SATURDAY 25TH MAY 2019

Emefiele Defends CBN’s Unconventional Forex and Devt Financing Policy Says it has helped price stability, real output growth Obinna Chima The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has again justified the unconventional monetary

policy approach the bank had adopted, particularly in forex market and development financing, saying it has helped to optimally balance the delicate objectives of

price stability and real output growth.

Emefiele, spoke yesterday at the Distinguished Leadership Programme Lecture Series, titled: "Up against the Tide:

Nigeria’s Heterodox Monetary Policy and the Bretton Woods Consensus," which he delivered at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State.

The CBN governor

explained that just like fiscal policy, monetary policy could, at a time when development challenges abound, complement the efforts of fiscal policy in employment

generation, wealth creation and attainment of other growth objectives.

The CBN governor told Continued on page 6

Seized $5.7m Were Cash Gifts to Patience Jonathan, Lawyer Tells Court‌ Page 6 Saturday 25 May, 2019 Vol 24. No 8811

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Alleged Share Manipulation: EFCC Raids MTN OfďŹ ce, Quizzes Mgt Staff Chika Amanze-Nwachuku and Emma Okonji Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday raided the head office of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc

in Falomo, Lagos over the scandal rocking the company’s recent listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Top management personnel of the company were said to have been interrogated by the operatives, who stormed the

telco’s corporate headquarters at about 4pm.

THISDAY gathered that the EFCC team had demanded for documents in connection with the share listing which were promptly provided to them.

Although no official of the EFCC and MTN could provide official statements on the matter, a source familiar with the deal, said the visit of the team from the anti-graft agency was sequel to the barrage of complaints from

“several unnamed brokers that the shares of MTN are not available for the public to buy despite the recent listing that was greeted by huge excitement.�

A stockbroker, who spoke on the matter last night said

the astronomical rise in the MTN shares few days after the listing, was a clear indication that some underhand deals must be in the offing.

There are also growing Continued on page 6

PDP Candidates to Be Declared Winners of Zamfara State Elections Monday Likely governor-elect Mutawalle, supporters, jubilate in Gusau Verdict tilts March 9 governorship elections in favour of PDP with 15 governors, APC now 14 Adedayo Akinwale and Alex Enumah in Abuja Following yesterday’s Supreme Court judgement that voided all votes cast for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 elections in Zamfara State, Dr. Bello Mutawalle of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 189,452 votes in the March 9 governorship election in the state looks good to be declared governor-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Monday.

All other candidates of the PDP in the state House of Assembly and the National Assembly elections conducted on February 23 and March 11, 2019 respectively are also to be declared winners on Monday

by INEC.

Justice Paul Adamu Galinji, who read the lead judgement, declared all votes cast for the APC as “wasted votes� and announced that all political parties with the second highest votes in the elections and the required spread, were elected to the various offices. “Only the votes of the PDP candidates and other qualified candidates will be tallied to determine total votes cast and work out spread. In this case, INEC has no option but to declare Mutawalle governor-elect, and other PDP candidates winners on Monday because they have met all the requirements. The other qualified candidates scored few votes,� said a source at an emergency Continued on page 6

Jonathan: Dickson Has Surpassed Expectation in Educational Devt... Page 8

HONOURING THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY...

President Muhammadu Buhari and Chairman, Forte Oil Plc, Mr. Femi Otedola when the President hosted some members of the business community to a breaking of Ramadan fast at the Presidential Villa in Abuja‌ yesterday

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Seized $5.7m were Cash Gifts to Patience Jonathan, Lawyer Tells Court It is wrong to tag the money proceeds of crime; nobody complained that cash is missing Davidson Iriekpen The $5.7m and N2.4bn seized from former First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were cash gifts which she received when her husband was in office and not proceeds of crime, her lawyer told a Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday.

Her lawyer, Chief Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), appealed to Justice Mojisola Olatoregun to dismiss the application by the EFCC, praying that the money be permanently forfeited to the federal government.

Adedipe argued that it was wrong for the EFCC to tag the money as proceeds of crime, when the former first lady had committed no crime and when

nobody complained that their money was missing.

The former First Lady told the Court that till dated, nobody has accused her of stealing money.

She therefore urged the court to order the release of the $5.7m and N2.4bn seized from her by the EFCC. Adedipe said such gifts were normal, pointing out that even the wife of President

Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha, was seeking to build a university.

The lawyer contended that Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud, which EFCC relied upon to seize Patience Jonathan’s funds, was only applicable to fraudsters. “It is not the law that if the EFCC finds money in an account and it doesn’t like the owner’s face, it comes to court and says

‘forfeit it’. “The government is at liberty to apply for forfeiture but the offence must be stated. “The first respondent is a wife to a former deputy governor, governor, vice president, and president. “Even the current occupier of the office of the First Lady wants to build a university. “In this country, First Ladies

enjoy a lot of goodwill. She (Patience Jonathan) stated that governors gave her money.

Nobody wrote that she stole their money,� the SAN said.

Adedipe said there was no justification for the money to be forfeited to the federal government, as the EFCC had not proved that Patience Jonathan stole money from the government or any individual.

of INEC thereby paving the way for the APC to participate in the election, winning the governorship, all National Assembly slots, as well as all the State Assembly seats.

However, the Court of Appeal in a Judgment held that the APC was not qualified to participate in the 2019 general election because it did not conduct valid primary election required by law to produce candidates for the election.

The appellate court in its ruling had held that there were irregularities in the conduct of the APCprimaries in the state and upheld the decision of INEC that APC cannot field candidates in the election.

Consequently, INEC halted the issuance of Certificates of Return to all APC members who emerged victorious in various elective positions in the state, including the governorship.

Dissatisfied with the Judgment of the Court of Appeal, the then governor-elect, Shehu and 37 others approached the Supreme Court to upturn the judgement of the Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division.

Matawalle has commended the judiciary for standing up to the truth in the discharge of its responsibilities.

In a statement signed by one

of his aides, Umar Mohammed, Matawalle said: “The judgement is a testimony that the judiciary has remained fair in the discharge of its responsibilities. “I wish to congratulate the people of Zamfara State, especially PDP supporters, for remaining peaceful and orderly throughout the time we sought redress in the courts. “I assure you that we will not fail in this confidence reposed in us and I want to appeal to all people in the state to continue to be law-abiding as we transit into the new government,� he said.

Also reacting to the new development, the state’s outgoing Deputy Governor, Ibrahim Wakkala, commended the Supreme Court judgement, describing it as “a landmark achievement for the nation’s democracy.�

Wakkala, who contested for the governorship position but lost out because he was not supported by his principal (the outgoing Governor Abdulaziz Yari), later joined seven other aspirants all within the APC and formed a faction which fought the governor and his supporters.

Meanwhile, supporters of the PDP as well as those of other political parties in the state have taken to the streets in jubilation over the Supreme Court judgement.

Residents of Gusau, the state capital, mostly youths, trooped to the streets bearing posters of the PDP.

However despite the alleged manipulation of the MTN shares, the telecoms industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has declared confidence in the shares listing.

The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, while speaking at the valedictory service organised for the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu in Abuja recently, said through the MTN’s listing on the NSE, the Commission had translated into action,

an important function of the Commission, which is to promote local investment and ownership in the telecom sector. “With MTN shares available in the capital market, Nigerians will buy shares and by purchasing the shares of MTN, they will be financially empowered and be socially transformed. We consider this a very important milestone in translating the function of the NCC into reality, as enshrined in the Nigerian Communications Act 2003," Danbatta said.

the global financial crisis, many central banks have begun to promote structural transformation and economic growth, beyond the singular mandate of price stability.

"Consequently, policy toolkits now contain instruments that are aimed at developing the financial sector, engendering wider financial inclusion, and aligning financial policies with sustainable development and growth."

Emefiele, stressed that the development finance initiatives of the central bank was aimed at growth driving and employment generating sectors, which he said had equally not gone down well with the proponents of

conventional monetary policy tools.

He, however, noted that critics of unconventional monetary policy had acknowledged that measures adopted by the CBN have had a positive impact on output and employment, "they assert that these tools constitute quasi-fiscal activities."

Furthermore, he said: "In the view of some critics for instance, our forex policies constitute exchange restrictions, rationing of forex, discretionary allocation based on priority categories, and a multiple currency practice. Many are also unaccepting of our 41 items restriction and its recent increase to 43 items, regardless of its apparent successes.

PDP CANDIDATES TO BE DECLARED WINNERS OF ZAMFARA STATE ELECTIONS MONDAY meeting summoned by INEC immediately the Supreme Court verdict was delivered.

The source added: “For example, it implies that in the governorship election, the 534,541 scored by Mukhtar Shehu of the APC will be deleted in determining the total votes cast and the new figure used to compute spread for the governorship poll.

Analysts argued further that the judicial proclamation of the Supreme Court was watertight and left the APC and INEC with no room for mischief.

Without much ado, all the odds are in favour of the PDP which has succeeded in adding another state to the ones it already had.

At the end of the governorship polls on March 9, the APC won 15 states out of the 29 competed for, while the PDP won 14.

But with the Zamfara verdict, the PDP now has 15 of the 29 states, while APC is now second with 14 states.

PDP’s 15 states from the 2019 elections are now Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta, Imo, Taraba, Rivers, Benue, Sokoto, Bauchi, Adamawa and Zamfara.

APC 14 states from the same elections are Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Yobe, Lagos, Ogun, Borno, Kaduna, Kano and Plateau.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr.

Festus Okoye, in a statement yesterday said that the commission would make its final decision on the judgement known on Monday.

Okoye added: "The Commission will meet again tomorrow, Saturday 25th May 2019 to further deliberate on the issues arising from the said judgment.�

In a unanimous judgment by the five-member panel of Justices, the Supreme Court held that the APC failed to conduct primaries in accordance with the rules guiding political parties.

The decision voided the victory of Alhaji Mukhtar Shehu of the APC, who polled 534,541 to defeat Mutawalle. It also voided the victories of all the candidates of the APC in the Zamfara State and National Assembly elections.

Since PDP candidates came second in all the positions contested, its votes automatically form the bulk of the valid votes, going by the judgement of the Supreme Court, which described the votes recorded for APC as ‘wasted votes'.

It also implies that the PDP candidates have the required legal spread, considering the fact that the battle is now between them and other candidates with very low votes.

For example, in the governorship election, the PDP came second and its share of the total votes, less APC's wasted votes, is over 60 per cent of the

new valid votes cast, across the 14 LGAs of Zamfara State.

Reacting to the verdict, counsel to the respondent, Kabiru Marafa, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, said the decision would deepen, widen and strengthen the country’s democracy.

Ozekhome added that one lesson that should be learnt from the judgment was that parties must maintain internal democracy and cannot whimsically, capriciously and arbitrarily operate outside their constitution, guidelines, the Electoral Act and the Constitution. “The Supreme Court has redefined our jurisprudence, showing that when a party damages its primaries, it can never reap the proceeds of its illegalities. That is why and how the PDP that came second has today produced the governor, all senators, all House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates today in one fell swoop.�

Atiku Hails Judgement The Presidential candidate of the PDP in the just concluded elections, Atiku Abubakar, has lauded the judgment of the Supreme Court on Zamfara State elections, saying it has upheld the rule of law and done justice.

He also congratulated Matawalle and the people of Zamfara, who he said would finally have a government that

will address the issues that have made life an ordeal in the state.

The former vice president in a statement issued yesterday by his media aide, Paul Ibe, commended the Supreme Court Justices for putting aside the interests of the powerful and upholding the interests of Nigeria and Nigerians.

Marafa Says it's Victory for Democracy A member of the National Assembly, Senator Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara Central), has described the judgement of the Supreme Court on Zamfara APC candidates’ tussle as a big victory for democracy.

He also described the apex court judgement as not only a victory for Zamfara State but for Nigeria as a whole.

He declared that no matter how long, truth will always prevail over falsehood.

"As we all know, the APC was unable to conduct primaries in Zamfara State. With this, lesson has been served that only strict adherence to rule of law and due process will take the country to the next level, as being advocated

by President Muhammadu Buhari.�

The APC had dragged INEC before a Zamfara High Court over its decision to exclude its candidates in Zamfara from the 2019 general election.

The Zamfara High Court, however, set aside the decision

Matawalle Celebrates, Commends Judiciary

ALLEGED SHARE MANIPULATION: EFCC RAIDS MTN OFFICE, QUIZZES MGT STAFF concern among the top players in the Nigerian bourse that if MTN shares continue to climb at such astronomic rate, they stand the risk of being displaced from their vantage positions as market leaders.

When contacted, the Senior Manager, External Relations at MTN Nigeria, Mr. Funso Aina said the company would issue an official statement on the issue. “We will issue a statement very soon�, Aina said in an SMS to THISDAY last night.

But as at the time of filing this report, the company was yet to release any official statement on the issue.

Also, acting spokesman of the EFCC, Tony Oriade, told THISDAY last night he would get in touch with the Lagos office to be able to give accurate account of what transpired. As at press time, he was yet to get back.

MTN had on May 16, listed its shares on the NSE by way of an introductory listing. The listing by introduction meant

that the shares of existing MTN Nigeria shareholders were listed without an additional public sale of shares. By this development, all MTN Nigeria shareholders are free to trade their shares on the NSE. But investors and stakeholders have been expressing worries about the free float accommodation MTN Nigeria Communications Plc was granted by the capital market regulators to pave the way for its listing.

Their concerns stemmed from

the fact that the price of MTN shares would be sold at high premium and those waiting to buy the shares through an Initial Public Offering (IPO), would be forced to buy them at very high cost, whenever the telecoms company decides to float the IPO. The investors feared that the shares of MTN Nigeria have been manipulated to drive the price of the stock very high before any share offering through an IPO.

EMEFIELE DEFENDS CBN'S UNCONVENTIONAL FOREX AND DEVT FINANCING POLICY his audience that much of the successes the apex bank achieved in the past few years were partly due to the adoption of heterodox macroeconomic policies.

He highlighted countries such as the United States of America, Brazil, among others, that had to rely on unconventional monetary in times of economic difficulties to resuscitate growth.

"Within the CBN, our unconventional methods (especially in the management of the forex market and our development financing) supported by the orthodox approaches (in the form of our timely adjustments of monetary policy rate) have been able to optimally balance the delicate objectives of price

stability and real output growth.

"We will continue to develop policy instruments and device ways of ensuring that an optimal mix of heterodox policies is continually deployed to engender the overall wellbeing and prosperity of the Nigerian economy. Our overall aim remains the concurrent attainment of price stability, real growth, full employment, and poverty reduction," he added.

Emefiele, who recalled the challenges that confronted the Nigerian economy in 2016, when it slipped into recession as well as various initiatives and policies that were introduced to revive the economy, noted that in April 2017, the Investors and Exporters' (I&E)

window, which allowed investors and exporters to purchase and sell foreign exchange at the prevailing market rate played a vital role in this regard.

He further added: "In addition, exchange rate management was further liberalised following the operationalisation of the, 'Revised Guidelines for the Operation of the Nigerian Inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market,' in June 2016.

The commencement of this policy guideline introduced the Naira Settled Foreign Exchange Futures Market.

"Relative to our peers, the favourable outcomes and strengthening outlook of the Nigerian economy is traceable to the timeous adoption on

non-traditional policy methods.

The CBN has been able to reduce inflation, build our forex reserves, maintained forex market stability, and foster real growth.

Nonetheless, challenges still remain. The pace of population growth at about 2.6 per cent still outstrips real growth rate while inflation is outside our tolerance band. Unemployment rate and incidence of poverty remain at unacceptable levels.

"As many of us already know, balancing the objectives of price stability with output stabilisation, especially in the face of external headwinds, remains a challenge to monetary policy and central banks, particularly in emerging and developing economies. Since

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Ă?ĂĄĂ? ĂŽĂ“ĂžĂ™Ăœ Ahamefula Ogbu 08116759810 (Ă?Ă—Ă? Ă™Ă˜Ă–ĂŁĚš Ă—Ă‹Ă“Ă– ahamefula.ogbu@thisdaylive.com

EDUCATION AS BEDROCK...

L- R: The Managing Director, AITEO Eastern Exploration and Production Company Ltd, Mr. Victor Okonkwo who represented the company’s Vice Chairman; former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan; and the Governor of Bayelsa State, Henry Seriake Dickson, at the launch of the Bayelsa State Education Development Trust Fund in Yenagoa... yesterday

Again, Fayemi Floors Olusola at Supreme Court Opponent congratulates winner but insists he was robbed Adedayo Akinwale Ă“Ă˜ ĂŒĂ&#x;ÔË Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽ Victor Ogunje Ă“Ă˜ ĂŽĂ™ ÕÓÞÓ Governor Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has again defeated his rival, Kolapo Olusola of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the apex court in Nigeria on Friday upheld his victory at the 2018 Ekiti State governorship election.

However, former deputy governor of Ekiti State and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the last governorship election, Prof.

Kolapo Olusola, has congratulated Governor Kayode Fayemi on his victory at the Supreme Court but insisted the poll was rigged.

The five-man panel of the Supreme Court which heard the appeal of the PDP against the outcome of the 2018 governorship

election upheld Fayemi’s election, after it dismissed the appeal of the PDP’s candidate for lacking merit.

The judgment of the five-man panel presided over by the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, was read by Justice John Okoro.

The apex court affirmed the judgments of both the Ekiti State Election Petition Tribunal and the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, which had both dismissed the petition challenging the outcome of the July 2018 Ekiti State governorship election. “I am satisfied to hold that there is no merit in this appeal.

It has to be noted that the two courts had dismissed the appeal.

This court is therefore hesitant to intervene with the concurrent findings of the lower court and the tribunal. “The court can only intervene

Herdsmen Harass Ondo Monarch in Palace James Sowole Ă“Ă˜ Ă•Ă&#x;ĂœĂ?

For reporting incessant destruction of farmlands in his area to the police, Fulani herdsmen reportedly stormed the palace of Onigedegede of Gedegede, Oba Walidu Sanni, in Akoko in Akoko North West Local Government Area of Ondo State and harassed the monarch.

The invasion of the palace by nine hefty herdsmen was said to have attracted the attention of the people of the community, who mobilised to confront the men.

However, it was gathered that prompt intervention of the Ondo State Government saved what could have resulted in a clash between herdsmen and the community.

According to the monarch, Oba Sanni, farmers in the area had been suffering from incessant destruction of their farmlands due to grazing of animals by Fulani

herdsmen.

The monarch said he reported the case to the Divisional Police Officer, Okeagbe, Mr. Johnson Akintola after a gun and a cutlass was seized from a herdsman.

The monarch said he also reported the matter to the Chairman of the Akoko North West Local Government, Mr. Samson Akande and some Obas in the area and Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.

The report made the governor to have immediately directed his Special Assistant on Security Matters, Alhaji Jimoh Dojumo to attend a stakeholders’ parley to douse tension and apprehension in the council area and which culminated in a meeting.

Speaking at the meeting, Dojumo said carrying arms and ammunition were prohibited while grazing should be between 6a.m. and 6p.m.

in concurrent judgments if there is clear case of miscarriage of justice. In the instant appeal, there is no such evidence that the findings occasioned a miscarriage of justice,' Justice Okoro held.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Fayemi and the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner, having polled a total of 197,459 votes to defeat OlusolaEleka and the PDP who came second with 178,121 votes in the July 14, 2018 election.

Dissatisfied with the outcome, PDP and Olusola-Eleka had filed their petition before the Ekiti State Election Petition Tribunal which sat and delivered its judgment in Abuja.

The petitioners alleged among others in their petition that the election was marred by a lot of wrongs including non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

But the tribunal on January 28, 2019 dismissed their petition and affirmed the results declared

by INEC. The petitioners further appealed to the Court of Appeal, raising seven issues against the judgment of the tribunal.

But delivering judgment, Justice Stephen Adah who led the three-man panel of the Court of Appeal, resolved all the seven issues raised against the appellants in favour of Fayemi, INEC and APC, who were respondents in the petition.

Justice Adah dismissed the case for lacking in merit, a decision the two other members of the panel, Justices Tinuade Akomolafe, Wilson and Emmanuel Agim, consented to.

In their further appeal to the Supreme Court, the PDP and Olusola-Eleka, urged the apex court through their lawyer, Yusuf

Oyetola’s Has Renews Hope for Economic Prosperity, Says Primate The leadership of the African Church has commended the administration of Osun State Governor, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola, for its commitment to the welfare of the people The leadership of the Church said the good work of Oyetola’s administration had renewed the people’s hope for economic prosperity.

The Primate-elect of the African Church, Most Reverend Julius Abbe gave the commendation during a visit by the church leaders to the Governor in his office in Osogbo.

The clerics were received on behalf of the governor by the Deputy Governor, Mr. Benedict Alabi.

Secretary to the State Goverment, Prince Wole Oyebamiji and Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr.

Charles Akinola, were on the reception team.

The Church described as indelible, significant and enduring, the achievements recorded in all sectors in the last six months of Governor Oyetola’s administration.

Rev. Abbe who was the Arc Bishop of the Church in Osun before being elevated, expressed confidence in the Oyetola’s administration’s capability to reposition the state.

He said the leadership of the Church decided to visit the Governor in order to commend him for his good works and also encourage him and his team to do more.

The clergyman held that the Church had been following the remarkable events happening in the state since the emergence of the present administration.

Ali (SAN), to upturn the lower court’s judgment.

Olusola who said his own brand of politics was without bitterness but of development and service, called on all PDP members in the state to put the pain behind them and unite to move the party forward.

While thanking Ekiti people for standing by him all through the court cases, Olusola restated, “my consolation at this time is that the people of Ekiti, as well as Fayemi and the APC knew I was robbed and God being God, the true story shall be told someday by those who orchestrated the theft. “The least expectations of Ekiti people from Fayemi and APC now is that they should reduce the people’s pains by governing well so the people do not suffer double loss having now lost their mandate freely given. “I urge Ekiti people to maintain peace and keep hope alive, adding that everyone including himself will cooperate to move Ekiti forward as the state is greater than any individual.�

Olusola stated further, “I am committed to Ekiti, I am

going nowhere but will work side-by-side with my people until Ekiti is delivered from clutches of mindless and heartless vampires and election riggers. “I call to all true lovers of Ekiti that time for a broad coalition to free Ekiti from those mortgaging its interests and destinies to outside forces has come. I am prepared to play my part and together we shall win. Awolowo once said “after darkness comes glorious dawn.�

The former deputy governor was also full of praises for his boss, the former governor of the state, Chief Ayodele Fayose and as well all members and leaders of the PDP at the state, zonal and national levels for the unflinching support they gave him.

Olusola who again lost to the APC candidate in today’s ruling over an appeal filed by him said, “though we lost at the Supreme Court, this has not diminished our confidence in the judiciary as the last hope of the ordinary citizens out there. “Again I urge the good people of Ekiti to remain committed to the development of the state and trust in God for better days ahead.

2 Die, Others Hospitalised as Lassa Fever Hits Kogi Yekini Jimoh Ă“Ă˜ ÙÕÙÔË The Kogi State Government has disclosed that four cases of Lassa fever had been recorded in the state.

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Saka Haruna who was represented by Special Adviser on Health, Dr. .Ahmed Attah made this known while briefing newsmen in Lokoja. According to him, three of the reported cases were from Ibaji and One from Ijumu local government councils of the state.

Dr. Haruna said that two deaths were recorded among the positive cases. He noted that the state government took proactive measures to

control the situation by provision of Personal Protective Equipment.

Also, the state government provided ribavirin tablets for prophylaxis, provision of lassa fever treatment center with a well-equipped side laboratory.

The commissioner called on the people to report all cases of fever to the nearest hospital, wash hands thoroughly after contact with a sick person.

He also said people should avoid contact with rats, block all rat hideouts, Store foodstuffs in rodent proof containers, Cook all foods thoroughly, and always wash hands thoroughly before eating.

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Masari Signs Death Penalty Law for Kidnappers, Cattle Rustlers t As cleric says insecurity’ll be difficult to curb without birth control

Francis Sardauna inKatsina andVictor OgunjeinAdoEkiti As part of efforts to tackle banditry in Katsina State, Governor Aminu Masari yesterday signed into law an amended Penal code law prescribing death sentence for cattle rustling and kidnapping.

This is as an Islamic cleric , Abdul Azeez Abdufattah, has advised the federal government to initiate policy that would curb population explosion in the country as it was the only way to curb insecurity currently bedeviling

the country.

With this law in place in Katsina, rapists would also be sentenced to life imprisonment in addition to fine and compensation to the victims.

Masari, while speaking at the ceremonial signing of the law, said the law became necessary following the security challenges confronting the state.

The governor affirmed that the law was amended particularly in areas to do with kidnapping, cattle rustling, rape and other related offences.

"The decision to make these

offences serious with the above punishment cannot be over emphasised. We revisit the penal and procedural laws to deal with any suspect that may be found wanting.

"It is hoped and prayed that they will serve as deterrence to those that may be convicted. And those that have the intention of committing them," he explained.

According to the cleric, available statistics revealed that the country's population was about 210 million, pointing out that it may trigger societal evils except steps were

taken to tame geometric population upsurge.

Abdufattah added that the multidimensional security threats in the facets of banditry and insurgency in the Northern part of the country would continue to fester and difficult to overcome, if birth control mechanisms were not initiated.

Also, an Islamic scholar and a House of Assembly member elect in Ekiti State, Alhaji Hakeem Jamiu, stated that the country will continue to go deeper into the abyss of decadence without proper attitudinal change.

In Brief MoroophAlli,THISDAYFormerStaffPassesOn

A former sta of THISDAY Newspaper, Morooph Ola Alli is dead.

Morooph, who left the newspaper in 2011 as an Assistant General Manager, Production, died yesterday in Lagos after a protracted illness. He was buried yesterday evening after Jumat in accordance with Islamic dictates. As Computer Supervisor, Morooph taught most of the page planners and even editorial sta how to use various page planning softwares in the ‘90s when THISDAY pioneered, in Nigeria, the use of computers by journalists to ďŹ le stories.

Atiku Bagudu Heads APC Governors Forum

Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu has been elected the chairman of the Progressive Governors' Forum (PGF), a body that comprises all state governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He emerged at the meeting held onThursday at Imo State Government Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja.

A statement issued on Friday by the Director General Progressive Governors Forum, Salihu Moh. Lukman, said the Kebbi governor was unanimously elected as chairman of the Forum. "The election of Bagudu is in furtherance of the commitment of the Progressive Governors to deepen democratic governance in the country. Bagudu will provide leadership to PGF to realise the collective vision of the Progressive Governors to build a strong, democratic and inclusive APC," it said. Considering all the internal political challenges facing the APC, the statement said that under Bagudu’s leadership the forum "will mobilise all party members and by extension Nigerians towards expanding and deepening democratic structures of the party by focusing on initiatives to guarantee the development of participatory governance structures as well as the guarantee of transparent, credible decision making process within the APC". Bagudu succeeds the outgoing Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha.

...Giadom is APC’s Acting National Secretary

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has appointed Hon.Victor Giadom as the party’s acting National Secretary.

A statement issued on Friday by the National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Isa-Onilu, said Giadom would operate in that capacity pending when Yobe State nominates a replacement for the former National Secretary, Mai Mala Buni, who is the Governor-elect of Yobe State. Before the appointment, Hon. Giadom was the party’s Deputy National Secretary.

U.S. Department of State Marks Africa Day

BUSINESS MEETING R-L: Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; Founder/CEO, Eximia Realty Company Ltd., Hakeem Ogunniran; the company’s Chief Operating OďŹƒcer, Mrs. Obiagelli Ubahakwe-Nwasike; and Chairman, Eximia Realty Company Ltd., Prof Bamitale Omole, during Eximia management’s courtesy/business visit to the governor...recently

Dickson Has Surpassed Expectation in Educational Development, Says Jonathan

Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa

Former President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday eulogised the premium Governor Seriake Dickson placed on education where he noted that the huge investment in that sector surpassed expectations from leaders of the state.

Jonathan made the assessment at the formal launch of the Bayelsa Education Development Trust Fund (EDTF) also brought together political bigwigs and billionaires from the private sector in Yenagoa as almost all the aspirants in the coming governorship election in November met under one roof for the first time.

He said that the governor’s

decision to deploy the tool of education to the development and emancipation of the society was the right way to go.

The former president said the efforts of the present administration was in line with his educational policy in his time, to wrest the Bayelsa child from the claws of illiteracy when he was governor in 2006.

He noted that Education Development Trust would drastically change the story of Bayelsa as a state that was once listed among disadvantaged states. “We all know that the only way you liberate and uplift a people is through education. From where I started as a child, if I didn’t go to

school nobody would have known me outside my village but today l am known all over the world because I was able to go to school.

So supporting education is key. “Governor Dickson has done much higher than I projected in 2006 in terms of expansion of educational work. Today, let me also thank Governor Dickson for this initiative because most problems we have in governance is not scarcity of good ideas but how will that endure? “By setting up a board established by law has made the Education Development Trust Fund endure beyond his eight years in office and that really has made me very happy and my foundation will continue

to partner with this board,� he said.

Jonathan promised to use his influence to garner support for the fund which is backed by law and has renown prof. Turner Isoun as the Chairman of the board, assuring that as ‘chief collector’ he would make sure all those who made pledges pay up soon .

Aside Jonathan, others prominent personalities present were Mr. Keniebi Okoko, who donated N60 million to the fund, former Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Ndutimi Alaibe, who donated N90 million, Reuben Okoya, a representative of AITEO, Victor Okoronkwo, who donated N500 million on behalf of the company and several royal fathers.

VSF Impacts 26,000 People in BauchiStudentsLamentNonPaymentofScholarship forTwoYears Northeast throughAgriculture Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi The National Union of Bauchi State Students (NUBASS) has lamented the non-payment of scholarship to the over 1 million indigent students of the state studying in various tertiary institutions across the country for two years.

National President of the union, Comrade Ahmed Shehu Hassan made the lamentation yesterday while addressing Journalists on the matter.

Hassan also alleged that only one per cent of the approximate

1.5 million students of Bauchi State benefitted from the last two years payment of the scholarship adding that the beneficiaries were those who allegedly had connection in the state scholarship board. "This is because of the corruption in the board and is not unconnected with selfish interest of the then National President. It is very sad that scholarship and bursaries payment are being neglected by the government which is very important especially in this era where people are struggling for the common food to eat, payment of tuition fees is a problem," he said.

Michael Olugbode, inMaiduguri Victims Support Fund (VSF) is planning to impact 26,000 persons in the troubled Northeast with its rain-fed intervention.

The Fund under this scheme has slated 4,000 households affected by Boko Haram in three most devastated states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

Speaking during the inauguration of the scheme in Garbula, Biu local govern-

ment area of Borno State, the Executive Director of VSF, Prof. Sunday Ochoche said the scheme was in continuation of the implementation of its 2019 programmes targeted at restoring livelihood to victims of insurgency.

He added that the scheme was aimed at improving food security, and empower the beneficiaries to have a source of livelihood in order to reduce dependence on charity for survival.

This Saturday marks Africa Day, the annual commemoration of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity, now the African Union. “In the 56 years since the AU was formed, the continent has made significant democratic and economic strides. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to the AU’s vision for a free and prosperous continent, and the United States will continue to promote stronger trade and commercial ties with Africa. We are proud of our partnership with the governments and people of Africa, and we’ll continue to work with them to advance our common interests and goals,� a statement from the department said.

CSOs Protest Edo Electricity Theft Bill

Angered by the details of a bill for a law against electricity theft before the Edo State House of Assembly, a coalition of the state Civil Societies, yesterday kicked against the bill. The activists who wore black attires during the action, carried placards with different inscriptions pelted the assembly complex named after the late natioalist, Chief Anthony Enahoro, with tomatoes oranges and other fruits. The bill, christened Electricity Theft Offence, prescribes a special court for electricity consumers in the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) who bypass meters and engage in illegal connection. Led by Leftist Omobude Agho, the protesters in their hundreds also in marched through the major streets of the Edo State capital before heading to Government House.

Fight Fake News Using Fact-Checking

PremiumTimesCentreforInvestigativeJournalism(PTCIJ)hastaskedNigerian journalists on the need to use fact checking to curb the spread of misinformation, better known as fake news in Nigeria. The centre defined fact checking as a genre of journalism used to verify the authenticity of claims made by public office holders to ascertain their veracity and correctness. Resource persons at a workshop organised by the centre for journalists covering criminal justice and anti-corruption sector held in Awka, Anambra State tasked journalists to use fact checking to distinguish themselves from citizen journalists and also phasing out deliberate spread of misinformation.

Mormons Expand in Abia With the inauguration of Umuahia South Nigeria Stake, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) are poised to further spread the gospel of love, care and good citizenship in Abia state. This was proclaimed at the inauguration of the Umuahia South Nigeria Stake during the 6th annual stake conference of the Umuahia Nigeria Stake of Zion from which the new stake was carved out. A stake is equivalent of a diocese in some churches. The Umuahia South Nigeria Stake is the second in the capital city of Abia, and the 53rd stake of the Mormons in Nigeria as a whole.

Nnenna Children’s Day Show

The 27th of May 2019 promises an amazing experience for children and their families as Nnenna, the No 1 Brand for Children Entertainment in Nigeria, wouldbeputtingtogetheramagnificentshowattheNnenna&FriendsChildren’s day show 2019.The expected 3,000 attendees of the event would be treated to musical performances from the N-Stars and PEFTI Band; Nigeria’s Number One Comedy Group Papa Ajasco & Company would be live on stage to make everyone laugh; rib-cracking stand-up comedy by the hilarious MC Prince, Short Family and there would be outstanding School performances as well. “Every member of the family is sure to go home with unforgettable memories as well as attractive prizes and gifts courtesy the numerous corporate bodies, including Cadbury Bournvita, Tommy Riopop, Viju Milk, Rite Foods, Checkers

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER Ëž ÍşÍ˝Ëœ ͺ͸͚Î

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NEWS

CPWA Congratulates EmeďŹ ele on Re-Appointment as CBN Governor Ugo Aligo

BROTHERHOOD ACROSS FAITH ...

L-R: The State Commissioner of Police, Suleiman Balarabe; Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Duties and SDGs, Mrs. Mabel Agbo; Enugu State Governor, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; Special Assistant to the Governor, Bala Ardo and the governor’s Executive Assistant, Hajia Hadiza, during the Jummat prayers for Ugwuanyi’s successful 2nd term inauguration, held at the Central Mosque, Owerri Road, Enugu, yesterday

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Pensioners’ Welfare Association (CPWA) has felicitated with the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, on his reappointment as the CBN governor.

According to a statement jointly signed and made available to THISDAY by the CPWA Chairman, Bayo Ademola and the General Secretary, Felix Obi, the decision by President Muhammadu Buhari to reappoint Emefiele and the swift confirmation by the Senate was an indication that the CBN governor had performed well in the first term.

The statement also commended Emefiele for achieving exchange rate stability, which it noted had stabilised at N360 to a dollar in the parallel market for over two years now. “Your reappointment by the President in the first place and the subsequent very swift confirmation by the Senate is a veritable testimony to the fact of their assessment and verdict that your overall performance during your first term was satisfactory. We candidly hold the same view,� the statement noted.

Ademola and Obi further

lauded the active intervention of the CBN, under Emefiele’s leadership in promoting increased agricultural productivity especially rice production.

The statement explained that Emefiele’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) had resulted in enhanced rice output, thereby reducing the outflow of scarce foreign exchange that would have been required for large scale importation of the commodity.

According to the statement, “For all these and more, we heartily hail your reappointment. We only hope that you will even do better in your second term as you have promised to extend the CBN’s interventionist agenda to other sectors of the economy such as the revival and enhancement of palm oil, cotton and cocoa production in the course of your second term. “On our own part as the CBN pensioners, before now, we had prayed for this to happen, we are therefore particularly happy with your reappointment primarily for the simple for the fact that you are already conversant with our problems that is matters relating to our welfare which have long presented to you and awaiting your necessary action.

2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup: Nigeria Udom, Kalu Blaze the Trail for Indigenous Enterprise Centre in Flying Start, Pummel Qatar 4-0 Kunle Adewale The Flying Eagles’ dream of winning the U-20 World Cup for the first time having been runners up twice (1989 and 2005) started on a splendid note as the Coach Paul Aigbogun tutored players defeated Asian representative Qatar 4-0 to place themselves in a good stead of qualifying for the knockout stages of the competition.

Two goals in each half before a scanty crowd inside the Mjieski Stadium, Tychy, was all the Flying Eagles needed against Qatar in

Mary Nnah

the opening match of Group D of the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland.

Aigbogun sent out presumably his strongest line-up for the tricky clash, with Muhammad Tijani and Henry Offia leading the lines, with Bournemouth’s starlet, Nnamdi Oforboh only good for a bench role.

Maxwell Effiom, one of the most influential players during the team’s last tournament in Niger gave his side the lead 12 minutes into the game when he tapped home after Qatari goalkeeper, Shehab Mamdouh could

only parry skipper Ikouwem Utin’s delivery into his path.

The Flying Eagles remained on the ascendancy and doubled their tally before the half hour, Utin the provider yet again showed class after he held off his marker to play in Offia who finished with aplomb.

Qatar did have their chances.

Zulkifilu Rabiu catapulted himself across the Tychy turf to make an outstanding block from Yusuf Abdurisag, and Nigeria goalkeeper Olawale Oremade was alert to break up a three-on-one break from which the underdogs

should have made more.

Manchester City starlet, Tom Dele-Bashiru however added a third after the break, slotting home a brilliant effort to cap off a scintillating showing in the middle of the park for his side, while defender Aliyu Salawudeen rounded off the scoring in the 74th minute when he stabbed in the fourth from substitute Akor’s header to compound the woes of their opponent.

The teams would return to action on Monday, when Qatar play Ukraine and Nigeria take on USA.

Nigeria Air: FEC a Cohesive Body, Can’t be Divided, Says Sirika Kasim Sumaina Ă“Ă˜ ĂŒĂ&#x;ÔË The Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika on Friday, took a swipe on his Transportation counterpart, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi on his recent outburst that the botched National Carrier, the Nigeria Air which was suspended midway, divided the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

According to Sirika, the

Nigeria Air project had the full support of Council which deliberated on it and approved.

Sirika in a statement by the Deputy Director of Press, Ministry of Transportation, Mr. James Odaudu, in Abuja, said: “The attention of the Minister of State for Aviation Senator Hadi Sirika has been drawn to reports in a section of the media quoting the Honourable

Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi to the effect that the Federal Executive Council has been divided over the mode of implementation of the National Carrier project. “It is the belief of the Minister of State for Aviation that the Honourable Minister of Transportation was misquoted by the media in this respect, as the Federal Executive Council is one

cohesive body that cannot be divided over any issue.�

Sirika said: “President Muhammadu Buhari directed that the Viability Gap Funding for the project be provided for in the 2019 Appropriation which the National Assembly has graciously done.�

He regretted the media mix-up and assured the general public, and, more importantly,

Tinubu Congratulates Fayemi, Seeks Promotion of Fiscal Federalism All Progressives Congress National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has congratulated Governor Kayode Fayemi over his election as the new Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.

Asiwaju Tinubu expressed confidence in the Ekiti State governor to deliver on the assignment given his credentials, competence, integrity and fine leadership ability.

In a letter to the governor Tinubu personally signed and

released on Friday by his Media Office, the APC leader urged Governor Fayemi to properly reposition the NGF “to contribute positively to national development, advance the frontiers of important issues such as fiscal federalism and support President Muhammadu Buhari in the task of taking the country to the Next Level�.

The letter reads: “Please accept my congratulations over your unanimous election as the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’

Forum. “Your election is a mark of respect for you by your colleagues and confidence in your ability to lead them meritoriously for the next two years. “Having known and related with you over the years, I’m certain that you will perform creditably well given your impeccable credentials, competence, integrity and fine leadership ability. “Your experience as Governor of Ekiti State in the first term,

Minister of Mines in Abuja and your remarkable comeback as Governor for a second term have all enriched you for this assignment. “I hope and pray that you will build a team that will properly position the NGF to contribute positively to national development, advance the frontiers of important issues such as fiscal federalism and support President Muhammadu Buhari in the task of taking the country to the Next Level�.

The Governor of AkwaIbom State, Udom Emmanuel and former Governor of Abia State and Senator-elect, Dr. Orji Uzo Kalu, will be the dramatis personae at the inauguration of first indigenous Enterprise Centre powered by Southern Atlantic Polytechnic, Uyo, today.

The founder of the polytechnic and General Overseer of Royal House of Faith, Pastor Bassey James, disclosed this at media chat ahead of the inauguration today.

Pastor James, who is also the Chancellor of the polytechnic, explained that the Enterprise Centre was primarily established to combine what he described as abundant local technology and state-of-the-art technologies from industrialised economies with a view to building capacity and spark off industrial revolution in South-south, South-east and Nigeria in general.

According to Pastor James, the inauguration would also offer an avenue to celebrate home grown business gurus, who eventually made it to the level renowned world class billionaires and entrepreneurs.

He said: “We are also looking at the calibre of people we are bringing. For instance, former Governor of Abia State and Senator-elect, Dr. Orji Uzo Kalu, is a multi-billionaire businessman who became rich when he was less than 20 years. “I have worked with him since 1989. I studied him like a book and I discovered the ingenuity in him and we said this kind of person should come and talk to the youths on how he was able to build his business empire from nothing to this greatness. “And he has agreed to come; to speak on the business revolution, possibilities, focus and entrepreneurship spirit which he has. He is coming to put fire in our bones and hearts to drive

Withdraw Case against Wike, Rivers Fathers Tell Awara Ernest Chinwou Ă“Ă˜ Ă™ĂœĂž Ă‹ĂœĂ?Ă™Ă&#x;ĂœĂž In line with the post-election peace initiative by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, the Kula Supreme Council of Traditional Rulers has appealed to the Governorship Candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2019 general election in the state, Biokpomabo Awara, to withdraw his case at the Election Petition Tribunal challenging the re-election of the governor.

Wike had polled 888,264 votes to defeat the AAC candidate who polled 137,859 votes in an election that was suspended for three weeks over allegation of widespread disruption of the electoral process.

The Chairman of the Kula Supreme

Council of Traditional Rulers, King Kroma Amabibi Eleki, Sara XIV, Amanyanabo of Kula and the Secretary, King Bourdillon Allen Ekine, Oko XXVIII, Amanyanabo of Opukula (Old Shipping) during a courtesy visit on the AAC governorship candidate in Abuja said it was time to end divisive politics and fighting in Rivers State.

Eleki appealed to the AAC candidate, whom he referred to as their son, to accept the Olive Branch offered by the governor in the overall interest of peace and development of Rivers State.

He said their decision to seek out of court solution to the Rivers State governorship tussle was borne out of a genuine desire to reduce political tension in the state and insecurity occasioned by political activities.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ MAY 25, 2019

SUPER SATURDAY

Tamar Braxton Finds Real Love in Nigeria’s David Adefeso American R and B singer, Tamar Braxton, has found real love in Nigeria’s David Adeyemi Adefeso. Tamar, sister to Toni Braxton, is hooked to the Nigerian financial prodigy, writes Ferdinand Ekechukwu

Tamar and Adefeso

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ MAY 25, 2019

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SUPERSATURDAY Tamar Braxton Finds Real Love in Nigeria’s David Adefeso

Y

ou can possibly tell of a woman who is deeply in love with her man from the way she acts or speaks about him and truly so is Tamar Braxton, the youngest of the American Braxton sisters: “He’s so fine I can’t take it sometimes. He’s like a whole snack, a lunchable. He lives in LA. He’s originally from Nigeria but he has lived here for a while. He went to Harvard Business School. He’s so super-duper smart. He’s so amazing. I’m so proud of him. He’s so kind,” she vouched to Wendy Williams during an appearance on her talk show last September.

Tamar and Adefeso stole the show last Saturday at the 2019 Afro Ball in Los Angeles, The media personality, Tamar, stunned in long Ankara dress as she posed with her Nigerian boyfriend at the event. Harvard-trained Adefeso is a multi-millionaire financial consultant.

Tamar appears hell hooked to the Nigerian. It’s the first love interest she had shared after splitting from her nine years marriage with Vince Herbert. Their divorce is yet to be finalised. The Grammy nominee appears to be having a new lease of life, loving herself all and gushing about her new man whom she has been in a relationship with since May 2018. So it was all newsy when she chose the Braxton Family Values Season 6 premiere party, to go public with her relationship with her new man.

Tamar Braxton and Vincent Herbert’s tumultuous relationship (which was shown on Braxton Family Values) ended when she filed for divorce in 2017. The

former couple is currently seeking joint custody of their son, Logan Vincent Herbert (born 2013). Sometime in 2018, Tamar’s new relationship was doing the rounds on the rumour mill. She was playing coy about her rumored new relationship on social media without revealing her new man’s identity.

The 42-year old would then make the big reveal less than a day after she first announced that she and her mystery African man had broken up. She had earlier said that she was single again and ready to mingle. In a follow-up post, she had also asked her followers not to trust anyone. This post had led to rumours that her Nigerian lover must have scammed her. That changed when Tamar appeared on The Wendy Williams Show in September 2018.

She admitted that she had been dating Adefeso for three months, since meeting him at a friend’s birthday party. “But it feels like forever”, emotionally laden Tamar had enthused. Adefeso was also in the studio but in a separate space on that day.

Adefeso was born on November 23, 1969. He was born and raised in Nigeria. He came to the U.S. when he was 21 and has been there since.

Adefeso said he first flew to New York City from Lagos with $250 in cash on him. He had no job, nor a place to live. Nonetheless, he was determined to succeed and prosper.

As regards his family’s view of his beau, Tamar said: “He’s really kind of, like, hard to not love because he’s a great guy, he comes from a great family, he has great

morals. He loves my son to pieces and we get along great, and he’s great. But Y’ all won’t see David up and through this new season. You won’t see a whole lot of him,” she stressed, saying “Only because I’m not ready to divulge everything. It’s new… I kind of just want to keep it to myself for as long as I possibly can.”

She also added that David is private and is “adjusting” to this new spotlight: “He’s definitely adjusting, but he’s not, like, a television person.”

Once the American singer was impelled to defend her new Nigerian boyfriend after a social media user warned her that he might be married back home in Nigeria. That was immediately after she had revealed on Twitter that she was dating a Nigerian guy whom she had just met.

After sharing the post on Twitter, one of her followers tried to warn her that the relationship might seem rosy, until she discovers he is legally married to another Nigerian.

As the troll opined, “It’s all fun and games till you find out they are legally married to a tribe of women in Nigeria.” But Tamar who has been married twice quickly came to his defense and further revealed that they would be coming to Nigeria together very soon for his mom’s birthday.

Born March 17, 1977, Tamar is a singer, songwriter, media personality and reality television star. She began her career in 1990 as a founding member of The Braxtons, an R&B singing group formed with her sisters. The Braxtons released their debut album, So Many Ways, as a trio in 1996, and disbanded shortly afterward in 2000.

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T H I S D AY • SATURDAY MAY 25, 2019

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ÍşÍ˝Ëœ ͺ͸͚Π˞ THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

INSIGHT

Waiting for the Presidential decree...

ICPC : Corrupting the N2.5bn News

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didn’t violate FG White Paper-ICPC as well as FG approved N2.5bn for he ICPC should have learnt lessons on the ills of trial-by-media by DSO project-witness tells court; Information Minister approved payment of now, but the contrary is evident. It all began when it put out a press N2.5bn to Pinnacle for Digital Switch Over-witness (Vanguard), National release in November last year announcing that it had uncovered a DSO Launched with Pinnacle facilities, equipment-Witness and NBC trial: N2.5 billion fraudulent payment by the National Broadcasting ComNo petition over N2.5bn DSO payment-ICPC investigator. mission (NBC) to Pinnacle Communications Limited under the Digital Switch Haba ICPC ! From these headlines, you don’t need an ICPC investigator Over (DSO) from analogue television broadcasts in Nigeria. Such a sensational to know that there is a world of difference in fact and projection between statement on a major national media project immediately went viral but it what the ICPC dished out on its website and what actually transpired almost instantly also turned out to be so infected with viruses of unpardonable in court during the same proceedings involving the same witnesses. errors and utter falsehood that the image of the ICPC as an anti-corruption investigative body got comprehensively corrupted. Imagine ICPC “investigating� Obviously, the ICPC has deliberately propagated incomplete versions of the proceedings to mislead the public into latching onto its pre-meditated the DSO and declaring it to be about switching over “telephone lines�! agenda of incriminating the “culprits� not by due process, but by the The records are there so we will not delve into the distasteful details of hook-and-crook orchestration of a media “trial�. The ICPC’s focus is now that episode. Suffice it to recall that till date the ICPC has not found the on what Sir Lucky Omoluwa did with his money in his account since the decorum or rectitude to own up to its inadequacies by means of a humble issue of “fraudulent payment of N2.5 billion� has lost steam in court! Why retraction in the public interest. Instead it has stuck to its stigma of an a supposedly independent federal government anti-corruption agency unstoppable loose cannon, firing from all the wrong cylinders, but still should be so brazen in embarking on a campaign of calumny by abusing firing on! Amazingly, the ICPC persisted to the extent of framing charges its mandate against some individuals is itself a N2.5 billion question that and arraigning its “culprits� before an Abuja court, all the while revving will certainly be answered sooner or later. up the media hype on the N2.5 billion fraudulent payment by NBC to Since the hearings are still at an early stage and the leopards in ICPC are Pinnacle Communications Limited for DSO. unlikely to change their spotted suits, it will be interesting to see how far One would have expected the ICPC to end the trial-by-media after the court opened hearings on the matter and to thereafter base its press releases the trial-by-media can go in courting public opinion by deceptive manipuon an accurate reflection of proceedings or to let the free press report the lation of court proceedings and whether, at the end of it all, the temple of proceedings to the end. But, ICPC has turned its website to a parallel justice will prevail over the theatre of the absurd. court where it picks and chooses incomplete testimonies and disjointed Hamid Hendrix, Kaduna extracts of documents to propagate in its now unscrupulous determination to misrepresent proceedings and mislead the public about its prosecution of the case of its self-declared N2.5 billion fraudulent payment

by NBC. This is in sharp contrast to the hapless surrender of the arraigned “culprits� to the free press reportage of proceedings in the same court of public opinion to which the ICPC has now T H E SAT U R DAY N E W S PA P E R clearly shifted its focus in an extra-judicial bid to EDITOR YEMI ADEBOWALE give them a bad name long before the temple of DEPUTY EDITOR CHIKA AMANZE-NWACHUKU justice determines their fate.

MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO It was perplexing to observe the tone and DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOLAFE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI content of ICPC reportage of proceedings in the EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN matter in comparison to most newspaper and MANAGING EDITOR JOSEPH USHIGIALE on-line reports following the first two days of hearings after the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges. You can still find the two ICPC press releases under reference on its website titled Kawu’s payment of 2.5bn DSO fund to T H I S DAY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D Private Company Fraudulent– ex director and EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA N2.5bn DSO fund was shared to family, friends, GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, politicians-ICPC Witness respectively just as you ISRAEL IWEGBU, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU, EMMANUEL EFENI can browse reports on the same proceedings, DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS BOLAJI ADEBIYI, PETER IWEGBU, ANTHONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI quoting the same witnesses, by the free press SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH under headlines such as Modibbo Kawu’s ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS PATRICK EIMIUHI, SAHEED ADEYEMO Payment of N2.5b to Pinnacle didn’t violate DSO CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI white paper-ICPC Investigator;, Digital Switch DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO Over: ICPC Investigator Admits Error, Says TO SEND EMAIL: ďŹ rst name.surname@thisdaylive.com Payment of N2.5bn to Pinnacle Didn’t Violate FG White Paper; Alleged N2.5 bn Scam: Payment

Was Obasanjo Right At Oleh?

P

illorying President Olusegun Obansanjo for his insights into the vexing security issues plaguing us today, as was delivered at that Anglican Synod at Oleh in Delta State, does not do any good at all if the intentions of these directed criticisms are to hide the truth from general consideration.

Universal truth is so absolute that the act of truth-bending ultimately destroys the truthbenders. Why won’t the federal government “shameâ€? Obasanjo by curbing the Fulani menace and ďŹ xing Boko Haram for good? No, the mindset of this APC-led government is the end justiďŹ es whatever means these roving foreign terrorists can adopt to get a slice of the “national cakeâ€? of Nigeria the way late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua “settled those Niger Delta boys.â€? A point of note here: “those Niger Delta boysâ€? weren’t mindless killers in their righteous agitations for resource-sharing and that was why they could be convinced to forgo potentially destructive armed conicts and go for skills acquisition. But this is not so for those who are driven by religion, and that was why Obasanjo strongly emphasised the term “Islamisation.â€? It is actually scary about the spectre of a repeat of violent religious proselytisation aided by the sword, and that is why the world is sitting on edge right now and right-wing politics is growing in societies that feel directly threatened by alien religious invasion. The black man, and by extension Africa, have suffered immensely under the banner of religion that does not even regard the black man as “manâ€? in the true sense of the word but rather as some infra-intelligent ape-like being who should be “cleansedâ€? of his “black soul.â€? Otherwise, why is it that it is the black man and his descendants who had to do the dishonourable job of chopping off the heads of condemned criminals in a place like Saudi Arabia just like his slave forebears did?

Olusegun Obansanjo fears for Africa, and we should all be concerned too; when a sitting, very religious president is failing in his duties with regard to national security, the Saudis would immediately intervene by propping him up as a “living saintâ€? in the media so that criticism directed at him are deftly deected.

This should not be so at all.

Sunday Adole Jonah, Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State

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T H I S D AY • SATURDAY MAY 25, 2019

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Plus

Clement Mudiage Enajemo I’m Just Living My Life, I’m Having Fun… As a Fashion Designer, I Should Reflect My Style

GLOBAL SOCCER FAIRGROUND FASHION FILE SHOWBIZFLAIR

Alfred Adewale Martins In My 60 Years, I’ve Had No Cause to Feel Abandoned By God

pg. 29 pg. 36 pg. 22 pg. 45

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ MAY 25, 2019

PLUS

In My 60 Years, I’ve Had No Cause to Feel Abandoned

By God When Alfred Adewale Martins was consecrated Catholic Archbishop of Lagos in 2012, his choice was received with joy and applause because of his hard work and spiritual gift. Since the choice by the Holy See, the diocese has witnessed tremendous growth. The Abeokuta-born cleric will be 60 on June 1. Bayo Adeoye spent some time with His Grace and he spoke on preparations for his 60th birthday, his journey so far and many interesting issues. Excerpt:

H

ow are you feeling at 60?

In my 60 years, by his grace, I have had no cause to feel abandoned by God. Indeed, I have every cause to feel that His grace has been carrying me all along.

God has been like the wind behind the sails that is moving me. It’s a statement of thanksgiving to God in the first instance, gratitude to people who have been part of my life since the beginning, family, the church, the leadership of the church, the people and all those who had taught me one thing or the other all these years, that’s the greatest feeling.

Martins

Tell us a bit about your formative years?

I was born in Abeokuta at the Secret Heart Hospital, Lantoro. I went to St Augustine Catholic Primary School, after which I went to the Seminary in Ibadan. I was there as a boarding student. We returned home only on holidays. I chose to go to the major seminary at SS Peter and Paul in Ibadan. My formative years were between Abeokuta, Ibadan and Lagos.

During our formation years, we were part of the Lagos Archdiocese. My life was centred around those three places.

Growing up was very interesting because as young boys, we had opportunities to interact, personally and individually tell stories to feel the pulse of one another. We didn’t have distraction of play station games, Google and social media. So, it made us bond a lot. Looking back, I still

remember the story we told each other while growing up; that was one of the fascinating things about growing up. I am not saying Google and social media are bad; they have their own wonderful effect. Just mentioning that it was not part of my growing up.

I grew up in Abeokuta, it was a town in which people knew one another; families were connected. We were connected either by church or neighbourhood. It was a situation in which children never feel nobody is looking at them. Growing up also had the church as part and parcel of my life.

Your parents are devoted Catholics, when you made your decision of going to the seminary, what was their reaction?

My parents were happy that I choose to become a priest. We were two of us, my elder brother and I, who had attended the minor seminary, like a secondary school where we get prepared for going to the seminary.

They allowed both of us go even with the danger of both of us becoming priest. But he decided to leave and I choose to continue.

Was it a hard decision for you to make or you easily made up your mind?

Really, I think the trajectory of mine is such that the church has been part of it. I went to a catholic primary and secondary schools. For me, it was part of me already and I am happy I was not sent out. If not I would have been wondering what I would have done next.

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PLUS The Biggest Gift I Have Gotten Was the Gift of Faith from God At 60, what else do you want God to do for you?

First of all, I wish that God would continue to keep my feet on the path of faith. Practice of the faith, helping people to live on the faith and giving directions, helping to chart a path to help people to live their faith. What is someone’s purpose in life? The purpose of one’s life from the point of view of faith is to know God, to love and serve him and be with him in life to come. The fulfilment of my own purpose in life is that God would keep my feet on this path.

What has life taught you at 60?

Life has taught me that faith and practicing the faith is a very important part of life. No one can live a fruitful life without practicing the faith. Life has taught me that every individual human person is important and made in the image of God. What you do to each person is so important for how you will spend your life after this world. The relationship you have with people, how you treat them, respect and disrespect is important.

That is one of the things that life has taught me all these years. I have also learnt that it’s important to do the best possible, look through the lens of others, see and appreciate their point of view, help them to realise the position that you have, because living is that we are all inter connected. If we do not have the value and record of one another, we shall end up in big mess like the country is in a big mess.

Life has taught me that it’s important to be fair to all as part of justice. These are the things I have learnt in these years.  Talking about the country being in a big mess, insecurity, kidnapping, robbery, killings are all over the country.

As a Christian and catholic, what are your roles in advising government?

Let me say that as a Christian, Priest and Bishop, it’s not just a role, it’s an obligation to advise and give counsel to those who lead us. When I said that the country was in a mess, I am referring to the fact underlining some of these difficulties we have today; it is the fact that we don’t have adequate respect for others as people within the country. When a Yoruba man wants to talk about the Igbo man he has a fixed mentality about the Igbo man, likewise the Igbo man. The kind of respect we expect is an ability to listen to one another. This has been pulled to the background. We are constantly at war with one another; we have not harmonised our interest.

One of the causes is the inequity in the distributions of resources. The inadequate provision of education of children, all of these showing in the whole track of governance we have today. All the menaces are fall out of the basic lack of respect we don’t have as a nation. We need to build a nation within the country. We need our leaders to be at the forefront of it. If they are not on the forefront, troubles will keep happening.

 What was the biggest gift you ever got while growing up?

The biggest gift I have gotten was the gift of faith from God. That’s the greatest gift, nothing matches it. It’s not only for this world but for eternity.

The gift of the priesthood, that I can bear the treasure of priesthood. That is the greatest gift. Talking about gift from people, most especially, my parents, was a gift of a wrist watch from my father as a young boy. He had used the wrist watch for many years but handed it over to me. It’s very strong in my mind.  What do you think Government can do to foster love between Nigerians to build a nation like you said?

The problem is not religion based.

The problem is those who are using Christianity and Islam to feather their own personal interest; that’s where the problem is. I grew up in a place where the Christians and Muslims were living side by side. I keep on saying that back then, as Catholics, we were made to fill bottles with water that Muslims were going to use for prayers. The people are not the problem, leaders are responsible for it. They are fuelling the disparity between both religions. When some people feel a certain religion is being given more advantage over the other, naturally trouble begins. I can say when the membership of OIC was made known to people, that to my own understanding, was the beginning of the cleavage that we have now between the two religions. We hope the present administration will make an effort to disabuse the minds of people. If people make allegations of allocations of positions in government, it’s for the government to be able to discharge itself that they are not in anyway partial in the matter, particular, when they talk about positions that are critical to the life of the nation. The armed forces, the security agencies and ministries that impact directly on the life of the people, it is in the interest of government to disabuse the minds of the people.  Do you think this administration is doing enough to disabuse the minds of the people?

In his first tenure, that accusation was right. Many people including myself have heard opinion that he was not fair. We have heard people saying he is going to rewrite the wrong of the past which means that he accepted that he did the wrong thing. We are looking forward to a time when the situation would be corrected. Â When you grow much older, what are those things you so desire from God? Well, what I want from God is for him to guide my feet to the path of salvation. In the language of the church, the grace of final destination and also assist me to do the work

Martins

he has given me to do. I consider the work he has given me as Archbishop.

He gave me the task, so he will help me to carry out the task. I plead with him to help me. Â Do you have any fear about life?

If you talk about concerns, there are lots of concerns about security and inadequate provision of infrastructure, young people not having prospect for the future, there are concerns where all of this can lead us to. If you talk about fear, the only fear I have is to lose heaven. Â Can you share with us activities lined up for your 60th birthday on June 1?

It’s like a four day event, during that period, we would be engaging with the motherless baby homes, which are run by the “Sisters of Mother Theresa�. We will be there to eat and pray together. I will be with the Regina Old Peoples’ Home to interact

with our elders. There is going to be an evening of music. On the day of my birthday, 1st of June, there would be thanksgiving in the cathedral here and reception afterwards.  At 60, most people nurse one health issue or the other, can you Â?ÂŽÂ•Â•ČąÂžÂœČąÂ‘Â˜Â ČąĹ—Ĺ–Ĺ–Ć–ČąÄ™Â?ČąÂ˘Â˜ÂžČąÂŠÂ›ÂŽÇľ Well, nobody is 100% fit. But I can give thanks to God that I have a reasonably good health for a 60 years old. I really don’t have any issue so that’s one of the things I’m grateful for. He has kept me spiritually and physically over these years.  Do you have a meal routine or any exercise that has made you ÂœÂ?Š¢ȹÂ?Â‘Â’ÂœČąÄ™Â?ȹŠ—Â?ȹ‘ŽŠ•Â?‘¢Ǿ Medical people say a little bit of everything is good. It’s excess of any of those things that is harmful. A little bit of everything is what I take. As we say my own stomach is catholic, its able to take everything except the ones I don’t like the taste.

My Parents Were Happy That I Chose to Become a Priest

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PLUS

Clement Mudiaga Enajemo I’m Just Living My Life, Having Fun‌As a Fashion Designer, I Should Reect My Style Clement Mudiaga Enajemo, 50, or simply Mudi, is one of Nigeria’s most successful names in the fashion industry. The brand name, Mudi, is associated with creative African designs. He wasn’t born with silver spoon.

Mudi is a testament to hard work, and street sense. From his humble days at Adebakin in Ketu, Lagos, as dressmaker’s assistant, to his world class factory, showroom and headquarters in Anthony Village, Lagos, his works emphasise structure and purity of form.  He uses the most ingenious fabrics and rigorous tailoring techniques to painstakingly construct and envelope the manly form with ourish of couture. He’s grown to become an international fashion powerhouse, courtesy of his drives, passion, resolve to succeed and the knack for re-writing the African narrative.  Mudi shares the story of his life with Adedayo Adejobi

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PLUS I Sketched Designs for the Fun, I Never Knew it Would Become a Passion

Y

ou’ve been off the radar for a while now. So what have you been up to?

By the grace of God I’ve been working, doing what I enjoy doing. Creativity is a continuum, we have to keep evolving. Fashion is also evolving and the day I stop thinking that would be the end of Mudi.

the slant of the conversation, I asked to see him at home. On getting there, it almost turned to a quarrel between us.

In his house, he flared up saying, ‘you big man. What big man?  That office you’ve just built is entering your head.

How much have you made?’  I was shocked! I asked if he called me to come and I didn’t show up, he was mute.  So where is this coming from? He went as far as taking a swipe at the media who gave coverage to the office opening. At that point, I knew there was more to it. Life is a mystery. When people give you a ladder to climb and see that you are climbing too far, they’ll draw the ladder off. Some people become uncomfortable when you progress in life.

Another thing I’ve discovered in life is that some people whom you have so much regard for will step on your head.

I’ve learnt a lot, and still learning. Life is a mystery.

2018 has been a very unique year, what would you call the defining trends for fashion in this clime?

I don’t make clothes that are in trend. I make exclusive and timeless pieces that can stand the test of time. I don’t follow trend.

So what influences your inspiration?

I’m an artist who is expressing himself.

Doing well in the fashion industry, you must be creative, have passion for the job, and above all discipline and taste. Taste comes with knowing the right colours to pick. It’s close to style. As a designer, the clothes you make reflect your philosophy of life.

In all of this, what is your anchor?

Reliance on God. A member of the House of Assembly told me recently that they don’t see me in Delta State. Some people say I am too proud. If you call me to come, I will go. I’m not sure I need to kow-tow to anyone to get jobs. There is a difference between loyalty and sycophancy.

So where do you draw strength and inspiration from?

God and music. I listen to pure and undiluted African traditional Music. I listen to highlife, Senegalese, Congolese and Nigerian music. I listen to Sunny Ade, Osadebe and Salif Keita amongst a long list. Pure African music allows you to think. It’s introspective.  You come across as one with a strong spiritual inclination. Do you really know God? Religion is a personal thing. People have turned it around.  Your way of life must reflect who you really are. It’s not until you say it, it will show over time. I wouldn’t tell you I’m born again. But judge me on my attitude to life and people around me.

How have you kept your head above waters, especially with this uncertain economy?

Luckily for me, people must wear clothes in spite of the economy.

Buying power may have reduced, but God has been faithful with consistent clients. The economy will pick up.

If you weren’t doing Fashion, what would you be doing?  I like working with my hand.

May be I’ll be doing carpentry. I like invention. I like to create.

What influences your personal fashion?

Liberty and freedom to express myself.

I wear anything. As long as it appeals to me. I don’t go overboard. There are fashion rules. I must follow the rules. I am myself.

My philosophy about life is reflective in my dress sense.

When you look back, were you ever prepared for who and what you are now?

No.  It was difficult to predict at that time. During my secondary school days in government college, Ughelli, in my class, I was the best Arts and dressed student. 1993 was a defining moment for me. I came into Lagos in 1990 and stayed with an uncle of mine who ran a factory in Oregun. When I went for the interview, he saw that I looked very neat. He then drafted me to the finishing department to oversee the finished products. When my colleagues go for break, I would be sketching designs for the fun of it. I never knew it would become a passion.  In early 1997 during the Ibrahim Babangida structural adjustment programme, seven of us were retrenched.

So many companies downsized. I was living on goodwill in Ketu for a year. Few of my friends who did business came to me for advice on buying clothes, shoes and looking good. So, on this particular day, a friend called me to go into fashion designing and not waste my talent. That’s how I started. I enrolled with a roadside tailor to know how to cut and know a good stitch.

When you look back at your struggling days and now, were there points where you felt like throwing in the towel?

There was never a moment where I felt like quitting. But something happened in 1999. I got my first shop and moved into Anthony Village with the help of Richard Mofe Damijo, who actually gave me my first job. I paid for two years. After the expiration, to renew the rent became a problem. So I approached a senior friend, one Patrick to help me with a loan. He said something I’ll never forget. He said: ‘Mudi, this work you are doing would not put food on your table. I’ll link you up with my friend who imports designer clothes from Italy so you can sell and make more money.’ That moment I felt bad and depressed. I almost wept. I stood up and left his house. But there was the zeal and

With 25 years on the grind, at 50, you’re gradually climbing the steep slope of retirement. Any plan for succession? Are your kids showing interest?

My son has passion for fashion and so I’m working on how to mould him to take over by the grace of God.

Mudi

renewed energy that came with the set back. I knew it was possible to succeed on this job. I resolved to be focused and believe in myself. Right from time, I’ve always had its possible mentality.

You became a success and a household name in Nigeria. Have you after so many years come across Patrick and what was the reaction, when you met?

Yes. We saw at a function. He greeted me and I replied him in a rather cold manner because he almost turned things around negatively for me if I had listened to him.  His facial expression read guilt, but I had since moved on.  I look forward to a day where we’ll both sit to talk and have a drink and I’ll have the opportunity to correct him on why he should never discourage people from pursuing their goal in life.  After that occurrence, I was able to pay for the rent and pay for an extra year.  There was a particular day I went to deliver clothes and came home lamenting after trekking from Bishop Oluwole by Eko Hotel to Obalende, as the man I went to make delivery had travelled and the money with me could barely take me to my Ketu home. When I got home I was hungry, knackered and lamenting. A friend staying with me in my one-room apartment asked me what year I’ll be able to afford a car from this work.

What was your answer to the question?

The guy was into 419. Those days they used to write volume of letters and send through the postal service to their unsuspecting victims. When I got home, he was writing letters with envelopes littering the walkway. If I had listened to him, I would

have crossed the thin line between good, bad and the end of fashion. I resolved to be focused and believed in myself.

At some point in your rise to fame, do you have any recollection of drawing the ire of friends become foe, and how have you handled difficult customers or friends?

My rise to fame and fortune has no doubt drawn the anger of some customers.

A case in point was when I moved into my new office. When I bought the property, I was stranded at the renovating stage. So I went to see a client of mine to loan me N3 million, so that the work wouldn’t stop, as I was expecting inflow from some other clients. He told me I am a hardworking young man and I need to be encouraged.

He immediately signed the cheque and gave me. I promised to pay back within a stipulated time which I honoured in spite of the pressure I was under. Meanwhile I called him to greet and say thank you each time I credited his account. I finished paying and moved into the office. The day of the opening, I invited him but he didn’t come. I thought maybe he travelled. Suddenly he stopped patronising me. Meanwhile, before I moved into my office, there was no month he won’t request an order of at least five clothes. A particular day, the wife came, possibly to spy at the office and maybe he was overwhelmed. I don’t know what happened. He then called me to tell me that my office has gotten to my head.

I asked him ‘sir, how do you mean. What happened?’ He then replied saying ‘when last did I patronise you?’ I then told him his wife brought a fabric that I made for you. He said ‘that is madam.’ I then asked if I should call to greet him every week, he said yes but that’s social greeting. Seeing

How do you see the industry evolving in the next few years?

If you went back to Nigeria’s fashion industry 10 years ago, there is a clear difference. Now, there is more awareness, patronage and a bigger market with so much money to be made, but creativity is the key. When people see the modest life I live, they think I’m doing something else. Nigerians like buying.

There is a new trend in the fashion industry, especially with top male designers, of which I want to hope you are not part of. The new norm is that to belong, they become gay. How do you react to that?

For people who are not close to me, they think I’m gay. When they don’t see you philander, they assume you are gay. It’s however a known fact that there are some gay amongst us. They see it as a trend. It’s awkward. There is a terrible spirit attached to it. I would never encourage it, but if they say that’s how they want to live their lives, so be it.

You have a thing for vintage cars.

What’s behind it?

Lifestyle. I’m just living my life. Bob Marley said live the life you love, love the life you live.  I’m having fun enjoying myself. As a fashion designer, I should reflect my style.

What would you want to be remembered for?

Impact on my clients, people I’ve trained and inspired to great heights. I want to be remembered for a life of impact.

What is the Nigeria of your dream?

I dream of the Nigeria of the yesteryears.

I have so much faith and passionate about my country.

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Fashion File

with

AZUKA OGUJIUBA

azuka.ogujiuba@thisdaylive.com

The Unconventional Bride by BBartistry

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FASHION FILE

The Unconventional Bride

by BBartistry A love story always warms our heart, and it warms our heart even more when we are a part of your big day. This collection embodies the personality of different brides both conventional and unconventional. The pieces include traditional, court, white wedding and general bridal ceremonial outfits. As an indigenous fashion brand, BBartistry celebrates women of all shapes and sizes and encourages women to practice self-love. Our debut bridal collection has no bounds or limits,

it allows you express yourself as you desire on your big day without sticking to the norm. We hope you love it as much as we do. Thank you

Designer: Blessing Bashir @ bb_artistry Stylist: @bb_artistry Model: @_voeux Makeup: @kineticsbeauty Photography: @yjpictures Set assist: @jasminwryts Set Location: @dreamstudiosabuja.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ MAY 25, 2019

POLITY End ofTerm: Okowa’s Rural Agenda Excites Deltans Nelson Egware

A

vivid assessment of the four-year development trajectory of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration in Delta State, suggests a clear and systematic departure from the past when most major achievements were concentrated in the urban areas.

During his inauguration on May 29, 2015, Gov. Okowa in his inaugural address, told the good people of Delta State that his administration will “pay a special attention to rural development because majority of our people live in the rural areas”.

In an explicit commitment to rural development, Okowa emphasized that his administration will open up the rural areas, create more urban centres, develop fresh economic opportunities and reduce pressure on urban cities to boost socio-economic expansion and give rural dwellers a sense of belonging by equipping and modernizing some satellite towns.

To actualize this, the governor, as an ingenious leader and a man who keeps to his promises awarded Kefas Road in Oleh as well as the Ozanogogo-Alisimie Road in Ika South Local GovernmentArea.

Four years down the line in the saddle, one is impressed to note that Governor Okowa’s administration in spite of the adverse effects of the economic recession in the country has been able to record remarkable feats in line with his SMARTAgenda to entrench prosperity for all Deltans, ensure good governance, peace and security as well as alleviate the sufferings of the people.

The policy thrust of the administration has remained grassrootsoriented, focusing on developing the rural communities through concentration of massive infrastructural development in the most remote and neglected areas across the state’s 25 councils.

Okowa’s recent visit to Oboghoro in Warri North Local GovernmentArea and Burutu in Burutu Local GovernmentArea to personally commission road projects and Housing Estate in the riverine communities, is a clear evidence of his commitment to rural development. This has indeed, endeared him to the masses, as a caring and popular leader. This is also evident in the over 357 road projects awarded across the state’s 25 Local GovernmentAreas. While some of the projects have been completed and inaugurated, others are at the advanced stage of completion.

It is, therefore, worthy of note that Okowa’s administration in the last four years, despite the harsh economic climate in the country, has fulfilled virtually all the promises as contained in his inaugural address and is also in full flight fulfilling other people-oriented programmes scattered all over the state.

For instance, the state government has completed and inaugurated the intractable Issele-Uku Idumu-Ogo Obomkpa road and the Ukwunzu road inAniocha North Local GovernmentArea, which were hitherto, marred by serious setbacks in the past and a nightmare for the people of the area.

The administration has also completed the long stretch of Umunede-Otolokpo-Ute-Okpu-Ekuku-Agbor-Ndemili-Umutu Road in Ika North East, Ika South, Ndokwa West and Ukwuani local government areas, which were constructed to decongest the area for easy movement of traffic.

Other massive road projects completed and inaugurated so far by the Okowa-led administration include: dualised Jesse Township Road, the Jesse Boboroku Road in Ethiope West Local Government Area as well as the Owerre-Olubor/Ekwuoma Road in Ika North East LGAand the recently commissioned Old LagosAsaba RoadAgbor, the Owa-Eke Owa-Alero Road. TheAmekpa/Afiesere/Ofuoma

Okowa

road linking Ughelli North and Ethiope East, Old Ozoro Oleh Road linking Isoko North and Isoko South as well as the OwhelogboAbbi road linking Isoko North and Ndokwa West and the dualisation of Amukpe Sapele Road are some of the Governor’s achievments on rural road construction.

On the Beneku River, Okowa has awarded contract for the construction of a bridge to link the oil rich Kwale and Beneku community in Ndokwa East LGA, which will connect over 10 adjoining communities to their headquarters,Aboh, and save the people of the areas the pains of having to pass through other Local Government Areas to be able to access the council headquarters. For the people of the affected communities who hitherto maneuver the river through a pontoon, it is a dream come true and a heart full of gratitude to Gov. Okowa for coming to their rescue when it mattered most.

For the people of Ovwor-Olomu and Effurun-Otor in Ughelli South Local GovernmentArea, their joy knew no bounds when Governor Okowa awarded the construction of a road and bridge to link both communities which hitherto travelled long distances through Ughelli North LGAto be able to access each other. Concrete work has been completed while the earthwork (linkage) is at the final stage.

As testified by Ex-Mend Leader, FreedomAdowei, “Under Okowa, riverine communities across the state have been receiving government attention more than ever, with some transforming into visible living communities” he said, adding “If you go round you will see how the governor is being commended for the construction

of roads in riverine communities such as the Okerenkoko Road in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West, Sokebolou/Obotobo Road in Ogulagha Kingdom, Burutu Township concrete road pavement and others, all within Burutu Local GovernmentArea of the state, as well as other parts of the riverine Delta.”

During the Commissioning of theAviara/Araya/Okpare/Okpawa road, Irri College/Uzere road and the OwhelogboAbbi Road in Isoko South and Isoko North Local GovernmentAreas, the Council Chairmen Hon Itiako Ikpokpo and Hon Emmanuel Egbabor both thanked the Governor for not restricting developments to the urban areas. In their separate speeches, they both commended Governor Okowa’s administration for not restricting his development programmes to cities but, spreading projects across rural areas in the state.

The Esama of Ukpedi Kingdom, Ughelli South local government area, Olorogun Okiemute Okwagbe, also commended Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, for the awarding and construction of the Ekakpamre/ Okwagbe communities road project and Owhahwa/Otu,-Jeremi Road. He noted that what Governor Okowa did was in fulfilment of his electoral promises to Deltans in general and Okwagbe community in particular, describing Governor Okowa as a detribalised leader with a vision to make Delta truly great.

The Odogwu of Okpanam, Chief Peter Dunkwu (JP), equally commended the efforts and tireless enthusiasm of the Commissioner for Information, Chief Patrick Ukah in ensuring the accelerated development of Okpanam community, urging him not to relent in this direction for the overall benefit of the community.

He said that the community shall remain grateful and supportive of the Okowa administration because of the government’s active involvement and developmental strides in Okpanam, especially in the issues of Madonna School for Children with Special Needs, Okpanam, Oruchi Comprehensive Secondary School, Okpanam High School as well as the road constructions in the various parts of the community and its environs, which are currently ongoing and for everybody to see.

The story is not different for the people of Uduophori in Patani Local GovernmentArea where Governor Ifeanyi Okowa again broke new grounds to provide access road for the people. While the road has been completed, the people of the area are overwhelmed with excitement and appreciation to the governor for the vision and courage to embark on the work on such a difficult terrain to alleviate the sufferings they pass through in accessing their ancestral home.

The above are just tips of the icebergs of massive and verifiable infrastructural development going on in the rural areas in Delta State under the watchful eyes of Gov. Okowa.

Apart from the remarkable impacts in rural development, which is the focal point of the administration, Gov. Okowa’s administration has also made a mark in other spheres of development. These include education, agriculture, health, workers’ welfare, peace initiatives, security, job creation, enhanced social services and good governance, prudent management of resources, etc.All these are consistent with the SMART agenda of the Okowa administration.

The state government also made significant intervention on rehabilitation of failed sections of vital federal roads in the state to alleviate the pains, which road users had experienced in the past.

His commitment to the welfare of workers in the state and his sustained cordial relationship with Organized Labour has remained firm as evident in the regular payment of salaries and pensions as well as his assurances of paying the N30,000 minimum wage, while still executing capital projects even when most states are unable to do so.

––Egware is Special Assistant, Media to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa

Zamfara: A New Niger Delta Patricia Ginigeme

A

ll over the world, Nigerians are setting the pace and the standard by which many others are measured.

Over 60 per cent of Nigerians in the United States have college degree which is far above the United States National average of about 35%.

Nigerians in the United States are the most educated immigrant community and highest earners; they achieved this by instinct of hard work under a system that respects human rights, offers opportunity and equality for its citizens.

In the United Kingdom, a Nigerian family is the smartest family, why do Nigerians perform excellently well when outside the country and yet Nigeria is considered to be one of the poorest countries in the world, despite the huge revenue received from oil, human capacity and other natural resources. Why is Saudi Arabia and many oil producing countries well off than Nigeria? The answer is well known and based on incompetence and corrupt administrations both past and present. The Federal Government lacks the ability to operate a level playing field where all Nigerians can excel without Tribalism, Nepotism and favouritism which is canker worm at the heart of the nation.

There is no gain stating an obviousness, that the Niger Delta is the back bone of the Nigerian revenue and yet development in these areas are stifled by corruption coupled with ecological disaster on a scale never seen in most oil producing countries. Continuous oil spillage has indeed not allowed the local economy to thrive in terms of agriculture and fisheries because the soil and rivers are polluted and harmful to the local populace.

The government neglect of these geese that lays the golden egg is an eyesore and dehumanising. The situation in Niger Delta depicts deprivation and a dent to Nigerian constitution that preaches and vowed to uphold social justice, equity and fairness. Thus, the rising increase in militancy from the area is understandable.

The discovery of solid Gold in Zamfara State in Northern Nigeria, a state considered to be desert has once more elevated Africa as one of the richest continents on the planet; the whole of Africa is rich in mineral and human resources.

Nigeria appears to benefit most, in that there is nothing that can help a nation or economy to grow that can’t be found in Nigeria, the nation has everything and if you have not seen it yet, it is simply because it has not been discovered and just because it has not been discovered does not mean it is not in the soil of Nigeria.

None oil producing states in Nigeria insists that the oil in the Niger Delta belongs to all Nigerians and the truth is that there are sympathies for their contention, but will the solid gold discovered in Zamfara State belong to all Nigerians? Ironically, this is the bone of contention.

It is to every ones knowledge that the recent crises in Zamfara State is linked to the powerful Northern indigenes who for years have been mining the pure gold discovered in commercial quantities without the knowledge of the public and against the constitutional provision of the control of solid and natural minerals, at the same time creating environmental disaster by their crude mining procedures and practices without the lessons of the environmental disaster in the Niger Delta. Just because the Zamfara mining is carried out by the most powerful Hausa Fulani cabals, the Federal Government has been ineffective in checkmating this as the accrued illegal revenues remain in the private hands of these most powerful leaders and yet the Federal Government claims to be fighting corruption, this is absurd to say the least.

The ongoing killings in Zamfara State and its environ have further exposed the illegal mining of these minerals by the few and powerful in government, and nobody would have told Nigerians especially those in the Niger Delta that

Nigeria has tonnes of pure solid gold deposits underneath its soil in the Northern geographical region and this raw gold have been assessed as one of the best in the world.

Not only is Nigeria losing billions of Dollars in revenue on quarterly basis due to corruption, there is the untold environmental disaster already unfolding. Environmentally minded Nigerians should begin to hold the Federal Government to account through peaceful protests on the scale we saw on the roads of London in the United Kingdom organised by an environmental group called ‘extinction rebellion’. It is equally pertinent for advocacy groups to create serious awareness of this exploitation by the few at the detriment of the nation’s common wealth.

We all have to play our part to save this planet and our nation economically and from environmental pollution that threaten not only us but generations to come.

It is gross injustice for the natural resources being drilled from the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria to be considered as the Nation’s Common Wealth while the proceeds of the raw gold being mined in Zamfara State are used by few cabals as stupendous individual wealth. This is totally against natural justice and therefore unacceptable. Nigerians must be united to fight these cabals who have constituted themselves into obstacles on the nation’s dogged efforts towards renewable energy, growth and advancement.

Ginigeme, a public analyst wrote from Owerri, Imo State.

25

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ MAY 25, 2019

POLITY

Unending Wonders from Ogun State Glass House Femi Ogbonnikan writes that the outgoing administration of Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State is laying landmines for the incoming administration of Prince Dapo Abiodun

F

our days from now, the people of Ogun state will witness a change of baton from the outgoing administration of Ibikunle Amosun to the incoming government of Prince Dapo Abiodun, as governor, on May 29.

Expectations are high and hopes are rising for the incoming administration to correct the ills done in the past eight years by the outgoing administration.

Likening the scenario to a popular anecdote, “a king that rules and his reign brings forth peace and fortune, his name will not be erased from the sand of time, while the one that rules and reigns, and brings forth misfortune and untold hardship on his subjects will also not be forgotten for his misdeed.”

Governor Amosun sits atop his multi-million naira Ibara Housing Estate, Abeokuta, Glass House, from where he springs the last card of his administration’s wonders, found not to be amusing.

Upon his assumption of office on May 29, 2011, Amosun raised the hopes of the people of the state, especially the vulnerable rural dwellers, with welfare programmes, but soon afterward, dashed their hopes.

His attempt to exert absolute control of the political structure of the ruling APC in Ogun State, which he rode on its back to office, also collapsed.

This was aptly captured by Mr. Tunde Emiola-Gazal, a publisher, who noted: “On May 29, 2011, before a mammoth crowd at the M. K. O. Abiola stadium, Abeokuta, Ibikunle Oyelaja Amosun took the oath of office as the forth executive governor of Ogun State. The expectant and jubilant crowd had come to witness what they thought was to be the beginning of a new dawn, considering the circumstances that existed in the state in the build up to the 2011 general elections.

“Conceivably, Amosun, the man of the moment, did not disappoint. He gave hope to the people, assuring them that he would paddle the state’s canoe out of troubled waters. His words were soothing, comforting and reassuring. The people had not misplaced their trust. Or, so they thought!”

“However, as Amosun bows out finally, on May 29, 2019, it can be said without any fear of contradiction that, contrary to his promise, he squandered the goodwill and confidence that were reposed in him eight years earlier.”

Apart from the recent inauguration of the governing councils of the state-owned tertiary institutions, elevation of 23 directors to permanent secretaries, 5,000 civil servants to various grade levels and employment of additional 1,000 applicants into the workforce, two weeks ago, 1,000 others were recruited under the guise of a reformed vigilante service, now tagged “Ogun State Community and Social Orientation Safety Corps” (aka So-Safe Corps) and 2,000 fresh graduates also absorbed into the state’s civil service.

In a fell swoop, Amosun, on Monday, May 20, 2019, sprang another surprise, this time around, with an approval of the elevation of 75 Baales (community heads) to coronet kings.

Subsequently, he gave approval for the promotion of 304 officers of the state’s Traffic Compliance and Enforcement (TRACE).

Chiefly, all the last minute appointments, employment (despite the over-bloated workforce), promotions and fresh contracts are seen as grand designs to balloon the wage bill of the state government, raise unnecessary dust and cause disaffections between the workers and the incoming administration of Abiodun.

While berating the over-bearing attitude of the outgoing governor, a public affairs commentator resident in Abeokuta, Mr.

June 12 centre, Abeokuta, blocked Ola Muritala, on his Facebook wall wrote a piece titled: “How Dapo Abiodun Can Silence Amosun’s Political Relevance in Three Months of Governance Through Better Attitudes and Styles.”

Muritala wrote: “I must confess, in the history of Ogun State, Governor Amosun remains the best governor in terms of physical infrastructural development, however, only in urban development, particularly, Abeokuta, the state capital, which is reasonable to some extents, but has brought about inequality and discrimination to the other parts of the state.

“When I continue to meditate and carry out different examinations of what could have been the mistake of the outgoing governor that made majority of people within and outside the state to detest him, I discovered that as governor, he has allowed his personal interests to override the interests of the people he governs.

No matter how beautiful the bridges and roads constructed by him, he will end up being a super failure. Any governor who is not a people-oriented governor, may end up being hated by virtually every citizen of that state he governs. I want to believe this is one of the causes of peoples’ hatred for the outgoing governor of Ogun State, despite the number of bridges and roads he constructed in Abeokuta.”

Not left out, Yewa Development Forum

A king that rules and his reign brings forth peace and fortune, his name will not be erased from the sand of time, while the one that rules and reigns, and brings forth misfortune and untold hardship on his subjects will also not be forgotten for his misdeed

(YDF) took a swipe at Amosun. The Forum, while on a congratulatory visit to the Governor-elect at his Iperu-Remo residence penultimate Thursday, noted that the Yewa axis was placed at a high disadvantage during the eight years of the outgoing administration.

According to an Emeritus Professor of History, Anthony Asiwaju, who led the delegation, “Yewa is the most marginalised axis in Ogun State and it experienced the worst form of neglect under the outgoing government of Amosun.”

Still mired in controversies, the Ogun State Police Command uncovered plots to foment mayhem before and during the inauguration of Prince Dapo Abiodun as governor on May 29. He said, “Painstaking intelligence report hinted of a plot by two factions of a road transport workers’ union to wreak havocs at various major motor parks in the state in a bid to take over garages.”

While the inauguration ceremony of the governor and his deputy would be ongoing at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abeokuta, it was learnt that there would be an attempt to cause stampede at the nearby popular motor-park, also located at Kuto, and spread it, thus orchestrated ostensibly to disrupt the ceremony.

The Command, through its spokesman, Mr. Abimbola Oyeyemi, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), disclosed that “security intelligence at the disposal of Ogun State Police revealed that some unscrupulous elements are scheming to foment trouble across the state with a view to disrupting the inauguration of the new administration scheduled for 29th May, 2019.

“Rallies, processions and assemblies in public places are being orchestrated by these enemies of peace seemingly to resolve chieftaincy and land-related matters rather than approaching the court to seek justice.

All of these are aimed at heating up the State before inauguration.”

He said, in view of the development, the command had put in place a robust security arrangement aimed at checkmating such trouble-makers and other criminal-minded persons, including miscreants and disgruntled elements.

Oyeyemi said: “The special units of the Command namely Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Police Mobile Force (PMF),

STS, Anti-kidnapping, as well as Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) and Area Commanders have been placed on red alert with specific instructions to closely monitor these misguided elements and respond swiftly to any distress calls and disturbance of public peace.

“The Commissioner of Police (CP), Alhaji Bashir Makama, has also ordered a 24-hour surveillance patrols across the length and breadth of the state. Consequently, members of public are hereby advised, for the purpose of peace, law and order, to put on hold for now any form of public procession, rally or carnival related to chieftaincy and land matters and rather seek alternative dispute resolution methods, or approach the law court for redress. In furtherance to this, persons or group intending to hold public assemblies and rallies other than as stated above are advised to contact the office of the Commissioner of Police, Ogun State, for necessary approval and security.

“The Command will not hesitate to deal decisively with anybody or group who attempts to disrupt the peace of the State no matter how highly placed such person(s) may be, as the law is no respecter of anybody. The Police in Ogun State is committed to the defense of the rule of law, safety and security for all law abiding citizens in Ogun State.”

Another joker was thrown up late Wednesday night when the precinct of the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta, venue of the inauguration lecture of the governor-elect was blocked with heaps of sand, a road excavator and a bulldozer, in the name of ongoing road construction.

In his reaction, a lawmaker representing Yewa North/Imeko-Afon Federal Constituency (Ogun State), Hon Kayode Oladele, described the unsavoury development as uncharitable and needless of an outgoing governor who ought to take this moment for sober reflection.

Meanwhile, the recent exchange of correspondences is yet to abate between the chairman, Bond Investments and Holdings Limited, Chief Bode Mustapha, and Ogun State Government, over a breach of agreement arising from Paris Club Refund deal.

Mustapha, who was former Director-General, Governor Ibikunle Amosun Second term re-election Campaign Organisation in 2015 and now, a close ally of Abiodun’s, in his response, flayed the content of the letter.

26

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ MAY 25, 2019

POLITY

Setting Agenda for President Buhari’s 2nd Term Mohammed Lawal

shall continue to join the alright bracket of the rich.

On the unemployment issue, similar statistics and reasoning shall follow. There are straight forward universally accepted feasible plans and strategies to achieve these. President Buhari has done it before in PTF, he still can do better now with reasonable amendment to that concept and strategy.

I will highlight some of these plans and strategies.

On the educational and health sectors, the quality of primary education and medicare must be dramatically improved within the first two years.

The tertiary institutions (colleges of education, polytechnics and universities) must be refocused, rationalized and streamlined (few should be selected and worked upon to achieve the desired result within the four years while others continue with the normal procedures with affordable amendments in funding etc. This applies to the remaining primary and secondary Schools. Other key areas like water resources, transportation, environment etc should have a solid plan and secondary increase in budgetary allocation and attention.

T

he late strongman of Kwara politics who installed governors, senators and almost all elected officers, during his lifetime in initially Kogi and Kwara states and later in Kwara State once taught his jubilant precious daughter Senator Rukayyah Gbemi Saraki who came to thank him after being announced as the winner of Kwara Central Senatorial District a lesson about time. This is what transpired between the two in the presence of some of his political followers. He asked her to close her eyes for four seconds, later he directed her to open them, then he told her that the four years for her tenure are just like the four seconds, she closed her eyes. This is my focus today, but in this case, my message is for President Muhammadu Buhari.

To convince you that four years can be equal to four days, let us start with the first tenure of President Buhari 2015-2019. Many of the actors especially the principal ones must have surely lamented some weeks to the 2019 presidential election about how time flies. President Buhari has during the last four year gone through a very eventful period, with enormous challenges on security and economic wellbeing of Nigeria. One aspect that we have not been talking about is the character content of the country, that is, the morals and attitudes of majority of the citizens vis a vis patriotism. He did his best to bring back the country to its senses.

Now for his second and last tenure, he is not going to run against anybody but most importantly against time and history. PMB must leave a legacy in view of the circumstances that made him to join politics; the three attempts for the Presidency, the final victory and how it happened. The episodes leading to the above circumstances are very well known, discussed and documented.

The next four years, which I strongly believe are like four days, require President Buhari to not only triple efforts but to also think and act outside the box in all ramifications: vis a vis quality of lieutenants, associates and time space for work and focus areas etc.

The tasks are herculean and whatever needs to be done must be accomplished within the first two years that is to say by the end of 2021. It must be crystal clear to even the enemies and adversaries

Buhari alike, that the country is on solid paths of irreversible economic growths; peaceful coexistence between and amongst Nigerians; guaranteed food security that shall not only feed the country but competitively export to west and some African countries; adequate and stable power supply; well established foundation and in most cases take up of cottage/medium scale industrial bases across the country; unemployment and poverty reduction by say 50 per cent.

So, within the first two years, President Buhari must lift at least 50 per cent of the poor population to the next level of at least poor middle class or the level of those on the edge of the cliff. And as he consolidates towards the final exit, more and more

Some areas to focus for exit strategy Establish an agency under the office of Mr. President with slim and focused structures (whose staff must be committed, loyal and competent) in the following areas; Agriculture, Education, unemployment, Power sector, Industrial parks (Cottage/SMEs), Human resources development, Poverty alleviation (Skills acquisition) and startup businesses. It is not like establishing new government agencies, but collaborating with already existing ones to make them more focused, down to earth, and must implement decision within time frame, proper use of funds etc.

As the coordinating agency under the President’s office, it will have the authority to ensure things are done. Example of these collaborating agencies are the Poverty alleviation and skills- NDE, SMEDAN, BOI, BOA, NIRSAL and CBN etc.

This is a very brief framework that if put into operation can enable Mr. President to leave a lasting legacy within the first two years of his second and last term. By the end of the term, if religiously implemented Mr President shall be a very proud person in terms of what history shall record for him, happy and content with his achievements for Nigeria.

–––Mallam Lawal who is a member of the Board of NNPC, writes from Abuja.

PHOTO NEWS

L-R: Chancellor, Remo Anglican Diocese, Mr. Lanre Ogunlesi, SAN; Managing Partner, Copley Partners, Mr. Seni Adio, SAN; Archbishop Lagos Ecclesiastical Provice/Bishop Diocese of Remo, The Most Rev. Dr. Michael Olusina Fape; and Deputy Chancellor, Remo Anglican Diocese, Mr. Akin Osinbajo, SAN, at the closing of theThird Session of the Twelfth Synod themed ‘The Glory of the Crucified Life’ in Irolu-Remo, Ogun State...recently

L-R: Senior Project Officer, Leadership Empowerment and Resource Network (LEARN),Mrs. Tonne Marques; Chief Operating Officer, Mrs. Ronke Oguntoyinbo; and Project Officer, Miss Bimpe Ekundayo, at a press briefing in Lagos on Leadership Empowerment and Resource Network Activities on the forthcoming Children’s Day...recently SUNDAY ADIGUN

L-R: Chief Press Secretary to the First Lady, Lagos State, Mrs. Folasade Kadiri; Guest Speaker and Chief Executive Officer, Smithcrown Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Chris Agbede; Chief Technical Officer, Medallion Communications, Dr. Krish Raganath; and Project Director, Trek Africa Entrepreneurship Conference (TAEC2019), Oki Samson, during the presentation of Award Plaque to Mr Chris Agbede at the 4th edition, Trek Africa Entrepreneurship Conference in Lagos...recently

L-R: Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN); watching the presentation by school children of The Learning Centre, Maiduguri, during the Vice President’s visit to the school, established to cater for children orphaned by the conflicts in the North-east...recently ETOP UKUTT

27

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3

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ APRIL 24, 2011

GLOBAL SOCCER A

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

25.05.2019

NEWS

COPA DEL REY, A NO CONSOLATION PAGE 31

Henry Onyekuru Bavarian’s New Bride

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER Ëž ͺͽË&#x153; ͺ͸͚Î

32

GLOBAL SOCCER

Henry Onyekuru Bavarianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s New Bride

His dream of playing in the English Premier League with Everton may not have come to past because of his inability to secure a work permit, however, Henry Onyekuru landed what may be the most shocking transfer of the summer after Bundesliga giants, Bayern Munich signed the Nigerian striker. This may indeed be the breakthrough his career has been longing for

W

ith Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery having played their last game for Bayern Munich after both players had held sway in the Bavarian right and left wings for almost a decade, the Bundesliga champions had to replace the leaving veterans with high profile wingers, with many looking at the direction of German international-Leroy Sane to join from English champions-Manchester City.

However, it was little known but promising winger Henry Onyekuru who will be making the first call from Turkish giants, Galatasaray.

After having a good season on loan with Galatasaray where he has scored 16 goals and registered six assists in 3,346 minutes, Bayern Munich have agreed

on a deal with English Premier League club Everton in principle for Onyekuru.

After joining Anderlecht on a season-long loan from Everton owing to his failure to secure a work permit in England after he was snapped up from Eupen following his impressive 2016-17 campaign, Onyekuru made an instant impact, scoring 10 goals across all competitions. But in December of 2017, he suffered a setback after picking a knee injury.

However, he returned earlier than expected but failed to get playing time to prove his fitness.

Following the disappointment, the forward left the side in the summer, despite Anderlecht having the option to extend the deal for another season. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I can confirm that Anderlecht had a deal with Everton about

a second season on a loan basis, but the final decision was with me, but now itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s certain - I will not stay,â&#x20AC;? an obviously depressed Onyekuru had vowed.

True to type, he moved to Turkish giants, Galatasaray and he put up a convincing performance.

Everton could not resist his signature after his exploits in the Belgian League for KAS Eupen, during which he hit the back of the net 24 times. Surprisingly, immediately after putting pen on paper for the Toffees, he was loaned to Anderlecht of Belgium where he excelled.

Onyekuru was impressive for Anderlecht at the beginning of last season culminating in Catalan giants-Barcelona sending scouts to watch his matches.

Aside from Barcelona, Manchester United, Fiorentina, Ajax, PSV,

Southampton and Stoke City were also believed to have sent their scouts to see the player in action in the Belgian league.

Onyekuru said then that he was flattered by stories linking him with top European clubs like Barcelona and Manchester United, but wants to remain focused.

The striker, who spoke after netting the winner for Anderlecht in their Jupiler league game, said he would continue to work hard and improve on his game. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is no real secret, I have a strong faith in God and he has blessed me to be able to do what I love and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m just focused on improving myself, working hard and staying dedicated. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a blessing to be recognised by these clubs and of course, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flattering but I take everything one step at a time. I will focus on what is in front of me and for the next few months,â&#x20AC;? Onyekuru said then.

In front of goal, Onyekuru is an improviser. He possesses good movement, especially when he has to spin in behind a fullback; he is often up and away before they even know it. When through, he can finish in a number of ways; though, like most speedsters, he seems to enjoy going past the goalkeeper.

There is a lot to admire about him, but he is still a teenager, so there are a lot of areas where he can improve. That is only natural.

His aptitudes for the defensive side of the game, as well as his decision-making, are still undeveloped.

He is unashamedly direct - he will pick the ball up, accelerate quickly, and go towards goal. He also has shades of Arjen Robben - he plays mostly on the left, so he can cut in and shoot on his stronger right foot.

Surprisingly for one blessed

33

MAY 25, 2019 ˾ THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

GLOBAL SOCCER

Onyekuru outpaces an opponent

with such pace, Onyekuru likes to come deep for the ball, rather than playing on the shoulder of defenders.

He is small of stature - 5ft 9in - but uses this quick change of direction effectively, bamboozling defenders, using his change of pace to get past his man rather than a barrage of stepovers.

Perhaps, the biggest weakness in Onyekuru’s game is a streak of single-mindedness. It can manifest as overconfidence or as selfishness, but too often, he wants to go alone. He will often get the better of his marker, and opt for a shot from an angle rather than lay in a teammate in a better position centrally.

Interestingly, Onyekuru has played against Bayern Munich before — back in 2017, Anderlecht faced Bayern in the group stages, and Onyekuru came on as a sub in both instances, though he

did not score or assist in Europe that season.

Onyekuru is a winger who can score goals and play out wide, but he has no real pedigree outside of lesser leagues. The last time Bayern made a transfer like this was when the club bought Douglas Costa from Shakhtar Donetsk back in 2015, and the outcome was decidedly mixed.

Let’s see how this plays out.

If Onyekuru comes cheap, it won’t be an issue, but hopefully, the bosses don’t think you can skimp out when trying to replace the likes of Robben or Ribery. On the other hand, maybe he really is a diamond in the rough, after all, Joshua Kimmich was playing in the second division until Bayern signed him, Kingsley Coman was once rotting on the bench at Juventus and Serge Gnabry had been deemed

“not good enough” for West Brom.

It, however, remains to be seen if Onyekuru could leverage on his new Bayern romance to take his game to a new height.

Onyekuru began his football career with the Aspire Academy in 2010, and graduated in 2015 joining their partner club, KAS Eupen and made his debut for Eupen in September of the same year in a 2-2 tie against Dessel Sport in the Belgian Second Division. He helped the team get promotion to the Belgium First Division A in his debut season.

After a successful season in the Belgium first division, Onyekuru finished as one of the top scorers in the league, attracting the attention of various big teams in Europe. He finished the 2016/2017 season as joint top-scorer with 22 goals, but the trophy was handed to his rival as he scored more

away goals than Onyekuru.

He made his senior debut for Nigeria in a 3-0 friendly win over Togo last year’s July.

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

34

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER Ëž ͺͽË&#x153; ͺ͸͚Î

GLOBAL SOCCER

Can Barcelona Make up for Champion League Exit with Copa Del Rey Barcelona are out to make up for their Champions League disappointment by securing a domestic double when they meet Valencia in the Copa del Rey ďŹ nal today

T

he 117th Copa del Rey final takes place at the Estadio Benito Villamarin in Seville this evening as Spanish champions Barcelona face Valencia.

Not many clubs can secure a league title and still have their season deemed a failure. But Barca could achieve that, with their stunning Champions League capitulation against Liverpool overshadowing their La Liga triumph which saw them finish 11 points clear of second place Atletico Madrid.

Ernesto Valverdeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future at the Camp Nou is under scrutiny as a result and defeat

to Lose Che this weekend could seal his fate.

This is a competition Barcelona have dominated, however, winning it more than any other club in Spain.

Valverdeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s men emerged triumphant in La Liga this season, finishing 11 points clear of second-place Atletico Madrid for their second league title in as many years. However, that achievement was overshadowed by the sideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stunning Champions League capitulation which saw them throw away a three-goal lead to lose to Liverpool in the semi-finals.

Barcelona have the chance to make amends this weekend but with Valverdeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future at the Camp Nou under scrutiny, defeat to Los Che could seal his fate.

Barca are looking to add to their La Liga triumph by making it a double, while their opponents â&#x20AC;&#x201C; who finished 26 points worse off in the league - are aiming to lift their first piece of domestic silverware since going all the way in this competition 11 years ago.

Despite making it back-to-back La Liga titles under Ernesto Valverde, this campaign has been a rather mixed one for Barca following their disappointing exit from the Champions

League.

The Catalan giants led Liverpool 3-0 heading into the second leg of their semifinal on May 7, only to lose 4-0 at Anfield as they crashed out 4-3 on aggregate.

It is a result that will go down as one of the worst in Barcelonaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history and it ensures that Valverde will head into the summer with questions being asked of his future at Camp Nou, regardless of this weekendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s result.

Barca retained the league title with a 1-0 win over Levante at the end of last month, but since then they have lost at Celta Vigo

ͺͽË&#x153; ͺ͸͚Π˞ THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

35

GLOBAL SOCCER COPA DEL REY FINAL Barcelona vs Valencia Venue: Benito VillamarĂ­n Stadium Date: Saturday May 25, Kick-oďŹ&#x20AC;: 8pm

ns

and Liverpool, while also being held by Eibar last time out. Their only win in four matches was at home to Getafe on May 12.

Changes were made for the 2-2 draw at Ipurua last weekend, but there is a fear that Barcaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s momentum is drying up at just the wrong time, with their campaign crumbling following the heavy loss on Merseyside.

The Copa del Rey is a competition that Barcelona always tend to perform well in, though, given that they have won it four seasons running since losing 2-1 to Real Madrid in a memorable 2013-14 final in Valencia.

Barca are the most successful side ever in the competition, winning it 30 times in total and reaching the final an incredible 41 times.

As it turns out, the Catalan clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only other final defeat this decade also came at Valenciaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home when losing 1-0 to Madrid in 2011.

Losing finals is not something that tends to happen when Barcelona are involved and, having won the La Liga title with such ease, they will head into this match as strong favourites to secure the domestic double for a ninth time.

Unlike in 2009 and 2015, though, there will be no Champions League to add to those crowns. That, ultimately, is what the 2018-19 campaign will be best remembered for.

Valencia finished fourth in the La Liga standings to ensure that Champions League football will be played at the Mestalla next season, and Marcelino will now be looking to pull off a major upset to add an eighth Copa del Rey to the collection.

Los Che finished their league campaign with three wins in a row, scoring 11 goals

during that run as they held off Getafe for the fourth and final Champions League spot.

However, Valencia were dealt a major blow in the Europa League earlier this month as, like Barcelona, they suffered a semi-final defeat on the continent to English opposition.

Arsenal won the first leg 3-1 and followed that up with a 4-2 victory in Spain, which only highlighted Valenciaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s defensive frailties in recent weeks.

Three goals were also conceded against Atletico Madrid, a couple against Huesca and another against Alaves. Despite keeping just two clean sheets in 13 matches at the end of the season, though, only Barcelona can boast a better defensive record in the Spanish top flight.

Valencia only lost seven league games all season and went unbeaten across their two matches with Barcelona, so Valverdeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s men will know that nothing can be taken for granted.

On their run to the final, Valencia have seen off Ebro, Sporting Gijon, Getafe and Real Betis, earning a 3-2 aggregate victory over the latter to make it all the way for the first time since 2008 when beating Getafe 3-1 to lift the cup.

That was the most recent of Los Cheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seven Copa triumphs, which places them fifth in terms of the competitionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most successful clubs, behind Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona.

Victory this evening would top each of those past successes, while also potentially hammering the final nail into Valverdeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coffin.

Barcelona Clement Lenglet has been talking about todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Copa del Rey final against Valencia and says that Barcelona are aiming to win in order to finish the season on a high.

Valverdeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s side will be hoping to do the double for a second year running by beating Valencia, and Lenglet is keen for the team put aside their Champions League disappointment. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not easy to reach the final of any competition. We suffered a lot along the way but now we can win another title and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll do everything we can to make sure we do,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;These are not easy times either for the FC Barcelona players or fans after getting knocked out of the Champions League. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re hoping to get our game back in time for such an important match. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the last game of the season and we want to go off on our holidays on a high.â&#x20AC;?

Lenglet was part of the Sevilla team thrashed 5-0 by Barcelona last season, but he will be hoping he can be on the winning side this season and win the Copa del Rey for the first time in his career.

Meanwhile, Juan Antonio Pizzi believes that this weekendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Copa del Rey final will be a close-fought contest but expects Lionel Messi to be key, given Barcelonaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recent dependance on him. The former Chile boss finds the tie hard to call, but thinks his former player Arturo Vidal has a part to play. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Undoubtedly, the Champions League blow can have a big impact on them but I think theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve performed very well this season. They won LaLiga Santander with games to spare and got to the Copa del Rey final.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve grown more and more happy and qualified for the Champions League again so now they want to win the Copa del Rey. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be a close match.â&#x20AC;?

Asked if Messi will be too isolated considering that Barcelona will be without Luis Suarez, Ousmane Dembele and maybe Philippe Coutinho. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you look at the squad you see some of the best players in the world around Messi, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s true that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been completely dependent on him at times. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s central for them. The team that uses it best will win. Barcelonaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main weapon is control, so Valencia will want to take it away from them,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Barcelona are chasing a fifth consecutive triumph today with Valencia in their first final in 11 years.

36

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER Ëž ͺͽË&#x153; ͺ͸͚Î

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Djokovic

Super Falcons

Pinnick Says NFF Billâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll Move Nigeria Football Development to Next Level President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick has described as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the real next levelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for Nigerian Football development, the passage by the Senate of the Federal Republic on Wednesday of the NFF Bill, which automatically repealed the long â&#x20AC;&#x201C;standing NFA Act. A delighted Pinnick told thenff.com that the NFF Billâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s passage is the biggest enabling environment for Nigerian Football to thrive provided by any Government over the decades, and applauded the President Muhammadu Buhari administration for consolidating on its numerous and credible moves that have provided lifeblood and impetus for the Nigeria game. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The NFF remains forever grateful to the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari for the several praiseworthy moves and policies that have boosted the development of football administration and

organization in Nigeria over the past four years. Indeed, we can never over-emphasize the President and his Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tremendous support for the present NFF to overcome its several challenges and forge ahead in taking Nigerian Football to new heights. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We want to greatly applaud the National Assembly for the passage of the NFF Bill. It is a major victory by, and legacy for, the present NFF administration.

A lot of effort went into pushing the Bill, and we are very happy that it has finally been passed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Indeed, the passage of the bill, and if assented to by Mr. President, will strengthen our resolve and provide framework to fast-track our objectives to make football an integral part of the Nigeria economy as is happening in some other countries across the globe.â&#x20AC;?

Wednesdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s passage by the Senate means the entire National Assembly has endorsed the

document (the House of Representatives having earlier passed it), with only President Buhariâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assent remaining for the Bill to become law.

An outline of the NFF Bill shows that it, among other things, repealed the NFA Act and established NFF; recognizes football as a National Asset entitled to special privileges and concessions; recognizes the NFF Statutes as supreme law for football administration in Nigeria; recognizes that the Federation and its members shall be self-governed by the Federation; recognizes NFF as a private sector â&#x20AC;&#x201C;driven and self â&#x20AC;&#x201C;governing non-profit body; recognizes that all disputes should be resolved by alternate dispute resolution mechanisms enshrined in the Statutes, with FIFAand CAS as final bus-stops and; that membership of NFF being voluntary, all members/ participants shall be deemed to have waived rights to take

internal disputes to ordinary courts of law.

It also provided for the NFF to publish its annual audited accounts and to keep same for inspection by members; clear â&#x20AC;&#x201C;cut process on how Government will support the NFF through grants, subventions and appropriations; clear â&#x20AC;&#x201C;cut process for Government to confer benefits, concessions and tax rebates on companies sponsoring football; organize and operate its secretariat and employ staff under its standard employments contract as done in the private sector; streamline and enhance transparency in transfer of players; provides the framework for the domestication of the NFF and FIFAStatutes and; provides clearcut process for Government to support football by giving the National Broadcaster funds to buy broadcast rights from NFF and the Leagues at commercially viable terms and broadcast football events through the networks.

â&#x20AC;Ś Says the Federation is not Distracted

stracted Speaking on Sunrise programme on Channels Television on Friday morning, President of Nigeria Football Federation, Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick assured that his administration is not perturbed by any efforts by certain elements to distract it from its noble commitment to ensuring adequate preparation and participation of all National Teams in international competitions.

His assurance comes on the heels of a similar statement on Wednesday by NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed

Sanusi, that the Federation is fully focused on the international championships and major matches of the several National Teams in the remaining part of the year, which are numerous. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are not distracted at all.

We have so many National Teams engaged in preparation or actual participation in major competitions presently, and cannot afford to lose focus. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our commitment to ensure that our teams harness glory for the country from each and every match and competition has not waned in any way.â&#x20AC;?

On Friday, the Nigeria U20

boys kick-started their participation in the 2019 FIFA U20 World Cup finals in Poland with their Group D opener against Qatar, with games against USA and Ukraine to come.

The Senior Women National Team, Super Falcons, are presently in Austria undergoing a two â&#x20AC;&#x201C;week residential camping before flying to France for the 8th FIFA Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s World Cup finals, where they play Norway, Korea Republic and host nation France in the group phase.

The Senior Men National Team, Super Eagles, will begin their camping programme for

the 32nd Africa Cup of Nations (taking place in Egypt) in nine daysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; time in Asaba, and have to play Burundi, Guinea and Madagascar in the group phase at the tournament taking place 21st June â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 19th July.

Similarly, the Home â&#x20AC;&#x201C;based Senior Men Team (Eagles B), U23 National Team, U20 Women National Team, U17 Boys National Team and the Supersand Eagles have major championships to prosecute before the end of the year, just as the Super Eagles, U20 girls and U17 girls have World Cup qualifying games at hand.

BCGS Hails Anita, Atuk Retirement Golf Tournament Golfers were excited at the closing ceremony of the Umaru Anita and Timothy Atuk retirement golf tournament held over the weekend at the Benin Club Golf Section (BCGS), golf course, Benin City, Edo State.

At the end of the wellattended golf retirement tourney organised by the Committee of Friends and Golfers in conjunction with NNPC Medical Service and BCGS, Dr Anslem Dere and Princess Nkiruka Awiaka were declared winners in menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and ladies category respectively.

Dr. Dere played a net score of 72 to emerge winner ahead of

Esosa Ogbomo who settled for second position through count back over Sam Awiaka, having both played 73 net respectively.

Osaze Iyare won his usual best gross award with 79 gross.

Ex lady captain, Princess Awiaka was at her best again with 72 net by winning her second trophy within two weeks, just as another ex-lady captain, Debby Otabor played 77 net for second place ahead of another incumbent lady captain, Habiibah Oyeghe Oyarekhua with 79 net.

However, encomiums were showered on the both retirees by

the likes of the Vice captain of the club, Mayer Ologbosere; Dr James Agada, who represented Dr. Musa Shaibu, Managing Director, NNPC Medical Services Limited, Dr. Dakop Yoila, and many others for their exemplary services to the organisation and BCGS. In the same vein, Umaru and Atuk expressed appreciations to the club for organising such wonderful golf tournament on their behalf. They added that it showed how lovely members of this great golf family are in honouring them with the tournament that attracted almost

100 golfers across Nigeria.

Meanwhile, other winners included Dr. John Ogbeide, who won the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s super-veteran category with 78 net. R. Osahon beat M. Azugbene on count back having both played 77 net in the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s veteran event. While Lucy Onoabhagbe won the ladies veteran with net score of 79.

The highlight of the event was presentation of trophies to winners while the club led by its vice-captain of the club presented Queen Idia bronze cast head to the two retirees for their roles in enhancing golf development in the club.

French Open 2019 Nadal, Federer Stand between Djokovic and History Novak Djokovic can become only the second man in history to have twice held all four Grand Slam titles at the same time with victory at the French Open.

However, a returning Roger Federer and rejuvenated Rafael Nadal will once again stand in his way.

World number one Djokovic completed his first private stranglehold of all four Slams with victory at Roland Garros in 2016.

Having clinched the 2018 Wimbledon and US Open titles and then a seventh Australian Open crown in January this year, the Serb is tantalisingly close to another â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Djoko Slamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

Federer and Nadal, with 20 and 17 career Grand Slam titles each respectively, may be ahead of 15-time major winner Djokovic in total hauls and have also completed career Slams.

However, not even Federer or Nadal have managed to hold all four of the sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatest prizes at the same time.

It is such a rare feat that only Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all calendar Grand Slams â&#x20AC;&#x201C; have pulled off the sweep in the sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history.

Djokovic, who turned 32 on Wednesday, is playing down his potential date with destiny even if it would put him halfway to a 2019 calendar Slam of his own.

After losing to Nadal in the Italian Open final last weekend, the Serb was in no doubt that it was the Spaniard who would likely be celebrating a 12th Roland Garros title in a little over two weeksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; time. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nadal, number one favourite, without a doubt â&#x20AC;&#x201C; then everyone else,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Djokovic, who will be top seed in Thursdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s draw, could be forgiven his caution.

At Roland Garros in 2018, he was shocked by Italian journeyman Marco Cecchinato in the quarter-finals, a defeat which was such a crushing bodyblow that he even contemplated skipping Wimbledon.

Federer is returning to Roland Garros for the first time since 2015 having turned his back on clay court tennis to focus on Wimbledon.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of his one and only Paris triumph and should the 37-year-old defy the odds and clinch the 2019 title he would become the oldest Grand Slam champion of all time.

Age hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t dimmed his ability with Federer saving match points to beat Gael Monfils in Madrid and in Rome against Borna Coric as he found his feet again on European red clay. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been interesting and fun, but not so challenging, to be honest,â&#x20AC;? said Federer despite his Rome campaign being cut short by a leg injury.

Nadal, whose record at Roland Garros stands at a staggering 11 titles and a win-loss record of 86-2, claimed a ninth Italian Open title and a record 34th Masters on Sunday.

His three-set win over Djokovic was timely as it was his first title of 2019 and had followed three successive semi-final losses at Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid.

The last two of those were against Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas, both of whom play with a one-handed backhand, just like Federer.

Thiem, the 2018 runner-up to Nadal at Roland Garros, has defeated the Spaniard four times on clay. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is a new wave coming through with the onehanded backhand that can counter some of Rafaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spins and lefty play,â&#x20AC;? said Federer, a four-time runner-up in Paris.

Outside of Djokovic and Federer, world number four Thiem and sixth-ranked Tsitsipas are the most likely candidates to dethrone Nadal.

The same cannot be said for Germanyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Alexander Zverev, for so long touted as the brightest star of the so-called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Next Genâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

The Germanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s run to the quarter-finals last year remains his best Slam performance while he has yet to get beyond the last eight at any of the European clay events in the run-up to Paris. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He has lost his self-confidence, he gets very angry, gets down and destroys himself,â&#x20AC;? said compatriot Tommy Haas, a former world number two. â&#x20AC;&#x153;What he urgently needs is a success.â&#x20AC;?

ͺͽË&#x153; ͺ͸͚Π˞ THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER

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GLOBAL SOCCER

Okereke battling for posession

Derby Dream Premier League with David Okereke Even though they still have one big game to play this weekend- Championship play-oďŹ&#x20AC; ďŹ nal against Aston Villa in which only a win would conďŹ rm their Premier League status, Derby County are already projecting for the future as The Rams are hoping to bolster their team with Nigerian Spezia of Italy sensation, David Okereke

D

erby County are having a great season and it could get even better this weekend and have made it to the Sky Bet Championship play-off final after a dramatic comeback victory over Leeds United and one win against Midlands rivals Aston Villa would see them return to the Premier League.

Even though their status for next season is not confirmed, the club is looking for new signings and have found a player they hope to bring to the iPro Stadium.

The Rams are therefore fighting numerous other teams in an attempt to sign Speziaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s David Okereke according to a report from Italian publication Calcio Mercato.

Little known Okereke, who currently plays for Spezia in Serie B, the second tier of Italian football has been impressing so far this season. As a striker, he has shown he is great at both scoring and creating this season, scoring 10 goals for the Little Eagles but even more impressively also making 12 assists. This has led Derby to be interested in signing him though this may end up changing depending on if they get promoted or stay in the Championship.

However, the East Midlands side are facing a lot of competition for Okerekeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s signature. The other teams are said to

be interested in signing the 21-year-old striker Atalanta, Cagliari, Sassuolo, Genk, Standard Liege and Dinamo Zagreb. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of very reputable teams also looking to sign this player and Derby may struggle to be the best option for him.

From Italian giants-Juventus and Inter Milan to Premier League sides- Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers names that have been linked is the product of the Football College, Abuja.

After scoring his 10th Serie B goal of the season, Premier League strugglers, Crystal Palace who had had goalscoring challenge from the beginning of the season is turning their direction of Spezia striker.

Palace have been looking to add goals to their squad, with Roy Hodgsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s men among the lowest scorers in the Premier League.

Crystal Palace have identified a new striker target in Okerere and are interested in the 21-year-old forward who has lit up Serie B this season with Spezia after The Eagles hover above the relegation zone.

Okereke has scored 10 goals for a team appropriately nicknamed The Little Eagles while producing another 12 assists. That is a fine tally for a player

who continues to go from strength to strength in the Italian lower leagues.

Palace were said to have sent scouts to watch Okereke in action during Speziaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thrilling 4-4 draw away at Brescia and Nigerian forward did not disappoint as he scored one and set up another at the Mario Rigamonti Stadium.

It is not certain how much Crystal Palace would be willing to pay for Okereke but they are likely to face competition from several clubs.

Serie A side Inter Milan are also already looking at the prospect of Okereke coming to San Siro in the summer.

Linked with a move to Standard Liege of Belgium last summer, he decided to extend his contract with Spezia till 2022 upon his return from a productive loan spell from Serie C side Cosenza, where he spent last season on loan.

Inter Milan had been tracking the 21-year-old in view of signing him last January with the option of leaving him at Spezia on loan till the end of the season before a decision will be made on his involvement with them in preseason next summer.

No bid has been tabled yet but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s believed that Inter are confident of their strong relationship with Spezia and a

deal could be done if all goes according to plan.

According to Italian outlet Il Secolo XIX, as cited on Inside Futbol, Turin giants, Juventus are also keeping a close eye on Okerekeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development. The report claims a number of top-flight Italian teams have also registered an interest.

The 21-year-old signed a two-year contract extension with Spezia last season before he was farmed out on loan to SocietĂ Cosenza Calcio.

Born in Lagos, Okereke began his career in Italy with Lavagnese before his shift to Spezia in 2016, he rose through the ranks before making his professional debut against Novara on April 9, 2016.

He has played 36 games in total for Spezia across all levels, scoring eight goals while providing one assist.

Okereke is a product of Football College Abuja, the academy that produced AS Roma young duo Sadiq Umar and Nura Abdullahi.

Nicknamed â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sadiq Umar IIâ&#x20AC;? by fans of Spezia due to the fact that he passed through same route before arriving at the team like former forward Sadiq Umar, who is now at Bologna after a short stint at Roma.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER t.": , 2019

AUTO

L-R: Head Sales & Marketing, Commercial Vehicle, Stallion Motors Nigeria Limited, Mr. Anjan Aditya; Managing Director, VON Automobile Nigeria, Mr. Tokunbo Aromolaran; and Head, Media & Communications, VON Automobile Nig. Ltd., Mr. Uwem Udom

Stallion Motors Introduces KYC Special-Purpose Vehicles Stories by Bennett Oghifo

T

he commercial vehicle division of the Stallion Motors Nigeria has introduced a range of affordably priced KY5 MINI and KY10 Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) to cater to the growing demand for functional ONE-TON and TWO-TON payload vehicles.

These vehicles were unveiled to journalists by the Head Sales & Marketing, Commercial Vehicle, Stallion Motors Nigeria Limited, Mr. Anjan Aditya. Journalists had an opportunity to test-drive the KY5 MINI. According to Aditya, these categories of vehicles, especially the renowned brands are currently priced beyond the limits of start-ups and emerging commerce in the country’s small and medium enterprises’ sector.

He said, “The introduction of Stallion Motors low-priced KY5 MINI and KY10 branded cargo trucks is expected to stem the tide of incessant downtime, profit losses and accidents, resulting from the application of decrepit and unserviceable vehicles by emerging commercial ventures in the country.

Designed and manufactured in China by Chongqing Changan Kuayue Automobile Co. Limited, popularly known as KYC, these payload CVs are being assembled locally by Nigerians at the Stallion franchisee facility in Lagos.

Aditya explained that the company had in the wake of numerous challenges experienced by emerging enterprises conducted independent survey of businesses in Nigeria with recourse to their most dreaded encounters.

“We discovered forthwith that majority of emerging businesses including some renowned enterprises are either besieged by wanton inability to source affordably priced functional light commercial vehicles or are constrained to buying unserviceable decrepit vehicles that are prone to accidents, incessant downtime and consequential loss of profits,” the company spokesman added.

The KY5 MINI and KY10 range of freight vehicles are functional and resilient for start-ups, especially small and medium scale enterprises.

Also adding that these special-purpose light commercial vehicles are here to stay, Mr. Aditya said “they surely, will help businesses recoup their losses and reposition for a better and profitable future.”

Assembled, sold and serviced by the commercial

vehicle division of the Stallion Motors Nigeria, KYC range of payloads are available in all showrooms nationwide. But what distinguishes the KYC brand of payload vehicles The KY5 MINI Powered by 1.05L/47kwAFII – 05(Euro V) Petrol Engine, the single cabin KY5 MINI is capable of producing 64bhp of power and maximum torque of 91Nm/rpm. It is also mated with a six-speed manual transmission gear system delivering maximum efficiency and optimum performance.

KY5 MINI is designed tough and robust to transcend difficult terrains with specially mounted independent front MacPherson suspension and rear Leaf Spring suspensions.

This is in addition to the vehicle’s Pinion and Rack electric power steering, which makes turning and parking in extremely constricted traffic and street corners an easy task.

Internal Cargo Dimension That’s not all. The cargo dimension (length 2600mm, width 1450mm and height 360mm) is designed to allow seamless loading from either sides of the vehicle with a palpable wheel base of 2700mm.

Jaguar I-PACE Wins Three Titles at Awards 2019

T

he all-electric Jaguar I-PACE has won Best Electric Powertrain, Best New Engine, and the 350 to 450PS category at The International Engine + Powertrain of the Year Awards.

Announced at the Engine Expo + The Powertrain Technology Show in Stuttgart, the panel of 70 expert motoring journalists from 31 countries took into account key characteristics including performance, driveability, energy efficiency and refinement.

These three titles recognise the technical excellence of the I-PACE’s zero emissions powertrain, which was designed and developed in-house.

Ian Hoban, Powertrain Director, Jaguar Land Rover, said: “We’ve used all the benefits of stateof-the-art battery and motor technology to create a world-class electric vehicle.

As well as zero emissions, the all-electric powertrain delivers an ideal balance of performance, refinement and range, together with outstanding responsiveness, agility and day-to-day usability.

I-PACE is a true driver’s car, and above all a true Jaguar. We set out to make the world’s best allelectric performance SUV: these awards reflect that, and are fitting recognition for what the engineering team has achieved.”

I-PACE’s 90kWh lithium-ion battery enables a range of up to 470km (WLTP). It’s capable of charging from 0-80% in a maximum 72 minutes using a 60kW DC charger, or 0-100% in around 12 hours when using a 7kW AC wallbox – ideal for overnight charging at home.

A suite of smart, range-optimising technologies

All-electric Jaguar I-PACE

includes a battery pre-conditioning system: when plugged in the I-PACE will automatically raise (or lower) the temperature of its battery to maximise range ahead of driving away. A heat pump can scavenge energy from the outside air – even in sub-zero conditions – to reduce the amount of battery energy used by the climate control system.

It can even utilise heat generated by the propulsion system to warm up the cabin, further reducing

demand on the battery.

The battery is placed centrally between the two axles, and as low down as possible.

This location enables perfect 50:50 weight distribution and a low centre of gravity: together with the advanced double wishbone front and Integral Link rear suspension this is fundamental to the I-PACE’s agile handling and outstanding ride comfort.

How and Why Your Car is Judging You

W

hat’s the smartest piece of technology you own?

Next to your smartphone, it’s probably the car you drive. Semi-autonomous and driver assist technology in modern vehicles is advancing at a rapid pace.

And although it’ll probably still be a few years till most of us use a fully autonomous vehicle every day, Ford is aiming to make one available for ridesharing and ride-hailing services as early as 2021.

The kind of semi-autonomous and driver assist features already available in modern cars is designed to detect less than ideal driving conditions, and step in to help – before you even realise you need it.

Below are five of those features which make your time on the road safer and less stressful. Bear in mind, the specs vary from make to make, and even model to model, so always refer to your owner’s manual for details.

Driver Alert System The situation: Your car is veering between lane markings.

The judgment: This driver may be distracted or dozing off. The action: Warns you of your faltering vigilance level. How it works: The Driver Alert System judges your vigilance level by measuring your car’s position within the lane and the yaw (or rotation) rate of your car. If the vigilance level falls below a certain level, due either to fatigue or distraction, a ‘Rest Now’ warning may be displayed, accompanied by a chime.

Collision Warning Technology The situation: You’re in fast-moving traffic, there’s the potential for a collision with the vehicle in front, and you’re not acting to prevent it. The judgment: This driver needs help to brake in time to prevent a collision. The action: Warns you to enable faster braking. How it works: This technology continuously monitors the traffic conditions ahead. When it senses a high risk of collision with the vehicle in front, and that you are not doing anything about it, the system will alert you with audio and visual warnings. Some cars are also equipped with brake support to provide faster braking performance when necessary.

Active Braking Technology The situation: You’re driving in heavy traffic or at slower speeds, and don’t step on the brakes quickly enough to deal with situations like a car in front suddenly changing lanes or stopping for a red light.

The judgment: This driver is approaching the vehicle ahead too quickly and the distance is critically reducing.

The action: Autonomously applies the brakes.

How it works: Active braking technologies are designed to trigger the brakes when they sense that the required braking force to avoid a collision is escalating, and you haven’t taken action yet.

As an example, Ford’s Active City Stop technology does this by using a sophisticated light- and range-detecting sensor that scans the road ahead 50 times a second when you are driving between 3.6 and 50km/h.

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER t.": , 2019

39

AUTO

Toyota ReceivesTop Ratings as New Corolla and Rav4 Excel in SafetyTesting Stories by Bennett Oghifo

T

he new Toyota Corolla and Rav4 have both secured a top five-star rating in Euro Ncap’s Independent Safety Testing Programme. The cars performed strongly across the board in the protection given to adult and child occupants and to “vulnerable road users,” such as pedestrians and cyclists, as well as the effectiveness of the Toyota safety sense active safety systems (applicable to rav4 vx models locally).

The crash test results also demonstrate the ‘designed-in’ strength of the Toyota new global architecture platforms on which the models are built, helping maintain the integrity of the cabin in the event of a collision. The robust structures, both for the Corolla Hatchback and Rav4 Suv, are reinforced in critical areas and make strategic use of high-strength steels to absorb and channel impact forces away from the cabin.

The second generation Toyota safety sense package includes a pre-collision system which can detect pedestrians in the vehicle’s path in both day and night-time driving, and can also recognise cyclists by day. The system scored maximum Points in Euro Ncap’s testing at low, city speeds, with collisions being avoided at all test speeds.

At highway speeds, collisions were avoided when approaching a slower vehicle; when coming up behind a stationary or slowing car, impacts were avoided in most cases,

The new Toyota Rav4

and mitigated in others.

The system’s pedestrian and cyclist recognition function also performed well, with collisions being avoided in all tests, in day and night conditions.

Other Toyota safety sense features include

adaptive cruise control, lane departure alert with steering control, automatic high beam and road sign assist.

These achievements demonstrate the success of Toyota’s commitment to car safety, which sits at the heart of its mission to make

ever-better cars. Toyota ensures that the benefits of advanced safety technologies are not limited to high-end, high-specification models, but are made available across the board, maximising their potential to make driving safer.

Kia Reveals First Image of new Small SUV

K

ia Motors has revealed the first image of its new small SUV. Due to be revealed fully in the summer, the new vehicle possesses the space and capabilities of a traditional SUV in a compact package.

With a modern and urbane design, inspired by the 2019 Kia SP Signature Concept, the SUV will stand apart from rivals by matching the unique preferences and needs of the millennial generation.

The robust design character of a traditional SUV coexists with sophisticated exterior design details, such as its long hood, a strong, sophisticated character line on the front bumper, and sharp lines pressed into the bodywork. Its strong shoulder line, matched with a glasshouse which tapers towards the rear of the car, as well as rear bumper with a metallic muffler effect, lends the compact SUV an air of understated sportiness.

The new compact SUV brings a sense of luxury to its exterior design with LED head-

O

n Monday May 11,2018, I strolled leisurely into my office with so many thoughts on my mind; thoughts of where to raise fund tosortoutsomanypersonalchallenges and hopefully also meet the needs of some close friends and people I do not know but who think that with the rank ofAssistant Corps Marshal in the Federal Road Safety Corps, I must be in the league of the Dangote’s and the Otedola’s. Even the educated ones assume that for everyvehiclearrestedfortrafficinfraction,somebody somewhere must be rubbing my palms. My new assignment even complicates matter.

I also had thoughts on what topic to focus on this week. There were also thoughts on how to handle the numerous phone calls, text messages andWhatsAppchatsforassistancewiththeongoing recruitmentbytheCorps.Ialsohadthoughtsonwhat topic to focus on this week which for me was most disturbing because of the deadline required. I know I have heard people who are writers complain of what they call writer’s block. Now if gifted writers wouldlamentonwhattofocusonwhatthenshould a bloody road safety officer like me trying to reach out to the road user be going through, if you catch my drift. The reasons for a writer’s block such as fear, timing and perfectionism were all starring me at the face.

Even when I tried some of the getaway tricks such as going for a walk, changing environment, reading a book, listening to music or staying with someone who makes me feel good just did not help

lamps which extend over the radiator grille.

The lamps feature a three-dimensional light graphic and a highly technical diamond pattern at their trailing edges.

The design is also echoed in the rear LED lamps.

Byung Chul Juh, Head of Kia Styling at Kia Motors Corporation, comments: “We have created a car which stands out everywhere, from the city to the countryside. Its robust yet sporty design will be matched by a wide range of features and technologies that are universally suited to younger buyers in markets around the world. Our new small SUV is a proposition that no other car in its class will match.”

By adding a new global small SUV to its line-up, Kia Motors is extending its range of SUVs to fulfill the needs of customers in every region.

Kia’s first global small SUV, the new model will go on-sale in Korea in the second half of 2019, with sales in other regions to follow soon after.

Tips for Pedestrians SAFE DRIVING with Jonas Agwu amnipr, mcipr,mprsa,arpa (Corps Commander) Corps Public Education Officer Federal Road Safety Corps. + 2348033026491 me. When I could not make a headway on what to focus on, my mind suddenly flashed on the just concluded United Nations Bicycle Week celebration and some of the sound bite of the celebration in Nigeria. Even that was without form or substance. It was just then that a colleague walked into my office oblivious of my inner struggles and asked me if I had heard of the tragic death of the cousin of one of our senior colleagues. I said and with a smile on my face asked him exactly what happen and where. Without knowing how much a saviour he had become to me he gave me a snippet of the incident.

According to his story, the young man named Jerry Uwah (not real name) who is survived by a wife and a daughter before his death was working with a private company in the Federal Capital Territory Abujawhereaccordingtocolleagues,hehadcarveda niche for himself as a disciplined and time conscious staff. On this faithful day, Jerry had left his house after pacifying his beautiful daughter with a promise to buy her favourite chocolate on his way from work

2019 Kia compact SUV expected

not knowing what fate held for me. He hugged his daughter, gave her a kiss and waved as he opened the door and immediately flagged down a cab just in front of their two-bed room apartment in one of the estates in Abuja. He boarded the car and had and smooth and safe ride and alighted at the nearest junction to his office at the central business district without hiccups. He was crossing the road to the other side where his office is when he was knocked down by a car driven by a female driver. The impact of the hit was so heavy that despite being rushed immediately to the hospital, he died as a result of the bleeding from his head.

Jeffery death brought to my memory a similar tragedy I shared a couple of weeks ago on this same page about the death of another young man even though his death occurred differently. According to the story, Frank Uzor (not real name), his wife and their one year and six months old daughter were heading to church on a sunny Sunday morning in their black Lexus Jeep. He stopped by a bank to make a withdrawal for offering. After parking his car at a spot, he believed was safe enough, Frank crossed over to the other side of the road, made his withdrawal at the ATM before crossing back to his vehicle parked at the other side; he got into his car but before he could start his car and move, a Toyota Hilux lost control and crashed onto their Jeep. Frank who was anxiously waiting to lavish his lavish on their third-year marriage anniversary just few weeks ahead, died on the spot while his wife went into coma and was unconscious for two days before she eventually regained consciousness.

Miraculously, their daughter who was strapped to a car seat behind came out unhurt-she was found just the way she was- strapped.

I know that there are other cases within the Federal Capital Territory and across other parts of the country. Since I am not the one heading the accident investigation unit of the Corps, I will not pre-empt the outcome of the investigations on May 11 2018 tragedy but what is clear is that a lot of people who claim to be drivers are really not one. A good number are learner drivers who rather than allow the process of maturing as a driver would rather cut short the process in order to show off like others. I wrote about this in a piece I titled learnersorlunaticsforwhichsomereadsresponded with insults for my choice of words. I will run that piece in a fortnight to refreshen our minds of my views. While I maintain that a measure of insanity has taken over our roads, I must also state here that there is lot that is wrong with pedestrians and drivers irrespective of age or sex. For some drivers, it has to do with pride and ego as a handful would rather conceal their learner status and drive without their instructor as contained in the National Road Traffic Regulations. There is also the increasing traffic indiscipline which calls for stiffer penalty by traffic officers.

ButwhileIlamentonthisincreasingdevelopment, I must note that pedestrians all over the world, including developed climes such as the United States ofAmerica, United Kingdom and others face similar risk of being knocked down. In the United State of America which I love to cite often on this page, pedestrian deaths totalled nearly 6,000 in 2017 for the second straight year amid mounting signs that walkers and drivers are dangerously distracted.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER หพ อบอฝห อบอธอนฮ

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Ë&#x153; Ëž MAY 25, 2019

VINTAGE

L-R: CEO, UBA Africa, Mr. Victor Osadolor; Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka; Chairperson, AVON Medical Practice, Dr Awele Elumelu; Chairman of Ghanaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Convention Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Party, and daughter of Mr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ms Samia Nkrumah; Group Chairman, UBA Plc, Mr. Tony Elumelu; Chairperson, AVON Medical Practice, Dr. Awele Elumelu; Guinean Historian and playwright, Professor, Djibril Tamsir Niane; Legal Practitioner and Moderator, Ms. Ayo Obe, during the panel discussion themed â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s History â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;RedeďŹ ned, Our Past, The Path To The Futureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, organised by UBA to mark Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day in Lagos

UBAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Support for Africa Day In commemoration of Africa Day, which is being marked across the world today, the United Bank for Africa recently hosted a panel session probing why history is key to the continentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s revival, writes Solomon Elusoji

D

ressed in a simple but sleek, dark collarless shirt and trouser made out of African garment, Tony Elumelu, Group Chairman of the United Bank for Africa, was seated right in the middle of the panelists. To his right was Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka (â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am seated beside money,â&#x20AC;? the literary giant, would later quip) and Ghanaian politician, Samia Nkrumah (daughter of the legendary Kwame Nkrumah).

To Elumeluâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s left was one of Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most accomplished history professors, Djibril Tamsir Niane and globallyfamous musician, Femi Kuti. The amphitheatre was chilling, but as the panelists began to talk, prodded on by civil society professional, Ayo Obe, the cold coagulated and settled quietly, like a ball at rest. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We understand the past,â&#x20AC;? Elumelu said, speaking to the reason why UBA had convened the panel session, which held recently at its Marina headquarters in Lagos. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We understand the need for African unityâ&#x20AC;? because â&#x20AC;&#x153;we are a symbol for the economic empowerment for Africans.â&#x20AC;?

The panel, titled â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s History Redefined, Our Past, the Path to the Future â&#x20AC;&#x2122;was part of activities set up by UBA to celebrate Africa Day, an annual commemoration of the foundation of the Organisation of African Unity

celebrated in various countries on the African continent, as well as around the world.

Elumelu noted that UBAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity (the financial institution has presence in 20 African countries) cannot be separated from Africa and, indeed, Africa Day. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It presents us the opportunity to remind ourselves, the world and indeed Africa that we owe ourselves the duty of making Africa the continent of our dreams,â&#x20AC;? he said.

This remembrance, of course, is tied to history, which has been largely written and moulded , for Africa, by white Europeans and their imperial ambitions. In 1964, UNESCO launched the General History of Africa, a series of heavily researched volumes designed to remedy the general ignorance on Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history; Soyinka, who was on the UBA panel, was part of the African scholars who worked on the UNESCO project. But, despite valiant efforts such as UNESCOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and the democratisation of information by the internet, African history and the bastion of heroic stories it contains have remained a footnote in the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s memory, even among Africans.

But this shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be so, Elumelu noted. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our past provides a veritable tool to fashioning the continentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development, renaissance and economic growth,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Speaking strongly on the issue, Soyinka, who commended UBAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

initiative for opening up discussions on these pressing topics decried the growing erosion of history from the curriculum in African schools. He noted that those who do not understand their past inadvertently truncate the future of their children. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Those who expunge history from our schools decide to be taken out of history altogether,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You can imagine my shock some years ago when I discovered that history had been taken out of our (Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s) curriculum. I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe it. A lot of crime is being done to our children.

It is unconscionable that we allow these things to go on for so long. So our children grow up intellectually truncated. â&#x20AC;&#x153;How can we cope with the modern phenomenon if we do not know the past? We should never forget the importance of history as it is not just an academic exercise.â&#x20AC;?

Corroborating Soyinkaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s position, Professor Niane opined that reminiscing about Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rich history is important as there is no people without history. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A lot of work has been done by Africans and we have to be happy about it,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is the need to continue the conversation about African unity. Policies have been put in place and our democracy can only get stronger. Peace will reign and Africa will be reunited. Economic

transformation is also important but it is not the only thing we should concentrate on.â&#x20AC;?

Nkrumah, who has been described as the new Mandela by the Huffington Post, noted that it is important that Africans begin to orientate one another. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We need to understand where we came from,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;An African centred education is what will give us the courage to make the changes we need to make.â&#x20AC;?

Femi Kuti also emphasised the value of history. â&#x20AC;&#x153;History is most important,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our children need to learn this history so that they can come up and build the continent. We need everyone â&#x20AC;&#x201C; both boys and girls to work towards this vision.â&#x20AC;?

As the conversations rolled to an end and the audience got opportunities to ask questions and make comments, Soyinka told Elumelu he has to support the arts and creative industry, an industry constantly engaged with the reverberations of history. Elumelu informed him about the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme, which funds several creative businesses.

Also, UBA, in a statement released after the panel session, said it will â&#x20AC;&#x153;continue conversations around these important topics that are required to galvanise the African economy with the aim of attracting the much-needed support that will boost SMEs and support business growth on the continent.â&#x20AC;?

43

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER t .": , 2019

MARKET PLACE with Omolabake Fasogbon... 08155131874

International Organisation for Migration,IOM, Official,Ms. Opeyemi Kolawole ; Principal Intelligence Officer, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Person, NAPTIP, Ms. Rosemary Ndulue ; SCIID PANTI, CSP Rasaq Oseni; Acting Tutor General, Education District 1V, Lagos, Mr. G. O. Oshodi; Dr. Ama, Founder, Live Abundantly! ,and Programme Anchor, Mr. Nifemi Oguntoye during the launch of ‘Children Awareness Initiative ‘ by Live Abundantly in partnership with IOM,NAPTIP and Nigeria Police Force, Lagos on Thursday

L- R Director of Projects, Nigeria Communication Commission Abigail Sholanke; Senior Manager, Product Portfolio, Vodacom Business Nigeria, Funke Atanda; Convener, Girls in ICT, Ufuoma Emuophrdaro and Business Development Manager, Hospitality, Education & Large Enterprise, Vodacom Business Nigeria, Chimdinma Adugen, during the International Girls in ICT seminar in Lagos...recently Photo: Abiodun Ajala

Kresta Laurel Holds Partner Forum Engineering firm, Kresta Laurel, has held it third annual partners forum in a bid to improve on its services and connect deeper with stakeholders.

The forum, which held in Lagos had in attendance, participants from within and outside the country, with their discussion focused mainly on how to improve on construction and building.

Speaking at the forum, a Project Management expert and lead panelist at the programme, Bayo Adeola, urged Nigerian investors to look in the way of local production of construction equipment and other accessories in order to reduce costs.

While delivering his talk on “Delays on Project Delivery in the Construction Industry: Causes and Solutions”, Adeola opined that investing in local equipment would promote Nigerian brand and boost the level of foreign direct investment coming to the country.

Members of the panel at the programme equally agreed that builders and specialists should be carried along and opinion should be sought on constructability, maintainability and replaceability of buildings at the design stage.

According to them, there should be penalties for default on delivery schedule using tools such as liquidated and ascertained damages,

revocation and legal action seeking recovery of damages caused by delay.

They also emphasised that trained and certified project managers should be part of every project team, adding that the involvement of professionals without requisite training should be avoided.

They maintained that all project team, from consultants , contractors and vendors must be chosen carefully to ensure that they have the necessary competence and experience required for the level of project being constructed.

Earlier in his welcome address, Managing Drector of Kresta Laurel Limited Mr. Dideolu Falobi noted that the meeting was important

to drive the vision of the company.

He said: “ The forum provided an opportunity for interaction between our partners in Nigeria being our clients, consultants, developers, financers and others on one hand, and our international partners which include: representatives of KONE Elevators, Finland, DEMAG Cranes and Hoists, Germany, Coxgomyl of UAE and Malkesan UPS of Turkey on the other.

The high point of the event was a business to business meeting that provided participants with adequate knowledge of the company’s products and the unveiling of a book titled, ‘The Principle and Practice of Project Management’ written by Bayo Adeola.

Chicken Republic Launches Campaign to Mark Children’s Day Ahead of the Children’s Day celebration coming up on Monday, fast food brand, Chicken Republic, has launched a Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR), campaign, tagged, “Kids Say the Most Hilarious Things”.

The initiative is the company’s way of making childrens’ day this year more eventful, whereby it chooses to celebrate childrens’ wittiness and their comic qualities while also providing them a chance to win an opportunity to pay off N200,000 of their tuition fees and for the child’s school to receive the same value as a donation towards the school.

Speaking during the launch, Manag-

ing Director of Food Concepts Plc, Mr. David Butler, explained that the programme alligned with the company’s CSR philosophy to enhance the lives of children and youths.

“This campaign is very dear to us because we are known as a brand that has love as its core and a brand with a big heart. It has further proven that our love for children goes beyond just providing quality nutrition, but that we also care about helping them get a sound education.”

Shedding more light on the campaign, Marketing Manager of the company, Mr. Babatunde Folawewo, said: “Kids

Lagos Agog for All Nigerian Festival The organisers of the All Nigerian Festival,ANF, has announced plans for the second edition of the foremost exhibition festival which will be graced by over 40,000 tourists.

The festival is put together by Groove Tyme entertainment, an event and promotions outfit and franchise owners of the ANF, headed by the Founder, Mr. Kupa Victory, Mrs Nike Okundaye of Nike Art gallery as a member of the board and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Femi Falana ,who serves as Chairman of the board.

According to the organisers of the programme, in addition to the entertainment and socio cultural purpose of the event,it also aimed to foster economic growth for states,most especially the host state.

Shedding more light on the feast that will take place in Lagos, the Convener,Mr. Kupa Victory stated that the three- day event has been designed to showcase and promote different tribes, cultures and traditions of Nigeria through state participation across the country . He added that guests and other

visitors would be treated to a rare exhibition of food, fashion, local beverage, arts and craft, cultural dance and live music.

Providing more details,he said, “ Come 14th to the 16th of June 2019 at the Muri-Okunola Park, in Victoria Island, Lagos, it will be a show of Nigeria in any way good you can think of.We have arranged for programmes and activities that will offer more knowledge about the Nigeria entity.

“Asides being decorated with an ambience of white and green, there will also be artistic traditional opening ceremony. The Festival will be opened with the National Anthem rendered by the talking drum Goddess and ANF ambassador,Ara. Also to grace the occasion is the present Mr. Nigeria , while guest will be exposed to a tour of the exhibition segments, fashion display and drama about Lagos. More to enjoy is a live music exhibition by renowned musicians including, Majek Fashek, Pasuma,Illblis, Ara, Sanni Danja, DJ Jimmy Jatt, amongst others.

Say the Most Hilarious Things” campaign is an invitation to parents and guardians to share funny, clever and entertaining text and image contents from their children and wards on their social media platforms.

“The post with the highest number of likes wins the star prize. Parents and guardians who are interested in entering their children and wards for the contest are expected to share the funniest, cutest or cleverest things their children have ever done or said on their social media.”

He added: “Entries for the campaign has commenced and expected to close

on 5th June 2019, following which the post with the most likes will emerge winner of the star prize of N200,000 towards the child’s education.

Also, educational development support worth N200,000 will be donated to the winning child’s school. In addition, five runners up in the competition will win N20,000 each in meal vouchers from the company.”

Folawewo informed further that participants who wish to take part in the competition must have attained 18 years or more to be eligible to post a comment, while stories must pertain to children not more than 13 years.

9mobile Introduces New WhatsApp App With the aim to improve customers experience on its platform, indigenous telecommunication firm, 9mobile, has introduced a personalised WhatsApp customer care channel This, according to the company, is in demonstration of commitment to its customers to enable them have a smooth access to its service, especially in this social media era.

According to the company, through the app, which is accessible to over 1.2 billion users globally and over 3 million users on the 9mobile network, it would be offering its subscribers a simple and cost-effective support channel available from the convenience of their phones.

Vice President, Marketing, 9mobile, Adebisi Idowu pointed out that as the largest messaging application, WhatsApp had the capacity to enhance customer engagement while also creating strong brand awareness among its

subscribers.

“In today’s world of evolving technology, we have decided to keep up with the changing times by bringing our services closer to our numerous subscribers. With the new initiative, subscribers are assured of a seamless service, immediate response and timely resolution of their queries.

“The product also offers us the opportunity to create an alternate channel specifically tailored to our customers’ preferences. With this addition, customers have unlimited access to us”, he said.

It will be recalled that the company recently launched its free whatssapp service whereby its subscribers chat for free without depleting their data.

Since its entry into the Nigerian market over 10 years ago, the telco has consistently launched pioneering solutions that support individuals, businesses and communities.

44

Ë&#x153; Ëž MAY 25, 2019

EXPRESSION MEDIAGAFFES

Weekly Newspapers

I

T is my strong belief that weekly publications should be less error-prone than the dailies because of time factor. Alas, they seem to contain more howlers! Weekly editors need to ruminate on/over this.

DAILY Sun Editorial of May 20 formally welcomes us today with this lapse: â&#x20AC;&#x153;However, this amount is far below what the states require to pay workersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; salaries and pensions of retirees.â&#x20AC;? Just end this sentence at â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;pensionsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Who else do we pay pensions? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Power sector inefficiency: How privatization worsened consumers (consumersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;) nightmareâ&#x20AC;? (THE BUSINESS REPORT Banner, May 20) â&#x20AC;&#x153;Obaseki, FG inaugurate night landing (night-landing) facilities, others at Benin airportâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Only drastic measures like this will ensure that we do not continue to dance disco when our energy house is on fire.â&#x20AC;? Get it right: a measure like this or measures like theseâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;depending on the intended context.

THISDAY of May 18 comes next with copious inaccuracies beginning from the front page: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Atiku, PDP, formally file application for replacement of Justice Bulkachuwaâ&#x20AC;? Truth & reason: the second comma is completely otiose and structurally distortive. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The petitionersâ&#x20AC;Śhad asked Justice Bulkachuwa to recuse (excuse) herself from the hearing of their petition, but the five man (five-man) panel presided by (presided over by)â&#x20AC;Śhad asked the petitioners to come by way of formal (a formal) application.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;In the motion on notice (motion-on-notice) dated May 16 and filed same (the same) day by their lead counselâ&#x20AC;Ś.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Northern Governors (Governorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;) Forum decries lingering security crisis (crises) in regionâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Measles kill (kills) 58 in Bornoâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Emperor arrests health officials over (for) e-yellow fever card racketeering â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a village girl, I went to a village primary, secondary schoolsâ&#x20AC;Śâ&#x20AC;? Delete the article â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;I went through school and when my grandmother died, I had issue (an issue) with funds.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;Śthe government needs to invest more

into (in) an industry that has grown into the 3rd largest in the world without supportâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Amosunâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s last minute (last-minute) actions causing anxietyâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wilfred Ndidi: Can Leicester ward-off (ward off) Man Unitedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prying eyes?â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;President Nigerian Cycling Federationâ&#x20AC;Ś gives insight on (into) the preparations towards the UCL Africa Cup coming up in Abuja in July.â&#x20AC;?

THE NATION ON SUNDAY Life of May 19 circulated this embryonic (immature) line: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lagos is known as the honey-pot of Nigeria, attracting all and sundry from different nooks and corners of the country.â&#x20AC;? Goodbye floodravaged Lagos: nooks and crannies. Now, all those who ignorantly and mischievously accuse me of leaving out titles on this stable can prance! â&#x20AC;&#x153;My grouse with Kaluâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Ubaniâ&#x20AC;? (Sunday Tribune, May 19) Till eternity: my grouse about (not with)â&#x20AC;Ś. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The present situation is that the federal government has between 50 to 53 per cent of national incomeâ&#x20AC;Ś.â&#x20AC;? (THE NATION, May 9) Still on fiscal federalism: between 50 and 53 or from 50 to 53. No muddle, gentlemen of the Press.

The next five solecisms are from THISDAY, The Saturday Newspaper of May 18: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The family of the deceased is currently seeking proper investigation (investigations) to unravelâ&#x20AC;Ś.â&#x20AC;?

Special feature: â&#x20AC;&#x153;isâ&#x20AC;? confirms currency exclusivity. So, â&#x20AC;&#x153;is currentlyâ&#x20AC;? is murderous abuse of language! â&#x20AC;&#x153;They ought to have used that as an opportunity to prove their acceptability in Osun rather than resulting (resorting) toâ&#x20AC;Ś.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;NFF at crossroad over fraud allegationâ&#x20AC;?

Sports gist: at a/the crossroads. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This protest isâ&#x20AC;Śto talk to Obasanjo concerning his plan to impose Islam in (on/upon) the country.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nobody has raised any eyebrow against Kayode Fayemi.â&#x20AC;? Formal expression: eyebrows. â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;Śthe problems of the education sectorâ&#x20AC;?

Agenda for education: noun (education); adjective (educational). Therefore, educational sector â&#x20AC;&#x153;FG needs to allow states, LGs run educationsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Prof. Bayejoâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Educationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is uncountable. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Is it lawful to give riot victims mass burial

without the permission of their living relatives? Would it have been their dead relatives? â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is neither the time or (nor) the place to discuss about (sic) the fractured lives of urban dwellers.â&#x20AC;? Delete â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;aboutâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, in the interest of lexical sanity. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The President has a (an) onerous responsibility not to give in to the expensive desires of his ministers and members of the National Assembly.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;In Ibadan where I live, we sure are reaping the fallouts ofâ&#x20AC;Ś.â&#x20AC;? The state of our grammar: fall-out (non-count). â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lagos of yesteryearsâ&#x20AC;? This war: yesteryear (uncountable). â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lagos on the Match Againâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Matchâ&#x20AC;? for â&#x20AC;&#x153;Marchâ&#x20AC;?? Why not vernacular at once instead of this malapropism that borders on stark illiteracy! â&#x20AC;&#x153;Civic education advocated for sustainance of democracyâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sustenanceâ&#x20AC;? is it. This apparently infinitesimal difference defines the character of writing. â&#x20AC;&#x153;New eatery debuts at Victoria Islandâ&#x20AC;? In formal writing, â&#x20AC;&#x153;debutâ&#x20AC;? is strictly a noun, but in informal entries, it functions as either a noun or a verb. And this: on (not at) Victoria Island. â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;Śmore so when most countries in (on) the continent have been turned into banana republicsâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Redressing the dilapidation that have (has) unfortunately become its hallmark is a task that must be done and urgently too.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;The NLC led over 3,000 workers to parliament to protest the jumbo furnitures allowances.â&#x20AC;? I thought we had gone beyond the learnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stage, which deals with etymological fundamentals: furniture allowances! â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cast your minds (how many minds does a reader have?) back to those nightmarish years of fuel scarcity....â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;The era of racketeering, panic buying and stocking of petrol at home are (is) over.â&#x20AC;? Got the verb determinant? Here: The era. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Anybody who happened to stumble unto (on) some millions of naira by fair or foul means dabbled into that business.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;Śthere seems (seem) to be more than enough petrol stations for motorists....â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Other motorists have to make do with old jalopies (are there new ones?) with a life span of between ten to 20 years....â&#x20AC;? Either: between

How to Change to Next Level

A

s we were saying.

The premise of our discussion last week was on the possible stimulus that could accrue to the Nigerian economy when a paradigmshifting instrument dubbed the Nigerian Entertainment Development Commission, NEDC, is legislated into being, for the sake of the creative industries. Let us continue: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The objectives of the NEDC are direct and actionable: 1: To protect, promote, preserve and permit activities, regulations, practices and procedures that shall produce and provide conducive conditions for the attainment of high productivity, excellence in production standards, training and development.

2: To act as arrowhead and driving force in the capitalisation and establishment of critical infrastructures; and the mobilisation of corporate financial institutions towards deepening and expanding professionalism and investment super-highways.

3: To encourage and stimulate the positive, clear-sighted promotion and preservation of our sundry cultural and traditional mores, diverse lifestyles, customs, etc.

In the pursuit of the foregoing, to activate a strong sense of patriotism and deep appreciation of the potentialities of our inherent diversity â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in culture, practices and customs â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and its sensitive and responsible presentation to the larger world.

Some of the major organs of the NEDC shall include the following: - A new National Copyright Administration (the NCC Act shall be amended to subsume the current effete body under the NEDC) will act as the intellectual, orientational, documentational and informational arm of the NEDC, especially in the critical forth-coming anti-piracy war.

- War Against Piracy (WAP) unit (with adequate and well-remunerated enforcement and prosecutorial personnel and competences). The crack-force units of armed forces, police and paramilitary corps shall be in action across the states/LGs/ major urban centres (akin to a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Piracy Policeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;). The units shall include lawyers proficient in criminal litigation of intellectual property infringers; PR/Information officers (reverse propaganda is essential), etc. We have to win the war on piracy, as the statistics is worse than distressing - a recent international media report blatantly revealed on this scourge that Nigeria accounts for 80% of internationally pirated music CDs! - A corollary of the above is the establishment of counterpart judicial units... for example, the establishment of Special

Tribunals in every geopolitical sub-zone (senatorial district). A spin-off from that is the urgent need to review the Copyright Act in which punishments are now outdated and are no longer commensurate to the gravity of criminality. As we speak, punitive fines range from N10,000 to N100,000 for individual infringers, and N50,000 to N500,000 for â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;body corporateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;! The longest jail time is 12 monthsâ&#x20AC;Ś with that sort of kid-glove knocks, it is no wonder piracy is quite lucrative here.

Even more despairing is the apparent ignorance (or may be indolence) amongst copyright owners. They seem to believe only the Copyright Commission can prosecute infringements.

A former senior law lecturer at University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Dr. F.O.B. Babafemi lamented in his 526-page book (Intellectual Property: The Law and Practice of Copyright, Trade Marks, Patents and Industrial Designs in Nigeria, 2006): â&#x20AC;&#x153;In my view, the Commission is now doing a very good job. More cases are being taken to the Federal High Court. However, be this as it may, when one examines the civil cases brought before the Federal High Court, one is indeed dismayed at the paucity of cases (brought by copyright owners, emphasis mine). The point I am making is that even if the Nigerian Copyright Commission prosecutes or does not prosecute, nothing stops the copyright owner himself from suing anyone who infringes his copyright in a court of law. It is indeed very very sad that since the enactment of the Copyright Act of 1988 and its amendments in 1992 and 1999â&#x20AC;Ś we can only cite very few reported cases on copyrightâ&#x20AC;?! Need we say more?

Yet, all the current noise is on physical piracyâ&#x20AC;Ś the warfront against the ascendancy of the more sophisticated digital piracy has not even been situated! As Ana Santos Rutschman revealed in an Emory University International Law Review paper (Weapons of Mass Construction: The Role of Intellectual Property in Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Film and Music Industries, March, 2015): â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;With an estimated 23% of the Nigerian population having access to mobile Internet by 2017, the Internet could become Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new Alaba market.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Oh, we have work to do! (But more on Piracy later).

- Another critical arm of the NEDC is the Arts Endowment Fund. This is what gives the commission its spunk as a semi-autonomous body with inherent abilities to access funds and grants all over the world; and a well-designed accountable system of supporting, funding, subventing and generally provoking creative or artistic excellence in productions, trainings, festivals, exhibitions, concerts, scholarship, curricular, etc. We

EBERE WABARA

ewabara@yahoo.com, 08055001948

10 and 20 or from 10 to 20. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Aminu, Akintola, Awo on 103-man envoys listâ&#x20AC;? Who pocketed the good, old apostrophe (envoysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; list?) Live in truth if you want to serve. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The current curricula were due for renew 11 years agoâ&#x20AC;?. Back to the classroom: renew (verb) and renewal (noun). â&#x20AC;&#x153;The dead doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t (donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t) talk.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Lagos State Governor who had come to be part of history was ferried out of the troubled (trouble) spot without any bruises.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;And certainly, we must look forward to a final end to Boko Haram incursions into (upon or on) our political life, whether by â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;invitationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, collusion or whatever.â&#x20AC;? Grumbling from the North: either finality or an end â&#x20AC;&#x153;Final endâ&#x20AC;? sounds chaotic. â&#x20AC;&#x153;On May 29, we swore into the highest pinnacle of our country a man who has re-kindled a light of hope over the quagmires of our global despair.â&#x20AC;? It is best to rewrite this catastrophe: On May 29, we swore in, to the pinnacle of our country, a man who has rekindled our hope.

Let us avoid verbiage. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A man who, aware of the risks and challenges of the job he has sworn an oath (sworn to an oath) to carry onâ&#x20AC;Ś.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;For my part, it is clear that primordial attitudes, prejudices, hatreds, arrogant claims of superiorityâ&#x20AC;Ś.â&#x20AC;? My reaction: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;hatredâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is non-count. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In fact, since the collapse of Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dependent on oil income.â&#x20AC;Śâ&#x20AC;? Get it right: dependence. â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;Śnot helping matters in the search for solution to unemployment problem in the country....â&#x20AC;? No redundancy: â&#x20AC;&#x153;unemploymentâ&#x20AC;? is clearly a problem. Good this way: solution to unemployment in the country. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The huge colossal damages (damage) the air strikes inflicted on the innocent Libyan peopleâ&#x20AC;Ś.â&#x20AC;? Also, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;hugeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;colossalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cannot co-function. â&#x20AC;&#x153;His only other coaching experience came last winter when he had a short spell in charge of Sampdoriaâ&#x20AC;?. No sports fix: delete â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;shortâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, which is implied in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;spellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

COUNTERPOINT

FEMI

AKINTUNDE-JOHNSON fajalive1@gmail.com 08182223348 - (SMS Only)

can borrow a leaf from the Iroko that Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has become. Surely with an annual budget of $146m (about N28b in 2015) the NEA boasts of a chest to wink at entire budgets of several Nigerian statesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Ministry of Cultures combined. It was set up in 1965 as an independent agency by the US government. Our own giant document on the Endowment Fund has been gathering dust since the 1990â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s.

- There is an urgent need to deregulate and decentralise the business of collecting societies and the administration of royalty distribution. A strong function of the NEDC is to act as keen regulators of these independent membership-driven associations, and provide adequate and perpetual safety nets for creators of self-generating works of arts.

- Note that even as we promote our culture, give jobs to our youth and project a worthy legacy for the promises of this great nation, the surrounding activities of NEDC are catalysts for greater and qualitative job opportunities for large spectrum of professionals and allied industries. It is a win-win scenario for all Nigerians.

Our parting plea is that the above statements should not be digested in a hurry like a watered-down Nollywood script; nor should we regress to the classic Nigerian pass-time of abandoning the message and hankering after the messenger.

Let us spend time to reflect; give the benefit of doubt and seek clarification or research, where necessary. Being disdainful of bold or â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;crazyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ideas does not make them less pivotal, or less beneficial. Whatever you do, think of this moment as a unique opportunity and atmosphere to change dramatically the fortunes and features of the Nigerian Creative Community - for good. So, let us think together! God bless Nigeria. And her long-suffering art-isans!

May be that prayer will be answered four years after...we, the resilient and adaptive Nigerian audience awaits the stirrings of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;born-againâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; pilots of this craft: To be, or not to be?

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Funky Malam We Have to Showcase Our Own Culture to the World K SOLO I Want to Give Back My Little Knowledge to the World pg. 48

Timaya Inspires with ‘I Can’t Kill Myself’ pg. 53

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We Have to Showcase Our Own Culture to the World Saeed Mohammed (Funky Malam) is one of the big names around in the Nigerian showbiz industry. Recently, he featured in Shirleyann Ede’s intriguing political drama - Mr. President, The Controversial Election – which attracted wide cinema patronage.

Funky Malam talks with Chinedu Ibeabuchi about his career, celebrity marriage and challenges that investors face in the industry

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ow did the journey start for you?

and upbringing. Bringing fake life into a relationship will cost you a lot of trouble because your supposed partner needs to understand the real you. If you give your partner the impression that you are a big shot and afterwards he/she discovers that you have just been blabbing, you will feel the heat afterwards. That’s why we have to be truthful to ourselves if we want a true life partner.

The journey started when I came to Lagos in 1999. I came with a script which I wanted to dispose. What I did then was to take a jacket of a movie to find out the address of producers. My efforts to get a producer to take the script proved abortive. I kept pushing until I met a friend who took me to Mr. Obafemi Lasode’s studio on Victoria Island. Lasode was the producer of Sango movie which was one of the biggest movies produced in Nigeria as at that time. That was how I was able to feature in then popular sitcom, Paradise Park.

Most Nollywood movies can’t compete with Hollywood movies in Cinemas. What can be done?

It’s not a surprise. Hollywood is an industry that started over hundred years ago. They have paid their dues for a very long time. We don’t have the capacity as much as they do now. Nollywood is like a baby industry compared to Hollywood.

This industry is capital intensive. It’s now that we have started seeing producers who believe in Nollywood and making investments to grow the industry. Several producers who have invested hugely have also reaped hugely. Nollywood explores African culture and traditions and sell it to the world. That’s what makes us unique.

If we keep copying what Hollywood is doing, we might not get a good market. So we have to be ourselves and showcase our own lifestyle to the world. It’s same thing that Bollywood does, selling their culture to the world. This uniqueness is what makes Nollywood different and marketable to the world. With more producers investing in good storyline, soon Nollywood will be at par.

Who christened you Funky Malam?

When I came to Lagos, people started calling me Funky Malam because of the way I dress. Most time, I wear jeans and shirt but because I was from the North, people started calling me Funky Malam.

That was how my real name started fading out. I had no choice than to adapt the name.

Can you recall some of the challenges you faced as an upcoming actor that you can’t forget?

There were many challenges I faced as an upcoming actor. Though I was fortunate to start under a man who believes in my talent, that’s Mr Lasode. Paradise Park gave me quick publicity and popularity which enabled people to recognise my character swiftly. My acting style was unique and different from other characters at that time. That paved way for me as producers recognised my talent immediately.

However, I suffered from stereotype as many producers felt I could only play a particular character type and wouldn’t want to give me an opportunity to play other roles. But I kept pushing to convince producers that I could play some other roles even better than the Malam role people had stereotyped me. But then, I discovered that a lot of actors were stereotyped, not just me. Also, some of the jobs were not coming because you needed to know people to get roles and I didn’t really know the system properly. Getting information for auditioning then was not as easy as it is today. No mobile phones or social media to ease communication. So you might miss out on date, venue and time for auditions.

It made it a little bit tough to vie for a role in several productions.

How long have you been in this industry?

I have been in the industry since year 2000. Paradise Park sitcom brought me to limelight. Another opportunity that propelled my career was a live call-in programme I presented on NTA Network called Laugh Line; it was later changed to Humour on Ice. Each week, I would come up with a topic and garnish it with jokes. This introduced me to stand-up comedy. I started getting invites to events as a compere or comedian. Sometimes, as the events were rapped-up, invitees would hook-up with me to get my contact to feature in their events also.

Recently you featured in the movie Mr. President, the Controversial Elections. What do you make out of the movie?

When you are not acting, what do you do?

I am always at home having quality time with my family.

Any project for your fans to look out for in 2019?

Funky Mallam

I played the lead character in the movie produced by Shirleyann Ede. The movie had a nice cinema reception. When the promo was on, a lot of suspense was in the air and many people were looking for an escape route to loosen the tight feelings of politician tensions then. Also, with Funky Malam featuring in the movie, many people said there must be something funky about this movie. All these factors played together to draw huge attention to the movie. A lot of people that saw the movie liked the concept because it was easily retable and without bias. It expanded my horizon because afterwards, so many opportunities came up at the same time. Many producers loved the professionalism I exhibited in the movie.

from his spouse and take to social media to throw tantrums. Whether good or bad, that person was once part of your life. It’s not advisable especially if you have a child from that union. Whatever you do rubs on your child and not your ex-partner. Your ex must have moved on, so if you criticise your ex publicly, you aren’t smearing his/ her name but that of your child. People will use it against your child either today or tomorrow. Your child will grow up seeing all these videos or chats on social media and he/she would feel so bad. What you need to do when a break-up occurs is to move on. It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last time that divorce is happening.

We have seen celebrities in crashed marriages crying foul in public. How were you able to contain the crash of your 1st marriage?What is the lesson from it?

My advice is to put everything in prayer.

Also, don’t be a fake person. If you are looking for a true partner, you have to be truthful yourself. Sometimes, if you are fake, you will end up meeting a fake person.

You have to study whoever you want to get involved with. As a celebrity, you have been exposed to a lot of people with different attitudes. So, all you need do is to look for someone from a very decent background

My first marriage crashed after we had spent three years together. And that was due to incompatibility. We amicably separated, not that we were at loggerheads. I see no reason why one would separate

What’s your advice to celebrities seeking true life partners?

They are all in the pipeline. I am looking forward to starting my own production as a movie producer though I have done some other productions like talk shows. There are also some blockbuster movies that I have been penciled to feature in. One of such is Cross Road which is a big budget movie. Once it’s released, movie lovers will see that the gap between Hollywood and Nollywood is gradually being bridged.

What’s one big challenge that you feel the industry still has to surmount?

One of the challenges the industry has to surmount is that we have quack directors and producers who swindle people. When investors trust you and provides fund to shoot, then you extort them. This will scare new investors away. Such persons are killing the industry, their reputation and career.

Trying to make quick money has eaten deep into the industry. I have seen cases where people are complaining of releasing fund for a project and then the project managers used the money to solve their own problems or come back extorting the project owners for more fund.

Also, the cinemas should be selective in the kind of movies they screen. When you screen all kind of movies, you end up reducing the value of Nollywood before movie goers. Once cinemas are able to set standards, Most Nollywood films will surely compete with Hollywood in cinemas.

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Efe Irele, Mawuli Gavor, Beverly Naya, Toyin Abraham and Okey Uzoeshi on set of the movie

For ‘2 Weeks in Lagos’, Beverly Naya, Gavor Re-ignite Chemistry In the movie 2 Weeks in Lagos, starring Mawuli Gavor (Ghanaian) and Beverly Naya (Nigerian) the characters seem to have carried over same chemistry from ‘Chief Daddy’ movie, writes Ferdinand Ekechukwu

W

atching the trailer which was released just prior to its first screening at the world’s largest film festival, the Canes Film Festival, in France on Friday May 17, one cannot but almost tell what the movie ‘2 Weeks in Lagos’ is all about. Here is a line from the dialogue “Otunba Ayodeji has asked your father to be his running mate.

That is why we have arranged for you to marry his only daughter,” Joke Silva tells Mawuli Gavor.

The movie was directed by Canadian based filmmaker, Kathryn Fasegha, who is renowned for her first and award-winning movie, Treacherous Heart, done in 2012.

The Lagos themed movie is a thrilling and emotionally captivating journey into the love affair between Ejikeme (Mawuli Gavor) and Lola (Beverly Naya). Their paths cross when Ejikeme, an investment banker comes home from the United States to invest in Nigerian businesses.

It is love at first sight for them and as they embark on a journey of discovering this new

love, they must contend with the political ambitions of Ejikeme’s mother (Joke Silva), who doesn’t want them together, and is busy planning a marriage between him and the only daughter of Otunba Ayodeji (Jide Kosoko), a political juggernaut who is considering Ejikeme’s father as his running mate for the Presidency.

His (Ejikeme) mother’s actions create a rift between Ejikeme and Lola that puts their families on a deadly collision course.

The clear-cut clip gives away the core of the movie which is about love with scenes which depict action.

Take one scene for instance. Joke Silva (Ejikeme’s mother) is shown retaliating Shaffy Bello’s (Lola’s mother) hit in an act that will resonate among cinema audience; artistically indorsing Silva’s alter superiority off and on the screen.

The lead characters of the movie, Mawuli Gavor (Ghanaian) and Beverly Naya (Nigerian) seem to have carried over same chemistry from ‘Chief Daddy’ and look good to go as real couple. Like Adesuwa Etomi and Bankole ‘Banky’ Wellington in Wedding Party. Gavor is such a stock

character. You know the tall, dark handsome guy who has this charming looks women find irresistible. Same goes for Naya on the opposite; appealing, dark beautiful and a complementarily perfect height.

The title 2 Weeks in Lagos comes very simple and not one of the discordant titles that is often theme to movies of this kind.

And its array of well-known stars including Tina Mba, Toyin Abraham, Fathia Williams, Deyemi Okanlawon, Ife Irele, Okey Uzoeshi and Odunlade Adekola makes good the movie which would be further screened in Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana, before a European and Asian cinematic release tour and its North American release.

On the movie, Kathryn had expressed her joy for the privilege to have her movie showcase at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. “I am very excited to be at the Cannes Film Festival. For me, it’s not just about directing a movie, it is also exciting to see my movie placed at one of the biggest film platforms in the world” she stated.

The Cannes film festival is one where movies from different parts of the world are showcased to promote film making, and

I am grateful to everyone who contributed to bringing this movie to life, from the cast to the crew and everyone indeed.”

A trained actor, producer and director, Fasegha, who has been making compelling movies and TV programmes since 1988, isn’t much of a popular director in the industry but for her two movies with focus on the complex and often conflict-filled interactions between generations, and between cultures.

The University of Calabar Theatre Arts graduate has won several awards outside Africa such as Best Drama in Diaspora at the African Oscars in North Carolina, USA 2012 and Favorite Director African Oscars, Washington DC USA. She is also a member of the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers, CSIF as well as Women in Film and Television Alberta, WIFTAand has won the award for the Global Woman Vision Award Calgary, in June 2012.

As the curtain draws close today at the Canes Film Festival, 2 Weeks in Lagos would have made a deserving impact showcasing among best of Nollywood at the 72 annual film festival which commenced from May 14 to May 25.

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I Wanna Give Back My Little Knowledge to the World Solomon Oyeniyi, popularly known as K Solo, is a key player in the music industry. Some of the biggest names in the sector today are living testimonies of his years of impact and works. K Solo has, undoubtedly, made a mark for himself with over 13 years of active stay in music production, performances and more. Tosin Clegg finds out what he has been up to, the nature of the industry overtime, his upcoming MasterClass project and more My international deal have been very active in the major music culture and that’s with a little more additions and energy, hunting for new young talents, inputting one or two sanity into the music industry in my own little way and, finally, pushing my brand out of Nigeria to a more organised region, like a deal I just got with an international rum company in Colorado, U.S.A., Yolo Rum.

I

Upcoming projects and plans I feel so excited sharing my upcoming projects and plans for the industry.

First, I am hosting the first of its kind MasterClass for music producers, audio engineers affiliated with radio, TV, films and live sound on 27th of May in Lagos. I will be teaching sound crafts, producing, beatmaking, vocal effects and practical experiences. There will be time out for questions and answers where I can solve long time pressures. Secondly, I just registered a school where I and other professionals will be teaching. As a proper school, you can learn music production and audio engineering as a course for six months to a year. And thirdly, I have acquired some really great sounds and skills I can’t wait to share in my new music productions. So, I am going to be dropping new music for new artistes and few old ones, both gospel and secular.

African sound more respected now I have discovered that our African sound is beginning to be more respected much more than when Fela introduced it. So, I found out that our mixing was one major issue we needed to also focus on, because it’s like building a very good structure but with wrong interior decor or wrong choice of colours. I know the younger ones need not make the mistakes we made. It is part of what motivated this, plus I also want to give back my little knowledge to the world.

Traveling round the globe has inspired my quality As a producer, I really study very hard.

I don’t even study the Americans alone, I go as close as Congo to study their sound and how they define their music to the world. So, somehow traveling round the globe and studying has inspired my quality, that’s why the foundational sound I laid for the likes of Timaya has kept his brand on the map and that is what every other guy working with him has stolen. Same foundational sound Cohbams laid for Asa, and others follow her till date.

Ksolo

A hit music is good production There must be chemistry between the artiste and the producer to make a hit. To me, a hit music is good production. So, one of the keys is to set aside money that will allow your management do that job, focus on understanding the artiste and

his or her sound, as you are a step behind a good production.

Also, the artiste shouldn’t chase a dancehall major producer because he just made a hit. Instead, chase a producer who will understand your sound and can take it to the next level or else you will be tagged a reggae star today and tomorrow a pop star, next an afrobeat artiste. That’s not versatility it’s called confusion.

The industry has really grown. When we started, there was no social media where you can single handedly share music to fans, we hoped on the radio Djs, TV and street Djs. Now, without any of these, you can reach millions of people with your music. That’s a major addition to the industry. Now, also, we have so many investors - Telecom giants putting funds into the industry and personal label owners too, but back then, we had only a few to count. I can continue for a long time but let me stop, as the likes of us too can be brand ambassadors that never existed before.

The good and bad sides of the industry I have said it before and I will say it again, this industry is too small to form cabals. They are very weak cabals and it’s limiting the industry from growing. It’s limiting Nigerians enjoying new sounds.

Segregation is a major fault that needs to be fixed. If I didn’t listen to Timaya, he might still be a star, but maybe not this big or maybe bigger, but I ignored his background and where he is coming from and loved him and his sound, and today is history. We need to encourage both Ajegunle and Lekki talents same way. Agege is my hood and it won’t forget me and would die for me, I put us on the map when no one thought stars can emerge. Timaya showed, Klever Jay showed now Small Doctor, Junior Boy, Zlatan Ibile, and many more.

Quality of productions of emerging artistes The quality is very nice and so on point, only that originality is missing.

They keep recycling the same vibes.

Check the ones who are able to dig deep, they come out with massive hits and remain very relevant. Recycling is why many of them spend so much to promote and get one popular song and disappear for months. But check Wande Coal is still very relevant and kudos to Don Jazzy for creating that strong base.

Problems of the industry On air personalities (OAPs) are doing damage because the industry is too small for you to feed on a young talent that’s got no label or management push.

They shouldn’t see their job as an OAP to elevate poverty. If you check the likes of Funmi Iyanda, Mo Abudu, Kwame, GrandMasterLee they worked hard and pushed the game with nothing. But now, the stomach of some OAPs is a problem.

Some deejays are so bankrupt that they forget their power to break hits. Now, they don’t break good songs again; they destroy the airwaves with non-talented artistes’ songs, whilst pushing the major breaker under the rug. That’s also a problem, and I think they should try and work around it. An unfortunate thing is when music producers decide not to grow or study because they made a song for a greedy A-list artiste and feel they have arrived, instead of taking the opportunity to carve a niche and improve on their sound, but they won’t until the glory fades.

Investors and artistes’ drama Now to the investors that sign an artiste and want to cash out next month.

Music is not rice and garri. It’s a lifetime business, an empire you hand over to your next generation.

Let’s help build the industry instead of enslaving the artiste and killing creativity, as well. Finally, to the artistes, they are the greatest problem, no time to discover if you are actually a musician or to be called an artiste. Music is now seen as where any failed dude can stumble into.

That’s a problem. To the big ones I think they can set a standard or else their pride is being disguised by these non-talents.

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Tosin Clegg 07062816737 e-mail: tosinclegg@hotmail.com

Gists

StarTimes ‘ Pan Africa Online Film Festival StarTimes ON has announced its Pan Africa Online Film Festival (PAOFF) in Lagos with the setting of several awards to encourage African local online film creation. According to a statement by StarTimes ON, PAOFF is a quarterly online film awards competition, and is open to all local professional film and music video producers.

StarTimes ON has since launched a fans’ voting system for all videos that are qualified for the awards competition, which will include favorite film ranking board, favorite short film ranking board, favorite MV board. All videos will be listed in the three boards based on their categories, and rank according to votes from StarTimes ON users.

The number one video of each board will win the quarterly Best Film Award, Best Short Film Award and Best MV Award,

whose producer will get $1500 as prize.

“It is an online age, and local online video contents will be an important pillar of StarTimes ON’s content strategy,” said Ariel Wang, Operation Director of StarTimes ON. She added: “That’s why we established PAOFF awards and we sincerely hope the awards competition will encourage the development of local online video creation and see the rise of African online video industry.”

StarTimes ON is Africa’s No.1 online video streaming service with 14 million users in the market. It is dedicated to providing ultimate entertainment and enriched experience for African online users. It provides Live TV, VOD and short videos with covering news, sports, movies, series, music, entertainment, documentary, kids and religion.

Alabi Teaches Music Video Production at Canon-PEFTI Film Workshops World-renowned camera manufacturer, Canon, has partnered with Nigeria’s foremost film school, PEFTI Film Institute, to train Nigerians on DSLR Filmmaking and Music Video Production, though three practical workshops which took place early this month.

The free workshops took place at the expansive PEFTI Campus at Ajao Estate, Lagos, and were conducted by certified Canon trainers: Andrew Emil from Egypt, Rodney Quarcoo from Ghana, and Awardwinning Nigerian filmmaker, Meji Alabi, who has directed several mind-blowing Music Videos, including Fever by Wizkid & Tiwa Savage, Assurance by Davido and Right Now by Seyi Shay.

Students of PEFTI and other institutions, aspiring filmmakers, experienced industry practitioners, and camera enthusiasts, benefited from the hands-

on workshops, which trained them in modern DSLR filmmaking and music video production.

The week culminated in a premiere of short films and a music video produced during the practical workshops. Participants were then awarded verified CanonPEFTI certificates.

According to the Managing Director of PEFTI, Abiola Adenuga, “We appreciate the continued partnership between PEFTI and Canon because we are able to enlighten Nigerians about state-of-theart equipment and software which are immensely beneficial to PEFTI students, and Nigerian entertainment industry as a whole.

Technology has simplified the filmmaking process; regular training and workshops like this, ensure we remain ahead.”

It was Glow and Glitters at Akpororo, Sexy Steel, Junior Boy Endorse the FNSB May Ball 2019 Football Campaign against Drug Abuse Last weekend, the Federal Nigeria Society for the Blind held its annual May Ball themed the Adire Fusion May Ball. The theme was to promote the vocational training centre for the blind. One of the major vocational skills being taught there is Adire making.

The May Ball offered the trainees an opportunity to promote their skills and creativity by wearing and showcasing their work.

There was music by the FNSB live band and special guests, Funmi Saxx and Vivienne. Also included in the programme was a comedy show by an ex-trainee and currently Wazobia FM staff, Kelly Blind. There was also an exclusive runway show with designers like Adey Soile, Segun Ajasa, My Q Lady, Xclamations and Okunoren working with the Society to create unique pieces that were modeled by professional models and trainees on the runway and displaced at the entrance of the hall.

There were so many prizes won, including gas stoves, cutlery sets, food items, dinner for two at Black Olives, weekend stay at Westbrook Hotel and the star prize was a roundtrip business class ticket to the UK, courtesy British Airways.

As part of a conscious effort to curb drug abuse menace among young people in the society, Social activist, Stephen Chibuzor, popularly known as Igwe Paparazzi, held the fourth edition of ‘Powerball Football Tournament’, an annual event aimed at discouraging drug abuse among young people in the society.

The convener, Stephen Chibuzor, said on the essence of the event: “Powerball Football Tournament is an annual inter-university 5-aside-football tournament that sees different universities and celebrity teams compete in a friendly atmosphere to create awareness for the prevention of drug abuse on Nigerian campuses.

Drug abuse among young people has become a problem that needs to be paid attention to immediately. A group of Nigerian entertainers decided to come together to create the much needed awareness against drug abuse on campuses, using football as a tool.”

Entertainers, including popular comedian, Akpororo, Big Brother Naija 2017 Winner, Efe Ejeba, musician, Sexy Steel, Joe Boy, DJ Voyst, Junior Boy, Ossy Achievas, Bello Kreb, Josh 2Funny, Instagram comic sensation, Oluwadollarz, were all on ground to play at the 2019 edition of the tournament which held at the Astro Turf Pitch, Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, alongside students from

The University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos State University, Ojo, Federal College of Education, Akoka and Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos. The event was powered by Moving MAD Inc. and supported by Merrybet, Netsat TV, Redbull and Indomie.

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Wilfred Ndidi Grabs Dinma Super Eagles star, Wilfred Ndidi and his lover, Dinma, shared loads of stunning prewedding photos on Wednesday on the social media.

With his looks, Ndidi has clearly found a jewel.

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Precious Fani-Kayode Dazzles@30 Precious Fani-Kayode, model, beauty queen, Nollywood actress and wife of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, clocked 30 today May 25. Her three handsome triplets - Prince Ragner, Prince Aiden and Prince Liam, also clocked one on the same day. Precious delivered a special birthday photo, featuring her and the three boys, for Saturday Showbizflair

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I Love Actors Who Push Everything to New Level Multiple award winning Irish film Director Terry McMahon is part and parcel of an upcoming Nollywood cinematic project, ‘Caged in The Creeks’, alongside Nigerian writer and movie producer Leke Akinrowo. McMahon, renowned for hit movies like Patrick’s Day, Batman Begin and Charlie Cansanova, among others, is expected to bring his wealth of Western film production and acting knowledge to bear on the new action thriller. The outspoken and energetic film personality in an interesting conversation about the movie project, shares his experience and time in Nigeria with journalists in Lagos. Ferdinand Ekechukwu and Oluchi Chibuzor were there

H

ow did this project ‘Caged in The Creeks’ and your involvement come about?

by their ego will very, very quickly expose the banality of their performance and actor who is driven by the desire to discover, can take us to places we never even conceived of.

Bisi Adegun came to Ireland years ago and he opened the first IrishAfrican Theater Company and he asked me to do some workshops with the cast. At that time, I was working in television and earning a decent living. So, I came and did the workshops and they loved them and there was remarkable reaction and he asked me at the end, how they owe me? I said it’s on my house, you don’t owe me anything, I think what you are doing is important and I think it’s important an issue we should embrace. Then, Bisi asked me we meet later and we met with a friend of mine Jimmy, who is artistic Director of a theater in Ireland and Bisi asked we revolutionised Irish theater and there was this famous play in the Canon of Irish Theater called the “Play Boy of the Western World” and the central character in the ‘Playboy of the Western World’ is a young guy called Christy Mahon. He is Irish and is white as you can possibly get. So, I said if you want to revolutionise Irish theatre, make Christy Mahon in the ‘Playboy of the Western World’ black.

You know most people would think that was insane, so Bisi is insane enough to think that it was a good idea. He went to meet the owner of Radid Oil who is a Booker prize winner and one of the greatest writers in the world, and Radid Oil and Bisi wrote the Playboy of the Western World with Christy Mahon a black. It became a huge hit. So fast forward years later, Bisi is back here in Nigeria, he is talking to Leke and Leke said I want to revolutionise Nollywood, how do I revolutionise Nollywood? And Bisi, like the fucking lunatic he is, told Leke this story about this guy when he asked him how he revolutionised Irish theater and Leke thought that was a sign from God. So, here I am now supposing to be revolutionising Nigerian cinema because of God and Bisi’s identity.

What’s your view about the script, the story and the producer Leke Akinro of this film ‘Caged inThe Creeks?

Having visited production locations and met Nigerian actors, how excited are you about this project?

It’s amazing because we met some serious heavyweights in the last few days and I started every meeting with saying that I am not here to judge you, I am not here to test you or audition you. I am the guest in your country. I know how good you are already, but what we are trying to do is get into the realm of character where their capacity to go to the places they are not normally allowed to go is going to portray both of us. So, I think that one of the bravest societies in the world are actors because they put their soul in front of the lens of the camera, so a bunch of strangers can feel something in the dark. That soul will be unbelief, that generosity will be unbelief and that’s the realm am trying to connect with them. So each of the actors we have sat down with has had a profound response in the sense that they have very quickly know am not the kind of guy that try to manipulate them or exploit them I just want us collectively to make something remarkable or at least as aspire to that.

Which of the Nigerian movie practitioners were you

Mr. Leke makes me write till my fingertips bleed, and I think it’s a bit wrong frankly (he said joking and laughing).

Again it’s an action thriller. An action thriller has bombs and explosions and all that stuffs, but for me, watching all these when I was younger, the great American action thrillers of the 80s, and the 90s, the thing you took away was not a memory of an explosion but an emotion that you had a visceral reaction to something that somebody did. You are surprised and shocked of how you became immersed in relationship from the unfolding heroism and cowardism, betrayal and honour of these people involved. Because when you have an action thriller time is compressed. People who are normally trying to be decent people are certainly exposed to the most profound level and they discover who they are for better or for worst; sometimes horribly exposed for who they are and sometimes heroically. So when I looked at the script I look for those elements. That is why I loved meeting the actors. I want to move in close as quickly as possible into the landscape of the human face. That to me is the greatest geography there is and when you have an actor who has the courage to allow you enter their soul by what they are trying to conceal rather than demonstrating what they are trying to reveal an audience can be in the dark and go ‘why is my heart beating?’, now we got an action thriller.

Mcmahon

able to connect with?

Well Richard Mofe Damijo (RMD) obviously whose is iconic.

But again I shouldn’t be surprise because it is the same all over the world with the generosity of actors. He was decent beyond belief. He was so filled with curiosity. He was so filled with excitement when we began to talk about the project. And it’s not a false excitement. It’s an excitement of an actor who gets excited by discovery. Ramsey Noah was the same thing.

You are looking at extra-ordinary man, the power house of a man who I think he is extra-ordinary active and he is initially reticent and then 10 minutes into our conversation he has the excitement of a teenager again who forgot what it was almost like to love. Kate Henshaw, she walks in and she is just a power house of potential. You look at her and you go ‘this woman is a ticking time bomb.’ And I love actors like that. I love actors who want to bring everything to a whole new level. I have no interest in an actor doing what I tell them to do and nothing else; that is tiresome. I want an actor to come up with better ideas than I have. I want an actor that will go toe-to-toe with me, and by the end of it, we are both exhausted going till we get tired. That is the realm we want across board with it and all the actors we met that is how they behaved, Keppy as well.

Keppy Ekpeyong again is an extra-ordinary character, just a force of nature, Fantastic Mountain of a man, who yet is like a child when it comes to a discoverable moment. We want to find the discoverable moment. An actor who is driven

What has been your experience in Nigeria like this second visit viz-a-viz the first time?

I hate to say it, but I have been in Paris, London, Moscow, Berlin, Chinghai, I have been to cities all over the world and I have never seen in one square mile more beautiful women anywhere in the world than there is in Nigeria and its killing me. I’m serious (laughter across). The most beautiful women, I don’t know what the hell it is in your food or your DNA but when this women walk in around here, that will just give you a heart attack with utter adoration, and then another one passes, and then another one. I have seen 20 women in an half an hour in any given spot in Nigeria that you would not see in all of the cities in the planet. The problem is all your men have kept all these women.

Tell us about the Nigerian food you have fallen in love with?

The first time I was here, I was taking prescribed antimalaria tablets. When you come to the country there is a bit of a scam really, but there are a whole bunch of injections to be taking, some which are necessary but others which are nonsense. This time I came over and I dumped them all in the bin and took nothing. Not only have I felt amazing, but the foods you put them in your mouth, as a white boy your head starts sweating, your hearts starts beating and your balls start going so what is this what I have been missing all this time. The food is blowing my mind I loved the food especially the Edika-ikong delicacy.

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER t .": , 2019

53

SHOWBIZFLAIR

Timaya

Timaya Inspires with ‘I Can’t Kill Myself’ Enitimi Alfred Odom, popularly called Timaya, is up in cloud nine in his new video, I Can’t Kill Myself’. Omolabake Fasogbon writes that his latest piece is compelling and inspiring

A

t a period when the reality of suicide is intensely glaring in the country, Timaya’s video, ‘I Can’t Kill Myself’ might just be a softer way of discouraging the act that seems to be gaining traction lately.

The video was released shortly after the Dem Mama record boss wowed his fans in Germany, where he performed one of the ‘Chulo Vibes’ sensations ‘Stoopid’.

The richly packaged video pictured the Afro pop master, in a showy and scented environment displaying wealth and affluence without apology, a lifestyle that actually true of him off the stage.

In the clip which was partly set in a private jet, the Plantain Boy crooner is simply saying that life is not worth the worries, rather, it should be enjoyed without reservation, regardless of

criticisms and difficult situations.

Timaya conveyed his thoughts in combination of his native dialect and a more simplified unofficial pidgin language to connect better with his fans.

Directed by Prior Gold Pictures, “I Can’t Kill Myself” is from Timaya’s trending extended play “Chulo Vibes”, the studio album that files in nine hit tracks, including, Balance, the Mood, Pull up, Akuna, Number One, Obrigado and Happy Stoopid.

The work is Timaya’s seventh studio album and was released early February this year, just about five years after the dropped his sixth album, ‘Epiphany’.

The album, so full of vibes as the names implies, covers popular music genres which was not a deviation from the singer’s musical trademark, thus ,still keeps him on track with his audience.

The album also featured guest appearances like Burna Boy, Tanzanian singer, Alikiba, and Trinidad and Tobago dancehall star, Machel Montano, which combined to help raise the profile.

On the collaborations, he said: “The choice of artistes is premised on the fact they are from the three major black regions of the world currently influencing music, fostering the spirit of unity and inclusion” Although, the 42 year - old music producer hails from the South -South region of Nigeria, specifically, which he is always happy boasting about in his music, his works has transcended the shore of Africa. As a matter of fact, it is bringing more recognition to the black race.

Raised from a very humble background, Timaya’s status took a positive turn once he delivered his popular anthem, ‘Dem Mama’, and

ever since, he has continued to storm the airwaves with hit after hit, almost on a yearly basis, not until in 2014 that he took a break for five years.

His works has earned him consistent recognitions both locally and on the international scene which till date, he has four headies awards and one Nigerian music award in his honour, amidst other numerous mouthwatering nominations.

Not just that the father of two is excellent at his craft, he is equally not doing badly as a family man.

That he does not believe in marriage does not make him neglect his manly responsibilities to his baby mamas and daughters.

He once said of how fatherhood has shaped his life thus: “Fatherhood has taught me a lot about love and patience. Fatherhood has not deprived me of anything; it has been one of my biggest blessings.”

54

Ë&#x153; Ëž MAY 25, 2019

PERSPECTIVE Ademola Adeleke Waxes Stronger in Osun Politics Olumide Lawal

W

hen has it become a crime to contest for an election to become the governor of Osun State, in which Senator Ademola Adeleke, gave a good account of himself through the grace of God and massive support of the patriotic and true citizens of Osun State on September 22, 2018? The various ordeals to which Senator Ademola Adeleke is harshly subjected to by some agents of provocations for no just cause, without taking into consideration, the various on-going legal battles in various courts of competent justification, call to mind, the abandonment of the rule of law, by those concerned using state apparatus to act some peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s scripts, in order to give a dog a bad name,â&#x20AC;&#x153; just to have an excuse to hang it.

This by the grace of God, is not applicable to Adeleke, who

by Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grace, will get his mandate, freely given to him by the good people of Osun State, through judicial process and Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s everlasting grace.

If for the certainty of reclaiming his mandate through judicial process, some people are having sleepless nights, so may it be for them till eternity. Nobody can change Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s promise for Ademola Adeleke to reach his ordained goal. If the trend of subverting the rule of law is what some â&#x20AC;&#x153;men of powerâ&#x20AC;? want to embark upon to cow down Ademola Adeleke, they have failed.

They should be ready to prepare enough rooms to detain and accommodate more than 300,000 Osun patriotic people that voted for Senator Ademola Adeleke on September 22, 2018. The spirits of these well-wishers, like that of Ademola Adeleke, are Unbreakable. Ademola Adeleke will emerge triumphant with dignity through judicial process. He is a â&#x20AC;&#x153;cat with nine livesâ&#x20AC;?

As said in Quran 4: 135. â&#x20AC;&#x153;O ye who believe, be ye staunch in justice, witnesses for Allah, even though it be against yourselves or your parents or your kindren. Whether the case be of a rich man or a poor man, for Allah is nearer unto both, than ye are. So follow not passion, lest ye lapse from truth and if ye lapse or fall away, then Lo! Allah is ever informed of what ye doâ&#x20AC;?.

This is a food for thought for all Senator Ademola Adeleke persecutors, who will stop at nothing to give â&#x20AC;&#x153;a dog a bad name, just to hang itâ&#x20AC;?.

Ademola Adeleke is â&#x20AC;&#x153;unhangableâ&#x20AC;?; â&#x20AC;&#x153;unmolestableâ&#x20AC;?. And he will continue to rise high above all the on-going political pettiness against him by his vile and mean traducers. Nobody can stop the sun from rising. So it is that nobody can stop Ademola Adeleke from reaching his destined goal through the grace of God and judicial process. He was so underated at the

MTF Networking Portal Introduces Instant Messaging Feature

M

ultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) has announced that the recently-launched MTF Networking Portal will now include a real-time messaging component that will enable connected members to network and interact directly with each other. This new feature forms part of the MTF initiativeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment to ignite Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s creative industries.

Launched in March, the portal is a pan-African, film and television digital marketplace for information about all aspects of this creative industry. The portal offers open, cost-free access to film creatives across Africa to showcase their talent, access opportunities, stay up to date with industry news and expand their industry network. To date, the portal has over 15,000 registered profiles.

The new messaging component will allow anyone with a registered profile to connect with any other creative within the portalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s network in real-time. Femi Odugbemi, the Academy Director of MultiChoice Talent Factory AcademyWest Africa, says that this added function makes the portal an even more valuable platform for film professionals and emerging creatives in the industry. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Collaboration and knowledge-sharing is what our industry is built upon and no one knows this better than MultiChoice who collaborates with hundreds of creatives daily to feed our content platforms. Now that the world is paying even more attention to African stories, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important that we have our own platform that understand and support the complexities of making films and TV in Africa. I feel privileged to be part of these game changing initiatives for the industry,â&#x20AC;? said Odugbemi.

The portal is the third touchpoint of the shared-value initiative, following the launch of the MTF Academy in three regions and the MTF Masterclasses. Launched in 2018, the MTF Academy is a 12-month film training programme aimed at upskilling the next generation of passionate young film creatives.

Following the successful start of its inaugural year, the MTF Academy is currently searching for 20 aspiring film and TV creatives from both Nigeria and Ghana, to be part of the Class of 2019. Emerging filmmakers are required to apply for entry on the MultiChoice Talent Factory website before June 2019.

Selected students of the MTF Academy will be a part of the 1 year sought-after and fully funded programme at the West Africa Academy located in Lagos and headed by industry leader, Femi Odugbemi.

Adeleke

September 22, 2018 governorship election with the 3rd position.

But he came first. God works in miraculous ways, His wonders to perform.

The likes of Senator Ademola Adeleke did not just stumble into politics. His paternal grandmother, Madam Adeboyin was one of the outstanding Iyalodes of Edeland. She was effervescent, vibrant and outstanding in the discharge of her duties during her reign. Ademola Adeleke great grandfather, Baba Mohammed Awwal Abanikanda Adeleke, was a pillar of strength behind the growth of Islam in Edeland in the 30s. So for Senator Ademola Adeleke traducers: â&#x20AC;&#x153;aba ni ikan won nda, ikan kan o le mu okuta. It is all rantings of an antâ&#x20AC;?.

Ademola Adelekeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father was the Balogun of Edeland and a distinguished Senator of the second republic. And the icing on the cake! The family also produced the first executive governor of Osun State and later a Senator, in person of late, evergreen Asiwaju Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke. All these are through the grace and mercy of God. And if for these sterling achievements, some people are not comfortable, may God touch their hearts.

Against all odds, Senator Ademola Adeleke will triumph and reach his God ordained destiny. God is your strength Ademola Adeleke. No weapon fashioned against you and all your well-wishers shall prosper. But why the high-beat desperation on the parts of his persecutors without any just cause? Why chasing the shadow? All the 11th hour, deft moves by some people shall come to nothing. They should allow the on-going legal process to play out to the fullest. Ademola Adeleke is desirous to lift Osun to greater heights and economic prosperity, when by Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grace and instrumentality of the judiciary he is pronounced the governor of Osun State. The Ademola Adeleke project is Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own project and it is God that is fighting the political cause for him.

There is nothing more difficult to carry out; not more doubtful of success to handle, than to initiate a new order of things as Senator Ademola Adeleke has in his blueprint for Osun. For the reformer has enemies in all, who profit by the old order and only lukewarm defenders in all those, who would profit by the new order. This lukewarmness arises, partly from fear of the adversaries, who have the law in their famous and partly from incredibility of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new, until they have had actual experience of it.

Senator Ademola Adeleke, through the grace of God and favourable judicial pronouncement will breath a new lease of life into Osun State, with No Victor, No Vanquished. Life More Abundant To All. Ademola Adeleke is above board and beyond reproach. Let those concerned in the on-going scenario allow the rule of law to play out without fully.

This is to counsel Senator Ademola Adeleke supporters to remain unruffled and CHANGE OF NAME unperturbed. They should not be demoralized, but rather I formerly known and addressed as have their spirits lifted high, as OGUDU EJELEMEIYE PERCY, now which to be known and adthe waiting shall not be long dressed as EJELEMEIYE PERCY for them to reap bountifully (MR). All former documents refrom their efforts of September mains valid, The general public 22, 2018. should please take Note. â&#x20AC;&#x201C;â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Lawal, wrote from Ede, Osun State.

Readers continued on online www.thisdaylive.com

I formerly known and addressed as UDUOVIE HARRIETA OVOKE, now which to be known and addressed as EJELEMEIYE HARRIETA OVOKE (MRS). All former documents remains valid, The general public should please take Note.

I formerly known and addressed as TEDEJIRI MATHIAS OKPARUME, now which to be known and addressed as MATHIAS IGHO OKPARUME. All former documents remains valid, The general public should please take Note.

I formerly known and addressed as AMOS HANNAH UJO, now which to be known and addressed as AMOS CHRISTIANA OLUWATOBI. All former documents remains valid, The general public should please take Note.

I formerly known and addressed as USMAN AKAJI RHODA, now which to be known and addressed as ATABO AKAJI RHODA. All former documents remains valid, The general public should please take Note.

I formerly known and addressed as MISS OFFIA NDIDIAMAKA PATIENCE, Now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ODU NDIDIAMAKA PATIENCE. All former documents remains valid, INEC, ESUT, Caritas University Enugu, Banks and the general public should please take Note

I formerly known and addressed as BUHARI ADEYEMI AMUDAT, now which to be known and addressed as APENA ADEYEMI RAMAT. All former documents remains valid, The general public should please take Note.

I formerly known as DANIEL NAMSOR IFON now wish to be known as DANIEL MBOSO IFON and my correct DoB is 13th February 1976 not 14th February 1976. All former documents remain valid. Sigma Pension and the general public take note.

LOSS OF DOCUMENT

This is to inform the general public of the loss of ORIGINAL RIGHT OF OCCUPANCY (R of O) in respect of PLOT NO. 2382, JAHI DISTRICT ABUJA, FILE NO. JG 60169 measuring 1832.31SQM in CADASTRAL ZONE BO8 JAHI ABUJA, belonging to Abdulkadir Abdulkadir Musafari. All efforts made to trace the said document proved abortive. If found kindly return to the nearest police station. General public please take note.

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER Ëž ͺͽË&#x153; ͺ͸͚Î

55

NEWS

Court Restrains Lalong from Tampering with Jos Traditional Council Seriki Adinoyi in Jos A Plateau State High Court has issued an interim injunction stopping Governor Simon Lalong from tampering with the composition of the Jos Joint Traditional Council.

The injunction dated May 23, was issued by Justice Christine Dabup, after listening to Mr. Niri Darong, Counsel to â&#x20AC;&#x153;Seven Illustrious sons of Berom nationâ&#x20AC;?, who had dragged the state government before the court over the creation of two traditional councils out of the Jos Joint Traditional Council.

The state government had last week created Riyom and Jos North Traditional Councils out of the current Jos Joint Traditional Council headed by the Gbong GwomJos, Da Jacob Gyang Buba.

The creation of the two councils left two local governments of Jos South and Barkin Ladi under the Gbong Gwom Jos, against the initial four local governments.

The state government also announced that the Attah Aten of Ganawuri would chair the Riyom Traditional Council, while the Ujah Anaguta will head the Jos North

Traditional Council.

The Gbong Gwom immediately condemned the move, insisting that the governor has no such powers to tamper with the traditional council, especially as there is no crisis to warrant that. Irked by the governorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s move, the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Seven Illustrious Sons of the Berom Nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, led by Mr. Daniel Choji, on behalf of themselves and all adult male Berom indigenes of Berom Districts in Jos North, Jos South, Barkin Ladi and Riyom Local Governments, had approached the court to stop the move.

Joined in the suit are the Plateau

State Government as the 1st defendant, while the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs are the 2nd and 3rd defendants.

Others are the Chairman, Jos North Local Government, and Chairman, Riyom Local Government, as 4th and 5th defendants

respectively.

Justice Dabup said the order followed an ex-parte motion dated May 22, 2019 and filed the same day by one Da Daniel Choji of Dong, in Kabong, Jos North Local Government, in which he prayed for an interim injunction and mandatory order.

The court ruled that: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The defendants, their agents, representatives or privies are hereby restrained from tampering with the Jos Joint Traditional Council, including suspending or deposing any member of the Jos Joint Traditional Council, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

Insecurity: Armed Forces Must Stand United, Says Naval Chief Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ekwe Ibas, yesterday declared that the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) must remain united in order to contain spiraling insecurity in the country.

The Naval Chief who spoke on the occasion the 2019 Navy Week Jumaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Prayer held at the Defence Headquarters Mosque, Abuja, part of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Navy Week Celebrations, said the Nigerian Navy had commenced negotiations with some European countries, for the acquisition of a 100-metre Landing Ship Tank (LST) that would culminate in its procurement by 2020.

Ibas said the Armed Forces must stand united and support the federal government in confronting current national security threats. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As members of the Armed Forces, we must all stand united and ready to give our all in support of federal governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s effort to confront the current national security threats, regardless of where they may occur, at sea or on land. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I therefore take the opportunity to remind you of your sacred duty

to continue to remain committed to the defence of your country.

Clearly, with such strong resolve, sacrifice and the unity of purpose, the current challenges would soon be a thing of the past,â&#x20AC;? he said.

A landing ship tank is the naval designation for ships supporting amphibious operations or land forces by carrying tanks, vehicles, aircraft, cargo with capacity to land troops directly on to shore without docks or piers.

The Naval Chief said aside the LST, the Navy was working towards acquiring four units of 17-metre fast interceptor boats which are expected to be delivered by November 2019 even it was expecting the delivery of an offshore (Hydrographical) Survey Vessel) in Dec 2019.

He said the Nigerian Navy through its nine Naval Security Stations (NSS) spread across major routes in the maritime domain where crude oil theft and illegal refining activities were known to be most prevalent, were curtailed.

He said efforts were ongoing to acquire more helicopters for the Nigerian Navy air arm. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A major impediment to the efficiency of the Nigerian Navy at enhancing maritime security

had remained the inadequacy of effectors to respond to maritime security incidents. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Within the period under review (2015-2019), this impediment has received constant and continuous attention through the acquisition of more platforms. Noteworthy is the acquisition of two OPVs (offshore patrol vessels), NNS Centenary and NNS Unity from China. The NN also commissioned its second locally built Seaward Defence Boat (SDB), NNS Karaduwa during the period. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Furthermore, 6 OCEA SDBs namely NNS Nguru, Shiroro, Ekulu, Ose, Gongola and Calabar were procured while over 200 riverine patrol boats were inducted for seaward and riverine operations.

On fight against maritime criminality, he said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;a major achievement of the Navy during the period under review is the reduction in pirate/sea robbery attacks within Nigerian waters. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This achievement is largely attributable to the dedicated naval operation code-named Op Tsare Teku, activated in April 2016. The Operation is aimed at combating attacks on shipping and other illegal activities within Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s maritime domain.

BOBNEL to Raise N1bn for Orphanage Bobnel Child Support Foundation plans to raise N1 billion in August to build a home to accommodate about 50 children.

This was disclosed at a meeting recently held in Maryland, Lagos, by some members of the humanitarian, non-government organisation (NGO) formed to alleviate the plight of physically challenged and the less-privileged children.

According to the Executive Director of BOBNEL, Mrs. Cornelia Udoenoh, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2122;We have been able to acquire two plots of land from a donor who preferred anonymity to

build the orphanage for a proper care for the children physically, emotionally, spiritually and socially.'

Udoenoh stated that the Foundation is soliciting support from corporate bodies and individuals to make the project a reality; following the motto of the organiSation, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2122;Nothing should stop a childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dreamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

According to the Executive Director, the Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day free eye screening exercise billed for Saint Agnes Catholic Church, Maryland, Lagos, on May 27 from 9a.m. to 2p.m. has been rescheduled for

May 29 adding that one of the Health Care companies in Nigeria has been very supportive.

BOBNEL, which was birthed 20 years ago collaborates with some special schools and homes to offer feeding, medical care, educational services, Christmas party and Share-A- Smile project.

Some of the schools and homes include Modupe Cole Memorial School, Akoka, Red Cross Motherless Babies Home, Adekunle, National Orthopaedic Special School Igbobi, Little Saints Orphanage Home, Anthony Village and Heritage Home, Maryland.

Clergy Calls for Concerted Policies on Out-of-Children Nseobong Okon-Ekong

Publisher of Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s popular faith-based daily devotional, Our Daily Manna, Bishop Chris Kwakpovwe has called on the federal government and the various state governments to initiate specific policies to address the rehabilitation and education of the over 13 million out-of-children in Nigeria.

Kwakpovwe said in a statement to commemorate the May

27 Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day that a country that does not make solid plans for the all-round development of children cannot record outstanding achievements.

He said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is a matter of urgent public concern that from the primary to tertiary level, the education sector is in shambles.

I therefore, join those who have called for the declaration of a state of emergency in that sector. It is certainly unacceptable and a big blight on the scorecard of this

administration to have the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) record such a huge number of out-of-children in Nigeria. The government has all these agencies like the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), but we need wholesome policies to achieve better results.â&#x20AC;?

While commending the ederal government for its school feeding programme, he called for a â&#x20AC;&#x153;truly freeâ&#x20AC;? primary and secondary education for all Nigerian children.

ENHANCING HEALTHCARE...

L-R: Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia and the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, at the rollout of the BHCPF in Abia State...yesterday

Trump: I Feel Badly for Theresa, as May Exits in June Bennett Oghifo with agency report The President of the United States, Donald Trump has described the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, who gave notice of her resignation yesterday, as a strong woman with the best interest of her country at heart.

Mrs. May will continue to serve as Prime Minister while a Conservative leadership contest takes place. The PM was under pressure to quit after a backlash from her own MPs against her Brexit plan.

The BBC reports that the US President Donald Trump responded to Theresa Mayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s resignation announcement, saying: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I feel badly for Theresa. I like her very much.

Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a good woman. She worked very hard. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very strong. She decided to do something that some people were surprised at, some

people werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, for the good of her country. But I like her very much.â&#x20AC;?

It was a dramatic twist as Theresa May announced she will stand down as Tory leader on 7 June. Making an emotional statement in Downing Street, Mrs. May became tearful as she said serving as PM had been â&#x20AC;&#x153;the honour of my lifeâ&#x20AC;?.

Attention has now turned to who will replace her, with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, yesterday, becoming the latest MP to indicate he would stand.

Some people that have declared interest in the job are: Boris Johnson, Esther McVey and Rory Stewart, with more than a dozen others also believed to be considering throwing their hats into the ring.

The Conservative party says it hopes a new leader can be in place by the end of July - which is also when Sir Vince Cable wants to step down as Lib Dem leader.

Sir Vince said he would be handing over the reins to his successor on 23 July. The Liberal Democrats have opened nominations for a new party leader after incumbent Sir Vince Cable confirmed he would be stepping down on 23 July. In an email to party members, he said the Lib Dems were â&#x20AC;&#x153;in an excellent positionâ&#x20AC;? to lead a â&#x20AC;&#x153;powerful, liberal, green, and social democratic force in the centre ground of British politics.â&#x20AC;?

Mayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impending departure as Prime Minister leaves EU leaders wondering how finishing the Brexit process will be affected. But what does it mean for Brexit?

The short answer is that both No Deal and No Brexit are now both more likely. With Mrs. Mayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;bold new Brexit planâ&#x20AC;? in tatters, there is no vehicle for leaving with the EU with a deal, and the default is that the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s membership will expire on Halloween.

FoodCo Institutes Fellowship for Consumer Goods Sector Leadership As part of efforts to build capacity for the consumer goods retail sector in Nigeria, FoodCo Nigeria Limited, a diversified consumer goods company with interests in retail, manufacturing and fast food, has instituted a fellowship aimed at preparing MBA students for leadership in the category.

This is against the backdrop of projected growth in the food and consumer goods market segment, currently the largest in Africa, which is expected to hit $40 billion by 2020.

Announcing the Fellowship, Executive Director of the Company, Ade Sun-Basorun, stated that the initiative was targeted at building capacity for management

positions. He added that the FoodCo Fellowship programme had become imperative in order to train a specialised workforce that will drive the expected growth in the sector and help it maximise its potentials.

He said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;As modernisation and a population shift from rural to urban centres continue to stimulate growth in the Nigerian consumer goods retail sector, the FoodCo Fellowship programme aims at preparing a complementary workforce with the requisite skills and disposition to harness the vast opportunities within the sector and transform it into a significant economic bloc.â&#x20AC;?

He added: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Candidates are

selected from MBA or Masters programmes and set up in teams where they are expected to solve real world operational issues including team building, leading others, analysing problems, communicating solutions and progress in both related and non-related fields.

Whereas similar programmes place trainees in a learning position where they understudy employees in the hopes of gaining work experience or mandatory credits for their degrees, the FoodCo Fellowship puts fellows in the centre of everyday business decision-making and practice so they can learn while simultaneously impacting the organisation with their personality and wealth of knowledge gained in the classroom.

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PDP to Lai Mohammed “By his fabricated claims, the Information Minister only succeeded in further demarketing our dear nation in the international arena, causing more damage to investors’ confidence in our system” – The opposition PDP chastising the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, over security breach allegations against the party and its Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

PENDULUM DELE MOMODU

dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com

The Great Lessons Life Has Taught Me At 59

F

ellow Nigerians, every now and then, I meet, or receive messages, from young Nigerians, in particular, and other Africans, in general, asking me to tell them the secrets of success.

I often tell them there are no fast rules to being successful.

Of course, the first thing is that success can be both objective and subjective. On an objective basis, your success is measured against certain standards and yardsticks by others observing you. However, on a subjective basis, you set the standards by which you measure success, so that it is possible for you to feel that you have succeeded in life even though others are not of the same view. Conversely, you may consider yourself unsuccessful based on the parameters that you have set, but others may consider that you have done well.

Ultimately, however, I believe that you alone are the one most capable of deciding how successful you have been, because it is your life that is being considered and what you cherish and aspire too may be very different from what others believe are important.

Most times, successes are tailor-made for every individual. At 59, I have had enough time, and opportunities, to appraise my life, study my trajectory, and arrive at reasonable conclusions about certain principles that have helped guide my life. It is my firm belief, and without wishing to sound immodest, that whether on an objective or subjective basis, I can consider myself lucky to say that I have been fairly successful in life.

There is what is called accident of birth which imparts success on people by the mere good fortune of their birth to a successful person. There are not too many people in this category though. I doubt if any of us chose where, when and to whom we must be born. Many of us would have chosen first world countries, wealthy families, and so on.

I found myself in simple and ordinary home in Ile-Ife. My parents were not rich, but they worked very hard to eke out their living.

The first thing I noticed about my parents, when I became fully aware of my environment, was their abilities to pray more than praying mantis. They went to church too frequently to the extent that I was sure that they must have struck a deep chord with their creator.

I was brought up in the Aladura Church, an African variant of Christianity that thrived, and still thrives, on devout spirituality. There were prophesies foretold about my life that I still remember, very vividly, till this day mainly because many of them have been pinpoint accurate and true to the letter. My thesis is that to be successful, no matter your faith or religion, you must hold on steadfastly to your beliefs. Even atheists believe in the power of their brains, and for me that’s their own God. The next important lesson for me was the power of education. My parents were anxious to send me to school even at a time my right fingers could not yet bend over my head and touch my left ear, which was how they measured whether you were matured enough, or not, to start school, in those days.

I failed this traditional, but unscientific test of determining school age at a particular school, but another headmaster, Mr Isaac Olagbaju, who owned Olusanu Bookshop, next to our shop at Atiba Square, in Ile-Ife, gave me an

Ten year old Dele Momodu with his Dad, Pa Jacob Momodu in 1970

early start in life, by admitting me to the Local Authority Primary School, on Ifewara Road. I was not only an average student, I was also quite playful, a combination which did not augur well for anyone who aims to be successful. Sometimes, I caused panic for my parents, as I wandered away exploring the art and culture of Ile-Ife, and they had to search for my whereabouts. Mercifully, there were no kidnappers in those days, at least not the terrifying kind that now assail our societies and make us quake in our boots. I wonder where innocent youth went when I consider the perilous times our children live in nowadays. Back to pleasant times past, I was usually hypnotised by those free American cowboy films shown on the Palace fields at Enuwa Square, got lost in daydreaming I was the Cisco Kid, and had to be located by my worried Mum and dragged home by the scruff of my neck.

Education was highly competitive in those days. What is known as long-legs (using privileged positions to curry favours) was not yet in vogue. I had wanted to go to some of the best and famous schools then, such as Government College Ibadan, Christ School Ado-Ekiti, Loyola College Ibadan, and others, but I was not that strong academically.

I ended up at Inisa Grammar School (at the instance of my Aunt and her husband, the Adeyanjus), now in Osun State but found the atmosphere too tough. I ran back to Ife every weekend which alarmed my parents who decided to bring me back home within one month. At that young age, my spirit of adventure had started to germinate. I was not afraid to jump on a lorry and travel home unaided. Getting back to Ife presented its own challenges. I could not get admitted to any school at that time of the year, since admissions had closed. Fortunately, one private proprietor, Papa Ogunfidodo, who owned Oluorogbo High School, Ile-Ife, agreed to take me in, and I spent my first year of relative academic peace in that school.

By my second year, I got admitted to the best school in Ile-Ife, St. Johns Grammar School, Oke-Atan, a Catholic mission secondary school, headed at the time, by a Canadian Principal, Reverend Father F. Cloutier. He was a strict disciplinarian, who knew practically every student by face and name, as well as our

parents. I believe my life, education and circumstances improved tremendously at this stage.

My interest in Literature was aroused and ignited by our foreign teacher Mrs H. Sutton, who forced us to read voraciously and widely. I was particularly in love with African writers. A favourite novel, Weep Not, Child, by the Kenyan author, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, touched me to my bones. There was a particular passage I committed to memory like my Psalms, so much so that I recited and regurgitated it regularly. I took on the role of a character in the book, Njoroge, who knew the importance of education: “He knew that for him education would be the fulfilment of a wider and more significant vision – a vision that embraced the demand made on him, not only by his father, but also his mother, his brothers, and even the village.

He saw himself destined for something big, and this made his heart glow…” This became my mantra.

Trust me, the future of any nation, or people is rooted in education, qualitative education.

There is no powerful country in the world today that undervalues education. All the great advances, and accomplishments, in the world today, came, largely, through education.

The technological age that we have now embraced is as a result of expansive and unfettered recourse to education. Indeed, education is a leveller. It levels the playing field. The son of the rich man can consort with the daughter of the pauper in the education space without any quarter being given. It takes you to places you never imagined or dreamt of.

And so, I struggled and soldiered on, all the way to the final year in 1976, but, the sad news, I flunked most of my important subjects and ended up with a poor Grade III, in the WAEC examination. But my poor unlettered Mum did not give up on me. I forgot to tell you that meanwhile, my Dad had died on June 14, 1973, while I was barely 13, and my Mum had to provide everything from her petty trading. My God, it was not easy. Death can ruin Empires, not to talk of poor families like mine. We had to give up our rented home in Moere quarters of Ife, and moved in with our cousins, the Oyemades, in Modakeke, who were extremely kind, gracious and generous with their love. We are eternally grateful.

My education could have suffered terminally, but for the intervention of my Sister, Feyisara, and her husband, Pa Adeniran (aka Baba BK, he taught Bible Knowledge), who took me in and rekindled my interest in education.

I repeated my WAEC examination in 1977, but again, there was a problem. That was the year Nigeria witnessed the first monumental leakage of exam papers and many results were withheld for further scrutiny, mine inclusive, regardless of the fact that I was totally innocent. My Mum insisted I must register a third time, but fortunately my earlier results were released, while I sat for only English Language and English Literature, in 1978. And all my necessary credits were secured. Within that period, I couldn’t afford to stay idle, and I tried this and that, including being an errand boy at CSS Bookshop, village teacher, and Library attendant at University of Ife (now Hezekiah

Oluwasanmi Library) where I served under some of the greatest Librarians in Nigeria, Mr Jonathan Olusesan Dipeolu, Mr Dickson Oporopo Agidee, Prince Adedeji Adelabu and Mrs Omolara Ojo-Ade. My next challenge was how to get admission to the university. I sat for JAMB, we were the first set of JAMBITES in 1978, I was admitted to study Yoruba, at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Africa’s most beautiful campus. We were fortunate to have some of the greatest African literary scholars in our university at the time. They included Wole Soyinka, Kole Omotoso, Okot p’Bitek from Uganda, David Rubadiri from Malawi, Ogunwande Abimbola, Oyin Ogunba, Olasope Oyelaran, Akinwumi Isola, Karin Judith “Ajike” Barber, CBE, who though British remains an authority on Yoruba Studies, and many others. Unife, or Great Ife, whichever you preferred to call it, was a beehive of academic activities. Unife kept us busy and versatile as I took elective courses in philosophy, religious studies, Literaturein-English, Music, and other subjects.

I graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor’s Degree, Second Class Lower Division, but I was ready to conquer the world with the robust knowledge acquired at Unife. I must note, and reiterate, that studying Yoruba in school was not considered voguish or promising. I was easily dismissed as a non-starter, dullard and never-to-do-well.

Even my Mum was visibly worried when she heard of a full-grown man who had journeyed all the way to university to study Yoruba. She would ask rhetorically if I was such a nitwit that the only remaining subject for me to study was Yoruba. And she often wondered aloud as to what future awaited me, if not to become the oracle-man or herbalist, particularly as we lived in Ile-Ife, the home of 401 deities. I tried hard to disabuse her mind, but I am not sure that I succeeded for a long time.

National Service was another matter entirely. I was initially posted to Bauchi State, where I was promptly and politely told there would be nothing for me to do after the camp. I took my fate with equanimity and returned to Oyo State where I reported to the NYSC Secretariat and was reposted to the Oyo State College of Arts & Science, Ile-Ife, where I taught A-level Yoruba and English Literature. At this stage, my confidence level had increased. I started taking part in politics, under the tutelage of Professor Sola Ehindero, Professor Babalola Borishade and Professor Femi Fajewonyomi (the troika). I tried to earn extra income by translating campaign leaflets into Yoruba. I began to meet, mix and mingle with some important personalities in the political landscape of Nigeria, from age 22, in 1982, and the experience would serve me for a lifetime.

I will stop here today, but you can clearly see from the foregoing that education was the bedrock on which I had built my future.

This is the biggest lesson Nigerian leaders need to learn, very fast, and urgently. Not only must they educate our youths, they too must regularly seek to further educate themselves and catch up with modern trends.

Education will always be the future!

To be continued

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