jess (sic) of me on Facebook, continue making Jess (sic) of me. I’m already successful and I’m a pillar.

Nobody tackles with me. Vengeance is of the Lord between me and you, Akande Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi. Adabi Aroja a dafun iwo ati PA ti mo designate to bring the contract to you at your lle-Ife palace. Idajo Olorun Esan a wo afin e soon, wa mo wipe emi gangan ni atupa Jesu.”

A source close to the Ogunwusi revealed that Odunlami is just one of those desperate ladies who threw themselves into the arms of the handsome monarch, adding that he had never promised anyone marriage until a few days ago.

“The so-called Elizabeth is nothing but a liar, who is just bent on damaging Kabiyesi’s reputation. How can she claim her name was used to obtain contract? This is nothing but another lie from the pit of hell. Baba would never stoop that low,” the source added.

Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi’s Treasures

Oba Lamidi

Only last week, Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi, played host to eminent personalities from across the world when he celebrated his 80th birthday, in a blaze of glory.

The ancient town had been agog as many eminent personalities, who were beautifully dressed, turned up as a mark of respect for the Oba, who Providence brought to the throne about five decades ago.

Apart from congratulatory adverts in some newspapers as well as on radio and Tv, the guests showered encomiums on him and presented him with wonderful gifts.

But little did many know that God had a bigger package for him, one that he will treasure for the rest of his life.

Barely 24 hours after the birthday ceremonies, one of his young beautiful wives, Aanuoluwapo , was delivered of a set of twins.

What a special birthday gift!

It will be recalled that two of his young wives were delivered of a set of twins each earlier this year.

For the revered monarch, 2018 will forever be etched in his memory, as God has lavished His grace on him beyond description.

Oil Mogul, Ifeanyi Ubah Strategises Whether you like him or not, Ifeanyi Ubah is an interesting personality.

While some see him as a man who is always in constant quest to be in the news and also very controversial, some others say the Nwewi, Anambra State born billionaire is a misunderstood man.

It all began when Ubah, who is described as a cat with nine lives, could not realize his dream of becoming the first citizen of the state last year. As if that was not enough loss, he subsequently failed to win the ticket of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, for the Anambra South Senatorial District.

Though he was deeply affected by the losses, he found solace in the saying “The greatest accomplishment is not in falling, but in rising again after you fall.”

Now, the Capital Oil Boss is said to be strategizing on the next move for his political career and business.

“Trust the billionaire, he has waved the disappointment away just like any other one in the past. The political disappointment has not affected his love for his community. His popularity is soaring higher not only because of his uncommon philanthropic gesture, but also his contributions to the development of the state,’’ a source stated.

Ubah, a top player in the nation’s oil and gas sector, is kind to a fault. Besides, he is unapologetically committed to the upliftment of his community, while also helping the course of humanity.

Uba

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OCTOBER 28, 2018 ˾ T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

SOCIETY WATCH

OBJ, Fasawe Settle Rift Even if you cannot remember many of the things about him, what remains an incontestable fact is that Otunba Oyewole Fasawe, a popular socialite, was once a close ally of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

His closeness to the former president naturally conferred some privileges on him. He walked the corridors of power without restrictions and many courted him like a beautiful bride. His influence soared higher and he had everything at his beck and call.

Besides, many influential people chummed up with him in a desperate bid to get one favour or the other from the former President.

Sadly, before our very eyes, the duo became sworn enemies! It was so bad, especially because Fasawe did not see it coming. He least imagined that he would one day be in the black books of the Abeokuta, Ogun State- born retired general.

Obasanjo’s grouse with Fasawe had developed after it became obvious that the latter was showing support and sympathy for the then Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.

It was gathered Obasanjo had warned Fasawe to choose between Atiku and him.

But Fasawe had reportedly refused to sever his relationship with Atiku.

For this, Fasawe paid heavily. He was subsequently hounded by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. In fact, he was a guest of the EFCC for three months, while his businesses suffered.

But today, the former warring friends have embraced peace. In recent times, Fasawe has been seen together with Obasanjo at public functions.

Though those who have sighted them have expressed shock over their new friendship, a source disclosed that the peace between the duo brokered in 2017.

“Fasawe played a huge role in Obasanjo’s public peace meeting and endorsement of Atiku,” the source stated disclosed.

Martha Najomo’s Daughter, Bella , Set For Marital Journey Bella, now in her 20s, is the beautiful daughter of Captain Chris Najomo( retd.), one of Nigeria’s most gifted pilots.

Her mother, Martha Najomo is the CEO, Seraphina Gems, a leading jeweller in Nigeria.

For a lady born into affluence, she has had the privilege of travelling around the world.

Very cosmopolitan, one of her pastime is reading, an experience that has literally broadened her understanding of life.

In reading, she has come to understand the power of love, especially as it is found in romantic novels that foreground the lives of some fictional characters that are romantically attracted to each other.

Also, the volume of romantic movies she has seen must have impacted on her understanding of love.

But nothing compares to the lesson on love that her dutiful mother must have shared with her.

No wonder, when she later ran into handsome Zac, a Kenyan, in the United States of America, she knew she could pull it off romantically with him.

For the graduate of Economics, Bella did not cheaply give her heart in love to Zac, a mechanical engineer, as would be expected.

Fate, the ultimate determiner has, to the admiration of all, been leading them in their romantic adventure.

And after four years of courtship, trying to study each other like a book, the love-struck duo is ready to go a step further in their love affair.

More than ever before, both cannot wait any longer to be husband and wife, and they have made known their intention to their beloved families and friends.

In particular, Bella’s mum, who is not known to do her things in half measures whenever she has cause to engage in celebration

of life, is said to going the extra mile to ensure a successful wedding for her lovely daughter.

Even as the wedding tagged “Zella 19” is slated to hold on January 3, 2019 at the Balmoral Hall of Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, those who are in the know are said to be preparing for the party that would usher into the New Year and would surely serve as a yardstick for others in 2019.

Society Watch gathered that colourful invitation cards are already in circulation among family members, close friends of the couple, celebrities, business tycoons, politicians and high networth individuals.

A letter, which serves as preinvite made available to Society Watch, reads: “Showered blessings and a rainbow of happiness have brought the delighted moments of life. We now wish to share with our dear ones. It gives us immense pleasure to announce the forthcoming wedding of our daughter, Bella, to her heartthrob, Zac. “An occasion as auspicious as this will be incomplete without the presence our families and friends.

It will be our great honour and privilege to have you join us for this momentous event. We would be delighted if you could grace the occasion with your presence. We are sending you this pre-invite so that you have plenty of time to make all necessary travel arrangement’’.

It was gathered that both families are neck-deep in preparation to make the ceremony a huge success.

Consequently, some of the best party planners, fashion designers and make-up artists have been contracted, all in anticipation for the forthcoming shindig.

Bella’s mum is unarguably the biggest in the country with a clientele that include First Ladies, Senators, high-net-worth women as well as high-flying socialites.

Arisekola

Fasawe

More Troubles for Arisekola Alao’s Families The Rich Also Cry’, the saying goes well with the current trouble the family of the late Azeez Alao Arisekola is facing. Four years after the death of the billionaire, there is no light at the end of the tunnel for the family.

Society Watch gathered that First Bank of Nigeria has since filed a suit in bid to recover a debt of N8,856,570,029.81 from Lister Flour Mills Nigeria limited, a company promoted and predominantly owned by a deceased Ibadan-based businessman, who died in 2014.

As gathered, the bank has refiled a suit against two directors of the company Mrs Khadijah Alao -Straub, Mr Ismail Alao and a sister company Lister Oil limited. The suit which was filed pursuant to an order of a Federal high court in Lagos was filed before the court by a Lagos lawyer, As revealed, it was stated in the claim accompanied with statement of witness on oath of account officer in classified Asset Management Department of First bank, Mr Ololade lawrence, It was alleged that, Mrs Kahadijah Alao-Straub acting as director alongside the other erstwhile directors of Lister Flour Mills of Nigeria approached and obtained various huge credit facilities which she personally guaranteed from First bank Nigeria limited, while Lister Oil limited corporately guaranteed the repayment of the said loan.

Between 24th of January 2011and November, 2013, First bank granted the following credit facilities to Lister Flour Mills Nigeria Limited with its operating office at 21Creek Road, Apapa While the sum of N2.5billion for the purpose of supporting the civil construction of proposed biscuit manufacturing factory belonging to Lister Confectionary Nigeria limited at Ibadan, the importation and installation of 600MT production plant for Lister Flour Mills limited and the interest capitalization of the loan.

Also it was hinted that the sum of N3.5billion for the purpose of supporting the importation and installation of five biscuit production lines in respect of the proposed biscuit manufacturing factory belonging to Lister Confectionary Nigeria limited.

A term loan in the sum of N80million for the restructuring of the expired Temporary overdraft facility in the sum of N80million as part of existing facilities at an interest rate of 18% It was also claimed that the facilities granted Lister Flour Mills now in receivership were duly accepted and fully utilized as Mrs. Khadijah AlaoStraub and other erstwhile directors then acting on behalf of the company made a full draw down on all the facilities.

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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 ˾ ͺ΀˜ ͺ͸͹΀

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Kutigi: A Class Justice Passes ÓÝ ÚËÝÝÓØÑ ØÙÞáÓÞÒÝÞËØÎÓØј ÞÒÏ ÖËÞÏ ßÝÞÓÍÏ ÏÑÌÙ ßÞÓÑÓ ÖÏʰ ÌÏÒÓØÎ ÑÙÙÎ ×Ï×ÙÜÓÏݘ áÜÓÞÏÝ Tobi Soniyi

A

t 78, Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi passed on to the great beyond.

He would be remembered for many of his landmark judgments. But lawyers, who appeared before him, would continue to remember him as a judge, who had no time for frivolities. Kutigi would enjoin lawyers to go straight to the point and avoid the usual legalese and verbosity that had become part and parcel of the Nigerian legal system. If there was anything that distinguished Justice Kutigi from his peers at the Supreme Court bench, it would be his unrivalled sense of humour.

There was something else. His infectious laughter!

When Kutigi laughed, you would join him before you asked him why he was laughing. He also had a voice that was unmistakably his. He was his own man. He would not do anything to please anyone.

As tedious as his job was, Kutigi would not miss an opportunity to crack jokes in the course of hearing cases. By providing comic relief in the course of a boring and lengthy court hearing, Kutigi often helped his colleagues to relax and enjoy their work.

A very bold and incorruptible jurist, Kutigi once shocked his colleagues, when he announced openly in court that there were reports that a litigant, who was then a sitting governor had withdrawn millions of United States Dollars for the purpose of bribing justices of the Supreme Court hearing an appeal that was likely to result in the removal of the governor from office.

His Lordship told the justices that whoever collected the money was on his own. The governor eventually lost the case. Justice Kutigi would not hesitate to dissent even when all other members of the panel disagreed with him. That was another quality that the late jurist found useful while presiding as the

chairman of the National Conference.

Kutigi demonstrated this rare quality, when the late president, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was away on health grounds and was not available to swear in the next Chief Justice of Nigeria, Aloysius Katsina-Alu. Before then, it was customary for the president to inaugurate the new CJN. Yar’Adua was away. Goodluck Jonathan had not been mandated to act as president.

Justice Kutigi’s decision to swear in Katsina-Alu was greeted with controversies. First, it was believed that if he administered the oath office for Katsina-Alu to become CJN while he was still the CJN, there would be two chief justices at the same time. Second, if he did after he had retired as the CJN he would have divested himself of the power to swear in someone else since he was no longer the CJN. But in a bold move, he brushed aside the criticisms and did the needful.

Justifying his action, Kutigi had then said: “This is because the law has always been there. The swearingin of the CJN is either done by the president, or the outgoing or retiring Chief Justice. I am aware that this has generated a lot of commentaries and controversies from people, who were supposed to know. The law is there. There is nothing new.

“If you look at the Oath Act 2004, you will see the provision there where the CJN, justices of the Supreme Court, President of the Court of Appeal and the justices of the Court of Appeal, among others, are all listed in a column, all of them, according to the Act are to be sworn in by the President or the Chief Justice of Nigeria. The provision is there and it has always been there that the outgoing CJN has never done it does not make it wrong. The law is clear.

“If you also look at the 1999 Constitution, it also makes it clear that the person, who has the responsibility of swearing-in the new CJN, is the Chief Justice of Nigeria. What I am saying is that there is nothing new about it. The law is there but for the first time we are just using it today.”

On March 3, 2014, then president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, appointed Kutigi as chairman of the

Kutigi...a case study

National Conference convoked by him. Although the job of a judge is tough, Kutigi, who was saddled with the responsibility of organising the national conference was handed one of his toughest jobs by Jonathan.

Managing 492 Nigerians coming from different professional, ethnic, religion and political backgrounds proved not to be an enviable job in an emotionally charged atmosphere like Nigeria.

As a jurist, who rose to become the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kutigi had over the years acquired one of the greatest skills every jurist needed to succeed: patience. Though not one of the nation’s jurists gifted with patience, Kutigi nevertheless demonstrated a high degree of patience to control the delegates. His ability to manage lawyers came handy in the national assignment. An extremely conservative jurist, he avoided politics and politicians like plague. For him, for a judge to do his job well, he must maintain a safe distance from politicians. And that once the politicians knew that you had established a reputation of not

dealing with them, they would let you be.

Kutigi was also a comrade, who enjoyed the respect of all his colleagues at the bench, never known to be at loggerhead with any of them while he was at the Supreme Court bench.

Born on December 31, 1939 in Kutigi, North Western State (which is now located in the Lavun Local Government Area of Niger State), Kutigi attended elementary school in his home town, but moved to Bida for middle and secondary schooling.

After finishing his basic schooling, Kutigi moved on to Government College (now known as Barewa College), and then to Ahmadu Bello University. Both educational facilities are located in Zaria, Kaduna State. Following his graduation from the Nigerian schools, Kutigi left the country for England, where he attended the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and the Gibson and Weldon College of Law. When he returned home, Kutigi studied at the Nigerian Law School in Lagos State. His time at these prestigious learning institutions allowed Kutigi to become a lawyer, and later a judge within Nigeria.

He served as the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Niger State until 1976, when he was appointed as a high court judge. He served with honor in that position for more than a decade, and later joined the Supreme Court in 1992.

After 10 years with the Supreme Court, based on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council, former President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him to the position of Chief Justice to succeed Justice Salihu Alfa Belgore, who retired on January 17, 2007.

By January 30, 2007, Justice Kutigi was confirmed by the Senate and took over as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Chairman of the Federal Judicial Service Commission and Chairman of the National Judicial Council. He occupied these offices simultaneously between January 30, 2007 and December 30, 2009.

Kutigi left behind a fruitful and enviable family.

ÒÙ ÓÖÖ ËàÏ ÐÜÙ× ×ÚÖÙÝÓÙØˣ

Justina Azughala

A

fter four months in the saddle as the national chairman of theAll Progressives Congress (APC), any right-thinking Nigerian that has followed the activities of ComradeAdams Oshiomhole closely, will agree that the former labour leader has brought with him, leadership style that spells doom for theAPC, the reelection bid of President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigeria’s fledgling

democracy.

That he is a misfit for the current job he holds as the APC chairman has been sufficiently demonstrated by the outcomes of the last national and state assemblies’ primaries of the ruling party across the country, where many APC-controlled states are nursing injuries, losses and in some instances, outright annihilation, occasioned by the excesses, immoderation and intemperance of a national chairman that ought to earn the party, political capital.

From Zamfara to Rivers, Delta, Imo, Adamawa and Ogun, amongst several other states, Oshiomhole’s leprous hands have emasculated the ones boisterous APC. In Edo State, it would have amounted to a show of shame if the Edo State APC led by Barrister Anslem Ojezua did not take proactive steps by conducting the state-wide primaries for the national and the state assembly October 4, 2018, a day before the ultimatum approved by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). It was a long wait at the state secretariat of the APC for the arrival of the team from the national secretariat, in Abuja to conduct the elections.

It was gathered that the national chairman approved that three out of the five-man panel should proceed to Benin while the chairman and the secretary were held in Abuja for reasons best known to the National Working Committee.

Recall that INEC had directed that all parties must conclude their primaries by Saturday the 6th of October, a day that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and APC set aside for their presidential primaries.

The Drama in Edo State Having sensed that the national secretariat was not keen on conducting the state and national assemblies’ primaries in the state before the deadline set by INEC, sources close to the party disclosed that the state EXCO decided to work with the three-man panel from Abuja led by the former Speaker and former Acting Governor of Cross River State, John Odey. It turned out that the primary elections were peacefully conducted and were devoid of any irregularities and indeed candidates emerged.

However, in the middle of the announcement of results, there was a phone call allegedly from Oshiomhole ordering that the elections be declared null and void.

Oshiomhole was said to have claimed that the panel that came to Edo State to conduct the exercise was an illegal panel.

A new team led by one Hajiya Farida Odangi Suleiman was dispatched to the state to conduct new state and national assemblies’ primary elections.

While lawyers are still said to be researching on the legality of the October 6th primaries in Edo State which coincided with the national convention of the APC in Abuja, it is noteworthy that the Farida Odangi-led committee had strict instructions from Abuja not to declare or announce the final results of the primaries in Benin, a decision that elicited suspicion over the motive for the cancellation/ rescheduling of the elections in the state.

Analysts believe that the battle for the soul of the party in Edo by Oshiomhole is behind the series of crises in the state’s chapter of the party, and the resulting tension that is yet to abate.

Oshiomhole’s leadership style leaves so much to be desired when juxtaposed with that of his predecessor, who was a decent, civilised and diplomatic leader. Chief John Odigie Oyegun brought on board, tact, experience and was alive to the sensibilities and viewpoints of all APC members. His leadership gave freedom to state chapters to operate within the ambit of the law, a condition which Oshiomhole enjoyed for eight years as Governor as against the stifling of the state chapters over which he has superintended in the last four months.

The refusal of the controversial Farida Odangi-led committee to declare results in Edo State led to a tale of woes as aspirants who won in the field in the 18 Local Government Area (LGAs) were substituted with various names at the discretion of the national chairman.

Hon. Damian Lawani of Etsako Central was replaced with Mr Ahmed Waziri; Hon. Kabiru Adjoto was replaced with Hon. Peter Akpatason; Hon. Emma Agbaje was replaced with Dele Oloruntoba, Hon. Justin Okonobo with Ephraim Aliovboese, Hon. Festus Edughele with Sunny Ojiezele, Hon. Ojo Asein with Mr Ohio PeterEzomo and attempt was made to also substitute Hon Osaigbovo Iyoha with Hon. Osaro Obaze, who never contested in the first place.

This is an action a human rights activist based in Benin described as a rape on democracy and the peoples’ will.

One thing that is instructive in the whole Oshiomhole-orchestrated mess is that the Edo APC was proactive, took the right steps to save the face of the national leadership of the party to avoid the now popular Zamfara APC ill-fated scenario where for the first time since 1999, PDP may have a field day in a whole state without a fight from the ruling party.

While Edo State chapter of the APC has tried to manage the situation with equanimity because of the respect the leadership has for the national chairman of the party by calming frayed nerves even though some of the outright cases of “mandate stealing” have been taken to court by the aggrieved contestants, the situation is not the same in other states like Kaduna, Imo, Niger, Lagos, Ogun, Delta, Cross Rivers, Rivers, Bauchi, Zamfara and Ondo where there has been serious allegations of high handedness, manipulation of results, imposition of candidates, issuance of automatic tickets, personal vendetta, declarations of fake results and recklessness of panels set up

by the national leadership of the party.

According to a source in the national secretariat of the party, some panel chairmen were constantly in touch with the national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, on the phone to take instructions on who to declare as the winner.

The same thing was observed in Edo State wherein the panel chairman Hajiya Farida Odangi was always on the phone with Oshiomhole and shouting ‘Yes sir,’ ‘No sir,’ ‘OK sir,’ ‘Thank you sir.’

The scenario has been described as highly shameful and unbecoming of a chairman, who has been sent to conduct an election on behalf of a ruling party in Nigeria.

The outcomes have been open protests and demonstrations at the national secretariat of the APC in Abuja and in some cases, open confrontation between panel members while some aggrieved persons have gotten court judgements against the NWC and the party. There was a particular case of a result in Imo State which the national chairman described as jankara market result but later turned around to accept the same result.

Remember the Lagos State melodrama. While the panel chairman, Dr Clement Ebri was addressing a press conference rescheduling the primaries that were ongoing, he was overruled by the national chairman, yet the result of the annulled elections were accepted, which produced the gubernatorial candidate of the Lagos State APC. According to a member of the National Working Committee of the party in the APC Secretariat, “we predicted that these kinds of outcomes will play out at some point, a situation wherein the national chairman constituted panels to conduct primaries, consisting of personal staff, cousins, other relatives and people without political address and pedigree. You should not expect a different or credible outcome.”

He added, “For instance, when we served under the former national chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, you will see credible names like former governors, former ministers, former ambassadors, political chieftains, ex-commissioners, industry captains and former senators been sent out to conduct primaries across the country, but this was not the case this time around as everything revolved around the national chairman and most of the panellists were from a particular part of Nigeria, a scenario that does not augur well for the party.”

Oshiomhole is a bull in a China shop. He lacks the political maturity and experience to provide the kind of leadership the APC needs at this time.

The 2019 general elections are too important to be left to chance and in the hands of a rabble-rouser, more so, with a reinvigorated PDP that has Atiku Ababakar as its presidential candidate. The time to ease Oshiomhole out of office as national chairman is now.

The Nigerian project as enunciated by the APC and being driven

by President Buhari is too delicate to be exposed to the risks posed

by Oshiomhole’s indiscretion, recklessness and injudiciousness.

–––Mrs Justina Azughala is a freelance journalist based in Abuja

ARTS & REVIEW A

PUBLICATION

28.10.2018

Soji Cole, centre, winner of The Nigeria Literature Prize 2018

A LITERARY PRIZE OF RESILIENCE EDITOR OKECHUKWU UWAEZUOKE/ okechukwu.uwaezuoke@thisdaylive.com

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OCTO ͰͶ˜ ͰͮͯͶ ˾ THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

ARTS & REVIEW\\THE NIGERIA LITERATURE PRIZE

L-R: Winners for The Nigeria Science Prize Peter Ngene, The Nigeria Literature Prize Soji Cole and The Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism Isidore Diala

ALITERARYPRIZEOFRESILIENCE

The Nigeria LNG’s return to the awards presentation dinner format for The Nigeria Literature Prize is a great step towards restoring the prize to its glory, says Okechukwu Uwaezuoke

T

hat was good thinking, Nigeria LNG! The annual awards night and dinner just needed to be brought back!

Years after substituting the colourful event with a rather subdued and frugal world press conference, it is gratifying that the organisers had a timely rethink.

After all, the three prizes – The Nigeria Prize for Literature, The Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism and The Nigeria Prize for Science – which are arguably among the world’s most prestigious, deserve all the pomp swirling around them. Even just for consistently awarding $100,000 annually for each of the prizes since 2011, the organisers should be commended.

For the Lagos literati especially, that Friday, October 19 evening at the Victoria Island-based Eko Hotel and Suites’ Convention Hall was akin to a return to the literary prize’s good old days. Hence, that evening was appropriately shrouded in a festive ambience. And this was just when many had feared that its glamour was beginning to bubble away.

After the announcement of the science and literary criticism prize winners, all eyes were turned to the three shortlisted literary prize contenders: Denja Abdullahi (with the entry, Death and the King’s Grey Hair), Soji Cole (with the entry, Embers) and Akanji Nasiru (with the entry, The Rally). It is no longer news that Soji Cole was announced the winner of this year’s prize, which focused on drama, after an unnecessarily lengthy, suspense-filled speech by the advisory board chairman of The Nigeria Literature Prize, Professor Ayo Banjo. Prior to that announcement, drama skits from the three shortlisted entries were staged even when they left the audience none the wiser as to who would eventually clinch the prize.

Of course, it helps to recall that the prize, which was first awarded in 2004, alternately beams its spotlight annually on the four literary genres: prose fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature.

The Nigeria Literature Prize has not always been worth $100,000. It had first started with a winner-takes-all $20000 prize in 2004, which sent a pack of literary wannabes snapping at its heels. But that year, no one was deemed worthy of the prize. The following year, which focused on poetry, saw the prize split between two

contenders: Professor Ezenwa Ohaeto and Dr Gabriel Okara.

When the spotlight shifted to drama in 2006, the winner Dr Ahmed Yerima was awarded $30000 for his entry Hard Ground. The following year, thus prize money was split between the two winners Professor Akachi AdimoraEzeigbo and Mabel Segun for their respective children’s literature entries My Cousin Sammy and Readers’ Theatre: Twelve Plays for Young People.

By 2008, when the prize money had been

upped to $50,000, the spotlight had returned to prose fiction. Hence, Kaine Agary became the prize’s first ever winner of that category with her entry, Yellow Yellow. After another no-winner year, 2009, the prize produced its first ever posthumous and diaspora-based winner Dr Esiaba Irobi with the entry Cemetery Road.

It was in 2011 that the prize’s value first hit the $100,000-mark and has since remained the same till date. That year, which focused on children’s literature, the prize was awarded to Adeleke Adeyemi, who wrote under the pseudonym Mai Nasara, for his entry The Missing Clock.

The next year, when the prize entered its third cycle with prose fiction, another diaspora-based writer Dr Chika Unigwe emerged the overall winner with the entry On Black Sisters’ Street. Tade Ipadeola won the prize in 2013, when the spotlight was beamed on poetry, with his entry The Sahara Testaments while Professor Sam Ukala clinched the prize in 2014, when the focus was on drama, with his entry Iredi War. The year 2015, which focused on children’s literature, was yet another no-winner year for the prize. Not only were the entries that year not deemed good enough, they were also criticised for not being suitable for children.

Moving on to the fourth cycle in 2016 with the spotlight once more on prose fiction, the prize was won by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim for his entry Season of Crimson Blossoms. Last year, which was 2017, was won by Ikeogu Oke, whose entry, The Heresiad beat the shortlisted works of two more-renowned other poets. The literary criticism prize, which was introduced only in 2014, has only been won twice since its inception. The winner, Professor Isidore Diala, clinched both the inaugural edition and this year’s

edition while the intervening years produced no winners.

The literary prize’s no-winner announcements have always stirred the hornet’s nest of controversies in the local literary community.

When the maiden edition first returned a no-winner verdict, some industry wiseacres alleged that the Nigeria LNG was merely tantalising the local literati with the prize.

Then, the fact that the prize was initially exclusively designed for the locally-based Nigerian authors raised many hackles among the literati. “Ghetto Prize!” some of the disgruntled writers called the prize.

But, soon after the prize was opened to all Nigerians home and abroad, the critics fell over themselves to participate. Indeed the 2009 edition, which was the second time when the prize produced no winner, featured some enthusiastic participants from the diaspora in its initial shortlist. So, the wave of resentment that swept through the ranks of these contenders for the prize, after their entries were deemed unsuitable, was quite understandable. Now and again, some disgruntled literary poobahs would take potshots at the prize for one thing or another. It is either the winning entries are not available on platforms like Amazon or the prize itself has not cloned known international literary prizes enough.

Curiously, no literary prize has hitherto so generously rewarded Nigerian writers like The Nigeria Literature Prize. Before it came into the picture, a few literary prizes were struggling to reward writers with token modest cash prizes. Even decades after its inception, it has remained one of the most financially-rewarding literary prizes in the continent. In his keynote address, the Nigeria LNG’s managing director, Tony Attah, rightly “observed that for decades, Nigerian writers had collectively bemoaned the fate of the literary industry. They were unhappy with the declining levels of education and literacy, unhappy with the loss of a reading culture, and for good reasons, sad that writing and publishing in a nation that gave the African continent its first crop of literary giants had all but become lost art.” But, even after eulogising the prize’s contributions to the literary industry, he still acknowledged “that more can still be done and should be done with a sense of ‘fierce urgency’ and now.”

Meanwhile, even as critics continue their nitpicking treatises, the literary prize has remained resilient in spite of all odds.

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CICERO

Editor:Olawale Olaleye Email:wale.olaleye@thisdaylive.com, SMS: 08116759819

IN THE ARENA

Of Presidential Orders and Enforcement President Muhammadu Buhari only give orders backed by no force, writes Olawale Olaleye

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resident Muhammadu Buhari recently gave the Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) a marching order to dislodge Senate President Bukola Saraki from Kwara State in 2019. Buhari, reports said, issued the said order during a closed-door meeting with leaders of Kwara APC in the State House, including its governorship candidate, Mr. Abdulrahman Abdulrazak.

As if charged by Buhari’s prodding, Abdulrazaq too boasted that the era of Saraki’s dominance in Kwara politics was over, adding that “Kwara has become a battleground and as you can see, we have come here to see Mr. President, having gone through a hectic process of primaries. We went through direct primaries, in which about a 100,000 party faithful voted.

Addressing State House correspondents, he added: “We had our difficulties but we have come to see the president to tell him that all is well and we are in unison and he has given us marching orders to go and take Kwara. He (Saraki) is history; we have gone past him and we are looking at the Government House.”

Ironically, Buhari’s orders these days, apart from the now-vanished body language harassment at the inception of his government, are no less insipid.

It is becoming the joke of the new political age that when the Nigerian president gives an order, people go ahead and do that which they reckoned was the best and in whatever interest. It does not have to be of collective concern.

Some months back, in the light of the New Year killings in Benue State, which claimed about 73 lives, President Muhammadu Buhari, had reportedly given an order to the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris to relocate to the Buhari...for how long shall this go on state and address the security chalsubliminal message to the president when he told lenge in that part of the country. some ministers that he would not condone disreIdris though went to the state, however, left on spect of his office if the president did, a statement the same day. And when the president eventually believed to have been received by Aso Rock with so came to the state and was told his order was not much disdain and disappointment. obeyed by the IG, he merely expressed shock and it But since the culture is that of silence, he seemed ended there. It was bad enough that the IG boasted to have gotten away with it without even realising nothing would happen and nothing indeed hapthe import of what he said. It was not surprising, pened. therefore, when the APC party primary crisis Talk about the current crisis rocking the APC in started and the president allegedly spoke to him many states, post the party primaries, truth is that altogether for about 11 times, giving direct order the APC is fast becoming a shadow of itself simply, and he did nothing. because not only is the National Chairman of the It is also the same presidential disposition that APC, Adams Oshiomhole, causing so many probhas informed why those under him carry out many lems, he has refused to carry out direct instructions actions in the guise that it was the president that handed him by the president on how to address ordered such actions and yet no one dares to quessome of the challenges. tion or verify the claims.

Ironically, here was Oshiomhole, who immediThe recent siege laid on the National Assembly ately on assuming office sent a very humiliating but and which led to the sack of the former Director-

General of the Department of State Service (DSS), Lawal Daura, is a case in sight. Many of such highlevel decisions had been taken in the name of the president and yet, those who take these decisions go scot-free, the same way those who disobey the president bear to sanctions.

Beyond the joke of the direct order to take over Kwara from Saraki is the need to review the presidential institution as currently constituted and breathe life into it. The goings-on in that corridor are a proof of the assertion that there is a government inside this government and that a certain group of people otherwise referred to as the cabal appears to hold this country hostage and helplessly so.

Therefore, it is not enough to give orders in the name of being president, what is more, important is living the orders and putting force to the powers that the office is endowed with.

P O L I T I CA L N OT E S

Shehu Sani’s Poor Treatment

A Sani

fter all said and done, Senator Shehu Sani representing Kaduna Central has left the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) after failed attempts to legitimately earn his return ticket to the Senate. Sani, who reneged from an initial plan to defect to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following pressure and understanding that he would earn his ticket to the Senate.

Unfortunately, for him, having gone back and forth over the same issue, the national leadership of his party,

eventually recognized his opponent, Ubah Sani, believed to be the candidate of Governor Nasir el-Rufai, as a counterforce to Shehu Sani, who had more or less become a thorn in the flesh of the governor.

To think that Shehu Sani was reported to have genuinely won the primary and was still denied the ticket speaks legitimately to the irredeemable contradictions that rule supreme in APC. Even more disturbing, however, is the fact that when loyalty is rewarded with sanctions and betrayal, what follows is crude vengeance, the type that is expected to character next year’s election. We’d wait to see.

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BRIEFINGNOTES Oshiomhole: When the Hunter Becomes the Hunted Four months in office as National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole has exposed his inability to manage a national portfolio, writes Onyebuchi Ezigbo

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he emergence of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) came with a lot of hope for the reunification of the party. He’d emerged chairman at a time the party was faced with a crisis of confidence and a looming threat of disintegration arising from the nationwide

congresses.

Therefore, APC needed a man, who could rally all the conflicting interests and many leaders of the party believed Oshiomhole was a very capable man for the job. To further show the level of trust and confidence he enjoyed amongst the party members, Oshiomhole was elected unopposed after other contenders stepped down for him.

After his election, however, Oshiomhole went about his assignment in a business-like manner. One of his first tasks was to address the conflict arising from the nationwide congresses organised by his predecessor, Chief John Odigie Oyegun. There were parallel congresses in many state chapters of the APC, leading to factional state executives.

Immediately Oshiomhole assumed office, he ordered fresh congresses in some of these states, especially where he felt that perceived “enemies” of the new party leadership were in control.

In the process of changing the state executives and installing new ones, court orders were ignored and in some cases, those charged with the responsibility of conducting the congresses connived with a faction of the party in the states and excluded others. The result was that rather than resolving the differences in most of these states, the party ended inflaming it.

Another major challenge that the Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee had to contend with after taking over office was the looming discontent among some of the key entities that formed the party.

Before the national convention that brought him to the office, one of the identifiable powerful blocs in the APC, known then as the new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), had complained bitterly of marginalisation in the scheme of things, both by the party and the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

Their expectation was that their grievances would look into the issues and dispassionately addressed by the incoming leadership of the party. But while the group was in negotiations with a peace committee led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the party was said to have gone ahead with fresh congresses and the swearing-in of new state executives.

The aggrieved group, which had personalities like the Senate President Bukola Saraki and the Speaker Yakubu Dogara within its ranks later metamorphosed into a faction called the reformed All Progressives Congress (rAPC).

They gave ultimatum to the party to mend fences with them or they would pull out but the leadership of the party felt their demands were largely out of place or so it seemed, because no serious attempt was made to negotiate the issues laid on the table except for the late rally by Oshiomhole, when it was obvious that Saraki and Dogara were about to lead a revolt with the aggrieved group. In the end, Saraki, Dogara, Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, Kwara State Governor, Abdul Fatah Ahmed and Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, all left with other key members of the APC to join the opposition PDP. The reaction of Oshiomhole to the exit of Saraki and other leaders of nPDP was that of contempt and disdain.

He went on to attack the integrity of members of the rAPC, describing them as fair-weather politicians, whose electoral value has been eroded with time. The APC national chairman said Saraki and others were birds of the same feather that had gone back to their former party, where they belong.

The attack on Saraki and Dogara did not cease as Oshiomhole went on to threaten that they would be forced to quit their positions in the Senate and House of Representatives.

Oshiomohle said the party would follow due process to impeach Senate President, Bukola Saraki. According to the former Edo State

Oshiomhole governor, there was no way Saraki would continue to hold on to his position as Senate President, adding that he (Saraki) would be impeached according to the law.

Oshiomohle also vowed that the leadership of APC would work hard to ensure that Senator Saraki was defeated even in his senatorial election in Kwara in the 2019 election. The party maintained the tempo insisting that it can muster majority votes to unseat the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

But things started to fall apart when the APC National Assembly members requested an automatic ticket for reelection from the party as a reward for accepting to go against the Senate president and the Speaker. Oshiomhole could not easily grant their demand and from that moment, the table began to turn until the issue of the change of the National Assembly became a failed project.

The boastful Comrade had his ego tamed. Perhaps, the most challenging experience the Oshiomhole-led NWC has had so far was the recently concluded party primaries.

No fewer than 15 of the aggrieved APC governors are pushing for an emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee NEC, where far-reaching decisions would be taken. Oshiomhole who is used to talking tough appeared to have mellowed down following pressures and attacks from several quarters.

He has started fighting back for survival and rallying loyalists in an effort to shore his battered image. Oshiomhole was also said to have been pointing fingers in the direction of the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu and four governors as being the arrowhead in the alleged plot to pass a vote of no confidence on the

national chairman.

Akeredolu was said to be working with the assistance of Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State; Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Abdul-Aziz Yari of Zamfara and Mohammed Bindow of Adamawa State to remove Oshiomhole from office.

Another critic of the Oshiomhole’s handling of the affairs of the party is the Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, who recently accused him of impunity.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Okechukwu alleged that the Primary Election Appeal panel constituted by Oshiomhole was made up of his cronies from Edo State. He said Oshiohmole, by his actions, is guilty of impunity, circumvention of due process and disrespect to the party.

The situation at the movement seems to have sobered the once tough-talking former Edo governor as he is said to be reaching out to some leaders of the party, including former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu and other friendly governors to help mediate with the aggrieved stakeholders.

Also, as a follow-up to the directive to the party leadership by President Muhammadu Buhari to try and resolve all primary election disputes, Oshiomhole has agreed to set up a reconciliation committee to help assuage the feelings of those, who are genuinely aggrieved over the recent primaries.

It is not certain yet how far this would go in undoing the damage Oshiomhole has consciously done to the party, what is however sure is that the party is on the precipice and only a deft political move and or solution can stem the tide of what is to come.

NOTES FOR FILE

Police’s Growing Incivility A recent report about the maltreatment of a human rights activist and Director General of a non-governmental organisation, Behind Bars Initiative (BBI), a platform which provides free legal service to prisoners and victims of human rights abuse, Harrison Gwamnishu by the police for allegedly causing the transfer of a Divisional Police Officer, CSP Eyoh Anietie is to say the least, disheartening.

Gwamnishu was arrested by the police from the C Division, Head Bridge, Asaba, Delta State. But while members of his group claimed Gwamnishu was a victim of persecution, the state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Mustapha, said he assaulted the Divisional

Idris, IGP

Police Officer, C Division, Anietie. But the 29-year-old was seen recently crying out for help from a police cell in a video went viral as members of his group alleged that he was being brutalised.

Whatever it is, to arrest a man and haul him behind bars for days without any form of trial is the biggest rights abuse that any decent nation can condone. It is not enough that Delta State police commission has come up with a “why”, what is enough is that this whole embarrassment should be investigated, including the abuse of right and the appropriate punishment meted out to those who have glaringly failed the law.

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The Case For Dapo Abiodun Bayo Sorunmu

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ince the key issues surrounding the just-concluded Ogun state party primary elections of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are still clearly in the public domain, all that needs to be done here as a preface to this piece, is a quick summary of the details that led to the emergence of Prince Dapo Abiodun as the party’s flag bearer in the 2019 elections.

On the night of Wednesday, October 3, 2018, the eight-member Electoral Panel of the party’s National Working Committee, led by Mr. Muhammed Indabawa, a retired Commissioner of Police, with a distinguished and unblemished record of service, declared Prince Dapo Abiodun as the winner of the APC gubernatorial primaries, “having polled the highest number of votes in a freely and fairly contested direct primary elections�. Evidently, Dapo Abiodun had polled 102,305 votes as against the following votes by his fellow contestants: Jimi Lawal (51,153), Otunba Bimbo Ashiru (29,764), Hon. Adekunle Akinlade (23,443), Senator Gbenga Kaka (17,771) and Hon. Abayomi Hunye (9,610).

The day before the announcement of the Indabawa-led Panel, the Chairman of the APC in Ogun state, Chief Derin Adebiyi addressed journalists at the party’s secretariat in Abeokuta and announced that their candidate, Hon. Adekunle Akinlade had emerged as the consensus candidate of the party, following the decision of the Yewa Elder’s Council and their own conducted ‘direct’ primaries!

Following the announcement of Chief Adebiyi, the party’s National Working Committee reissued its earlier statement, affirming that Dapo Abiodun, and not Mr. Akinlade was the official and declared winner as the Ogun State Conducted primaries was illegal. Indeed, the national leaders of the party including President Muhammadu Buhari, convened series of meetings to appeal to Governor Amosun to accept and recognise the legitimate winner of the only legitimate elections held in Ogun State in the person of Dapo Abiodun, to no avail.

Abiodun Apparently, Mr. Akinlade was the Governor’s preferred candidate for the job and had, it turned out, been paraded by the Governor, for months before the elections as his natural successor. Consumed, it seemed, by hubris, the Governor had gleefully introduced Mr. Akinlade at public functions and even went to the extent of introducing him to the Chinese contractors working in the state as the ‘next Governor’ of the state in clear violation of the basic tenets of the democratic process. And to the outrage of party leaders, the Governor had without consultations with either party leaders or the rank and file of its members, single-handedly picked a deputy for Mr. Akinlade and all the other 38 candidates for electoral office in the state. Clearly, the stage was set for a show-down, which naturally, ensued, once the Governor’s preferred candidate failed in an election that was adjudged free and fair.

But unknown to the Governor, while he was busy introducing his preferred candidate as his successor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, who had long decided to also run for Governor, had clearly commenced an exercise that would pave his way for victory at the primaries. Armed with the party register of card-carrying members and with the acute knowledge that in a possible future direct primary election, numbers would be crucial, he embarked on a registration exercise of members that would add over 50,000 new names to the party’s register of voters. This registration exercise brought him not only in very close contact with the grassroots leadership of the party, but also with poor, ordinary voters who were to determine the outcome of the primaries.

Dapo Abiodun’s penetration into the party’s working details which was something of a masterstroke was achieved without a whimper and appeared to have caught the Governor and the party leadership completely unawares. In retrospect, now, that strategy paid off handsomely. It is safe to assume that this explains, in part, the wide jubilation that greeted his success at the primary elections.

Unfortunately, in all of these arguments, very few persons have really raised the questions that ought to occupy our minds, namely, the suitability or otherwise of these candidates for the office of Governor. Many have not bothered to look deeply into the credentials of each of these candidates, their backgrounds, their antecedents and even their programmes. Who really are these candidates? What do they have to offer as Governors?

Even the teeming supporters of Dapo Abiodun, who are partly endeared to him because of his perceived wealth and considerable resources, miss the key points of his enormous strength over practically all other candidates. Without question, it can safely be argued that not since Chief Bisi Onabanjo has

anyone come better prepared and equipped for the office of Governor of our state, since the state was created in 1976, than Dapo Abiodun. A man of considerable background in Engineering and Accounting, Dapo Abiodun, who was born to Dr & Mrs. Emmanuel Abiodun from Iperu-Remo on May 29, 1960, is one of the largest indigenous players in the downstream, mid-stream and upstream oil and gas industries in our country. Through his several companies, among them, Heyden Petroleum Limited and First Power Ltd, he has provided direct employment to some 10,000 Nigerians and another 25,000, indirectly.

Dapo has also served as a member of various Presidential Committees and organisations, including the Presidential Think Tank in 2001; appointed Chairman, Oil and Gas Committee, Ogun State in 2009, Chairman, Depot and Petroleum Product Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) in 2012 and later, Chairman, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in 2018. In July of this year, the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti at its 23rd Convocation ceremony, deservedly conferred him with a Degree of Doctor of Finance, honoris causa. When Dapo Abiodun was first elected to the Nigerian Senate on the platform of the defunct United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) in 1992, he was only 33, the youngest Nigerian ever to be so elected. It is also instructive that as a Senatorial candidate on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2014, he single-handedly provided the seed funds needed to purchase a 33KVA Power Line for Ogun state waterside communities, which had been without power supply for years. Undeniably, Dapo has acquired considerable experience and discipline from his entrepreneurial ventures in ways that fully equip him for the complex challenges of public office.

But Dapo Abiodun’s most formidable asset, one that puts him head and shoulders above his fellow candidates for the job of Governor of Ogun state is his sound articulation of his programmes for the people. Speaking recently with a group of journalists about his “masses-oriented programmes,� that would add value to the lives of “the masses of our people,�

Dapo Abiodun has vowed “to open up rural roads so that our farmers can get their farm products to the market in good time in ways that would adequately link our towns and rural communities in the state�. Snippets of his soon-to-be-realised manifesto betrays a clear vision of how he intends to tackle the endemic problems of unemployment and wealth generation, through the deployment of Farm Ranches as part of a massive

revolutionary Agricultural programme in a manner reminiscent of the days of the old western region, under Chief Obafemi Awolowo. His proposed empowerment schemes, which would be owned, driven and run by young entrepreneurs and medium-scale farmers, are remarkable for their innovation and vision. His promise to commit huge amount of resources to Education and Healthcare point to an unprecedented new dawn for the state. His professed desire to engage in genuine quarterly Town Hall meetings for all the people once he becomes Governor (as distinct from cozy briefings with only party faithfuls) tells you where his heart is in relation to the masses of our people, their needs and their hopes. Essentially, Dapo Abiodun is a gifted man who would do us proud as Governor of our state.

By contrast, our party leadership’s purported candidate, Mr. Akinlade, is something of a political light-weight.

Bereft of concrete ideas, his only claim to any knowledge at administration and governance is a controversial stint as Governor Amosun’s Taxation Adviser and now, as a first-term member of the Legislature. Nowhere is he known to have articulated his vision for the state, either in writing or in public. Even his presentation as an appropriate representative of the people of Yewa is somewhat, defective. While he is truly from Yewa, the fact that he comes from the Ipokia local government area, on the border with Benin Republic, makes him a minority within a minority.

In writing this, I do not, as a prominent indigene of the state and a card-carrying member of the party, claim to speak for all our people on the suitability of Dapo Abiodun for the office of Governor. But if the jubilation that greeted Dapo Abiodun’s choice, one that cut across religion, class, ethnic divide and creed is anything to go by, then, we have the best going for us, not just in the party, but also in our state.

And as someone who is close to royalty, I know that behind the hallowed palace walls of Ijebuland, Remoland and even Egbaland, there is unconcealed jubilation about the future that Dapo Abiodun’s tenure portends as Governor.

The only persons who have refused to see this are the State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun and a minor disgruntled section of the party leadership in the state. Unable to lose gracefully, the Governor has got himself mired in very undignified arguments about the imagined conspiracy contained in the silence of the erstwhile Governor of the state, Chief Olusegun Osoba and that of the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu! Even more psychologically baffling is the Governor’s persistent assertion that on May 29, 2019, he would hand over power to Mr. Akinlade whose name would now not be on the ballot for the elections!!

In a state that prides itself as being politically advanced, these delusional antics by a departing state Governor wanting to impose his lackey for high political office are unheard of on this scale. Even in the face of the massive support of some 276 state Councillors in the state, Governor Amosun continues to sponsor daily protests across the state to achieve a bogus purpose. Many of these ‘rented’ protesters now see this as their opportunity to collect their share of government largesse.

For some strange reason, the Ogun party leadership is in denial and refuses to understand that it has lost out in this intra-party squabble. The party leadership should wake up and smell the coffee! It’s a new day in Ogun state, a day when, in the words of the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, “power must flow from the people when it comes to popular elections,� and not from an entrenched, powerful few. The party leadership must also understand that old American saying: ‘when you are in a hole, stop digging’!! This is the time to stop digging and for the party leadership to rally round the recognised candidate of the party to ensure victory.

In ending, I should add that the issue at stake here is not merely or only to ensure that Dapo Abiodun becomes Governor. Ironically, it is also about Governor Amosun’s own legacy and how to secure that legacy. Because, in fairness, Governor Amosun recorded some achievements in places, especially in the area of infrastructure, even if most of that was skewed in favour of certain sections of the state. But there is a legacy all the same. More than anyone else, Governor Amosun has a responsibility to protect that legacy so that it can also be said of him tomorrow that he did his best when it mattered the most. –––Chief Bayo Sorunmu, writes from Otta, Ogun State.

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Ogun APC and Issa-Onilu’s Barefaced Lies ËŞĂ? Ă‹Ă?ĂžĂ“Ă˜Ă‘ Ă‹ĂžĂ“Ă™Ă˜Ă‹Ă– Ă&#x;ĂŒĂ–Ă“Ă?ÓÞã Ă?Ă?ĂœĂ?ĂžĂ‹ĂœĂŁËœ Ă‹Ă˜ĂœĂ? Ă?Ă?Ă‹Ě‹ Ă˜Ă“Ă–Ă&#x; Ă“Ă? Ă‹ Ă—Ă‹Ă˜ åÓÞÒÙĂ&#x;Ăž Ă’Ă™Ă˜Ă™Ă&#x;ĂœËœ ĂĄĂœĂ“ĂžĂ?Ă? Gbemi Atunrase

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r. Lanre Issa-Onilu, the Acting Publicity Secretary of the APC, spoke recently on the controversy trailing the contentious primaries of the party in Ogun State and unfortunately, did a rather awful job for his paymasters. His very unintelligent narrative represented nothing but sheer lies designed to further confuse discerning members of the public on the poorly executed fraud that is being presented as fact in the state.

If I recall vividly, Issa-Onilu had not become the Publicity Secretary of the party, when the primaries took place. This is why his cheap but obviously paid for account of what transpired was shocking because it was obviously downloaded to him by those who designed and prosecuted the fraud they desperately seek to impose on Ogun State.

Even when some members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party sent to the state to deliver the fraud came out to raise the alarm on the assignment handed them and were consequently expelled for not playing ball, Issa-Onilu still lacked the decency to uphold the truth.

In fact, I have it on good authority that one of those behind this evil, a former governor of the state recently confided in the Managing Director of a major agency in the country that there was actually no primary but that they merely cornered the NWC members, induced them and wrote the result for them hence the announcement was done in Lagos.

So, what nonsense is Issa-Onilu saying? Perhaps, he has been given his deserving share of the booty that has been flying around in hard currency and that has affected his reasoning.

For the umpteenth time, there were no gubernatorial primaries in Ogun State other than the one held on October 2, that produced Hon. Adekunle Akinlade as the governorship candidate of the APC. The attempt by Issa-Onilu to confuse these issues only belittles him at his level and exposes his lack of honour.

The guidelines of the party were clear on the roles of the state party executive and the NWC committee on the conduct of primaries. The claim of a court injunction restraining Ogun State executive committee from participating in the conduct of the primaries is a fabrication to defraud the people of the state.

Which court gave the injunction and when? Who are the parties in the case? If at all there was, did the national secretariat bring it to the attention of the state executive council of the party? Was the injunction given at a weekend or on the public holiday of October 1, because the national secretariat engaged the state executive of the party on the primaries all through the weekend, leading to the October 2 primary elections?

Where did the primaries that produced Dapo Abiodun hold? The primaries were to hold on October 1.

When it did not hold, the state government extended the school holiday of October 1 by one day so that school premises that were the designated venues for the primaries would be available. The venues were used for the primaries on October 2 and the schools resumed on October 3. So, where did the Dapo Abiodun primaries hold?

Truth is that while the video footage of the October 2 primaries in all the 236 wards in the state had been put in public domain, the Dapo Abiodun primary remains only in the imagination of these fraudulent characters, who are only striving hard to annex the state and put in their stinking pockets.

Again, I ask, where did Dapo Abiodun cast his vote? Where did Chief Segun Osoba vote? It is instructive that when this question was put to Mr. Segun Adesegun, who claimed there were such primaries on a national television network programme, he could not even mention a venue, where their rather conjured primaries took place.

There are 236 wards in Ogun State and only 12 election committee members were sent in from Abuja. Did 12 panel members conduct primaries simultaneously in 236 wards? Did the panel assemble a local election committee as provided by the party guidelines without the knowledge and input of the governor and the state, local government and ward executives of the party?

Issa-Onilu claimed that Governor Ibikunle Amosun resorted to self-help and as such, the non-recognition of the October 2 primaries. That was the dumbest thing a person holding such office could utter. But the question to ask him is whether the declaration of result by the Chairman of panel in the same exercise in Lagos State different from what happened in Ogun State.

Akinlade Besides, where and when did the one whose result was announced in a hotel room in Lagos hold? If the gubernatorial primaries were cancelled, because of the allegation made by Issa-Onilu, what was responsible for the tampering with the outcome of the National Assembly and State Assembly primaries conducted by the panel set up by the National Working Committee led by Col. Ali Ciroma?

Oshiomole removed four of the nine winners of the primaries and replaced them with candidates of Osoba and Abiodun. Was the election conducted by the NWC panel also rejected, because of self-help?

The imbroglio over the primaries of Ogun State has brought to the fore the danger APC faces in the hands of Oshiomole and few members of the NWC like Issa-Onilu, who are in cahoots with him and doing very nasty job that is meant to lead the party to the Golgotha.

If they must know, the people of Ogun State are too enlightened and sophisticated to allow cheap and willing tools in the national secretariat like Oshiomhole and Issa-Onilu to hand over their state

to some expansionist adventurers, who are in desperate search for additional territories for their insatiable economic exploitation and unbridled political misadventure.

That a man like Issa-Onilu, who struggled to be where he is today after being publicly humiliated at the party’s convention by Malam Bolaji Abdulai, a decent fellow, who genuinely won the seat before defecting with his boss to another party, would start a rather fragile career this way, then, we needn’t tell him that his future here is simply predictable. Men like him don’t go far.

Who wants to continue to raise a bunch of liars without scruples – a man who would cringe at the cheapest offer? If he finds it hard to exhibit integrity and the guts demanding of his job, there is no doubting the fact that the APC has made yet another wrong choice in the appointment of a spokesperson, just like it did with Oshiomhole, a man everyone now knows crystal clearly is working for the opposition. –––Atunrase wrote from Isabo, Abeokuta, Ogun State

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CICERO/ONTHEWATCH

Abiodun

Akinlade

Wait a Minute, Hasn’t Ogun Been Here Before?

With the web of intrigues currently dotting the political space in Ogun State, it appears the state has been here before, writes Olaseni Durojaiye

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istory may be about to repeat itself in Ogun State going by the web of intrigues and the survivaist desperation playing out within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

As it stands, two major camps within the party are engaged in a fierce supremacy contest, the like that could result in an implosion and soon.

The current crisis in the state assumed a full blown circle immediately after the governorship primaries of the party, although it actually started long before then.

It started when Governor Ibikunle Amosun embraced the option of consensus for the party primary, more so, his insistence that his successor must emerge from Ogun West senatorial district in the state.

His argument was premised on the fact that the zone was yet to produce a civilian governor in its 40 years of creation. Thus, in furtherance of that agenda, Amosun, in consultation with leaders of the party in the state, settled for a current member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Adekunle Akinlade. In addition, he had also come up with a list of candidates for other offices.

The list, which was presented to the state party executive committee and other stakeholders being a product of consensus arrangement, was however opposed by some fringe members, who alleged blue murder because according to them, the list was populated by the governor’s loyalists.

Although as the leader of the party in the state, Governor Amosun already has the party structure under his firm control, pundits, therefore, see the unsavoury fallout of the governorship primary as an attempt to wrest a sizeable per cent control of the party structure in the state from the governor.

As a result, the consensus arrangement was ditched by the National Working Committee (NWC). The body also reeled off guidelines and insisted that open ballot election must hold, terms the governor and his group agreed to.

But the internal contradictions manifested fully after two parallel governorship primaries reportedly held in the state on the same day. Interestingly, the committee set up for the purpose of the election and headed by Muhammed Ndabawa, declared businessman Dapo Abiodun winner of the exercise. But in the governor’s group, chairman of the party in the state, Chief Derin Adebiyi declared Akinlade as its candidate.

Curiously, while the Akinlade result was announced in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, where the primary election held, results involving Abiodun were announced at a popular hotel in Lagos. Besides, INEC officials were said to have monitored that of Akinlade as a prerequisite for the primary, no one from INEC allegedly monitored Abiodun’s.

Again, while Abiodun is believed to be backed by the quintuplet of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomole, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former governor Olusegun Osoba and a prominent billionaire from the north, Akinlade is backed by only Amosun.

And then, the NWC ratified Abiodun’s candidacy.

It would appear the matter will be put to rest after the NWC had taken a position but Amosun has refused to accept the verdict, rather he has continued to intensify efforts to upturn what he considers daylight robbery and subsequently reached out to President Muhammadu Buhari, who unfortunately appears helpless.

But Amosun’s refusal to accept the verdict by the NWC was informed by the fact that there was actually no primary by the Abiodun group, a position that was corroborated by the petitions from two other aspirants, Jimi Lawal and Gbenga Kaka. It was also the reason the president was said to be interested in the matter because while he did not want to interfere, he abhorred that injustice should be crowned.

Interestingly, the story had been sold that Amosun was no longer popular and that giving his candidate might be a judgment in error. Thus, to test that, part of the decision reached was that the state and National Assemblies elections should be redone. And to the shock of many, Amosun’s people cleared all the seats in an election that was beamed live.

At this point, the president was said to have become very angry and had spoken to Adams six times to go and declare Akinlade winner, but he has refused to obey the president’s instruction. Such disrespect is said to have disturbed the president to the point that he is no longer speaking to anyone on what he would do and has kept his plans to his chest.

But with the other slots safe with Amosun, the Abiodun group is worried stiff. They are currently pushing for some legislative seats to be conceded to them, to buffer Abiodun against easy impeachment in the eventuality that he becomes Governor since the Amosun camp holds all the legislative tickets.

The calculation in the Abiodun camp was that, given the bitter rivalry and Machiavellian nature of the Nigerian politics, with Amosun having maximum control of the state house of assembly seats, the office of the governor would be politically unsafe for Abiodun.

However, with the outcome of the national and state assembly elections, Amosun is no longer willing to concede anything to the Abiodun group. Instead, for any conversation to go on, he wants the governorship seat for his camp.

Political analysts are of the opinion that except a political solution that guarantees a sensible powersharing arrangement is arrived at and sincerely committed to by the contending forces, APC may exit the governor’s office under a similar circumstance that the incumbent governor got into office.

Even when such truce is reached, it would require an entire paradigm shift given that the gladiators in the nation’s political space always embrace the winnertakes-all mentality.

Viewed from the prism of the need for Ogun West to produce the next governor, it would appear as though the incumbent governor was fighting a just cause on behalf of the marginalised Ogun West.

However, other viewpoint countered that the agitations have been around long before now and reminded the governor it could be said that he rode on the back of the agitation to victory in 2007. But this does not cancel out the injustice that the people of Ogun West have been subjected to in the last 40 years.

Those who favoured Amosun’s cause also argued that the primary election that threw up Abiodun was a “sham.” The assertions of Samson Nwokoson, a member of the NWC’s committee set up to conduct the primary elections in the state, lent credence to the claim.

Nwokoson had claimed that it was clear to him that the committee had been instructed to return a particular aspirant. He had in an interview that went viral alleged that he was later suspended from the committee because he cautioned the committee about doing as directed by Abuja.

But findings revealed that just as it played out in Lagos when Asiwaju Tinubu deployed the party structure under his firm control to shut out supporters of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode from participating in the primary, aspirants loyal to the Abiodun group also claimed to have been shut out from the primary by the Amosun group.

At this juncture, pundits reckoned that the best way forward for the party in the state had Oshiomhole been a good leader, would have been an entirely new primary to not only produce a candidate free of allegations but show strength as being claimed by both parties as was the case with other offices.

Now, the governor is said to be determined to damn every consequence and teach those against him some lessons. Sources close to the seat of power claimed he might move to another party, a development that is already causing panic in the Abiodun camp but exciting the other because they would have an opportunity each to flex muscles.

Truth is, Amosun is not averse to sharing positions with the other group but on the condition that the governorship, which he genuinely won and which INEC observed must be returned to him. Alternatively, he would rather the primary was done all over again, which observers even believed was the best bet.

Analysts have warned on the implication of what is going on in Ogun State especially that it could rub off on other neighbouring states if not addressed on time.

They have also canvassed that the suggestion for a new primary would have been the most ideal where the two initial ones had been controversial.

It was why analysts have asked the question: why are Oshiomhole and co. afraid of a new primary if they were sure there was nothing more to upholding what many had described as a sham. Two co-contestants and two NWC members affirmed this fact. Yet, Oshiomhole thinks his position is the best.

Observers are of the view that if Amosun is allowed to leave the party, it might be difficult for APC in the state. The truth is that the comparison between now and the days of former Governor Gbenga Daniel are not the same. In 2011, Daniel was up against a sitting president. Now, Amosun is not up against Buhari.

Therefore the equation is different.

However, the earlier the party does something to the situation in the state, the better. But if they watch and Amosun leaves, it is very unlikely that the forces against him have what it takes to deliver Ogun, not when Abiodun is a ‘familiar customer’ in any political contest against a fiery member of the PDP from his part of the state, Buruji Kashamu.

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SUNDAYINTERVIEW Jaafar Jaafar

My Life is in Danger, Journalist Who Published Bribe-taking Videos of Ganduje Cries out From a safe house, Jaafar Jaafar, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Daily Nigerian speaks with Bayo Akinloye about the bribe-taking videos published by his online medium as he claims there are threats to his life. He also talks about his trip to Kano and his testimony before the investigative panel set up by the Kano State House of Assembly to probe the veracity of the videos. But he thinks President Muhammadu Buhari’s anticorruption crusade will have been a ruse if Ganduje is let off the hook at the end of the day. Excerpts:

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ow will you describe your experience before the Kano State House of Assembly panel that is investigating the video – you published on your online news platform – that shows Governor Abdullahi Ganduje receiving a bribe?

It was a superb experience. It was a test period for me because every time I see an avenue to tell the truth or at any forum I find myself to say the truth I do really enjoy such moment and opportunity presented to me. In that context, my appearing before the Kano State House of Assembly’s committee investigating the alleged bribery video of the governor (of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje) it was really a superb outing. This is because I had the opportunity to tell them (the Kano State people’s representatives) how I got the videos and to state my position that the videos are genuine. They were not doctored. They were not tampered with. They were original – nobody the videos; nobody cloned them (the images in the videos). So, I believe my appearing before the lawmakers was a great outing – it was actually great.

It appears you have a measure of faith in the Kano State lawmakers. Were they in any way hostile to you? Do you think they were interested in knowing the truth concerning

the leaked videos that portray their state governor in such scandalous light?

I see in them the genuine interest and passion to unearth the actual truth. Perhaps, if they are doing the bidding of the governor they may not have set up the committee in the first instance. And that if they are doing the bidding of the governor they would have, perhaps, shelved the sitting and just say because of security reasons they cannot hold the investigations any longer. So, I can see their doggedness; I can see their commitment towards ensuring that the truth is unravelled in this matter.

So, are you saying you believe in that investigative panel ensuring that the right thing is done at the end of its fact-finding mission? Do you think they will be able to ensure justice is carried out or that they will succumb to some pressure from ‘above’?

Yes – for now really they are not succumbing to any pressure.

Also, they are not being moved by any pressure that is mounted on them from the state government. Do you understand? If they continue to go the way they are doing like this, they will arrive at a reasonable conclusion – they will arrive at the truth which I believe they will reveal to the people of Kano State as the outcome of their investigation after engaging independent forensic experts and they have ascertained that the videos were genuine and that

the governor was actually receiving bribes in those videos.

You gave a written testimony before the panel on Thursday regarding how you obtained the videos. Can you talk about the genesis of the scandalous videos?

Contractors in Kano know all these things – if you are within their circle, you understand – they will be telling you that on every project they executed in the state you have to give between 25 percent and sometimes 30 percent commission (kickback to the state governor). So, they have been complaining (about this worrisome trend). One of the contractors, a good friend of mine, kept complaining to me (about kickbacks contractors give to the governor) because there were certain things he would be telling me but as a journalist, you know must work on hard, irrefutable facts. There are certain allegations that you won’t just take lightly.

You have to get concrete evidence that will prove your assertion.

Therefore, I told him I could not just publish a story claiming that the governor was collecting bribes without having concrete evidence. This contractor agreed with my idea to plant a spy camera on a laptop and capture the shots. After agreeing to do (and he successfully carried out the plan), he did not even tell me he had done as I suggested to him. Yes; he had been taking the shots but he was silent about that – he never told me. When he told me about them last year (2017) I mounted serious pressure on

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SUNDAY INTERVIEW ’IF GANDUJE HAD OFFERED ME THE $5M HE COLLECTED,I’D STILL HAVE PUBLISHED HIS BRIBE-TAKINGVIDEOS’ tContinuedfromPg. 76 case; they have written to the inspector general of police, commissioner of Police in Kano, director of SSS in Kano. I feel secure a bit where I am today (Friday) – preferably, I shouldn’t be in the country due to the mounting security fears. My plans were to be out of the country following the publications of the bribery story and videos. I was thinking that through that politician’s support – initially, I was thinking he was as concerned about my security as a Good Samaritan from nowhere. I thought he would give me $10,000 to buy ticket for my trip – you understand – then, relocate me to a country, feed me and all that (laughs). But when I told him I wasn’t going to engage in politics he just backed off. He never contacted me again – that’s how Nigerian politicians are.

What about the safety of the contractor? Or, is he out of the country?

He is still in the country but I feel that there is enough security around him. It’s like the police are giving him adequate protection. The contractor is concerned about my safety too, he thinks he has landed me in trouble.

him to give me the videos because I know the credit as a journalist posting those videos (online) would give me (and my media organisation). More so, it (putting the videos online) will aid the fight against corruption. Journalists are agents of the society – they are the fourth estate of the realm. Therefore, we should be part of those ensuring that the society is doing well and everything is going as it should really be. I was constantly persuading him to give me the video clips – it was like a tug of war. Finally, this September he agreed to give them to me. The moment he gave me the videos, I knew that they were original – even the governor could not tell his close confidants that the videos were doctored. In the governor’s circle they know that the videos are genuine. They know the person who shot the videos – they identified him.

You mean the government knows who recorded the videos?

The governor knows! The governor knows – you understand?

It is just people in the city who may not know what is actually happening. But quite a few people that are in the governor’s circle know that the source of the video is through a particular person – who is also a contractor in the state. So that aside, after getting the videos I decided to run a story from the videos. When I ran the first story the government was so mad that and tried to see if they could bribe me so that I would not release the videos but I stood my ground (and refused to take any bribe from them). I released the videos. Then, because we gave them a chance to start the propaganda – you understand – to start saying false videos of the governor would be released and all that. That propaganda initially dominated the narrative – that the videos were not original. How can you doctor a motion picture? Any right-thinking person will easily identify if they (the videos) were doctored. Yes, any rightthinking person who watched those videos would conclude that they are original. You can see that clearly. I even threw a challenge to them that if the videos revealing the governor collecting dollars were doctored, they should produce a video of me, doctored, collecting dollars. In that process they went ahead to release – a reversed osmosis kind of – video showing the governor giving back the money to a certain person. Ask them: does it mean the governor was bribing the contractor? Even the enormity of the money – even if it is not bribery, it is money laundering. Yes, it falls within the ambit of money laundering laws.

How much did the contractor say he gave to the governor?

In total, he said he gave him (the governor) $5 million – well over $5 million.

What year were the videos recorded?

The videos were recorded between 2016 and 2017.

Many will think you’ve put yourself in harm’s way because of the story you published and the videos you posted regarding the bribery scandal involving the governor of your state. Considering the murder of a Saudi journalist, Khashoggi, who was killed in the Saudi Arabia consulate in Turkey, are you not afraid of your life?

Yes, I am really – truly – afraid because the agents of the government are really after me because my wife was telling me that they went to look for me at home. The gateman at the house told her that they came like four times to my house looking for me. My wife is in Kano and so are my two children. I stay mostly in Abuja – so, they have been going to my Kano home to see whether I am around.

Aren’t you also afraid that something terrible can also happen to your wife, children and other loved ones?

I am really afraid. I am even thinking of moving them out of the country. But you know the process; I cannot just travel out (of the country) and start staying in a hotel – you understand. There was a time a politician agreed to sponsor, to take me outside of this country, give me a home to stay and provide me with security.

At what point regarding the release of the videos did you get that offer?

It was before I released the videos.

So, why didn’t you take the offer?

But he told me that I should not release the videos until after the deadline of the replacement of the candidates has elapsed.

To me, he wanted to politicise the issue. I said, ‘No, sir, I can’t do that.’ Because I am not working for politicians and I could not just stop publishing online the videos just because of politics. Then, he refused (to help me get out of the country). That is, I am still here in Nigeria.

Is that politician the political archrival of Governor Ganduje in Kano State?

No – not really. It’s not Rabiu Kwankwaso (a former Kano State governor who has been at daggers drawn with Ganduje) at all.

The said politician is not even linked to Kwankwaso – but one of the top politicians in the country. Let’s just leave it at that.

Since you said your life is in danger, have you taken any steps to ensure your safety and that of your loved ones?

Yes; I instructed my lawyer last night (Thursday) to write a petition to the police and the SSS (Department of State Services) regarding that.

Do you trust the security agencies to protect you and your loved ones in this matter?

Yes. You know you have to really inform them whether they are doing the right thing or not doing the right thing. You have to tell them. Yet, I really cannot take any chances regarding my safety by relying solely on the police to give me adequate security. I have to also be the chief security officer of my life. I have to be careful of what I eat and where I go. Police protection is secondary.

Any plans to reach out to the international community to ensure your safety, that of your wife and the children?

Yes, I have reached out to them. All the threats to my life have been recorded by Amnesty International. They have been on my

In view of all this, how do you see the anti-corruption stance of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration?

Really, this is a litmus test. If under the APC government – the government that has been preaching the gospel of anti-corruption, preaching the gospel of sincerity, preaching the gospel of equality, fails to do anything about something of this magnitude, then the fight against corruption is just a ruse really. It is really a dent on Buhari’s administration. As a responsible administration that is fighting against corruption, he should also institute another independent (investigative) panel to find out the truth in this matter. But I appreciate in one way what the government had done: the federal government gave me enough security cover to go to Kano and give my testimony before the panel. In that way, you can say the federal government has supported my cause in helping me fight against corruption.

Probably, if it is the governor’s wish I would not have been in Kano to testify. I would have been attacked on the way. From the top, the IG gave orders that my safety should be ensured before, during and after my presentation before the Kano State House of Assembly. We were escorted from the Mallam Aminu Kano Airport to the Assembly complex – about 10 police vehicles, three assistant commissioners of police were there to escort me to the Assembly. They also gave me the same security all the way back to the airport. They did not leave the airport until my flight took off. This is really commendable and I see some level of commitment towards ensuring that journalists are protected.

What do you think about EFCC, ICPC and APC’s silence concerning your saga?

Maybe from the public sphere we have not seen any reactions. But probably the EFCC has written a report to the president on the issue – that’s my thinking. Probably EFCC, ICPC or any other anti-corruption agency may have written a report to the president on the issue.

Do you see yourself as a whistle-blower now, somebody just helping a friend in dire straits or you’re just doing your job as a journalist?

I was driven by two things, really. As a journalist – every journalist will like to have some good reports (exclusives or scoops) that will grab international attention. That’s one. Another point is that the videos can go a long way in providing sanity to our system – especially to the governors collecting kickbacks. Because they have seen the embarrassment videos have caused their colleagues they will think twice and hard before doing anything unseemly. I think the story will serve as a deterrent and make the society better.

This should make the governors stop collecting kickbacks or reduce their frequency of collecting kickbacks.

If you have the opportunity of doing this kind of story again will you?

Yes; over and over again! No matter what I am being offered in exchange for the story I will not collect it – even if the Kano State governor gives me his seat as a governor and say ‘Come and become governor of Kano State but don’t publish those videos of me collecting bribes,’ I will rather publish the videos than become the governor of Kano State. Let me reiterate that I cannot concoct – I cannot doctor – something of this magnitude against a whole governor and walk free.

The videos are genuine – nobody tampered with or doctored them. I want people to know that the videos were published in good faith – for the good of society – not to blackmail anybody. I’m not a blackmailer as some people are alleging. The videos are career-ending exhibits which the governor would have given anything to hide if I had gone to him to play ball. If you asked him to give you the $5 million he collected in the videos, he would give you back instead of having you published the videos!

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IMAGES

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t was a celebration of excellence and merry making when Professor Wole Alakija marked his 80th birthday recently in Lagos with ace musician, Yinka Ayefele and His Merry Makers available for the occasion. Here are some of the personalities, well-wishers and family members, who attended the occasion.

Photograghs by Yomi Akinyele

L-R: Prof. Bola Akinterinwa and his wife, Fehintola

The celebrant, Prof. Wole Alakija and his wife, Eunice , during cutting of birthday cake

L-R: Taiwo and Stephen Balogun

R-L: Gabriel Edeoghor, Autsin Alege and Mrs Ferishat

L-R: Prof. Kunle Sobande, Dr. Olumide Abiodun and Prof. Olanipekun Alausa

L-R: Prof. Akin Osibogun and Prof. Bayo Onajole

Prof. and Mrs Yomi Balogun

L-R: Engr Medua Izegbu and his wife, Mimi

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ OCTOBER 28, 2018

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IMAGES

L-R: Dr. Kikelomo Aramide Wright, Dr. Oluwatoni Adeyemi and Dr. Andrew Airahui

L-R: Funmi Tonade, Apostle Tonade and Prof. Abosede Olayinka

L-R: Mrs. Patricia Evbuomwan, Mrs. Lizzy Diejomaoh and Mrs. Josephine Onokerhoraye

L-R: Mrs. Ogieriakhi Abies, Dr. Raymons Uku and Mrs. Eileen Uku

L-R: Mrs. Eunice Ebie, Mrs. Christy Ajabor, Dr. Philip Akumabor and Mrs. Justina Obi

L-R: Dele Alakija and Judith Alakija

L-R: Dr. Femi Ogunbekun and his wife, Sade

L-R: Mr. Kofoworola Cole, Desola Alakija and Femi Alakija

L-R: Mrs. Victoria Labaran, Mr. Olanrewaju and his wife, Tejumade

Rt. Revd Ranti Odubogun and his wife, Sade

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THE COVER

NIGERIA T Governor el-Rufai with one of the victims at the hospital

For How Long Shall Kaduna Bleed?

The only solution to Kaduna’s seemingly intractable ethno-religious conflicts is justice, writes John Shiklam

2019

hursday, October 18, was just like any market day in Kasuwan Magani community, Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna state. Located some 40-minute drive away from the Kaduna metropolis, the market is one of the most popular and biggest community markets, attracting traders within Kaduna and other neighbouring states. The community is also populated by the dominant indigenous Adara and the Hausa/Fulani tribes.

Business activities had gone well for that day and the people were just preparing to return to their various destinations when suddenly hell was let loose. At about 4:30pm, a bloody ethno-religious clash erupted between Muslims and Christians as they engaged each other with guns, knives, sticks, machetes and other deadly weapons. Commuters plying the road, which is a gateway to the southern part of Kaduna as well as Plateau, Nasarawa and Benue States were stranded on the road, which passes through the Kasuwan Magani community.

By the time the situation was brought under control by security personnel, many people had lost their lives while several houses and vehicles had been set ablaze.

An official of the Adara Development Association (ADA), said 70 people were killed, but Kaduna police commissioner, Ahmad Abdulrahman, put the number of deaths at 55.

A 24-hour-curfew was imposed on the community to stop further killings and destructions.

However, there were two versions to the cause of the incident that led to the mayhem. One account had it that a group of thieves broke into a maize store in the market. One of the thieves was said to have been caught and was being thoroughly beaten.

It was learnt that while he was being beaten, the suspected thief, started shouting his religious slogan.

Thus, members of his faith, upon realising that he was one of their own, rose in his defence, giving the incident a religious colouration.

The second version of the story was that a wheelbarrow pusher was trying to find a space to offload some goods he was carrying when he accidentally hit a middle-aged man in the process. However, rather than apologise to the man, the wheelbarrow pusher was said to have engaged the angry man in a hot argument, which led to a scuffle between them.

The situation of things was further compounded the following day (Friday, October 19), when the paramount ruler of the Adara ethnic group, the Agom Adara, Mr. Maiwada Raphael Galadima and his wife were abducted by gunmen.

Governor Nasir el-Rufai of the State was said to have invited the traditional ruler to join him on a condolence visit to the Kasuwan Magani community since the community is under the jurisdiction of the traditional ruler. But while returning to his palace in Kachia, headquarters of Kachia Local Government Area of the state, he was abducted, alongside his wife, by gunmen while his police orderly and four palace guards were killed on the spot.

The abduction was said to have created serious tension in Kajuru and Kachia Local Government Areas, mainly populated by the Adara people as angry youths were said to have blocked the high way, demanding the immediate release of the paramount ruler.

The community association, in a statement by its President, Awemi Dio Maisamari said the Adara nation was shocked by the killings and the abduction of its paramount ruler. He said the community was just recovering from the barbarity routinely inflicted on it when its paramount ruler and his wife were abducted. Maisamari also pointed fingers at the Hausa/Fulani community in the area for the abduction of the traditional ruler.

“It is therefore with much anguish that we wish to express the consternation of our bemused community. We are however not surprised at the turn of events, because the handwriting had been on the wall. “We suspect that even the abduction of the Agom Adara is part of the ever increasing acts of denigration and injustice intended to stop any resistance and our feeble attempts at self-defence against repeated and unjustified aggression.

“This seems to be the only logical reason why a minor misunderstanding involving two individuals in the market will result in such a bloody and destructive clash,” he said in the statement.

He, therefore, called on the state government to act fast to ensure the unconditional and immediate release of the traditional ruler as any harm done to him might become a long-term potential source of crisis. But in a swift reaction, one of the leaders of the Hausa community in the area, who pleaded anonymity, condemned the violence, saying the Hausas were not responsible for it. He said the Hausa people are peace-loving people and that the Adara have always been the ones suppressing the Hausas.

He also said the Hausa community had no hand in the abduction of the traditional ruler, which they respect and hold in high esteemed.

In February this year, a similar clash had occurred between Christian and Muslim youths in Kasuwan Magani, following allegations of love affairs and converting of Christian girls to Islam. About 20 people were killed while hundreds of houses and vehicles were burnt during the incident.

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SUNDAYCOVER Kaduna As Nigeria’s Next Slaughterhouse After Benue Continued on Pg.80

el-Rufai in a meeting with religious leaders While efforts were being made to stop the crisis in Kasuwan Magani from escalating, an incident, triggered by rumours, occurred in Kujama, headquarters of Chikun Local Government Area, which ignited the fire that led to the killings and the imposition of a-24-hour curfew in Kaduna metropolis last Sunday.

It was learnt that at about 4:00 pm on Sunday, being a market day in Kujuma, bees invaded the market and confusion set in as people started running to avoid being stung.

Onlookers and passers-by, who saw people running away from the bees, concluded that Muslims and Christians were fighting.

Thus, the rumours of fighting between adherents of the two religious groups in the area started spreading within the Kaduna metropolis as hoodlums across the city took over major roads, burning tyres and attacking people, who are not of their faiths.

It was another session of killings and destructions across the two divides, prompting the government to act fast even though there is apprehension in the city.

In a statewide broadcast, Governor el-Rufai said the state government was appalled by the sense of panic that was triggered by rumours across several of the communities, a situation, which according to him, was exploited by hoodlums, who engaged in criminal activities to violate the rights of other citizens. He, therefore, vowed to arrest and prosecute everyone connected with the violence.

By the time security agencies brought the situation under control, 23 people, according to the Executive Secretary of the Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Ben Kure, were killed within the various parts of the metropolis, while 17 others were injured. Indeed, Kaduna is not new to ethno-religious conflicts, what is baffling to observers is the failure of the authorities to explore solutions for a lasting peace, not just in Kaduna, but also in Plateau, where ethno-religious conflicts have continued to retard the development of the two states.

The first clash in the state was in 1980, in Kasuwan Magani, between the Adara and the Hausas over ownership of farmlands.

Charred remains of a bus set ablaze during the attacks

Since then, Kaduna had become an epicentre for bloody ethnoreligious conflicts.

The Kasuwan Magani clash was followed by over 30 violent religious conflicts, including the 1987 riots at the College of Education, Kafanchan, which spread to Zaria, Kaduna, Katsina; the Zangon Kataf riots of 1992; the 2000/ 20001 Sharia riots; the 2002 Miss World riot and the post-presidential election violence of 2011.

Thousands of people were brutally murdered while properties worth hundreds of billions were destroyed. The crisis had led to sharp divisions among residents of the city and segregated settlements along religious line. The northern part of the city is mainly occupied by Muslims, while the southern part of the city is predominantly a Christian settlement.

The conflicts, according to Jonathan Asake, a former member of the House of Representatives from the southern part of Kaduna, are caused by accumulated grievances over a long period of time.

He said the issues had to do with injustice in governance by various administrations as well as bias political arrangements, which placed Christians at a great disadvantage, particularly the delineation of wards and constituencies, employment, appointments and unfair distribution of resources.

He maintained that such injustices include the establishment of federal government institutions, mostly located in the Muslim dominated northern part of Kaduna State. He alleged that of the over 20 federal establishments in the state, none is virtually located in the southern part of the state. He said with the exception of the administration of former governor Ahmed Makarfi, who embarked on the massive provision of road infrastructure in the southern part of the state, other administrations were biased in terms of citing development projects.

The worst, according to him, is the current administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) both at the state and at the federal levels. “Injustice is the cause of the conflicts and there are several structures of injustice in the state. The first structure of injustice in the state is the creation of local governments and the delineation of wards and constituencies, which are skewed against Christians in the southern part of the state.

The second structure of injustice, he said, is the biased location of government institutions especially, federal government institutions. Virtually all of them are located in Kaduna and Zaria.

Rev. Sunday Ibrahim, Secretary of Kaduna State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and his Jamatu Nasril Islam (JNI) counterpart, Alhaji Ibrahim Kufena maintained that injustice was the cause of the conflicts.

According to them, the crisis had persisted, because of lack of justice and equity in handling human affairs. The CAN secretary said “justice and fairness are the solutions to conflicts in Kaduna State.

If the government is sincere,

the problem will be addressed – fairness in terms of distribution of resources and development of the state.”

On his part, the JNI secretary said in order to find lasting solutions to the violence, “first and foremost, there should be justice in the appointment, provision of amenities and so on. Let there be justice. There should be tolerance and people should adhere strictly to the tenets of their religious teachings. Islam and Christianity prohibit the killing of people,” the JNI leader said.

Both religious leaders also attributed the crisis to the growing number of unemployed youths, who are in the forefront of the crisis at the slightest provocation.

They, therefore, called on the government to urgently address the problems of youth unemployment before things get out of hand.

Also the Kuka Centre, in a recent report on the violent conflicts in Southern Kaduna, published in 2017, noted the growing indigene-settler contestations over land distribution, access to power and privileges and political manipulations of ethnic and religious differences as causes of the conflicts in the state. A research work titled: “From the valley of death”, noted further that another element of the conflict is the widespread impunity, where perpetrators of violence are never arrested, prosecuted or punished and victims are not adequately compensated.

The report also observed that the submissions of the various commissions of enquiries established by the previous administrations to investigate the conflicts, resolve the issues and end the crises were mostly neglected or not implemented satisfactorily, pointing out that this failure has not only widened the gap between communities but has led to mutual distrust that triggers conflict and violence.

The report maintained further that the pattern of violent conflicts had a long history and is intimately tied to struggles for power and political representation, socio-cultural expression, and economic opportunities linked to employment and natural resource management. “Kaduna’s Hausa-Fulani residents, who are mostly Muslim, are the majority in the northern half of the state, while the people of southern Kaduna are predominantly Christian, although tribally and linguistically diverse. The river that runs through the city of Kaduna, the state capital, highlights the starkness of the divide: the northern half is unofficially called Mecca; the south, Jerusalem.”

The report said “violent conflict has led to cries of marginalisation, social exclusion and injustice by all actors involved. Lack of inter-community and inter-group engagement has widened the gap for finding a common ground.”

Kaduna is not new to ethno-religious conflicts, what is baffling to observers is the failure of the authorities to explore solutions for a lasting peace, not just in Kaduna, but other parts of the country where ethno-religious conflicts had become a culture.

Last year, the Kaduna State government set up a Peace Commission as a step towards finding lasting solutions to the ethno-religious conflicts in the state. The commission was charged with the responsibility of adopting proactive measures in the development and implementation of strategies that would promote peace and harmonious coexistence.

It is also charged with the responsibility of non-violent intervention, mediation and peaceful resolution of conflicts and disputes at the communal and inter-communal levels across the state among others. Since its establishment, it has been interfacing with several stakeholders to map out strategies for peace in the state.

But observers insist that the commission may not achieve the desired goals without those in authority upholding the principles of justice, fairness and equity in the discharge of their duties.

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NEWSXTRA Amosun’s Associates Emerge DPP Candidates Femi Ogbonnikan in Abeokuta Strong indications emerged at the weekend that Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, and his close aides might have been on their way out of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) due to the inability to field Hon Adekunle Akinlade as the APC governorship candidate in the state As at Friday, THISDAY checks showed that names of Amosun’s prominent kitchen cabinet members vying for the National Assembly seats “have appeared on the list of the Demo cratic People’s Party (DPP) as candidates.”

The development confirmed the growing speculation that Amosun might have sought for an alternative platform to make good his dream, having been unhappy with the outcome of the governorship and legislative primaries in the APC that denied the emergence of his preferred candidate.

Investigation revealed that those whose names were found on the DPP list as pasted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were until Friday members of the ruling APC.

On the list as candidates for the three senatorial seats in the state were the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye (East); a Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Amosun, Alhaji Bola Adeyemi (Central), and another SS) on Energy, Chief Taiwo Fagbemi, as the senatorial candidate for Ogun West.

Whereas the names of Amosun, his Chief of Staff, Tolu Odebiyi and his ally, Senator Lekan Mustapha were listed and pasted as senatorial candidates of APC for Ogun Central, West and East seats in the National Assembly respectively.

It was gathered that the names of APC executive members and political appointees “planted” in DPP would be substituted with all the names of the consensus candidates of APC on or before the December 1 deadline for withdrawal and final substitution of candidates.

On the DPP list as candidates for the House of Representatives are former APC chairman for Egbado South Local Government, Odebiyi Safiu Abiodun, Egbado South /Ipokia Federal constituency; a younger brother to zzzhe

Don’t Blame Tinubu, Osoba for Your Defeat, Group Tells Amosun Kayode Fasua A forum of the All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders under the aegis of Internal Democracy Advocates (IDA) at the weekend told Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun not to blame the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and former Ogun State Governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba for his failure.

The forum, a purely political pressure group within the ruling party, described the failure of Amosun to produce a successor through the APC governorship primaries as selfinflicted, noting that he “is a victim of the law of Karma.”

In a statement by its National Coordinator, Mr. Oluseyi Olukoju, the forum described a statement credited to Amosun that his preferred governorship candidate, Abdulkadir Akinlade, would read next year’s budget in the capacity of a governor, as “most irresponsible and pitiable tell-tale signs of inner

confusion.”

The forum, therefore, warned Amosun “to desist from making reckless statements against the APC national leader and Osoba over the outcome of the state’s primaries.

“For once, Asiwaju Tinubu and Aremo Osoba have not uttered a single comment in retaliation since the governor has been throwing tantrums,” the forum observed.

The noted that free and fair governorship primaries had produced Mr. Dapo Abiodun as the Ogun APC candidate, noting that Amosun “should go borrow a leaf from the Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, who himself lost a primary election and conceded defeat; not that his candidate lost.”

The forum said, “We cannot but laugh aloud and at the same time express great pity at the recent conducts of Ibikunle Amosun, simply because his preferred candidate, Abdulkadir Akinlade, failed to win the governorship primaries.

Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Adekunbi Fatai Aremu; Alhaji Taofeek Olabode, a serving chairman of Abeokuta North Local Council Development Area as candidate for Abeokuta North/

Demola Ojo The Akarigbo and Paramount ruler of Remoland, His Royal Majesty Babatunde Adewale Ajayi, will on Tuesday, October 30, host members of the Nigerian business community and others who have contributed to the development of the community to the Inaugural ceremony of the Akarigbo Corporate Council.

The event, which will take place at the Radisson Blu Hotel, in GRA Ikeja, will feature the presentation of awards to distinguished corporate citizens of Remoland. Expected at the occasion are other royal fathers of Remo, prominent indigenes, home and in the Diaspora, and captains of industry in and around Remoland.

Top on the list of multination-

als in Remoland to be honoured are Nestle Plc, Lafarge/Holcin, Coleman Wire & Cable, Eternal Oil, Main One, and SAB Miller, among others.

Organisers of the event, Remo Growth and Development Foundation (RemoGDF), said the occasion was part of the goals set out about a year ago when King Adewale Ajayi was crowned. At his inauguration, the monarch had promised to make Remoland attractive for investors and a centre of industrial activities.

The ceremony is packaged by eminent indigenes and corporate giants from Remo land, including Tola Mobolurin, Wole Ogunsanya, Seni Adetu, Femi Odumabu, Odubunmi Solarin, Sesan Oluwasanya, and Gbenga Adebayo-Daniel.

Odogbolu Local Government Area, Wale Shittu (Ijebu Central Federal Constituency).

Also on the list are Odumosu Olugbenga (Remo North); a Commissioner in the Civil Service Commission, Mo-

jeed Ekelojumati (Ijebu North/ Ijebu East/Ogun Waterside); the current chairman of APC in Ifo Local Government Area, Saheed Ariori (Ifo/Ewekoro) and Lamidi Rasheed (AdoOdo/Ota).

ALL FOR WOMEN...

L-R: Former Deputy Governor, Lagos State, Serah Sosan; Former Deputy Governor, Plateau State, Pauline Tallen; Wife of the Imo State governor, Nneoma Okorocha; Convener, Arise Women, Siju Iluyomade; and Wife of the Governor, Kwara State, Omolewa Ahmed, during the 10th annual PHOTO: ETOP UKUTT Arise Women conference in Lagos, yesterday.

11 Killed in US as Gunman Opens Fire on Synagogue Demola Ojo with agency reports

At least 11 people were yesterday killed in a gun attack on a synagogue in the American city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The attack happened barely 24 hours after the arrest of Cesar Altieri Sayoc, the man who sent at dozen parcel bombs to high-profile critics of US President Donald Trump.

In what the Anti-Defamation League called “likely the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States”, the suspect interrupted a baby-naming service and burst in shouting

anti-Semitic slurs before he began firing.

Law enforcement officials said Robert Bowers — a 46-year-old man with a history of making anti-Semitic statements online — surrendered to police after a gun battle and is expected to face hate crime charges.

Worshippers had gathered at the synagogue, in the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood, one of the largest Jewish populations in Pennsylvania to mark the Sabbath.

According to reports, a heavy-set white male armed with an assault rifle and two pistols, entered the building during the Saturday morning

service.

Pittsburgh’s Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich later confirmed the gunman was in police custody and was being treated in hospital.

The crime scene was “horrific”, he told reporters. “One of the worst I’ve seen, and I’ve worked on some plane crashes. It’s very bad,” he added.

US media said he had shouted “All Jews must die” as he carried out the attack.

In his reaction, US President Donald Trump called the shooting a terrible thing.

“To see this happen again and again, for so many years, it’s just a shame,” he told reporters yesterday.

He described the gunman as a “maniac” and suggested the US should stiffen up death penalty laws. “These people should pay the ultimate price.

This has to stop,” he said.

Mr. Trump added that the incident had “little to do” with US gun laws. “If they had protection inside, maybe it could have been a different situation,” he said.

The president later appeared at the Future Farmers of America Convention in Indianapolis, saying: “There must be no tolerance for anti-Semitism. It must be condemned and confronted everywhere and anywhere it appears.”

Army Kills Five Shiite Members Kachikwu Now US Citizen, Bags Multiple Awards in Abuja Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

Remo King to Inaugurate Corporate Council

Obafem i- Owode/Odeda Federal Constituency.

Others on the list are the General Manager of the State Housing Corporation, Ms. Olajumoke Akinwunmi (Abeokuta South); the Chairman of

Five members of the Shiite Islamic sect were allegedly killed yesterday during a clash with the military in Zuba, Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). According to eyewitness accounts, a cortège of Shiite members was marching from Suleja, Niger State, to Abuja when they clashed with soldiers.

The group, in their hundreds, were protesting the continued detention of their spiritual leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, who has been held by the Department of State Services (DSS) since December 2015.

Sources said the Army shot and killed five members of the sect during the clash, which occurred at the Dan Kogi checkpoint at Zuba.

The sect members, clad in black outfits, were said to

have rejected the entreaties of the soldiers stationed in Dei Dei, Dakwa and Zuba to back off and, instead, resorted to lobbing stones and other projectiles at the soldiers.

Despite their losses, as the lifeless bodies of their members laid on the road, the Shiite, allegedly, remained defiant as they challenged the military. They barricaded the road, causing a long traffic build up.

As the commotion broke out, pedestrians, traders and other people ran for their life, with many drivers abandoning their vehicles. Many people were also stranded, as commercial drivers refused to ply the road for several hours.

When THISDAY sought the reaction of the Director of Army Public Relations, BrigGen Texas Chukwu, on the development, he said he was unaware of the clash as he was out of town.

Seni Durojaye The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has been conferred with multiple honours, including honorary citizenship of the State of Georgia in the United States.

Kachikwu was also conferred with honorary doctorate degree by the Trinity International University of Ambassadors, and Keys to the State of South Carolina and City of Stonecrest, State of Georgia.

The event, which held at the Capitol Hill of the state in Atlanta, also featured the declaration of Oct. 25 as `Emmanuel Kachikwu Day’ by the State of South Carolina.

Senatorial and Legislative hosts, the Black Caucus of the State Legislature, took turns to eulogise Kachikwu’s “unimpeachable” reputation for integrity, intelligence, fairness and kindness.

The legislators – Gloria Butler, Michael Rheft, Donzella James, Roger Bruce, Billy Mitchel, Howard Mosby, Erica Thomas, Sandra Scotts, Pam Stevenson, Jason Lary, and John King, also expressed pride at their African heritage.

State of Georgia has the largest Black Caucus in the U.S. hosting 60 members, and is described as the ‘heartbeat of African-Americans, with about 3.2 million black population.

Dawkins Haigler, Chair Emeritus of the Black Caucus, and most of the other legislators, said they had done their ancestry tests, which confirmed that they were between 65 per cent and 85 per cent Nigerians.

The lawmakers said they always knew they were Africans and were proud to identify with their motherland, adding that they had sponsored several trips to Nigeria.

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Okorocha Mobilises APC Governors against Oshiomhole Governors meet Tuesday in Abuja S/south chairmen back Oshiomhole Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha is mobilizing All Progressives Congress’ governors against the National Chairman of the Party, Adams Oshiomhole over his refusal to submit to the Independent National Electoral Commission, the name of Okorocha’s anointed candidate for the state governorship race, Uche Nwosu as the party’s candidate for the state.

Sources said the governor has persuaded his colleagues to attend a meeting in Abuja on Tuesday to enable aggrieved governors the opportunity to share among themselves the recently concluded primaries election and come up with a united response to the leadership of the party.

Okorocha, who is also the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), plans to mobilize the governors against Oshiomhole.

Some governors including Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State are equally aggrieved by the primaries and had not hidden their disenchantment.

According to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Okorocha plans to persuade his colleagues to pass a vote of no confidence on Oshiomhole as chairman of the party.

A reliable party source who spoke to THISDAY at the

weekend about the proposed meeting, said the governors might pressurize the leadership of the party to convey a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party to remove Oshiomhole.

The party source said the aggrieved governors believed they could use the PGF platform to put pressure on the party’s leadership to convene a NEC meeting.

“The APC governors are meeting on Tuesday to look into ways of resolving the primary election crises rocking the party. The aggrieved ones are pushing to galvanize others for a no confidence vote against Oshiomhole.

Barring any last minute change of plan, the governors will demand for an early NEC meeting to trash out nagging issues of growing discontent against the national chairman,” he said.

However, when contacted on the possibility of an early NEC meeting to resolve dispute in the party, the National Publicity Secretary of APC, Lanre Isa-Onilu said there was no such plan.

Onilu who spoke to THISDAY on the telephone yesterday also dismissed reports of wide spread revolt against the national chairman, saying that the grievances of those who lost out during primaries were being blown out of proportion.

“Is it not the party that will announce a NEC or have we fixed any one? I am not aware

of any such meeting. There are no crises, people just expect there will be crisis but there are none to warrant such fears for now” he said.

Meanwhile, the embattled national chairman has received the backing of the South-south state chairmen who have passed a vote of confidence on him.

Meanwhile, Okorocha has

urged Oshiomhole, to forward to INEC, Uche Nwosu’s name, as the authentic governorship candidate of the party in the state in the forthcoming general election.

The governor who addressed journalists at the Government House, in Owerri, on Saturday, said that the only way to uphold the integrity and honesty for which he (Oshiomhole) was

known for in resolving crisis bothering the party is to do the right thing, leaving behind sentiments and recognising Nwosu as the winner of the APC governorship primary election in the state.

The governor has also expressed shock that the party was contemplating undemocratic ways in determining the governorship candidate of

the party in the state despite that a candidate has been duly elected.

The governor insisted that Oshiomhole and members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party owed it as an obligation to defend the integrity of the party, which, he noted, distinguished it from other political parties.

INVESTMENT PROMOTION...

L-R: Group Managing Director, Afrinvest West Africa Limited, Ike Chioke; Chairman, Afrinvest, Donald Lawson, Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, and Managing Director, Afrinvest Security, Ayodeji Ebo, during the launch of 2018 Nigerian Banking Sector Report in Abuja PHOTO: JULIUS ATOI

Obasanjo, Jakande Recommend Fanimokun for Lagos Guber Contest Gboyega Akinsanmi Competent sources yesterday disclosed that Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Lagos State Governor, Alhaji Lateef Jakande have tipped an investor and socialite, Chief Tunde Fanimokun for the 2019 governorship election in the state.

The sources added that Fanimokun, the flag bearer of African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Lagos, would offer a

credible and viable alternative for all indigenes and residents who had been yearning for meaningful democratic change in the state.

One of his political associates said the ADC was keen to field a strong candidate in the gubernatorial contest in order to compete favourably with the leading political parties where the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP0 are leading the pack

among a host of other fringe parties in the state.

Fanimokun, who retired as Permanent Secretary in the Lagos State Public Service, was said to have worked under Alhaji Lateef Jakande when he was the state governor.

Specifically, the source claimed that Fanimokun was a top figure in the state service at the time, a development which he said to have recommended him as a credible and

viable candidate in the 2019 governorship election. he disclosed the that Obasanjo had specifically sought Jakande’s view about Fanimokun’s candidature, noting that Jakande highly recommended for the job and hence the consequent seal of approval for the ADC gubernatorial slot for him in the state.

Another associate disclosed that Fanimokun, an economist and former Chairman of British International School,

Lekki, had been nursing governorship aspiration for a long time, despite is vast interest in the private sector as an investor.

According to the associate, though Fanimokun is now running for governorship, he had actually made spirited efforts to be governor in years past but was unsuccessful.

It was not clear yesterday if his name had been submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

or was to be substituted as required by law.

Fanimokun’s entry into the governorship race in Lagos promises a lot of possibilities as the contest would be interesting to watch on account of his name recognition, popularity and array of his clout in Lagos State.

Fanimokun is a former President of Eko Club and member of leading social clubs and organisations in Lagos.

‘No Controversy over Choice of NDF: Buhari’s Certificate Saga NMA Asks FG to Ensure Plot to Divert Attention Justice for Ochanya Ihedioha’s Running Mate’ Nigerians from the achievements Oladipupo Awojobi The Peoples Democratic Party has denied reports of an alleged controversy over choice of former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Gerald Irona as Deputy Governorship candidate of the Party in Imo State.

Imo State Vice Chairman of the Party in charge of Orlu senatorial zone, Chief Aloysius Igwe gave the clarification while responding to a report alleging that some stakeholders were not consulted before Hon. Irona was selected.

According to him, Irona is a true son of Orlu zone, a good party man, a transparent leader and one with

capacity to deliver the zone to the Peoples Democratic Party in 2019.

“Irona is a true son of Orlu zone. He is qualified to be Deputy Governor of Imo state by all standards. He is a true party man. His appointment as Deputy Governorship candidate of the PDP is not out of place.

“As Orlu zonal Chairman of the PDP, I am comfortable with him. What is important at this point is how we can work together to forge ahead. Whoever feels there is a communication gap should look at the broader picture. Let us all sheath our sword and see how we forge ahead.

The National Democratic Front (NDF) yesterday noted that President Muhammadu Buhari’s certificate saga was a plot by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to divert attention from the issues affecting the country.

This is contained in a statement by the National President of NDF, Mr. Audu Auwulu, noting that his organisation “is not surprised that instead of addressing any of the numerous challenges affecting the country, the opposition party is making attempt to trivialize the presidential contest.” Auwulu berated the opposition party, saying it clearly did not understand the enormity of the presidential poll, and that it was only trying to distract

the country has recorded under Buhari’s administration.

According to him, the certificate saga is already a rested issue and will not be a deciding factor in 2019 election. It is sad that the PDP could not come up with something new and substantial to make the discourse about the elections issues based.

He said for the records, Buhari sat for the University of Cambridge/WAEC examination where he passed the examination in the second division in 1961, with registration number: 8280002 amongst other notable Nigerians like former Chief of Staff at Supreme Court, Shehu Musa Yar’adua and a former President of Court of Appeal and many others from the Provincial Secondary School, Katsina.

Yekini Jimoh in Lokoja The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) yesterday asked the federal government to ensure justice in the death of Miss Ochanya Elizabeth Ogbanje, a 13-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped by a father and his son in Gboko, Benue State.

In a statement yesterday, Chairman of NMA’s Adhoc Committee on Gender Violence and other Related Issues, Dr. Godwin Tijani said justice to Ochanya would be justice to millions of women, who were victims of gender violence globally. According to Tijani, the NMA takes the issue of rape as a crime against humanity. The federal government and other

stakeholders should do the needful and bring the alleged perpetrators to justice.

He reiterated that there was an urgent need for Nigerians to rise against all forms of genderbased violence, which he claimed, had become prevalent in the country.

He said, “We have received with a deep shock the news of the death of Miss Elizabeth Ochanya Ogbanje, a 13-year-old pupil of Federal Government Girls College (FGGC), Gboko, Benue State. “We feel more saddened that her death was caused by a medical condition called “Vesicovaginal Fistula” and other related complications that arose from the alleged serial sexual abuses by a father and his son.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͺ΀˜ ͺ͸͹΀

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

Barca Host Real in First El Clasico without Messi, Ronaldo in 11 Years K ICK- OFF: 4:15PM

arcelona and Real Madrid will play the first El Clasico without both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in 11 years when they meet in La Liga today. With Messi injured and Ronaldo now at Juventus, both sides will be looking for a different source of inspiration in the afternoon clash at the Nou Camp.

Real Madrid are a club in crisis following their worst start to a La Liga season in 17 years and boss Julen Lopetegui was faced with more questions about his future on the eve of the showdown.

“I hope to still be breathing,” Lopetegui, whose side have gone five games without a win, told reporters. “Everyone is 100 per cent full of energy and my energies are 100 per cent focused on helping the team.”

Having been denied the chance to lead Spain into the World Cup after being sacked on the eve of the competition for agreeing to take the Real job, the 52-year old is adamant that the game is the biggest of his managerial career.

“Nothing compares to it,” he said. “In footballing terms of course it’s a game with huge expectation and it’s the highest level.”

Defeat would see Real fall seven points behind their second-placed rivals (with a game in hand), just 10 games into the campaign, but Barca boss Ernesto Valverde is wary of “wounded” opponents.

“The more wounded Real Madrid are, the more dangerous they are,” Valverde said.

“They have the quality to come back and they are a great team. I am expecting Real Madrid at their best.

“We are coming off the back of two good performances and we are looking at El Clasico

Croatian World Cup finalists Ivan Rakitic (left) and Luka Modric will line up on opposing sides for Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively today

to round off a great week.”

Messi’s absence offers Ousmane Dembele the chance to stake a claim for a regular starting place for Barcelona even though he is not guaranteed a starting place with Rafinha stepping in for the Argentine in the midweek Champions League win over Inter Milan.

Samuel Umtiti is a long-term absentee with a knee ligament injury that could require surgery. Thomas Vermaelen is also unavailable, meaning Clement Lenglet and Gerard Pique are the only two centre-back options.

Real Madrid full-back Dani Carvajal is not expected to recover from a calf injury

in time but Marcelo has shown no ill effects after returning to the team following a recent hamstring injury.

Lopetegui will have to make a decision on Luka Modric, with the Croatian midfielder having looked severely fatigued in recent weeks.

Ndidi Goal Salvages Point for Leicester against West Ham Simba Group Super Eagles midfielder Wilfred Ndidi has scored his first Premier League goal of the season as Leicester City were held to a 1-1 draw by West Ham United yesterday.

Ndidi was named among the starting line up for Leicester City by head coach Claude Puel along with compatriot Kelechi Iheanacho.

The 21-year-old midfielder however could not prevent West Ham from taking the lead at the King Power Stadium through Fabian Balbuena in the 30th minute.

Ndidi was however in action when he received a horrendous tackle from West Ham United captain Mark Noble who aimed for his ankles. Referee Michael Oliver sent Noble off for the challenge in the 38th minute but Leicester City could not find a breakthrough a West Ham held on till the halftime break.

Leicester City started the second half with more intention and purpose to score as record goalscorer Jamie Vardy was introduced for Rachid Ghez-

zal for the second half. His introduction however provided no solutions and Iheanacho had to be replaced by pacy England winger Demarai Gray in the 62nd minute.

With just two minute left in the second half Ndidi came to the rescue of Leicester as his long range shot deflected off Balbuena and past Lukasz Fabianski.

West Ham held on in the final minutes for a draw as Ndidi’s goal meant the Hammers and Foxes shared a point each.

Donates Motorcycles to Super Eagles

Ndidi celebrating his goal yesterday

Upbeat Centre Holds First Trampoline Gymnastics Competition West Africa’s first indoor trampoline park, the Upbeat Centre in Lekki, Lagos, yesterday held its first trampoline gymnastics competition for kids in the gymnastics club.

The gymnastics club was founded February earlier this year and has since grown to more than 40 members across different age groups.

Students were awarded medals according to their performances. Some medal winners from the day include; Imam Zayna, Talissa Hanson, Gia Chidiac and Grace James, all from gymnastics levels 1-5.

Talking about the gymnastics club so far, Upbeat gymnastics coach Owalter Magana said; ‘’Our aim is to nurture the blooming talents of our young gymnasts, so they can advance to represent Nigeria in National and International gymnastics competitions.’’

The gymnastics competition at Upbeat was the first of its kind and is essentially an end of term assessment of the gymnasts to showcase the skills they have learnt throughout the term to their parents and judges who rated their performances.

The competition offered a lot more than rewards

and winning prizes as it served to motivate the students to perform better, even as they master the skills they have learnt throughout the club term.

There was also participation from other gymnastics clubs including the Eagles gymnastics club, Samsport gymnastics academy and Dynamic gymnastics club.

Managing Director, Simba Group TVS, Vinay Gaovea, has described football as a unifying factor that Nigerians relates with conveniently, assuring the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) of its support and partnership.

This is as the company donated motorcycles to some Super Eagles’ players and the coaching crew at a dinner held recently in Lagos.

According to Gaovea, the essence of the partnership is to celebrate talents and union between Simba Group and the football body.

“We search out for talents in this country and give them what they require to achieve their goals. We will continue to support the great game of football, which is popular in Nigeria. Sports brings people together,” Gaovea said.

He further expressed that even Nigerians in the Diaspora are excited when they relate with football.”

Reacting to the gesture, Super Eagle’s coach, Gernot Rohr, praised the company and the partnership adding that he is enjoying the country with a promise to continue to develop young players and give them opportunities.

He said: “Simba Group gave me this motorbike as the partner of NFF. I really thank them for this.

I am happy to be here. It was a warm welcome from them”.

Rohr said he feels like a Nigerian already and he enjoys local delicacies. “We are like a family here in this team. The Super Eagles team and I are doing well. We have young players in this team.”

While assuring the gathering that the players and the personnel would come for their motorbikes, he said he would ride it first to ensure it is good for football.

THISDAYt SUNDAY OCTOBER 28, 2018

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Sunday October 28, 2018

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MISSILE

President Buhari to the Media

“I’m very disappointed with the Nigerian press. They didn’t give this government the credit of the `go back to land programme’. “We have cut down the importation of rice by at least 90 percent… I foresaw our problem in agriculture and did the right thing and today, people are much better. “ – President Muhammadu Buhari speaking at a dinner he hosted for young political appointees at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.

SIMONKOLAWOLE SIMONKOLAWOLELIVE!

simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com, sms: 0805 500 1961

The Dangers of Negative Narratives

A

s a professional journalist and a regular columnist, one of the things I fear the most on the job is boxing myself into a corner.

My philosophy of life is that no one is completely good or completely bad. I find it hard to look at something and say there is nothing good in it or that it is absolutely flawless. I find it impossible to take someone’s idea and describe it as totally perfect or totally useless. Even a broken clock, we are told, is correct at least twice a day. If those analogue hands stopped at 4:36, at least there would be 4:36am and 4:36pm every day. I would rather avoid boxing myself into a corner by saying the clock is wrong every minute of the day.

We are in the political season again. I am having fun staring at the gladiators as they throw stones at each other, and I am watching history on replay mode yet again. To unseat President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015, the All Progressives Congress (APC) painted the picture of a government that achieved nothing in five years. Not a single credit was given to Jonathan for anything.

While you can argue that it is politically logical to downplay your opponent’s achievements in order to position yourself as a better alternative, the keyword should be “downplay” and not “deny”. APC completely denied Jonathan did anything good at all.

But when you have boxed yourself into a corner, you leave yourself with no wriggle space.

You have to continue to maintain your storyline that your opponent never did anything good.

There is actually an option: to swallow your pride and say you got it wrong, or that your opponent achieved something but it was not significant enough compared to the resources at his disposal. Unfortunately, in the world of politics — maybe Nigerian politics — it is not allowed. You have to maintain your original argument. At some point, it was glaring that the red-herring of the Buhari administration was to blame everything wrong with Nigeria on Jonathan and PDP. In my article, “My Grouse with President Jonathan” (September 14, 2014), I highlighted some of his achievements thus: massive reduction in fertilizer fraud; improved supply of the product to farmers; the resultant improvement in agricultural output, particularly rice, cassava and cotton; the construction of Almajiri and girl-child schools to tackle the out-of-school epidemic; road reconstruction; the sovereign wealth fund; the rehabilitation and modernisation of the rail system and airports; the completion of power projects initiated by President Olusegun Obasanjo; and consistent economic growth. These, to me, were certainly not “nothing”.

However, I did say that Jonathan was not doing two things the right way. First was the war against corruption. Nigerians love to see high-profile arrests and prosecution, but the EFCC under him did not do much on that score. Second was the war against Boko Haram — which I thought was politicised by both the PDP and the APC at the expense of lives, property, peace and prosperity. I called them “my grouse” with Jonathan. I summed up: “Mr. President, without brutally tackling corruption and caging Boko Haram with everything at your disposal, the job is not yet done. We need to free our resources for development, and we need peace and security to attain that goal.”

As things have turned out, President Buhari

Buhari has, in the last three years, built on some of the foundations laid by Jonathan, particularly in rail and airport infrastructure and agriculture. Buhari’s anti-graft war has benefitted tremendously from the use of BVN, the administration of criminal justice act (ACJA), the integrated payroll and personnel information (IPPIS) and the single treasure account (TSA) — all introduced by the Jonathan administration. These are not “nothing”, in my opinion. However, when we design a negative narrative purely for political purposes, it can only blind us to the little progress we are making as a nation, thus rendering us pessimistic.

It is not as if we are ever tired of feeding this negative mindset. As the 2019 elections knock ferociously on the door, we are back to the “nothing” narrative again. I am reading every day that President Buhari has done nothing since 2015 when he came to office. I will, as usual, concede that it is politically logical for you to downplay the achievements of your opponent.

You cannot be advertising his accomplishments and at the same time asking Nigerians to vote him out. I am old enough to understand that trick. However — I have to say this again — there is a big difference between downplaying and denying achievements. The superlatives always blind us to the truth.

To say Buhari has achieved nothing is an exaggeration taken too far. We don’t have to re-elect him, but we are not under obligation to deny the facts either. For one, I have been very impressed with his commitment to the development of rail and road infrastructure across the federation. Those denying the importance today may swallow their words in the next two, three years when we begin to see the positive impact on the economy with the mass movement of passengers and cargo.

I remember the criticism that greeted Asiwaju Bola Tinubu when he started the BRT project as governor of Lagos. Today, the buses move 150,000 passengers every day. It’s a lifesaver.

Truly, Buhari could have done many things better, much better. In whom much hope is invested, much is expected. The anti-graft war, for instance, could use some more decorum and consistency. Returning the passports of Senators Musiliu Obanikoro and Iyiola Omisore to them for political gains can only discredit the anti-graft war, which has been increasingly regarded as vendetta on the opposition. But we should avoid denying the fact that for the first time since 1999, politicians have been forced to vomit some of what they ate with impunity. Former

service chiefs are returning looted funds. Judges have been put on trial over graft. How can we genuinely deny these facts?

I’m also of the opinion that Buhari did not stamp his feet properly over the herders/farmers issue — even though I will never buy the dubious narrative that the president instructed the herders to be killing Christians. Compared to the way Obasanjo tackled the OPC menace in the southwest in the infancy of his administration in 1999, Buhari has not the struck the fear of God into the minds of those fomenting trouble by taking advantage of the age-old conflict between herders and pastoralists. Neither would Buhari smell of roses over the geo-political balancing of major government appointments. These are real issues we cannot sweep under the rug.

The economy is perhaps the biggest albatross on Buhari’s neck. He took over at a time there was a downward spiral in crude oil prices — but he could have acted faster and decisively. His failure to swiftly appoint ministers, at a time of serious economic crisis, will continue to count against him. Agreed, the crude oil crunch affected every oil-dependent country and this would challenge the best of economic managers. Venezuela, a country built on the assumption that oil prices would be sky-high till eternity, is still deeply in the pit of the recession that resulted from the crash.

Buhari spent too much energy blaming Jonathan when what Nigerians needed was solution.

In real life, though, you don’t come out of recession and start growing the economy immediately at 6 per cent per annum. That would amount to a magical miracle. We all know that the fundamentals of the Nigerian economy are horribly wrong. They have been wrong since 1973. We will continue to be at the mercy of external shocks for as long as we are oil-dependent and import-dependent. You cannot be earning over 90 per cent of your forex from a single product and importing most of what you consume without being at the mercy of rocky externalities. Diversifying and developing the economy is what we have been saying we would do since the 1970s but here we are, still struggling.

I conclude. It is too negative, I insist, to say Buhari has achieved nothing. To suggest that the Boko Haram insurgents are still as strong and as devastating as they were three years ago would fly in the face of fact. To deny the importance of school-feeding programme and other social investment schemes would be most unreasonable. To even suggest that Buhari should have discarded projects started by previous governments is, how should I put it, ridiculous. If we really care about the progress of Nigeria, we would focus our attention on the things that matter the most to the majority of our people and allow the politicians do the politicking — because that is their profession.

We don’t have to re-elect for Buhari — that is a political decision — but we also don’t have to be uncharitable. I made the same argument about Jonathan and I stand by it. Even as bad as Gen. Sani Abacha was, he signed the NLNG into life and we’ve been reaping the dividends in billions of dollars. All I care about is the progress of Nigeria — no matter who delivers it. We desperately need steady economic growth, poverty reduction and job creation. We need a prosperous country. But I am very realistic about my own expectations — no president can transform Nigeria in four years. Whoever wins the 2019 election can, however, do with less superlatively negative narratives.

And Four Other Things…

KADUNA CARNAGE According to a version of the story, trouble started in Kasuwan Magani, Kajuru LGA, Kaduna state, on October 18 when bees invaded a market. People ran helter-skelter in panic, and then rumour mongers seized the opportunity to launch fake news that Muslims and Christians were fighting. Then the real fight started. And by the time the dust settled a bit, 55 lives had been lost. If this is true, then that is what you get in any society built on hate and resentment. The reality, though, is that Muslims and Christians will just have to accept that they have to exist side-by-side in the state. It is left for the leaders and their followers to devise strategies for bloodless co-existence. Indisputable.

EXEMPLARY ETHIOPIA Whenever I read of the progressive reforms going on in Ethiopia, I am a little envious.

The country has just elected its first female president, Ms Sahle-Work Zewde. Half of cabinet positions are held by women! In Nigeria, we can’t even have a female VP or senate president. We can’t have a female governor. Only a few states can boast of having female deputy governors. When Mrs Patricia Etteh was elected speaker in 2007 — the first in our history — she was quickly hounded out with trumped-up corruption charges by a chauvinistic cabal that felt it could not subject itself to female leadership. Nigeria should be leading the way in progressive reforms across Africa. Shame.

KILLING KHASHOGGI The savage murder of Saudi journalist, Jamal bin Ahmad Khashoggi, at the country’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, was meant to be treated as a routine case of unexplained disappearance, but the Saudis did a shoddy job of cover-up. They have, indeed, murdered sleep. There is no use blaming the dead, but Khashoggi probably underrated what the Saudi authorities could do to him, especially with the acclaimed new wave of reform. A citizen should ordinarily run to their embassy for protection from danger! The murder brought back the sad memories of military dictatorship in Nigeria. Khashoggi’s fate is a reminder of the dangers journalists still face.

Disturbing.

AND FINALLY… Sometimes it is very easy to identify fake news, but the social media has done so much damage to our IQ that some people would believe anything, no matter how implausible and ridiculous. How on earth could Alhaji Lai Mohammed, minister of information, have said Nigeria would “invade” Israel because Nnamdi Kanu, the supreme leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), was allowed into the country? But before you could say Jack, the fake news was trending, with memes to boot. What next? That President Muhammadu Buhari has decided to pick the IPOB leader as his running mate in the 2019 presidential poll? Sure, some people will believe that too. Ludicrous.

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