SUNDAY 8TH MARCH 2020

Court Garnishees First Bank Account with CBN over Judgment Debt of N182.7bn Akin Akinwale Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has made a garnishee order compelling the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pay the people of Ejama Community in Eleme Local Government

Area of Rivers State a total sum of N182.7 billion. The amount is to be deducted from the account of First Bank of Nigeria Plc. in the custody of the CBN. Lawyers to Ejama community told THISDAY last night they have since served the

CBN the garnishee order absolute.

The humongous amount represents the punitive measures slammed on Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Limited for devastating the community and its environs and ecosystem

with oil spillage.

Ekwo made the order absolute against the CBN and First Bank Plc. sequel to a similar one made by Justice Ibrahim Buba on June 3, 2019 while delivering judgement in a suit brought before him by the representatives of Ejama

community, who have been in a long legal battle with SPDC. In his ruling, Ekwo after hearing Mathew Echo with Princewill Akinseye George and others, held, “That an Order Absolute is hereby made upon the Order Nisi of this court made on June 3,

2019 compelling the garnishee to pay over to the judgement creditors/applicants monies belonging to the guarantor/ surety/debtor (First Bank of Nigeria Limited) in the garnishee's (CBN) custody in Continued on page 5

South Africa Appoints Okonjo-Iweala Member, Economic Advisory Council…Page 5 Sunday 8 March, 2020 Vol 25. No 9099

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Northern, Southern Leaders Want Rotational Presidency a Constitutional Item Urge National Assembly to consider amendment Chuks Okocha in Abuja Given Nigeria’s multi-ethnic peculiarity especially, as the permutations for 2023 presidential elections continue

to scale up, some leaders of thoughts from the southern and the northern parts of the country, have called for a rotational presidency as a constitutional item that would

take off with the Southeast.

The leaders also wanted the rotational presidency to be between the North and the South geo-political zones as well as governorship slots

amendment that would be enshrined in the ongoing constitution amendment exercise at the National Assembly.

This idea was mooted at a

forum organised by the Igbo Leadership Development Foundation in collaboration with Gregory University Uturu, World Igbo Summit Group, Centre for Intellectual

Advanced and Professional Studies and New Generation Leadership Foundation.

The forum, a National Continued on page 5

Adams Oshiomhole: The Vultures Are Gathering Tinubu's group preps Ajimobi for caretaker chair, others want position retained in South-south Govs divided over possible replacement Appeal Court to decide stay of execution of suspension order this week Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The vultures are gathering around the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. They are gathering, ready to devour him. The forces against him are relentless, and they have been plotting and circling him for months to pull him down.

Those who smiled with him in the morning and hid behind the darkness of the night to plot his fall are no longer hiding. They have drawn their swords in plain sight.

Oshiomhole is equally mustering everything within him to fight off his enemies.

But with some of the political developments of last week Continued on page 8

GLOBAL STATUS OF CORONAVIRUS

˾Cases ˾Deaths ˾Recovered ˾Incubation Period ˾Countries & Territories ˾Critical Cases ˾Mild Cases

105,941 3,569 58,627 2 - 14 days 100 WE NEED YOUR EXPERTISE...

6,234 Member of the South Africa's Presidential Economic Advisory Council, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and South African President, Cyril 37,511 Ramaphosa, after the Council meeting in Pretoria to discuss sources of growth for the South African economy

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South Africa Appoints Okonjo-Iweala Member, Economic Advisory Council Obi, ex-Anambra governor, elated

Obinna Chima in Lagos and Chuks Okocha in Abuja In response to South Africa’s economic challenges, which recently slumped into its second recession in two years, President Cyril Ramaphosa has expanded the country’s Economic Advisory Council, with the appointment of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as a member.

This is as Mr. Peter Obi, the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general election and former governor of Anambra State, Okonjo-Iweala’s home state, has described her appointment as deserving and highly rewarding.

THISDAY gathered from a reliable source that at the second meeting of the Council, held at the weekend, Nigeria’s former finance minister was announced as a member of the Council.

But Ramaphosa had inaugurated members of the council last October 2019, where he said their role was to ensure greater coherence and consistency in the implementation of economic policy to ensure that government and society in general were better equipped to respond to changing economic circumstances.

The Council, THISDAY learnt, is a non-statutory and independent body chaired by the President and which brings together prominent economists and technical experts drawn from the academia, the private sector, labour, community, think tanks and other constituencies.

The members, who would volunteer their time and compensated for subsistence and travel, were appointed to serve a three-year term.

Also, the Council constitutes expertise in international economics; macroeconomics (including fiscal policy and monetary economics); labour economics; economics of education and the economics of poverty and inequality and urban development.

Other areas of insights entail microeconomics with a focus on network industries, regulation and competition, trade, energy and climate change.

Speaking at the meeting, Ramaphosa said, “This is your meeting as a council. You have been working in the intervening period and you are going to be making presentations. Now, as Advisory Council, you have set the agenda for this meeting yourself and you have identified various issues that you want to address us on. It is quite clear that a lot of work has been done since we last met. “This meeting is really your collective response on the economic challenges our economy is facing right now.

The diversity of ideas is what I appreciate. Now, there have been a number of developments that have taken place in our country, which I am not going to bore you with. Of course, the immediate challenge we are facing now is the energy crisis.�

However, on her Twitter handle, Okonjo-Iweala, who is the Board Chairperson of Gavi, a public–private global health partnership committed to increasing access to immunisation in poor countries, wrote: “With President Ramaphosa, members of cabinet, and members of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council in Pretoria discussing sources of growth for the South African economy and win-win

economic interactions with the continent.�

The two-term Minister of Finance in Nigeria and former Managing Director (Operations) of the World Bank is also the Board Chairperson of the African Risk Capacity and board member, Standard Chartered Bank and Twitter.

The South African economy contracted 1.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to official statistics released on

Tuesday, far outpacing analyst forecasts of a 0.2 per cent decline.

The contraction came after a 0.8 per cent drop in economic output during the previous quarter, leading to South Africa’s second recession — defined as two quarters of negative growth since 2018.

Describing the appointing as ‘deserving and highly rewarding’, Obi, who spoke at the Domestic Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport,

Lagos during a brief chart with journalists, said with her appointment, South Africa had picked an experienced and committed economic manager.

He added that the choice of Okonjo-Iweala had put a square peg in a square hole, which he described as a “veritable move towards the restoration of her troubled economy.�

Obi recalled how OkonjoIweala's effort to save for Nigeria’s future came to naught,

when the Nigeria Governors’ Forum refused her advice, but called her names and even went to court to stop her from saving huge sum in excess crude account in the Sovereign Wealth fund.

Obi, therefore, described Okonjo-Iweala as "an exceptional personality and first class ambassador of our country Nigeria and one whose commitment to a better society remains outstanding.

LET THERE BE PEACE...

Former of Ogun State, Sen. Ibikunle Amosun; Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun, in a warm handshake with his predecessor; while Otunba Gbenga Daniel (middle) looks on, during Daniel's son wedding ceremony at Lekki in Lagos... yesterday

NORTHERN, SOUTHERN LEADERS WANT ROTATIONAL PRESIDENCY A CONSTITUTIONAL ITEM conversation, canvassed that a rotational presidency was the only veritable way to ensure federal character in governance in the country.

Whilst asking the legislature to consider the amendment as crucial to Nigeria’s survival, the leaders in a communiquÊ signed

by Dr. Godwin Udibe, Chairman, Planning Committee and Dr. Law O Mefor, Vice Chairman/ Director Public Affair, stated that, "Owing to the peculiarity of the Nigerian federation, the gathering upheld rotation of Governor and President, and strongly recommended that it be enshrined in the Constitutions of both by country and political parties."

Themed ‘Federal Character, Restructuring and Rotation of

Presidential Power in Nigeria’, the National Conversation looked at the state of the nation and decried rising insecurity, restiveness and depressed economy, and called on government to rise to the existential challenges threatening the nation.

The gathering noted that the Federal Character principle as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) has been observed mostly in breach in recent times, thus defeating the objectives of the containment policy, which aims to carry every part of the country along, asking government to live up to the spirit and letters of the Constitution.

"Following some observations that Restructuring as currently

canvassed round the country is vague and confusing, the National Conversation redefined and simplified Restructuring to mean returning to the states the powers taken away from old regions by the successive military governments without necessarily returning the country to regionalism," it stated.

The National Conversation agreed that a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction was desirable in 2023 and advised Ndigbo to build bridges and strategic depth as well as push for a pan-Nigerian movement for the actualisation of Nigeria President of the Igbo extraction.

The Nigerian leaders of thought also advised that the Abuja National Conversation should not be a one-off thing

but continue to other zones of the country as a mission for the actualisation of a Nigeria that would produce a president of the Igbo extraction.

The gathering reaffirmed hope in indissoluble and indivisibility of Nigeria, based on equity, fairness and equality of citizens and ethnic nationalities that make up the Nigerian nation state.

The conference was attended by several regional and national leaders including General Yakubu Gowon as chairman, but represented by Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The co-chairman of the occasion was elder statesman and onetime presidential

liaison, Alhaji Tanko Yakassi, the keynote speaker was Prof.

Gregory Ibe, Chancellor and founder, Gregory University Uturu, while the Conversation was moderated by Prof Chinedu Nebo and Prof Udenta O Udenta.

Other personalities and Speakers were Prof. Pat Utomi, Yinka Odumakin of the Afenifere group, Chief Nnia Nwodo of the Ohaneze Ndigbo, Dr. Bitrus Pogu of Northern Elders Group, Prof Anthony Kila, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, Dr. Abubakar Manzo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Prof Chinedu Nebo, Ms. Ankio Briggs, Alhaji Mohammed Abba Gana and Chief Stella Odife.

Also in attendance were Dr. Sam Amadi, Ambasaador

Dr. Humphrey Orjiakor, Ambassador Ozo Nwobu, Dr. Sigma Ayati, Prof. Ihechukwu Mabuike, AVM Umerie (Rtd.), Amb. Abdullahi H. Shinkafi, Prof OBC Nwaolise, Dr. Yima Sen, Prof. Madike, Hajia Aisha Aliyu, Rowland Pereotubo and many others.

Apart from the personalities, several regional and national organisations also participated.

They were Ohanaeze, Afenifere, PANDEF, Middle Belt Forum, Aka Ikenga, PANPIEC, Igbo Delegates Assembly (19 northern States), Ijaw Youth Council, Benue State Government, African Students Education Support Initiative (ASESI), Students’ Union Government University of Abuja and Oodua Youth Parliament, among others.

COURT GARNISHEES FIRST BANK ACCOUNT WITH CBN OVER JUDGMENT DEBT OF N182.7BN satisfaction of the judgement debt in Suit No. FHC/ PH/CS/231/2001 (later renumbered Suit No. FHC/ ASB/ CS/57/2010): Chief Isaac Osaro Agbara & 5Ors. V. C.B." & 2 Ors. Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/562/19 2/ Agbara & Ors, vs. the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited & Ors., which judgement debt the guarantor/surety/debtor secured and guaranteed to pay the judgement creditors in the sums of: (a) as special damages; (b) Interest for delayed payment for five years from 1996 at 25 per

cent per annum i.e. (c) 25 per cent of the said sum till the date of judgment. (d) N10 billion as general damages; and (e) 10 per cent interest on the judgement debt till payment giving a total of N76, 871,175,831.18 as at June 14, 2010, being the date of the judgement but with the accrual of post judgement interest totalled N182.768, 696,651.89.�

The case, which started in 1991, was originally instituted at the Rivers State High Court, Nchia Division, by six indigenes of Ogoniland against the Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Netherlands, Royal Dutch

Shell Plc, United Kingdom, and SPDC over alleged oil spills that occurred when Shell operated in the community.

The plaintiffs alleged that it was the same case that led to the Ogoni struggle championed by the late Mr. Ken Saro Wiwa.

The State High Court eventually entered judgement in their favour against Shell, whereupon the defendant appealed against the said judgement.

However, in 2001, a fresh suit was commenced by some representatives of the Ogoni people before the Federal

High Court in Port Harcourt presided over by Justice Ibrahim Buba claiming N17 billion and interests on the said sum for the losses allegedly caused by the oil spills.

Buba, after listening to the submissions of the parties in the suit, in his judgement in 2010, awarded N17 billion to the representatives of the Ogoni people.

The court equally granted the Ogoni chiefs 25 per cent interest charge on the principal sum of about N17 billion.

SPDC then appealed against the judgement and applied

for a stay of execution of the judgement pending the appeal.

As a condition for granting the stay of execution, the court required Shell’s bankers, First Bank, to provide a guarantee of the judgement sum. This condition was complied with.

But Shell’s appeal failed at the Court of Appeal on technical grounds, ostensibly because it filed its processes out of time and without regularising them.

Accordingly, in December 2018, the judgement creditors (Ogoni representatives) not only commenced garnishee

proceedings at the Federal High Court in Owerri presided over by Justice Lewis Allagoa, it also filed contempt proceedings against the bank before Buba who delivered the judgement in Port Harcourt in 2010 but now sitting in Lagos.

Before then, Shell and First Bank had proceeded to the Supreme Court, which last year, dismissed their appeal.

It was following the dismissal of the their appeal by the apex court that the Ogoni chiefs resumed the garnishee proceedings which they have now won.

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Anambra Senatorial: Twist As Judge Writes CJ Accuses Ifeanyi Uba of intimidating judicial officer Wants IG to investigate alleged police complicity Alex Enumah in Abuja There was a new twist last week in the matter of the sack of Senator Ifeanyi Uba as Senator representing Anambra South Senatorial District at the National Assembly, following a complaint to the Chief Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Justice Ishaq Bello.

Justice Bello Kawu of an Abuja High Court in Kubwa District had on January 17 affirmed his earlier order sacking Ifeanyi Ubah as the senator representing Anambra South in the National Assembly.

Justice Kawu while ruling on an application by Ubah seeking to set aside the order of his sack as Senator representing Anambra South Senatorial District dismissed the application for lacking merit.

Ubah, candidate of the Young Peoples Party (YPP) was declared winner of the February 23 senatorial election in Anambra South Senatorial District by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) having won majority of the votes cast at the election.

But the court in a judgment delivered on April 11, 2019, had sacked Ubah for allegedly submitting a forged National Examination Council certificate to aide his qualification for the February 23, 2019 senatorial election.

The court in addition had ordered INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Ubah as winner of the Anambra South Senatorial District election and a fresh one be issued to Dr. Obinna Uzoh of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who came second at the poll.

Ubah however had since approached the Court of Appeal to set aside the order of Justice Kawu.

Hearing in the appeal Thisday learnt will resume March 9, 2020 at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.

But in a letter written by Justice Bello Kawu to the CJ of the FCT High Court, Ifeanyi Ubah and the police were accused of intimidating a Registrar of the Abuja High Court in Kubwa.

In the letter titled: Investigation Activities Case of Conspiracy, Perjury, Fraud and Criminal Misrepresentation, False Pretence and Criminal Defamation Suit No CV/3044/18, Anani Anacletus Chuka vs Uba Patrick and 2 others, dated March 5 and addressed to the CJ, which was sighted by THISDAY, the judge complained of harassment and intimidation of a Registrar in

his court.

According to him, the problem started when the police came to his court requesting for a certified copy of the processes filed in the said suit.

He added that the request which was signed by one Augustine A. Sanomi, Commissioner of Police, Legal/ Prosecution section FHQ, Abuja, also asked for a certified copy of the proceedings, judgment and all others made in the suit.

"When my Registrar minuted the letter I directed him to give them all what they requested.

"Yesterday being March 4, 2020, another policeman came from the Chief Registrar's office asking my Registrar to come to the Chief Registrar's office with the case file.

After the Chief Registrar called the Registrar he followed the police officer to the Chief

Registrar’s office where the Chief Registrar directed that the Senator, his police orderly and his lawyer, together with my Registrar go outside the Court premises and photocopy the file", he said in the letter to the CJ. Justice Kawu however said that while going for the photo copy they insulted and rained curses on his Registrar and told him all sort of things which he claimed the Registrar sent to him via text message, adding that the Registrar was not only made to write statement and was threatened with arrest and detention until the Chief Registrar intervened.

"My Lord this is a case that did not involve my Registrar, and he is now under a very serious threat from those people.

"It is a matter that was assigned to me by the Hon. the Chief Judge. I presided over it

from the beginning to the finish.

In every matter there has to be a winner and a loser. The loser should not resort to self help, intimidating the staff, reporting them to police and what have you.

"If they are not satisfied they should go to Court of Appeal or National Judicial Council where they think the Judge acted wrongly.

"Most importantly my Lord, the matter is presently before the Court of Appeal. My Lord, for the police to get into this matter, I think there is a sinister motive which the attention of Inspector General of Police needs to be drawn.

"It is not within their power and they really know this.

"It is something intended to ridicule the Judiciary and intimidate the Judicial officer", he added.

the embattled chairman. Also on his side are a few second term governors of the party. A source said the speed with which Governor Abdullahi Ganduje got a Federal High Court in Kano to nullify Oshiomhole's suspension is indicative of that support.

To underscore the problem lurking on the side of those who want Oshiomhole out, both the presidency and the aggrieved governors are believed to be looking in different directions and considering different interests in the bid to shop for a suitable successor. The choice of former Senate Leader Victor NdomaEgba as replacement was quickly resisted. The challenge, according to a source, "is we can't seem to agree on a particular candidate with enough clout and that is acceptable to all the tendencies in the party."

While some presidency forces were said to be considering a former governor of old Cross River State, Chief Dan Etiebet, the governors handling the “Oshiomhole Must Go� project were said to have listed such names as former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio; former governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan; former President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani, and a former governor of Cross River State, Chief Clement Ebri..

THISDAY gathered that most of the governors were inclined to looking in the direction of the South-south, since it is the region to which the chairmanship of the party is currently zoned.

Ultimately, though, the permutations may be dependent on the outcome of Oshiomhole’s appeal of his suspension at the Court of Appeal and his application for a stay of the order by the court last Friday. Ruling on the appeal is expected within this week. Should his application prevail at the Appeal Court, the plot to oust him may lose some steam. But should that fail, it will only rev up the plots against him.

Perhaps, that was why a national leader of APC and a presidential hopeful, Tinubu's group in the political tendency, was said to have begun to prepare a former governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, as a possible chairman of the party’s caretaker committee, just in case Oshiomhole loses out in the power struggle. But others are said to favour a retention of the Chairmanship of the party in the South-south.

Sources within the ranks of the governors, however, said Senator Gbenga Aluko was also being positioned for the chairmanship post.

The governors, sources further claimed, believed the choice of Ajimobi coming after Oshiomhole could land the APC in a fate similar to that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), when the former ruling party had Senator Ali Modu Sheriff to deal with.

Aluko, the sources claimed, is a choice both the presidency and the governors would be comfortable with, more so as he had been in the Buhari camp for a long time, long before the coming to life of the APC. The permutations are unceasing in all camps. The first indication as to whether Oshiomhole is going to be pushed out eventually would be thrown up at the NEC meeting of either March 12 or 17, before other considerations start to fall in place.

Meanwhile, the PGF said all disciplinary decisions initiated and executed by the Oshiomhole-led NWC) of the party should be declared a nullity at the emergency NEC. Director General of the forum, Dr. Salihu Lukman, in a statement issued yesterday, noted that apart from the issue of appointing acting National Chairman, the resolution of cases of so-called suspension of members of the NWC would have to be addressed.

He said this was important given that part of what the emergency NEC meeting would be required to achieve is to lay solid foundation for the resolution of all the major leadership problems facing the party.

Lukman noted that the NEC would have to review all cases affecting all leaders of the party, especially, members of the NWC and as much as possible ensure they were settled. He claimed that the so-called suspension of members of the NWC, including Oshiomhole, Deputy National Chairman (North), Lawal Shuaibu and National Vice Chairman (North West), Inuwa Abdulkadir, should be resolved.

According to him, Abdulkadir was suspended by his Magajin Gari “A� Ward, Sokoto North Local Government of Sokoto State, for alleged anti-party activities during the 2019 governorship election and the NWC endorsed it, while Shuaibu was suspended because he wrote a letter to Oshiomhole asking him to resign due to alleged incompetence.

He, however, lamented that the suspension of Oshiomhole was similar to that of Abdulkadir, but that the NWC refused to take any action, adding that under no

circumstance should the ruling party allow double standards in the application of disciplinary proceedings.

He also decried the suspension of the Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, former Governors of Imo and Ogun, Senators Rochas Okorocha and Ibikunle Amosun by the NWC. Lukman stated, "It is very difficult not to conclude that by its actions, the Comrade Oshiomhole-led NWC arbitrarily handled issues of discipline such that even where there could be valid cases of activating disciplinary proceedings against Senator Shuaibu, Akeredolu, Amosun and Okorocha, it was compromised to the extent of such comprises therefore rendered the so-called suspension, acts of nullity.

"It is important that the NEC take steps to ensure that we are able shift our politics to a rulebased conduct and not impulsive and opinionated driven by the ego of our NWC leaders.

Anything short of this will just amount to waste of time.

"The recommendation, therefore, is that all disciplinary decisions initiated and executed by the NWC as was the case with Senator Shuaibu and the three governors should be declared a nullity. “Although the NWC has announced the withdrawal of the suspension against the three governors, it is important that the NEC is able to affirm the provisions of the APC constitution with respect to the powers of NWC on matters of disciplinary hearings.�

Lukman said while there might be reasons to consider necessary disciplinary actions arising from problems around the 2019 elections, Article 21 of the constitution of the party, which made provision for discipline of party members, gave the power to the “respective Executive Committee of the party at all levels," stressing that the NWC is not given such power.

"Somehow, all these socalled cases of suspension and the speed with which the Oshiomhole-led NWC acted on them further demonstrate the intolerant disposition of the APC NWC under Oshiomhole. “Unfortunately, it also exhibited a disturbing reality about the inability of members of the NWC to cross-check provisions of the APC constitution before arriving at their decision. Such conducts are only the credentials of tyrants and despots and not political party leaders under a constitutional democracy."

ADAMS OSHIOMHOLE: THE VULTURES ARE GATHERING already shaping up the tendencies for 2023 power struggle in the APC, it is evident that the fate of the national chairman of the party currently hangs in the balance.

This is on account of the moves by some forces within the party, mainly governors and ministers, to edge him out of the equation and pave the way for a new leadership – the type they itch to call their own.

The plan to sack Oshiomhole had been on for a while and has caused division among the governors, between those for him and those against him. The plot became more pronounced shortly after the 2019 elections, especially on the back of the party’s controversial primaries in October 2018. But the former labour leader had also been lucky to survive some of the mines laid for him at different times.

However, the reality of a possible forced ouster, which now stares him in the face, dawned on him last week, when a Federal High Court in Abuja validated his suspension by the state chapter of the party and forbade him from parading himself as national chairman of APC. The suit instituted by the Deputy National Chairman of the APC, North-east, Salihu Mustapha, and some aggrieved leaders of the party in Edo State, Oshiomhole’s home state, momentarily changed the tenor of the game.

Interestingly, immediately the ruling suspending Oshiomhole was handed down, the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) declared support for his suspension. Curiously, a few hours after, another court of coordinate jurisdiction, in Kano State, gave a counter order, reinstating Oshiomhole, a situation that introduced a new twist to the travails of the former governor of Edo State and the APC leadership, in general.

In response to the crisis, the APC leadership announced a meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC) for Tuesday, March 17, to comprehensively consider the issues, decide the fate of Oshiomhole, and address a situation that is threatening the unity and existence of the party.

But the forces against Oshiomhole appeared not comfortable with the March 17 date and had begun to moot a possible shift in date back to Thursday, March 12, which if pulled off would mark the first step to sealing the fate of the national chairman.

NWC: Ignore

Purported NEC Meeting Notice for March 17, it's Illegal But the confusion continued on Saturday, when members of the National Working Committee (NWC) issued an emergency NEC meeting notice disclaimer.

The counter statement called on APC members to disregard any purported notice of emergency NEC meeting scheduled for March 17 as "a product of mischief."

Acting National Secretary of APC, Chief Victor Giadom, had in a statement on Friday given notice of the emergency NEC meeting. The meeting, which would have had President Muhammadu Buhari in attendance, was scheduled to take place at the party’s national secretariat.

However, in a statement jointly signed yesterday by APC National Legal Adviser, Mr. Babatunde Ogala, National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, and National Secretary, Arc. Waziri Bulama, described the purported NEC meeting as illegal. The statement said, "The National Working Committee, therefore, disassociates itself from the said illegal and unauthorised Notice of Meeting of the National Executive Committee.

"Members of the National Executive Committee and the totality of the members of our great party are, therefore, requested to ignore the said notice or invitation as a product of mischief that should not be given any probative value."

It added that the party’s constitution provided under Article 25 (B)(i) that a NEC meeting shall be convoked at every quarter and/or at any time decided by the National Chairman or at the request made in writing by at least two-third of the members of the NEC provided that not less that 14 days notice is given for the meeting to be summoned.

Besides, in section 25B(ii), the APC constitution provides, “Without prejudice to Article 25(B)(i) of this Constitution the NEC may summon an emergency NEC meeting at any time, provided that at least seven days notice of the meeting shall be given to all those entitled to attend.�

It further stated that neither the national chairman nor the resolution of two thirds of members of the NEC had directed nor made any request to summon a NEC meeting of the party. "The said Victor

Giadom is not vested with any constitutional powers to convene any meeting of the National Executive Committee. Neither has he been so directed by the National Chairman."

PGF Counters But the PGF countered in a statement released Saturday night signed by DirectorGeneral, Salihu Lukman. The statement asked APC members “to ignore any statement signed by Babatunde Ogala Esq, National Legal Adviser, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, and Arc. Waziri Bulama. The statement dated 7th March, 2020 sought to misinform members of APC NEC and the public that the provisions of the APC constitution was not followed in convening the emergency NEC meeting and the National Working Committee (NWC) did not meet to appropriately decide on convening the meeting.�

The APC governor insisted that the standard procedure was followed in calling the emergency meeting, saying the meeting scheduled for March 17 stands.

Yet, there are feelings that even if the NEC meeting were convened and the matter was subjected to vote, there might not be enough votes to remove Oshiomhole from the chairmanship seat.

Besides, to remove the chairman, there is no debating the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari’s endorsement would be required. Oshiomhole’s opponents seem not to have this at the moment.

There is also the problem of succession, which has remained a major concern in the party.

APC members appear not to have a consensus on who would succeed the national chairman.

But this would be contingent on whether the party would go the way of caretaker committee or convoke an emergency convention to replace Oshiomhole with someone from the same state, since APC only does micro-zoning. But party sources claimed the current Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, was averse to a successor from his state.

Generally, the anti-Oshiomhole forces are, allegedly, worried that they have yet to find a suitable candidate from both the South-south and the South-east zones, just in case they succeed in sacking the current chairman of the party.

Many of the first term governors, who hold their emergence to Oshiomhole, are said to be solidly behind

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SUNDAY COMMENT

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

BETTER DEAL FOR NIGERIAN WOMEN Gender equality is essential for economies and communities to thrive

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s women all over the world today mark the International Women’s Day to celebrate their achievements in the last century, critical stakeholders in Nigeria must also come to terms with the fact that our women and girls deserve a better deal from the society.

This year’s event coincides with a period professional women are being discriminated against in a warped politics of identity. Some women who are married to men from states other than theirs have been practically rendered ‘stateless’. The nonconfirmation of Justice Akon Ikpeme as the substantive Chief Judge by the As Nigeria joins Cross River State House of Assembly because the rest of the she is from Akwa Ibom, world to mark even when her husband the International is from Cross River Women’s Day, State where she has we must also had her career on the celebrate the social, bench, bears eloquent economic, cultural testimony to this.

With #EachForEqual, and political as the theme for the achievements of International Women’s our mothers, sisters Day this year, the idea is and daughters. But to focus the attention of perhaps much more critical stakeholders on the fact that "gender equality important is that is essential for economies the men must see gender balance as a and communities to The general notion universal challenge thrive". that women are inferior to men is unsustainable especially because gender equality is not just a human rights issue. It is essential for the achievement of sustainable development and a peaceful, prosperous world. Therefore, circumscribing access to opportunities that ultimately empowers women who make up about 50 per cent of the Nigerian population is counterproductive. But for change to happen, it would take collective global action. The glass ceiling, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) "is perhaps most apparent for women in areas that challenge 'hard power'. In politics, men and women vote at similar rates, but less than one quarter of parliamentary seats globally are held by women. This

Letters to the Editor

isn’t just a gender gap. It’s a power gap."

Because the Nigerian society is patriarchal, men dominate while women are subordinated in practically all areas of our national life. Nothing perhaps speaks to the gender imbalance in Nigeria than the number of representation in the various arms of government, both in the states and at the federal level. Since the commencement of the Fourth Republic two decades ago (1999), the number of elected women in both the executive and legislative arms of government is abysmally low. At the level of the executive, no woman has ever been elected the president of the country or governor of any state. At the legislative level both at federal and the component states, the number of elected legislators is less than five per cent.

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

T H I S DAY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, ISRAEL IWEGBU, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU, EMMANUEL EFENI DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS BOLAJI ADEBIYI , PETER IWEGBU, ANTHONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS ERIC OJEH, PATRICK EIMIUHI ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR SAHEED ADEYEMO CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

n a day such as this, therefore, we must join our women as they continue to fight all forms of discrimination. It makes no sense to exclude half of our population from maximising their potential simply for archaic and oppressive reasons.

At election periods, political parties set guidelines for prospective aspirants that are clearly against the interest of ambitious female members. Aside the huge financial demands, political meetings are almost always scheduled to hold at night which makes it a disincentive for women, given the cultural environment under which we operate.

There are all forms of discrimination against women in our country for which we must begin to proffer different multi-sectoral and coordinated solutions. These include adopting, strengthening and implementing legislations that will promote gender balance in all aspects of our national life. However, even beyond any proposed legislations, there are clear and definite constitutional provisions that entrench the rights of women that are being observed in the breach.

Unfortunately, reminding some Nigerians of these fundamental guarantees seems futile while the people expected to defend or promote those rights hardly care. If we must include our women in the governing process, dealing with these issues is very important.

As Nigeria therefore joins the rest of the world to mark the International Women’s Day, we must also celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of our mothers, sisters and daughters.

But perhaps much more important is that the men must see gender balance as a universal challenge. We must also begin to create an atmosphere that assures women in Nigeria that they are not in any way inferior to our men.

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

Boko Haram Insurgents Deserve No Pity

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ecently about 1,400 repentant "Boko Haram" suspects, who were previously in detention, were all released and the plan now is to resettle them into the society.

As a follow up to the release of the suspects, a bill for the establishment of an agency for Boko Haram repentant was sponsored by Senator Ibrahim Gaidam, the immediate past Governor of Yobe State. This action was trailed with reactions from different groups such as the Yoruba sociocultural organisation, Afenifere and Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF). Particularly, the Afenifere condemned and

stated that the move is "impunity taken too far".

The position of those opposing the move by both the military and the senator that is sponsoring the bill is: how can amnesty be accorded to criminals who killed, maimed, raped and destroyed innocent people’s lives and property when Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province war is still ongoing?

According to an elder statesman, an Afenifere leader, Ayo Adebanjo, "it is an insult to Nigerians and scandalous to the National Assembly. How can anybody think of feeding criminals and enemies of the state? This is impunity taken too far".

The President of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Alhaji Yerima Shettima said the proposal is stupid. According to him, "When the soldiers that are risking their lives to contain the insurgents are crying over poor welfare package the Senate is debating how to grant amnesty to the suspects…

Nigerians must be ready to interrogate the intention of the person that sponsored such a bill."

In a country where the victims of the terrorists are still suffering at the various Internally Displaced camps without adequate provision of their immediate needs, where many school girls kidnapped and abducted

by the insurgents are still missing, where many lives of innocent Nigerians have been snuffed out, where many military personnel have been killed without any solution in sight, it will be ungodly to say that an amnesty should be given to the terrorists.

In Nigeria, Boko Haram insurgency, herdsmen’s carnage, kidnapping and police brutality have become a day light monster. However, for any person to recommend the release or amnesty for the repentant Boko Haram suspects at this time in Nigeria is ridiculous. What are the assurances that those 1,400 repentant Boko Haram suspects released are not going to be security risk to Nigeria?

Although researchers at the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge said

"Long-term imprisonment changes people to the core", the case in Nigeria is different because we have seen on many occasions where imprisoned criminals after serving their jail terms often time returned back to their criminal activities.

Unlike in other countries where prisons are serving as reformation centres for transformation of criminals to become responsible and good citizens, in Nigeria criminals after serving their jail terms become hardened. Boko Haram and their likes deserve no sympathy because their activities are evil, wicked, barbaric and unacceptable in our society.

––Agunloye Adewunmi Bashiru, bagunloye@gmail. com

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ MARCH 8, 2020

OPINION A Tale of Two Birthdays Jonathan Eze pays tribute to Vice President Osinbajo and Ndoma-Egba, two men with striking career trajectories

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omeone once said that the 'Light of stars gives light on Spaces. Light of God gives birth to all Stars."

Between Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (GCON), (SAN) and former Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba (CON), (SAN) their birth on the 8th day of March is more than mere cosmic coincidence. While the vice president was born in 1957, the latter was given birth to in 1956. But apart from the difference in their years of birth, every pattern in the trajectories of both men bear striking similarities.

The two chose a career in law profession.

Both read law from the same law faculty at the University of Lagos. While Professor Osinbajo graduated in 1978 and was called to the Bar in 1979, Ndoma-Egba graduated in 1977 and called to the Bar in 1978. Respectively, they both graduated at age 21 and called to the bar at the age of 22. For that generation of university graduates, it is a well-known fact that graduating at such early age is an unusual happenstance. It must mean that both Yemi Osinbajo and Victor Ndoma-Egba as youngsters are academic whiz kids.

After graduation, Osinbajo went into academics and Ndoma-Egba went into private legal practice. Both made remarkable successes at their career paths as lawyers. Vice President Osinbajo became a law professor and both earned the ultimate jewel of the legal profession as Senior Advocates of Nigeria - one in

2002 and the other in 2004.

Ndoma-Egba's debut in public service was serving as Commissioner for Works and Housing in old Cross River State (now Cross River and Akwa Ibom States). That was in 1985 when Major-General Muhammadu Buhari was military Head of State and Commander in Chief.

As providence would have it, Yemi Osinbajo is currently Vice-President to President Buhari as Nigeria's sixth democratically elected leader.

Like Ndoma-Egba, Osinbajo too had served as Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos in 1999, while Ndoma-Egba had similarly served in the same capacity briefly in old

Both men are known for their oratory, sense of humor, simplicity and humility in their interactions with other people

Cross River State during the days on military rule in the country.

But if all these similarities in the pathways of the duo was due to the predictable outcome of their devotion to the law profession and public service, what about their corporeality?

Both are of the lithe athletic physique, with sartorial and genteel disposition of men of character, imbued with religion and devotion to God. Professor Osinbajo is a renowned Pentecostal preacher and Ndoma-Egba has a passion for his Roman Catholic faith, narrowly missing his way into the priesthood.

Osinbajo was raised as a child by a father who was a preacher - himself growing to become one, ditto for Ndoma-Egba - raised by a father who was a trustee of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, a celebrated lawyer and Appeal Court judge, himself also toeing the line to become a colourful lawyer. In other words, both were raised by clergymen and took after their fathers' profession and became famously successful at it.

Again, both men are known for their oratory, sense of humor, simplicity and humility in their interactions with other people.

If, indeed, stars are born on the 8th day of March, both Osinbajo and Ndoma-Egba are true expression of the luck in that date of birth.

Or, even if it is true that the Light of God gives birth to all stars, it must be that such divine light has shone distinctively on both Vice President Osinbajo and Senator Ndoma-Egba.

–– Jonathan Eze wrote from Abuja

Law And Politics: Filling The Gaps The Supreme Court by its judgement must promote public interest and public morality, writes Chimezie Elemuo

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he Supreme Court of Nigeria has been on the radar of legal and political discourse recently following its refusal to set aside its judgment in respect of the governorship election in Imo State. This judgment like others before it has raised some legal, political and moral questions. Law and politics play different roles in human affairs. But in between law and politics, is the need to maintain good moral standard in the political affairs of the state, and the areas law is permitted to make an inquisition. It suffices to say that the decisions of our political class and the judges must maintain a minimum standard of morality. Judges don’t make laws neither will the legislature sit in judgment over its matters. Both the judiciary and the legislature have their core mandate and discretion.

They must exercise these mandate and discretion within those values cherished in a modern society. It was in recognition of this, that Jonathan Sumption, a retired British Supreme Court judge said in his Reith Lectures organized by the BBC entitled law’s expending empire that “judges don’t decide cases in accordance with the state of public opinion but it is their duty to take account of values of the society which they serve.” So we may well ask ourselves what are those values we expect our judiciary and political institutions to imbibe in their daily functions- functions that affect the daily affairs of men and women in the society? The core of these values no doubt is probity, transparency, honesty, merit and self-appraisal, to mention a few. All these core values are moral issues, the law only provides the tool through which they are maintained and their infraction becomes punishable. The Supreme Court is expected to imbibe these values in its judgments, and the failure to play this role has placed a serious moral burden on the society.

Human society is dynamic. Law is dynamic as well. Law must respond to the change in the society.

How does it do this? This is why the courts exercise inherent discretion in their adjudicatory functions.

Judges don’t make laws. In Fawehinmi V. Akilu (1987) 4 NWLR 797 at 843, the Supreme Court held that “in every actions before the courts, in every step taken by a judge, his discretion is called into play, whether in interpreting the law or in deciding an action one

way or the other, if it is otherwise, giving effect to the rule of law would amount to dexterity in manipulating date….” The courts, particularly the Supreme Court are meant to give meaning to the mute words of the constitution and give hope to the society. In other words, where the constitution or any law is silent, the judge fills the gaps by exercising its discretion judicially and judiciously.

The constitution did not create solution to every problem that would rear its head from time to time, but that does not mean that the situation is entirely hopeless. The constitution vested the judicial power on the courts by virtue of section 6(6) (a) “to all inherent powers and sanctions of a court of law.”

So, it is not expected that the courts shall fold their hands, when a problem calls for a legal pronouncement. It is therefore, important to state that the role of the law in the society is to ensure that all human conduct complies with the basic expression of orderliness and decency.

For what is decent and proper cannot be wrong.

It is in this regard that one may say that law is a method of social control. Law is also an instrument of corrective and distributive justice. Law calls us into social conformity. Law creates a code of conduct. There is no alternative to this code of conduct.

Therefore, any judgement of the court must resound with reason, and should not create any moral or legal loopholes. In other words, one of the qualities of a good judgment is that the judgment must be morally and legally sound.

A judge is not called to answer moral questions, but he must not create the avenue for the public to question the morals of his judgment. So law calls us to conformity in every aspect of life. Judgment of our courts must conform to the basic values cherished in the modern and decent society.

The former governor of Imo State, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, lost his application to set aside the Supreme Court judgement that sacked him as the governor of Imo State. The Supreme Court said granting the application will lead to a floodgate of such application in the future. The Supreme Court simply said that its decision is final, not that there are no grounds to grand the application. The fear of the Supreme Court is that it does not want to ridicule itself by granting the application. But the

Supreme Court would have restored the confidence of the Nigerian people on the judiciary by granting the application. It is on this score that I salute the courage of justice Nweze who granted the application. It does not matter to the Supreme Court that the man who lost an election has been declared the governor. The Supreme Court has laid a very dangerous precedent on Nigerian politics. Did the Supreme Court simply deliver a political judgement? I fear so. As noted earlier, a good judgement must be sound legally and morally.

The judgment is not a good one. The Supreme Court has been engaging in legal somersault recently, and this is not good for the image of the Nigerian judiciary. If a judgement is an illegality or obtained by fraud, it is a good ground to set the judgement aside.

The Supreme Court has set aside its judgements that are illegality a number of times. The court should not be seen as taking over the functions of INEC simply because the politicians and INEC have failed. The court should be circumspect to avoid giving the impression that the court is the final decision making body as to who won an election or not. The ultimate body that decides who won an election or not is INEC, and not the courts. What the courts do is to simply review the decision of INEC by way of election petition.

Therefore, the Supreme Court by its judgement must promote public interest and public morality.

There are no alternatives to these.

It suffices to say that the Supreme court at all times has the opportunity to redeem itself, where it had erred. The Supreme Court has the jurisdiction to determine whether it erred or not- that is, whether its judgement led to miscarriage of justice.

The Supreme Court must strive to always deliver judgement not coloured by politics. Like Sir Winston Churchill puts it, “the principle of the complete independence of the judiciary from the executive is the foundation of many things in our island life. It has been widely imitated in varying degrees throughout the free world.” Independence of the judiciary is key if our democracy must survive.

––Elemuo is a Port Harcourt- based legal practitioner

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LETTERS Coronavirus And TB Joshua’s Prophecy

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n December 28th 2019, Nigerian Pastor TB Joshua made several prophetic declarations for the year 2020, one of which addressed religious leaders and the challenges awaiting them.

“People will be getting tired this year because the work of God is not by power and might,” he revealed, adding they would face “so many challenges, tribulations and burdens they will not be able to bear”. The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, commonly known as coronavirus, is certainly proving to be a veritable test of faith for religious leaders and those at the forefront of “the work of God”.

In unprecedented moves, Saudi Arabia has totally halted pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest of sites – Mecca’s Grand Mosque which contains the Kaaba – over fears the close congestion of worshippers would exacerbate the spread of the disease. Similarly, Iran has cancelled weekly Friday prayers at Mosques nationwide as the nation grapples to deal with the outbreak of the virus.

Christian worshippers in countries such as South Korea and Italy – where the outbreak

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Pastor T. B. Joshua is more serious – have not attended church for several weeks as large gatherings of people have been banned by the government. Even the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem – the famous site where Jesus was said to be born – has been closed to tourists after several cases of coronavirus were confirmed in the West Bank.

Several age-old traditions

in the Catholic church – such as shaking hands with fellow parishioners during the ‘sign of peace’ - have been ‘adjusted’ as worship ‘in the age of coronavirus’ strives to avoid any kind of close bodily contact.

In USA, Craig Groeschel, the Senior Pastor of ‘Life.

Church’ – which has over 90,000 members – has been quarantined for two weeks by health officials after being

exposed to the coronavirus at a conference in Germany. It has certainly been a trying time for religious leaders who must delicately balance ceremony with caution!

Intriguingly, the nation of Nigeria ushered in 2020 with a colourful array of prophetic pronouncements by pastors nationwide, most proclaiming ‘blessings’, ‘promotions’ and ‘testimonies’.

To mention just a few Pastor Chris Oyakhilome declared 2020 the ‘year of perfection’; Bishop David Oyedepo termed it the ‘year of breaking limits’; Pastor Enoch Adeboye stated it is the ‘year of series of joys’; Pastor Paul Enenche declared it ‘the year of supernatural shift’ and Pastor Sam Adeyemi proclaimed it ‘the year of rest’.

The first three months of 2020 have, however, painted an alarmingly different picture to the declarations quoted above.

The outbreak of the deadly disease – which has even infiltrated Nigeria – is just one of the events shaping 2020 that was surprisingly missed by almost all the 2020 prophecies which flooded social media in the opening days of January.

Generic events, which happen on a regular basis, such as political upheavals, natural disasters or the

Soliloquy of Hidden Mallam

fell asleep to dream weeping as it were when I was yet a child not weaned…when women go to fetch water from the brooks…and sang the praise of a returnee from overseas...on a jungle path by that enchanted river, a cross was used as figure-head to navigate…father would alight from his Peugeot 403, with his psychedelic wife, my mother to be, aquiline nosed, her long-hair over-reaching her hip… that was when men bragged ‘if they never roofed with zinc no man’s son should be named after them…’ when poisoned for father, a tumbler of palm-wine leaped off the table, chattering mid-air… then they framed but not as pictured ‘Ezens’ to mock… so was a sword brought after them …and they sought refuge at Lowa-Etiti, where, tele-guided to veranda, one was to witness a tele-cast ration of hot-dog.

Man! should thou cast thy stone in-between thy thighs, how would thou pull thy woman to thee speaking sweet nothings, shall she snuggle up in affectionate kiss fondling her boobs, canst thou swirl her around as a merry-go Vespa… a morass-star tele-devised, contrived as falsehood of penny-IS, that hitherto-fell into ‘Otei Umu-okoro-ala Ovum’, Biafra half-Penny, defunct in arrears, 50 years of one’s time of life wasted than to drown, as in ’ilam niyi erikwanam’.

For my fore-fathers danced to ‘ekwa-nkita otule-egbele kpari’ their stout testes sticking out from behind, be-strode by loin cloth like G-string, in-between the cleavage of their bare-buttocks which they spanked dandling along at noon-day chanting ‘ha ha

owunje…’ they also practised ndjamena rites, psychosomore theatrix, monopoly technique building, weather forecast, and the like. Yet honoured not father the LORD, rather he conducted ‘akwam ozu’ in 1971 for his mother. Then one, the soul of his father had to suffer from Meningitis ‘mene, mene-Jah on high it-is’, and in 1990, his sons but one, conducted laying of Nazi-wreaths for late father, so were his children like bread-fruit pod, cast of his seed abroad, dropping one in refuse bin, being loathed by scavengers, passers-by shake their heads in disgust, shrugging their shoulders in astonishment.

‘Onodu nwinyaa nogada-renes’, where the mad narrate obscenities, writing dark sentences in the wilderness bewildered, the print of foot scald from fervent heat…wisdom of the ancients is dumped in the bin, in which he awakes from night-dream among princes he had no business of the day to do. False prophetess at ‘Ovum Ala ala’ Knowest thou not that money can give enjoyment if only you can take pleasure.

Should one keep nine kobo save one for his nieghbour, if nine shall not suffice, ten shall also not…money is not enough, neither says ‘it is finished…’ circulates but never goes round…though you keep, never say thou have it, I have been in that market where it gave no choice to value…shall money holpen you with a little help? no problem, if ye have not, hope have thou to take from them that do not have, to give…the real value is a futile and selfish choice, the face value is a note of promise to them that are never fulfilled…so shall the ‘haves’

not give, given to want and the needy give but have not…men love you doing good for thyself than to take that, which you have not but give.

As for honour, is it not the evil of all rooted in money-love, but you shall neither have it in a day’s-dream nor keep it conscious of self-awake. Should a man help thee, sleep shall thou not but if a woman, sleep must thou. She loves Lollypop, your fanta-stick, your amorous-sac is ambrosia, food of the god-mother, she’d defer for a good sleep on water-bed... should she want your face, she turns away…she ogles you with her eyelids allure, her body doth speak, her eyes tweet in a blink.

Call her miss, chief of incitement…shall a man sit on her thighs as a suckling not lulled with lullabies, shall he not be made to fine with his hair-lurks…no way can mislead than her sweet-den, she’d take you in with her eye browse… do not mistake her glee for thy money…she is cause war and shall say to thee ‘all flesh is as grass, shall thou take canon fire in thy bosom and it kindle not on thee…’ she’s restive for a stud and roused by the bull, though thy voice peel off grit from the wall, she shall not cringe but charge at thy tone, your glare like the halogens flare her up on heat…she’d sooner ravish thy brutish horse-band manners but make believe she’d love thou meek…her no is yes, if only up to thee…never too old or young, only be man enough.

So she told thee ‘son I’m thy mother’ did thou fore-know her at conception or did your father know but cannot tell, or doth thou know sperm-mutation, permutation to switch the stars

at a nod. Dick, ah, can do and undo in-fact...Leave many a spinster, never came of age to marry but do wed, hath her own world outside of thine but want the best of the two… beautiful ones are nowadays born… beauty is skin-deep, fowl used to be butchered by two for Jollof, but one is nowadays wolfed down by one... Women give suck, but men in the main have no milk of human kindness, they hold-up the right of the needy…My people doth prosper, it were not in the power of their hand but that they may inhabit the evil grooves, but now do they make mouth for maker of all, saying ‘that man is up to nothing done with man, a loafer that know not his way to town…and over this glossary they gloss… Over-look many a cleric oh Lord, half-truth preach they, asserting the contrary of one in an-other, denying their first position at last.

In mastication of fine-sand, my soul is experienced, leaving my world no head at the twilight of day…. my friend, do no more or less than thy mind is made up whether good or bad, only let it be by the LORD and mind yourself…bless them of temper oh Lord, for in them is no indignation…happy are the poor, they eat and sleep and care not but the rich suffer much ado, fame reveal their secret… the Lord is gracious, he doth honour the faith of even the un-learned, who use not knowledge aright... Master ought ye not to be saying these things at last, for then shall thy lips have become sweet as the eclairs and then should thou have increased in learning to admonish seven…

––Elejeh-abili Willy, Lagos.

demise of public figures were commonplace in prophetic forecasts but the outbreak of the disease that has stoked worldwide fears and caused a massive economic backlash was strangely missing.

From a perusal of ‘2020 prophecies’ given by prominent figures within Christianity, the only one worthy of note in relation to current events is that of Prophet TB Joshua – which I partially quoted above.

Contrary to his peers who named 2020 with bright and positive omens, Joshua soberly stated 2020 would be a ‘year of humility’ in which ‘our challenges would humble us’.

“Challenges can be affliction,” the cleric explained. “To humble us with these is for those things to destroy us or expose us. Let us move closer to God.” Nations such as China, USA, Iran, Italy and France would be forced to agree with this declaration as its leaders and people have been humbled in their efforts to contain and curtail the outbreak of the dreaded disease.

In the early days of 2019, Joshua had revealed at an undisclosed ‘prayer mountain’ that 2019 was “a very fearful year”, adding on January 4th 2020 – long before the dramatic spread of coronavirus attracted publicity - that the fear of the previous year would continue until March “according to God’s time-table”.

Another of his 2020 prophecies spoke of impending ‘economic backlash’, specifically within America – the truth of which can be currently seen in the volatile stock market numbers worldwide as fears of

the virus run rife.

Given the fact that Joshua’s prediction was perhaps the only one bearing semblance to current events, it is no surprise that his declaration regarding spiritual solution to the epidemic has attracted significant attention.

Several pastors – such as Chris Oyakhilome, William Kumuyi and Enoch Adeboye – have publicly prayed against coronavirus but it is Joshua’s message regarding the outbreak that has gone viral on YouTube.

On Saturday 29th February 2020, he declared that “showers of rain that will wipe away the fear of the unknown” would fall as a sign the days of the disease were numbered.

Giving credence to his prophetic proclamation, rain surprisingly fell in cities around the world, including in Wuhan, China – the epicentre of coronavirus.

“Whether you come in contact with the rain or not, that does not matter,” he told Emmanuel TV viewers, declaring the end of March would signal the end of the disease and the fear that has spread in its wake.

Whilst churches, mosques, synagogues and other places of worship worldwide struggle to manage their religious duties in the midst of coronavirus-induced panic, The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) certainly remains unfazed – mirrored by the foreign pilgrims whose weekly troop to the church has seen no signs of diminishment.

––Tawia Acheampong is a writer based in Accra, Ghana.

Simon Kolawole Got It Wrong

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t is certainly not an exaggeration, arguing that most young, practicing and even aspiring journalists have been longing to meet and be mentored by Simon Kolawole. The latter is one of the experts who have truly earned respect in journalism. In short, he is not just interrogating every side of national and local issue; he is directly or indirectly proving and convincing every practitioner to factually and fearlessly speak undiluted truth to power.

It is however certain that most admirers would be disappointed, reading Kolawole’s recent piece on federal government’s response to the outbreak of the dreaded Coronavirus in Nigeria. He even hit the level of lambasting Senator Ajayi Boroffice’s uncommon courage in exposing the government’s awful approach towards the spread of the virus. Summarily, Kolawole is clearly awarding questionable pass mark to the government. Interestingly, the same Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government has publicly admitted that she lacked facility to conduct mass testing on all quarantined and self-isolated persons. The central government equally reportedly

confirmed that her quarantine centre in Abuja is still undergoing rehabilitation. The same government has eventually been pushed to the level of placing hard-hit countries like Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan on her watch list.

Meanwhile, it is evident that Boroffice was widely celebrated for exposing the government’s dismal response towards the outbreak of Coronavirus.

Did Kolawole conduct a credible research, affirming that federal government’s fire brigade approach towards the outbreak of the virus is truly getting desired applause from millions of Nigerians?

Is Kolawole truly pleased that the eventual outbreak of the virus pushed states like Lagos to see the need of inaugurating emergency operation centre and producing coronavirus sensitisation materials? Honestly, are readers not disappointed that Kolawole could not use his widely read column in challenging stakeholders like Ibrahim Magu to substantiate how corruption is fueling the spread of the virus?

––Sunday Odiaka, shorikwueodiaka@gmail. com.

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INTERNATIONAL United States $7m Bounty on Boko Haram Leader: A Dimension of Failure of Global Security Strategy

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aintenance of international peace and security in the post-World War II era was made the strategic focus of the United Nations when it was formed in 1945. The UN Charter specifically talked about the need to prevent another scourge of war.

And true, there has not been a new scourge of war, but there has been a scourge of crises and conflicts. The interpretation of a scourge of war implied that there would be no more inter-state wars. And true enough, there has not been any inter-state war and no regional (in the sense of UN definition of a region) security has been threatened by intra-state crises and conflicts that currently exist.

However, peace and security, at the national, regional and global levels, has not been achievable since end of World War II. Following the end of World War II, the hot or shooting wars that characterised World War II were quickly replaced with Cold and non-shooting hostilities. There were proxy wars, not only largely driven by superpower politics, but also largely predicated on balancing political terror and military error. Emphasis partly shifted from general balance of power to balancing of superpower rivalry at the level of the United States and the former Soviet Union.

Following the politics of glasnosts and perestroika (opening to the world and internal restructuring) which led to the Soviet Union’s self-effacement, the politics of bipolarity or Cold War politics came to an end in 1989, leaving the United States as the only superpower to shape global politics. But true again, maintenance of international peace and security has not been easy in the post-Cold War era, simply because inter-state wars have been replaced with intra-state wars, and perhaps more disturbingly, with the rise in international terrorism. International terrorism began being a protest against global power politics, especially by the great and super powers. Countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, were then the main targeted victims of terrorist attacks. And by that time, terrorism had not become so sophisticated as it is today. Terrorism was then at the level of sending letter and parcel bombs essentially to diplomatic agents.

The terrorist tactics later changed to hijacking and skyjacking, and then re-strategy to murder and political killings.

Today, terrorism has evolved into full-time bombing business. It is become an open warfare in which there is no conscious respect for humanitarian law. Terrorism is now a specialised form of the law of the jungle, with unprecedented manifestations of excessive brutalities. This has made the maintenance of global peace and security extremely difficult. It is against this very background that the placement of a bounty on the head of international terrorist leaders by the governments (first by the Barack Obama, and second, by Donald Trump) of the United States should be explained and understood.

TheBounty:MisjudgementandFailure

On Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020 the United States Department of State renewed its placement of a bounty on terrorist leaders, especially on the factional leader of the Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, considered by the US government as a ‘cancer tumour.’ As noted by the US Department of State, and as reported in the social media, ‘the United States Department of State offers a reward up to $7 million for information that can lead to the arrest of the terrorist, Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko Haram.’

In addition, the Department of State said ‘this cancer tumour must be eradicated!’ It also noted that ‘stopping the terrorists is a collaborative effort.’ Consequently, it strongly believes that there is the need to ‘work together and bring peace to our communities.’

In this regard, it is officially requested that, ‘if you have information on any of the Boko Haram leaders, contact as quickly as possible Telegram (@RFJ_Francais_bot) and WhatsApp (+12029759195).

This is an important call on whoever wants to live in peace, sleep with his or her two eyes closed. The call is a desideratum. Put differently, the placement of a fresh bounty by the Diplomatic Security Service of the Department of States, following that of 2013, on Abubakar Shekau, is not only welcome a development, but also coming against many other thought-provoking truisms.

First, it is coming against the background of the failure of the first bounty placed on Abubakar Shekau and some other terrorists in 2013 for various reasons. The then Barack Obama administration

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Major Gen. Bashir Magashi, (retd.) Minister of Defence considered then that the Boko Haram group was a ‘foreign terror organisation,’ and therefore, blacklisted it along with its splinter group, Ansaru, because of its linkages with the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The US government considered that the AQIM was responsible for ‘thousands of deaths in northeast and central Nigeria over the last several years, including targeted killings of civilians.’

And true enough, there is no disputing the fact that the Ansaru group has been fighting tooth and nail to have an Islamic State established in Nigeria since 2009. On August 26, 2011, the United Nations building in Abuja was victim of a suicide bomb attack that led many people wounded and dead. In November 2012, the terrorists raided police stations in Abuja, the Federal Capital, killed Nigerian police officers and escaped with detained terrorists in the prisons. In fact, September 2013 witnessed many indiscriminate attacks in Nigeria’s Benisheikh.

It was in light of this development that the Washingtonian administration not only designated Abubakar Shekau a terrorist in June 2012, and, therefore, froze his asset, but also had to decide to place a bounty of $7 million on him. This bounty is two million US dollars more than what was offered in the case of Afghanistan.

What is noteworthy about the policy decision of placing a bounty on the Boko Haram is two-fold: that Abubakar Shekau made a mockery of the bounty and that, indeed, the placement of a bounty has not attained its objective.

Secondly, one probable reason that may also explain the failure of the policy of bounty can be traced to the policy advice of a US plenipotentiary to and friend of Nigeria, Ambassador John Campbell. In his book, entitled, United States Policy to Counter Nigeria’s Boko Haram,’ Special Report No. 70 in 2014, John Campbell, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and former Acting Director, Office of the Historian in the Department of State, submitted that the Boko Haram should not be seen as another foe in the global war on terrorism, since the group’s grievances are primarily local.

Without scintilla of doubt, the placement of another bounty to the same tune of $7 million and still on the sameAbubakar Shekau,necessarily reaffirms the 2013 bounty.

However,it is largely a manifestation of policy failure and strategic miscalculation,which reflects non-seriousness of purpose, non-commitment of purpose, and nonchalant great power-style of attitude. If, for instance, the United States offered the sum of $7m as bounty in 2013, and as at the end of February 2020, there is no attraction of interest, why should it be now expected that the new $7m bounty will be attractive enough to get whistleblowers and prompt the arrest ofAbubakar Shekau? If there is to be a good foundation for the prevention of a new scourge of war,the global community will need to give sustained support to President Muhammadu Buhari in his anti-Boko Haram war.Without this, the future of global peace and security cannot be bright

In warning the US government not to consider the Boko Haram ‘as simply another foe in the global war on terrorism’ said that ‘the Boko Haram insurgency is a direct result of chronic poor governance by Nigeria’s federal and state governments, the political marginalisation of North-eastern Nigeria, and the region’s accelerating impoverishment.’

Without jot of doubt, Ambassador Campbell may be right in his view that the Boko Haram may not be simply considered as another foe in the fight against international terrorism. However, Ambassador has ignored some plain truths. It cannot but be quite arguable to have Ambassador Campbell suggest that the main rationale for the Boko Haram is ‘a direct result of poor governance by the Federal Government and the State Government. This observation can be tenable but not really one of the raisons d’être for the emergence of the Boko Haram. In Nigeria of today, Nigerians, as a whole, are still grappling with the challenges of poor governance and human rights violations. In spite of this, Nigerians have not brought religious fundamentalism into the equation.

Ambassador Campbell also drew attention to another factor: the ‘region’s accelerating impoverishment.’ Questions should be asked as to whether the Federal Government had not been allocating development resources to the northeast in the same manner it is done to other regions and states. Is the problem not traceable to the difference in political and cultural objectives of the leaders of the northeast and those of the political leaders in other regions of Nigeria?

The political leaders in the northeast appear to have a yet-tobe-explained agenda, that is poorly understood by other leaders outside of the northern states, and which is largely responsible for the poor situation of the people in the north. In other words, if we are to admit the considerations of Ambassador Campbell to explain the raison d’être for the establishment of the Boko Haram group, then they must not only be categorised as secondary factors.

The secondary considerations must also be traced to other Nigerian and extra-Nigerian factors, without which a lasting solution may be quite difficult to achieve in the near and distant future.

In terms of possible solutions, for instance, Ambassador Campbell advised the US government ‘to follow a short-term strategy that presses Abuja to end its gross human rights abuses, conduct credible national elections in 2015, and meet the immediate needs of refugees and persons internally displaced by fighting in the northeast.’ More interestingly, even though the US government might have had little leverage over the Government of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, Ambassador Campbell observed, the US government should ‘pursue a long-term strategy to address the roots of northern disillusionment, preserve national unity and restore Nigeria’s trajectory toward democracy and the rule of law.’

We do not have any qualms with these suggestions, except those of gross human rights abuses and the need for credible elections which US foreign policy underscores, but which have very little for what the Boko Haram stands for. Indeed, it is at the level of the Boko Haram that we should be talking about human rights violations, brutalities, disregard for the rule of law. Most unfortunately, the international community says very little when terrorists kill law-abiding people. When, in the spirit of legitimate self-defence, terrorists are attacked, noises about human rights are made. Should terrorists be entitled to human rights protection?

In terms of Ambassador Campbell’s recommended short-term strategy, it is mainly predicated on a pentagon of calculations: support for Nigerians working for human rights and democracy; supporting credible elections in 2015; supporting humanitarian assistance in the north; investigating credible claims of human rights violations and prosecuting the perpetrators; and preservation of national unity and democratic trajectory.

Comparatively therefore, the long-term strategy is more of a tripod of sanctionary and preventive measures; At the level of sanctions, for instance, he recommended the revocation of US visas held by Nigerians promoting ethnic and religious violence, and also committing financial crimes. At the preventive level, he wants the US to encourage Nigerian initiatives to revamp the culture of its military and police, as well as identify and support individual Nigerians working for human rights and democracy.

When we espy the foregoing recommendations, it can be noted that US foreign policy on Nigeria is currently and largely derived from the perspectives of Ambassador Campbell. However, it is useful to note that the policy recommendations hardly address the main rationales for Boko Haram terrorism, which is the objective of establishing an Islamic State in Northern Nigeria. The objective of an Islamic State has very little to do with the problems or observations of poverty or poor governance identified by Ambassador Campbell.

If the arguments of poverty and poor governance are to remain valid, then the question of how the Boko Haram is more funded than even the Nigerian military should be asked. How do we explain the fact that the Boko Haramists are wealthier and more solvent than the soldiers of the most powerful and most populous country in Africa? Why has the Boko Haram become invincible?

Why are they stronger than ever before? Are there no people in government quietly aiding and abetting the objectives of the Boko Haram? Is Boko Haram also an instrument of the disturbing agenda of Fulanisation? Many issues and many questions that have little relevance to poor governance, economic poverty.

(See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

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

L-R: President, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Chief Abimbola Ogunbanjo, and Ex-OďŹƒcio and former President, NSE, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imouhuede, at the Extra-ordinary General Meeting, where council members endoorsed Demutuaisation of the NSE in Lagos...recently

Demutualisation: NSE’s Journey to Elite League The on-going demutualisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange will energise the capital and help unlock Nigeria’s growth potential, writes Obinna Chima

T

heNigerianStockExchange(NSE) lastTuesday,ofďŹ cially commenced the process to join 56 other stock exchanges in the world that are demutualised. This followed an endorsement gotten from a court ordered meeting (COM) and an Extra-ordinary General Meeting (EGM) held separately in Lagos.

At the COM, the members assented to: the registration of the Exchange as Nigerian Exchange Group; the transfer of its securities exchange license and other assets required to carry out the securities function to Nigerian Exchange Limited and the establishment of a separate subsidiary company to be charged with the regulatory functions of the Exchange post-demutualisation to be called NGX Regulation Limited.The members equally approved the transfer of the assets of NSE Consult Limited, NSE Nominees Limited and Coral Properties Limited – existing subsidiaries of the NSE – to the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc. They also approved that the Exchange will have a total share capital being N1,250,000, 000 comprising 2,500,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to be registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).The members equally assent to the allotment of 1,964,115,918 ordinary shares to Dealing Members and Ordinary Members on the basis of a ratio of 78:22, respectively. A Claims Review Shares totaling 40,083,999 ordinary shares, representing two per cent of the Issued Shares of

Nigerian Exchange Group, would be set aside for allotment to parties who are adjudged as being entitled to shares in the demutualised Exchange was also set aside.

However, the shares of the NSE would not be listed immediately after the demutualisation, but later.This would be after other documentation and registrations would have been perfected.With the process, the NSE would be unbundled and the Nigerian Exchange Group Plc would be a nonoperating holding company. Under the holding company,there would be subsidiaries,which would include the operating Exchange.

Also, at the EGM members appointed a board of directors of the demutualisedexchange with Mr. Abimbola Ogunbanjo,who is the current President of the NSE Council emerging as the chairman.Also, Mr.Oscar Onyema will remain as the chief executive ofďŹ cer and managing director.Others are: Dr.Umaru Kwairanga; Mrs. Fatimah Bintah Bello-Ismail; Mr. Oluwole Adeosun; Mr. Chidi Agbapu; Mr. Patrick Ajayi, all members and non-executive directors and Dr. Okechukwu Crescent Itanyi, Mrs. Nimi Akinkugbe, Prof. Enase Okonedo who were appointed independent directors; Mr.IkpobeApollos Oghooritsewarami and Mrs. Ojinika Nkechinyelu Olaghee who were appointed independent nonexecutive directors.

Demutualisation Explained Demutualisation generally refers to the process of converting from a non-proďŹ t, mutually owned

broker-dealer membership organisation to a shareholder-owned,for-proďŹ tcorporation.Members of a mutual Exchange are both owners with voting rights and users with trading privileges.

In a fully demutualised Exchange, shareholders are investors in the business of the exchange.Trading rights of participants in the market run by the Exchange are created by separate contracts between the participant and the Exchange. The board of directors and corporate governance structure of the Exchange reects the broader share ownership.

AccordingtoaWorldBankreport,demutualisation fundamentallychangestheorientationandmandate of an Exchange from a cooperative to a business.

This in turn necessitates a number of other changes, both internal and external, in order to transform the organisation into one whose benchmarks are based on ďŹ nancial performance.

Also, it triggers dramatic changes in Exchanges’ governance structures, managements, organisations and internal processes and procedures.These changes are imperative if a successful transition to commercial status is to be achieved.

The NSE was incorporated as a private company in September 1960 under the name of Lagos Stock Exchange which was changed to the NSE in December 1977. It was re-incorporated as a company limited by guarantee in December 1990 and has operated as such ever since.

In recognition of the potential of demutualisation in the development of the capital market, the NSE is set to join the growing list of demutualised

Exchanges.

A bill for the process titled,‘Demutualisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Bill, 2017,’was then sponsored by Mr.AyoTajudeen, who then chaired the House Committee on Capital Markets.

Members of the NSE had passed a resolution at an Extra-Ordinary General Meeting of the NSE held on March 30, 2017; speciďŹ cally, authorising the Council to commence the process that will culminate in the Exchange being demutualised.

From the Beginning Demutualisation has been on the agenda of the Nigerian Capital Market since 2001,although there was no traction in advancing the process until 2011.

In 2011, demutualisation was discussed again having been reected in a paper presented by the NSE titled,‘The Roles and Expectations of Regulators in the Demutualisation Process.’ Furthermore,a 21-member technical committee was inaugurated - also in 2011 – by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and charged with developing a legal framework for the demutualisation process.

Thecommitteethenhadthreemonthstocomplete its work and were required to review the structure and ownership of the NSE,examine the regulatory, ownership,management,operational,governance and ďŹ nancial issues in demutualisation of Exchanges, review various demutualisation models and experienceincludingvaluationmodelsfordemutualisation.

Also, in 2014, SEC issued draft Rules on Demu-

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BUSINESS Demutualisation: NSE’s Journey to Elite League tualisation of Exchanges in Nigeria.

The ďŹ nal rules on demutualisation were released

by SEC onApril 27,2015 (the Demutualisation Rules or Rules). Despite these rules, the completion of demutualisation was stalled as the existing company laws and regulations did not have provisions that could be applied to achieve a demutualisation of the Exchange.

The enabling framework for the demutualisation of the Exchange is the Demutualisation of the Nigerian Stock ExchangeAct,2018 (No 14 of 2018) (the Demutualisation Act or‘the Act), which was enacted on July 29, 2018 following the receipt of Presidential Assent.

The DemutualisationAct provides the regulatory and legal framework that will enable us to achieve a demutualised Exchange. Under the provisions of the Act, the conversion and re-registration of the Exchange to a public company limited by shares - from the current status of a company limited by guarantee – will be concluded.

In particular, Section 1 (2) of the Act empowers the Exchange to adopt any process, procedure, structure or plan as may be required by the National Council for the purpose of demutualisation,provided that the prior authorisation of the SEC has been obtained and all procedures and requirements of the Demutualisation Rules have been complied with.

BeneďŹ ts of the Scheme The Exchange will become the 57th exchange to demutualise amongst the 70 members of the World Federation of Exchanges as at June 27, 2019.

Some of the beneďŹ ts and opportunities available to members and other stakeholders of the Exchange after the process, according to a document from the NSE, includes: LiquidityandCapitalManagement:TheExchange can more easily raise funds to ďŹ nance strategic objectives and expansion.The opportunity for a potential initial public offer (IPO) or strategic investment is created, opening up opportunities for domestic and institutional investors and creating liquidity for existing Members.Demutualisation enables the Exchange to raise capital efďŹ ciently and effectively at market determined pricing.Members can realise the economic value of their interest by exercising the right to sell.Capital management is critical to an Exchange’s sustenance, demutualisation enables the Exchange to optimise the level and mix of capital reserve. Upon demutualisation, the Exchange will be a public company and its shares will be tradable on an available exchange in accordance with the SEC’s regulations.

In addition,the Exchange would provide relevant support to its members in this regard, as and when required. Liquidity will however be subject to the efďŹ ciency of such trading exchange as well as market demand.

Improved Corporate Governance:The demutualised Exchange and its subsidiaries will be subject to high standards of corporate governance expected of public companies to take decisions that are in the interest of all members as well as the Exchange.With regards to regulatory functions, the separation of ownership and trading rights will giveThe Exchange and its subsidiaries greater independence from its professional intermediaries.

As a public company, the Board of Directors of the Exchange are required to act in a manner that beneďŹ ts the company and its shareholders including minority shareholders.The Board of Directors must also take decisions that have beneďŹ ts to a broader scope of stakeholders such as employees,suppliers, shareholders, government etc.

GlobalCompetitiveness:Postdemutualisation,the new Exchange will be forced to examine its role as a trading venue and take on necessary improvements to facilitate more competitive strategies.

TechnologicalimprovementswillallowforefďŹ cient and effective matching of buy and sell orders of clients at lower transaction costs, whilst offering transparency, trader anonymity and extended trading hours demonstrating the Exchange’s role as a‘Niche’player. Improved global trading facilities will maximise economies of scale and scope and increase our accessibility and market reach. Also, the NSE would be better positioned to seek strategic alliances and consolidation, introducing greater geographical collaborations and M&A possibilities.

Furthermore,a demutualised Exchange affords all Nigerians and the foreign investors the opportunity to become shareholders and creates opportunities for strategic partnerships and inorganic growth.

In addition, demutualisation would enhance our access to skills,knowledge and technical efďŹ ciencies from strategic shareholders.

Tax Revenue:The post demutualisation entities will be subject to companies’income tax and other relevant taxes payable by for-proďŹ t organisations, thereby providing additional source of tax revenue for the Nigerian government.

Nigerian Stock Exchange building

Stakeholders’ Reactions Ogunbanjo said he felt elated that 19 years after initiating the process to demutualise and on the 60th anniversary of the Exchange, members were close to achieving the goal. According to him, the successful demutualisation of the exchange was one of his main objectives when he assumed the presidency of the exchange. “I am particularly happy it has been achieved during the lifetime of one of its founding fathers, Pa Akintola Williams,�he said.

He commended efforts of management and staff of the Exchange,members,professional advisers,the federal government, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other capital market stakeholders for making the demutualisationa success story.

Furthermore, Ogunbanjo said demutualisation of the Exchange would beneďŹ t the economy in more ways than one. He revealed that postdemutualisation, the emerging entities would be subject to companies’income tax and other relevant taxes payable by for-proďŹ t organisations, thereby providing additional source of tax revenue for the Nigerian government.

Ogunbanjo,anticipated that it would reinforce the continuous growth and development of a dynamic, fair, transparent and efďŹ cient capital market and thus signiďŹ cantly contribute to Nigeria’s economic development. “The demutualisation of the Exchange will surely bring about changes in the market structure with more participants. It will also give rise to improved corporate governance,higher levels of efďŹ ciency and lower transactions costs which will inadvertently attract more listings to the market. “Furthermore,we expect a general boost in conďŹ dence both from investors and issuers resulting from increased trade activities and better opportunities for international alliances and cross border listings.

We believe the value proposition associated with demutualisation will encourage more listings. “Our focus to increase retail participation and protect investors in our market will be unchanged.

RetailinvestorswillcontinuetohaveaccesstodiversiďŹ ed asset classes for growing wealth and through the Investors’ Protection Fund we will continue to restitute proven cases of infractions but more importantly on artiďŹ cial intelligence driven market monitoring system will be sustained.“Ultimately, when the Exchange is ready to oat new shares for the investing public, retail investors would be a key consideration for the allocation of shares,â€?he added.

Also speaking,Onyema explained the meetings moved the demutualisation process signiďŹ cantly forward,adding that the positive outcomes afďŹ rmed the great interest from members to support the pivotal restructuring of the exchange to become globally competitive.

According to him,in furtherance of the plan, they would move to ďŹ le the necessary resolutions from the COM and all other required documents at the CorporateAffairs Commission and SEC,obtain the Court Order sanctioning of the scheme,complete all necessary registrations and seek the ďŹ nal approval

from the SEC to ultimately demutualise.

OnyemaexplainedthatmembersoftheExchange had approved the demutualisation scheme of the Exchange in March 2017.This,he said was followed bythesigningoftheDemutualisationofTheNigerian Stock Exchange Bill into law in August 2018. In December 2019,the SEC had also in a No Objection letter gave its consent to the NSE to hold the COM and EGM that would facilitate its conversion from a not-for-proďŹ t entity limited by guarantee into a proďŹ t-making, public limited liability company owned by shareholders. Onyema, pointed out that a number of beneďŹ ts will accrue to the stock market once the process is ďŹ nalised.

He explained that it would bring about the diversiďŹ cation of the ďŹ nancial system.“As you know, with a more agile and efďŹ cient Exchange,we would have a better capital market that can be able to complement the banking sector, which presently dominates the funding of entities,â€?he said.

In addition,the NSE boss pointed out thatAfrican stock exchanges generally have liquidity challenge, saying that with a better exchange that is agile and more competitive, the liquidity challenge on the Nigerian stock market would be addressed.This, according to him, would make the market serve the Nigerian economy better. Oscar added:“The other economic beneďŹ t would actually be wealth creation for the general populace. “Again, if you have a demutualised NSE that is listed itself, which means the general populace can actually buy the shares and beneďŹ t from the growth of the Exchange. “So, because it is listed, it will be better governed and better managed, it will have more exibility to raise capital.So,all these are expected to support the general populace who are shareholders.â€? According to him, with demutualisation, the branding of the company would improve, because it would be viewedasamodernisedExchangewithindependent directors.

Also speaking withTHISDAY,the immediate past President of the NSE,AigbojeAig-Imoukhuede,said the process was one that had been under considering several years before he joined the Council of the NSE. “I feel very humbled and I give thanks to God. It has been a very long journey and it is not a journey that I started. Demutualisation is something that has been mooted by the Exchange for several years before I even joined its national council. “But for various reasons the process could not be completed.And for me,I embraced the challenge of demutualisation, more for the reason that without demutualisation the Nigerian Stock Exchange will not realise its full potential neither would Nigeria’s capitalmarket.“This,tomeisanecessarysteptowards the Nigerian capital market emerging as a global force to be reckoned with and that is what fueled my desire to see the fulďŹ llment of the journey,â€?he explained.

Aig-Imoukhuede added:“During our March 30, 2017 EGM, I had cracked a joke about Moses and Aaron and I said that Moses did not see the promised land. I prayed that God will permit us to enter the promised land alive even as Aaron leads us into it. “So, I am just grateful that, I am here today as a

member of the Council of the Exchange,witnessing our entry into the promise land. I think that this is not just something the Exchange and the capital market should celebrate, I think Nigeria’s decision makers have been exemplary, this has been one example that shows what happens when Nigeria comes together with a common objective.It is really wonderful and we should do more things like this.�

According to Aig-Imoukhuede, without demutualisation, the NSE would not realise its full potential neither would the capital market. He said the process would make the NSE more competitive. “One of the things that make ďŹ nancial institutions competitive is the fact that they are accountable to shareholders. Another reason is corporate governance.“So,obviously once you are a company limited by shares and a public company for that matter,you are subject to various standards of governance that are attached to companies of that nature. “So,I can summarise this as,one,competitiveness, two,corporate governance,and ďŹ nally,access.â€?This means that it will introduce new players into the capital market and who will bring signiďŹ cant value particularly international players,â€?the formerAccess Bank CEO explained.

He expressed optimism that the exercise would lead the Nigerian stock exchange to emerge as one of Nigeria’s best performing companies in the next 20 years. “I feel that there is signiďŹ cant need for innovation in the Nigerian capital market and demutualisation is going to unlock that,â€?Aig-Imoukhuede said.

On her part, a former Director General of NSE, Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, said she was satisďŹ ed with the outcome of the meetings, noting that demutualisation was good for the whole Nigerians.

She said:“Though we started it but it did not happen, but we have been following through to ensure it happens.

It is good,not only for stockbrokers and investors but for the whole Nigerians. It is good to have a demutualisedexchange in Nigeria. “I feel that people have come to understand what the stock exchange really means with this demutualisation, a lot of people will come into the exchange since we have already gone through the processofteachingNigerianshowtobeshareholders in quoted companies.�

According to her, with demutualisation, the exchange can attract further highly experienced staff as well as foreign investors,foreign stockbroking ďŹ rms and foreign direct investment. “With this demutualisation, anybody in any part of the world can have access, the exchange will have a lot of money to execute high level plans that they have and people that will invest in the exchange will also make money. It is the best thing that will happen to the Nigerian economy. It will deďŹ nitely move the country forward because it is the engine room of the economy and now more people will be interested in investing in the stock exchange, they will bring in their money and it will be in Nigerian economy. “It is just few people that will cash in and cash out but majority, 95 per cent of people that invest will keep their money here,â€?she said.

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BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Prospects as Nigeria Tops Africa’s Economy As reported by Bloomberg, Nigeria is now the biggest economy in Africa. The claims by Bloomberg were backed by statistics released by the International Monetary Fund Economic Outlook in February, which ranked countries in Africa by gross domestic product. According to the IMF, Nigeria ranks number one in Africa, 28th in the World, recording a growth of 48 per cent between 2018 and 2019, and experts say there are high prospects that the leading economy in Africa will maintain its leadership position in 2020. Bamidele Famoofo reports

B

esides being the most populous nation in Africa, with a population of about 200 million people, Nigeria is also the number economy in Africa and 28th in the World, according a report published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in February, 2020.

The IMF Economic Outlook report, which ranked the performance of economies by nominal GDP, Nigeria’s GDP increased by about 48 percent from $398billion in 2018 to about $467billion in 2019, accounting for about 19 per cent share of Africa’s GDP and 0.52 per cent of World’s GDP in the review period.

South Africa economy, however, slumped by -9.2 percent in 2019 as nominal GDP dropped from $368billion in 2018 to $359billion in 2019, ranking 2nd in Africa and 37th in the world by economic size. At its current status, South Africa accounts for about 15 per cent of Africa’s economy and 0.4 per cent in the world.

North African countries including Egypt, Algeria and Morocco occupied the 3rd, 4th and 5th positions in the ranking of IMF with $302billion, $172billion and $119billion respectively.

Nigeria’s economic growth strengthened in Q4-2019, driven by sharper than expected growth in non-oil GDP. According to a report published by the National Bureau of Statistics in February, “GDP grew by 2.55 percent year on year ( y/y) as against 2.28 percent y/y in Q3-19, the highest quarterly figure since Q3-2015.�

The growth exceeds the expectations of analysts especially that of Cordros Securities and Bloomberg consensus estimates of 2.36 percent and 2.20 percent, respectively. Nigeria’s GDP growth surpassed the estimate of 2.1 percent announced

by IMF in the beginning of the year as the economy expanded by 2.27 percent y/y in 2019 as against 1.19 percent y/y achieved in the 2018 financial year.

According to the breakdown given by NBS, the non-oil sector continued to show resilience, expanding by 2.26 percent y/y as opposed to 1.85 percent y/y in Q3-19, with faster growth recorded across all sub-components, save for trade which remained in recession. The Services sector contributed 4.01 percent to GDP, leading the pack in the non-oil sector, followed by the Agriculture which accounted for 2.31 percent y/y, and Manufacturing, 1.24 percent y/y.

The oil sector also expanded, albeit at a slower pace of 6.36 percent y/y as against 6.49 percent y/y in Q3-19, on lower crude production (+4.71% y/y vs Q3-19: 5.15% y/y), with the NBS estimating production during the three-month period to be 2.00mb/d (vs. 2.03 mb/d in Q3-19).

On the other hand, for South Africa, its full-year expansion was 0.2 per cent, the least since the global financial crisis and even less than the central bank and government estimated. According to Bloomberg, South Africa recorded a GDP of $352 billion, based on an average randdollar exchange rate of 14.43 for the year.

According to Bloomberg, “South Africa’s weak growth adds to pressure on the central bank to lower the benchmark interest rate at its Monetary Policy Committee

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meeting March 19, especially after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s emergency rate cut Tuesday amid risks from the spread of the Coronavirus.� “Projections show Nigeria’s economy will continue to grow faster than South Africa’s. While the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for Nigeria’s 2020 growth to two per cent, from 2.5 per cent last month, due to lower oil prices, South Africa’s GDP is forecast to expand only 0.8 per cent,� the report said.

Meanwhile, APC, the ruling political party in Nigeria, has taken the glory for the repositioning of Nigeria’s economy in the comity of nations. APC said the economic prosperity was due to economic policies of the Buhari-led administration.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, in a statement , said since the Nigerian economy exited recession in 2017, the country’s economic growth has not been a fluke, but a result of deliberate practices and policies of the Buhari administration.

This, he said, has increased transparency in governance, diversification of the economy away from oil, improved fiscal management and a healthy protectionist approach which has aided the growth and increased the capacity of domestic producers and in turn, created jobs. “This is not a small feat and should be celebrated by all. The All Progressives Congress (APC) congratulates the president, the APC family and indeed all Nigerians. Those expecting the worst and wishing the country ill-fortune should now give up. The task of developing a nation is a collective one. Politics should not drive Nigeria apart; it should unite us when the interest of our nation is involved. “Of course, there are still a lot of chal-

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lenges on the way. The journey is not going to be a walk in the park. That is not unusual, considering the level of decay our nation has sunk into under the watch of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the current efforts of the PDP leaders to slow down our progress as a nation. However, this government, under the capable hand of President Buhari, is single-minded and courageous enough to lead our country to the promised land,� the party added.

According to APC, the hugely successful anti-corruption efforts such as the implementation of a Treasury Single Account (TSA) that allows the government to better track and manage its resources and a more transparent government payroll and personnel system that eliminated duplication and “ghost workers� have alleviated poverty and made more cash available for critical infrastructure projects.

But while economic experts and analysts were impressed by the growth rate delivered by the drivers of the economy in financial year 2019, they were unanimous in their opinion that Africa’s largest economy has not been recoding real growth in recent times as population growth at about 2.6 per cent still surpasses GDP growth, even at 2.27 per cent achieved in FY 2019.

According to experts at United Capital Plc, “updating our GDP model with the latest numbers as well as factoring the recent CBN’s pro-growth policy drive, we expect the momentum in the Nigerian economy to improve relative to FY-2019, but remain at a sub-optimal level of 2.36 per cent y/y in FY-2020 - below population growth of 2.6 per cent.� “These sectoral growth figures also suggest that holistically, the country is

not really experiencing growth given the fact that its population growth is estimated to be around 2.7% (annualized),� GTI research affirmed.

Researchers at United Capital Plc said “a faster GDP growth is unlikely in the near term, given the ongoing necessary but conflicting fiscal policy actions (e.g. the recent move to increase VAT, possible hike in electricity tariffs) may hurt consumption.� Another reason they gave to support their position is the continued closure of the land borders, which they said may hurt aggregate demand as a result of increased prices but has a positive effect on local production. “In addition, subsisting concerns around policy unpredictability which has been one of the biggest impediments to FDI flows and investment generally, as well as the reluctance to implement reforms that will spur private sector growth is worrisome. A tepid outlook for crude oil prices amid demand shortages and the likelihood of a deeper supply cut in Mar-2020 suggest a negative impact on the broader growth number.�

The analysts also argued that the time span required to fix power and other critical infrastructure that will ease the cost of doing business and other structural impediments is a factor that may subdue growth in the interim.

Analysts at GTI in a recent report predicted a growth in the range of 2.1 and 2.4 percent in 2020. “Going forward, we maintain our modest GDP growth expectation of 2.10 per cent - 2.40 per cent in 2020 amidst multiple downside risks such as global uncertainties, oil price volatility, insecurity, climate change impact, and lack of clear policy direction on the fiscal side.�

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˞ ΀˜ 2020

BUSINESS INTERVIEW BODE AYEKU

Why Private, Public Sectors Must Adopt Best Practices Newly-elected President of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN), Mr. Bode Ayeku, argues that the nation’s economy will grow faster if both the private and the public sectors are held to the same standards. He spoke with journalists in Lagos. Tobi Soniyi, who was there, presents the excerpts

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n Nigeria, only the private sector implements corporate governance.

Will it not be better, if the public sector follows suit?

There is this adage that you cannot clap with one hand. As at now, the current challenge I see in the environment is that we are clapping with one hand when we talk of corporate governance in the sense that all discussion relating to corporate governance is focusing on the private sector.

And it is not supposed to be the standard. And that is why the focus of the institute is that it should be corporate and public governance administration.

In every economy, we have both the private and the public sectors. It is only when both sectors are doing things right that the country can achieve the desired economic development.

We are looking at both sectors so that at the end of the day, we can have the desired improvement. We should be regulated by the same rules, irrespective of which sector you belong, either the private or public sector. That is why it is interesting and important for the institute to continue to embark on this advocacy to let all stakeholders, whether in the public or private sector know that we must be part of this particular initiative by participating actively.

Active participation means that we not only know about what is good. You must practise what is good because it is when you practise what is good that you are contributing meaningfully to the development of the economy, of the nation and also the sector that we belong. That is why we will continue to put in place, programmes, not limited to our members but all stakeholders in such a way that we move fast, and in such a way as to align ourselves with the current global trends, that are positive.

How would you assess the public sector in terms of accountability and disclosure of public funds?

There is room for improvement.

Some years ago, they started publishing allocations to states and local governments. It is a form of disclosure.

And that is why the responsibility of the led would be relevant. How many in those areas do ask their local governments – how have you spent this money? So that goes to the need for us to ask the right question. In the past it was not like that, you won’t even know how much a state is given or a local government. Apart from that, you also communicate project, the amount, the location. If they say they have completed it, they also do commissioning (inauguration). This enables us to ask relevant questions on this project, has it been done, or this thing commissioned had not been completed? I think that is an area we

Ayeku

need to also assist the government.

When you draw their attention to certain things, you will observe that they make amendments. So as much as possible, they have started doing something in terms of disclosure, and accountability.

Why is the public sector yet to adopt the corporate governance code?

If you look at when we started the Nigerian Code of Corporate Governance in 2018, the idea then was to have a code that applied to the private sector and the public sector.

There were public hearings and I participated in all the public hearings between 2015 and 2018. We were unanimous that there must be a code for corporate governance.

However, the major challenge then was that most of these public institutions were established by Acts of parliament and those Acts of parliament had given them clear guidelines as to how they should do things, who should be in charge of each organisation.

And for them now to key into this code of governance proposed for public sector, it would require that they should amend some of the provisions in their

enabling Acts. The challenge then was whether that would be possible so soon? Because some of the agencies also attended the public hearing to say these are the provisions we have in our enabling Act. These are the reporting lines, these are the governance structures in those legislations, and you know a code cannot override a law; the law is supreme as far as the organisation is concerned.

Still efforts are on-going to get the public sector to adopt the code?

The Financial Reporting Council had a discussion with government and I

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˞ ΀˜ 2020

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Why Private, Public Sectors Must Adopt Best Practices think there was a compromise there to say -can we do it in stages? Let us start with the private sector. And that was what led to the decision to draw the corporate governance structure.

It was not based on resistance of the public sector. The public sector is also conscious that there is a need for change, and that is a matter of time.

Now that the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria is through with the code of corporate governance for those in the private sector, the next assignment is to start from where it stopped, hopefully they would be able to amend the provisions that could create bottleneck along the line and hope they key into it. Best practices should be ideal for a country, not for a sector alone.

So far, your institute has concentrated more on the private sector.

Why? Our focus is not limited to the private sector. We are also interested in the public sector to ensure that best practices are imbibed and things are done properly because we have seen in almost all the developed countries of the world, that corporate governance is not only focused on the private sector.

It is expected to comply with best practices. In every economy, we have the private sector, we have the public sector. And it is only when both sectors are doing things right that the country can achieve the desired economic development. And that is why in Nigeria, we are encouraging the government to imbibe best practices in respect of corporate governance, so that, it can complement what the private sector is currently doing. Over the years, as far back as 2003, we had code of corporate governance for private sector. It will be something of interest to the institute and the institute is willing to partner the government, in such a way that we also have a code of governance for the public sector because the private sector exists to complement what the public sector is doing. So, it is better that those sectors are regulated by the same principles, in terms of best practices, so that we can actually move very fast.

How relevant is corporate governance structure to organisations?

Corporate governance has come to stay. That is why the obligation is given to a company secretary, a chartered secretary to ensure that things are done properly and even advise the board. The board basically appoints the company secretary, but in this case, the person now appointed is the one to advise the company and the board on issues relating to ethics, conflict of interest and corporate governance.

That shows there is a shift in the role or assignment given to the company secretary and that is why most of our sister institutes worldwide have decided to not only communicate this change to company secretaries and stakeholders, in terms of what they are expected to do, but also to let them carry that name so that they know the way to that responsibility and discharge that responsibility credibly.

That is why we have countries like UK, Canada, Australia, Brazil, they have changed, and several other institutes and it is a matter of time. We are also a member of the Corporate Secretaries International, which is the global body for all chartered secretary worldwide.

If you were a company secretary 30 years ago, the role you play now as company secretary is a minimum of times 500 of what you were doing before because things are changing.

Now, you are to initiate practices that are in line with best practices.

You must compare with other developed climes and see what they are doing and try to see whether we can have the economy or society that we deserve.

Ayeku

How long has ICSAN been operating in the country?

We have been in existence for about 54 years in Nigeria. We have been discharging our responsibilities as stated in our enabling Act as much as possible. We have been training students to be corporate governance practitioners, and for our members, we have been developing their capacities, by continuing education programmes that we organise from time to time in addition to other programmes aimed at developing their capacity to deliver on their assignment.

What is the institute doing this year to develop its members professionally?

2020 is not different in the sense that we have lined up several activities in order to ensure that we continue to equip our members and relevant stakeholders with basic information on what they need to do in order to ensure that they imbibe best practices in terms of corporate governance, and we have organisations that will be able to stand the test of time and to ensure that they are in sustainability.

How are you ensuring that your members make the necessary impact in the country?

Other countries that we refer to today that are being considered as good

examples are countries where things are done properly in both the public and private sectors. That is why we are focusing on the two sectors and not limiting ourselves to the private sector.

The good thing is that we have our members in both the public and the private sectors. We are preaching the same message to them that they should be good ambassadors, we are equipping them with the right skills, updating their skills on a regular basis, and also picking topical issues of interest in the country in all our programmes so that we have this interaction we consider will be beneficial to all stakeholders.

Why the proposed name change?

The proposal to change to our name is not something that is local and that is the global trend. If you look at most of our sister institutes worldwide, they are moving away in order to capture the current trend. Five years ago, when you mentioned chartered secretaries, the challenge was basically limited to secretaries of companies, secretaries of public organisations, and also the impression was that they were just to take the minutes. However, if you look at the emerging trend, starting from the 90s, when we started having the code of corporate governance, and you would have seen that the rules of chartered secretaries have changed

In every economy, we have both the private and the public sectors.

It is only when both sectors are doing things right that the country can achieve the desired economic development

dramatically.

How have the roles of the chartered secretaries changed over the years?

The roles have now changed to a strategic role of being governance professionals and they are no longer seen as somebody sitting in the background, doing what they are told to do.

Chartered secretaries are now seen as those specially trained professionals that are required to charge the course for compliance, and best practices in their organisations. And so, they are expected now to be the guidance of every organisation.

That is why, if you look at most of the codes worldwide, company secretaries, chartered secretaries, are required, and this is just clear obligation or responsibilities imposed on them as stated in the various codes that they are to be the central source of guidance to the boards and the companies that they work for, and on issues relating to ethics, conflicts of interest and corporate governance. So it is different from those roles given to them at the outset some decades ago, whereby, they organised meetings and they took the minutes of meetings.

Now, they are compliant officers, they are required to guide the organisations that they work for and to ensure that they do things properly.

And basically, this particular new role that has been given to them as a result of the learning they have taken from corporate governance in the past, to ask themselves the question -why did this happen? And the response -that it happened because we did not have a particular officer saddled with that responsibility.

And you will observe that about two, three decades ago, the role of compliance officer was very new in any organisation, you find it difficult to see any organisation 20, 30 years ago, having the position of compliance officer because compliance then was not seen as something that was key to corporate governance. Now, it has changed.

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˞ ΀˜ 2020

BUSINESS/BRANDS & MARKETING

CHIOMA AFE

Business Owners Must be Caution in Leveraging Social Media With her exploits as a thoroughbred marketing communication professional, whose efforts have transformed the fortune of many businesses in Nigeria, Chioma Afe, the Group Head, Retail Marketing & Analytics at Access Bank, is redefining the place of marketing and communication in branding, management and sustainability. Afe has, at various times, worked with Coca Cola, British American Tobacco Nigeria, Cadbury, Multichoice, Airtel, Diamond Bank and others. In this encounter with Raheem Akingbolu, she opens up on the emerging trend in the marketing communication industry, pointing out the beauty and the ugly side of social media and the need for brand managers to always apply caution why pushing their brands

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oday, she thinks mainly of how to deepen the huge retail business of Access Bank. But beyond that narrow space, Chioma Afe, a multidimensional marketingcommunications expert, sleeps and wakes up reviewing how marketing communication and Nigerian brands are evolving. “I’m always passionate in whatever I believe in and that has been my mantra in all the places I work. I have joined hands in the past to build top brands in the Nigerian market and those who worked with me on those projects can confirm how passionate I could be when I believe in anything. Here at Access Bank, I’m keen about bringing the best out of our retail business and the experience has been exciting, despite the size and spread of the bank. But if I think of any other thing, it’s marketing communication and its application in the Nigerian market. In fairness to practitioners, the stake has been raised within and outside agencies but there are still room for improvement,�

Like many experts,Afe believes that digital has impacted positively on the industry as substantial chunk of marketing budget now goes to digital marketing at the expense of traditional method, however, she maintains that traditional is still relevant to brand building. “Digital marketing has changed the media landscape and a lot is being achieved through the social media but brand managers must always apply caution when working on their brands through social media so they don’t overshoot things,� she added.

Beyond the appealing aesthetics of the Access Bank brand, Afe described it as a brand that is not only rich in appearance but also deep in content. To this end, he spoke on how innovation and unique products have helped the bank to maintain affinity with the banking public. “Access Bank maintains a standard that is unrivalled in the market and this reflects in all its operations. Our customers bank with ease and we have schemes like Diamond Extra and Devise Finance that touch on the needs of customers and how to solve them. In the last one year, we are happy that these schemes have not only touched lives, they have been handy to customers at critical periods and help them surmount challenges. For instance, through our revolutionary credit schemes such as Device Finance, we have seen more Nigerians get connected to do more in business online and enjoy social lifestyle of their choice. Another thing that has helped the brand growth is perhaps the priority given to digital. With this, except when it is extremely necessary and important, our customers don’t go inside the banking hall -they do their transaction at the comfort of their homes,�

Touching on the specifics of her current job, she spoke glowingly of how she is championing and driving the development and deployment of marketing communication initiatives for the Access Bank retail business spanning product activations and promotions, content marketing, creative content production, online PR and sponsorships.

“From the early days of my career, I have vowed never to leave a brand for a rival brand.

I was in Coca Cola and I didn’t envisage a day I would move to Pepsi. When I was in Airtel, I knew my next place of work would not be in the telecom sector. The truth is that I’m always too emotionally attached to any brand I work on that it would be difficult for me to start positioning a rival brand few months after. As the Head of Corporate Communication Division of Diamond Bank, I remember I told my then Managing Director, Uzoma Dozie that I would leave because of my loyalty to the brand until this new realignment took place.

Afe

“With my team, we undertake strategy development and execution of retail product campaigns across all relevant media channels as well as establishing market intelligence and analytics model used to design and track high performance marketing campaigns that are focused on measurable returns on marketing investment. Besides, the team also manages retail marketing communications across subsidiaries in key African markets – Ghana, Gambia, Zambia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and DRC Congo.�

Engagement Ask Chioma Afe 10 times what has kept Access and Diamond Banks’ customers together even after last year’s fusion of the two brands, and she won’t hesitate to mention engagement.

According to her, long before the formal announcement of the merger, the promoters of the two banks had involved in engagement deeply, moving from one city to another, listening to stakeholders and taking suggestions. “I have heard many people say they haven’t seen the kind of seamless merger as witnessed in the case of Access and Diamond Banks.

To those of us who were part of the process, we were not surprised because the management of the two organisations didn’t joke with engagement and communication. For three months or thereabout, members of top management team of the two organizations were moving

from one city to the other, explaining issues and taking advice where necessary. During such forum, customers opened up and asked questions bothering them while the management responded accordingly. In short, all the stakeholders were carried along and that is the beauty of it all.�

Access Brand Going Global After moving up the ladder and becomes one of the biggest banks in Africa, what next for Access Bank? As soon as this question was thrown at this marketing communication amazon, her face lighted, beaming with a smile. “We are going global‌in fact we are already there. I can tell you for free that Access Bank is no longer bench marking with African brands but global financial institutions. On the African continent, we have become a leader and our impact is being felt globally. Efforts are being made by the promoters of the brand to make it becomes a force to reckon with globally in the next few years.

Working for Competing Brands Despite her passion to work and build brands, Chioma Afe has a standing rule, which forbids her to leave a particular brand and pitch tent with a competing brand. Her response when this reporter asked her if she could dump Access for another bank was in the negative.

Strength Though Afe consistently emphasized the fact that all her accomplishments were made possible because of the good people she has been blessed to work with, it’s easy to conclude that the fact that she has traversed every facet of marketing communications industry has helped her career. After observing her one-year National Youth Service Corps at the Quadrant Company, a leading PR agency, she had moved to Tequila Nigeria Limited, an experiential marketing company. And from there, she joined Andersen as an Analyst. At British American Tobacco (BATN), she started as a Direct Marketing Executive, driving the execution of one-to-one communication with consumers via events, activations and database mining, thereby applying what she took away from Tequila.

She left BATN as Brand Manager for Valuefor-Money Brands, before heading to Coca-Cola Nigeria in 2006 as Brand Manager, Sprite. She was in Coca-Cola Nigeria for 5 years in various roles, including a stint at the South African office before moving to Airtel from where she moved to Cadbury as Marketing Manager, Beverages, where she was able to lead the team to win back market share for the flagship brand, Bournvita, in the East. She joined MultiChoice Nigeria in 2013 and after three years she quit and joined Diamond Bank.

Marriage & Family One wonders how this career woman has been able to attend to her family while keeping her job going. But to her, it has been an easy task because her husband of 18 years has been more than a supporting pillar. “I think God prepared me well for my career by giving me a supporting and understanding husband. I met my husband, a true son of Edo State at a get-together party organized for a common friend and became friends. We didn’t get to see again until after sometimes -this time we took ourselves seriously and the rest is history. In the last few years, he has sacrificed his comfort and time for me to make sure I succeed in my career. He’s indeed a God-sent,�

Representatives in the 8th National Assembly revealed that some lottery operators were owing the government as much as $16 billion in unpaid remittances. Over 60 million Nigerians between 18 and 40 are involved in active sports betting whilst over 2 billion naira ($5.9 million) is spent on sports betting daily in Nigeria, translating to over $2.2 billion per annum.--

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˞ ΀˜ 2020

25

BUSINESS/MONEY

2020: Optimism for Transformation in Maritime Sector Kunle Aderinokun

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or 2020, perhaps the key word on the minds of many stakeholders is optimism for the best to come in the country’s maritime industry. This is for obvious reasons. The results recorded in the past few years, particularly last year, give an indication as to the direction in which things are moving, and what to expect.

In the past, industry stakeholders had cried out over issues relating to stagnancy in the sector, and failure of the cabotage regime, which made many companies comatose.

Many had cried out that cabotage shipping had been hijacked by foreign shipping companies, who abused the system to obtain various waivers that shut out Nigerian operators. The consequences were high financial losses and deficiencies in human capacity development for which Nigerian seafarers would have been beneficiaries.

But there is, indeed, optimism in the sector.

And this is based on the roadmap that has been designed by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to move the sector forward. At a recent end-of-year media chat, the DirectorGeneral of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, was clear on a number of transformations that will add value to the shipping sector.

To industry stakeholders, this was, indeed, cheering news.

Indigenous Shipping Devt Development of indigenous shipping means so much to the Nigerian economy.

When more Nigerians have ships, there will be a lot of multiplier effect on the economy in terms of more revenue and employment generation.

In a bid to change what had over the years remained a poor trend in indigenous shipping, the management of NIMASA had last year announced some measures targeted at maximising the benefits of the cabotage regime. These were encapsulated in a five-year cabotage waiver cessation plan beginning 2021.

The policy has since its announcement gladdened the hearts of many operators, who are full of expectations.

Dakuku explained that the winding down process was in phases to avoid any major disruptions to the cabotage trade. “The plan is to achieve the key objectives of the Cabotage Act in terms of in-country construction, ownership, manning, and flagging of ships engaged in coastal trade by 2024,� Dakuku said.

With the cabotage waiver cessation plan, NIMASA expects Nigerian companies to take advantage of the opportunity being created to build capacity and grow. Dakuku disclosed that the agency had adopted a “strategy of encouraging Nigerians to go into joint ventures and joint ownership of vessels with foreign operators on a 60-40 basis.�

The director-general said the strategy had already has started yielding fruit with about 20 new vessels currently flying the Nigerian flag under this arrangement, as against one in 2018.

Bareboat charter of vessels has also witnessed an increase, while foreign-owned vessels on Nigeria’s Cabotage register have witnessed a decline. Dakuku disclosed that, currently, there were about 200 vessels captured in the cabotage register. He added that about 68 per cent of vessels trading within the country’s maritime space were Nigerian-flagged.

As part of the capacity-building and cabotage waiver cessation strategy, NIMASA is collaborating with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB). The NIMASA/NCDMB cooperation, Dakuku further disclosed, is already yielding fruit with the categorisation of vessels for uniformity and harmonised enforcement.

According to him, that collaboration has

L-R: Representative of Chief of Army State, Lt Gen. Tukur Buratai, Maj-Gen James Nyam; Chief of the Naval Sta, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas; Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside; Commander in Chief of the Fleet, Brazilian Navy, Vice Admiral JosÊ Augusto Vieira da Cunha de Menezes; and Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemi Saraki, at the Global Maritime Security Conference organised by Nigeria in Abuja in October, 2019

also helped in the conduct of capacity audit of existing shipyards and maritime training institutions in the country.

Industry stakeholders believe that NIMASA has, really, challenged them into partnerships for increased fleet expansion. The implication is that the sector is likely to witness more partnerships among operators, probably, beginning this year.

Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund Over the years, indigenous shipping operators had cried out on the failure of government to disburse the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), as one of the measures to promote indigenous shipping development. But successive administrations, beginning from former President Olusegun Obasanjo, did not disburse the fund. The argument was that previous beneficiaries of the fund failed in paying back what was given to them, then under the name, Ship Building and Ship Acquisition Fund (SASBF).

CVFF was created after the suspension of SASBF and handed over to some banks to manage. About four years ago, industry operators had renewed their call for the disbursement of the fund. However, the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, had objected to this. Amaechi later gave conditions.

But late last year, the minister disclosed that his ministry had received approval to disburse the fund. Following this development, Dakuku recently said his agency was working with the federal government and the Federal Ministry of Transportation to ensure the disbursement of the fund. To indigenous shipping operators, this will, no doubt, boost fleet capacity in the industry. It is expected that with the fund, a number of modern vessels will be acquired, in what will promote not just fleet expansion but also human capacity development, with more cadets enjoying their sea time training on board.

Maritime Safety, Security The importance of safety and security on the country’s waterways cannot be overemphasised. Without adequate assurance of safety and security, Nigerian shippers will have to pay more in terms of freight charges from shipowners. This cost is passed on to the final consumer by shippers, who must recover what was spent on freight.

Following several reports by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), NIMASA

has made frantic efforts to address issues of piracy and armed robbery on the country’s waterways. This has been in collaboration with the Nigerian Navy and other relevant security agencies. The agency is in the lead in the fight against piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), partnering with some West and Central African countries.

Dakuku stated regarding the regional cooperation processes, “African leaders have met at various times to brainstorm and find a lasting solution to the security challenges in the GoG, with Nigeria taking the lead, to ensure a robust African maritime sector that will attract more participation from the international community. “Part of the strategies include the 2050 African Integrated Maritime Strategy (AIMS) and its Plan of Action, including a roadmap for the incremental implementation of the strategy in line with international maritime law, which were adopted. This is in addition to the YaoundĂŠ Code of Conduct, the Djibouti Code of Conduct, and the Lome Charter, among other strategies. The strategies are geared towards actualising a safe and secure maritime domain by tackling all forms of maritime crimes in the West and Central Africa Sub-region, including the Gulf of Guinea.â€?

Nigeria’s determination to address the issue of maritime safety and security as a core mandate of NIMASA was acknowledged early last year by the Abuja Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Nigeria was adjudged the most outstanding in Port and Flag State Control in the West and Central African subregion. Nigeria had the highest port state inspections in Abuja MOU. Among feats that weighed heavily in Nigeria’s favour were that Nigeria conducted more Certificate of Competency examinations, and inaugurated Search and Rescue volunteers in 10 coastal states. These were in addition to development and implementation of biometric data for non-conventional vessels and small boats and automation of the process of issuance of Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) and call Sign.

Dakuku emphasised that the attempts to address the maritime security issues and deliver a secure marine environment fitted into the Blue Economy concept across the globe. “The concept focuses on creating the opportunities for a more sustainable ocean economy where there is better alignment between economic growth and the health of the ocean with the involvement of the

government,� he stated.

Expectations for 2020, by Stakeholders Industry stakeholders, who spoke with this writer, were full of commendation for the management of NIMASA for being on the path of progress since assuming office.

They pointed to a number of landmark achievements, but added that the legwork must be sustained for the interest of the maritime sector. A maritime expert, Dr. Eugene Nweke, said going forward, the Nigerian maritime regulator should focus on what will boost development in the sector. For instance, Nweke said, the war against piracy and other sea criminates must be sustained because of the negative effect on shipping.

He stated, “NIMASA should continue to advance its war against piracy in collaboration with the Navy. When the shipping environment is crisis-ridden because of pirates, either within our territorial waters or on the Gulf of Guinea, foreign shipowners capitalise on it to increase shipping charges.

This is because most times they hire security guards on board vessels who they pay and transfer the cost to countries of destination.

So above all, security should be a priority for NIMASA.�

Other stakeholders also said the much talked about disbursement of CVFF should be a reality this year. A member of the Nigerian Association of Shipowners (NISA), who pleaded anonymity, explained that the disbursement would impact positively on the industry and demonstrate the federal government’s commitment to the promotion of indigenous shipping.

According to him, the fund will be added to other sources of funding to acquire more vessels for fleet expansion and human capital development.

Stakeholders also welcomed NIMASA’s plan for cargo support programme for local shipowners. Noting that the agency had secured the buy-in of some state governments on the possibility of getting indigenous shipping companies to carry public sector cargo, stakeholders said it would be one of the best things to happen to the sector under the present administration. “NIMASA should pursue this, as it will have multiplier effect on the national economy,� the NISA member said. “It will be one achievement that will place the present leadership on high pedestal as one that cannot be beaten in a hurry after several years of inertia among indigenous operators.�

26

SUNDAY MARCH 8, 2020 •T H I S D AY

SUNDAY MARCH 8, 2020 • T H I S D AY

27

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˞ ΀˜ 2020

28

3.%#6 #0$) S&P͛s a n Ac on: S&P͛s

a n Ac on: eaker rowth Pros ects on ternal ulnera ili es

hree months a er ood ͛s and itch down raded i eria͛s so erei n ra n s outlook to ne a e P lo al nall took the same ac on this week ut also a rmed the lon and short term so erei n credit ra n s on i eria he ra n a enc cited risks from further forei n e chan e pressures amid declinin reser es weak economic rowth and risin o ernment de t

he ra n s down rade is unsurprisin i en the material deteriora on in ieria͛s e ternal posi on throu hout his is e pected to worsen in in part due to slowin lo al demand for commodi es in the wake of the out reak of ͚Corona irus͛ CO E ternal reser es at n onl pro ides months of oods import co er from months a ear a o while rent crude price has sharpl moderated to l the lowest since eaker oil prices and the i ht of forei n capital to safer ha ens means there is poor prospect for reser es accre on

he scal posi on of the is also e -

eaker rowth Pros ects on

pected to worsen considerin a ud et enchmark of l he implica on of lower oil prices would e an e pansion in scal de cit e ond our pro ected tn which is the ͛s forecast of tn n the face of these challen es the minister of nance aina hmed has hinted at a mid term re iew of the ud et e suspect that the proposal would include an e pansion in the ͛s orrowin i en that the non discre onar por on of the ud et is hi h at Our usual concern a out the hi h cost of de t ser ice has eased due to the low interest rate en ironment

owe er the ͛s plan to orrow n to nance infrastructure which was appro ed the a onal ssem l this week poses ra e risk to de t sustaina ilit hile the de t would e ranted mul lateral partners cheapl there is outsi ed e posure to People s ank of China P OC which lends without seekin complementar reforms he a ressi e nature of this orrowin is also concernin i en low re enues and hi h cost of de t ser ice which alread put de t sustaina ilit at risk hile there is no clarit on the meline of the orrowin there is also li le e idence that the de t in e would result in a si -

ternal ulnera ili es

ni cant oost to rowth e elie e the is e er placed colla ora n with the pri ate sector to rid e i eria͛s infrastructure de cit ith weak re enues and unsustaina le de t le els the ͛s focus on transformin i eria͛s infrastructure alone would lea e the econom uncompe e o er the lon term due to the slow pace of pro ress

lo al ui es Market: Monetary S mu lus Su orts Par al eco ery

he unrelen n spread of Corona irus con nued to ra le lo al markets this week with the num er of reported cases increasin to as at hursda across countries and territories from last week O itua on Report n response to the rowin risk to lo al economies the ederal Reser e cut interest rate ps to a ran e of

the deepest cut since

Performance across the de eloped market was mi ed al eit ne a el skewed n the the P and rose and w w respec el ikewise on on ͛s an en inde clim ed hi her eanwhile the s E ll hare inde dipped w w as the num er of corona irus cases increased to and the rst death was recorded imilarl erma-

n ͛s E R and rance͛s C C indices declined and w w respecel as the num er of corona irus ic ms rose while apan͛s ikkei closed lower

n the R C market there was a mi ed performance as of indices under our co era e trended southwards ra il͛s o espa inde led la ards down while Russia͛s R and ndia s E ens indices also lost and w w respec el On the ip side China͛s han hai Composite ained w w supported o ernment͛s s mulus and strateies to curtail the epidemic n outh frica E E ll hare rose ww despite the recession recorded in

n frica the earish performance con nued as of markets under our co era e recorded losses auri us͛ E E emer ed the top la ard down ww while E pt͛s E trailed fallin w w ikewise orocco͛s Casa lanca and hana͛s E Composite indices fell and w w respec el On the ip side en a͛s E and i eria͛s ll hare nde ained and respecel

n sia and the iddle East performance

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER Ëž Î&#x20AC;Ë&#x153; 2020

was mi ed al eit ne a el skewed as of indices closed in the red w w EÍ&#x203A;s eneral nde led la ards down followed atar s and audi ra ia s adawul which declined and w w respec el On the ip side urke s inde ad anced due to a cease re in orthern ria as a deal was struck the presidents of Russia and urke inall hailandÍ&#x203A;s E nde closed the week hi her

Domes c ui es Market: ain esur faces in the Local BourseÍ&#x2122; AS u s w/w

he e ui es market opened the week on a ne a e note owe er it re ounded on the followin tradin session efore recordin successi e ains on ednesda and hursda onetheless the market shed some of its ains on rida ut ended the week on a reen note Conseuentl the ll hare inde recorded a ain of w o w to points followin price apprecia on in UA P P + UA + and LA U + lso loss stood at while in estors ained n as market capitalisa on rose to tn c it le el ad anced as a era e olume and alue traded rose and to m units and n respec el he most ac el traded stocks olume were UA A T m units T m units and UBA m units while UA A T n STL n and T n led alue

ector performance was ullish as of indices under our co era e ained he ankin + and R C + indices led ainers on the ack of apprecia on in FB + MABA + and MT + imilarl LA U + and M B L + dro e ains in the nsurance + and Oil as + indices Con ersel the Consumer and ndustrial oods indices dipped and w w respec el owin to losses in U L

STL and AP

n estor sen ment as measured market readth ad ance decline ra o stren thened to from the recorded last week as stocks ained a ainst the that declined while ckers closed at UA P P + UA + and LA U + led the top ainers while U L

AP

and STL led decliners e an cipate a mi ed performance in the comin week as we e pect oth pro t takin ac i es and ar ain hun n to dominate trade

Forei n chan e Market: P Pulls the Plu on Further Produc on uts

29

OPEC+ met this week with plans to cut oil produc on an addi onal m d to support prices due to the sharp fall in oil demand prompted CO owe er OPEC failed to reach a deal as Russia opposed further cuts at the end of the mee n on rida he immediate reacon to the outcome of the mee n was a modera on in rent crude price to a ear low of l On the domes c front the e ternal reser es fell ww to n ith reports of unrestrained produc on star n on pril we e pect i eria to e hit hard the fall in oil prices

he C spot rate closed the week at deprecia n ko o w w from in the prior week t the parallel market naira traded at at t the n estorsÍ&#x203A; Î&#x2DC; E portersÍ&#x203A; E indow the E rate depreciated to se le at c it le el in E indow rose to n from n recorded in the pre ious week

he total alue of open contracts of the naira at the ecuri es E chan e E utures Contract arket ad anced m to n he E instrument contract price recei ed the hi hest su scrip on of m takin total alue to m as forei n in estors maintained preference for the ear O O instrument On the other hand the R instrument contract price recorded sell o s which reduced su scrip on m to n e elie e oil prices will remain pressured wanin demand as the irus con nue to spread e e pect e chan e

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Bond Market: Sell Pressures Dominates Ac ity as D 19 Fears Mount

he domes c onds market posted a ne a e performance this week as a era e ield across tenors ad anced ps w w to s e pected the market reacted ne a el to the spread of the CO into i eria and weaker oil prices Conse uentl a era e ield appreciated on all tradin da s with the hi hest sell o s recorded on rida + ps t the mid end onds witnessed the most sell o s risin ps w o w in ields while the short end onds trailed closel apprecia n ps on a era e astl there were sell o s on the lon end notes as ields ad anced ps w w

n the Euro onds se ment we saw a earish performance across oard with a era e ield clim in ps w w he O RC instrument saw the most increase in ields + ps w w as it approaches maturit ll instruments and recorded sell o s as their respece ields ad anced ps ps and ps w w Con ersel the E and OR CO led ainers as ields declined ps w w apiece

or the frican Corporate Euro onds that we track performance was posi e as a era e ields declined ps w w he E O and E O O instruments led the pack with ields declinin ps and ps w w respec el On the other hand the POR and CCE led the la ards with ields up ps and ps w w respec el e e pect de elopments from OPEC+ mee n and mone

tar easin central anks in ad anced

economies to shape the sen ment to

wards these asset o er the comin weeks

rates to remain ran e ound across di erent se ments of the market in the meanme on the ack of the ape ankÍ&#x203A;s interen on

Money Market: Sustained Bearish Sen ment in the T Bills Market

s s stem li uidit printed at n at the start of the week the O and O rates opened at and respecel lower than last weekÍ&#x203A;s close of and

the close of the week the O and O rates printed at and respec el as s stem li uidit se led at n

he C conducted O O auc on worth n on hursda elow same da Í&#x203A;s maturit here was no demand for the short and medium term instruments while the da O er n u scrip on n ales n instrument was o ersu scri ed with a id to co er ra o of at a mar inal rate of down ps from last auc on

here were sell o s in the ills se ment resul n in a earish performance in the secondar market as a era e rate adanced ps w w to he da instruments saw the most sell pressure with ields clim in ps imilarl rates on the da instrument rose ps while the da instrument closed at

n the comin week we e pect maturi es worth n and m from O O and ills markets to hit the s stem s such we see rates trendin lower in the week ahead lso we e pect the C to con nue its li uidit mop up ia O O sales

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30

Ë&#x153; Ëž MARCH 8, 2020

MARKET NEWS

FMDQ Exchange Admits Eat & Go Finance SPV Plcâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s N11.5bn Bond Goddy Egene FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited has admission the Eat & Go Finance SPV Plc N11.500 billion Series 1 14.25 per cent Fixed Rate Senior Unsecured Bond for listing on its platform in line the exchangeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment

towards fostering development by championing and supporting market-driven strategic initiatives.

The Eat & Go SPV bond is the first debt security of a restaurant franchise in Nigeria to be listed on the exchange, attesting to the potential of the capital market to support the needs of diverse

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

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

An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is a type of fund which owns the assets (shares of stock, bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, etc.) and divides ownership of those assets into shares. Investors can buy these â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;sharesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; on the

stakeholder categories.

Eat â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Go Limited, the sponsor and promoter of the special purpose vehicle raising the Eat & Go SPV Bond, is Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s franchisee for the Dominoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pizza, ColdStone Creamery and Pinkberry Gourmet Frozen Yoghurt brands.

floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

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

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

GUIDE TO DATA: Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 05Mar-2020, unless otherwise stated.

The exchange explained that as is the FMDQ Exchange practice, the Eat & Go SPV Bond shall be availed global visibility through the exchangeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website and market systems for trading, including the FMDQ-Bloomberg E-Bond Trading and Reporting System; governance

and information disclosure via its relevant listings and quotations pages on the FMDQ Exchange website as part of steps to maintain due diligence on the bond and protect investorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; interests. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In addition, following this listing, FMDQ Holdings Plc, as Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first

vertically integrated financial market infrastructure group, through its exchange, clearing and depository subsidiaries, shall provide end-toend services from trade execution to clearing, risk management and settlement of transactions for the bond,â&#x20AC;? the exchange said.

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

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

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

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 818 885 6757 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Afrinvest Plutus Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria International Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund 0.89 0.90 6.05% ACAP Income Funds 0.76 0.76 34.21% AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 6.08% AIICO Balanced Fund 2.45 2.50 -0.45% info@anchoriaam.com ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market 100.00 100.00 5.67% Anchoria Equity Fund 98.47 98.80 -3.51% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.21 1.21 5.78% ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ARM Aggressive Growth Fund 14.90 15.35 -2.71% ARM Discovery Fund 341.67 351.97 -1.10% ARM Ethical Fund 29.83 30.73 2.56% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 6.44% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund 96.52 97.20 0.46% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 6.01% CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.00 2.00 23.82% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 0.07 0.06 7.37% Paramount Equity Fund 11.79 12.02 -5.74% Women's Investment Fund 109.62 110.47 -0.77% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 6.34% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 102.78 103.39 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 111.75 112.45 CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 5.40% Coronation Balanced Fund 0.92 0.93 -1.01% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.41 1.41 5.82% EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A 100.00 100.00 5.53% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 4.64% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,203.20 1,205.34 3.54% FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,342.25 1,343.43 3.96% FBN Balanced Fund 144.84 145.91 -1.35% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 6.17% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional 119.94 120.27 0.59% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail 120.71 121.03 0.73% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 119.81 121.30 -7.93% FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.42% Legacy Debt Fund 3.70 3.70 1.29% Legacy Equity Fund 1.09 1.11 -4.03% Legacy USD Bond Fund 1.09 1.09 0.77% FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coral Growth Fund 3,029.51 3,063.87 1.58% Coral Income Fund 3,130.31 3,130.31 14.19% FSDH Treasury Bills Fund 100.00 100.00 6.27% GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 5.26% Nigeria Entertainment Fund 118.29 118.85 9.61%

GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn GDL Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 5.06% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.18 2.22 1.32% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 10.79% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 140.72 141.22 12.76% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD ďŹ ncon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 1.18 1.20 1.13% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,120.80 1,120.80 2.03% MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: http://www.meristemwealth.com/funds/ ; Tel: +234 1-4488260 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund 9.22 9.31 -5.96% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 4.28% PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund 1.39 1.41 13.56% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 12.43 12.54 10.16% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 7.00% PACAM Equity Fund 1.07 1.09 PACAM EuroBond Fund 100.37 102.28 SCM CAPITAL LIMITED info@scmcapitalng.com Web: www.scmcapitalng.com; Tel: +234 1-280 2226,+234 1- 280 2227 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SCM Capital Frontier Fund 123.26 125.82 4.66% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.02 1.02 2.12% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund 2,521.35 2,532.80 3.08% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 210.33 210.33 1.19% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.88 0.89 0.56% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 273.87 273.95 1.59% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 154.92 156.64 -1.86% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 5.28% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 7,674.15 7,756.30 -0.08% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.16 1.16 1.05% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 118.18 118.18 0.00% UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 803 306 2887 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund 1.17 1.19 -2.80% United Capital Bond Fund 1.77 1.77 1.91% United Capital Equity Fund 0.67 0.68 -5.28% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 7.17% United Capital Eurobond Fund 113.29 113.29 1.29% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.08 1.08 -1.01% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 10.05 10.19 -2.10% Zenith Ethical Fund 11.46 11.60 -1.28% Zenith Income Fund 23.17 23.17 4.23% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 3.60%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

3.20 120.62 52.41

-66.85% 1.28% 0.69%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

8.68 90.20 70.77

8.78 92.13 72.10

-0.24% -2.46% -4.00%

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

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

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

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

3.35 4.31 12.29 11.46 180.00

3.39 4.39 12.39 11.66 182.00

-5.48% -26.94% 1.27% 10.16% -4.20%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

108.69

17.60%

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

The value of investments and the income from them may fall as well as rise. Past performance is a guide and not an indication of future returns. Fund prices published in this edition are also available on each fund managerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website and FMANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website at www.fman.com.ng. Fund prices are supplied by the operator of the relevant fund and are published for information purposes only.

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WEEKLY PULL-OUT

8.3.2020

KAFAYAT ‘KAFFY’ SHAFAU INSIDE THE MIND AND BODY OF NIGERIA’S ICONIC DANCER ASSISTANT EDITOR OLUFUNKE OLAODE/funkola2000@gmail.com

32

T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R Ëž ÍśË&#x153; 2020

COVER

KAFAYAT â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;KAFFYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; SHAFAU At 40, Age Isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a Limitation to Me The twists. The turns. The contours. The rapture. The gravity-defying, splitsecond, air-splitting footwork. The gyration of the body and soul. The joy in the moment of ecstatic body movement. The fire in the eye and the storm in the spirit. All this is summed up in one word: Kaffy! Yes. Born Kafayat Shafau, Kaffy has become instrumental in transforming lives via dancing. Her philosophy of dance is a fusion of fulfillment and focus. Little wonder, the celebrity dancer, Kaffy, is on a mission as she marks her 40th birthday and 20 years on stage with a drive to change lives through dance, writes Vanessa Obioha

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MARCH 8, 2020˾ THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

Dancing Is My Ministry

S

everal pairs of eyes followed the direction of Kaffy’s call to the back of the makeshift conference room where a group of her dancers stood. The eyes rested on a young handsome man clad in a yellow vest, black shorts and sneakers. A baseball cap partially hid his facial features.

There was nothing odd about the dancer as he gravitated towards Kaffy. He was good looking.

“David cannot speak. He can hardly hear. But he dances,” Kaffy announces to her audience, mainly journalists.

Nobody realized that the young man whom they had encountered at Kaffy’s corporate headquarters on the Ajah axis of Lagos State had such challenges. He looked perfectly fit.

Kaffy signalled to David to explain why he loves dancing.

The young man opened his mouth to speak but the words were incoherent. His younger sister who serves as a chaperone and interpreter was called to assist him.

“Dance is always something he has always liked to do,” says the sister, pausing to allow him to express himself fully before interpreting his words and gestures.

“People usually call him to dance for them, particularly schools,” she continues.

“Back then, nobody was really enjoying the trap dance (a style of dance associated with trap music). People felt his dance style was out of place but he didn’t pay attention to them.

He would just set his camera in his room and start dancing. He did not know what he was dancing to but he keeps dancing.”

“He dances to nothing,” Kaffy cuts in. “But guided by his own feeling. That ability that he could find something to do even when the world tags him disabled is inspiring.”

David is one of the few physicallychallenged people working with the dancer.

There is also an autistic child that exudes creativity through dance. Their testimonies give Kaffy, born Kafayat Oluwatoyin Shafau, the strength to move on and a sense of fulfillment.

Dance is more than just a rhythmical movement of the body to her who was shot to fame after breaking the Guinness Book of Record for ‘Longest Dance Party’ in 2006. To her, it is a process of mental liberation and empowering the youths.

“Dance to me is not about competing or showing off my dance moves. It is more of having an impact on people, empowering young people. It is a tool for me to tell the young people that they can be anybody in life,” she says.

This spirit of mentorship was ignited at a young age.

Kaffy recalled that as a child she wanted to study a course that was uncommon and influential. After going through a long list of courses, she finally settled for aeronautical engineering. But providence had a higher calling for her. It all started in 1997 when she went to the National Stadium in Surulere to train people for fitness through dance. She noticed a particular woman who used to join her class.

“I noticed the transformation in her each time she attended our class,” she recalls. “From wearing oversized outfits, she began to wear clothes that were more fitting. One day, she walked up to me that the dance class boosted her self-confidence. Right there, I knew I wanted to use dance to impact lives.”

Indeed, she has been riding on the crest of a wave since she took that decision. From winning the competition, Kaffy has built an empire from an art that was once overlooked.

She is the highest-paid dancer in the country and last year, she opened a dance and fitness studio, Kaffy Inc in Ajah, giving her art a corporate identity. She also introduced The Dance Workshop and Conference that serves as a meeting hub to trade ideas on how to move her industry forward. Through that initiative, Kaffy found a way to educate the public on the economical value of dance.

“I don’t see any profession that you can use to celebrate success than the least profession in places like Africa. 20 years ago, dance was not seen as a viable pursuit. But today we are in a country where the creative industry has become the second-largest employer of labour in a country that has 70% youth population. I believe the government is sleeping on the idea that being creative is a waste of time.

“I have been doing this project for five years, trying to consistently nag the idea that if we do not do something about the youths, then the country is wasting its time,” says Kaffy.

Kaffy

According to her, dance is in service to multiple sectors of the economy, calling it a multibillion industry.

“You see dance in health. People nowadays prefer to use dance in their workout routines. In the music industry, dance is used as a vehicle to propel our music to the world. The reason Afrobeats is popular today is because of dance. It is our azontos and shakiti bobos that got the white man interested in our music. But we are underappreciated. Look at our weddings today, it’s like a dance carnival.

“Dance is everywhere! We can’t take it away. So if we have a generation who is keen on dancing and want to build a future around it. We have to take care of them else the wrong people are going to influence them,” she says making reference to the Marlian culture that has become a way of life to many youths.

When the leader of the movement, Naira Marley, started a viral dance last year called ‘Soapy dance’, Kaffy was among the people who criticized the artiste for the immoral dance style. Her open condemnation led to a spat between the two entertainers.

Not shy of addressing the controversial issue, Kaffy said she has no problem with Naira Marley but pitied the lifestyle he is promoting because he will reap the consequences one way or the other.

“I’m not going to shy away from

things like the Marlian state of mind that is gradually turning into a mania among our youths. It seems like a joke but it should be taken seriously. If we can create a generation that is proud to say they are badly-behaved, then we are in trouble. The virality of the Marlian culture is in the creative industry.

“We should stop looking at it from the idea of Marlian but from the power of influence. If the minds of the youths can be influenced by such a culture — which is a trend that will eventually go away but the effects of it are enormous, both positively and negatively— then I have a bigger power on the mindset of those who can behave properly,” Kaffy explains.

She described music artistes as parasites who thrive on what they can get.

“They should be careful of what they are promoting,” she warns. “The world is big and the consumption of art varies. There is the consumption for children and for adults. But when you sing about drugs and encourage people to do so, it’s wrong. I’m totally against musicians smoking in their music videos or social media platforms.”

However, what frustrates the dancer most is the limitations of the minds of the youths.

Kaffy says, “There is a communication gap created by the world that has made young people unable to reach their full potential. They are so blinded by the fact that

COVER the world is so beautiful and seductive that it has taken away from their mind what they can achieve and limits it to the microwave approach towards their success. The young mind yearns for success, he wants to be a leader but he has been brainwashed.”

It is this kind of frustration that has fired up the celebrity dancer to touch as many lives as possible through her conference.

The eclectic dancer adds, “It is a ministry to me. Seeing young people do better in this country is one of my greatest desires. I have been through the dark stages of my life when I got no kind of mentorship. If not for God, maybe the world may never know of Kaffy.

So I perfectly understand when young people feel discouraged. Not so many young people are stabilized. They can easily veer off from their destiny and being that we live in a society where people give excuses, it is easy for them to lose focus.

“There is nothing more dangerous than trapping a man in his mind. It’s the most dangerous thing to do to a man. It doesn’t matter if he goes to the best school or comes from a wealthy background, once his mind is trapped, he is doomed. There is no amount of campaign our leaders can do to these youths if they keep messing with the minds of the youths, it is going to come after them. They will come and run you down.

“You cannot rule a mind like that and expect good results. It is going to evolve and revolt against you and I doubt if anyone will be saved.”

Kaffy is optimistic that dance can change lives. Only David’s, she’s been able to affect other lives.

“David’s story is one of the reasons I can’t quit,” she notes.

“I have had cases of people who were going to quit on life. I lost someone who was trying to call me and couldn’t get through to me. I was the only person he spoke to. I never knew he was that suicidal. I never knew that every time I spoke to him, he was on the verge of killing himself and our conversation had been preserving his life. That phone call I missed ended his life. His parents called me to tell me about his death because my number was the last he called. With that kind of thought, I can’t quit.”

Working with children with disabilities is in no way a challenge to Kaffy, rather she sees it as an opportunity to learn from them.

“David is not a challenge. He is just an exciting dimension,” the Nigerian dancer points out. “It is challenging because I now have to learn how to teach him. I’m actually intrigued by him and he is also a source of inspiration to me because he came to me to teach him. That boy is so brilliant. He is so intelligent. There are things he does that marvels me. I feel that God created us purposefully in different ways to prove his power. David can hardly hear the music but he follows the pulse of our movement and the steps that he has rehearsed with us. There are times when he goes off count but the fact that he is part of the team is what counts.”

Revealing that her mind is her greatest asset, Kaffy is brimming with lots of ideas for her brand this year. It is a significant year for her. She will be 40 this year and will be celebrating 20 years on stage. A series of events are already planned to mark these celebrations.

One of them is through the TWDC. For the first time, the event will run through a four day period that will climax with a concert themed ‘Rise of the Phoenix’. According to the native of Epe in Lagos state, the concert is a celebration of the art of dancing and will feature international celebrity dancers and martial arts experts.

At 40, Kaffy still commands attention wherever she goes. Whether on or off stage, she is given widespread recognition.

There’s no clear history of dance in Kaffy’s family but she attributed her ability to draw attention to her mother. She recalled how her mother used to steal the spotlight at parties.

“She is not the VIP guest in the room but all eyes are drawn to her. She is like a magnet.”

As she prepares to mark her 40th birthday, Kaffy disclosed that she feels more empowered.

“I don’t see age as a limitation. It is just time. God doesn’t work with time. He works with existence and for my existence, I hope to fulfill my time according to God’s plans,” she philosophizes.

So far, her biggest lesson is investing in humanity. It is the greatest fulfilment for her and there are no plans to discard the mission.

58

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ MARCH 8, 2020

FOCUS

In Nigeria, UN Records 7,000 Rape Cases against Women, Girls in Eight Years Bennett Oghifo

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s the global community commemorates International Women’s Day today, the United Nations has said that between 2009 and 2017 it recorded some 7,000 incidents of sexual violence against women and girls committed in Nigeria by members of Boko Haram.

International Women’s Day provides an opportunity to also reflect on how women and men can be differently impacted by terrorism.

UN Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, recently reminded United Nations Member States in his Call to Action for Human Rights, that “misogyny is a common feature of violent extremism” and this has been especially true in the conflict in North East Nigeria.

The record of 7,000 incidents is contained in a statement

by Sylvester Tunde Atere, National Project Officer, Outreach and Communications, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Nigeria Country Office, Abuja.

The UNODC statement said “More cases have come to light each year since. The effects of sexual and gender-based violence on the victims, and their families, can be devastating. It is a cruel and brutal weapon of war and terror that is emphatically repudiated by international law.

“While efforts have been made to bring offenders to justice – in January the Federal High Court sentenced a man found guilty of having played a role in the abduction of the Chibok girls to 35 years imprisonment - much more can and needs to be done to hold terrorists accountable specifically for violating women’s and girls’ rights.”

To address these issues, the National Association of Women Judges of Nigeria (NAWJN) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime have been hosting a series of workshops highlighting the critical role the protection of women’s rights and gender equality must play in criminal justice responses to terrorism. The aim of this initiative funded by the European Union is to help criminal justice professionals to adopt gender-sensitive practices throughout the investigation, prosecution and adjudication of terrorism cases in order to protect victims’ rights, encourage reporting of these crimes, and prevent secondary victimisation when women and girls victims of Boko Haram come into contact with the judicial system.

To date, workshops have been held in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Gombe and Owerri, and have been attended by female judges, prosecutors, and defence counsels from across the North-East, South-South, South-East and the FCT. Further workshops are planned in the weeks ahead.

These workshops draw heavily on UNODC’s new Nigeria Training Module on Gender Dimensions of Criminal Justice Responses to Terrorism, produced in partnership with the European Union, the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, which was launched in December 2019. This training tool has been tailored specifically to the Nigerian context and has been developed jointly by Nigerian and international experts.

The response from the legal professionals attending these workshops has been enthusiastic. Hon. Justice Esther Lolo, High Court Judge and Executive Secretary of NAWJN, highlighted the important role played by the workshops in embedding gender dimensions in the criminal justice system in the fight against terrorism: “NAWJN are delighted to be partnering UNODC in the

delivery of this highly important and far-reaching initiative.

The workshops reflect our joint commitment to integrate gender rights and perspectives throughout the criminal justice system in its response to terrorism and other related crimes, and to ensure that the criminal justice system responds effectively, sensitively and passionately to the gender needs of the people whom it serves. The participants have been particularly enthused by the practical and relevant nature of the training and the training module on which it is based; some participants have already informed us that they have started putting the lessons learned from the workshops to practical use while others said they will be using the lessons learnt. NAWJN sees the workshops as an integral step in promoting and furthering the practical embodiment of gender rights throughout the criminal justice system in the fight against terrorism.”

The Head of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and to ECOWAS, Ambassador Ketil Karlsen, emphasized the importance that the European Union places on the provision of assistance of this kind: “Through its long-standing support to the UNODC Criminal Justice programme, the EU contributes to promoting peace and security in Nigeria through a gender perspective. The EU Strategic Approach to Women, Peace and Security (WPS), aims to ensure that women and girls from all backgrounds can participate and shape all matters related to peace and security from conflict

prevention to conflict resolution, as well as to prevent and protect from conflict-related violence – including sexual and gender-related violence.”

UNODC Country Representative Oliver Stolpe recalled that in 2020 we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), which stresses the importance of women’s contribution to peace and security and sets forth an ambitious agenda to promote gender equality and enhance the rights, participation and protection of women in conflict and post-conflict situations.

He recognized the Nigerian authorities’ commitment to addressing gender concerns: “UNODC is greatly encouraged by the Government of Nigeria’s recognition of the core role of women and girls as actors in preventing and countering violent extremism through its National Action Plan to implement resolution 1325 and the Policy Framework and National Action Plan for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism, and its efforts to mainstream gender throughout the criminal justice system more broadly. Still, more remains to be done to address the scourge of terrorism in Nigeria, by holding those responsible for committing acts of terrorism and to support access to justice for victims in a gender-sensitive manner. We are very pleased to be able to support together with the European Union our Nigerian partners’ efforts in this struggle.”

Int’l Women’s Day: Kwara Gov for Guinness World Record over Cabinet Picks?

Abdullahi Mustapha

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bdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Governor of Nigeria’s north central Kwara State, has gone down in history as the first African leader with the highest number of female cabinet members and political appointees.

AbdulRazaq was elected Governor in the country’s 2019 general election on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). At present, nine, or 52.25%, of his 16-person cabinet picks are women. That’s way higher than the 35% affirmative action sought by the Beijing Declaration and a big statement for the Nigerian girl child as the world marks the 2020 edition of the International Women’s Day. Besides, the Governor has appointed women to head strategic government offices such as the tax office (KW-IRS) and civil service commission. He recently tapped a UK-

based female attorney as his principal private secretary, a very influential office that would be responsible for many of his plans as the chief executive. Similarly, his special assistant on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is also a woman medical doctor, while his empowerment programmes are also to be coordinated by a foremost grassroots female politician.

This is by far the highest ever political representation at cabinet level that women have got anywhere in black Africa where gender imbalance remains an issue. No national or subnational government in Nigeria has come anywhere close. On the continent, Uganda and Rwanda have 50% women cabinet members apiece. Rwanda has 61 women representation in the parliament — not in the cabinet.

There is an interesting background to AbdulRazaq’s gesture. His ruling APC had nominated all men for all the elective positions from the state. Part of his campaign pledges was to compensate women for that “unfortunate”

development. The Governor’s cabinet picks clearly showed he is a man of his words.

AbdulRazaq has proven himself to be an advocate of the SDGs. He’s been using his executive position to push its achievements in his native Kwara. Given the political constraints and the challenges he inherited, his 20.8% budgetary concession to education, 17.1% to health, and efforts to combat extreme poverty are a new high in the state.

But his women-bias cabinet was the most phenomenal yet of his commitment to the SDGs, especially the goal 5 of the global campaign. This step has won him laurels across the country, including from the Women Radio which is closely affiliated to the United Nations Women and other world bodies.

AbdulRazaq’s unprecedented inclusion of women in governance is therefore a continental acclaim that deserves a mention in the Guinness World Record. It’s definitely a feat to beat in 21st century Africa!

MARCH 8, 2020˾ THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

59

High Life Encomium ...As Ned Nwoko Gets Reward

Nwoko

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ltruisms gradually becoming an antiquated coin. Time was when worth and notability were assigned on the scale of magnanimity and philanthropy. In fact, George Bernard Shaw was not wrong in stating that a gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out. But as the years wear on, these gentlemen are also becoming a fossil of the good old days.

Thankfully, the few that remain have not been bulldozed to the end of the line, but are celebrated lights and paragons.

Few Nigerian personalities can hope to compete with Prince Ned Nwoko on this gentlemanly tourney of selfless service to humanity. The man simply stands out as a rare specimen of philanthropy, a jolly good fellow, combining the homely benevolence of the mythical hobbit of the Shire with the comical defender of the innocent, protector of the weak, and all-round good guy.

The indigene of Delta State was recently honoured with two awards: ‘Global Icon of the Year’ and West Africa Media Network’s ‘Most Outstanding Africa Man of the Year’ by TopFlyers Magazine.

Although not by a long shot the first awards the popular billionaire is receiving, these are the second batch – following the Icon of Philanthropy Award by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka – in the year 2020. If the past years are anything to go by, more plaques are being polished in Nwoko’s honour.

Ned Nwoko has cultivated several business fields of endeavour in recent years but has had a peculiar proclivity for Tourism, Sports, Arts, Culture and Entertainment sectors of the Nigerian economy, earning him the respect and reverence of individual and corporate aficionados in that line of work.

Awards abound in this man’s name: there was the Afrima Community Impact Award for his contribution to the entertainment community; the Grand Patron, Man of the Year and Supporter of Nigeria Union of Journalists awards by Alsegon, Prime Magazine and Edo Union of Journalists; all in the last four months. Not too long ago, he embarked on a journey to Antarctica to create awareness on the eradication of malaria in Africa, an endeavour that received worldwide attention.

with KAYODE ALFRED 08116759807, E-mail: kayflex2@yahoo.com

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

Reno: From Problem to Problem Solver Reno Omokri is in the news again. The former spokesperson of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan is known to be a vocal critic of the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Reno, who has remained loyal to his former boss against all odds, proudly wears the cap, Buhari Tormentor, and has remained a pain in the neck of those in power.

But his latest contribution departs from his problem-causing disposition to that of a problem solver. A renowned author of note, Reno’s latest book, “Start Solving Problems” which is based on his Reno’s Nuggets series, is already a big hit.

The last we checked, it was sold out on Amazon, as there was a rush to get a copy of the motivational

Omokri

book which promises to positively change the life of the reader.

Considering his antecedents, his new book is set to be a bestseller.

Recall that his last book, “Facts Versus Fiction, the True Story of the Jonathan Years: Chibok, 2015 and the Conspiracies” was a number one bestseller on Amazon’s International Business category.

The founder of the Free Leah Sharibu movement has been honoured with the Humanitarian of the Year award at the Hollywood Weekly Magazine Film Festival, for his work on the #FreeLeahSharibu campaign.

With his new book, it shouldn’t be long before he starts getting awards for problem solving.

Calm Down…Otunba Bimbo Ashiru Is Still Very Close to Governor Dapo Abiodun The game of politics is not so different from a child’s play. Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka wrote about children who no sooner have quarrelled unsurprisingly return to the company of one another – at least until societal labels of pauper, pagan, dirty, and low-born catch up to them. It is really no different in politics, although the labels here – winner, loser, prober, probed – are altered.

In recent time, former Ogun State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru, was reputed to be at odds with current Ogun State Governor, Prince (Dr.) Dapo Abiodun. The reasons given for this conceived fracas are finally collapsing under the weight of the very cordial relationship between the two men, who recognize each other’s prowess and strength.

Otunba Bimbo Ashiru has never shown himself to be mediocre, no matter the endeavour at hand. A native of the illustrious Ijebu-Ode community, Ashiru is a titan of administrative and corporate management, having earned several noteworthy degrees including one in Marketing, Purchasing & Supply, and a Master’s in Strategic Management.

His prodigious abilities saw him

through a productive and successive corporate career which spanned two decades and helped him serve numerous institutions and in numerous capacities.

Some of the most distinguished of these include his heading of the Private Banking Unit at Stanbic IBTC Bank; Branch Manager for Institution and Professional Banking; Regional Coordinator; Country Director, Personal and Business Banking; Director, Corporate Affairs and Corporate Social Investments; and Head of the Public Sector – which was his last position at the bank.

Otunba Bimbo Ashiru has received countless awards over the years, including the Award for Excellence, Outstanding contribution to Commerce & State Industrialization in Ogun State in 2017. His astute outlook on life has earned him friends in high places, and the warmth with which he interacts with superiors and subordinates has never failed to impress. No wonder he noted to be a friend to all and an enemy of none.

These qualities have undoubtedly endeared Otunba Bimbo Ashiru to many an insightful man, not excluding Governor Dapo Abiodun, another man whose instincts

Ashiru

have never miscarried. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that Ashiru and Abiodun are still close pals, regardless of what dissenting folks have to say. Birds of similar plume must cluck together after

Health Group Lauds Gov. Abiodun for Efforts in Containing Coronavirus

Abiodun

With the spread of the dreaded Coronavirus Disease, COVID-19, across the world; and the fears that Nigeria stands susceptible, the Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has been widely praised for his proactive efforts in putting a rein on its outbreak in the state. Lagos is Africa’s most populous city and Ogun is its closest neighbour.

When the Italian index patient was discovered in Lagos and possible contacts traced to Ogun State, Governor Abiodun rose to the occasion by informing the public that the 28 people who had contact with the Italian have been identified and quarantined and that the firm where he visited in Ewekoro has also been shut down. The 28 people were identified after the state government conducted a contact tracing through the Disease Surveillance Notification Centres (DSNC) set up in all 20 local government areas of the state.

Also, Governor Abiodun said, “We have distributed equipment to medical personnel up to the local government level. We are also currently sharing a specialized app to health workers for easier identification and isolation of persons suspected to be infected. Also, the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, has been designated and empowered specifically to be a DSNC in the case of an outbreak.”

Additionally, the governor has been holding series of meetings with a delegation

from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and World Health Organisation (WHO), as his government continues to take decisive steps towards taming the outbreak of the Corona Virus - COVID-19 in Ogun State.

Governor Abiodun has constantly also given updates about the initiatives of his administration to contain the virus.

These updates have come handy as people of the state go about their duties with caution and without fear.

These humane, prompt and proactive measures to control an outbreak and the concomitant spread of the virus that is fast becoming a global pandemic have earned the governor plaudits across the state and beyond. A health and wellness group, Ogun Health Matters (OHM) was effusive with praises for him recently.

Speaking at a programme organised in Abeokuta to sensitize the people of the state, the President of OHM, Dr. Ayo Sorunke, expressed appreciation to Governor Abiodun, saying,

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER Ëž ÍśË&#x153; 2020

60

HIGHLIFE

Samad Rabiu Hosts Aliko Dangote and Flour Mill Chairman in His Pristine Headquaters

Bashir Jamoh Flying High

Jamoh

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FORBES BILLIONAIRES TALK Abdulsamad Rabiu hosted Aliko Dangote in his oďŹ&#x192;ce... recently

The pristine headquarters of the BUA Group heaved and creaked to the prominence and prestige of two high profile visitors recently. First was billionaire industrialist, Alhaji Aliko Dangote. His visit to the chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, doused the groundswell of rumours that the two pre-eminent Kano indigenes and Forbesrated billionaires donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see eye to eye.

Though it was the first time in a long time that they would be seen together publicly, there was no mistaking the camaraderie and mutual respect they have for each other. Aside from their Kano kinship, BUA Group and Dangote group are leading players in the fast-moving consumer goods and cement sectors. And while Dangote is the richest African and black man in the world, Rabiu is the eighth richest African.

They are also two of Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest philanthropists, donating significant parts of their wealth to various humanitarian causes.

The former, simply dressed in a flowing Babariga, was all smiles and cheers as he was hosted by Rabiu. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was an honour for me to receive my friend and brother, Alhaji, in my office today. I share his vision and aspirations in transforming and industrializing our beloved country, Nigeria. Thank you

so much, Alhaji, for the honour,â&#x20AC;? stated Rabiu.

The BUA Group chairman was still savouring the Dangote visit when another high profile visitor, chairman of Flour Mills Nigeria, John Coumantaros, came calling. Both men, who also lead companies playing actively in the food business, restated their mutual commitment to improving food security in Nigeria.

Speaking during the visit, Rabiu said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am pleased to receive Chairman Coumantaros here at the BUA headquarters to further discuss our shared commitment and partnership in enhancing food security in Nigeria.

Nigeria and indeed, Africa is blessed with enough resources to make her the food basket of the world. We must keep joining hands to make this a reality.â&#x20AC;?

On his part, Coumantaros said that Flour Mills and BUA Group have made the commitment and partnership to enhance food security in Nigeria.

Indeed, BUA Group and Flour Mills are two of West Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest investors in the foods and agribusiness sector.

BUA Group, a company that has largely developed over 20 years, having its stake in a wide range of diversified business sectors, consolidated its cement business comprising the publicly listed 2million Mtpa Cement Company of

Northern Nigeria Plc (CCNN) and 6 million mtpa Obu Cement Company Plc in October 2019. The consolidation was made in anticipation of enhancing the growth of the cement industry and boosting the Nigerian economy.

The group also announced that its newest 3 million metric tonnes cement plant, which it started constructing in 2018 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the $450 million Sokoto Kalambaina II plant, is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2020. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With the consolidation and addition of the Sokoto Kalambaina II plant, this will bring BUA Cementâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total installed capacity across all its cement holdings to 11 million MTPA,â&#x20AC;? said Rabiu.

He added that this consolidation marks the culmination of the first phase of the BUA mid-term strategic plan for its cement businesses, which currently include four cement plants spread across Obu Cement Company and the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A new $450million Sokoto Kalambaina II Plant is scheduled to come on stream in the second half of 2020 alongside another 48MW power plant to complement the existing assets and take advantage of a growing cement market in Northern Nigeria and the West African region,â&#x20AC;? he said.

How Marriage â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Ghostâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Continues to Hunt Olakunle Churchill

Churchill

Wedlock and matrimony are such wonderful aspirations in the world today that failure of any kind often bites harder into the lives involved than is thought possible.

For the couples especially, that marriage better work out or there are solid chances that divorce will bring sour years and episodes of angry revelations that would knock the socks off. Tonto Dikeh, for instance, has accused her exhubby of being a bisexual.

Churchill Olakunle and his ex-wife Tonto Dikeh have slid into the limelight once again after a rather long sabbatical away from prying eyes.

In recent years, Tonto Dikeh has been a fetching Nollywood actress, a sweet wife, a beatific mom, a cray-cray ex-wife, a reformed religionist, and more and more â&#x20AC;&#x201C; never failing to revisit one of these roles when opportunity serves.

Churchill, on the other hand, has been a fine husband, a sharp businessman, a horrible son, a diabolical ex-husband, a fine son, an angry exhusband, et cetera. Recent contributions by his ex-wife have elevated his manhood to include a bent of bisexuality.

Instagram was the medium of choice as words were hurled across enemy lines. Fierce as ever, Tonto Dikeh took the initiative by

commenting on how highly probable it is that a poor woman wakes to find that the fellow she is tied to is a thriving bisexual, prompting her to pack her things and scram.

Most men actually, said she, are thriving bisexuals, so there.

Churchill responded by insinuating that Nollywood scripts are not as forthcoming for the ex-wife as they used to, for which reason she has adopted him as her novel material, priming her art with the same delinquency with which she turned a sixmonth connubiality into 20 years of horror. For such affectionate words, Churchill was called a 40-second cow, a single word in the chapters of her life.

Recall that a few weeks ago Churchill levelled a 500 million suit against Tonto Dikeh for stuff she said in an interview in the past year â&#x20AC;&#x201C; including allegations that Churchill was involved in cyberspace crime (Yahoo-Yahoo) and his father was former president Obasanjoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gardener rather than relative.

hings are looking up for Dr. Bashir Yusuf Jamoh, the present Executive Director in charge of Finance and Administration at the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

According to credible insiders, Dr. Jamoh is set to take up the mantle of leadership (also known as DirectorGeneral) at NIMASA following the retirement of Dr. Dakuku Peterside on 10 March 2020, chieďŹ&#x201A;y on appointment by the President no less.

For those who arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t aware, NIMASA is a federal bureau committed to the enthronement of global best practices in the provision of maritime services in Nigeria, through effective Maritime Safety Administration, Maritime Labour Regulation, Marine Pollution Prevention and Control, Search and Rescue, Cabotage enforcement, Shipping Development and Ship Registration, Training and CertiďŹ cation of Seafarers, and Maritime Capacity Development.

The agency has had several DirectorGenerals in recent times.

The most recent of this is Dr. Dakuku Adolphus Peterside who assumed duty as the Director-General/CEO of NIMASA on March 15, 2016 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; although the appointment took effect from March the 10th, 2016. Dr. Peterside took over from Zaikede Patrick Akpobolokemi who himself assumed ofďŹ ce sometime in June of 2011.

The gist on the waves at the moment is that following Dr. Petersideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s timely retirement, Dr. Bashir Jamoh will be taking over as the new DirectorGeneral/CEO of NIMASA. This anticipated appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to be announced within the week, according to folks who possibly dine on that round table.

Dr. Bashir Jamoh, although the Executive Director for Finance and Administration at the moment, has already been checkmated as a worthy NIMASA Director-General. Dr. Jamoh has over three decades of public service, professional and technical experience, especially in the maritime sector, and has had the privileged experience of serving in several operations and administrative departments in NIMASA. More so, Dr. Jamoh has an armoury of contemporary and relevant education: a Ph.D. from the University of Port Harcourt, specializing in Logistics and Transport Management; a Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in Management from Korea Maritime and Ocean University; postgraduate Diploma in Management Sciences from Bayero University Kano; and a Diploma in Accounting from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.

According to the insiders, President Buhari intends to appoint a DG whose competence and capacity could enhance maritime security, particularly at the key Gulf of Guinea â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a gap suited to Dr. Jamoh, according to the sources.

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HIGHLIFE

CBA Foundation Holds â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Walk4Hope Charityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, Underprivileged Widows and Vulnerable Children

Akinwande

It is easy to conceive of the world as a dark and stormy place with stories of starvation, violence, discrimination, and cruelty spread everywhere. Thankfully, there are heroes

amongst the mass of onlookers who shake their fists at the deluge of inhumanity and stand shoulder to shoulder against it. The Chinwe Bode-Akinwande (CBA) Foundation is one of these, and it is a captain of succour in these troubled times. The Chinwe BodeAkinwande (CBA) Foundation is a Lagosbased non-governmental organisation (NGO) that has gained renown for its altruistic sentiments and actions towards the less privileged, especially women and children.

The Foundation is particularly celebrated for its methods for bringing the plights of the less privileged to light and respectably working them out: an annual long charity walk that defies the traditional fashion of high-quality celebrations and clinical solicitations.

The Chinwe Bode-Akinwande (CBA) Foundation held the 2020 episode of this annual event with its characteristic fivekilometer-long walk, tagged â&#x20AC;&#x153;Walk4Hopeâ&#x20AC;? at the Muri Okunola Park, Victoria Island in Lagos. This event was held on 29 February.

Once again, the bourne of this event was the creation of widespread and interested awareness, as well as the raising of funds for supporting, protecting and enabling widows and their wards.

Since the inception of this custom in 2015, the CBA Foundation has affected the lives and well-being of several thousands of struggling widows and their children, by awarding them opportunities to better their lot through skill-acquisition programmes, health intervention, business start-ups, clothing, nutrition and tuition fees for such children. Speaking at the event, the founder, Mrs. Chinwe Bode-Akinwande summarized the broad aim of the Foundation.

According to her, the CBA Foundation is â&#x20AC;&#x153;dedicated to promoting the protection of widows primarily and their vulnerable children in Nigeria, to promote immediate and lasting hope, confidence and courage in their lives.â&#x20AC;? She further expounded on the Walk4Hopeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dual objectives of creating awareness for the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which the federal government instituted to protect widows and raising funds to achieve this.

The event, which was well-attended, was supported by First Bank of Nigeria and is proving to be a sustainable and wellthought-out way to achieve the Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s noble objectives.

The Private World of Olalekan Adebiyi Mastery over one craft is not an idle endeavour or claim. Such a designation typically requires years and years of education and practice, cold determination and focus, and the festering of intimate relationships more often than not. The top is not a playground for learners and lackeys and he stands distinguished who can marshal his wit and will to a worthy cause.

Olalekan Adebiyi stands and sits and walks distinguished.

Precious few Nigerian billionaires have narrowed their strengths and time to a single vocation. Such a narrow focus is thought to be too thin and heavy-handed a blade to clear the path to dreams. Olalekan Adebiyi has proved otherwise. He has risen to the ranks of the affluent and influential employing his greatest strength, his peculiar knack for the construction business.

Almost exclusively working in the construction sector, Lekan Adebiyi has earned himself a reputation for balancing the clinical genius of the marketplace and the warmth of

the relationships that are the more pedals to excellence. His brainchild and high-achieving outfit, LaraLek Construction, has proved itself worthy of comparison with international companies with similar cores and objectives.

Numerous construction masterpieces can be laid at the feet of LaraLek. Some of these masterpieces include the remarkable road networks in Alimosho, IpajaAyobo â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all of which stand out among other construction works in Lagos State. Needless to say, Olalekan Adebiyiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s construction genius flourished under the administration of former state governors, Babatunde Fashola and Akinwunmi Ambode who recognized LaraLek for its true worth.

Today, LaraLek remains one of the biggest, successful and most patronized construction companies in the country, without the affected stains of failure and mismanagement that are somewhat naive to the industry. However, LaraLek does not hold any qualms with aggressive competitiveness, as it has tidily

Adebiyi

edged its competitions to the cliff and promptly shoved them back into the status of nonentities.

The construction genius, Olalekan Adebiyi is called and has indeed worked hard at shadowing his vast wealth from the public eye. A humble man, Lekan Adebiyi

Veentage Band Boss, Desmond Loses Wife, Ejiro, In Dubai

Desmon and his wife late Ejiro

Yes, the sounds and melody of tumbrels and harps for him have stopped making any meaning for now. The sky is no longer a silvery and opalescent delight; it is now pitch

black and brackish. Nobody ever makes a lovely corpse but when she was alive, Ejiro, the wife of Desmond Adepoju, the popular artist behind the much-talked about, Veentage band, characterized the essence of loveliness and more.

Now that she has passed on, Desmond would fight the battle of his life never to let go, the wonderful, sweet memories bequeathed to him

by Ejiro. If Desmond , indeed, had one chance to make a wish, he would probably wish the death of Ejiro was mere nightmare. Alas, she has gone forever!

Indeed, if money were a language understood by death, the deceased would have been alive. But her time was up,

Musa Danjuma Goes Low Profile There are not that many individuals on the Nigerian social scene who have had nearly every aspect of their lives stripped by the clinical lens of the media. Even the billionaire renowned for fingers in many pots of the Nigerian economy, Musa Danjuma, has endured this kind of tidying so often that he has gotten the gist and now walks in the dimmer alleys of social life.

Many folks are familiar with Musa Danjuma only because he is the billionaire that arrested the heart and devotion of beloved Nollywood actress, Caroline Ekanem (later Caroline Danjuma). Way before he met her, however, Musa Danjuma was a boss of bosses, an affluent businessman with

a lawyerly training and a knack for corporate management.

Born in 1954, Musa Danjuma studied Law at the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) and went on to make a fine, successful lawyer after having attended the Nigerian Law School, Lagos. In time, he acquired postgraduate degrees in management courses, legal system development in Nigeria, national shipping policies, and Nigerian maritime trade, among others. These, added to his natural knack, soon established him as an invaluable principal in business management, administration, and law.

as it were. No doubt, these are harrowing times in the household of the band leader.

She reportedly suffered a brief illness when they travelled to Dubai for the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamilaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 90th birthday, until death sneaked in yesterday, thereby leaving him a broken and dejected man. Her remains are being expected in Nigeria this weekend.

Now, Ejiro is gone, leaving him a loner in the drudgery of life. Her immediate families are down and out; their souls are vexed about the incident. Even from the look of things, it may take more than a passage of time for the wound to heal.

Friends, relatives and associates have been thronging his home to pay him condolence visits and offer consolatory advice.

Musa Danjuma honed his proficiency as Executive Chairman with reputable corporations such as Comet Shipping Agencies, Nigeria American Line Ltd., Best Trade Nigeria Ltd, and Five Star Logistics Ltd. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; not to mention Berger Paints Nigeria PLC where he has been a non-Executive Director since 2000.

His marriage to Nollywood diva Caroline Danjuma yielded years of happiness, three kids and a divorce. It was this marriage that brought Musa Danjuma to the limelight for average Nigerians â&#x20AC;&#x201C; although he had already established himself as a leonine character in the echelons of Nigerian society. On a side note, Musa Danjuma had already outlived four marriages before Caroline.

Loud for a Purpose As Dele Momodu Warms Up for Jaw-Dropping 60th Birthday

Momodu

Wisdom dictates that when men of power and presence are in town, town criers should not fail in their duties to publish the width of their windbracing brocades, worn agbada-style, and attesting to the eminence of their wearers and occupiers.

With the 60th birthday celebration of Ovation boss, Dele Momodu, just around the corner, arrangements are already being made to paint the town â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in Nigeria and overseas â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in Ovation red.

For Chief Dele Momodu, no parade is too long, no gong too loud, no felicitation to languid.

As a journalist and publisher, businessman, and motivational speaker, Dele Momodu has a vast following, the bulk of which is available at the moment, ready and expressing gratitude if only to contribute to the birthday celebrations of a paragon whose wick is nowhere near thin, and the flame is nowhere near dim.

The anticipated 60th birthday is coming up on May 16, 2020. Although there are still nearly two whole months to go, there are already signs in place for any observant onlooker to chart the boisterous pageantry that will accompany that day. Moreover, the wingspan of Dele Momodu extends beyond the rivers of his Ile-Ife home, the shores of his country Nigeria, and vast lands of the African continent. This fact alone is a guarantee that foreign cocks will crow on that day.

Dele Momodu recently dispatched a birthday notification mail in which he stated that he intended to spend the day as quietly as possible with his family, pastors, and close friends at his residence in London, and then a celebration slated for May 31, 2020, at The Harbour Point, Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, Lagos. He also noted that he was aware of preparations being made by his friends and associates in different parts of Europe, America, and Africa. This already hints at the failure of his intention to spend his 60th in the quiet of his home.

The trump of an elephant is a nemesis of silence and quiet. Dele Momodu is the Chairman of the Ovation Media Group, consisting of Ovation International magazine, Ovation Television and The Boss newspaper. With a degree in Yoruba and a Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in English Literature from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Dele Momodu has moved mountains in business, politics, literature, and the music and fashion industries.

How he expects to celebrate 60 years in quiet is beyond anyone. He is deserving of gongs and trumpets, and â&#x20AC;&#x201C; judging from the preparations already laid down â&#x20AC;&#x201C; will get them in overflowing measures.

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Adebayo Adeoye bayoolunla@gmail.com; 08054680651

Property Merchant, Oludotun Oseni, Excites Patrons

Oseni

Oludotun Oseni, a shrewd businessman, is one of the top players in the real estate sector in the country.

For Oseni, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Merit Abode Nigeria Limited, the journey to fame started soon after he bagged a degree in Economics from the University of Ilorin, Kwara State in 2006.

At the outset of his flourishing career, he had worked in a micro-finance bank.

But while he worked as a banker, his eyes were fixed on the real estate business, thereby prompting him to dump banking to pursue his new passion.

In no time, he eventually landed a job in an estate company. But if you ask him why he resigned his appointment from the firm a few years after, he will tell you that the decision was borne out of the determination to right the wrongs in the industry and fill out the gaping lacuna.

Buoyed by his passion, he launched his company, Merit Abode, eight years ago, amidst acclaim by those who had been following his story with keen interest.

In the past eight years, his name has come to be identified with a number of estates in the Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos as well as Arepo, Simiwa, Aseese, Mowe-Ofada in Ogun State.

Besides, he is also known to have organised an annual event tagged, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Love and Investmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, where existing clients are rewarded and potential ones serenaded with the goodies on offer by the company.

Interestingly, in fulfillment of his promise to his loyal patrons, Oseni held the fourth edition of the annual event on Saturday, February 29, at the Civic Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Speaking to Society Watch on the sidelines of the well-attended event anchored by Steve Onu, aka Yaw, he said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;This yearly event was borne out of our vision to provide affordable housing solutions as a company, because we know in it lies the future of our country, Nigeria.

Ex-Customs Boss, Dikko Indeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Travails Towards the twilight of his career five years ago, the then Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Dikko Inde was confronted with a catalogue of allegations that raised doubt about his integrity.

His accusers were unrelenting in their onslaught with a view to compelling the embattled CG to explain all his deeds which they stoutly believed were not in the best interest of the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s customs.

Though reports had it that the Katsinaborn ex-Customs boss was unperturbed about all the seeming damaging allegations of misconduct made against him; but his accusers had persistently vowed that they are armed with enough proof to justify those allegations.

More than five years after leaving the ealted position, the retired ComptrollerGeneral of Nigerian Customs is yet to enjoy a bit of respite. Dikko, who was repatriated from the United Arab Emirates, a couple of years ago, has been trying to clear his name of alleged criminal charges levelled against him by Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two major antigraft agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC. What the 60-year-old ex-Customs boss finds a hard nut to crack is the attendant negative perception that has not stopped trailing his personality.

More so, he is troubled by the unpleasant development largely due to the fact that he is nursing a political ambition.

In June 2016, Dikko was arrested and interrogated by the EFCC. He had to surrender himself to the anti-graft agency after months of scampering out of the country.

The following year, the EFCC recovered 17 exotic vehicles alongside other items from his warehouse in Kaduna.

Dikko was also said to have quietly

Inde

entered into a plea bargain agreement with the Federal Government to refund $8 million believed to have been misappropriated during his tenure. Consequently, a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the EFCC to stop any form of prosecution of Dikko for financial infraction while in office.

But many frowned on the plea bargain Dikko entered into with the Attorney General of the Federation which they believed was not in concordance with the anti-corruption agency.

It was gathered that while he thought the storms were over, Dikko heard of another move to arrest him and put him on trial. As a result, he was said to have quickly requested permission to travel abroad for another medical treatment. Of course, that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stop the process as the ICPC, early last year, slammed charges on Dikko in absentia.

He is now being prosecuted alongside

Garba Makarfi, a former Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of Finance, Administration and Technical Services, and one Umar Hussaini, a lawyer.

Dikko was accused of inducing one Yemi Obadeyi, an Abuja-based estate developer, to pay the total sum of N1,100, 952,380.96 into the account of Capital Law Office, a company belonging to Hussaini, for the purchase of 120 units of duplexes as residential accommodation for officers of the Customs.

But Dikko has not been present to face his trial since then. This led to the recent fresh warrant of arrest issued by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court in Abuja on the grounds that Dikko had consistently failed to show up for trial.

During the court session penultimate week, one of Dikkoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lawyers had presented a medical report claiming that Dikko was critically ill and on admission in London, United Kingdom.

But the judge was not swayed as she pointed out the address on the report that read Lagos instead of London.

Meanwhile, a source informed Society Watch that the troubled former Customs boss had been hibernating in the United Kingdom to avoid any further embarrassment.

But with the recent fresh warrant, and to avoid any further damaging backlash, Dikko is said to have concluded plans to return to Nigeria any moment from now to confront the legal challenges.

Society Watch gathered that Dikko has tried all tricks in the books to worm himself into those who matter within the ruling party and even allegedly made substantial contributions, financial and logistics, during the last general election.

But his travails seem to be far from over as the anti-graft agencies are hell-bent on

Legal Icon Wole Olanipekunâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wondrous Donation When he opened his law firm, Wole Olanipekun & Co., in 1980, after he was called to the Bar in 1976, he was determined to reach the zenith of the profession and also serve humanity in every humanly possible way. In 1991, about 11 years after, Olanipekun was conferred with the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) which further proved his brilliance in the legal profession.

In his 40 years of active practice, Olanipekun, a lawyer, solicitor, and activist par excellence, had won several cases, most of which were high profile, losing only a few here and there.

In fact, he has proved his exceptional brilliance and shown uncommon competence in constitutional, pre and post-election dispute resolutions.

For this, he has handled a wide range of complex constitutional and election-related litigations for several governors and senators.

But what his clear to all is that Olanipekun,

a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, is today a legal juggernaut, who is equally endowed with impressive elocution and oratorical power.

Interestingly, Olanipekun, a former Prochancellor and Chairman, Governing Council of the University of Ibadan, has not only made his name in legal practice but also in philanthropy.

Aware of the importance of education, Olanipekun, who is the Asiwaju of Ikereland, has sponsored hundreds of students through scholarships across the Yoruba nation. He is one successful man who is quick to admit that he owes God a lot of gratitude for all he has achieved in life; hence, he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t toy with his faith.

Perhaps, this explains why top personalities recently gathered in the ancient town of Ikere during the dedication and consecration of Saint Peter Anglican Church ultra-modern auditorium, which he donated and handed over to Anglican Communion.

Olanipeku

Some of the guests at the event included Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and a former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon.

Top Fashion Designer Mudi Celebrates

Lulu Briggs: Retraction Ă&#x;Ă&#x153; Ă&#x2039;ĘľĂ?Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2DC; Ă&#x2019;Ă&#x2039;Ă? Ă&#x152;Ă?Ă?Ă&#x2DC; Ă&#x17D;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2039;ĂĄĂ&#x2DC; Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2122; Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x2039;Ă?Ă?Ă&#x;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2039;Ă?Ă&#x201C;Ă?Ă? Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC; Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x;Ă&#x153; Ă&#x153;Ă?Ă&#x161;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x17E; Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2013;Ă?Ă&#x17D; ËŤ Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x153;Ă? Ă&#x2019;Ă&#x2122;Ă?Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x2018; Ă?Ă Ă?Ă&#x2013;Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2DC;Ă? Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2DC;Ă?Ă?Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x2018; Ă&#x;Ă&#x2013;Ă&#x; Ă&#x153;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2018;Ă&#x2018;Ă? Ă?Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2019;ËŹ Ă&#x161;Ă&#x;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x2013;Ă&#x201C;Ă?Ă&#x2019;Ă?Ă&#x17D; Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC; Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x;Ă&#x153; Ă&#x;Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x17D;Ă&#x2039;ĂŁ Ă?Ă?Ă?Ă&#x2014;Ă&#x152;Ă?Ă&#x153; Í&#x2122;Ë&#x153; Í&#x201C;Í&#x2018;Í&#x2019;Í&#x161; Ă?Ă&#x17D;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2DC;Ë&#x203A; Ă? Ă&#x2019;Ă?Ă&#x153;Ă?Ă&#x152;ĂŁ Ă&#x153;Ă?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2039;Ă?Ă&#x17E; Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2019;Ă? Ă?Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x153;Ă? Ă&#x153;Ă?Ă&#x161;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x17E;Ë&#x203A; Ă? Ă&#x2019;Ă&#x2039;Ă Ă? Ă?Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC;Ă?Ă? Ă?Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x;Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x17D; Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2019;Ă? Ă&#x153;Ă?Ă&#x161;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x17E; Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x17E; Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2122; Ă&#x152;Ă? Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2019;Ă? Ă&#x2039;Ă?Ă?Ă&#x;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x17E;Ă? Ă&#x153;Ă?Ă?Ă&#x2013;Ă?Ă?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2DC; Ă&#x2122;Ă? Ă&#x17D;Ă?Ă Ă?Ă&#x2013;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x161;Ă&#x2014;Ă?Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x17E;Ă? Ă?Ă&#x;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x;Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x17D;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x2018; Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2019;Ă? Ă&#x17D;Ă?Ă&#x2014;Ă&#x201C;Ă?Ă? Ă&#x2122;Ă? Ă&#x2019;Ă&#x201C;Ă?Ă? Ă&#x;Ă&#x2013;Ă&#x; Ă&#x153;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2018;Ă&#x2018;Ă?Ë&#x203A; Ă? Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2019;Ă?Ă&#x153;Ă?Ă?Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x153;Ă? Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x161;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2013;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2018;Ă&#x201C;Ă?Ă? Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2122; Ă&#x153;Ë&#x203A; Ě&#x2122; Ă&#x153;Ă?Ě&#x161; Ă?Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC;ĂŁĂ? Ă&#x;Ă&#x2013;Ă&#x; Ă&#x153;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2018;Ă&#x2018;Ă? Ă&#x2122;Ă Ă?Ă&#x153; Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2019;Ă? Ă&#x153;Ă?Ă&#x161;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x17E; ĂĄĂ&#x2019;Ă&#x201C;Ă?Ă&#x2019; Ă&#x2014;Ă&#x2039;ĂŁ Ă&#x2019;Ă&#x2039;Ă Ă? Ă?Ă&#x2014;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2039;Ă?Ă?Ă?Ă&#x17D; Ă&#x2019;Ă?Ă&#x153; Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x17D; Ă&#x161;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2039;ĂŁĂ?Ă&#x17D; Ă&#x2019;Ă?Ă&#x153; Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC; Ă&#x;Ă&#x2DC;ĘŽĂ&#x2039;ĘľĂ?Ă&#x153;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x2018; Ă&#x17E;Ă?Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2014;Ă?Ë&#x203A; Ă? Ă&#x17D;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x17D; Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x17E; Ă&#x2014;Ă?Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x2DC; Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2122; Ă?Ă&#x2014;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2039;Ă?Ă? Ă&#x2019;Ă?Ă&#x153; Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC; Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x2DC;ĂŁ ĂĄĂ&#x2039;ĂŁ Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x153; Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x201C;Ă?Ă&#x2019; Ă&#x2019;Ă?Ă&#x153; Ă&#x153;Ă?Ă&#x161;Ă&#x;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2DC;Ë&#x203A; Ă? Ă&#x153;Ă?Ă&#x2018;Ă&#x153;Ă?Ă&#x17E; Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2019;Ă? Ă?Ă&#x2014;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2039;Ă?Ă?Ă&#x2014;Ă?Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x17E; Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2019;Ă? Ă&#x161;Ă&#x;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x2013;Ă&#x201C;Ă?Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2DC; Ă&#x2014;Ă&#x2039;ĂŁ Ă&#x2019;Ă&#x2039;Ă Ă? Ă?Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x;Ă?Ă?Ă&#x17D; Ă&#x2019;Ă?Ă&#x153;Ë&#x203A; â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Editor Mudi

Clement Mudiaga Enajemo, famously called Mudi, ranks among the top fashioner designers in Africa.

Enajemo, the brains behind the soar-away brand, Mudi Africa, is a trailblazer in the industry.

Today, many would readily confirm that his muse has never left him, given the volume of avantgarde designs he keeps churning out. The multiple award-winner has consciously been recreating and positioning his brand to meet international standards. The Delta State-born fashion designer, who

impressed us with his television and billboard adverts some 15 years ago, loves to express the dynamism in the African cultures through his avant-garde designs.

A man of supreme taste, every move he makes in the industry is ultimately intended to promote his brand and win the hearts of his far-flung customers.

In celebration of his rare feats and success story, many, including his family, friends, and clients, turned out en masse to join him in thanking God who has spared his life to mark another birthday last Tuesday in Lagos.

63

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER Ëž ÍśË&#x153; 2020

SOCIETY WATCH

Femi Otedolaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Multiple of Honours When in November 2019 billionaire businessman Femi Otedola, the Chairman of Geregu Power Plc, announced an unprecedented N5 billion donation to the Save The Children Foundation, a charity platform to improve the welfare of Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vulnerable and marginalized children, the news of the humongous donation swept across Nigeria and overseas.

This was because it was considered the highest donation ever made by an individual to charity in Nigeria.

Of course, prior to that, the former Chairman of Forte Oil had graced the covers of newspapers and magazines in and outside the country when he also gave a whopping $50,000 for the Leukemia operation of ex-Super Eagles coach, Christian Chukwu.

Tinsel actor, Victor Olaotan, was saved by a $100,000 (N36 million) donation from Otedola, while he helped ailing 72-year-old ex-Super Eagles goalkeeper Peter Fregene to be flown to Lagos for property treatment at the highbrow Reddington Hospital.

Reggae superstar, Majek Fashek, as well as Sadiq Daba, an actor, are some of the countless beneficiaries of his magnanimity.

In December 2018, Otedola donated $6 million to construct a multi-storey building at the Augustine University in Epe, Lagos.

Okeowo and Akin-Olugbade

Indeed, there is no gainsaying the fact that giving has become a way of life for the Lagos State-born billionaire.

It is, therefore, not surprising that he has continued to be garlanded and awarded

for his philanthropic gestures at home and abroad.

Earlier in the year, Otedola, based on peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s choice, was voted ThisDay Philanthropist of the Decade.

As if that was not enough, he was again honoured by Silverbird Group as its Man of the Year, 2019, two weeks ago.

As the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s media industry was preparing to celebrate the award, the billionaire, who can be described as a citizen of the world, received another honour from South Africa. He won the 2019 African Philanthropist of the Year by respected African Leadership magazine for his unequalled philanthropy and charitable contributions to society.

At the African Leadership Persons of the Year Investiture Ceremonies and Awards gala night held in Johannesburg, South Africa penultimate Saturday, Otedolaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s famous daughter, DJ Cuppy received the award from the President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, on his behalf.

The 57-year-old billionaire shared the news on Instagram with a message: â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is an honour to receive the 2019 African Person of the Year award for philanthropy and charitable contributions to society.

Yesterday night, DJ CUPPY represented me in accepting this prestigious award from Mr. Akinwumi Adesina, President African Development Bank in Johannesburg, South Africa.â&#x20AC;?

Ex-LIRS Boss Olufolarin Ogunsanwo, Wife in Joyful Mood

Ogunsanwo

If Olufolarin Kayode Ogunsanwo, a former Head of the Lagos State Inland Revenue, LIRS, chooses to describe himself as the happiest man on earth at this moment, he may be excused for obvious reasons.

His joyful mood may not be unconnected to the fact that his wife, Yetunde Bolanle Ogunsanwo, has been

delivered of a set of male twins in a highbrow hospital in Toronto, Canada.

For the 52-year-old society lady, it is a dream come true, giving that the twins came five years after her marriage to the respected tax guru.

Predictably, since the news of the babiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; arrival broke, friends and family members of the couple have been swarming their home and offices to share in their joy. It will be recalled that, prior to their wedding in 2015, they had been involved in a steady affair, which almost crashed Ogunsanwoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s marriage to his first wife, who was said to have kicked against Yetundeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s alleged intrusion into her home.

Thus, when Ogunsanwo and Yetunde decided to finally get married, they opted for a low-key ceremony, which was held at the brideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family home. The couple, it was learnt, later moved into a mansion in Lekki, Lagos.

Ogunsanwo is regarded as one of the most outstanding and thoroughbred professionals in tax administration.

This is a feat he attained through decades of hard work, commitment to duty and utmost desire to reach the peak of his profession.

But Ogunsanwo, who succeeded Tunde Fowler, a former chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS), was said to have been sent packing over trumped-up charges.

Following the allegations, his supporters had made some efforts to save his job.

But in the face of the crisis, his supporters were said to have later prevailed on him to throw in the towel. He did listen to wise counsel.

As fate would have it, he had the last laugh, as the house of mischief literally built by his traducers on a sandy soil collapsed on them and he was vindicated.

Described as a man of integrity, he enjoys a healthy relationship with top personalities in the state as well as the powers that be.

Meanwhile, in the coming months, Ogunsanwo will be coronated as the Alara of Ilara kingdom in Epe, Lagos.

Godwin Anabor Slowly Crawling Back to Life?

Last weekend, London-based Nigerian businessman, Boye Lawal, played host to many during his motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 95th birthday at the Civic Centre in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State. Though the event has come and gone, not a few are still talking about the unexpected appearance of Godwin Anabor, who once ruled the social circle.

Until his â&#x20AC;&#x153;re-appearanceâ&#x20AC;?, last Saturday, he had kept a low proďŹ le, after being buffeted by the blustery wind of fate.

Anaborâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life is as complex as they come. Earlier in life, his life had been deďŹ ned by mountainous challenges. But by the stroke of fate, he was able to rise above them to become the toast of many.

At the height of his stardom, the Edo State-born socialite was conferred with the enviable title of the Majekobahe of Ikeja. That was when he controlled a chain of businesses, including media, security, hospitality as well as real estate, among others.

Even then, musicians especially, fuji and juju acts, sang his praise to high heavens and he rewarded generously with cars, among other largesse.

In fact, his monthly beauty pageants show â&#x20AC;&#x201C; â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Queen of Heartsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; was one of the few ones around Lagos that many would do anything to attend.

Besides, his residence, lying beside the late MKO Abiolaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s palatial mansion on Alabi Crescent in Ikeja, Lagos, was always visited by many who needed ďŹ nancial assistance from him.

Many were said to have been envious of him for the fact that his garage was ďŹ lled with vintage automobiles such as Hummer 1, Jaguar and Rolls Royce Phantom, among others.

Sadly, he later suffered a reversal of fortune, following an anti-climactic twist to his life. Tales abound that he was forced to put up his properties and cars at some point for sale, a development that made him literally a leech to many for survival.

However, it seems the man is gradually crawling back to life, as a source informed Society Watch that he stormed the event with wonted swagger.

Otunba Gbenga Danielâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Son Weds in Style Last weekend, former Ogun State Governor and Chairman of Kresta Laurel, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, proved that he is still a force to be reckoned with in the state politics, as he pulled out the movers and the shakers of the society for the wedding of his son, Rotimi, to his heartthrob, Melisa Mamud.

The two-day carnival-like wedding began on Thursday, March 4, with OGD leading his friends and other prominent Nigerians to the home of the Mamuds in Lekki, Lagos to officially ask for the hands of Melisa in

marriage.

The event climaxed yesterday, Saturday, March 7, with the Nikkai ceremony at an event centre on Victoria Island, Lagos and was followed by a lavish reception, where the King of Juju music, King Sunny Ade, entertained the guests.

Society Watch gathered that the occasion also provided the former governor the opportunity to prove that he has a commanding sense of hospitality, as the gaily dressed guests were treated to continental, Chinese and local delicacies and expensive wines.

Anabor

64

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R Ëž ÍśË&#x153; 2020

LOUD WHISPERS

with JOSEPH EDGAR (09095325791)

Coronavirus â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Why the Panic?

Nigerians can make me laugh and this is not a laughing matter.

So one Italian just like the Liberian brought coronavirus into Nigeria and since then we have been in trouble o. Our lifestyle and relations have once again been distorted.

Fake news and outright falsehood have been the order of the day. The Italian had attempted to jump fence we were told, you can no longer make love as condoms are now very ineffective. Thankfully, a big GO has covered his people with the blood of Christ and as such all tithe-paying members of his church cannot have the virus.

So for the rest of us who are not covered, we are left with buying

sanitizers at the cost of a small car to protect ourselves. For the rest who cannot afford this, we are left with all sorts of other items like garlic, onions, red oil and the rest. For me, I know that afang will protect me especially the one that is made with rich palm oil imported from the dense forests of Nsit Ubiom and berthed at Ojuelegba. Me, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not afraid. But seriously, the way we carry on, panic and cynicism will even kill more people than the virus.

Canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t we even for once be a little bit more responsible with the way we handle information? Now there is palpable fear in the land over an illness that has not even killed one Nigerian o.

Even the Italian man never die and as we hear the man is improving. But no, Nigerians will not hear. They are running from pillar to post. They are claiming authority over what they know perfectly nothing about. Even one kind eaglet journalist say he wants to do a one-hour programme on the effect of coronavirus on the economy.

Has he done a programme on the effect of Lassa fever that has killed over 2,000 Nigerians since January 2020? This is not to say there is no need to be cautious about this scourge but then again letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stop all the falsehood and panic, he no hard like that. Kai.

GOV. BABAJIDE SANWO-OLU â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I AM IMPRESSED!

than ready for the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;visitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; just like they were ready during the time of its cousin â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Ebola.

He even spoke with the index patient asking him if he was a Juventus or Inter Milan fan â&#x20AC;&#x201C; no vex na me just add that one. As if that was not enough, I have seen billboards all over Lagos giving information on the virus and how to combat or prevent it. Well done, my brother, you are doing very well.

walked into the hall with his people shoving me aside and not letting me continue to enjoy the sweet smell of his perfume.

He sat beside Chief Obasanjo and diligently watched the play from beginning to the end. At the end of the play, he took the microphone and said some very inspiring words. I was too tired and shy standing on the stage to hear most of what he was saying but I definitely heard the part he said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We will continue to support you on things like thisâ&#x20AC;Śâ&#x20AC;?

I hear that one o. Mbok, I will really want to thank the Ogun State government, its handsome governor and the rest of his team, especially the secretary to the state government who is my oga and landlord, the chief of staff who I met just once and he immediately swung into action, the commissioner for Culture and Arts, the permanent secretary of the ministry and most especially my guy, Bolu, for the wonderful support they gave us during this period. God bless.

This our Excellency is really making me swallow my words. Everybody knew my position in the run-up to the elections and when he emerged, I was just looking at him with one eye. Even when Lagosians started mocking him and calling him Pontious Pilate I just stood aside asking wetin concern me. Then the issue of the ban on Keke Marwa and Okada now happened.

I sheepishly smiled as I thought he had carried a whole hot pot of stew and poured over his head. I laughed with glee as Lagos became a huge cauldron of traffic jams and then suddenly it disappeared. Kai, this man wants to disgrace me o. The roads became free and people did not die at bus stops waiting for buses. He had survived the wahala and was looking strong. But what has made me decide to praise him small today is the way they have handled this coronavirus case.

The efficiency, the brinkmanship and the way they have corralled this index patient and gone after those that came in contact with him is nothing but impressive. When the rumour-mongers came with the story of mosquitoes killing the man faster than the virus leading him according to them to attempt a jailbreak, bro decided that it was time to act.

He took with him pressmen and went into the infectious disease hospital in jeans and short sleeves. Oh, I loved him that day o. He deserves my apology. Explaining to us the true situation with the index patient, he showed us how to wash our hands and even went into a new type of handshaking which involves the tapping of the feet with his deputy.

After this, he allowed the head of the institution to take the visitors around the facility, showing that Lagos State was more

Sanwo-Olu

PRINCE DAPO ABIODUN â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I AM GRATEFUL Bolu is a key aide to the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, and it was to him I went to when I was seeking the support of the state government for my new play, Aremu. I said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bolu, make we see Governor na.â&#x20AC;? Bolu laughed and said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;He no easy like that.â&#x20AC;? I said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tell am say na Duke of Shomolu and that na my oga Chike Ogeah friend he no go vex.â&#x20AC;?

Bolu just waved me aside and said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t worry, I go carry your matter.â&#x20AC;?

During the week, Prince Dapo Abiodun made history by attending the private screening of my new play organised to celebrate Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on his birthday at the Presidential Library. As Chief Obasanjo walked in, he told me to go and wait to receive the governor. I was amazed because up to that moment, I felt I hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t cracked him even though he had approved some level of support for the play. He looked resplendent in his brown agbada and his trendy glasses.

As he came out of his car, I walked up to him and said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Good afternoon, your Excellency. I am the Duke of Shomolu and welcome to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Aremuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. He could not believe his ears and I am sure that he must have thought that this one with his uncombed hair must have been smoking something.

Anyways, he shook my hands and promptly

Abiodun

BABA OBASANJO DISRUPTS AREMU Chief Obasanjo has always been known for his boisterous approach to life. His down-to-earth approach to life despite his near-legendary status has been widely reported. But what happened at Abeokuta during the exclusive screening of the play designed in his honour still took a lot of people by surprise. At the very beginning of the one-hour play, as the actress was chanting his â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;orikiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, he just jumped out of his seat and began to dance. The 1,000-seater hall which was packed to the rafters erupted in a volcanic explosion. Baba shuffled as the lady continued.

He bent down and jumped up and before you knew it his admirers and friends joined in the infectious joy of celebration.

Was I happy? Not really.

Obasanjo

Ehanire

I feared this would distort the rhythm of the actors making them lose their concentration and possibly fluffing their lines. But then again, this was a massive endorsement, an acceptance of Prof. Ahmed Yerimaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work. A work that took his team including the versatile Yemi Shodimu who was Aremu, the quiet but effective Makinde and my man, William Benson over six months to carefully put together. This is the joy an artist gets, the wild and massive acceptance of his work. Baba still went ahead to disrupt proceedings another two times and at some point, I felt like walking to him and say, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Baba, please sit down!â&#x20AC;?

But then again, is this not what we all wanted? In the end, just as the Ogun State governor was about to speak, Baba said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Edgar, do you want to talk?â&#x20AC;? I thought, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Me ke? I cannot talk o. What do I want to say in the midst of all these?â&#x20AC;?

I just kept my Shomolu mouth shut while embracing the accolades. The next morning, I was summoned to the Penthouse, where Baba in shorts and T-shirt on his way to the squash courts and with a hand on my shoulder, he gave me some lectures about the play and the things we omitted. As he spoke, I almost â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;killedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; my photographer who just stood there with mouth wide open in shock and spit dribbling out of it and failing to record this moment in history. What will I show my

grandchildren?

AYO ADERINWALE â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;M ON BENDED KNEES Please let me crave your indulgence to send an unreserved apology to this gentleman. Ayo is a very powerful figure within the inner circle of Chief Obasanjo.

He was the one that made all of this happen. I remember very vividly when

Aderinwale

65

MARCH 8, 2020˾ T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

LOUD WHISPERS

Mompha

we met some roadblocks at the Ogun State government end and they said, “Go and get Baba involved.”

It was Ayo I ran to and he put me in front of Baba in less than five minutes. He was the one that took me to Dr. Christopher Kolade to get his endorsement and it was this same Ayo that showbiz impresario Olisa Adibua omitted to call up on stage. This was a huge lapse on our part and that is why I have come to this page to tender an unreserved apology to my friend and egbon that he should not vex. Devil is a liar. I owe you, sir.

NO BIG DEAL ABOUT OSHIOMHOLE’S SUSPENSION Was it not that rapper, the fine son of former Minister Kemas Chikwe who sang the song, ‘Kini Big deal’?

So they have suspended my lord pending the hearing of one suit like that.

What is that, are we the first to be suspended in this life? My brother me too I have been suspended too many times to remember.

The last time was when I wrote an article about our President that did not sit well with my board when I was still working. The people had a meeting at night and resolved to sack me and replace me with my deputy, Lami. This one sef, no be court o. Na some old men wey they fear unnecessarily come dey do ‘let’s be proactive with this matter’ for my head.

At the meeting, the onus was on the chairman to deliver the message. He started dribbling himself on how we work in a regulated environment and as such we cannot be yabbing President and because of that, the board has taken a decision that he would like his deputy to announce to the house.

Me, I don get information before that time, so I just look the deputy wey carry beards like Karl Marx. He was conflicted and did not see any reason why I should be sanctioned. So that split second that he delayed and sensing the fear of the chairman to be the one to bell this erratic Calabar cat, I jumped in. I ask them if na dem be Buhari? I ask them wetin concern Daura with Nnewi abi did Buhari call them to complain. That if Buhari no complain why are they now crying more than the bereaved. At that point, I throw in shakara, that me sef, I am tired with the yeye company and I want to resign. Kai, they panic, they start to beg me to take suspension instead of the sack.

I agree and walk away into a two-week suspension.

So, my brother, this is an opportunity for you to rest from all the wahala that comes with this high-profile job. From fighting thugs at the Benin Airport to receiving hard knocks from that Obaseki who na you bring come Benin to the rest. Please, no even fight this suspension just take am to de-stress and relax. I hope you dey check your BP, life no get duplicate. Kini big deal?

Oshiomhole

to shake. That time na poem writer, he never become lawyer. I say go na and he say wait, let me compose a poem. I say Dipo by the time you finish writing the poem, she go don enter Molue o.

Dipo say I should go and hold her down.

Now, that time I was a very handsome young man, girls used to call me handsome, because my good looks were almost out of this world. So I walked up to Folake to hold her down. I introduced myself to her and told her I was just going to the Unilag lagoon to swim to the island to get lunch.

By this time, Dipo had finished writing and ran to us. He read the poem to her and instantly proposed to her. Folake did not even think it o. she just agreed and they had a lovely wedding at Sabo just near Shomolu. Two very handsome boys after, with Dipo running a prestigious firm of lawyers, Folake has now emerged the CEO of this powerful company. I tell you this is such good news especially the fact that I was there when it all started. Now you see why my bills should be either suspended or frozen as benefits for being the best friend to the husband of the acting CEO. Well done,

This my brother is savvy. He runs the wave-making Page Financials, a firm that has been empowering Nigerians as they search for financial freedom in these tough times. A consummate banker, Segun was part of the team that built the old Skye Bank, making it one of the most influential financial institutions in the country at that time.

Today, working with his partner Remi, Page is now a major player in its space, creating jobs, partnering visionary Nigerians and the rest.

Funny just how small this world

Akintemi

Iwu

my sister, this calls for a massive celebration.

AMOTEKUN – IS IT ABOUT COSTUMES? I am just hoping that what I am seeing with these Southern states is not them trying to bring to life what they see in Yoruba Nollywood movies. The costumes are exactly the same complete with cowries hanging down and other such type things.

This is a serious issue and I am sure that they are all taking the matter with the seriousness it deserves.

Dressing like ‘Sango’ and attending hearings and discussions in the various houses of assembly is making me to be looking at the whole thing with one kind eye. I just pray that this whole thing will not turn into a huge joke especially as the lives and properties of millions of Nigerians are at stake in this matter. I don keep quiet.

FEMI GBAJABIAMILA – THAT WAS MOTHER OF ALL PARTIES! The reports have been everywhere o.

This party. One news platform even went

SEGUN AKINTEMI OPENS ANOTHER PAGE

FOLAKE SOETAN’S WELL-DESERVED APPOINTMENT Mrs. Folake Soetan has just been announced as the acting Chief Executive Officer of Ikeja Electric. You see why it is good to be taking advice. Dipo Soetan is my childhood friend and we were both very very close. It was Yemi Banjoko that brought us together and that is how one day we now saw this very pretty young lady on the Unilag Campus. I say Dipo look, Dipo starts

Gbajabiamila

can be. I used to just look and marvel at this institution, especially at its growth trajectory. It has been growing phenomenally and eating up market share with the ease of a knife over butter not knowing that it is my brother Segun that is the head honcho at the place. The day I found out, I screamed o and I thank God I did not go and be borrowing money there and be owing them o. kai, Segun well done and don’t rest until you become the number one microlender in the world. You can do it, just keep believing.

ahead to do the calculations coming out with a staggering sum as the cost of the party. If this is true, na wa o but I have heard that they have come out to say no public fund was utilized for the party and that all of the funds were privately owned.

Well, a man has the right to celebrate and party anyhow he likes especially if the money is not our own. You know as Nigerians we no dey hear word, shebi this baba had once asked us, ‘is it your money?

So the same question, I am asking today, ‘is it your money? One person even had the presence of mind to be advising that he should have spent the day with orphans instead. These Nigerians are just one kind like they don’t know that the Dubai economy is going through a difficult time at this point and all hands must be on deck to shore it up. It’s the best thing to do. Mbok, sir ignore them I hope you did not wear that Gucci suit you wore during mummy’s 50th, that is the one that will annoy me. That thing be like something one carpenter put together. Apart from that, keep it up. Next time let’s do Wuhan. Please don’t let me laugh.

MAURICE IWU TO THE RESCUE Mbok, the last I heard of this gentleman was when he was granted bail or something like that. I do not know how that is going but he has suddenly appeared with a claim to have a cure for the coronavirus. Now If this is true, then it would just be quite marvelous and then we would be in a quandary as to what to do with his case.

So here is a man, on one hand, answering questions and on the other, about to save the world.

This na real dilemma because we may have to be forced to move him very quickly from villain status to that of national saviour with the highest honour bestowed on him. I support that the government should give him all the encouragement and empowerment to enable him to truly refine this cure to save mankind and for once, put Nigeria on the world map. Well done, Prof, I am very proud of you. Don’t worry.

MOMPHA – A STRANGE TWIST I was getting confused. This man was recently arrested by the EFCC and paraded with wristwatches worth millions. He was arraigned and got bail and promptly returned to social media where he got fame to continue with the blatant and arrogant display of wealth. My confusion stems from the fact that since he was still on bail, he would at least attempt to keep a low profile until the case was over.

At some point, I thought that maybe he had won the case and that the EFCC had apologized to him hence the pictures of him in private planes and in other exotic locations.

So you can imagine my surprise when I read that he had been re-arraigned and the hearing date shifted to a new date.

Kai, this case was still on?

And he was going around like a man with no problems? But what is the matter with these people? The other day his colleague on bail was s een d anc ing t wis t with a beautiful damsel. Don’t they know that when you are facing trial, you have to be calm and prayerful? Well sha, people different. Wetin concern me?

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ MARCH 8, 2020

66

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ARTS & REVIEW A

PUBLICATION

PA KASUMU: SHOTS FROM A BITTER-SWEET LIFE PAGE 69

08.03.2020

PEJU ALATISEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NEXT MOVE Butterfly effect series

EDITOR OKECHUKWU UWAEZUOKE/ okechukwu.uwaezuoke@thisdaylive.com

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ MARCH 8, 2020

68

ARTS & REVIEW\\VISUAL ARTS

The Pursuit of Freedom

Peju Alatise’s Next Move Leading contemporary Nigerian female artist Peju Alatise will once again be featuring at the Venice Biennale, this time for its architecture exhibition in the world. Ayodeji Rotinwa reports

W

hen visual artist Peju Alatise received an email from La Biennale De Venezia, organizers of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition asking her if she would be interested in participating in the upcoming edition, now billed to open in August, she thought it was a spam message. She did not respond.

Yet, Alatise is no stranger to this global cultural institution that holds biannual showcases across art, architecture, cinema, dance, theatre and music, with artists from all over the world participating. Nor is she a stranger to other important, career-defining global showcases and opportunities.

In 2017, Alatise was part of a three-artist team that represented Nigeria in her debut pavilion at Venice Arte Biennale. Then, she presented to critical acclaim, “Flying Girls”, a commentary on children's rights and an installation made from fibre glass, metal, plaster of Paris, resins and black cellulose paint - of eight life-sized girls. That work would go on to be exhibited at the 2018 EVA Biennial in Ireland. Before this distinct achievement, Alatise was made a fellow at the National Museum of African Art, a Smithsonian institution in 2016 and in the same year as her Venice Arte Biennale showcase, she won the 2017 FNB Joburg Art Fair Prize.

At auctions, Alatise records high-flying performances and her earnings are tallied in the same or close columns as modern artists that have been practising decades before her.

The directors of the Biennale emailed again. They informed Alatise that they had seen her work and believed she could respond to the architectural premise and theme of this year’s edition, “How Will We Live Together?” The premise calls on architects to “imagine spaces in which we can generously live together” in their material, cultural and spatial specificity.

“I thought it was a joke because it was architecture and not the arts. I thought there was some other Peju Alatise and we lived in parallel worlds and somehow we had crossed paths,” Alatise recalled, in a phone interview, laughing.

“I was surprised because I don't practice architecture in the traditional sense so I was filled with some doubt and angst but at

the same time I was also excited.”

Alatise is a trained architect. Her first job straight out of university was to design furniture -- which turned out to be more artistic than functional -- and buildings.

Before this time, as a child, she painted, drew, worked with clay and textiles. It is this path she has predominantly followed, practising as an artist for most of her career. Alatise weaves both disciplines together in her creative output. It is the training in the former that gives an edge to the latter which she believes, is innate.

What further welds these two related practices in Alatise’s work is her ability to tell stories, often leaning into ancient Yoruba folklore and mythology and given these a contemporary spin. These three key ingredients have contributed to creating an artistic signature for Alatise. Known for her sculptures, her works stand out for their architectonic elements, design, scale, and narrative.

In a 2018 career retrospective exhibition, “Paradox, Paradigms, and Parasites,” Alatise brought together a medley of material: water, blown glass, stonecasts, textiles, metal, wooden corks, and acrylic paints - that might be very much at home on a construction site - to make “Silence”.

In the piece, the stone casts of men and women’s bodies were encased in glass, drowned in water, covered by corks, lifeless and silent. The piece was a response to the ongoing migration crisis across the world and specifically on the African continent with many citizens in the desperate lunge for a better life in Europe, perishing at sea. And their governments maintaining studied silence. This is hardly Alatise’s most accomplished work. There have been other sculptures: some two stories high, others using copious amounts of manipulated metal, frozen textiles; responding to mob justice, or the story of rapture, taking months or years to realize.

The site-specific installation for the Architecture Exhibition in Venice will, however, be her most ambitious yet.

"I'm trying to create a piece that cannot be faulted, so there is a lot of pressure. I am my own worst critic, I have to keep the work secret and it's difficult to get any feedback. I'm giving it 1,000 percent. I'm throwing every ounce of energy I have at it,” Alatise explained.

Asides from the creative demands of this particular piece, there have been other preliminary concerns.

In a published statement, Hashim Sarkis, curator of the exhibition said, “The architects invited to participate in the Biennale Architettura 2020 are encouraged to include other professions and constituencies—artists, builders, and craftspeople, but also politicians, journalists, social scientists, and everyday citizens. In effect, the Biennale Architettura 2020 asserts the vital role of the architect as both cordial convener and custodian of the spatial contract.”

Alatise has had to do just this. Not that she could have had it any other way, even if the Biennale didn’t encourage collaboration. It is part of her work philosophy. She has assembled an all-star team to help bring her biggest career work to the finish line. It includes Adenrele Sonariwo, curator of the Nigerian Pavillion, Venice Arte Biennale 2017 and founder, Rele Gallery, Ade Shokunbi, an architect and co-designer of Alatise’s artist development space and foundation, Alter Native Artists Initiative, Aderemi Adegbite, multimedia artist and Alatise’s collaborator and co-installer during the Venice Arte Biennale, Nana Shonoiki, project manager who has handled logistics of Alatise’s past exhibitions, Yinka Akingbade, who is documenting and photographing progress of the work.

Aside from bringing together the right team, Alatise’s installation also has incredible financial implications. Her team has had to devise ways to invite support, investment, and raise funds for the realization of this Venice project. Interested parties will own a piece of the installation, at the end of the project. Alatise has also had to undertake smaller commissions to fund this big one.

There are also public health concerns. The Corona Virus outbreak has hit Italy especially hard and there have been reports that Venice is quickly emptying out of tourists and visitors - who would otherwise visit the architecture exhibition when it opens.

With new cases confirmed every day, several huge art events all over the world have had to postpone or cancel.

Alatise is, however, tireless, raring to go at this opportunity to create with the world watching.

“For me, this is an important call… you are called on a global platform and out of your comfort zone. The Biennale is the Olympics of the arts. My works are tending towards bigger, structural, brutal approaches. Architecture can give me guidance to that so it's great validation I'm heading in the right direction."

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ MARCH 8, 2020

ARTS & REVIEW\\DRAMA

THE BITTER AFTERTASTE OF JOSHUA ALABI'STALK N DO Yinka Olatunbosun

D

estination was NECA Hall, Alausa that Friday morning.

It is a coincidence that this venue for one of the featured plays at the 2020 Lagos Theatre Festival is situated adjacent to the New Afrikan Shrine, the authentic hub of the Afrobeat music. Known for his politically-themed plays such as Jogbo and Joinbodi, the actordirector, Joshua Alabi brought fire to the improvised stage to deliver a fast-paced agit-prop play titled Talk N Do for an audience made up of non-governmental organisations and civil societies. Produced

by Kininso Koncepts Production, the play is a project funded by the European Union and implemented by British Council.

Set in a fictitious community, the engaging drama opens with a market scene where a trader is listening to a radio programme which has a senator as guest.

The on-stage performance was a creative overlay over the voice-over characters positioned in the auditorium to depict the on-air personality and the cheeky politician. Albeit chaotic, the noise from the stage is typical of market scenes in Nigeria which are usually characterised by blarring music from speakers and temperamental sellers. From road side food vendors to fabric sellers, the set was representative of the everyday people who are subjects of A scene from the play repressive government.

Music was a powerful tool in the propaganda play, Talk N Do to drive the consciousness of the audience who share the same grievances and sentiments expressed by the characters. It came as no surprise that the director chose the Afrobeat genre in articulating the protest message in the drama which adopted the Alienation effect.

Sometimes, the characters broke the “fourth wall" by addressing the audience directly in their chorused lines.

The politician on the radio show is a self-conceited individual whose responses to the anguish of the callers were clearly insensitive. That fuelled the anger of the already disgruntled people who mobilised their anger into Afrobeat songs of agitation.

“Crime na Crime/Criminals dey waka/Offenders dey jolly" was the hook from one of the songs that underscored the scourge of impunity. Another issue raised in the performance is the structure of the criminal justice system especially with the role played by the police in crime-fighting. From the chorused dialogue, the audience

could discern that the people detest the prevalence of bribery at the point of reporting crime to the police.

Anyone who has been robbed lately will attest to the reality that many Nigeria police officers retraumatise victims of robbery when they demand for them to pay for the pen and paper to document their statement deposed to the police. Often, crime victims fail to report crime as they are unable to bribe the police after being robbed of their money. Still, many are exploited as they have no choice but to obtain the police report to retrieve their lines or stolen belongings, if ever recovered.

Talk N Do takes a swipe at the authorities for not properly engaging with the public before enforcing policies and laws that affect their daily routines. A case in point is the ban on commercial motorcycles. While the play did not condemn the effort of the government at sanitising the city's transport system, the characters mocked the hypocrisy beneath the enforcement of some laws, alleging that some of the enforcement officers own

some of the commercial motorcycles that still ply those routes where they had been banned. Quite disheartening is the parody of how the Nigeria police treat victims of gender-based violence. The characters reeled out the typical questions that police officers ask victims when they report at the station.

It was agonising to listen to some ill-intent questions that have the potential of making the victim feel culpable in a crime against herself.

With its themes of public accountability, rule of law, justice, governance, solidarity and civic responsibility, Talk N Do preaches by its title that government needs to match its words by action by addressing all the issues raised in the play. Talk N Do proved to be the artistic medium of petitioning the government on public ills.

The director, Joshua Alabi, in the programme note described Talk N Do as “a musical theatre and sociopolitical piece that deals with the role of citizens in the bid to strengthen anti-corruption laws in the country.”

TRIBUTE

PA KASUMU: Shots From A Bitter-sweet Life Yinka Olatunbosun

A

Pa Kasumu

gbeni, a commercial centre in Oyo's capital city Ibadan is the birthplace of Kayode Olugbenga Odumosu who hailed from Ogun State. On March 16, 1953, he was born into a life of hope.

At 15, he ventured into acting. Of course, he learnt all the requisite skills and even more.

His senior colleagues were heavy drinkers and would leave a little beer in the bottle when they asked him to return the bottle.

That was where he picked up drinking as a pastime.

Meanwhile, he became one of the most prominent actors in the Yoruba movie scene known for classic movies such as Sango (1998), Jesus Mushin (2002), Omo Chairman, Tales of Eve: Simi (2011) amongst others. His character, Pa Kasumu was a middle-class, middle-aged father who is often handling serious family matters with a slightly exaggerated persona. His perfection of this role makes it difficult to separate the actor from his artistry. One of his younger colleagues,

Yomi Fabiyi described him in a tribute as a “class act.” His comedy was not too dramatic; his character was believable. His career has fetched him enormous recognition for his stage and screen acting. Once, he was named a most disciplined actor.

Odumosu lived a relatively quiet life outside the movie world until 2008 when he became ill.

“I started feeling like I had typhoid. I went to my private doctor, Dr. Femi Olayemi and he said I should do a cardio test. Since his hospital did not have the equipment or specialist to look into my case, he referred me to LUTH to see a specialist,” Odumosu said in an interview with Sahara TV. Two years earlier, he had stopped drinking.

Before then, binge drinking was a part of his life and he never thought it was a problem as he never got drunk.

“Let me advise young people to drink responsibly. We used to bet on cartons of beer. Also, I stopped smoking in 1977 when I had my first son. But many years after, the doctors still found the traces of the smoke in my lungs,” he recounted. Ironically, he would sport his signature cigar pipe in some of his movie roles.

The illness took its toll on his career as he

found it difficult to read a script. In 2013, he was diagnosed with biventricular heart failure.

“I spent over N4m between 2009 and 2010. I sold my BMW car and two plots of land,” he said.

Meanwhile, his colleagues such as Foluke Daramola began to solicit for funds on his behalf. He was featured on the 10th anniversary edition of the television series, “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” alongside Nollywood actress, Ngozi Nwosu and Nnaemeka, a former N5m winner. He eventually won N500,000 for the sake of his health. It was reported that his health declined and he could barely walk or speak.

Even his sight was impaired.

In 2019, he was one of the beneficiaries of Nolly Veteran SOS Project which was an intervention fund initiative to care for aging artists who can no longer provide for themselves financially due to old age or chronic illness.

When asked once what he would loved to be remembered for, he said it is his “scandalfree life.” He died in his Abeokuta home on March 1 and a condolence register had since been opened for visitors at his residence.

70

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER Ëž Î&#x20AC;Ë&#x153; 2020

GAVEL

Editor: Olawale Olaleye SMS:08116759819 email:wale.olaleye@thisdaylive.com

Mixed Reactions as House Debates Immunity Bill The move by the House of Representatives to provide immunity for national and state Houses of Assemblyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; presiding officers has received knocks from the public, reports Udora Orizu

T

heHouseofRepresentativeshas commenced moves towards ensuring that the presiding officers of the Senate, House of Representatives as well as those of the state Houses of Assembly enjoy immunity while in office like the President, Vice President, Governors and Deputy Governors.

It introduced a bill titled: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Bill for anAct toAlter Section 308 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to extend Immunity to cover Presiding Officers of Legislative Institutions; and for Related Mattersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

The bill sponsored by Hon Olusegun Odebunmi, recently passed second reading but not without some reservations by some members of the Green Chamber as well as a cross section of the society.

The Bill seeks an amendment to Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to extend such immunity to presiding officers of the National Assembly. This includes Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and Speaker and Deputy Speaker in the 36 state Houses of Assembly.

Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, has in crystal clear terms, outlawed legal proceedings against the President and Vice-President of Nigeria and the Governors and Deputy Governors, respectively, of the various States. For clarity of purpose, the said section provides as follows: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Constitution, but subject to subsection (2) of this section (a) no civil or criminal proceedings shall be instituted or continued against a person to whom this section applies during his period of office; (b) a person to whom this section applies shall not be arrested or imprisoned during that period either in pursuance of the process of any court or otherwise; and (c) no process of any court requiring or compelling the appearance of a person to whom this section applies, shall be issued.â&#x20AC;?

The section also provides that in ascertaining whether any period of limitation has expired for the purposes of any proceedings against a person to whom this section applies, no account shall be taken of this period of office. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The provisions of subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to civil proceedings against a person to whom this section applies in his official capacity or to civil or criminal proceedings in which such a person is only a nominal party.

(3) This section applies to a person holding the office of President or Vice-President, Governor or Deputy; and the reference in this section to â&#x20AC;&#x153;period of officeâ&#x20AC;? is reference to the period during which the person holding such office is required to perform the functions of the office.â&#x20AC;?

The provisions of section 308 of the constitution came up for interpretation in the case of Rotimi vs. MacGregor, the then Military Governor of Western State, 1st appellant herein, was sued personally over a parcel of land. The Supreme Court held that by virtue of a similar provision in the 1963 Constitution, the action was incompetent.

The section also came up for interpretation in Fawehinmi vs. I.G.P, where the Court of Appeal held as follows: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The simple and ordinary meaning of section 308(1) is that the person(s) to which the provisions apply should not be made to face civil or criminal proceedings in court.â&#x20AC;?

Thewordâ&#x20AC;&#x153;proceedingsâ&#x20AC;?afterâ&#x20AC;&#x153;civilorcriminalâ&#x20AC;? makes it clear and incontrovertible that what was intended was proceedings in court or tribunal and not police investigations. Section 308 does not shield or protect any of the persons named therein from police investigation.

But such investigation should be done as not to infract on the provisions of section 308.

The word â&#x20AC;&#x153;otherwiseâ&#x20AC;? in section 308(1)(b) is to cater for and cover situations not specifically provided for under the paragraph but which may result in the arrest or imprisonment of the person concerned.â&#x20AC;?

In affirming this decision, the Supreme Court, held further that police investigation of the immune person cannot be equated with criminal proceedings, because criminal proceedings are commenced when an accused person is arraigned

Speaker Gbajabiamila during plenary before a court, or at least, when an information or a charge has been filed against him in court.

It also held that police investigations could be carried out upon a criminal allegation against a Governor â&#x20AC;&#x153;so long as the police do not encounter him in the course of their investigation.â&#x20AC;?

Sponsor of the Bill, Hon Odebunmi, in leading the debate said the Bill was meant to protect the institution of the legislature from distraction caused by unnecessary legal actions against presiding officers.

The lawmaker explained that either genuine or not, such distractions have had serious negative impact on the quality of legislation, as well as discouraging presiding officers of the legislative institutions at National and State levels from taking the bull by the horn or taking certain critical decisions, when necessary for fear of unknown.

According to him, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Democracy has come to stay in Nigeria like the developed and other developing countries in the world. Hence the need to arrange our system to fit in the dynamics of democratic society becomes imperative for us. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As the government of the people, by the people and for the people is very important to us as a nation, so also is the legislatureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s importance to the system. Therefore, the need to further protect the legislative arm of government should not be ignored â&#x20AC;&#x153;Therefore, for our democracy to continue flourishing, no action meant to strengthen the legislative institution could be out of proportion.

Extending immunity to the presiding officers of the national and state assemblies is not a means of shielding them from answering any question generated by their action or preventing members of the house from exercising their powers of choosing or changing their leaders when required as provided for by the laws but a genuine way of protecting the most sacred institution in Democracy.â&#x20AC;?

Commenting on the bill, House Speaker, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, posited that it would not be morally right for him to preside over the debate if he was going to be a beneficiary of the immunity.

He asked to be allowed to step aside but later advised that the sponsor of the bill should amend it and make the commencement date for implementation futuristic. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The bill must be tweaked in such a way that the present presiding officers will not benefit from it, make it futuristic in terms of commencement date. The commencement date should be 2023 when the present leadership of the National

Assembly tenure elapses.â&#x20AC;?

Supporting the bill, Hon Yakub Buba said, the membership of the national legislature was too large to leave their presiding officers without immunity.

His words: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s look at this away, only two people are voted by Nigerians, and if you come to National Assembly, we have 360 members in the House and 109 in the Senate. So, the presiding officers need to be protected. The harassment from the Executive stops us from doing our job.

Without this arm of government, there is no way we can fight corruptionâ&#x20AC;?.

Also speaking, Hon Abubakar Fulata stated that the essence of the bill is to guard against unnecessary distraction and undue intimidation of the presiding officers of the institution of the National Assembly, and not geared at shielding any individual so it should be supported.

Chief Whip, Hon Mohammed Monguno, argued that the bill would protect the offices of the presiding officers despite, who occupies them, â&#x20AC;&#x153;so, it is not based on sentiments, but on principles. So the Speaker should not feel guilty in presiding over the bill.â&#x20AC;?

According to him, the fact that only the legislature doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t enjoy the immunity is unfair.

Deputy Minority Leader, Hon Toby Okechukwu stated that the peculiar means by which African presidents wield enormous dictatorial powers against any perceived adversary should be guarded against, â&#x20AC;&#x153;so, the need to ensure the powers and privileges of the legislature is not only secure, but should be seen to be secure.â&#x20AC;?

But some of the lawmakers were not in support of the bill, saying it runs at variance with the spirit of democracy, which shows transparency, probity and accountability.

They reasoned that conferring such privilege on the presiding officers of the legislature when there was clamor to remove the immunity currently enjoyed by the President of the country, the deputy, State governor and their deputies was not in the best interest of the nation.

Hon Serguis Ogun said the bill was not needed at this time, adding that there was even a clamour to remove the immunity the President is enjoying.

On his part, Hon Solomon Bob said it was unnecessary granting immunity to the presiding officers of the legislature. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In my mind, it is totally unnecessary. We do not need any immunity now. I am against the immunity enjoyed by the President and the Governors. The bill, if passed, would show

that the lawmakers were â&#x20AC;&#x153;further indifferentâ&#x20AC;? to the security challenges facing the country.â&#x20AC;?

Hon Onofiok Luke, advised the Speaker, saying once the bill is passed, he would be a beneficiary, which brings about a clash of interest. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is a constitutional amendment. If by reason of procedures, you can exonerate yourself.

No matter how you look at it, there is an issue of conflict of interests. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s make this part of constitutional amendment.â&#x20AC;?

The Socio-Economic Rights andAccountability Project (SERAP) and some legal practitioners have also condemned the Bill. SERAP, in a statement signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, described the lawmakersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; action as ripping up the Constitution, a blatant assault on the rule of law and a breach of public trust.

The organisation called for the immediate withdrawal of the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;obnoxious Billâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; by the House leadership, failure which it would seek legal redress. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a form of political corruption for the parliamentarians to abuse their legislative powers, intended for use in the public interest, but instead for personal advantage. This is an unacceptable proposition as it gives the impression that both the principal officers of the National Assembly are above the law. If the House of Representatives should have their way, this will rob Nigerians of their rights to accountable government.â&#x20AC;?

Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) described the bill as illegal, saying it would not survive. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The bill will soon be defeated on the floor of the House, because it is illegal and unconstitutional. Apart from the President, Vice President, Governors and Deputy Governors who are entitled to immunity under Section 308 of the Constitution, no other public official or citizen is entitled to be excluded from prosecution for corruption or other criminal offences. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Only a constitutional amendment can confer immunity on any other group of Nigerians. I can assure you that the amendment will not be approved by Nigerians; it was tried in the past but it was popularly rejected.â&#x20AC;?

Another legal practitioner, Chief MikeAhamba (SAN), also submitted that the lawmakers even lacked powers to amend the constitution. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is self-serving and I am not in support of it.

Besides, the National Assembly lacks power to amend the Constitution and if the lawmakers make any attempt to do that, I will take up a legal action for the court to decide whether or not they can actually amend the Constitution.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ MARCH 8, 2020

CICERO

Editor:Olawale Olaleye Email:wale.olaleye@thisdaylive.com, SMS: 08116759819

IN THE ARENA

The Changing Colours of Restructuring Last week’s call for restructuring by President Olusegun Obasanjo might have changed the tenor of this age-long debate, writes Samuel Ajayi

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hortly after the return to civil rule in 1999, the ever politically vibrant Southwestern region of the country was unrelenting in its push for what it called restructuring of the Nigerian federation.

The argument then was that the federation was very lopsided and there was too much powers concentrated in the centre, which had made the other federating units very weak.

Those at the forefront of this campaign were leaders of the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, which fought the General Sani Abacha junta to a standstill.

NADECO was to give birth to the Alliance for Democracy (AD), which was one of the three political parties registered in 1998.

The AD actually made restructuring and devolution of powers one of its campaign promises as it promised a comprehensive restructuring of the country if voted into power.

The party, which went into alliance with the All People’s Party (APP) to field a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae, as its presidential standard bearer never won the Presidency.

But that did not deter its leaders from continuing the campaign for the restructuring of the federation.

The likes of the late Senator Abraham Adesanya, Justice Adewale Thompson, Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa, Senator Olabiyi Durojaye, Comrade Ola Oni and not forgetting former governor of Lagos State and current national leader of the APC, Senator Bola Tinubu, never lost any opportunity to drum home the point that the nation needed to be restructured for any meaningful development to take place.

In fact, the call was actually for the Buhari and Obasanjo when the latter visited sometime back nation to return to regionalism so that each region could develop at its pace. It either on-shore or offshore belonged to the federal governwas also pushed that there was need for fiscal federalism. ment.

By this, each region would be in charge of its own natural The case went to court and the Supreme Court ruled in resources and would only be paying royalty to the centre favour of the federal government. While the states espeunlike the present system, whereby all proceeds from oil cially, Akwa Ibom, lost out, a political solution was found and gas sales go into the federation account after which a which gave birth to the idea of Oil Derivation, which sees percentage of the proceeds would be shared among states a percentage of oil revenue being paid to the oil producing and local governments based on population and, at times, states. land mass.

While proponents of resource control were able to push While the campaign for restructuring was going on, the it to a seemingly logical conclusion, the same could not be South-south geo-political zone started its own campaign said of those agitating for restructuring of the country and for resource control. In 2002, there was the raging battle devolution of powers. between the federal government and oil producing states Ironically, those who were at the forefront, incidentally, especially, the littoral states, that oil found on the continental shelf belonged to the states and not the federal government. saw themselves in power in 2015 and suddenly developed cold feet about the whole idea.

But the federal government argued that this was not The Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who was the true. It claimed that any oil found in any part of the nation,

Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State, when the state was at the forefront of restructuring, told those agitated to it now to approach the courts if they want to achieve their aims and objectives.

In fact, there was a time he said fiscal federalism was no longer feasible. With the current mindset of those, who once put the issue of restructuring on their heads, the agitation was destined to die a natural death. Or so it seemed.

Ironically, one of the leading figures of those who were against restructuring in the past has lent his voice to the campaign. Recently, former President Olusegun Obasanjo nearly shocked the nation when he declared that the issue of restructuring must be addressed now.

Hear him: “When I was elected President, the agitation was true federalism but now, it is restructuring. If we don’t address it, they may go from restructuring to violent self-determination and this will be a serious problem. If Boko Haram can get external support, any group that decided to go will get support from within or outside. So, we must address the issue now.”

He added that he would continue to fight for Nigeria’s unity till he dies but maintained this fight would not make him or his race second-class citizens in the country.

There is need to understand the nexus between the renewed call for restructuring in the country and current spate of killings and general insecurity in the country.

Correct or not, the impression the current government has given the rest of the country especially, those outside the Fulani ethnic stock, is that killer herdsmen are being treated with kid’s gloves if not being given official protection.

Since President Muhammadu Buhari took over nearly five years ago, Fulani herdsmen have perpetrated so many gruesome killings particularly, against farmers in the Middle Belt and southern parts of the country. The official line was that these herdsmen needed to move down the country and find grazing land for their cattle. It did not matter if they had to destroy farmlands in doing this or that they were total foreigners.

But these killer herdsmen have been emboldened, because no one has ever been arrested and charged to court. As recent as last week, these herdsmen killed and raped women in villages in Benue State.

It was this unfortunate development in the last couple of years that has made the call for restructuring and devolution of powers more strident.

Now, there are open calls for secession and, to put it more mildly, self-determination. The thinking is that with the way the country is currently set up, there will always be ethnic tensions, which if not properly managed, might lead to war.

While different ethnic groups are openly calling for a restructuring of the country if not outright break-up, former agitators who have now become silent since they are in power will soon realise that it is was an agitation that might assume a life of its own and become a movement.

While it was a ‘call’ in 1999, those pushing the cause of restructuring might go a step further in advancing their cause. And that step is what many cannot predict.

P O L I T I CA L N OT E S

On Coronavirus, Nigeria’s Doing Well!

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Minister of Health, Osagie Emmanuel Ehanire

igeria may be a failure in many areas of leadership and governance, however, since the outbreak of coronavirus, not only has the country shown leadership and capacity, her level of preparedness for the dreaded virus deserves sincere applause.

This statement of fact has since been attested to by a majority of the people, who had traveled in and out of the country since the virus became a global threat and had been able to compare the approach embraced by the Nigerian government to those

of many other countries they had visited.

This is why, in spite of the deserving misgivings about the government of Nigeria and her leadership, this is one honour that should not be denied it. But, again, government cannot afford to be carried away by the pool of commendations and fumble midway.

It must continue to improve on all the initiatives embraced in containing the spread of the virus and ultimately work with other countries with a view to stamping it out of existence. So, to Nigeria, you’re doing well.

Fantabulous!

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ MARCH 8, 2020

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BRIEFINGNOTES Is Ikpeme a Victim of the Nigerian Factor?

As long as Nigeria continues to treat her citizens the way the Cross River State government treated Justice Akon Ikpeme, building a dream country might remain a mirage, writes Tobi Soniyi

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he decision by the Cross River State Government to not appoint Justice Akon Ikpeme as the chief judge of the state based on the flimsy excuse that she was a security risk to the state since she is an indigene of neighbouring Akwa Ibom State, has been widely condemned by those, who believe that no one should be denied a merited appointment on such primordial sentiment.

Condemnable as it is, the scenario playing out in Cross River State is a common occurrence across the states and federal institutions in Nigeria. Not even the nation’s ivory towers are spared of discrimination based on tribal and sometimes, religious sentiments. It is a clash between citizenship and indigenship.

By hiding under indigenship, Nigeria’s best are often denied appointments in critical placements and this is how sensitive posts end up in the hands of mediocre.

If the governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade and his co-travellers in the House of Assembly were to fly to London, they would not insist on being flown by a pilot from Cross River state, they would rather insist on the best pilot even if he was from Akwa Ibom.

When people are sick, they want the best doctor to treat them, not the one who comes from the same locality with them. But when it is time to appoint the managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, they go back to their backyard to pick their kinsman and not the best manager in the country. This is partly responsible for the nation’s lack of progress.

Yet the constitution in section 42 (1) states: “A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not, by reason only that he is such a person: (a) Be subjected either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any executive or administrative action of the government, to disabilities or restrictions to which citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions or political opinions are not made subject; or.”

The above provision is often observed in breach, as there are no immediate sanctions for violators.

Justice Ikpeme is an indigene of Akwa Ibom State but was born in Cross River State. She married a Cross River man. They are blessed with children. She started her career with the Cross-River State Ministry of Justice and rose to the position of Director of Public Prosecution and was appointed a judge in Cross River State. Even her father was a permanent secretary in Cross River and retired there.

Akwa Ibom was created out of Cross River on September 23, 1987, by the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida.

She was recommended to the governor for appointment as chief judge of the state after the council found her worthy in both character and knowledge. She has been screened by the Department of State Security and found not to be a security risk.

Her state of indigene should therefore not be used against her. To do so is to allow ethnicity and politics to decide the appointment of the chief judge of Cross River State. It is inequitable.

This is not saying that the Cross River State House of Assembly does not have the power to reject her nomination, no, far from it but not under the excuse given.

By virtue of section 271(1) of the constitution, “The appointment of a person to the office of a Chief Judge of a State shall be made by the Governor of the state on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council subject to the confirmation of the appointment by the House of Assembly of the State.”

Appointing a chief judge is a balancing act that involves the state governor, the National Judicial Council and the state’s house of assembly.

Although the governor of a state has been vested with the power to appoint the chief judge of his own state, that

Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade swearing-in Ikpeme as acting Chief Judge of the state power is not absolute as the governor has to share the power with the NJC in recommending suitable persons and the state house of assembly in confirming the appointment.

It is obvious that Governor Ayade was behind the disgraceful decision not to appoint Ikpeme as the chief judge of the state. He has merely used the assembly to achieve his aim. This is further confirmed by the statement credited to the Commissioner for Information, Asu Okang, who mounted a strenuous defence for the assembly.

“Are you aware that Justice Akon (Ikpeme) was asked as part of the screening exercise, ‘In case there was an issue between Cross River and Akwa Ibom State, Your Lordship, who would you stand for?’ You know her response? She said, ‘I would stand down on the case and reassign it to someone else.’ A chief judge of the state?” the commissioner said.

Unfortunately, the commissioner only exhibited his ignorance because the judge gave the right answer. That is what the code of conduct for judicial officers expects her to do – to recuse herself if she would not be able to do justice. That is what her oath of office demands of her. But the commissioner expected her to say she would side with Cross River. What a shame!

The NJC will have to rise to the occasion. First, it will have to sanction Justice Maurice Eneji for accepting to serve as the Acting Chief Judge of Cross River State without being recommended by the council.

It had done so in the past. By the precedent established by the NJC, it is fairly settled that a judge needs the permission or approval of the NJC to accept appointment from the executive.

In 2014, the then Rivers State governor and now Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi appointed Justice Peter Agumagu the chief judge of the state. The NJC preferred Justice Daisy Okocha, who was the most senior high court judge.

For accepting the appointment, the NJC under the leadership of the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Aloma Mariam Mukhtar accused Justice Agumagu of disrespecting the council by accepting the appointment. He was

consequently suspended.

At its 85th meeting held on the 14th of March 2018, NJC recommended the compulsory retirement of Mr. Justice Obisike Oji of Abia State High Court of Justice, to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State.

A statement signed by the council’s director of information, Mr Soji Oye stated that: “Hon. Mr Justice Obisike Oji was earlier queried by the council for allowing himself to be sworn in as acting Chief Judge, and thereby colluding in, and aiding an unconstitutional process. His reply was unsatisfactory and the council recommended his compulsory retirement.“ A Caveat…

In 2019, the NJC changed. It failed to sanction the incumbent Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad for accepting to be sworn in as Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria without the recommendation of the council.

The council did not find anything wrong in Justice Muhammad accepting the appointment as acting Chief Justice of Nigeria from President Muhammadu Buhari following the suspension of Justice Walter Onnoghen.

Even the lame duck Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) said it “is unequivocally opposed to the appointment of Eneji J as the Acting Chief Judge of the State and even more opposed to the unsavory political intrigue within the Executive and Legislative arms of the Cross River State that has so far resulted in the unconstitutional failure of both arms to confirm and swear in Ikpeme J as the substantive Chief Judge of the State.” But beyond the opposition, what can NBA that has lost focus do?

It is important to reiterate that the council, in punishing judges who allow themselves to be used by the executives, appeared to be strengthening the lack of independence of the judiciary. The decision to waive this rule now potentially threatens to erode the gains made in the past.

Will the council be able to sanction Justice Eneji after it failed to sanction Justice Muhammad for allowing himself to be sworn in as acting CJN? Only time will tell.

NOTES FOR FILE

Okada Ban: It’s Another Win for Lagos!

Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu

Penultimate week, when CNN gave an update on Air Quality, the speed at which Lagos moved up to three from its number five position excited those, who understood the importance of clean air that is breathed in and out.

But this didn’t happen by accident. It was a direct result of the recent ban on commercial motorcycles and tricycles in the state especially, those that run on what is called two-stroke engine. That model of motorcycle has been identified to have the most lethal carbon monoxide.

Interestingly, the good news came up again last week, and this time, with the bar raised.

The Air Quality update of last week by the CNN rated Lagos as having gone some notches up,

including trumping cities like Abuja, Dubai and Riyadh.

Whilst Lagos moved from its third position penultimate week to second last week, Abuja was on number five just as Dubai and Riyadh maintained the fourth position respectively.

This is not just worthy of mention; it is worthy of salutation to a leadership that made this happen.

For leaders, making hard choices in larger interest is sometimes inevitable. It is also incumbent on the led to always go beyond the mob mentality and see the overall good in certain decisions by the government. Okada ban is for collective good and interest. Thumbs up, Lagos!

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ MARCH 8, 2020

CICERO/REPORT

CJN Tanko Muhammad

When the S’Court Chose to Persevere in Error The Supreme Court persevered in error last week, when it upheld its judgment on Hope Uzodinma as the governor of Imo State. Shola Oyeyipo writes

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nly God boasts infallibility. Any human organisation, including the highly revered apex court in Nigeria, the Supreme Court cannot pride itself as incapable of making grievous mistakes. Thus, to many people, they made a grave mistake in a recent judgment awarding the Imo State gubernatorial seat to Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March 9, 2019 election in Imo State.

Nigerians and observers around the world have yet to rationalise the Supreme Court decision that upturned the result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) where the ousted, Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) polled 273, 404 votes to win the elections.

His closest rival was Uche Nwosu with 190, 364 votes and then Ifeanyi Araraume (114, 676). But Hope Uzodinma of the APC, who came a distant fourth with 96,458 votes is now governor after votes from 388 polling units were arbitrarily added by the court, bringing Uzodinma’s result to 309, 753 while the votes by others remained what they were.

Unlike no other in recent past, the judgment brought the apex court to disrepute and its integrity as the last hope of the common man was thoroughly questioned by Nigerians.

A member of the Editorial Board of BusinessDay Newspaper, Chido Nwakanma wrote: “The judgment of the Supreme Court has gifted Imo State with a governor, whose party did not win one single seat in the State House of Assembly. It is the nature of strange judgments. Walter Scott was right. The Supreme Court has weaved a tangled web, because the motive was wrong ab initio. Absurd.”

In his assessment of the judgment, the Chairman, Editorial Board of THISDAY Newspapers, Mr. Segun Adeniyi stated that: “Taken together, there are far too many grounds for inconsistencies and loopholes on which lawyers and the general public now question both the integrity and indeed the professional competence of the Supreme Court.

“It is a sad day for the nation if the apex court displays traits that undermine confidence in the quality of justice available to the people. It is even more tragic, when the slant of decisions tempts the public to suspect that these respected men and women may have succumbed to partisan pressures.”

While the feeling persisted that the judgment was more political than legal, some concerned Nigerians had expected that last Tuesday’s sitting of the Supreme Court on an application filed by the Ihedioha, to review the judgment would present the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad-headed court an opportunity to reverse its obvious error, but it didn’t. They opted to persevere in their error.

Though the seven-man panel of the apex court threw out Ihedioha’s call for a review of the judgment on the grounds that it had no power to entertain his appeal that does not take away the fact that there are many unanswered questions in the “absurd” judgment it handed out by the respected court.

Though there is the saying that after the Supreme Court, aggrieved persons can only appeal to God, it may seem the people are helpless in this case, even the dissenting judgment by Justice Chima Centus Nweze, who set aside the January 14 judgment of the Supreme Court by describing it as a “nullity and in bad faith”, was indicative of the fact that the judgment could have gone the other way.

He was not among the first seven-member panel that nullified Ihedioha’s election on January 14. He replaced Justice Amiru Sanusi, who retired from the apex court in the same month.

In their majority verdict read by Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, the remaining six members of the panel insisted that the Supreme Court judgment would stand but that does not take away the fact that it would haunt the Nigerian democracy and electioneering for a long time.

That much did Nweze say in his objection to the popular verdict when he maintained that declaring Uzodinma as governor was wrong on the grounds that the new APC governor misled the court into unjust conclusion with the unverified votes in the said 388 polling units.

“In my intimate reading of the January 14 judgment, the substance of Ihedioha’s matter was lost to time frame,” Nweze said, arguing that since there is a record of when the court set aside its own earlier judgment,’ time frame is not enough ground to deprive anyone of his or her right. This Court has powers to over rule itself and can revisit any decision not in accordance with justice,” he said.

Like every other critical mind that had expressed disagreement with the judgment and the fact that the apex court usurped the responsibility of INEC by awarding electoral victory to a political party against

another, in an election conducted by INEC was not lost on all.

In what is the opinion of every critic, who felt there is a foul play in the apex court judgment, Nweze noted that “The decision of the Supreme Court in the instant matter will continue to haunt our electoral jurisprudence for a long time to come.”

According to him, the court arrived at its conclusion despite the fact that there is no concrete prove that he satisfied other constitutional provisions after Uzodinma and his party misled the court to accept the allegedly excluded results in 388 polling.

Another major fault in the hasty judgment was that when the results of the said 388 polling units were added to give the APC candidate victory, results polled by other candidates were not reflected, even if for mere record sake.

Still speaking the mind of Nigerians, Nweze noted the non-credibility of the results from the additional polling units, because it did not come with corresponding number of accredited voters in the polling units.

Another very salient issue raised by Justice Nweze was that during the election tribunal, Uzodinma himself admitted that he hijacked the result sheets from electoral officers and completed the result sheets by himself.

Nweze, who holds the view that his colleagues on the bench miscarried justice, categorically stated that, “This court has a duty of redeeming its image. It is against this background that the finality of the court cannot extinguish the right of any person.

“I am of the view that this application should succeed. I hereby make an order repealing the decision of this court made on January 14 and that the certificate of return issued to the appellant returned to INEC. “I also make an order restoring the respondents as the winner of the March 9, 2019 governorship election.”

From all indications, despite all the unacceptable arithmetic that didn’t add up, the justices of the Supreme Court, except one, imposed a government on the people of Imo State but the fact in this matter will not go away.

There are so many unanswered questions that cast a huge shadow of suspicion on the integrity of the court especially, in this dispensation, which make people to believe that the appointment of the CJN was influenced for such assignments. Yet, the Supreme Court must not lose sight of its integrity on the altar of politics.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ MARCH 8, 2020

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CICERO/UPDATE

Now, Amotekun Can Bridge the Gap! With the legal backing recently extended to the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Amotekun Operation by the House of Assembly in Southwest states, the initiative might have finally come to stay, writes James Sowole

Members of the Oyo State House of Assembly in Amotekun regalia shortly after passing the bill into law

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hen representatives of the Southwest on the 2014 National Conference pushed for the amendment of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to make provisions for the creation of State Police as part of recommendations for the confab in the spirit of true federalism, little did many people know that there would be creation of a common security outfit in region even without the implementation of the confab recommendations.

At that particular time, the level of insecurity and criminal activities like kidnapping and robbery attacks by herdsmen as well as criminals on highways and on farms in the Southwest was not as high as what we have today.

When the leader of the Yoruba delegation on the conference, Chief Olu Falae from Ondo State, championed the need for State Police at the conference, he too never knew he would be a victim of the attacks by herdsmen, who could go to any length to fight anybody that disturbs their herds from grazing on any farmland.

Falae, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), was kidnapped on his farm located at Ilado in Akure North Local Government area of Ondo State, in September 2015 and kept in kidnappers den for six days before his release after the payment of ransom.

Prior to the attack on Falae and even after, several Nigerians of different standing had been attacked and kidnapped in the Southwest, only to be released after payment of ransom while the unlucky ones were killed by their abductors.

In addition, destruction of farm crops by cattle with its attendant economic consequences was no longer a newsworthy incident except, when it involves lives and maiming and which occurs in all parts of the Southwest.

The unabated criminal activities, which many people believed that the conventional police operations could no longer handle, made governors of the Southwest to think out of the box in finding solution to crime and criminalities in the geopolitical zone.

The need to ensure effectiveness of the efforts underscored the reason to make the effort a regional approach and which gave birth to a regional outfit known as Amotekun.

The creation of a common security initiative was arrived at after aggregation of different suggestions of

previous security summits held by states in the Southwest at a central summit held at Ibadan, Oyo State, which is the political headquarters of the region.

However, seriousness and vigour with which the effort was pursued by governors of Ekiti, Oyo, Ondo, Ogun, Lagos and Osun states generated concerns among other geopolitical zones, particularly the North. It also forced some interest groups like the Myetti Allah to argue that the outfit was targeted at their cattle breeding trade in the Southwest.

The controversies generated by the formation of Amotekun, was strengthened by the federal government’s premature reaction declaring the outfit illegal through the office of Attorney General and Minister of Justice.

The declaration initially scared some governors, who nearly succumbed to the silence of their godfathers until they were feared up by the resilience of their counterparts particularly, the Ekiti State Governor and Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and his counterpart in Ondo State, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, who is also the Chairman of the Southwest Governors Forum.

The position by the federal government, however, sent the governors back to the drawing board, after meetings with representatives of the central government and the Inspector General of Police, which later resulted into making laws by the six states Houses of Assembly on the security initiative and other matters therein.

As at today, all the six states now have laws backing the establishment of Amotekun and its operations in their various states and even across states if occasions demand.

Though each state has its own law on the security initiative and personnel, which makes it a state affair, the law in its provision is similar to each other in contents, expectations and deliverables.

It was gathered that each state of the Southwest made its own law, because regional government was no longer recognised by the Nigerian Constitution and which makes automatically makes what can be regarded as a single regional security outfit illegal.

However, events that led to the making of the law showed that the whole thing is one. In actual fact, the law was drafted by three states’ Attorneys General and deliberated upon and presented to their respective state governors, who later passed the same to their respective House of Assembly.

In addition, the process of passing the bill into law in all the states was the same just as the passage of the bill was done almost on the same day in many cases.

For the common features of the law and expected operations, many people believed that Amotekun is a regional security outfit located in six states of the Southwest for a common goal of collaborating with the existing security agencies to tackle insecurity in the geo political zone.

The regional outlook of Amotekun is ensconced in the provision, which allows for the sharing of intelligence among the corps and inter state border operations, whereby actions could be taken on cross border distress calls.

Delivering a lecture to commemorate the Third Anniversary of Governor Oluwatotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, a Human Rights Lawyer and activist, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, said Amotekun would operate as a regional outfit whether anybody likes it or not.

According to him, the federal government has said the governors should not make it a regional outfit but the operation may prove otherwise.

“Whatever that means I don’t know. But for me, if Amotekun is chasing criminals and they move to Osun State, all you have to do is to contact your people in Osun State to arrest them and send back here. So, it is going to be regional, whether anybody likes it or not,” he said.

Some people have therefore seen the realisation of Amotekun as a step towards the much sought after multilevel policing that is a major ingredient of true federalism.

A Pan-Yoruba Socio Political Group, Afenifere, contented that state police as contained in the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference waas the ultimate so that each state could have police to tackle their respective security challenges promptly.

With the signing of the law for the establishment of Amotekun by state assemblies, the stage is now set for the recruitment of personnel for the outfit by state governments.

It was gathered that each state would employ and deploy corps in accordance with her needs and peculiarities.

It is also expected that corps commanders in the six states would be meeting from time to time for exchange information about operations and collaboration when necessary.

Akeredolu has said for the umpteenth time that Amotekun was established to complement the efforts of existing security agencies and not as rival security outfit.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ MARCH 8, 2020

CICERO/ONTHEWATCH

Finally, in APC, the Battleline Is Drawn The ongoing survival faceoff in the All Progressives Congress party is not alien to the political evolution of this country and in this too, the battle line is drawn between Adams Oshiomhole and those who want him out, writes Chuks Okocha

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istory has a way of repeating itself in different ways. It has been said in the past and it is repeating itself again. The embattled National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, last week, joined in the chorus, ‘No one can remove me except God or the national convention’.

It appears to be walking a familiar way. A former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur was once quoted that not even President Goodluck Jonathan could ask him to resign from his position except the national convention of the party. But Nigerian knew what happened afterwards. This is the road Oshiomhole is currently traveling.

At a National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP, then President Goodluck Jonathan brought out an envelope from his pocket and said that the then national chairman, Tukur has handed him his resignation letter. He went on to commend Tukur for serving the party and later held Tukur’s hand and walked out of the NEC. Yet no one could remove him.

Going down history in the PDP, except Dr. Ahmadu Ali, who completed his tenure as national chairman of the PDP, others were shoved aside depending on the circumstances that presented themselves.

For instance, from its pioneer chairman, Solomon Lar, to Barnabas Gemade, Audu Ogbeh, Ahmadu Ali, Vincent Ogubulafor, Okwesilieze Nwodo to Mr. Tukur, only Ali served out his tenure and stepped down without rancour. It was a far-reaching career attainment replicated by no other chairman in PDP’s 16-year old troubled existence as a party.

What is not clear is whether the now ruling party, APC is toeing the way of the PDP to edge out its national chairman like the PDP did in the past. It all started with the states chairmen of the party passing a vote of no confidence and followed by others instituting a court processes to ease the embattled chairmen out. All these are repeating themselves gradually, In the ensuing drama, the President, being the leader of the party plays the joker or the last card as otherwise known. His position is seen as standing for the general good of the overall interest of the Party.

The President as the case may be doesn’t come out to douse the fire once the heat is on. And it is not expected that President Muhammadu Buhari would do anything different as he would have done since the crisis became public.

Thursday last week, Oshiomhole was at the presidential villa to inform the president of his suspension by the federal high court in Abuja and it was reported that he did not take action like summoning a meeting of party elders to discuss the crisis and neither can the President claim to be oblivious of the crisis at its developmental stages.

If the plots hatched at the December 2019, National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of All Progressives Congress (APC) had gone according to plans Oshiomhole would have been history. That NEC meeting could be described as a great relief for Oshiomhole.

The presence of President Buhari at the NEC could also be seen as his escape route. With Buhari’s presence at the meeting, many saw it as an indication that the party was not ready for any leadership change, at least not at that time.

Before the NEC meeting, the nights of the long knives could have signaled the end of the reign of Oshiomhole.

Chairman of Zamfara State APC, Lawal Liman was positioned to move the motion that would bring Oshiomhole to an end. But aware of this, he (Oshiomhole) brought the meeting to an abrupt end, when President Buhari left.

He immediately called for an adjournment, thus moving the plot off the feet of his traducers.

Many political watchers believe that what happened in December 2019 was merely postponing the evil day for the eventual sack of Oshiomhole as there are still dangers ahead.

It was not surprising that those after him changed tactics and moved to the court.

The Grouse against Oahiomhole The bone of contention is the 2023 presidential election and many see Oshiomhole as a threat to their ambition. This danger, it was gathered, is not unconnected with the body language of APC stakeholders who accused the embattled national chairman of positioning himself for a possible vice presidential ticket to a governor from one of the northern states.

This perceived moves of Oshiomhole brought him enemies, as the APC governors from the Southwest believed that if not checked could thwart the moves to have the presidency down to the zone. The arrowhead of this is one of the Southwest governors, who is said to be eyeing the

Embattled APc chairman, Oshiomhole with President Buhari aand others presidential ticket of the APC in 2023.

Another issue that is counting against Oshiomhole is his feud with the Edo State, Godwin Obaseki. The APC governors’ forum like the PDP governors forum operates like a cult. There is the belief among them that an injury to one is injury to all.

To this end, the supremacy fight between Oshiomhole and Obaseki has put the ambitions of second term governors of the ruling party into jeopardy as they see him as a common enemy.

They believe that if the national chairman was allowed to have his way in the fight with Obaseki, it could embolden Oshiomhole and would be to their detriment in the contest for 2023. So, to them, Oshiomhole for whatever reason must be stopped.

Another reason he is wanted out is the accusation that the national chairman was ignoring President Buhari’s admonition that the party’s organs at the state, local councils and ward levels be strengthened and accorded due respect in accordance with the powers and responsibilities conferred on them by the party’s constitution.

They also alleged that the tenets of internal democratic practices has taken a downturn, principally due to the dictatorial and despotic tendencies of Oshiomhole, who they said has usurped the powers of APC’s NEC. Oshiomole is accused by the governors in the party of breathing down the neck of one of them and therefore must be resisted. The former governors of APC are not sparing Oshiomhole either.

They believed if not stopped now he would be too difficult to manage, as the race towards 2023 gets nearer.

Apart from this, the loss of Zamfara State to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) through party squabbles has been linked to Oshiomhole high handedness.

The Liman camp consists of states chairmen like Arc. Bala Kangiwa (Kebbi), Habibi Sara (Jigawa) Ade Adetimeli (Ondo) Abdullahi Abbas (Kano), Abba Yaro, Omotosin Paul (Ekiti), Mohammed Jibril Iman (Niger) Anslem Ojezua (Edo), Philips Shekwo (Nasarawa), Rtd Air Com Ikeda (Kaduna), Lakep Dabah (Plateau), Shitu Shitu (Katsina), Isah Sadiq Acida (Sokoto).

The camp believes that by quickly adjourning the NEC was merely postponing the evil day that will eventually see the back of Oshiomhole. It was also believed that adjourning the NEC meeting was also postponing the battle for the soul of APC. But, the question is, for how long?

The Zamfara State chairman of APC, Liman did not mince words on the fate that will befall Oshiomhole, when he said, “Most, unfortunately, the facade conducted by the National

Chairman today, the 22nd of November 2019, at a NEC meeting, leaves much to be desired. He completely ignored Mr. President’s advice and rather defied all known rules for meetings by precluding contributions from members and ending the meeting abruptly without achieving anything.

This is most unfortunate and undesirable.”

A pointer to the fact that the APC governors were behind the ordeals of Oshiomhole was the deliberate refusal of the Progressives Governors’ Forum to sack the Director-General, Salihu Lukman, for demanding at different times, the resignation of Oshiomhole if he failed to convene a National Executive Council meeting.

Lukman has remained a thorn in the flesh of National chairman with his criticisms without a word of caution from the governors. It is simply seen as the voice of Jacob and hands Esau.

So far, Oshiomhole has allegedly identified those behind his ordeal. He was quoted as saying, “The Minister working against me is none other than Rotimi Amaechi. I helped him but he stabbed me in the back. I recognised his faction of the APC against that of Senator Abe and today, he is leading a war against me.

“Kayode Fayemi is one of the leading Governors working against me. I helped him secure party tickets for all his loyalists even though Segun Oni and Babafemi were my good friends. Governor El-rufai is also one of those working against me. He and Fayemi have been using One Salihu Lukman to insult me despite all I did. That Elrufai was one, who came to me crying to help him get rid of Senator Shehu Sani and to replace him with his boy, Uba Sani and I sacrificed my comradeship with Shehu to please him.

“Godwin Obaseki couldn’t have even become a councillor if not for me. This is an open story. I’m a fighter and he will pay for his disloyalty. I made him and will unmake him. As for Bagudu and Badaru, they know how I helped them and they will all suffer the consequences for their actions. Their Court ambush will not work. I remain the Chairman of APC and we have filed a stay of execution.”

Two courts of equal powers and jurisdiction have given contrary orders – one ousting Oshiomhole and the other restoring him to office. Which court order will prevail?

Which order will the embattled National Chairman obey?

Nigerians are watching.

But one thing is clear – Oshiomhole will not go down without a fight. The unionist in him will certainly play out.

And that fight will certainly not be in the interest of APC. This may explain why many kept saying that APC might collapse before 2023, as what glued it together may not be there by 2023.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ MARCH 8, 2020

CICERO/INTERVIEW

Salihu: Oshiomhole Has Consistently Flouted APC’s Constitution Comrade Mustapha Salihu, currently National Vice Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) in charge of North-east zone, is at the forefront of the campaign to force out the APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. He spoke with Gboyega Akinsanmi on why members of the party want the comrade out. Excerpts:

W

right, we will fight him. Ajimobi is a two-term governor. We are not scared by big names.

We are trained to argue constructively. We are trained to stand by the truth. So, it is not all about Ajimobi, Bulama or any other person. It is all about the APC Constitution. Let the APC Constitution be followed. You cannot come and superimpose people without procedures and due process. It will scatter our party. The nomination is null and void already because the APC National chairman has been suspended before the nomination.

hat is the root cause of the APC crisis?

What led to the crisis in the APC today is the highhandedness of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. This is also characterised by unconstitutionality and flagrant disregard to the democratic process. This is just the sum, which now led to his suspension in his state and which needed to be enforced. It is not that we have something against him. There is nothing personal about it at all. He took decisions that cost the APC victory in some states. There is lack of organisation when it comes to holding primaries.

But this one has to do with the problem he had in his state. He was suspended at his ward and continued to parade himself as the APC National Chairman. That is why I approached the court to prevent him from parading himself as the APC National Chairman.

How will the impasse end now?

The way forward is constitutionality. That is why the constitution is the ground norm. Once we follow the constitution, there is no problem.

When there is a case like this, there is going to be bias when one of us is involved. So, the next thing is to call the NEC meeting. The NEC is a larger body, which involves the president, governors and the senators, among others. The NEC will agree and disagree on issues. But at the end, it will come up with the decision that is lasting. The National Working Committee is just to run the affairs of the party day-to-day. It is not a decision-making organ of the party. But the NEC is the decision-making body pursuant to our constitution. Under the circumstances, the acting National Secretary, who happens to be the head of the Secretariat administration of the party, has the right to call for a meeting after due consultation. He will convene the NEC meeting as soon as possible.

Apart from being highhanded, what are the other reasons that culminated in the court action?

Because of his highhandedness, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole did not conform to the APC Constitution. That is the problem we have with him. If he is managing the affairs of a strategic institution and he does not want to be constitutional, it cannot stand. We are running a democratic state.

You can see the court is no respecter of any person.

Once you made a mistake or took a wrong decision, the court will send you out. This is evident in what happened to our candidates in Bayelsa, Rivers and Zamfara States. These are lessons. This is the tip of the iceberg of what will happen to us before 2023 if we do not put our house in order.

In 2019, this thing happened in Lagos State.

It was largely adjudged that there was no primary election in the state.Yet, the NWC Salihu accepted the result of the primaries in the state.What did the NWC do then?

In the case of Lagos, the APC National Working Committee (NWC) set up a committee to look into it. In its report, the committee claimed that there was primary election. There was an appeal committee. But I do not know what happened at the level of appeal. Honestly, we do not want to be specific.

What we are saying is that the APC must be run in line with its constitution. For instance, the day of closure of primaries is tomorrow. We are constituting the committee today to go and conduct our own primaries. That is not right. We do not have the time to manage the affairs. That is not the way to manage the party affairs. We do not take our time to do things right. We have taken a lot of wrong decisions. Lagos may be one of them.

It is not by design. It is because we do not start our process on time or when we are supposed to start. Time! We need time to plan. We need time to make the plan; adjust the plan and reform the plan before it becomes a plan. From the plan, you develop a thesis. The thesis will throw up antithesis. We then bring both thesis and antithesis together to form synthesis. That eventually becomes a grand design that will be executed. We set up committee to conduct primaries. We will still send the same committee to be in charge of appeal. That is not the way to do things or conduct the affairs of a ruling party. Sometimes, when we do the screening, there will not be screening appeal. That is what happened in Bayelsa. The APC Chairman constituted himself as the screening appeal and did not look at the papers.

That is what happened to us.

On March 5, some associates of the APC Chairman secured an order from the Federal High Court sitting in Kano to vacate the order of the Abuja High Court.What is your reaction to that?

It is not legal. Before he did that, I had inkling that he would do that. I issued a press statement that the APC Chairman was calling some people to make some decisions. As we speak, the APC National Secretariat is condoned. It is only those who have legitimate business that can enter there. People, who are not authorised cannot go near the secretariat because it is illegal.

After we have the National Working Committee, we will ensure that the announcement of the new officers is investigated. This is fraud. For you to say we have done nomination on January

14 for the nomination that was done on February 20 is not right by all standards. That is falsehood. Are we witches or wizards that we anticipate that we would bring nomination to the Southwest zone on February 20. It is absurd. I do not expect a mature person to do all things. I still want to believe this is not true. It seems like a dream. How can you contradict the facts?

If you count from January 14 till date, it is about 60 days. We made decision since then and we did not announce it. We now made announcement on the date Comrade Oshiomhole was suspended as the APC National Chairman.

Does it mean that the NWC never met on the appointments that were announced on the day the court gave the order?

We never met at all. The facts are there for all Nigerians to see. If any person claimed we met, I challenged him to produce the evidence of the meeting. The meeting we had did not go through because I challenged Comrade Oshiomhole that he could not preside over the meeting because he had been suspended at the ward and state levels. I challenged his legitimacy of sitting as the APC National Chairman. That was why I went to court the next day. That meeting did not hold. We stopped the meeting. There was no minute. There was no decision taking.

I told the meeting that the man presiding could not present himself as the APC national chairman in the interpretation of our constitution. I insisted that he could not take the decision that would hunt us later.

Is it true some party leaders are now working to make Senator Abiola Ajimobi the acting National Chairman of the APC? This is a national issue. It is all about the ruling party. We are also talking about the future of the ruling party. We are talking about the entire progressives in the country. So, we are not about individual, but about issues affecting the ruling. If Senator Ajimobi must be National Chairman, we must follow due process and laid-down procedures. If tomorrow we convene a meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), the NEC agrees that Ajimobi should take over. We do not have any problem with such decision. If Ajimobi takes over and leads the party right, we will support him. But if he does not lead

When will the policemen at the national secretariat leave?

There have always been police officers at the APC national secretariat. They may be more police officers now because of the issues on ground. Have you been to the secretariat before and you did not see policemen? We have a lot of policemen at the gate. We have more than 20 police officers inside.

Were police officers not deployed to enforce the court order?

The police officers did not come to enforce the court now.

Nobody attempted to float the court order physically. They only stayed in their apartments where they are making their own decision. Nobody came to the national secretariat to force himself inside. The police officers are provided in case some people want to force themselves inside. The idea is to be proactive. We should not wait till problems start before looking for the way out. We should not wait till some people are injured before security operative will now wade in. They are not there not fight any person, but to maintain law and order.

Have you received any notice of appeal from the suspended chairman?

We have not received any notice of appeal from any person.

But I have read on the social media that the suspended chairman has appealed. The court granted us interlocutory injunction. It is not an interim order. The injunction restrains him from performing the functions of the office of the APC National Chairman until the court rules otherwise.

The injunction can only be vacated only when an appeal court rules that the court that suspended Oshiomhole lacks jurisdiction to hear the case. In the first place, who presides over the meeting where the decision to appeal the case was made?

If it was Oshiomhole then, it is contemptuous and if he was not the person that presided who has the authority to make decision for the part?

What is the position of the Progressives Governors Forum about this crisis?

I do not know their position. I am not a governor. I do not know what they are saying. I advise that you contact their spokesman to find out the position of the progressive governors on Oshiomhole’s suspension.

However, the governors are all critical stakeholders. We intend to carry them along to ensure that we restore peace, normalcy and constitutionality to the ruling party. This is very important to secure the future of our party.

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ MARCH 8, 2020

ENGAGEMENTS

with ChidiAmuta

Between Justice and Transgression The law needs to be decked out like a transvestite, in female drapery so as to conceal its unlovely phallus.

–––Edmund Burke

T

he Nigerian Supreme Court has mired itself in odious political mud. In the process, it has descended from the pinnacle of learned discourse to the rough and tumble of street corner banter and gutter snipes. Among common folk these days, the reputation of the Supreme Court is repeatedly thrashed and lampooned by fish mongers, two pennywhores, casual artisans and assorted palm wine patrons alike. Struggling free from this reputational mess will be hard and prolonged, if ever.

The recent attempt to use the applications for reviews of its controversial rulings on the Bayelsa and Imo governorship elections may have worsened the plight of the Court. In this untidy embrace with political animals of the Nigerian variety, I can only see their lordships in disorderly retreat into their chambers, gowns tattered and wigs roughened. The cuts are deep and the harm almost irreparable.

It is all because of politics and, many believe, the money that fuels it. In this clime, very few things survive a handshake let alone an embrace with politics. Nigerian politics taints and toxifies nearly all that it comes into contact with. The growing political contamination of the apex court may have come to a head with the two recent applications for a review of its rulings in question.

On the Bayelsa case, the Supreme Court had a fairly straightforward recoup of a bit of its shriveled credibility.

The untidy credentials of the Deputy governor- elect gave the Court both a moral and legal crutch to stagger home with. Given the serial untidiness in the paper qualifications of the deputy governor -elect, the verdict of the Court was expected. It was easy for the Court to reaffirm its earlier ruling which, in any case, was impeccable from the perspective of both law and justice.

Even then, that ruling was curiously inconsistent in terms of precedent. When Governor Abubakar Audu of Kwara State passed on before assuming his mandate, the same Supreme Court ruled that his deputy-elect could not assume his seat by virtue of being on a common ticket with the late Audu. But the Court found it convenient in the Bayelsa case to nullify the David Lyon mandate on the basis of the deputy governor-elect’s disqualification. The Court only used the Bayelsa verdict to flex its shrunken muscle of sanctity. It even weighed down on the litigants and their counsels with indictments and hefty fines to wit.

But on the Imo case, the Court was caught in its own contradiction. By the nature of its earlier ruling on the Imo matter, it was clear that the Court trespassed into the realm of the political arithmetic of vote tallying. To be fair, nothing stops a court from using mathematical data as the basis of a judgment. But as an assemblage of ‘learned’ people, the Supreme Court had better ensure that its numbers add up. But in arriving at the original ruling that threw Mr. Ihedioha from the cozy confines of the Government House in Owerri into the job market, the Supreme Court’s arithmetic was somewhat dodgy and so its numbers did not add up politically.

First, the Court took over INEC’s role as ultimate vote tallying agency. Not only that, the Court revalidated votes that had been nullified as defective by INEC without caring to ascertain how many of these controversial votes there were. Worse still, the court relied on the evidence of a controversial witness- one police officer.

In an apparent haste to hand Mr. Hope Uzodinma the keys of the Owerri Governor’s mansion, the Court retrieved and tallied the INEC discredited votes and arrived at a ruling that produced a voter turnout far in excess of the total number of registered and accredited voters in the affected polling stations. Even in an age where every cheap smart phone is a calculator, the apex court lost sight of this mathematical incongruity, electoral curiosity and political minefield. The Supreme Court did not even have the good manners to reserve a role for INEC. It simply leap frogged Mr. Uzodinma from a fourth position to governor in an instant. In the process, the Court opened itself to charges of vicarious ballot inflation and, some have said, even election rigging. These are felonies that Nigerian politicians are repeatedly charged with. In the aftermath of this first ruling on Imo, it became hard for the public to choose between the Supreme Court and crass partisan politicians.

The public outrage was predictably spontaneous and instant. Processions thronged the streets of Owerri demanding justice for Mr. Ihedioha who won an election and was governing sensibly. Subsequently, the processions took on a more partisan hue in Abuja and other centers around the country. In an atmosphere riven with partisan frenzy, the apex court had enrolled

CJN, Tanko Muhammadu in a nasty partisan fray. So, whether or not it intended it, in the eyes of the public, the Supreme Court had become a vicarious ‘political party’ with an unclear agenda and an untidy reputation. It has since acquired a nasty partisan smell of compromise. These reservations musr have fuelled Mr. Ihedioha’s legitimate application for a review.

The assumption, I presume, is that the murkiness of the ruling left enough room for some salvage work.

Mr. Ihedioha’s review application was therefore a unique opportunity for the Court to recant and redeem itself. Tardiness of mathematical evidence and the possibility of evidence tampering while the disputed ballots were with the police would have served the Court well to plead ‘less than reasonable doubt’ and walk back.

The review could have played the ball back to INEC to re-do the sums or the entire election.

Instead of this simple route, the Court relapsed into the lazy option of arrogant reaffirmation of the obvious: re-stating its status as the court of ultimate jurisdiction whose rulings are emblazoned with the heavenly seal of constitutional finality. This is hubris, a reckless invocation of judicial absolutism and constitutional finality.

Taking shelter in its undisputed status as the court of ultimate jurisdiction with a constitutionally guaranteed finality does not help the Supreme Court. The devious argument insists that as the court of final authority, the public has no choice but to accept the finality of whatever rulings it makes on cases that come before it even if they are errant in law and unjust in essence.

The umbrella of immutable constitutional finality can be a dangerous one if carried to illogical extremes. If, for instance, a judgment of the Supreme Court errs in law and condemns an innocent man to death, then its constitutional finality will provide justification for such miscarriage of justice. Will the Court stand above the casket of the dead man and pronounce, like the proverbial errant cop: ‘you were right. But you are dead’? To carry this logic of constitutional finality to a lethal extent is to hide under the ultimate law of the land to justify glorified impunity.

Here, we need to be very careful. In the hands of an autocratic sovereign, this constitutional finality can become a tool for the judicial decoration of impunity and fascist violations of civil rights and even the constitution itself.

But in matters of a political nature especially where the sovereign rights of the people, as in a democratic election, are at stake, the invocation of constitutional immutability has limitations. The people are the ultimate sovereign. The constitution is the expression of their will on how they wish to be governed.

There are, however, instances in political cases when the expediency of socio political order precede strictly legal considerations. A Supreme Court would reasonably be expected to rule on the side of order and the survival of the polity in defence of an overriding public good. Where such a ruling cannot stand the rigour of strict judicial assessment, the Court would say so and insist that the ruling must not be cited as a precedent.

For instance, when in 1979 the election petition of Chief Awolowo

against Alhaji Shagari’s election was decided on the mathematical equation that twelve two thirds of the 19 states of the federation was the requirement for valid election, the Supreme Court ruled accordingly but stated that the case must not be cited subsequently as a va;id precedent.

In general, however, for a Supreme Court to subvert the popular will by vitiating the outcome of a popular election is a coup against the constitution. As it is, the Nigerian Supreme Court has allowed the Ihedioha case to plunge it into this whirlpool of jurisprudence. In the process, it has fatally damaged its very raison d’etre.

Maybe the Supreme Court is right in hurrying to hide under the constitution to camouflage its judicial atrocities since there is no alternate hiding place. But it could be a much-awaited indictment of our present constitutional order especially as it concerns the composition, modus operandi and general orientation of the Nigerian Supreme Court.

Perhaps this is an opportunity to say it loud and clear.

The current Nigerian Supreme Court is a renegade outfit in the context of the US-type presidential constitution that we proudly claim to be practicing. The framers of the 1999 constitution and its predecessor versions handed us the clone of a US-type federal constitution but a Westminster-type Supreme Court. The essential difference is a fundamental one which has become embarrassingly obvious with time.

The nine judges of the US Supreme Court are nominated by the president and confirmed by the senate mostly on the basis of their track record and, most importantly, ideological orientation. It is important whether a judge nominee is conservative, moderate or liberal. They could even be either democrats, republicans or independents on the basis of their beliefs. The nominees are chosen either from the bar or the bench. For their senate confirmation, they appear in person and the hearings take place on live television. Public objections, reservations and petitions are taken into consideration by the senate as the confirming authority. The full US Supreme Court is therefore a delicate balance of ideological tendencies in a manner that makes for balanced rulings that reflect the essential temper of the nation.

In our Westminster model, appointments to the Supreme Court are made only from the bench and in line with some public service pecking order that is literally handed down to the nominating president by the judicial establishment. Even when nominations are sent to the Senate, there is hardly an open hearing. The judicial committee of the senate ostensibly screens the president’s nominees and often routinely recommends confirmation. It does not matter what views are held by the judge nominee or their track record in matters like personal morality, probity or even general erudition. It becomes possible to appoint and confirm a Chief Justice of the federation whose understanding of ‘technicalities’ in law do not require that he be able to ‘fly’ a technical machine like an air plane!

Looking at today’s Supreme Court, one looks in vain for the caliber of erudition, moral stature and principle that came to be associated with judges of old like Eso, Obaseki, Elias, Oputa, Alexander and others. These were men who stood shoulder to shoulder in comparison with the best of their opposite numbers in the Western world.

Even with the best Supreme Court in the world, however, the point has variously been made by the Nigerian public that it is indeed a strange democracy in which ultimate verdict in an election is left to the dictates of a handful of judges. Something is seriously wrong with our current electoral law regime which confers such weighty powers on the judiciary. The outcome of an election in which citizens troop out to choose their leaders in a ballot process should not reside in the hands of a few judges.

This nullifies the popular essence of democratic choice and is bound to increase the degree of voter apathy, as more Nigerians now believe that voting is futile since some court is bound to invalidate their mandate along the line.

There are abiding issues that have been raked up by the Supreme Court’s handling of these recent political cases, especially the Imo application for a review. First, we need to bring our Supreme Court in line with the precise constitutional order that we have adopted.

Second, in matters where the interests of an electorate are at stake, the law must respect the supremacy of popular sovereignty as the basis for democratic order. Otherwise, the law could become a basis for the foundations of anarchy.

Third, the law should not provide a hiding place for villains and miscreants. Instead, it should be the vindication of the ultimate good by pointing in the direction of an acceptable moral code for the society.

Fourth, at its apex, the temple of justice must remain dressed in the regal disguise of being above mundane partisanship and subscribing to the crass ethics of ruffians, power gangsters and political miscreants.

Between the sovereign and the outlaw, the law must be fiercely partisan on the side of the lawful. Lawless justice is an open invitation to anarchy and a cruel reversal of order which itself is the precondition for the existence of the state and its legal superstructure in the first place.

As matters stand today, the Nigerian Supreme Court has used the Imo governorship case to pile up a huge deficit of credibility. It may not be able to liquidate that deficit any time soon.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R Ëž RCH 8, 2020 2019

PERSPECTIVE

The Judiciary: A Facilitator Or Hindrance to Democracy in Africa?

Paul Ejime

I

n political science, the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;trias politicaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; model for the governance of the state, popularised in modern democracy recognises the separation of powers, the division of state powers into three branches - legislature, executive and the judiciary. The idea contrasts with the fusion of powers in the parliamentary system, where the executive and legislative branches overlap.

The â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;tripartite systemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is commonly ascribed to the French political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu, who in his 1748 famous book, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Spirit of the Lawsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; espoused the theory of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;distributionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of powers. According to him, â&#x20AC;&#x153;When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person or the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.â&#x20AC;?

Montesquieu and other political philosophers/scholars made a special case for the judicial arm of government as a critical pillar of the tripod of democracy. He emphasised: â&#x20AC;&#x153;there is no liberty if the judiciary power be not separated from the legislative and executive.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;ŚThere would be an end of everything, were the same man or the same body, whether of the nobles or of the people, to exercise those three powers, that of enacting laws, that of executing the public resolutions, and of trying the causes of individuals.â&#x20AC;? Specifically, he argued that â&#x20AC;&#x153;the independence of the judiciary has to be real, and not merely apparent.â&#x20AC;?

It is against this background that we can situate the role or function of the judicial arm of government within the context of the consolidation of democracy in Africa, based on the recent pronouncements by Supreme Courts or Constitutional Councils/ Courts on electoral disputes in a growing number of African countries - Nigeria, Cote dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi, Guinea Bissau, and counting.

Political historians and legal experts will recall the â&#x20AC;&#x153;twelve two-thirdsâ&#x20AC;? legal mathematics in the Awolowo v. Shagari lawsuit instituted by the then opposition leader Chief Obafemi Awolowo against President-elect Alhaji Shehu Shagari following Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 11th August 1979, presidential election during the Second Republic.

Awolowo had mounted the legal challenge on the grounds that Section 34 A (i)(c)(ii) of the Electoral Decree No 73 of 1977 was not met (winning one-quarter of the votes in two-thirds of all the states of the Nigerian federation). The Election Tribunal dismissed his case and the Supreme Court presided by Justice Atanda Fatai Williams in a majority verdict affirmed the decision of the tribunal on 26th September 1979, with Justice Kayode Eso, giving the lone dissenting judgement. That apex court ruling remains a precedent in Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s jurisprudence.

There have also been numerous equally controversial, judicial pronouncements over electoral disputes since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999 after a prolonged spell of military rule.

There was the Chibuike Amaechiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s case following the Rivers State governorship election of 2007. Amaechi had contested and won the Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Democratic Party (PDP) primary, but his name was substituted by the party, an action which he challenged in court.

That case progressed to the Supreme Court, which on 26th October 2007, ruled that Amaechi was the rightful PDP candidate and therefore the winner of the April 2007 poll, eventhough his name was not on the ballot.

Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s former labour leader Adams Oshiomhole also ran in April 2007 for governor of Edo State under the Action Congress Party, with which his Labour Party had entered an alliance. PDP candidate Oserheimen Osunbor was declared the winner by the electoral commission, but on 20th March 2008, an Edo State election tribunal nullified Osunborâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s victory and declared Oshiomhole, the winner. A Federal Appeal Court sitting in Benin City on 11th November 2008 upheld that ruling based on several voting irregularities cited during the election proceedings.

In Cote dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Ivoire, the spill-over effects of the 2010/2011 postelection conflict are still festering. While the Ivorian Commission Electorale IndĂŠpendante (CEI), had announced provisional results declaring Alassane Ouattara winner of the second round of the 2010 election against sitting President Laurent Gbagbo, the Ivorian Constitutional Council (or Constitutional Court in some African countries), insisted that the CEI had no authority to announce any results, because it had already missed the deadline, and consequently the results were to be invalid.

At the heart of the dispute is article 94 of the Constitution of CĂ´te dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Ivoire which states that: The Constitutional Council shall control the regularity of the operations of the referendum and proclaim the final results of presidential elections. The rest they say is history.

Cote dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Ivoire ended up with two presidents and descended into unending constitutional and political crises. President-elect Ouattara is in power with the support of the UN and French Forces while Gbagbo ended up in prison at The Hague after his conviction by the International Criminal Court.

Following the 2007 post-election violence that killed more than 1,000 people in Kenya, the country in 2010, adopted a new constitution, which in addition to entrenching the concept of separation of powers with checks and balances, significantly reduced the powers of what had been perceived as an imperial presidency. The countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2013 presidential election in which President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner was eventully settled by the Supreme Court after his veteran opposition rival Raila Odinga challenged the result.

Again, the August 2017 presidential contest between the two perennial political opponents also ended up at the Supreme Court, which this time, nullified the victory of candidate Kenyatta, citing irregularities, and ordered a vote re-run which Kenyatta eventually won.

Malawi, a southern African country, has also not been spared judicial intervention in its national election. The countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Constitutional Court on 3rd February 2020 declared the election

Ejime

Justice & Law Statue of sitting President Peter Mutharika a nullity. On 12th February the same court threw out Mutharikaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s appeal and insisted on a re-run of the 21st May 2019 vote within 151 days. While Mutharika remains in power until a new election takes place, Malawi is in political anxiety.

Voters in Guinea-Bissau also went to the polls on 29th December 2019 to elect their president but it only took the decision of the Supreme Court to affirm the peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s will by rejecting a challenge brought by the runner-up Domingos Simoes Pereira of the ruling party, against the victory of opposition president-elect Umaro Cissoko Embalo. Politial observers fear that that legal victory is unliktely to end the perennial political instability in that country.

Back in Nigeria where the 23rd February 2019 presidential contest involving sitting President Muhammadu Buhari and 72 other candidates also ended up at the Supreme Court at the instance of the main opposition candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. The apex court upheld the lower courtsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; verdicts that declared Buhari victorious and like the presidential poll, several results of the 29 out the 36 statesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; governorship elections held on the 9th of March 2019 also received the attention of the Supreme Court.

However, the Supreme Courtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s verdicts on the election disputes in the Eastern state of Imo, and the Southern state of Bayelsa stood out, not only for their surprise or shock but also for their potential conseuqences on the polity.

On the Imo poll, the Court of Appeal had earlier upheld the election of PDPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Emeka Ihedioha, but the Supreme Court on 14th January 2020, overturned that decision and gave victory instead to APCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hope Uzodima. The Supreme Court in reaching its decision appeared to rely on the argument by Uzodimaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legal team, which canvassed the addition of votes from more than 300 polling units, which were excluded from the original tally.

Reactions to that Supreme Courtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision, both local and international are as diverse and varied as those offering them, but more telling is the implication that adding the excluded votes would mean there were more votes cast than the number of registered voters in Imo state (over-voting), which is an infringement of the electoral law. The PDP candidate has since returned to the Supreme Court, seeking a review of the case.

But while Nigerians were still waiting for the final word on the Imo gubernatorial poll dispute, the Supreme Court on the 13th of February 2020 dropped another controversial verdict on the 16th November 2019 governorship election in Bayelsa. That stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s APC governor-elect, David Lyon, and his running mate, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, were already preparing to be inaugurated on 14th February, when the Supreme Court nullified their election and ordered the Independent National Election Commission (INEC), Nigeria to withdraw the Certificates of Return issued to them. The Court cited inconsistencies in the qualification certificates tendered by the APC deputy governor-elect Degi-Eremienyo.

The PDP candidate Douye Diri and his running mate Lawrence

Ewhrudjakpo, the beneficiaries of the that Supreme Courtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision have since been sworn in as governor and deputy governor of Bayelsa state. The APC has also returned to the apex court for a review of its ruling.

Before then, the Supreme Court had previously intervened in disputes over the governorship elections in Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s northern state of Zamfara and southern state of Rivers, by upholding the verdicts of the lower/appellant courts that disqualified the APC candidates that emerged from flawed party primaries.

Doubtless, the involvement of the judiciary in resolving electoral disputes is well-intentioned and derives from the provisions of national constitutions or electoral laws, but the frequency of such interventions is becoming a troubling â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;new normalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in Africa, raising a fundamental question whether judicial verdicts, which in some cases, are based on â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;legal technicalitiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; can deliver democracy? Or whether through these controversial decisions, the judiciary is playing its role as the bulwark, facilitator or a hindrance to democracy in Africa?

Some might argue that the recruitment process of judges or judicial officers could or do in fact encourage the intervention of the judiciary in politics and therefore, the electoral process. For instance, some constitutions confer on the executive arm of government the power to appoint and dispense with the judges and judicial officers.

Therefore, political interference no matter how subtle, cannot be ruled out. It could also be argued that the judiciary is not entirely to blame for the hijacking of the political process, more than politicians who stand accused of corrupting the judicial system or â&#x20AC;&#x153;buyingâ&#x20AC;? court judgements. Indeed, it has become fashionable for politicians to undermine or manipulate the electoral process, claim â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;electoral victoryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and then ask aggrieved opponents to go to court to seek redress, knowing that they would â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;get their wayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in the courtroom.

And where do the electoral commissions, the scapegoat of every politician who loses any election stand in this equation vis-Ă -vis their core function of delivering credible elections and the spiralling costs of elections in Africa? For instance, Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s INEC is made to attend to more than 800 different legal suits emanating from electoral disputes within one electoral cycle, some of which are deliberately orchestrated by politicians to buy time. The tactic is not only time-consuming but costly and unhelpful to the conduct of credible elections or consolidation of democracy.

But the bottom line is that while the executive and legislative arms of government can afford to falter, and they should not, the judiciary remains the last hope of the common man, and to whom much is given, they say, much is expected.

According to late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, one of Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legal luminaries, described by former Chief Justice Mohammed Bello as â&#x20AC;&#x153;the Socrates of Supreme Court:â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;If the legislature is corrupt, you go to the judiciary for redress. If the executive is corrupt you go to the judiciary for remedy. (But) If the judiciary itself is corrupt, where do you go from there?

Their Lordships of the apex courts in any country that practices democracy do not only interpret the law; they make laws. Judges in all cases, and more so on electoral matters, bordering on the control and distribution of coveted state power and national resources, the rule of law and human rights, must be apolitical, independent and beyond reproach. This is because their judgements are legal precedents that guide the evolution of law and jurisprudence.

Hence, Justice Oputa in a famous lead judgement in the Adegoke Motors Ltd. v. Dr Babatunde Adesanya & Anor (1989) emphasised that: â&#x20AC;&#x153;(The Supreme Court verdicts) â&#x20AC;Śare final not because we (judges) are infallible; rather we are infallible because we are final.â&#x20AC;?

It is not for nothing that the statue of justice is depicted as a blindfolded woman (Themis, the Greek Goddess of Law and Justice) holding a sword or scroll in one hand and scales in the other.

Under the Greco-Roman mythology, the Scales of Justice represent the balance of the individual against the needs of society and a fair balance between the interests of individuals. The Scroll, on the other hand, represents learning and knowledge; while the Sword of Justice is the active force, a symbol of power, protection, authority and vigilance. The Blindfold, symbolizes Blind Justice, equality, knowing no differences in the parties involved.

While the executives operate from Mansions or Villas, and the legislature from hallowed Chambers, the court is the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Temple of Justice,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; and the temple here connotes sanctity and closeness to God! The celebrated British Judge, Alfred Thompson Denning, or Lord Denning, could not have been more brutal in defence of the integrity and independence of the judiciary when he insisted, while commenting on the wrongful convictions of the Birmingham Six in 1988, that: â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;Ś It is better that some innocent men remain in jail than that the integrity of the English judicial system be impugned.â&#x20AC;?

That view might be controversial but only goes to demonstrate the esteem at which the judicial arm of government is held.

The framers of national constitutions and electoral laws could not have contemplated that the exceptional intervention of courts to resolve electoral disputes should become â&#x20AC;&#x153;so frequent, normal and overwhelmingâ&#x20AC;? such that the courtroom will replace the ballot box or render elections inconsequential in a democracy.The trend if unchecked could lead to disillusionment and disenfranchisement of voters. Votes may no longer count if politicians can obtain from courtrooms what they fail to get through the ballot box.

It cannot be over-emphasized, that the judiciary is the light, which dispels anti-democratic darkness. A miscarriage of justice, bias, corruption or transactional justice facilitated by court or the judiciary, is like lighting a candle and hiding it under the bed made of combustible materials. The room and the entire house (in this case, democracy and nation-state), are emperiled! And God forbid that Their Lordships or the judiciary, the bastion of hope and beacon of light should engage, or become a tool for a catastrophic arson against the state and citizens they have sworn to protect. â&#x20AC;&#x201C;â&#x20AC;&#x201C;â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Paul Ejime is a Media and Communications Specialist.

79

THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ MARCH 8, 2020

THEALTERNATIVE

with RenoOmokri

Even Coronavirus Has Not Done as much Damage to Nigeria as President Buhari

I

deal in facts, not speculation, or emotion. What I am about to present here are the cold hard facts. You may not like them. You may hate me for exposing them. But you cannot say that they are not true. Let us focus on what cannot lie so that Nigeria can be saved, for as you know, “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

When former President Jonathan handed power over to President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, 2015, Nigeria owed N9 trillion, meaning that each Nigerian owed N45,000.

After five years of President Buhari, Nigeria now owes N27 trillion, meaning that each Nigerian is now indebted to the tune of N135,000.

By the time you add the $22.7 billion loan that the senate approved on Thursday, March 6, 2020, the national debt will rise to N36 trillion, which means that each Nigerian will then owe N180,000.

President Buhari has borrowed so much that our sharp foreign-debt increase caused Standard and Poor to downgrade Nigeria this past week. This is the third time in four months S&P is downgrading Nigeria (they upgraded us under former President Jonathan). Yet, Buhari has money to rehabilitate Boko Haram!

But the big question is, how has the N16 trillion debt that Buhari has already taken impacted your life? You pay more for the basics - food, fuel, electricity and education. The services the government should provide are now worse than they were in 2015. According to Transparency International, we are now much more corrupt as a nation than we ever were in 2015 (think Babachir, think Buhari raising up Ganduje’s hands, think of the $25 billion worth of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation contract awarded without due process, think of Aisha Buhari’s ADC).

So, at every stage, we are provenly worse than we were in 2015. And Ahmed Lawal’s rubber stamp gives this disappointment of a human-being the permission to further enslave us by accumulating more wealth. No wonder he is Farouk Lawan’s namesake!

It is not as if Buhari is even using the $22.7 billion loan for necessities or projects that will impact the lives of Nigerians.

I urge all citizens to go through the breakdown of the loan. $500 million for NTA? $200 million for “fiscal governance”?

Imagine!! Even #COVID -19 (#CoronaVirus) has not damaged Nigeria as much as Buhari!

And as if this was not enough, we got wind of the Bill to grant so-called ‘repentant’ Boko Haram members access to foreign education. Really?

The All Progressive Congress sponsored Repentant Boko Haram Bill provides for a foreign scholarship for repentant

Buhari terrorists and other goodies. Buhari and his cronies are showing their true colours. How many orphans or widows of Nigerian soldiers killed by Boko Haram enjoy such benefits? In fact, how many soldiers themselves enjoy such benefits?

When xenophobic attacks raged in South Africa, I begged Buhari to send a plane to evacuate Nigerians. He refused. His deputy, the supposed Pastor; Yemi Osinbajo, went for Mugabe’s funeral and would not bring back any. Yet, they sent a jet to Niger Republic to pick up repentant Boko Haramists.

It took private citizens, Allen Onyeama of Air Peace and Apostle Johnson Suleman, to repatriate Nigerians from South Africa. Even Nigerians in China were abandoned to their fate amid the COVID-19 infestation. This is also as other nations, smaller nations, evacuated. Yet President Buhari repatriated ‘repentant’ Boko Haramists and their wives from Niger Republic.

There is something fundamentally wrong with this man. It is obvious that he is King Midas in reverse. Whatever he touches turns to leprosy. Yet he continues to delude himself that he has integrity. Indeed, the emperor is butt naked, and he does not know it.

How can anyone in their right mind countenance such a thing as sponsoring killers abroad as compensation? Obviously,

President Buhari and El-Rufai are cut from the same demonic cloth. If you recall, El-Rufai once let out that he paid herdsmen compensation after they killed citizens of Nigeria in Kaduna, as a way of stopping future killings!

Repentant Boko Haram! With the doctrine of Taqiyya, any Boko Haramist can lie that he has repented. If they have repented, how come these Boko Haramists can’t lead the Nigerian Army to their former colleagues’ hideout? Why can’t they show us where the Chibok Girls are? Who is fooling who?

Monthly, we read of soldiers being waylaid by Boko Haram and slaughtered. How did Boko Haram get the info? No such thing as repentant Boko Haram.

The fact that President Buhari even considered this approach does aid volumes to those who understand the language of non-verbal communication.

If you doubt what I am inferring, then ask yourself how come herdsmen killings in Nigeria as a whole, and the Yoruba speaking states have reduced since the Southwest declared Amotekun? Think about it. When was the last time you heard about a killing, kidnap or farmland attack in the Southwest?

Evil only thrives when good men do nothing. The South-South, Southeast and the Kwajafa axis, should not lag.

As General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma said, “You must rise to protect yourselves from these people, if you depend on the Arm Forces to protect you, you will all die.”

If you doubted what General Danjuma said, then, I hope you have come to your senses now that this government is dishing out rewards to Boko Haram after they have killed Nigerian soldiers and civilians. That is just how much our lives matter to President Buhari.

And to those Nigerians praying for things to change, let me say the following: In a democracy, you don’t PRAY for the type of leaders you want. You PAY for the type of leaders you have. Because you voted for them with your own hands. They were not given to you by God. Stop asking God to do what He already empowered you to do.

Reno’s Nuggets

Love can make sex exist. But sex can’t make love exist. If it could, prostitutes would be the most loved people on earth. Sex can lead to pregnancy, but not to love. Love is the foundation of all good relationships. Never start your relationship with sex if you want true love to form. It does not matter if everybody is doing it. You are not everybody. You are the child of the most high God, and don’t you ever forget it Get my new book, #StartSolvingProblems, via the link below. We deliver hard copies worldwide. http://www.renoomokri.org/solving-problems/

Foreign Direct Investment: FG Score High Marks Ubong Nelson

Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President of Nigeria, then Acting President.

The August visitor was to inspect the massive EGINA FPSO moored to the quay of TARKWA BAY. All stakeholders were present at the event, except representatives of the ship builders, SHI. Media colleagues asked the question about the absence of the major contractor, but LADOL, host of the event refused to answer.

Intriguingly, the visitor, while making his opening speech, warned LADOL, not to walk the route of the case at Onne, where INTEL then was seen to be domineering over competitors a.k.a. monopoly.

N

igerians may not notice, but, some agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria, are stealthily re-writing the essence of doing business, as practiced globally. Often times, government policies have forced international investors to leave the Nigerian shores, but the example recently shown by Ms. Hadiza B. Usman, Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority, is very commendable.

What’s LADOL Angst?

Ms. Hadiza’s Masterstroke

By a letter dated November 14, 2019, entitled OFFER OF LEASE OF LAND AT TARKWA BAY NEAR LIGHTHOUSE, NPA, on behalf of the FGN, gave a direct lease to Samsung Heavy Industries, obviously from a fall-out of an earlier written letter by the international ship makers, asking for ‘’the protection of their investments’’.

So, SHI was given a direct lease of 11.2426 hectares, for 5 years beginning from November 15, 2019 with an instruction, never to sub-lease, ‘’as a way of resolving the matter in the interest of the parties involved and Nigeria as a destination’’, the offer stated.

What was the Misunderstanding About?

In early 2013, Total Upstream and partners, developing [OML] 130 in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria with the NNPC, awarded Samsung Heavy Industries of South Korea, the turnkey contract, which included design, procurement, construction, delivery and trial operation at the cost of about 3.6 billion dollars. As part of the Nigerian content laws, foreign companies engaged in oil and gas businesses must work with a local company to fulfil the requirements.

The demand brought LADOL, a Nigerian company, who had a 15- year lease on TARKWA BAY together with SHI. With a special purpose vehicle to execute the business, SHI-MCI, a JV was born. The terms of the JV are what gave rise to a nagging problem that almost sent out wrong signals to international investors in Nigeria, until NPA under Ms. Usman intervened.

Hadiza Bala Usman

What were the Contentions?

LADOL got TARKWA BAY Island at N41m for 15 years. That would not pose a problem, but the Nigerian company sub-leased 11.2426 hectares at 45m dollars for 5 years to SHI, to erect the fabrication yard where the completion jobs on the EGINA FPSO built in South Korea will be sited.

SHI insisted it brought in 300m dollars from the parent company in South Korea to boost the SHI-MCI JV between it and LADOL, and that, LADOL never invested any money in the JV, up to the delivery of the EGINA FPSO project.

Ugly Scenario

In 2018, as the EGINA FPSO arrived from South Korea for the final journey to the Niger Delta, LADOL locked out SHI from accessing the TARKWA BAY facility, threatening to jeopardize and upset the timelines earlier set by the stakeholders involved.

This writer was at the reception event held on the behalf of Professor

LADOL had accused SHI of ‘’gross negligence and total disregard to Nigerian Content laws and other regulatory requirements’’.

But, a Nigerian executive of SHI laughed off the accusation, maintaining that, if the company had broken even one Nigerian Content law, NCDMB, charged with that responsibility, would have penalised them, knowing how stern NCDMB are in protecting the local content laws. The source added that, LADOL had requested for 1% FOB payment on EGINA FPSO to its sister company, GRML, a free-zone management company, rather than the TSA account of the FGN. SHI as expected, requested for an explanation, but LADOL insisted on the payment.

In order not to frustrate a fresh injection of over 200,000 barrels of crude oil into the Nigerian economy, expected from the deployment of the EGINA FPSO, TOTAL had to step in and mediated.

Legal Squabbles

SHI, scared of losing its multi-million dollar investments, and LADOL insisting that they have a case, both approached the courts of law, stakeholders brought both businesses to negotiating and peace making tables, yet, nothing positive was reached, until, Ms. Hadiza Usman, appointed by the President on July 11, 2016 as the CEO of NPA, wielded the big stick, as the owners of TARKWA BAY, and restored SHI to the ownership of their facility.

Last Line

Government functionaries should emulate the pain-staking path that Ms. Hadiza Usman followed, in order to encourage foreign direct investments into Nigeria.

80

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER Ëž ÍśË&#x153; 2020

with demola.ojo@thisdaylive.com

Ă&#x2039;Ă?Ă&#x17E; ĂĄĂ?Ă?Ă&#x2022;Ë&#x153; Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2019;Ă? Ă?Ă?Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x17E;Ă? Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x161;Ă&#x161;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2122;Ă Ă?Ă&#x17D; Ă&#x2039; ĚżÍ&#x201C;Í&#x201C;Ë&#x203A;Í&#x2DC;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x2DC; Ă&#x2013;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x2DC; Ă&#x153;Ă?Ă&#x203A;Ă&#x;Ă?Ă?Ă&#x17E; Ă&#x152;ĂŁ Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2019;Ă? Ă&#x161;Ă&#x153;Ă?Ă?Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x17D;Ă?Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x17E;Ë&#x153; Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2019;Ă? Ă&#x2019;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x;Ă?Ă? Ă&#x2122;Ă? Ă&#x153;Ă?Ă&#x161;Ă? Ă?Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x;Ă&#x2018;Ă&#x2019;Ă&#x17E; Ă&#x2039; Ă&#x152;Ă&#x153;Ă?Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x2022; Ă&#x152;Ă?Ă?Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x;Ă?Ă? Ă&#x2122;Ă?

Ě&#x2039;Í&#x2019;Í&#x161;Ë&#x153; Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x17D; Ă?Ă&#x201C;Ă Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2013; Ă&#x2018;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x;Ă&#x161;Ă? Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x201C;Ă?Ă&#x2022;Ă?Ă&#x17D; Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x2018;Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC;Ă?Ă&#x17E; Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2014;Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x2122;ĂĄËŞĂ? Ă&#x161;Ă&#x;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x2013;Ă&#x201C;Ă? Ă&#x2019;Ă?Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x2018; Ă&#x2122;Ă? Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2019;Ă? Ă?Ă&#x2122;Ă?Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x2013; Ă&#x2014;Ă?Ă&#x17D;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2039; Ă&#x152;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2013;Ă&#x2013;Ë&#x203A;Ë&#x203A;Ë&#x203A;

L

ast week, Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legislative houses were in the news for different reasons, not least among them the senateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approval of a $22.7 billion loan request by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Not everyone is sold on the loan, even within the senate, despite the senate presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s twitter handle claiming it was a â&#x20AC;&#x153;unanimous decision.â&#x20AC;?

According to the presidency, the loan is to help execute key infrastructural projects but some senators said the geographical spread of the projects is lopsided and wanted each item of the request debated, rather than a blanket approval which was finally given.

Opposition to the senateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social media bill continues unabated, with a public hearing of the bill titled â&#x20AC;&#x153;Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill, 2019â&#x20AC;? set for tomorrow, March 9.

A large number of civil society organisations (about 100) have kicked against tomorrowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hearing, labelling it a resuscitation of â&#x20AC;&#x153;an obnoxious bill that had been hitherto unanimously rejected by the peopleâ&#x20AC;? and should not be further considered for public hearing to be funded by tax-payersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; money.

On its part, the lower legislative chamber, the house of representatives, moved a motion to give itself a break because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) which has infected about

MARCH 8, 2020˾ T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

81

SOCIALMEDIABITS 100,000 people and killed more than 3,000 across the world.

Despite Nigeria’s exemplary success in containing the virus so far, with only one case (under quarantine), the lawmakers are spreading fear, lamenting that there is nothing being done to adequately prepare the national assembly in the event of the spread of the virus among staff and visitors.

But according to the directorgeneral of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, members should rather assist the efforts of the federal government by coming up with a sustainable budget in the fight against the spread of the virus in Nigeria, instead of causing panic among the general public.

Ihekweazu rightly noted that if other citizens of the country are to toe the line of lawmakers, then businesses, schools and offices would shut down.

Everyday Nigerians are already taking precautions with the use of sanitisers becoming widespread. The house should justify their stupendous

allowances and help come up with precautions to prevent an outbreak rather than seeking an excuse to stay away from work.

Meanwhile, the United States government has placed a $7 million (N2.5 billion) bounty for information that leads to the arrest of Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the insurgent group, Boko Haram.

This was announced via a tweet by the US Department Rewards for Justice Programme last Wednesday.

The timing is appropriate, as Nigerians continue to voice their outrage over a proposed commission to rehabilitate “repentant” Boko Haram members. The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) urged the senate to drop the bill noting that the legislation would enable “repentant terrorists” receive foreign education.

This will include accessing funds from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) and subventions from the government.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R Ëž Íś Ë&#x153; 2020

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NEWS

Acting News Editor Ă&#x152;Ă&#x2122;ĂŁĂ?Ă&#x2018;Ă&#x2039; Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC;Ă?Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x2014;Ă&#x201C; E-mail: Ă&#x2018;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x2122;ĂŁĂ?Ă&#x2018;Ă&#x2039;Ë&#x203A;Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC;Ă?Ă&#x2039;Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x2014;Ă&#x201C;ĚśĂ&#x17E;Ă&#x2019;Ă&#x201C;Ă?Ă&#x17D;Ă&#x2039;ĂŁĂ&#x2013;Ă&#x201C;Ă Ă?Ë&#x203A;Ă?Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2014;Ë&#x153;͸Î&#x20AC;͸Î&#x20AC;͚ΠÎ&#x20AC;͞ͽΠ͸ Ě&#x2122;Ă?Ă&#x2014;Ă? Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2DC;Ă&#x2013;ĂŁĚ&#x161;

FG Abandons Benue IDPs, Excludes State from N10bn Disaster Fund Â&#x2021; Â&#x2021; Decries burden of taking case 6000 Camerounian refugees

Adedayo Akinwale The Benue State Government has alleged that the federal government has abandoned about 500,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the state while excluding it from

the N10 billion Disaster Fund set up for the states attacked by Fulani herdsmen.

Also, the state government has accused the federal government of failing to provide adequate support to address the challenge of over

6,000 Anglophone Cameroonian refugees, who were domiciled in Ikyogen settlement in Kwande Local Government Area (LGA).

The Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency, Dr. Emmanuel

Says 500,000 homeless, laments attack on Ortomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s village Shior expressed the concern at a news conference in Abuja at the weekend, accusing the federal government of abandoning the IDPs and Cameroonian in the state Shior, also, lamented that the state had been excluded from

IN RECOGNITION OF BUHARI...

L-R: Minister of State for Environment, Mrs. Sharon Ikeazor receiving a plaque from the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari at the 2020 Police Games in Anambra...yesterday.

the N10 billion, which the federal government promised through Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to give to states affected by insurgency and herdsmen attacks in 2019.

He said no single money had been given to Benue state despite the devastation to its economy as a result of the farmers-herders conflict and accompanying burden of catering for the IDPs and refugees.

He said part of the money could be used to rehabilitate communities and help in the preparation of the return of the IDPs, but the state government had been left to address the conflict, a burden which he noted should not be borne by the state government alone.

Apart from the burden of catering for the IDP in the state, the executive security said the state government had been grappling with the challenge of Cameroonian refugees who are in Ikyogen settlement in Kwande LGA and numbering about 6,000.

He said the federal government â&#x20AC;&#x153;has not done enough in managing the refugees, the federal government only comes in through NEMA to provide relief intervention in the area of food.

But Shior noted that the IDPs â&#x20AC;&#x153;have other needs and the Benue

state government is shouldering that almost alone apart from support form international and local humanitarian actors.â&#x20AC;?

In 2019, he explained that the federal government visited Benue State and made a promise of about N10 billion for states that were affected by Fulani herdsmen attacks.

He added that the state government â&#x20AC;&#x153;has a share in this money.

We had been expecting that part of the money be given to Benue state for the reconstruction of homes, schools, markets and all that were destroyed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To this point that I speak with you that money has not come. That has also posted a big challenge, because such heavy burden is not supposed to be shouldered by state government alone, federal government has to take responsibility to be in the lead.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Even in the area of security, not much is being done. The Operation Whirl stroke by the Nigerian military is not enough, which is why the attackers are still around. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is need for federal government to do more in terms of security, there is need to strengthen security efforts, there is need to include other security outfits like

APC, Lawan, Tinubu, Omo-Agege, Gbajabiamila Hail Osinbajo at 63 Tobi Soniyi in Lagos, Deji Elumoye, Adedayo Akinwale, Udora Orizu in Abuja The All Progressives Congress (APC), its National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, his deputy, Ovie Omo-Agege and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila have felicitated with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as he clocks 63 today.

In separate statements they commended Osinbajo for his commitment and dedication to the development of the country.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mallam Lanre IssaOnilu, said the party noted the vice presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s massive contributions in the success of the APC-led administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Social Investment Programme (SIP), which he said, was reputed to be Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest and most ambitious social welfare policy for the most vulnerable in our society.

He said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;On this auspicious day, we salute the patriotism, doggedness and untiring efforts of the vice president in partnering and assisting President Muhammadu Buhari, in tackling insecurity,

fighting corruption and resetting the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy on the path of growth and development. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our great party also applauds the vice presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s headship of the National Economic Council (NEC), a development, which has ensured a more beneficial synergy between the federal and state governments in quickly and frontally addressing issues that are pertinent to the welfare of Nigerians.â&#x20AC;?

The ruling party said it was not in any doubt that the commendable partnership of the president and the vice president would take Nigeria to the next level of peace, progress

FUOYE to Offer Best Legal Education in Nigeria Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti The Vice Chancellor, Federal University, Oye Ekiti (FUOYE), Prof. Kayode Soremekun yesterday disclosed that the institution would offer the best Faculty of Law in the country about a decade after its establishment.

Soremekun, a visiting member of the Guardian Editorial Board, assured Nigerians seeking to pursue quality career in legal education that FUOYE was ready to make it accessible to them without unnecessary bottleneck and unbearable financial burden.

He gave this assurance yesterday when he received the leadership of the Council on Legal Education (CLE) in Oye Ekiti while inspecting and verifying facilities already put in place for the commencement of programmes in institutionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s law faculty.

The Director General of the council, Prof. Isa Hayatu-Ciroma (SAN) led the team comprising the President of Council of Attorney-Generals in Nigeria, Mr Ibrahim Sanni Mohammed (SAN); a representative of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Aminu Gadanya and a director in the CLE, Mrs Elizabeth Max-Uba, among others.

The council had granted accreditation to FUOYE in 2019 to begin the law faculty, which the vice chancellor promised to be the best in the federation, citing infrastructure and personnel already arrayed for its take-off.

During the assessment visit, Soremekun said FUOYE worked for the creation of the faculty to deepen access â&#x20AC;&#x153;to the legal profession and remove the fear of exclusiveness that people may erroneously have to pursue and make a career in

the profession in Nigeria.â&#x20AC;?

To buttress the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s position, the Vice Chancellor said some prominent legal icons â&#x20AC;&#x153;have asked me why we want to start law again in Ekiti knowing that Ekiti State University and Afe Babalola University are already established centres of training in the state. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We want to serve that poor village boy and girl who cannot access such training in those places and deepen the penetration of legal training not only for Ekiti people, but across the federation and increase accessibility for the finest legal training that Nigeria can provide.â&#x20AC;?

The council had paid a verification visitation to the Federal University Oye Ekiti where it inspected facilities earmarked for the take-off of the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new faculty of law.

and prosperity.

In a message released by his media office, Tinubu recalled Osinbajoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contributions to the success of his administration as governor of Lagos State.

He said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Erudite legal luminary, Osinbajoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reputation for loyalty, dedication, selflessness is well deserved. He is resolutely committed to the causes he believes in. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Osinbajo has proven to be a dependable ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, working harmoniously with the president to deliver for the country. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I recall with fond memories the

time we worked together along with other technocrats to help lay a solid foundation for an egalitarian and prosperous Lagos. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We used the instrumentality of the law to advance the course of restructuring and get for Lagos what rightly belongs to her. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Most of the landmark cases Lagos won at the Supreme Court bore Osinbajoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s imprint. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wish his wife, Dolapo Osinbajo, and other members of the family a most memorable celebration.â&#x20AC;?

In his message to the vice president, the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, said Osinbajo is

exceptionally loyal to the Buhari administration. According to him, Osinbajo has shown exceptional loyalty in government and dedication to his duties. He noted the many outstanding achievements of Osinbajo as an erudite lawyer, distinguished scholar, revered clergyman and political leader. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Professor Osinbajo has brought his diverse experiences to bear on his role in government and demonstrated that one can actively participate in politics at the highest levels and yet maintain personal integrity and high reputation,â&#x20AC;?

Lawan said.

Fresh Crisis Hits Ekiti PDP Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti A lawmaker representing Ekiti South Senatorial District, Mrs Biodun Olujimi yesterday accused a committee set up by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party to conduct the ward congress of the party in the state of compromise, saying it had taken steps that could lead to rigging and perversion of peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s will.

Olujimi said attempt by the committee, which is led by Taraba State Deputy Governor, Mr. Haruna Manu, to cancel the election already conducted across the 177 wards, was akin to a breach of trust and tantamount to gross manipulation of the process.

She made the allegation at a session with journalists in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital yesterday, rejecting the plan of the committee to cancel the result of the ward congresses.

The senator said the party members would not tolerate imposition in the PDP, alleging that the desperation exhibited by former Governor Ayodele Fayose and Manu, who is also the chairman of the congress, was suspicious and unacceptable .

Fayose and Olujimi had been battling for the control of the party, which prompted Fayose to support Hon Bisi Kolawole for the state chairmanship position while Olujimi is backing Hon Kehinde Odebunmi.

Addressing journalists yesterday, Olujimi said they had announced 8:00 a.m for the congresses.

She said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;At 8:00 a.m, we found out that INEC, police, Department of State Services , Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps and the electoral officers were already at the various wards. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We allowed them to do what

they wanted to do. Of course, they conducted the congresses AND everybody signed. At about 12.30 pm, everybody had dispersed. The chairman of the electoral committee came about 3.15pm. He had to do protocols in the government house to show his presence. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He came into the party office at about 4:00 p.m. At 4:00 p.m., he said well, since he had just come, the congress had to be reorganised.

We were wondering why the congresses would be reorganised because it had been done and everybody had signed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We suspected that some people had compromised. When he said people should go, we said there should be two options: that the result be upheld because everybody was present, and; if it is not upheld, we postpone it to a proper date when everybody can be there again. But he rejected our suggestions. He will go on with it this night.

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NEWS Falana: State, Local Govts Entitled to 48% of Recovered Funds Â&#x2021; Laments NGFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s failure to challenge FGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arbitrariness Â&#x2021; Says Buhariâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economic team illegal, unconstitutional ¡Â&#x2021; Faults NNPC for withholding $25bin from Federation Accounts Gboyega Akinsanmi A human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) yesterday said state and local governments are entitled to at least 47.32 percent of the stolen funds recovered from indicted public officers in line with the provisions of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) Act. Falana also noted that the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to constitute the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PAEC) violated Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the Constitution, which outlines the powers and responsibilities of the National Economic Council (NEC).

The rights activist similarly faulted the refusal of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to remit $22.06 billion and N481.75 billion to the Federation Account, asking the state and local governments to challenge NNPC in court.

He challenged the authorities of the state and local governments to demand their shares of all the stolen funds recovered since 1999 during a phone conversation with THISDAY, lamenting that the management of the funds had been left completely in the hands of the apex government.

Since 1999, the federal government had recovered over $4 billion from the late tyrant, General Sani Abacha apart from $308 million the US Government had agreed to repatriate to Nigeria on conditions that the projects on which the funds would be expended would be administered by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority and independently audited.

Aside the stolen fund recovered from the late tyrant, the Presidential Advisory Council Against Corruption (PACAC) had

disclosed that the anti graft agencies â&#x20AC;&#x201C; EFCC and ICPC among others â&#x20AC;&#x201C; had recovered a sum of over N1 trillion from the local treasury looters, which the president had directed, should be remitted to Single Treasury Account (STA).

Similarly, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed had announced that a sum of N605 billion had been recovered through the whistle blower policy of the federal government. The presidency might direct that the funds be remitted to the TSA. Contrary to the provisions of the RMAFC Act and section 153 of the 1999 Constitution, Falana lamented that the management of the recovered loot had been left completely in the hands of officials of the federal government.

He observed that it was not in dispute that the bulk of the money stolen by indicted public officers and contractors was either taken from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or from money paid for the execution of government contracts On this note, Falana argued that the recovered loots should be paid directly into the Federation Accounts and not the Single Treasury Accounts, noting that the federal government â&#x20AC;&#x153;is entitled to 52.68 percent; the state governments 26.72 percent and local government 20.6 percent.â&#x20AC;?

The rights activist lamented the decision of the Nigerian Governorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Forum (NGF) â&#x20AC;&#x153;not to demand that the loot recovered from such persons be paid into the Federation Accounts for distribution to all tiers of government. â&#x20AC;&#x153;All efforts made by a consortium of lawyers to persuade the Nigeria Governors Forum to demand for the share of the

state and local governments in the recovered loot have proved abortive,â&#x20AC;? Falana lamented.

With the Presidential Economic Advisory Council the president constituted September 2019, the rights activist claimed that Buhariâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision violated Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the Constitution, which he said, set up the National Economic Council (NEC) for the purpose of advising the president on the economic affairs of the federation.

Under Part of the Third Schedule, the 1999 Constitution states as follows: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The NEC shall have power to advise the President concerning the economic affairs of the Federation, and in particular on measures necessary for the coordination of the economic planning efforts or economic

The Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) said yesterday that it was finding ways to innovate and shore up its dwindling revenue, as a result of the influx of modern messaging and communication technology.

The Post Master General of the Federation, Dr Adebayo Adewusi, who spoke during the unveiling of a partnership with Hansa Green Energy Solutions, promoted by Ukpa Hansa Energy Solutions Limited, noted that the event marked another milestone in the serviceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s effort to use its extensive postal outlets to provide innovative and unique products.

He recalled that in the past, post office was a rallying point for people in most communities, while postal services were considered as one of the pillars of governance, a sign of government presence and commitment to the social welfare of its citizens.

However, Adewusi noted that in recent time, globalisation coupled with the growth in e-commerce,

aided with the advent of new communication technology had forced many postal administrations to explore ways of expanding their frontiers through collaboration with relevant stakeholders in order to meet the emerging challenges in the communication sector. â&#x20AC;&#x153;What we are witnessing here today is the rediscovery of the same post office but in a different way. This time around, we are re-engineering and re-inventing NIPOST through collaborations with different stakeholders from the public and private sectors and also leveraging on technology to present an array of innovative products and services aimed at meeting the divergent needs of our people. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The unveiling of Hansa Green Energy Solutions, (product of Ukpa Hansa Energy Solutions Limited) today is a result of such collaborations through our agency service and our contributions toward the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the federal governmentâ&#x20AC;? he said.

He added that as part of the

into another body and the body had been vested with the power to advise the president on the management of the national economy in violation of Part I of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution.

The rights activist observed that the usurpation of the powers of the NEC by the PAEC â&#x20AC;&#x153;is illegal and unconstitutional.

In this circumstance, the PEAC ought to be dissolved without any further delay. In the alternative, the PAEC may be constituted into a sub-committee of the NEC.â&#x20AC;?

As revealed in the report of the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI), also, Falana faulted the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for withholding a sum of $22.06 billion and N481.75 billion,

which according to him, should be remitted to the Federation Account for the benefits of all federating units.

He said out of the figure, a sum of $18.9 billion â&#x20AC;&#x153;represents the dividend earned from NLNG from 2004-2014. An additional sum of $3.1 billion dividend was paid from 2015-2018. Altogether, the NNPC has withheld a total sum of $25.1 billion and N481 billion from the Federation Account.â&#x20AC;?

Falana argued that the NEITI justified its position that the NNPC and its subsidiary, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) still owed the Federation Account more than $20 billion,â&#x20AC;? which according to him, was sufficient enough to help jump-start the national economy.

IME TO SOCIALISE. . .

L-R: General Officer Commanding (GOC), 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu, Maj.-Gen. Lasisi Adegboye; Enugu State Governor, Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and the Commanding Officer, 103 Battalion, Enugu, Lt Col. Yusuf Salisu, during the battalionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2019 West African Social Activities (WASA), held at the Awkunanaw Barracks, Enugu, yesterday

NIPOST Shores Up Revenue, Partners Energy Firm Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

programme of the various Governments of the Federation.â&#x20AC;?

The NEC is one of the federal executive bodies established pursuant to Section 153 of the Constitution.

As stakeholders in the national economy the 36 state governors and the Governor of the Central Bank are members of the NEC. The Vice President is the Chairperson of the NEC. However, in contravention to this schedule, the president had dissolved the Economic Management Team (EMT), a technical body under the National Economic Council to advise the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on economic matters and set up the Presidential Economic advisory Council.

Falana, therefore, lamented that Buhari was reported to have appointed some Nigerians

world postal network of over 660,000 post offices, NIPOST was placed in a vantage position with about 5000 postal outlets consisting of full-fledged post offices, postal agencies and post shops with over 12000 employees across the country to offer its agency services.

Adewusi explained that by making available post office counters nationwide to Ukpa Hansa Energy Solutions Limited to market its products to Nigerians, many of the issues associated with lack of power in Nigerian homes would be a thing of the past. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This will help in the advocacy for clean energy by delivering energy solutions. From today this service would be available in our post offices nationwide on demand by customersâ&#x20AC;? he noted.

In her comments, the Chairman, Board of Directors, NIPOST, Maimuna Abubakar, stressed that the transformation of the agency had begun, noting that the revenue drive of the organisation will continue with its diversification into non-messaging areas.

Youths Celebrate Osinbajo, Ndoma-Egba on Birthday Today, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (GCON), (SAN) and a former Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba (OFR), (CON) will be 63 and 64 years old respectively.

In a tribute to them, youths across the federation issued a congratulatory message in which they brought out the similarities they both shared.

Titled, â&#x20AC;&#x153;A Tale of Two Birthdayâ&#x20AC;?, the tribute stated that between Osinbajo and Ndoma-Egba, their birth on the 8th day of March was more than mere cosmic coincidence.

According to the youths, while the vice president was born in 1957, the latter was given birth to in 1956.

The tribute read in part: â&#x20AC;&#x153;But apart from that difference in their years of birth, every pattern in the trajectories of both men bear striking similarities. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The two chose a career in law profession. Both read law from the same law faculty at the University of Lagos. While Osinbajo graduated in 1978 and was called to the Bar in 1979, Ndoma-Egba graduated in 1977 and called to the Bar in 1978.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Respectively, they must have graduated at age 21 and called to the Bar at the age of 22. For that generation of university graduates, it is a well known fact that graduating at such early age is an unusual happenstance. It must mean that both Yemi Osinbajo and Victor Ndoma-Egba as youngsters are academic whiz kids. â&#x20AC;&#x153;After graduation, Osinbajo went into academics and NdomaEgba went into private legal practice. Both made remarkable successes at their career paths as lawyers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Vice President Osinbajo became a law professor and both earned the ultimate jewel of the legal profession as Senior Advocates of Nigeria - one in 2002 and the other in 2004. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ndoma-Egbaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s debut in public service was serving as Commissioner for Works and Housing in old Cross River State (now Cross River and Akwa Ibom state). That was in 1985 when Major-General Muhammadu Buhari was military Head of State and Commander

in Chief. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As providence would have it, Osinbajo is currently Vice-President to President Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sixth democratically elected leader. Like Ndoma-Egba, Osinbajo too had served as Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos in 1999, while Ndoma-Egba had similarly served in the same capacity on a brief note in old Cross River State during the days on military rule in the country. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But if all these similarities in the pathways of the duo was due to the predictable outcome of their devotion to the law profession and public service, what about their corporeality? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Both are of the lithe athletic physique, with sartorial and genteel disposition of men of character, imbued with religion and devotion to God. Professor Osinbajo is a renowned Pentecostal preacher and Ndoma-Egba has a flare of passion to his Roman Catholic faith, narrowly missing his way into the priesthood.

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NEWS XTRA NEDC Seeks Review of Military Strategy to Defeat Boko Haram

Â&#x2021; Laments destruction of churches, business in Garkida Â&#x2021; Says insurgents touched its chairmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house Daji Sani in Yola The North East Development Commission (NEDC) yesterday advised the Nigeria Armed Forces to review and renew their strategies to end the activities of Boko Haram and its splinter group, Islamic State in West Africa Province in the Northeast.

NEDC, with mission to lead the reconstruction and development of six Northeast states devastated

by Islamic insurgents lamented the scale of destruction wrecked on Garkida, a town in Gombi Local Government Area, Adamawa State recently attacked by terrorists.

The Chairman of the NEDC, General Paul Tarfa gave the advice in Yola, the Adamawa capital in an interview with THISDAY yesterday after assessing the level of destruction by Boko Haram in Garkida recently.

Alongside the chairman, Managing Director of the NEDC, Alhaji Mohammad Alkali and the Chairman of Gombi Local Government Area, Mr. Dimas Chikel, among others, were parts of NEDCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assessment team.

The Northeast has been the centre of terrorist operations since 2009 with no fewer than 27,000 killed, some two million people displaced and communities destroyed in Adamawa, Bauchi,

Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe States.

Consequently, the NEDC was established in 2017 with mandate to receive and manage funds from allocation from the Federal Account and international donors for the settlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction of roads, houses and business premises of victims of insurgency as well as tackling poverty, illiteracy and ecological problems.

During the assessment of attacks on Garkida yesterday, the chairman of the commission described the level of destruction the Boko Haram Insurgents wrecked on the Northeast, especially the recent attack on Garkida town in Gombi Local Government Area, Adamawa State as very bad.

With the kind of calibre of people working for the NEDC, however, Tarfa assured the governments and people of the Northeast states that the commission was well-prepared for the task for which it was established.

He explained that he led an assessment team of NEDC to Garkida himself to ascertain the level of damage caused by the attack on Garkida, thereby reiterating the commissionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment to the conflict-ravaged zone.

He said that the Governor of Adamawa State, Alhaji Umaru

Fintiri had furnished the commission with the number of casualties.

He noted that the management of the NEDC would plan how to rebuild and continue to provide more palliatives and support for the affected victims of the attack in Garkida and other affected places in the Northeast.

He lamented that government institutions and individual houses

including churches and business places were burnt completely, adding that the activities of Boko Haram had paralysed businesses activities in Garkida and its localities.

Tarfa, who is an indigene of Garkida, said the insurgents carted away scanning machines and drugs from the stores of the General Hospital and burnt down

the hospital vehicles, disclosing that his own house was affected.

With the recent attacks on Garkida, Tarfa revealed that NEDC â&#x20AC;?is already talking to top military hierarchy to beef up security and renew strategies in their operations to bring to the end insurgency in the Northeast.â&#x20AC;?

NEDCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s helmsman, however, observed that just because the

insurgents came to Garkida and wrecked havoc did not suggest that they had become stronger.

He explained that NEDC team was in Garkida to ascertain the level of damage to enable the commission plan on how best to assist individuals affected and rebuild government institutions razed down by the insurgents.

IN IKEAFORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S HONOUR. . .

L-R: Anglican Bishop of Mbamili Diocese, Bishop Henry Okeke; his Aguata Diocese counterpart, Bishop Samuel Ezeofor and former Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi during the burial of the mother in law of Bishop Ephrian Ikeakor of Amichi Diocese at Umuchu... Friday .

APC Chief Disagrees with Makinde, Says PDP Canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Control Lagos Yuguda, Abubakar to Refund N1tn to Bauchi Coffers Segun James in Lagos A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Lanre Razak has disagreed with Oyo State Governor, Mr. Seyi Makinde that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would win the 2023 governorship election in the state.

Razak, a member of the Governorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Advisory Council (GAC), in Lagos added that the level of achievements in the last two decades would make it impossible for the PDP to defeat the APC in any 2023 elections in the state.

He faulted Makindeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s position at a session with journalists at the weekend, noting that there was no way the PDP could take over Lagos in 2023 even with the achievements of the current state governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Makinde and former Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George had at a reconciliation meeting boasted that the APC should be ready for defeat in Lagos State come 2023.

But Razaq explained why the PDP would not win Lagos, saying the electorates since the return to democratic rule in 1999 have voted only honest and selfless leaders who were committed to delivering good governance for the greater good of the majority.

He said former President Olusegun Obasanjo tried in vain to capture Lagos State in 2003 and 2007, though the PDP captured other Southwest states that made up the zone.

Razaq said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are at home with the progressive governance instituted by the National Leader of the APC and the architect of modern Lagos, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu when he was governor between 1999 and 2007

which has transformed the state to be the most economically and financially viable among the 36 states especially his financial wizardry. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The truth is that only Lagos State that can survive financially and pay its bills without depending on the monthly allocation from the Federation Account. It can also boast of the best infrastructural development among its peers nationwide, which is why the state has retained its magnetic pull to most Nigerians even after the relocation of the Federal Capital Territory to Abuja in August 1991. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The coming of Sanwo-Olu of the APC has further compounded the woes of the PDP which were overwhelmingly rejected by Lagos residents during the 2019 general election with our great party winning all the national and state legislative seats in the state. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The achievements of the current administration in less than one year into its four-year mandate which have impacted meaningfully on the people will make it almost impossible for the PDP to win even a councillorship seat in future elections.â&#x20AC;?

Razak urged the people to support the state government through prompt payment of taxes and rates, obedience to traffic and sanitation laws, as well as reporting the activities of criminal elements to security agencies to maintain the current peace and security across the state.

According to him, the state government could only meet its statutory obligations to the citizens if they fulfil their part of the bargain by promptly discharging their civic duties, which include the payment of taxes and other charges.

Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi The Assets Recovery Committee set up by the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed has indicted the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s immediate past governor, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar and his predecessor, Alhaji Isa Yuguda of corruption allegations and conversion of government properties.

Consequently, the committee has asked the former governors and their associates to refund over N1 trillion allegedly looted from the coffers while they were in office.

A member of the committee, Mr. Lawal Ibrahim disclosed this yesterday at a session with journalists,

noting that several assets belonging to the state were discovered in Abubakarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residence.

As the committee was rounding up its activities, Ibrahim disclosed that the committee received a tip from a whistle blower that items were being carted away and transferred outside the state by the family of Abubakar.

He added that the committee visited Abubakarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residence at Fadaman Mada and was able to recover only few items like 105 Pasta making machines, 10 sewing machines, carton of surgical hand gloves and several office furnitureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s belonging to the Bauchi Government.

He explained that the committee â&#x20AC;&#x153;has earlier recovered four tractors, a luxury bus and a house located opposite Government House, adjacent Wikki Hotel belonging to the state government which Abubakar allegedly sold to himself.

He said the committee traced a lot of properties and resources frittered away by the two former governors and their associates.

Ibrahim, who said the committee might submit its report any moment from now, expressed optimism that if the recommendations of the committee â&#x20AC;&#x153;are implemented, the two former governors and their associates will refund over one trillion naira

to the state government.â&#x20AC;?

When asked about the suit filed by the two former governors challenging the activities of the committee, Ibrahim said â&#x20AC;&#x153;Both Abubakar and Yuguda took the committee before Federal High Courts in Abuja and Bauchi State High Court. But the committee is responding adequately to the suits and will submit its report without hitches by Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grace.â&#x20AC;?

Ibrahim explained that the committee traced over 16 different pieces of land, buildings and properties at different locations in Kaduna State with certificate of occupancy belonging to the Bauchi government.

Fighting Coronavirus May Cost FG $2bn, Says Chrisland VC Kayode Fasua Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x2DC; Ă&#x152;Ă?Ă&#x2122;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x2039; Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading pharmacist, Prof. Peace Chinedu-Babalola yesterday canvassed precautionary measures to coronavirus away from Nigeria, warning that it could cost the federal government at least $2 billion (about N700 billion) to evolve any new medicine that would cure the virus.

Chinedu-Babalola, the Vice-Chancellor of Chrisland University, gave the warning in an interview she granted THISDAY in Abeokuta shortly after receiving the Kwame Nkruma Award for Scientific Excellence at the AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Chinedu-Babalola said finding cure for the coronavirus, which is the latest epidemic that has wiped off thousands

of souls, especially in China, is capital intensive.

While commending the federal government for promising to release N36 million to aid research into killer diseases, she, however, said in the face of lean resources, the government and the citizenry should take utmost precautions to prevent the disease from spreading to the country. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is because an equipment needed to embark on research into diseases such as Ebola Virus, Lassa fever and coronavirus could cost as much as N36 million,â&#x20AC;? she said.

The don, who was the first female professor of Pharmacy at the University of Ibadan, also said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;When it comes to epidemics, Nigerians know how to take precautions. There is awareness in the country and people are taking their personal

precautions. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In terms of government input, government is doing its best. At the various airports, the government has set up various processes to detect the virus. Government is checking those who are coming into the country at the various ports of entries.â&#x20AC;?

But the don observed that a lot still had to be done in terms of drug discovery, noting that in terms of drugs discoveries, that is another cup of tea. For you to discover drugs and vaccines is not bread and butter. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Many times, researches have been going on for years.

To produce one medicine, it can take us 10 to 15 years.

Although, we now have processes that can reduce drug discovery time. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For us to discover these things, we need to empower

research centres. Nigeria needs to inject money to ensure that scientists are working round the clock, testing different viruses so that if one comes up, we can easily detect it, to start with. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But we should go beyond detection; as a pharmaceutical scientist, when you study the genetics of a disease, when you study the properties of a particular disease or disease agent, we should use it and target medicines, and molecules that can also kill it or cure it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We should go beyond diagnoses, we should also empower centres to be able to discover, design and develop drugs. These things take time.

It will cost about $2 billion to develop one medicine. Nigeria needs to think seriously about this.â&#x20AC;?

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R Ëž ÍśË&#x153; 2020Ë&#x153;

NEWS Obiano Rehabilitates, Reunites 10 Mentally Ill Persons David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka

Wife of the Governor of Anambra State and founder of Caring Family Enhancement Initiative (CAFE), Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obiano has reunited 10 rehabilitated mentally challenged persons, treated and certified healthy, to their families.

Obiano handed the former inmates of a mentally challenged people home to their families at Nteje where they were treated by her non-governmental organisation, CAFĂ&#x2030;.

The ten inmates, four women, five men and a teenage boy made it a total of 110 inmates

cured and discharged from the 77-bed facility managed by CAFE in collaboration with the State Ministry of Woman Affairs since it was established in 2015.

Speaking on the occasion, Obiano expressed her belief in the core values of sharing love and goodwill with fellow human beings without discrimination.

At the event, which was attended by different women groups, Obiano said it served as a platform for an early commemoration of the International Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day which falls on the eight of March every year.

She said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I recall how I began

charity work since 1991. I will continue to shine a light of hope for the less privileged, and I believe that the core values of sharing would never wane. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I received a lot of support from my husband, Governor Willie Obiano. He donates his salaries to the cause which is entirely my brainchild. I appeal to public spirited ndi Anambra to reach out to the inmates of the centre with donations, especially in the area of feeding.â&#x20AC;?

She used the opportunity to remind the people that March 8 is International Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day and called on all to resist the reoccurring incidence of gender-based violence.

Katsina Procures 376 500KVA Transformers to End Outage

Francis Sardauna in Katsina

The Katsina State Government has procured and installed 376 500KVA transformers across the 34 local government areas of the state in its determination to ensure residents enjoy steady supply of electricity.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Power and Energy, Mr. Mansur Musa disclosed this in an interview with THISDAY yesterday, noting that the state government procured the transformers to reduce power outage in the state.

He reiterated that in addition to the 376 transformers purchased, the administration had replaced 40/500KVA transformer at

Dutsin-Kura town in Kafur local government area of the state.

He said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Aside from the 376 transformers procured and installed across the 34 local government area (LGAs), the state government had executed 112 other power projects since inception of this administration in 2015. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have done a lots in terms of building the power networks from 33KV power lines, 11KV power lines, 0.415KV power lines and replacement of burnt transformers as well as the provision of additional sub power stations,â&#x20AC;? the special adviser explained.

He noted that power was one

of the cardinal principles of the Governor Aminu Bello Masari administration to ensure that communities in the state were connected to the national grid in line with the administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s restoration agenda.

To complement the effort of the state government, the special adviser said the Niger Delta Power Holding Company of Nigeria is building an injection sub station in the state comprising a control room and 15NVA transformer.

He added that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is also building a 33KV line from Kano to Katsina and a transmission sub station that will provide additional power capacity of 255MWs in the state.

85

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER Ëž Î&#x20AC;Ë&#x153; 2020

SUNDAYSPORTS

Edited by: Demola Ojo email:Demola.ojo@thisdaylive.com

United Host City, Seek Top-four Points in Manchester Derby

L

ocal rivals Manchester United and Manchester City will meet for the fourth time in the space of three months when the Red Devils welcome the reigning champions to Old Trafford today.

United currently boast the bragging rights for the season with two wins to one, but theysit15pointsbehindtodayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;svisitorsinthePremier League table and know that anything other than a victory could harm their hopes of qualifying for next seasonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Champions League.

The 182nd edition of this derby may not carry as much weight as many of the recent meetings when it comes to the destination of the Premier League title, but it still promises to be a significant one for United in particular.

The race for Champions League football next season continues to be hotly contested with only three points separating four teams between fifth and eighth, while Burnley, Arsenal and Everton cannot be counted out just yet either.

Man Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s European ban could be cause for double celebration as far as United are concerned if they do end up finishing fifth - the position they currently occupy - with that enough to earn a seat at Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top table as things stand.

However, the Red Devils will need to hold off stiff competition from Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur and Sheffield United, the latter of whom arguably hold the advantage at this stage given their game in hand over the teams above them in the table.

Man Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s appeal against the ban does mean that a question mark remains over whether fifth place will be enough, though, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will no doubt be urging his side to exploit Chelseaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inconsistency and bridge the three-point gap to the top four over the final 10 games of the season.

United are certainly going into the business end of the campaign in good form; Thursdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s FACup cruise at Wayne Rooneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Derby County booked their place in the quarter-finals and made it nine games unbeaten across all competitions, during which time they have kept seven clean sheets and conceded only two goals.

Solskjaer will justifiably argue that they should have only conceded one goal considering David de Geaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gift to Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the 1-1 draw with Everton last time out, although a contentious

United have an added weapon in red-hot Ighalo (centre) to help beat City today

VAR call then denied the Toffees a late winner at GoodisonParktokeepUnitedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;sunbeatenstreakintact.

The 20-time champions will be looking to get back to winning ways in a double-header which sees them face Man City and fellow Champions League hopefuls Tottenham Hotspur in their next two top-flight games, while a Europa League trip to LASK Linz is sandwiched between those two matches.

It is a relatively kind run-in for United after that, though, with Sheffield United and Leicester City the only teams currently in the top half that they will have

to face in their final eight games of the campaign.

Apositive result against City this weekend would be a bonus to some extent, then, although Solskjaer has already got the better of Pep Guardiola in two of their three meetings this season, both of which came at the Etihad Stadium.

However, Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s record at Old Trafford has been superb in recent years, while their most recent defeat to United was made irrelevant by the first-leg victory in that EFLCup semi-final as they booked their place at Wembley courtesy of a 3-2 aggregate triumph.

Both teams have injury doubts hanging over key

players, with Kevin De Bruyne and Harry Maguire both facing a race to be fit in time.

Guardiola has a decision to make regarding who leads the line; Gabriel Jesus scored the winner in their last league outing whereas SergioAguero netted the only goal of the game in midweek.

ThatstrikemeansthattheArgentinehasnowscored 23 goals across all competitions this season - more than any other Premier League player - while he also now has 254 goals in 367 appearances for City, one more than Unitedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s record scorer Rooney managed in 559 games for the Red Devils.

Liverpool Bounce Ronaldinho Charged to Court in Paraguay over Fake Passport Back with Bournemouth Win Liverpool bounced back from their recent poor form to secure a record breaking 2-1 win against Bournemouth at AnďŹ eld yesterday.

Despite going behind with less than 10 minutes into the game after Callum Wilson struck for Bournemouth, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane got on the score sheet, to end Liverpoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s run of three straight games without a win.

The win means Liverpool have now won their last 22 Premier League home games, the longest such winning run in English top-ďŹ&#x201A;ight history, breaking their own record.

The Reds have now gone 25 points clear of second placed Manchester City who will be guests to Manchester United in the Manchester derby today.

Bournemouth opened scoring in the 9th minute as Wilson passed the ball into the net following a neat attacking move.

In the 25th minute Liverpool equalised through Salah who found the bottom corner after Mane won the ball back. And in the 33rd minute Mane made it 2-1 after he was set free by a pinpoint Virgil Van Dijk pass before coolly slotting the ball into the net.

Former Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho and his brother appeared in court yesterday over allegations the pair used fake passports to enter Paraguay.

Prosecutors say the brothers were given the false documents when they landed in the capital Asuncion on Wednesday.

The pair were taken into custody on Friday, just hours after a judge refused to uphold a prosecutorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proposal for an alternative punishment.

The prosecutor argued the brothers had been tricked.

They deny any wrongdoing.

The pair, who were questioned by police,

said they thought the passports were a courtesy gesture.

OfďŹ cers later searched their hotel.

At the court in Asuncion yesterday, a judge ordered that Ronaldinho and his brother, Roberto Assis, be placed in pretrial detention.

In July 2019, the player reportedly had his Brazilian and Spanish passports conďŹ scated over unpaid taxes and non-payment of ďŹ nes for illegally building on a nature reserve in Brazil. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I respect his sporting popularity but the law must also be respected. No matter who you are, the law still appliesâ&#x20AC;?, Paraguayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Interior Minister Euclides Acevedo told local media this week.

The 39-year-old had travelled to Paraguay to promote a book and a campaign for underprivileged children.

Ronaldinho was the 2004 and 2005 World Player of the Year and reached the prime of his career at Spanish giants Barcelona.

He won the World Cup for Brazil in 2002 alongside fellow superstar forwards Ronaldo and Rivaldo.

Ronaldinhoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s net worth is estimated at ÂŁ80-100m and he is reported to charge around ÂŁ150,000 for a single promoted Instagram post.

NTA, HotSports to Broadcast National Sports Festival As sports enthusiasts anticipate the 20th National Sports Festival tagged Edo 2020, the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and its marketing partner, HotSports have announced live transmission of the games.

The live transmission on NTA network services will spice up the festival, which opens in Benin City on March 22 and runs till April 1.

Edo 2020 will feature 32 sports, including 27 compulsory events, and have 11,000 athletes competing for laurels at 17 venues.

According to the President/CEO of HotSports Nigeria Limited, Mr Taye Ige, marketing windows that interested brands could explore include three-hour live transmission of each of the opening and closing ceremonies, twohour daily live transmission, live transmission of the football and athletics ďŹ nals as well as a

well-packaged one-hour daily highlights show. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The National Sports Festival is our national asset, and this being an Olympic year, we must all rally behind our athletes to deliver great results and be ready to win medals in Tokyo 2020,â&#x20AC;?Ige said.

NTA and HotSports both delivered all the matches of last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Africa Cup of Nations live from Egypt as well as the qualiďŹ ers for the next edition.

The two partners, in conjunction with African International Television (AIT), also broadcast the international friendly between Nigeria and Brazil last October. The trio are set to conclude live transmission of the remaining four matches of the Super Eagles for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, scheduled to hold in Cameroon next January.

RESULTS & FIXTURES Liverpool Arsenal Crystal Palace 6KHÍżHOG 8QLWHG 6RXWKDPSWRQ Wolves Burnley Atl Madrid Barcelona Getafe Chelsea 0DQ 8QLWHG 9LOODUUHDO Real Betis

2â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1 1â&#x20AC;&#x201C;0 1â&#x20AC;&#x201C;0 ² ² 0â&#x20AC;&#x201C;0 1â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1 2â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2 1â&#x20AC;&#x201C;0 0â&#x20AC;&#x201C;0 v Y Y v

Bournemouth West Ham Watford 1RUZLFK &LW\ 1HZFDVWOH Brighton Tottenham Sevilla Real Sociedad Celta Vigo Everton 3pm 0DQ &LW\ SP /HJDQHV SP Real Madrid 9pm

SUNDAY MARCH 8, 2020 â&#x20AC;¢ T H I S D AY

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Sunday March 8, 2020

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MISSILE

Falana on Presidential Economic Advisory Council “With respect, the usurpation of the powers of the National Economic Ciuncil (NEC) by the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PAEC) is illegal and unconstitutional. In the circumstance, the PEAC ought to be dissolved without any further delay” – Femi Falana (SAN) spoke at the 3rd Year Anniversary of the Oluwarotimi Akeredolu Administration in Ondo State.

SIMONKOLAWOLE SIMONKOLAWOLELIVE!

simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com, sms: 0805 500 1961

Restructuring the Nigerian Mindset

W

ere you as disgusted as I was on Monday when the Cross River house of assembly voted against confirming Justice Akon Ikpeme as the substantive chief judge of the state for purely ethnic reasons? In the wisdom of the state lawmakers, Ikpeme had to be rejected because — and I am not joking! — she is “naturally” from “rival” Akwa Ibom state, even though she was born and bred in Cross River, schooled in Cross River, practised her law in Cross River, is married to a man from Cross River and all her children tick “Cross River” as their home state. The rejection happened in Cross River, otherwise one of the most cultured, progressive and liberal states in Nigeria!

In no time, Justice Maurice Eneji (“naturally” from Cross River) was sworn in as the acting chief judge by Senator Ben Ayade, the state governor of the “olimpotic meristematic” fame. For those who may not know, Ikpeme is the most senior judge in the Cross River judiciary. Next to her was Eneji. Ikpeme was recommended to the National Judicial Council (NJC) to fill the position full-time, having acted in that capacity all along. Eneji was nominated as the “reserve” candidate. The state lawmakers concluded that Ikpeme is a “security risk” because she is “naturally” from Akwa Ibom. There were insinuations that she would sell Cross River to her “natural” state in land disputes. So it goes.

The judiciary committee of the house, in an unprecedented drama, submitted two reports for consideration. In the first report, Hon. Efah Esua, chairman of the committee, recommended the appointment of Ikpeme based on merit, all other things considered.

In the second report, Hon. Godwin Akwaji, representing Obudu constituency, along with five other co-conspirators, said she should be rejected because she is not a “native”. In a moment when political intrigues triumphed over common sense and natural justice, the house decided by a voice vote that Ikpeme, who was born when Cross River and Akwa Ibom were one, was not fit for purpose.

For the record, it was not every lawmaker that missed the road. Honourable mention must be made of Hon. Ekpo Bassey (Bakassi constituency) who warned the assembly against sentiments that would set bad precedents.

“This is my fifth year in the house and I have never seen two reports by a committee being presented to the house… We need to strengthen institutions and avoid sowing seeds of ethnicity and disunity in the house,” he said. It is also on record that Hon. Itam Abang (Boki constituency) said that “the assembly has been prejudiced by ethnic sentiments”. She added: “It’s very sad that in the 21st century we are whipping up ethnic sentiments.”

Many issues have been thrown up, once again, by the disgraceful conduct of the ethnic chauvinists. The first that comes to mind is the place of women in the Nigerian set-up. It appears once a woman marries from outside her “state of origin”, she is automatically in trouble. In 2012, Justice Ifeoma Jumbo-Ofor was nominated to the court of appeal from Abia state. Although she was “naturally” from Anambra state, her husband was from Abia.

She had served in the Abia judiciary for 14

Justice Ikpeme

years. But some said she was still not qualified to be nominated from Abia! An Igbowoman not fit to represent another Igbo state! Thank God, President Goodluck Jonathan was able to push it through.

Unfortunately, there are other conventional prejudices. When I lost my dad and we moved to our village in the old Kwara state, I met several Igbo entrepreneurs there. They were mostly shop owners. One of the apprentices, Ejiofor, was about my age. Ejiofor still lives in my village — 44 years after I first met him there. He’s made my village his home. He speaks clean Yoruba “naturally” and raps my Yagba dialect in a way that makes me appear incompetent. But you know what?

He dare not come out tomorrow and say he wants to be a councillor. They will remind him his name is Ejiofor not Abejide. That is how entrenched chauvinism is in the Nigerian society.

The Justice Akon Ikpeme situation has yet again awakened my belief that we badly need restructuring in this country. There is something definitely wrong with us. How can a woman be treated as a stranger in the land where she was born, where she was brought up, where she schooled, where she has worked all her life and from where she married? How tame and regressive can a state legislature be to conclude, by a majority, that such a woman is a “foreigner” and a “security risk” in Cross River? Does anyone among them remember that Akwa Ibom and Cross River used to be one state? Why do we so often allow politics to trump common sense in this country?

How can an Igbo state object to the elevation of an Igbowoman, married to an Igboman, to the court of appeal on the ground that she is from another Igbo state even when she had spent a significant part of her life outside her own part of Igboland? We desperately need restructuring in this country. We need to restructure this backward mindset that prioritises selfish politicking and pettiness above rational thinking and societal progress.

Sadly, women tend to bear the brunt most of the time. Once they are married, some are automatically treated as “foreigners” in their home states and “foreigners” in their husbands’ states. For such women — heads, they lose; tails, they lose.

The Ejiofor situation is so commonplace in Nigeria, even though I must admit that

there have been flashes of encouragement in many states where “non-indigenes” are elected or appointed into public office. Most are tokenistic, yet we have to be thankful that they happened at all. For long, people have argued that the term “state of origin” should be replaced with “state of residence” in our lexicon and civil service rules. Some have also made the case that this change should be written into the constitution. I fully support the motion, but at the same time we must also restructure the prejudiced mindset that treats people as foreigners in their own country.

We can very well re-write the constitution and replace “state of origin” with “state of residence” but the person taking the critical decision at the backend knows where “Saduwa” comes from. If the chauvinistic mindset is not restructured, they will still see Saduwa as a Biniman in Urhoboland. After all, there is this story that when Chief Bankole Akpata was championing the creation of the Midwest from the Western region in the 1960s, the inimitable Chief Ladoke Akintola reportedly retorted: “Let them go. Our own Apata is not spelt with k.” Very witty retort, but it tells you that when the Yoruba see “k” in “Akpata”, they know “this is not one of us”.

It’s the mindset, stupid!

As far as I can understand the issue, judging from the distasteful Ikpeme situation in Cross River, we badly need to restructure our mindsets and mentality — not just the laws. How can we restructure our minds to such an extent that discrimination — overt or covert — on the basis of ethnicity, religion and gender can be tamed? It is not as if I have the answer. But we can reason together. If you were socialised to be prejudiced against those who are not like you — or those who do speak your language or practise your religion — it will be an uphill task to remove the bigoted and xenophobic scales from your eyes. It will be very, very tough, although not impossible.

To be fair, we have been able to rise above these sentiments at times. When Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was nominated as minister of finance in 2003 by President Olusegun Obasanjo, she was to fill the Abia slot. Although she is from Delta state, her husband, Dr Ikemba Iweala, is from Abia state. There was strong opposition from those saying “she’s taking our space” but Obasanjo had a way of winning such battles. It is also a thing of joy that in 2007, Mrs Grace Folasade Bent, a Yoruba woman from Osun state, was elected senator in Adamawa south, northern Nigeria.

A woman and a southerner elected senator in a northern state! That says a lot about what is possible in Nigeria.

Of course, around the Independence era, people were elected mayors and councillors outside where they “naturally” came from.

Indeed, there have been encouraging stories across the country, particularly in terms appointments. They are not as commonplace as we would want, but these developments tell us what can happen in Nigeria. We can do it. We did it before. We can do it again.

Restructuring our mindsets is inevitable if we are to tame prejudice and allow reason to prevail in the quest for national integration.

As we mark the International Women’s Day today, we should be thinking of positively discriminating in favour of women. Politicians must stop milking our faultlines.

And Four Other Things…

BABALAKIN THE BULLY In a normal country, Dr Wale Babalakin should not be the pro-chancellor of any university, much less of my great alma mater, the University of Lagos. But this is Nigeria where anything goes. I, however, think he has gone too far by his latest power show which has forced Unilag to suspend its convocation. All arrangements had been concluded. Foreign universities, with which Unilag plans to run joint degrees, were billed to attend. Then Babalakin, claiming he was not carried along, pulled the trigger. His ego fight at the expense of graduating students and their families is ungodly. A more mature and reasonable person would have considered the high costs to third parties. Sadly, the ministry of education shamelessly kowtowed to him.

What a country. Appalling.

THE $22.7BN LOAN The senate finally approved the $22.7 billion loan request by President Muhammadu Buhari after much public opposition and little debate. Although I am alarmed by these gigantic loans (naturally, I hate debt), some of the projects the loan is intended to finance look fascinating to me — such as the Mambilla hydroelectric project, which will generate close to 4,000mw; the East West Road; the Calabar-Port Harcourt deep sea port rail; and the Lagos-Kano rail. But my head nearly exploded as soon as I saw $500m for “NTA digitisation” on the list. Good grief!

How did Alhaji Lai Mohammed, minister of information, rail-road Buhari into believing $500m will turn NTA into CNN? Chai!

ADAMS IN A HOLE As we get closer to the 2023 elections, normal service has resumed in the polity with the onset of the obligatory crisis in the ruling party. Those who thought the history of Nigeria started only in 2015 would be forgiven for seeing the unfolding APC crisis as a first. That is the way we roll every four years. Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the APC national chairman, is facing the battle of his political life as the combatants prepare for the 2023 presidential election and a few governorship polls before then. I want to warn us not to think the APC crisis is about fighting insecurity, unemployment and poverty. It is all politics. Whoever wins the war, it is not about Nigeria’s development. Tragic.

BIRTHDAY BOY A friend asked me on Friday: “Simon, why is #OsinbajoTheFixer trending on twitter?”

I had no idea. I quickly went to check and I saw a series of tweets on the vice-president, most of them celebrating his time as acting president of Nigeria in 2017. It dawned on me that Professor Yemi Osinbajo’s birthday might be approaching. I was right. He clocks 63 today. What I found most remarkable about the tributes is his retail politics: the common touch that is so rare in the corridors of power — such as the symbolic acts of dispensing petrol at a gas station in the heat of fuel scarcity, sitting in a classroom with children, eating from the school meal, etc.

Happy birthday is in order. Cheers!

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