Ojukwu's Will Tears family apart

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Gunmen kill five in Borno as sect leader speaks on global Jihad

By BY EMEKA MAMAH, NDAHI MARAMA, Maiduguri & LUKA BINNIYAT with agency report

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U N M E N suspected to be Boko Haram sect members launched another attack yesterday in the peace loving Damasak, the headquarters of Mobbar Local Government Area of Borno State, killing two bakers, one of them an indigene of Michika Council area of Adamawa State; an Igbo man and two others suspected to be Immigration and Custom officers.

In another development, the Nigeria Army yesterday said it demolished a fourth bomb factory in Kaduna State, just as it arrested a 60-year old suspected owner of the factory in Zaria, Kaduna State. Damasak is a border town with Niger Republic and about 120 kilometres away from Maiduguri, the state capital.

The killing, Saturday Vanguard learnt came barely two weeks after Governor Kashim Shettima visited some communities in the area which were ravaged by flood, and almost 24 hours after one of their own who also hailed from Damasak, the Chief of Staff, Government House Maiduguri, Alhaji Abu Kyari paid the affected Communities a sympathy visit .

Saturday Vanguard gathered that the gunmen numbering about six came in a Jeep at about 7am yesterday and opened fire at their victims before they fled without being arrested.

When contacted on phone, the Police Commissioner, Mr. Abdullahi Yuguda could not be reached, but the Information Officer of the Council, Mallam Babagana Mustapha told Saturday Vanguard that, six gunmen suspected to be terrorists laid ambush at Damasak yesterday morning, killing two Michika boys, one Igbo man and two security men suspected to be Immigration and Custom officers.

Reacting on the demolition of a bomb factory in Zaria, Assistant Army Public Relations

Officer, 1st Division of the Nigeria Army, Kaduna, Col. Sani Usman said the raid was carried out by a combined team of the Army, Police and the State Security Service, SSS, adding that one Umaru Mohammed, 60 was arrested in connection with the factory.

This was even as Reuters quoted the leader of Nigeria’s Boko Haram as expressing solidarity with global Islamist fighters, saying the US and Britain “should witness that we are with our mujahideen brothers,” in a video posted Thursday, SITE monitoring group said.

According to SITE, a USbased organisation, Abubakar Shekau gave the speech in Arabic in a 39minute video posted to jihadist fora. It was not clear when it was recorded. ”The world should witness, and America, Britain, Nigeria and other crusaders, meaning America and Britain, should witness, and the Jews of Israel who are killing the Muslims in Palestine should witness... that we are with our mujahideen brothers in the cause of Allah everywhere,” a translation by site said.

The video makes particular reference to global events, with Shekau saluting fighters in the Maghreb region of northern Africa, “the Islamic state in Mali,” Somalia, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen and “our brothers and sheikhs in usurped Palestine. ”O Britain, America, Israel and Nigeria: Don’t think that jihad stops with the death of imams,” Shekau says, according to SITE. “Because imams are individuals. Jihad started now, jihad started now, O enemies of Allah.”

But Col Usman said, “following a tip-off from well meaning citizens of this country, a combined team of troops of the Nigerian Army, elements of the Nigeria Police Force and Department of State Security carried out a cordon and search operation at Kwanar Shahada, Jushin Ciki, Zaria city, Kaduna StateThursday from 1.30am to 8.00am.

“During the operation, a two bedroom bungalow used as bomb making factory was discovered in which Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, in stage one state of readiness and several IED mak-

ing components were also recovered.

Other weapons recovered include 17 Sensor Mechanical Timers, Remote control, 11 primed suicide bomber’s vests, 36 primed IEDS in Bobo cans and one military kitbag with support items like saw, hammer, cello tapes and gums. Others are, two gallons of paint containing prepared IEDS, two gallons of Turkey oil brand with prepared IEDs, seven rolls of wires of various lengths and one bag containing several sensors as well as 25 ( nine volts) batteries.

“This is the fourth of such successes in the past three months after the initial one in same Zaria, Rigassa and in Kaduna main town. The public can use these operational lines anytime 08066 7652 75 to give information to our operational team.

“Both the suspect and the items recovered are under custody of the Headquarters 1 Division Nigerian Army. We would like to use this opportunity to commend the efforts of the well meaning citizens that reported the matter and also reiterate our resolve to fight terrorism in this country.”

Wife of the Governor of Ekiti State, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, holding the banner as she leads a rally marking 2012 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children, in Ado-Ekiti yesterday.

Jonathan, Northern Govs condole Buhari over daughter’s death

BY BEN AGANDE, Abuja

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RESIDENT Good luck Ebele Jonathan has commiserated with former Head of State, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) on the death of his eldest daughter, Zulaihatu yesterday. Also yesterday, the Northern Governors Forum commiserated with the former Head of State.

In a condolence letter

to General Buhari, President Jonathan prayed that God Almighty would comfort him, and grant him and members of his family succour from the pain of losing a beloved child who has been nurtured and raised to adulthood.

“I write to extend very sincere commiserations to you and your family on the death of your eldest daughter, Zulaihatu yesterday November 29th, 2012.

Oyo lawmakers leave for US to observe parliamentary session

BY OLA AJAYI, Ibadan

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HIRTY-TWO mem bers of the Oyo State House of Assembly have concluded arrangement to travel to the United States of America (USA) tomorrow to observe the parliamentary session in Georgia for a week.

The journey, according to the Speaker, Hon. Monsurat Sunmonu will be embarked upon instead of the international CPA that was fixed for September in Sri Lanka.

According to the Speaker, the journey to America is part of the statutory annual parliamentary tour budgetted for by the government.

She further stated that the journey would enable the lawmakers to observe sessions in a very developed democracy and presidential system of government. ”This tour is the annual

parliamentary tour approved by the government. It is always in the budget every year. It is either done as a whole or at committee levels. This, she said, was in addition to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) conference which legislators in Common-

wealth countries attend twice yearly.

The local CPA meeting held in South Africa this year and we were there.

But we decided not to attend the international edition of it in Sri Lanka in September”, she explained.

In his message, Forum Chairman and Governor of Niger State, Dr Babangida Aliyu, urged Buhari to be consoled by the fact that it was only ``God that gives and takes life whenever He pleases.”

In a statement issued

by Aliyu’s Chief Press Secretary, Danladi Ndayebo, he enjoined the former military leader and his family to be encouraged by the fact that his late daughter lived an inspiring and a fulfilled life.

He said life was not about how long people lived, but how people impacted positively on the environment around them.

He prayed God to grant the deceased eternal rest and the family, especially her husband and her children, the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

Zulaihat died on Thursday at Nasarawa Hospital, a private clinic in Marafa, Kaduna S t a t e , d u r i n g child birth.

I will be fair to all — Mimiko T

HE Ondo State Gov ernor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko has submitted that his government will not discriminate against any community notwithstanding the outcome of the last election in the respective communities.

Governor Mimiko further assured that the commitment of his government to the overall well being of every citizen of the state remain unshaken even as he as-

sured of even distribution of amenities among all communities.

Dr Mimiko made the commitment on Friday at the burial of the Chairman, Akoko South West Local Government , Lady Opeyemi Adefarati in Oka Akoko. The Late Chairman died recently in a road accident. ”My government will never discriminate against any community in whatever guise irrespective of the results of the

last governorship election in the state. ”Our commitment to the overall well being of every citizen of the state remains unshaken as well as the even distribution of amenities among all communities,” Mimiko had assured.

The Governor said the most important gain made during the poll was the absolute peaceful atmosphere under which the election adjudged as the freest and fairest so far in Nigeria took place.

6 — SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012

Police detain Celestial Church leaders over demolition

BY OLA AJAYI Ibadan

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EN leaders of the Celestial Church of Christ, Onala Parish along Mokola-Sango Road, Ibadan have been arrested and detained by the Oyo State police command during the demolition of their church yesterday.

According to Evangelist Kolawole Olakanmi, who is the Shepherd in charge of the church, he and nine other members of the Church were arrested and taken to the Secretariat Police Station.

Saturday Vanguard was

shown the copy of a court injunction which the church got to prevent the government from demolishing the church. ”I showed them the copy of the court injunction, but, their leader told me that the order was from the governor.

The leader of the church alleged that the government demolition team arrived the Church by 10am and refused to heed their pleas.

He quoted the demolition team leader as saying that the order of the governor superceded any i n j u n c t i o n .

According to the court order which was dated

Ilaje/Ajah communal clash: One feared dead, houses destroyed

BY ISHOLA BALOGUN

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T least, one man was killed and several houses razed in a communal clash between the Ilaje and Ajah communities in Ajah area of Lagos Island Thursday.

An eye witness told Saturday Vanguard that the fracas broke out as a result of payment of dues by Keke Marwa Operators operating between Ajah and Ilaje communities.

Baale of Ajah, Chief Murziqu Ojupon of Ajah was whisked away by the Police in handcuffs Thursday in a circumstance that raised tension in the area.

According to our source, the chairman of the EtiOsa East LCDA, Alhaji Owolabi Isa invited the Baale along with five other eminent members of the community to Area J, Ajah command, but on reaching the venue for the purported peace talk between Ajah and Ilaje community, the Baale was molested and arrested by the police.

When Saturday Vanguard called Baale Murziqu on phone yesterday, he told the reporter that he was being driven to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba. A few minutes after, his phone was switched off. All attempt to speak with the PPRO proved abortive.

Our source added that a couple of weeks ago, the matter was deemed to have been settled after Alhaji Owolabi brokered a peace meeting with members of the two communities, where they were said to have entered into a peace agreement before Thursday’s episode.

We gathered that one person was killed Wednesday night while fleeing the combat zone with several houses in both communities vandalised and destroyed.

Another source denied that no live was lost. But he however confirmed that guns and cutlasses were freely used by the combatants, who were mostly youths from both sides to the conflict.

28th November, 2012 and issued by O.I. Aiki of the Ibadan High Court in a Suit No. I/1144/2012, the government was restrained from carrying out the demolition.

Meanwhile, the state government had through a demolition notice dated 16th November, 2012 given the Church management three days “to remove the structure (s) and

vacate the site”.

If the church leaders failed, “the Ministry shall enforce the removal and commence legal action against the C h u r c h ” .

Olakanmi said the church

HE Rotary Club of Agbor, Headquarters of Ika South Local Government of Delta State, has donated a N2.8 million water bore-hole project to the Special Education Centre in Agbor.

Commissioning the water project, the Governor of District 9140 of Rotary International, Mr. Onyebuchi Onuoha commended members of the club for executing the project for pupils and staff of the Special Education Centre in the area.

Onuoha noted that he was glad that the Rotary Club of Agbor had taken the Special Education

Lawmaker charges women on domestic violence

BY PRISCA SAMDURU

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L-R: Keynote speaker Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Ms. Modupe Ladipo, CEO, and Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, chairman, both of Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA), during the presentation of Key Findings from the EFInA Access to Financial Services 2012 survey in Lagos.

Obi flags off three bridges, vows to complete them

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S if in fulfillment of his vow to turn Anambra State into a huge “construction yard”, Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra State yesterday flagged off three bridges of 60, 45, and 45 meters on AtaniOzubulu road, vowing to complete them within the life span of his government.

The exercise was preceded by the flag-off of many roads in the State as well as many other projects that set the people of the State wondering where he got the money to execute those projects.

Valued at the combined cost of over N2billion,

the bridges, excluding the 12kilometer roads component, are handled

by TAMAD construction firm based on their satisfactory execution of Amansea-Ebenebe Bridge. Already, the government is constructing the OnitshaOgbaru- AkiliozizarAtani-Ogwuikpere road terminating at Rivers State. The over 60-km federal road with difficult terrain is costing the State more than N16billion. With the construction of the stretch from Atani to Ozubulu, the entire areas would become accessible.

Speaking at the ceremony Governor Obi

said that he would continue to satisfy the yearnings of the people of the State till the last day of his Government.

“We have seen those in authority flag-off many projects even when they did not safe money for their execution, but in our own case, for any project we are flagging of, we have saved money for that”, Obi said.

Speaking, the State Commissioner for Works, Arc Callistus Ilozumba said that the Atani Ozubulu road belonged to class of roads being constructed in difficult places that subsequent Anambra Governments shied away from because of the huge cost implication.

Rotary donates N2.8m water project to Education Centre

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had been there since 2005 and had been paying annual rent on the land until his application for lease.

Centre as one of its pet projects as members of the club had consistently been executing one project or the other for pupils of the school.

While saying that he was tremendously

overwhelmed with the performance index of the club vis-à-vis the execution of projects that had positively touched the lives of people in the area, he urged members of the

club not to rest on their oars, stressing that they should continue to render selfless services to the society as that was the hallmark of Rotary International.

Group trains 22 Int’l schools on character As it is the global practice, Good Character Development Initiative, exclusive Partners of the Josephson Institute of Ethics USA in Nigeria, joined the rest of the world to celebrate the Character Counts week recently.

During the celebration

which held penultimate week, nominees from schools nationwide were taken through a thorough 3-day workshop on how to effectively implement good character in their various schools.

The training hosted senior staff members and

school owners from 22 international schools in the country.

The training was aimed at giving senior members of the schools first-hand training who will retrain other members of staff in their various schools as qualified Character Educators.

OMEN have been charged to desist from exhibiting negative behaviours at home and in the larger society so as to avoid being victims of domestic violence and abuse.

Hon Adefumilayo Tejuosho, member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, representing Mushin Constituency who gave the charge during a workshop on gender based violence tagged, “From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Socio-economic implications of Domestic Violence and Abuse”, which was held in Lagos, stated that, “in as much as often times, men are culprits in cases bothering on domestic violence, the women cannot be totally exonerated from being causative factors in most of the cases.

Final burial for Pa Adeolokun

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HE final burial activities for late Pa Ezekiel Adewugi Adeolokun, aged 98 will hold today, December 1, 2012, at St Matthew Church, Ijebu-Jesha, Osun State. Socials follows 2-9pm, at 1jebuJesha Grammar School, 1jebu–Jesha, Osun State.

Pa Adeolokun, a devoted Christian and shrewd businessman died in May and was given a befitting burial.

He is survived by many children among them is Prince Temitayo Adeolokun, Chairman C.E.O, TASMAN Nigeria Ltd, Mushin, Lagos State, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.

Eternal rest grant his soul O’ Lord.

•Late Pa Adeolokun

SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012 — 7

Bombings: We can’t fight for God — Mark •Says Nigeria’s trying times will soon be over

BY HENRY UMORU, Abuja

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L-R: Former Speaker House of Reps, Hon. Aminu Masari with Alhaji Abubakar Hayatu and Gen. Muhammed Buhari rtd. during a condolence visit to the fmr Head of State over the death of his daughter, Hajia Zalaihatu Buhari in Kaduna, yesterday. Photo: Olu Ajayi

ENATE President, David Mark has warned those involved in massive killing and destruction of property not to play God, just as he urged Nigerians to leave vengeance to God. The Senate President who also advised religious leaders and followers across the country not to see the present security challenge as a religious conflict, however urged them to seek God’s

2014: PDP vows to reclaim Anambra, shops for credible candidate Anambra State -born oil

BY VINCENT UJUMADU, Awka

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S part of efforts to reclaim go vernorship which it lost to All Progressives Grand, APGA, in 2003, the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Anambra State has started sensitizing the members on ways of shopping for a credible person to carry its governorship flag in the election.

The governorship election in the state will take place in December next year.

State chairman of the party, Chief Kenneth Emeakayi, at the take- off of the sensitizing programme at Oye Market square, Ukpo in Dunukofia local government area, advised those interested in contesting the governorship election on the platform of PDP to start identifying with the

party without further delay. He insisted that PDP has not endorsed anybody as being speculated, assuring the people that the era of foisting candidates on the people was over as every interested governorship aspirant should be ready to slug it out with others during the party ’s primaries, which would be held in the next six months.

He said: “The promise we made at Abuja (at the last meeting) is that PDP flag will fly at the Anambra State Government House in 2014 and we have started what we tag operation deliver your booth for every member.”

The chairman charged all the wards and local government executive members of the party to go back to their areas to fish for more members to make the forthcoming election easy for PDP. At the meeting, the

magnate business mogul, Prince Arthur Eze threw his weight behind the new leadership of PDP in the state, urging those in charge to do what is humanly possible to take over the state in 2014.

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include about N611million for Non-Life insurance and N45 million for its life business, pointing out that “our aim is the prompt payment of claims as the ultimate purpose of an insurance company. We recognize the confidence that this instills in the minds of our clients.”

The NSIA Group with 22 subsidiaries and

over. ”No matter our challenges, we must leave the fight for God and believe in ourself as a nation.”

He however extoled the virtues of late Lady Hannah Ugoyibo Chukwudozie for her exemplary life of service to community, humanity and to God, saying her death was a great loss and an irreparable one indeed.

In his homily, the Primate of the Anglican Church, Nigeria, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh implored Nigerians to tolerate each other in their day to day activities, adding that peaceful co-existence is a panacea to frictions in the land.

The clergyman eulogized the late Ugoyibo for her commitment to the peace and progress of the society especially her immediate community.

Alleged N131m fraud: National President of RTEAN sacked

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

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HE National Executive Council, (NEC) of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, yesterday, expelled its National President, Olufemi Ajewole over alleged mismanagement of about N131million belonging to the association.

The decision was taken after an emergency meeting held in Abuja yesterday.

“We deliberated on the report submitted by the committee which

ADIC Insurance, an NSIA company operations in 12 African pays N656m by Q3 countries prides its self in

DIC Insurance, an NSIA Company and one of the nation’s leading composite and underwriting insurance company paid over N656 million in claims settlement to its policyholders across the country in the third quarter of this year, the Head of Claims in the company, Ms Ejaita Idiegbe has disclosed.

She said that the claims

According to a goodwill letter he sent to the party, Eze reminded them that the only way to achieve the objective was for them to be united and sincere in all their actions.

intervention because no one can fight for God. Speaking yesterday during a funeral service for late Lady Hannah Ugboyibo Chukwudozie held at the St. Peters Anglican Church, Ubahu, Okija, Anambra State, Senator Mark assured that the nation’s trying times would be overcome only when Nigerians trust God for s u p e r n a t u r a l intervention in the matter.

He said, “ we must learn from our past civil strife which left Nigeria backward economically and politically ”.

The Senate President who admonished the citizenry on the need to live in harmony with one another, stressed, “we must learn from our past mistakes, everything that happens, God has a purpose for it.

It could be a test of our faith. This trying times i am sure would soon be

maintaining its reputation of simple, swift and accurate claims handling procedures.

She noted that for any world-class insurer, the measure of a true face-toface customer experience is how quickly you react to claims, adding that this was why ADIC Insurance maintains an impressive 90%+ client rentition ratio.

investigated the allegations levelled against Elder Olufemi Ajewole, the President of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria and after exhaustive deliberation, resolved to expel him from RTEAN with immediate effect”, read a communiqué by the Acting President of the association, Alhaji Sabo Mohammed Tankko and the National Secretary, Alhaji Garba D. Navom.

The association had recently accused Ajewole of allegedly converting to personal use, the sum of N34million being the proceeds from illegal tickets allegedly printed without the knowledge of other executives.

It was reported that the former president sold bundles of tickets worth N105 million to the Ogun State chapter of the association between 2010 and 2011, and allegedly

converted the money into personal use. Similarly, Ajewole was alleged to have at various times between 2010 and 2011 allegedly collected various sums from the Ogun State Chapter of the association as well N1million from one Kazeem Balogun being part of the sales of trailer tickets without accounting for it.

He was suspended from

Fresh violence erup ts in Oruk u, U muode erupts Oruku, Umuode community •Six houses destroyed

BY TONY EDIKE, Enugu

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RESH crises erupted yesterday between the people of Oruku and Umuode communities in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu has confirmed.

Amaraizu said that more policemen had been deployed to join forces with the men on ground to restore normalcy.

Sources said the fresh

attack which commenced at about 3pm Wednesday led to the destruction of six houses while several others had

been displaced.

The Oruku people however, said there was no police re-enforcement to the area at press time.

Anioma Study Group holds Seminar Dec 8

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BY TOMMY ANADUAKA

ONE-DAY seminar being organized by Anioma Study Group (ASG) will hold today, Saturdy at the Ogwashi-Uku Town Hall by 11.00 am and will be presided over by an erudite scholar, Akpati Okolocha Frank (the Inewai of Onyah Kingdom). A statement by the national co-ordinator of the group, Pastor David Ashikodi said the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Victor Ochei will be Special Guest of Honour.

8 — SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012

AMCON urges Court to okay sale of Capital Oil assets •As Ifeanyi Uba begs court to set aside forfeiture order •Ruling fixed for December 11

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI, Abuja

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RAVAILS of the Managing Director of Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited, Mr Ifeanyi Uba, took a fresh dimension yesterday, as the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, sought leave of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to sell all the petroleum products within the disposal of the embattled firm.

AMCON, through its lead counsel, Mr Kemi Balogun, made the oral application on a day the Managing Director of Capital Oil, Uba, also pleaded with the high court to go ahead and vacate the forfeiture order it earlier issued against the company.

It would be recalled that the high court presided over by Justice Abdul Kafarati, had on November 13, ordered AMCON to take immediate possession of properties and assets of Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited, following allegation that the oil firm is indebted to AMCON to the tune of N48.014 billion.

Nevertheless, in a bid to reclaim possession of its assets, Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited, reapproached the high court on November 22, begging

it to vacate the interim order, even as it urged the court to grant it access to 50 percent of the credit balance in some of its accounts with the United

Bank of Africa, UBA, to enable the company to pay salaries and attend to personal needs of its staff.

Despite vehement opposition that was raised

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HE embattled governor of Adamawa State, Admiral Murtala Nyako yesterday stormed the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and boasted that there was no going back on the action he took.

The governor who was summoned by the Alhaji Bamanga Tukur led National Working Committee, NWC to explain what the party termed his unethical behaviour told the leadership of the party that the local government election conducted in his state on

from disposing, selling or leasing its properties, pending the determination of the suit.

An affidavit in support of the motion said both parties had agreed on modalities for re-payment of the loans and rescheduled payment to be spread over a period of eight years from 2013.

New sensation, Burna Boy, takes centre stage on Glo Presents The Big Friday Show

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From left to right: Adebayo Osinowo, Regional Operations Director, Lagos Region, Airtel Nigeria; 1st Lady of Lagos State, Dame Abimbola Fashola and Oladokun Oye, Zonal Business Manager (Post-paid), Lagos Region during a courtesy visit of Airtel officials to the 1st Lady, yesterday in Lagos.

ANS of fast-rising music act, Burna Boy, had a chance to hook up with him on television this weekend as he is the Celebrity Guest on Glo Presents The Big Friday Show.

Burna Boy is currently making waves in the music industry most especially for his hit singles such as “Like To party ”, “Tonight”, “Trumpet”, “Touch Your Toes”, “Abeg Abeg

World Aids Day: Nigeria records decline in new HIV infections •as Benue top list of States with high Prevalence •death rates still on the rise

BY CHIOMA OBINNA, VINCENT UJUMADU, AND SAMUEL OYADONGHA.

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IGERIA recorded 300,000 new cases in 2012., even as the country was ranked as number eight among 12 countries

in the world that have recorded a decline in the new Human Immunodeficiency Virus, HIV, infection rate. However, Benue state still leads other states in the federation in HIV prevalence with a prevalence rate of 10.7 percent,while Kebbi state,

PDP barks, as Nyako challenges party’s supremacy

BY HENRY UMORU Abuja

against that application

by AMCON, however, Justice Kafarati, said the defendants could withdraw 25 percent of the amount disclosed by

UBA in an affidavit it tendered before the court, just as it slated yesterday to hear the application seeking to set aside the interim order that was issued against the company ab-initio.

Specifically, Uba and his distressed company sought an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the plaintiff

Saturday 24th of November stands.

Nyako who told the NWC members that the result of the election was not determined by the party, s a i d , “Of course the election stands. The result of the election is not determined by the party.

It is determined by the State Independent Electoral Commission ( S I E C ) . ” The governor was drilled by members of the NWC with the Deputy National Chairman, Sam Sam Jaja presiding for more than

with 1.0% recorded the least prevalence rate in the country. Benue State is closely followed by Akwa Ibom with 10 percent, Bayelsa State; 9.1 percent and Anambra, 8.1 percent.

In Kaduna which recorded 5.1 percent from seven percent in 2008, Governor Patrick Yakowa promised to ensure zero prevalence in the years to come, as according to him, government would do everything within its power to educate the people and provide drugs for HIV/AIDS patients..

Statistics released by the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research at a programme to mark this year’s World AIDS Day yesterday in Lagos showed that Nigeria and 11 other

countries recorded 20 percent reduction in new infection rate between 2001 and 2011.

OFFICIALS of the Anambra State AIDS Control Agency, ANSACA, expressed worry over the 8.7% HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the state which ranks it fourth in the country, saying that serious measures were being adopted to reduce the scourge.

The Bayelsa State government has reaffirmed its commitment to the wellbeing of people living with HIV/AIDS, according to Governor Seriake Dickson who spoke at a charity football match between the Creek Haven Young Stars and Creek Haven All Stars to mark the 2012 World HIV/AIDS Day at the Government House, Yenagoa.

Birthday gift attracts scholarship for cripple law student

BY CHINENYEH OZOR Nsukka

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ONDERS shall never end. This aptly described how a cripple 400 level law student of University of Nigeria, Enugu campus joined the league of scholarship beneficiaries simply because he presented birthday gift to the proprietor of Peace

Mass Transit during the 2012 edition 0f Samuel Maduka Onyishi scholarship foundation at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

The cripple Mr.Ikechukwu Ezenwa ambushed the transport mogul at the staircase of the Vice Chancellor’s office University of Nigeria, Nsukka where he paid courtesy call before issuing cheques to 100 student

beneficiaries 0f his entrepreneurship scholarship foundation, to present 200 copies of 60 leaves exercise books which bore the portrait Chief Onyishi in front and Peace Mass transit buses at the back as birthday gift to the donor of the annual scholarship in the University.

Ezenwa, a 400 level law student of the University

told Vanguard in an interview that he was touched by the magnanimity of the scholarship donor over the years and prayed God to channel him to fish out more physically challenged people hidden in rural areas across the country to give them a voice and sense of direction as a good number of them could not afford good education due to abject poverty.

Abeg”, “Party With Me” and “Firewood.

Burna Boy, originally named Damini Ogulu, talked to show host Basketmouth about his brand of dancehall hits that blend Afrobeat, RnB, and Hip-Hop into one tight-knit package.

The 21-year old officially broke into the music industry in Port Harcourt in December 2010 when he moved back to Nigeria from London. But it wasn’t until June, 2012, when he made a cross-over to the Lagos music scene with his mid-tempo Summer Jam, “Like To Party” that the budding star got the media sphere in a serious buzz.

Viewers also saw another side of Burna Boy as he flared up and spoiled for a fight not knowing he was being pranked in the Prank Yo Peoples segment.

Urhobo College Old Students plan dinner/lecture night

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HE Old Students’ Association of Urhobo College, Lagos will hold their Dinner/ Lecture Night on Saturday, December 01, 2012 at the Oceanview Restaurant, Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The association seeks to pursue the following objectives with the event: Promotes positively the image of the school; Motivates the generality of UCOSA and members to greater heights; Strengthen the network between members, and Raise fund for projects in the school.

The Chairman of this year ’s event is Prof.

Johnson Ekpere, and the guest Lecturer is, Alaowei Broderick Bozimo, an old student of the college and former Police Minister.

SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012 — 9

Ojukwu’s Will tears family apart •Bianca highly favoured

BY TONY EDIKE & ENYIM ENYIM, Enugu

W

IDOW of late Biafran leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, and her children were said to have been more favoured than their other relations in the sharing of their father’s property as Ojukwu’s Will was read at the Enugu High Court yesterday.

The Will which was expected to have brought peace to the family now wrangling over who should control the assets left behind by the late Ikemba Nnewi since his demise on November 26, last year, has however been rejected by some of the beneficiaries through Emeka Ojukwu jnr.

In rejecting the Will which was read at the High Court by the Chief Registrar, Enugu Judiciary and Probate, Mr Dennis Ekoh, Ojukwu jnr called it a ruse.

They accused Bianca and her lawyer of allegedly causing trouble with the issue. ’’What I have to say about the Will is my position on it. It is Bianca and the lawyer that are doing what they are doing. We are waiting for the Will to be read; then I can make a statement on it. For the Will to be read, all of us, my brothers and all the beneficiaries would have to be present. And if the Will does not reflect the wish of my father, which we all know, we shall go to court,’’ he said.

Earlier, Bianca and her two sons had dragged Ojukwu’s brothers before the Lagos High Court over the control of Ojukwu Transport Limited’s, OTL’s, property situated at No. 29 Queen’s Drive, Ikoyi, Lagos, where Ojukwu once resided.

The Will which was read

by Mr. Ekoh also threw up some surprises when an ‘unknown’ name Tenny Harman was mentioned as number one among the late Ojukwu’s children.

There were to be more shockers as the name of Sylvester Ojukwu popularly called “Dede” was conspicuously omitted from the list endorsed by Ojukwu himself as his children just as Emeka Ojukwu (Jnr) only got a property in Umudim Nnewi, Ojukwu’s hometown as his entitlement.

After appointing Bian-

ca, the late Igwe of Oraukwu, Emeka Ojukwu and James Chukwuneme as trustees and executors of the will the names of the children were next; and the late Ikemba stated that only the eight listed and no other person should be regarded as his children.

The eight children listed are Tenny Harman, Emeka Ojukwu, Mmegha, Okigbo, Ebele, Chineme, Afam, and Nwachukwu.

Bianca who arrived the Enugu High Court premises in a black Prado Jeep at about 8:30 could not hide her surprise when the strange name of Tenny was mentioned among Ojukwu’s children as she started whispering with family members in the registrar ’s office with her.

Apart from Bianca, other family members who were in court to listen to the Chief Registrar included Mr. Mike Ezemba and Mr Val Nwosu; Ojukwu’s first cousin.

They however declined comments on the matter as they left in different vehicles that brought them to the court premises. Bianca, who is currently Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain would be all smiles later as the will awarded her Ojukwu’s Enugu mansion ‘Casabianca’ located at No: 7 Forest Crescent GRA, which the late Ikemba Nnewi had named after her. She is to also replace Ojukwu on the board of the Ojukwu Transport Limited, OTL, or appoint a representative in the management board.

Bianca heaved a sigh of relief as the Will clearly gave her a stake in the controversial OTL. The company was founded

by Ojukwu’s father, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu who died in 1966, but left several assets behind for his children especially in Lagos under the OTL.

Ojukwu transferred his interest in the company to his widow and children in the Will which reads inter alia, “Bianca and her children should take over my place at my transport…she may also wish to appoint somebody to represent her at the board…”

Bianca also got two properties located at plot 20 Jabi Abuja, with Certificate of Occupancy number 4405, as well as another property located at Kuje, Abuja.

The late Eze-Igbo also willed all his personal effects, monies and cars for Bianca and her children’s upkeep.

He also allotted to Bianca two hectares of land at Umuezeani Umudim Nnewi, ‘’If she does not remarry.’’

Ojukwu’s strange daughter Tenny, who was said to be unknown to members of the family before now, was allotted Jubilee Hotels, Zaria; but when the will was read it was observed that the hotel had been sold thus she would receive the proceeds from the sale.

For the former Commissioner in Anambra State, Emeka Ojukwu, who was generally regarded as Ojukwu’s first son, it was not a fair deal as he got only a house in Umudim Nnewi.

Ojukwu further willed a hectare of land each to all his daughters but directed that his Nnewi property is “to remain a binding legacy to us for generations to come.“

L-R: Chair, Ekiti State House of Assembly Committee on Women Affairs, Mrs. Abeni Olayinka; wife of the state governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi; Commissioner for Women Affairs, Social Development and Gender Empowerment, Mrs. Fola Richie-Adewusi; and Iyaloja of the state, Chief Waye Oso, at a rally marking the 2012 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children, in Ado-Ekiti, yesterday.

Nwokedi blames Nigerians for poor performances of politicians

BY BASHIR ADEFAKA

F

ORMER Chairman of Anambra State Council of Traditional Rulers, Igwe Alex Nwokedi has blamed Nigerians over the poor performances of political office holders since the return of democratic governance about 12 years ago, saying that the electorate deliberately elect incompetent leaders and expect them to perform miracles.

Igwe Nwokedi said that there had been no semblance of governance over the years, except for the media which had been trying to keep the flag

flying.

He spoke in an interview with Saturday Vanguard in Lagos Thursday. He particularly lamented the incessant bomb attacks among other security breaches in the country, lamenting that the military church at Armed Forces and Command College, Jaji was penetrated and bombed. ’’Is it not a disgrace that Jaji was bombed? Jaji! a major stronghold of Nigerian Armed Forces where our very highly intelligent officers are trained! And look, we are old people, you know?

We wake and pick up

ENSG appoints acting chairman state council Local Government Umumba Ndi Agu Comof chiefs North of the state, Igwe Simeon munity, Ezeagu Local Onovo.

BY CHINENEYEH OZOR, Nsukka

T

HE Enugu State gov ernment has appointed the traditional ruler of Essodo Kingdom in Enugu Ezike, Igboeze

Osisi Itodo as the acting chairman of the State Council of Traditional Rulers. Igwe Itodo was appointed following the demise of the former Chairman, Igwe Joseph Chibuiko, from

Government Area.

The new Acting Chairman was until his appointment, the Deputy Chairman of the council of traditional rulers from 1999 to 2003 and again in 2007, under late Igwe

UPP zones 2015 presidential ticket slot to S/East

T

HE National Chairman of the newly registered United Progressive Party, UPP, Chief Chekwas Okorie has revealed that the Party’s Presidential ticket in 2015 general election has been allocated to the South East geo-political zone of the country.

The Chairman made this revelation yesterday in Abuja after the party’s first

paper everyday and read that our children are slaughtered. Do you think we are happy?

I get very, very sad about it. And anybody who cannot guarantee security in our country should not rule us. We stay in our community very far away and read about these things and they make us sad!

This St. Andrew ’s Military Church bombed in Jaji; there would be cadet officers there when it was bombed but we have not been told. These are our children. It is the desire of parents that their children should bury them not they to bury their children.”

National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held at the party’s national secretariat. Reading the communique of the meeting to Journalists, Okorie said “United Progressive Party shall immediately put all machinery in motion for effective participation and contest of the 2015 presidential election in

Nigeria. In this regard, NEC has approved the zoning of the presidential slot of our great party for the 2015 presidential election in Nigeria to the South East geo-political zone. All aspirants from the South East geo-political zone wishing to contest for the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at the 2015

presidential election are welcome to do so on the platform of our great party.”

He also used the forum to refute speculations making the rounds that his party was currently in merger talks with the Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA and All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA ahead of the 2015 general elections.

Igwe Itodo, a Second Republic member of the House of Representatives, was a former treasurer, South –East Council of traditional rulers and member National Council of Traditional Rulers.

Confirming the story, the Enugu State Commissioner for Chieftaincy Matters, Pastor Emeka Abugu said that the appointment was conventional due to the demise of Igwe Chibuko who had held the position for quite some time.

According to him, ‘’Igwe Itodo became the acting Chairman of the State Council of traditional rulers by convention.’’

10—SA TURD A Y Vanguard 10—SATURD TURDA anguard,,

DECEMBER 1, 2012

The faces of Nigerian gays J

AMES Onuoha (real names withheld) a banker, is a product of both Western influences and the traditional cultures of Nigeria. Academically, he’s a Western, having acquired his first and second degrees in financial management in an American university at his prime. But emotionally, he is swayed by age old superstition and the traditions of his people.

When the time comes for him to get married, James bowed to family pressures, and chooses a girl from among his own Ibos, leaving his mistress of many years behind in Lagos. But the lucky bride, Obiagali, whom he finally chooses, is tied to the apron string of the primitive curse of the village gods. Undeterred by this chilling discovery, James, together with his wife to be, agreed to go through a curious and sinister ritual to secure her release so that they can marry. Ironically, at the climax of the purification exercise to extricate Obiagali from the grip of the village gods, she died in a mysterious circumstance.

Disappointed at the tragic death of his heart-throb, James was thrown into pensive mood.

Two days after, he left the village unannounced to resume his work in Lagos. All appeal by his parents and kinsmen to take another girl in the village as replacement for a wife fell on deaf ear, rather, James opted to remain a bachelor. He ignores emissaries sent by his parents to rescind his decision to remain single despite the enormous wealth at his disposal.

Events happen so quickly in James’ new life. Just one day, he chances upon an old friend. After exchange of pleasantries, which revealed their new status, the friend invited James to a club party – gay club which he obliged.

That party changed James’ life as he gave in to overtures made at him by men lovers.

Right from then on, James has a man lover, perhaps as an escape route to bury his ugly past.

Bad news, they say, spreads faster than disease. James has defined a life style for himself.

He’s a gay – married to a fellow man. A kinsman who visited the village from Laos broke the news to James’ father.

“Have you heard?” he questions James’ father rhetorically.

“What is it, my son?”

“Religion,” he observed, is a backbone to life in Nigeria, so, we all want to go to church. But we don’t want to lie to God about who we are.”

One after the other, Nigerians who indulged in homosexuality with impunity narrate how they eventually opted for this illicit romantic escapade CHARLES ADINGUPU writes that as the government tries to clip their wings, they hid under veil of fundamental human right.

“Your son, James is now married to a man in Lagos. He leaves with him in his house.

Though, he tells people and neighbours that the young man is a friend. But he was kind enough to disclose the truth to me,” he said.

“Abomination!” the old man exclaimed in disbelief.

“So the story is true. For sometime now, my son, James has become a song for drunk-

ards and a subject of whispering gossips at both the village square and beer parlour. See what city life has done to my son,” he lamented.

But James is just one of most Nigerians who indulged in this abysmal practice of homosexuality with impunity.

The story of Chinwe, a Nigerian lesbian based in Britain who flew into Nigeria to advocate the legalisation of

homosexuality is still fresh in our minds. At the public hearing in Benin, Edo State, the self confessed Lesbian (Chinwe) wept profusely before the gathering why homosexuality should be enshrined in Nigeria’s constitution as a way of life and an infringement of their (homosexuals) fundamental human rights if their agitation is treated with levity.

The broken record of same sex marriage

BY CHARLES ADINGUPU

F

ROM Europe to America, the anti-gay law now tops agenda in most politician discourse. In Britain, the story is no way different as Prime Minister David Cameron declared before Common Wealth leaders that future aids from his country would be contingent on recognition of gay rights. Already, U.S. President, Barack Obama has signed the bill into law legalising gay.

The United Nations and some Western nations are currently imploring African governments to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) rights. The UN Secretary General, Banki-Moon who has been harshly criticised by African leaders, told a gathering of huContinues on page 11

Nigerians marvelled at the impudence and shamelessness of her face saving remarks. They variably winced under the biting sarcasm her comments elicited. But the last sentence, they found very exasperating as villianeous tongues of women in the vicinity lashed out with a sting that was too painful for her to bear.

Chinwe who was sandwiched by armed police officers, was taunted and teased but stood her ground.

Also, a male popular Nigerian musician was reportedly caught in the act with a renowned male entertainer.

Though, the musician refuted the story, threatened to sue the newspaper for defamation of character, however, buried his head in shame when photographs, showing his clandestine affair were published days after the story was reported. That singular publication, Continues on page 11

SA TURD A Y Vanguard SATURD TURDA anguard,,

The broken record of same sex marriage Continues from page 10

man rights council last year “I did not grow up talking about these issues. But I learned to speak out because lives are at stake. And because it is our duty under the UN charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to protect the rights of everyone, everywhere.”

Already, two-thirds of African countries have laws which criminalise consensual same sex acts, according to Cary Alan Johnson, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), a New York based gay advocacy group.

Though, homophobia is currently on the rise in Africa, and

“Religion,” he observed, is a backbone to life in Nigeria, so, we all want to go to church. But we don’t want to lie to God about who we are.” virtually much of it is stategenerated. So far, many African leaders have instructed lawmakers to stiffen laws against same sex acts and same sex marriage.

In Nigeria, the anti-gay bill is like a phoenix which rose from its ashes. Last year, the Nigerian Senate debated on the anti-gay marriage bill which criminalises gay union.

For some time, the lawmakers

were more or less hesitant to put the final nail on the coffin of the same sex marriage bill.

But just recently, it was exhumed from the grave. The Bill sponsored by Senator Magnus Abe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Rivers State, prescribes 14 years jail term for anybody convicted of contracting marriage between same sex.

The Bill which punishes

DECEMBER 1, 2012—11

those aiding and abetting such unions with 10 years imprisonment, also stated that foreigners without diplomatic protection and humanitarian workers will be prosecuted under the new law.

As most Nigerians wait patiently for the endorsement of the Bill by President Goodluck Jonathan, they were of the view that same sex marriage is an aberration within the realms of African cosmology.

For Chief Edwards Odiete, a traditional title holder in Urhoboland, Delta State, it is a taboo for a man to get married to his fellow man and same applies to the woman.

“What are they (gays) trying to prove, that God Almighty who made procreation in human life does not know what He was doing? These are all foreign culture imported by our children who went overseas to study and got stucked in the culture of the whiteman,” the traditional ruler said.

A

n Islamic clergyman, Al haji Abudullahi Isah told Saturday Vanguard that homosexuality is against the ordinance of the Islam.

In similar vein, a clergyman in a Pentecostal church based in Lagos, Pastor Richard Adewale described the popularity

of homosexuality as signs of the end time.

Pastor Richard said that it was ugly incident as homosexuality that compelled God to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah when the people then engaged with homosexuality with imperial arrogance. According to the man of God, people engage in this nefarious but clandestine activity are only taunting God. He, however, warned that in no time, the wrath of God may descend on them unexpectedly as such persons are mainly cult members obeying the instructions of their cult group.

A Catholic priest, Reverend Father Cyril Mbata, said Catholic Church remains resolute on its stand against homosexuality in Nigeria and even elsewhere in the world.

“I remember while I was in Ireland and some gay groups were protesting, some people in the neighbourhood hurled stones and insults at them” Rev. Fr. Mbata recalls.

He lamented that those practising homosexuality, ironically, lumped the acts under the umbrella of human rights abuse.

Against this backdrop, self confessed Lesbian, Dr. Obiora, a Nigerian based in abroad described moves by the Senate to place a blanket ban on homosexuality as an infringement on right of people.

According to her, lesbians and gays deserved to be allowed to their lives since Nigeria is a secular state.

But again where does the right of the people begins and ends? Perhaps, it may go beyond living in bestiality.

Gays are more prone to contacting STDs – Dr. Nwokocha D

r. Reginald Nwokocha, a general medi cine practitioner and medical director of Hosanna Medical Centre, Ketu dismissed insinuations that gay practice is safe from the contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). He told CHARLES ADINGUPU in this interview that homosexuals are more exposed to STDs than those practising heterogeneous sex.

Is it true that gay cannot contact sexually transmitted disease (STD)?

That’s pure fallacy. They are even more prone to contacting sexually transmitted diseases, especially men who meet men of their likes. They usually indulged in oral or anal sex. They are more commonly exposed to diseases like haptetis B and C, Human Imuno Deficiency Syndrome Virus infections/AIDS. There are other sexually transmitted diseases that homosexuals are exposed to except if there are no penetrative sex, like a woman holding the body of a woman and a man holding the body of another man.

But for a man penetrating the anus of another man or inserting his manhood in the mouth of another man, it is an open invitation to lots of infections. The anus of any human-being is a dirty area. It harbours a lot of bacteria. And these

bacteria when they leave that surface where they are to another, it becomes effective. So you find out that there are a lot of STDs homosexuals are exposed to.

However, body to body contact will pose any health hazard but when a woman does lick the virgina of another woman, it is called cunnilingus. It transmits the bacteria in the mouth into the virgina.

Every human-being has bacteria in the mouth which causes no harm. But the moment, such bacteria leaves that environment to another environment, it causes infection.

Even when women use hands to fumble with themselves such as fingering each other they can contact STD through this process. The fingers are dirty.

It is not true that same sex relationship is for the avoidance of infection rather it is an open invitation for the contracting of STDs that are not even common or occur in heterosexual relationship.

Is it lack of sexual satisfaction that encourages homosexuality?

No, it is more of an abnormal sexual behavour. It is also not as a result of lack of sexual satisfaction but psychological problem developed overtime. Instead of getting attracted to man as a woman, a man gets attracted to a man such persons need a psycho-therapist. They need counselling, hey need to be made to realise the need for male female rela-

tionship. Some of them acquired it through early boyhood or childhood relationship.

The male child who has been an introvert all his childhood days, cannot go out to speak to girls or peer group now finds it easier to talk to a fellow boy. He lures a fellow boy into such kind of foreplay and gradually develops into homosexualism. The situation applies for the female to female relationships. These traits usually developed in secondary schools particularly those in dormitories. It is more common among girls.

Homosexuality is also common in only boys’ school.

But in a mixed school – boys and girls even when there is no physical contact of sex, the boy-girl relationships develop overtime because, each girl is pair to a man just as a boy is paired to a girl.

This will invariably lead to decent heterosexual relationship which will be consummated much later in life. The boy begins to see the attraction of a woman, just as the girl also sees the attraction of a man.

Dr Reginald Nwokocha

12—SA TURD A Y Vanguard 12—SATURD TURDA anguard,,

DECEMBER 1, 2012

Faces of Nigerian gays Continues from page 10

however, sealed the lips of the musician and hairy entertainer lover.

John Amaechi, a basketball player in the NBA made a revelation of the plight of gay athletes in major league sports.

In his book, titled, Man in the middle, Amaechi exposes the institutionalised homophobia inherent in the hyper-masculine world by American professional athletes.

Though, his exposure was greeted with avalanche of criticisms, but Ameachi was undeterred as he went ahead to openly discussed LGBT issues as well as encouraging other gay athletes to pursue their dreams irrespective of their shameful life-style.

These days, Nigerians who indulged in the illicit practice no longer operate under cover. They make bold to demonstrate their gayness by trying to initiate unsuspecting Nigerians into their fold.

Reverend Rowland Olajide Macaulay is a Nigerian Apostle of gay. His nefarious activities and a gay church was exclusively reported by Saturday Vanguard barely a month ago.

His church called House of Rainbow, was located at No. 36/36 Yakoyo Street, Ojodu Berger, Lagos and has become an abode for established gays and initiates.

According to the gay man of God, “my church is a voice of the younger generation of citizens, activists and diaspora, and our collective belief in a more progressive Nigeria.

They are afraid of our growing influence as we gather allies not just from the West, a people that are not afraid but powerful and resilient.”

“Religion,” he observed, is a backbone to life in Nigeria, so, we all want to go to church.

But we don’t want to lie to God about who we are.”

Macaulay who established his House of Rainbow in 2006 where he openly held Sunday services in an hotel hall in Lagos, decorated in rainbow colours however abandoned the church after a public backslash which culminated in manhandling of his members.

He fled to the UK after he received death threats from unknown persons.

But Saturday Vanguard’s investigation shows that the man is back on the trenches.

This year, he has recruited a small team which includes among others his local leaders in Lagos.

But for Mrs Josephine Adebayo being a lesbian was a choice she made following the neglect of her husband’s non-

chalant attitude towards her.

Narrating her ordeal to Saturday Vanguard at her Victoria Island residence, Mrs Adebayo said lesbianism has offered her the romance the husband denies her.

“You may not belief it except you try it, lesbianism is more intriguing than most people thought. Though, I was hesitant to accept it when one of my good friends initially talked me into it. But today, I’ve every course to be grateful to her. Besides, my lover woman is so good at it,” she confesses.

A 21 year-old man, Adisa was almost lynched recently at Amukoko, a suburb in Lagos for sodomising teenagers for rituals. According to residents in the area, Adisa who was reverend as a man of God was caught in the act with one of the teenage boys in the area

but he escaped through his back door. Also, a Nigerian gay was reported in one of the social medias as being married to a German lawyer and later divorced him.

O

kechukwu, another Ni gerian gay is currently operating a gay entertainment company in Abia State. Okechukwu however, disclosed that the main preoccupation of his company is to provide gay dancers and entertainment services for private parties and business functions.

But Anthonia Okorodudu (not real names) said she was introduced into lesbianism in a girls' `, secondary school in Ughelli, Delta State.

According to her, the senior students usually had them as bunk-mates only to start fumbling with them when night falls. “At a time, the exercise

was disgusting. First, I can’t imagine a fellow woman kissing and dipping her finger into my virgina as well as fumbling with my breast,” she said.

Today, Anthonia who later graduated in lesbianism has become mistress in the game.

“I’ve introduced many other notable women who suffer marital problems into the game. I must confess that they are enjoying it. Though, it’s a personal life style, hence the identities of such persons cannot be easily disclosed,” she said.

But Ethel who also attended an only girls secondary school in Enugu attested to this fact.

According to Ethel, “sometimes, your lover can ditch and abandons you in the cold.

Under such circumstance, we insert candle into our virgina to get the desired erotic satis-

faction. “You know, the edge of a candle stick looks more like a male’s organ. But there is a way of going about this,” Ethel reveals.

Similarly, Andrew Adewusi who attended an only Boys Secondary School in the North, said boys indulged in all manners of acts to derive erotic maximum satisfaction.

Till date, most of those boys who were caught in the act of gay in school refused to dump the illicit act. They are already neck deep in it,” he said.

Common features of homosexuals Though they are not easy to be identified but they possess peculiar traits which set them apart from ordinary persons.

Just like gigoloes, men who indulge in the act are generally fashionable and possess the carriage of a woman.

They are usually meticulous of their looks. Some of them wear ear-rings, fanciful plaited wrist watch and some finger rings.

Also, some of them use make-up as eye pencil and even apply lip-sticks.

They use feminine voice (emotional) whenever they are making overtures.

What thrills them in the fellow men, is guys with robust back side.

For Lesbians Some of them prefer to look like a Tom-Boy. They dress like men but at the same time, stay away from men. Often times, they go in pairs and belong to one social club or the other.

They are usually society women who are into big time business. Musicians and politicians fall prey to such advances.

‘Whose children will a gay’ adopt?

H

OMOSEXUALITY is an aberration in both the Af rican tradition and Christian religion. Reverend Father Basil Okoro, a Catholic priest based in Lagos told CHARLES ADINGUPU that marriage is not a contract but a covenant to continue procreation. He queried whose children will those practising homosexualitywill adopt if their life style threatens the continuing existence of God’s creation.

Position of the church in homosexuality.

It is an aberration from religions standpoint. From the Bible, our tradition, homosexuality is an abomination. Our tradition as Africans oppose the idea of homosexuality.

Marriage is a two way affair – between a man and a woman.

And for the church, it recognises marriage to be between a man and a woman. The Code of Canon law that states the position of the church on marriage. Canon 35, of the 1983

Code of Canon Law which is the principal code states as follows: “The marriage covenant by which a man and woman establish themselves a partnership of their whole life and which of its own very nature is ordered to the well-being of the spouse and to the procreation and upbringing of children, has, between the baptised, been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament.”

In other words, an arrangement as regards marriage that does not bring in male and female is an aberration.

Therefore, the extent of a man and woman coming into marriage has been ordained all through by creation. There is no tree that produces itself without pollination.

Also, there is no animal in the world that is known to be a gay. The animals reproduce because the male and female copulate. Even Hermaphrodites with the male copulating himself, do it through the male and female organs.

From the word go, creation is between male and female.

Now, from the churches’ standpoint, this is a way that only the couple lives, breeds and support each other. But this support for one another is open to procreation.

But then, gay people are saying they have the right to live as gay but at the same time, saying that they have the rights to adopt children. Whose children are they going to adopt?

Ordinarily such people are sick.

They are not normal. We look at them as from the point view of needing help.

The church in Nigeria never support gay. But in Europe and America, the story is different in churches over there.

SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012 — 13

C M Y K

14—SATURDAY Vanguard , DECEMBER 1, 2012

*dialogue overcomes ever ything

T

he religious sect known as Boko Haram is at war with Nigeria. It attacks and kills men, women ‘and children indiscriminately for no other reason than that their victims are Nigerians. It spreads a trail of hollow propaganda in the wake of its horrendous actions against the honour and security of Nigeria as a country. It ridicules our situation as a people expected to be able to ensure our own safety, and disrespects the ability of our government to protect its institutions. It seems to openly make a mockery of the essence of our existence. It must embarrass quite a number of people in authority; its activities certainly bewilder a host of concerned citizens; the Boko Haram frightens me.

No one seems to be safe above the Niger—at least for now. The fearsome, fearless horde hits at will. The chances of making a score are enhanced by the fact that the loss of the aggressors’ lives is factored into the operation.

How then can they lose in a project to which all, everything, has been committed as a basis of the modus operandi? How can you stop a foe that is not just able and willing, but also ready and programmed to die to prove his point?

It would appear that the first step is to fully recognize that the aggression of the Boko Haram must be categorized and accepted as a full-scale war. It has been regrettably confined to the status of an independent nation. Other “insurrection” in our estimate flagrant demands have also for quite some time, but only been made affecting the its spread of operation has appointment or removal of been limited to certain area of security officials and their the country. The nature has deployment, and all the traits of an out-and-out developments seemed to military onslaught, howbeit of have fortuitously, and a guerilla conduct. The hituncomfortably, moved close to and-run tactics is expressive •President Jonathan one or two of the outlandish of that. ultimatums in the past. That has sometimes left some campaign for a dialogue he element of surprise ponderings about how much raged for months before the enables the infliction of influence the Boko Haram organization finally released terror which is further could directly exert on official its format for such a meeting. heightened by the suicidal action in some direction, The terms were typically dimension of the scattered but especially when its demand bizarre, and were apparently sustained missions. falls on all fours with the designed to embarrass some The guerilla motif also express desire of some respectable citizens and, of sparkles through the articulate citizens of course, discomfit the impudence by which the appreciably eminent government. It fell in line presentation is overlaid. A with the spirit and tone of the positions. rich example is the demand The much-touted issue of insincerity upon which any

visits on the country.

Such distractions are mere aspects of the disdain with which an intelligent foe organizes its armament of confrontation, and holds the enemy at bay, while playing for time. But unimpressive as the government’s efforts may be especially with the seeming acceptance of the proposition of dialogue, significant strides have been taken in the recent past towards a resolute stand against the evil activities of the sect.

Arrests have been made of several of these

,

W

The nature has all the traits of an out-and-out military onslaught, howbeit of a guerilla conduct

,

T

No one seems to be safe above the Niger—at least for now. The fearsome, fearless horde hits at will

,

that the President of Nigeria, His Excellency Dr, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, should dump Christianity and become a Muslim. As unlikely an event as that is, it serves as an occasion for the terrorist organization to thumb its nose at the Nigerian posture of an

“dialogue” is a case in point.

The Boko Haram’s true identity is shrouded in mystery. It would be impractical, and therefore unproductive, to conduct a conversation, to the intent of resolving a problem, with the echo of pronouncement from an indistinct shadow. The

,

communication from the Boko Haram has always been based. Yet there were still some people who came out openly in support of such a preposterous agenda which was no more than a strip off the monumental psychological aggression that the organization wantonly

council within which the important decisions of the sect are taken. The announcement indicated that the JTF was closing in on the control centre of the terrorist organization and spoiling for an open engagement. Two days later, a church within the prestigious Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, was bombed in a spectacular manner. A suicide attack was first launched within the compound, and while spectators had gathered on the scene, a second suicide attack was visited on the crowd. It bespoke a programmed onslaught of sophisticated guerilla warfare and dispels any doubt about the professionalism which underlies the activities of the organization.

That was followed by another cheeky engagement when a host of gunmen attacked the office of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Abuja and got their comeuppance.

miscreants; caches of ammunition have been discovered and destroyed; some important connections have been established and are being investigated; the sect’s foot soldiers have been engaged and bested on a number of occasions. The days of merely giving reassurances of being “on top of the situation”, and having “everything under control” are fast receding into the distant past. The situation is now calling for action, swift and sustained action, thanks to the rampant attitude of the Boko Haram.

In a direct response, On Friday, November 23rd, the Joint Military Task Force made a release on line in which various cash rewards were offered for information leading to the capture of some important officials of the sect. They included, in particular, members of the “Shurra Committee”, the inner

hile all that can be done about suicide attacks is pre-emptive action, direct confrontations seem to be appreciably contained these days with adequate preparations. Of course, more can still be done — still has to be done. The storm of the Boko Haram will not suddenly die down and be swept away. The problem has to be solved by our own efforts against an unrelenting foe, through our understanding of the predicament that assails our lives. This calls for sincerity of purpose and serious thinking. We have to come to an honest evaluation of the danger to which we are exposed as individuals and as a nation. We must join the Joint Task Force in cooperation against this general emergency The arch-crime of kidnapping which emanated from the creeks during the Delta crisis has attained the heights of a full-blown union, according to reports. This was announced in the university citadel of Nsukka, where organized crime has come to town.

There are probably other groups of practitioners of the heinous crime, who would want to emulate what from a distance seems a sophisticated rise into a life of felony because kidnapping has become a highly lucrative pastime in some parts of the country, with all our other headaches. And why not? We ourselves allowed it to attain that status.

W

e failed to evaluate the appeal of the crime and its attractive returns from the start, just as we tended to consider Boko Haram as slightly more dangerous than a child’s play by moonlight at the beginning. Now that the so-called insurrection problem has grown horns, we are dilly-dallying with the idea of dialogue. It is said in some quarters that poverty, lack of employment and youth neglect fueled the rise of the Boko Haram.

So, one might suggest, it would be held true for kidnappers if the problem is allowed to become too hot to handle. And then those who have a ready solution for every problem would resort to a call for dialogue.

Time out.

SATURDAY

The president we need in 2015

L

ast week, my friend and neighbour Dr Kingsley Kola Akinroye (KK), was formerly presented to a diverse but select crowd of expatriates and Nigerians as the Honorary Consul of Finland. It was the peaking of a romance that started about 15 years ago, and which hopefully, will still have many peaks.

As a young doctor who had chosen cardiology as his area of study, he had gone to Finland to find out how a country which at a point, had one of the highest heart diseases in the world, turned itself around to becoming a country with one of the lowest heart diseases. He had been intrigued by what he found in this tiny, rugged country and that fascination kept him going there again and again. Hence the beginning of what, hopefully, will be a mutually beneficial relationship.

Two months ago, in exchange for a book on Collin Powel which I cherish, my friend had given me a book on Finland. I didn’t think at that time that it was a good deal.

After all, I had come across such PR books during my years of travel. But this book was different. For one, it was written by an outsider who had been fascinated and assimilated by Finland.

An intellectual, he was able to explain the feat that forefathers of Finland who transformed the country, had performed, in management terms.

Finland is a tiny country that has been made cold and unfriendly by nature. It is also a country with very few natural resources. But what it lacked from nature, was more than compensated for in men and women who are fiercely patriotic and courageous.

the future of the world does not lie in oil, gold or such natural resources any more. It is in education.

President Obama of the US recognised this four years ago when he made re-educating Americans a campaign promise. He reiterated it again during the last campaign. For America, he said, to compete and take jobs back from China and the Asian countries, America must have higher training and higher skills which in the final analysis, mean higher education.

A

t home, our ‘leaders’ are still busy fighting over revenue allocation. Neighbours – Anambra, Kogi, Rivers and Bayelsa – are fighting themselves over newly discovered oil. Instead of fighting over what is under the ground, why don’t we develop what is over the ground – the human resource? Instead of fretting over depleting assets, why don’t we worry over renewable assets – the human brain?

As it is, many countries in Africa have discovered oil. Worse still, our two main markets, America and China are looking inwards. On top of it all, the rest of the world is moving away from oil to cleaner, more renewable forms of energy.

If certain leaders don’t want to move ahead, then we should leave them behind. This is the time to forget tribal, religious and political affiliations and come 2015, choose a competent, visionary leader from any corner of Nigeria who will put education on the front burner.

Would it be possible, for example, for our new President, to pick the best five universities now and make them centres of excellence with a mandate to be among the world’s top 50 in five year’s time? Let the country’s brightest and best, irrespective of state of origin, be enrolled in these universities. Let them be run by highly acclaimed Nigerians picked from anywhere in the world, who are driven by excellence and the need to leave a legacy (it should still be possible to find a few I hope) Let the academic and administrative staff be the best we can muster. Then let these universities be the yardstick for the others.

In the mean time, let the clamour for a new man in Aso Rock begin; A man who will have the vision to prepare our young ones for the challenges of the knowledge driven 21st century. Let the social media, the Save Nigeria Group, and other Civil Societies begin to look for a man (or woman) that most of us can back, not because of his religious, tribal, or political leaning but because of his intellect, passion and vision.

,

But what it lacked from nature, was more than compensated for in men and women who are fiercely patriotic and courageous

T

wice, it fought wars that many people thought it could not win.

One of them was with Russia, a sprawling, powerful neighbour that wanted to swallow Finland up. To end the war, Russia demanded a hefty sum as compensation. Finnish leaders preferred to ‘pay the price of freedom’ even if it meant working their collective fingers to the bone. Finland eventually paid Russia off by producing superior goods that could be marketed in Russia and never looked back after that.

Today, Finland is one of the most prosperous European countries and as usually follows, one of the least corrupt in the world. Its strength has been in education and research and has some of the most advanced research institutes in the world. An average Fin, according to the book, has a logical, analytical mind.

So why am I bringing this up? What has Nigeria to learn from the Finnish example? Its education, education and education. The lesson here is that C M Y K

,

Vanguard Vanguard,, DECEMBER 1, 2012—15

Don't let Satan steal your joy S

atan is out to steal your joy. His ministry is to steal, to kill and to destroy (Jn 10:10). He knows that if he can steal your joy, he can keep your properties. This is why he will do anything to frustrate you and everything that has to do with you. He wants you to be sorrowful so that you block the avenues to fruitfulness. The devil knows that when you are fruitful his kingdom will be more in a mess.

Hence he will use whatever it takes to stop you.

Do you know that the devil can use your colleague, husband, wife or friend to offend you and make you think that they are the ones who have offended you? His primary purpose is to cause you pain whilst hiding behind them.

The devil disguises and manifest in so many ways to deceive man so that man will turn around to blame God. You see satan knows that if he can succeed in deceiving you, you may doubt God and miss your blessings that will ultimately make you more sad and bitter.

Bitterness can never produce fruitfulness.

Whatever you are trusting God for that is yet to manifest is not enough reason to be sorrowful.

Know that God is who He says He is and would do what He says He will do.

God cannot lie. His word is settled in heaven. If you are yet to receive the

solution does not mean that God has not done it or is not going to do it.

God is ever faithful. God is more concern about you receiving the blessings than you are. Instead of being sad check your life. If you are convinced that you are right with God then just hold on because God is always right on time. He is never late. Stir up your confidence in God. He won’t disappoint you.

Has God ever done something for you before? If your answer is yes, do you think that He has changed? Mal. 3:6, says, “for I the Lord, I change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed”. God cannot change. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. What He did for you yesterday He can do much more today and tomorrow. Believe Him. He said if it was not so He would have told you so (Jn. 14:2). The devil wants you to believe that God is not worth it or trustworthy. But then we know that the devil is a liar. He has no truth in him. Thus he is called the father of all liars (Jn. 8:44).

You see, God did not save you to leave you at the mercies of the enemy or of this world. The fact that you are a Christian does not mean that you might not suffer things like sickness, loss of job, disappointments etc. But in all of the challenges,

God has made provisions for us to overcome whatever the world can throw at you. It may be true that you may not know what tomorrow holds but if God is your God, He knows what tomorrow holds for you and knows how to bring it to pass in your life. Don’t be afraid of tomorrow because of yesterday’s mistakes or failures. God says “remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold I will do a new thing now it shall spring forth, shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” Isa. 43:18_19.

Beloved, know that your tomorrow shall be greater than where you are right now. Stop worrying.

Worrying has never solved any challenge in life rather it makes things worse. Know of a surety that God is working things out behind the scene. Know also, that the glory of the latter house shall be greater than the former. Hold on and wait for God’s end.

It is always glorious. No wonder the bible says “weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning”.

Rejoice child of God because your victory is assured in Christ. Apostle Paul, said, rejoice, again I say rejoice. Make up your mind that the devil will not rob you of your joy. Gird your loins with the truth (Word of God). Don’t allow satan to deceive you and rob you of your joy because if he succeeds, he can defeat you and rob you of your blessings. Satan’s mightiest weapon is deception. His only hope of winning is to get you to quit and rob you of your joy. The only way he can take anything from you is by deceiving you into handing it over to him.

Stop believing in his lies and start walking in the word of God that has made you an overcomer and more than conqueror. Receive grace to remain joyful and RISE. God bless you and bless our great nation Nigeria.

Have you given your life to Jesus? If not, please pray this prayer.

Father, I come to you as I am. I invite Jesus into my life to be my personal Lord and Saviour. Wash me cleanse with the blood of Jesus and empower me with the power of your Holy Spirit.

Thank you Father for saving my soul and making me your child.

16—SA TURD A Y Vanguard 16—SATURD TURDA anguard,,

DECEMBER 1, 2012

G

OVERNOR Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, of Kaduna State graduated from the famous Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria in 1972 with a degree in Public Administration. In 1973 , he went back to the then University of Ife , for a post graduate diploma in Public Administration, and not in business administration ,which would have helped place him in a better stead, if he was to take up employment in the private sector. He was to bag a Masters Degree in Public Administration, as he continued to prepare himself for service to mankind.

Unlike now that graduates, including

YAKOWA CLOCKS 64:

It's thanks giving, gr atiutde ttoo gratiutde God and ser vice ttoo mankind service

GOVERNOR Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa doctorate degree holders are reportedly applying to be drivers, Yakowa, had

several employment opportunities. If his motivation in life was money, the United African Company (UAC), John Holt, Kingsway, etc, would have been his first choice , where the salary cannot be compared to “living wage ” civil servants earn. But the choice of the civil service was not difficult,

because right from the outset, his life has been about service to humanity. Those who know him from childhood attest to this fact.

So quite early in life, he made the conscious decision to be a servant of the people. Thus begun the journey of a life that is epitomized by service which climax, is not the governorship

of Kaduna state, but as a permanent secretary in the federal civil service and as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As a federal civil servant, you make policies for the 36 states and the federal capital. Though in Nigeria, most people prefer to be governors, so they can be “emperors”. This may be the reason, why some senators prefer to be governors ,instead of legislating for the whole country.

It is all about control.

Considering that he lost his mother at the tender age of six and later his father at a very young age of 19, Yakowa would have ended up at best, a village champion, considering that he had lost his parents ,who would have paid his fees. Through doing all sorts of jobs ,the goodwill of people and the missionaries he was able to go to school. It was obvious to him that the only way to make a success of his life was hard work, determination and being focused. A habit that to date is still part of him.

Yakowa is known to stay awake into early hours, seeing people, treating files and by 5am, he would already be up. And as a devote Catholic (a Papal Knight), he will go for mass and the ritual of seeing people, treating files etc begins all over again.

But when the day is really choked up, he would apologize, and if it is something that can be solved by a phone call, he will ask that the person calls or sends a text message.

Treating people with respect and decorum is second nature to him. When he became governor , he had no hesitation moving with Hajia ,who has been in charge of his guest house from his days as deputy governor ,Kabir who was director in charge of security when he was the Secretary to State Government (SSG) , as well as Atama, who he has now made a permanent secretary .For Yakowa , they deserve “divine elevation” , the same way God Almighty divinely elevated him when the President picked the then Governor of Kaduna state, Arc. Namadi Sambo to become the Vice President.

Emmanuel Ado , is media consultant to Governor Yakowa of KadunaState.

SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012 — 17

18—SATURDAY VANGUARD,DECEMBER1, 2012 Dear Julie, I am in a new relationship for about 4 months now. In most ways it is great. But there is one thing that bothers me uncontrollably.

Just before we got together, my girlfriend was dating someone else. It got a little intimate, but he wasn’t able to follow through due to his own issues. After that, it didn’t work out romantically for them. Then she met me. She kept talking to him, but was open and honest with both of us. He was a friend, she was dating me.

But after she told him about me, he got very sexual and suggestive in his conversations with her. She was very honest with me and told me all about it. Things that happened made it obvious to me that his motives were to get her back but she was unsure. She felt he was joking, and that’s just the place he was at in dealing with losing the romantic aspect of the relationship.

don’t have problems dating, but I’ve never met someone as special to me as her. Other than this, she is so wonderful.

I am totally stuck, and totally exhausted emotionally. It’s a stalemate and I loose no matter what I choose.

Ken, Abuja

I’m insecure about her friend It bothers me that she never hung up on him. She eventually asked him to stop, but only after I asked. She tried to let him know where she was at with me, but has always seemed to soften it as if she’s afraid to hurt him. He is a little messed up and has told her she is the only friend he has to talk to.

We have had many fights about this. It’s about the only

thing we’ve ever fought about or at least it’s at the root of it all. I can’t stand to think that she kept him as a friend, even after knowing how much it tears me up inside. She want’s me to accept that she loves me and accept she only feels for him as a friend.

I wish I could accept it but I can’t get over it. I’ve thought about walking away, and I

How can I get him back?

Aunty Julie, My name is Funke. I am 24 years old. I dated a guy for two years. Well, we recently broke up and it’s tearing me up inside. I love him a lot but everytime we got into an argument, I would tell him that I’m leaving. Eventually he got tired of me saying this and he helped me move. How can I get him back? I left several large items at his home and I have been over there three nights a week since we broke up. Do I continue this cycle in hopes that we will get back together or do I leave him alone? He only calls me maybe twice a week. I normally call him. He’s very jealous and still says things that let me know he cares but we are still not together like I want.

Please help.

Funke, Lagos Dear Funke, Don’t just resign yourself to wait or leave. Be proactive and communicate on a real deep and meaningful level, and then see what his response is.

Take responsibility for your part in what happened and do not refer to what you think his part in it was. Stay focused on being honest about yourself.

Being open to learn and grow is how to succeed in a longterm relationship. Many couples fall in love, but split up later because they end up blowing it and do not have the right tools to deal with prob-

lems . They never open themselves up to learn what they need to know in order to overcome a problem.

So instead of consciously seeking out and learning the right tools to work through issues, things get undealt with and turn into longterm grudges and stuckness. And a marriage seems to get permanently cemented into unhappiness and unfulfillment — tragically

unnecessary and quite a waste of good heart and loving potential, simply because people don’t know the right strategies to get through their issues.

Such things are perceived from personal experience.

Even though one is a counselor, one is also human, and a product of the society which does not educate people to succeed in love. In a real

Dear Ken, Your situation is understandable.I know what you mean by being uncontrollably affected by the situation.

Sure, the other guy had motives. Sure, she would try to be reassuring. And, sure, in reality, there is always a risk in love. And the more important the love , the more it grabs you at your core , the more anxiety you can feel, once you start heading down the road of insecurity.

But the other actual reality that even you could not dispute was that you were behaving in a way that would drive any sane woman away from you,

sense, one is taught to think and feel about love in a way that leads him/her to fail in longterm relationships. That’s why the divorce rate is sky high, and so many couples are far less happy than they could be.

When people first get together as a couple, they fall in love and have a great time. Then, like all other couples, they run into difficulties. Like most couples, they do not know the right tools to overcome their

i.e. trying to control her. Love is meant to be free, as they say. Not put into a jail cell.

So you should wake up to an entirely different way of dealing with the situation. That was to work with the inner part of you that got so darn insecure when you were finally in a relationship with a woman who meant everything to you. The only issue you could ever “control” was within you, not her.

Once you speak that realization to her, she would be very impressed you were willing to do some personal and emotional growth. And that could actually make your relationship more solid and built real intimate emotional trust. Because, frankly, it is rather rare to find a guy who is willing to see, own and deal with his insecurities and inner anxiety. Mostly, women have come to expect that is a burden that they have to bear. And, frankly, they come to resent it.

problems. So they get worse and almost wouldn’t make it.

But when people already failed painfully in previous relationships, they’d decide to do something different this time around.

The fact is that unsolvable problems say one thing — that we each need to learn new and better tools for communicating and for working through the uncomfortable feelings that seem to be blocking us.

I am falling in love with a married man Aunty Julie, I’ve been messing around with this married guy for sometime now. I feel so bad but I think I’m falling in love with him. I don’t want to tell him because I’m afraid I’ll scare him away.

He’s always so nice to me and it’s not just because of sex because it doesn’t happen all that often. He has five kids with his wife and I have two boys. I know I’m not going to get anywhere with this.

I just don’t know what I should do and I don’t see why he keeps coming back. There’s this local bar around our neighbourhood and a lot of local people go there and when I’m there, I always catch him looking at me and if I don’t talk to him, he makes it to where I am. Is there any easy way to

* “The thrill is gone from my marriage,” Bill told his friend Doug. ”Why not add some intrigue to your life and have an affair?” Doug suggested. ”But what if my wife finds out?” ”Heck, this is a new age we live in, Bill. Go ahead and tell her about it!” So Bill went home and said, “Dear, I think an affair will bring us closer together.” ”Forget it,” said his wife. “I’ve tried that - it never worked.” * Joe had asked Bob to help him out with the deck after work, so Bob just went straight over to Joe’s place. When they got to the door, Joe went straight to his wife, gave her a hug and

stop this, or to make it easier?

Abigail, Port-Harcourt Dear Abigail, I assume that what you really want in life is happy and lasting love. What blocks most people from ending up in a happy longterm relationship is failing to see the big picture. Instead, they only look at today, and, perhaps tomorrow.

The big picture includes who you choose, why you choose them, and the circumstances under which you get together. It includes how you feel today, tomorrow, next month, a year from now even ten years from now.

If you cannot see where you are going in the future, heaven help you. You head off for the supermarket and end up

at the city dump.

So step back from whatever immediate feelings you have about this guy today, and look at where you are going. The choices you make today determine where you end up later.

If you choose to get involved with a married man, you are saying: “it is perfectly okay that a husband cheats on his wife.”

You are sanctioning this behaviour, to him, the world and yourself. Doing this now will affect the big picture you end up in for your future.

What happens next? Once you want more, maybe he dumps you, and you get real hurt and become more cynical about love. But what if he decides to leave his family, and you end up his next wife? Keep your eye on the big picture.

Remember, you already drew this picture to say it is okay

C O C K - T A L E S

told her how beautiful she was and how much he had missed her at work. When it was time for supper, he complimented his wife on her cooking, kissed her and told her how much he loved her.

Once they were working on the deck, Bob told Joe that he was surprised that he fussed so much over his wife. Joe said that he’d started this about 6 months ago, it had revived their marriage, and things couldn’t be better.

Bob thought he’d give it a go. When he got home, he gave his wife a massive hug, kissed her and told

that a husband cheats on his wife. You are telling this guy that very thing right now, by your actions. Guess what happens next, when he goes back out to the bar and leaves you at home?

The choice is yours. You play the starring role in your life. I suggest you make sure it’s a picture you truly want to star in.

So, you ask, is there an easy way to stop this? Yes. Next time you talk to him, tell him to take all his sexual interest in you and put it back home with his wife, where it belongs. Tell him you realized you have made a big mistake by being flattered by his interest in you.

Say you woke up and saw the big picture, and did not like what you were doing to your own life.Then simply stop interacting with him. Or stop going to the bar. You choose.

her that he loved her. His wife burst into tears.

Bob was confused and asked why she was crying.

She said, “This is the worst day of my life. First, little Billy fell off his bike and twisted his ankle. Then, the washing machine broke and flooded the basement.

And now, you come home drunk!” *A husband and wife were at a party chatting with some friends when the object of marriage counseling came up.”Oh, we’ll never need that. My husband and I have a great relationship,” the wife explained. “He was a communications major in college and I majored in theater arts.He communicates real well and I just act like I’m listening.”

SATURDAY

S

ending erotic messages from one cell phone to another has become liberating to the average enthusiastic today. It IS no longer news that a lot of mobile users now dabble in typed foreplay and sizzling erotic messages that make the mind boggle! The devil, the ay, makes work for idle hands (thumbs?), so why not keep them busy by texting?

When the texting bug first bit, everybody thought it was a teenage craze but it looks like anybody that can master the technique of their mobile instantly becomes hooked! Only these days, there are some texting etiquette to follow, to make sure you get it right to a T! With testing going through the roof this festive period ,readers need a few tips.

“Before texting, you had to make solid arrangement to see someone before you left the house,” commented a top mobile sales executive. “Now we’re a lot more flexible and spontaneous—you can be walking down the road, fancy a drink at your favourite spot, and text your mates to join you. We can also keep in touch with a lot more people, even if we don’t speak to them that much, they become text friends.” But texting has also changed our lives — and not always for the better. A lot of affairs are constantly being discovered when a suspicious partner decides to investigate his or her other tempting saucy messages. But it does half ’s phone. These discoveries have have disadvantages. Like letters and given rise to the number of love-rats, e-mails, it doesn’t have the support making partners more suspicious of body language. That can be than ever before. dangerous because we use body “But think of the boost and freedom language as our final detector of the mobile has given to our love sincerity. Without the language, a lives!” enthused Muni, a 35-year-old chat-up line could come across as businesswoman. “Thanks to the mobile, spicing up your sex life doesn’t have to involve elaborate new mattress moves. All you need to do, wherever and whenever the bug bites you, is pick up the phone. If you want to turn your man on like never, first send a couple of erotic texts to him, then seek a private spot to use your mobile — it could even be in the loo!

“Then let your imagination run wild, tell him explicitly what he does to you and how randy you are feeling.

You can so paint a picture of what you want from him that when you tacky, particularly if someone doesn’t eventually meet, it wouldn’t be, for know you. Texting has shortened him to tell you some funny stories what we say; as we shorten our about what a hard day he’s had in words, we increase the chance of the office ...” misunderstanding...”

Flirting expert, Pauline, believes That’s a wisdom to remember this texting is great if used widely. “It festive period if you’re tempted to allows shy people to make a move”, send a message to an old lover or she says. “If someone replies, it attractive boss in a moment of probably means they want to take drunken ‘intexication!’ Findings things further. You can also send have revealed that a lot of men will

Vanguard DECEMBER 1, 2012—19

Be careful what tte exts yyou ou send this festive period!

text someone they fancy when they ’re drunk. More than half of women confessed they have suffered from ‘ex-texting’ — sending an ill-judged message to a former partner and quite a number of users have experienced ‘mistexts’ accidentally sending a

These discoveries have given rise to the number of love-rats, making partners more suspicious than ever before

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naughty message meant for a lover, to a ‘friend’ or, worse, a family’.

Careless texts can even cost lives.

Some years back, Phillips IMc Nulty of Leicesershire in England, strangled his wife, Yvonne, to death with a dog lead. He had picked up her phone and just read a message: “Good morning, my darling. I feel like I have just won

the lottery. I love you very much”.

He convinced himself that she was having an af to the wrong phone!

Constant messaging can also be bad for your health. Dr. Mark Collins, head of Addiction Unit at Celeb Tetox Clinic, The Priory says he’s seen a rise in ‘text addiction’ with some clients spending up to seven hours a day on their phone keyboards. This leads to repetitive strain injury, sleep deprivation and eye strain - plus increased agitation when they can’t .get to their phones.

A study of children in Belgium also revealed that 10 per cent of 13-year olds are disturbed by late-night messaging, leaving them tired and unable to concentrate.

“If you expect to be woken up”, reveals the study, “it changes your sleep. You sleep less deeply. It means you are effectively on call and more tired during the day”.

A

nd the downside to the text revolution? According to the report, “it’s annoying when someone’s messing around with their mobile all the time. We need to learn ‘text etiquette’. And it is stressful when you’re contactable 24 hours a day.

Maybe, we also need to learn to turn our phones off occasionally”.

The report concluded that life could be even more difficult for text rats in future. “The phone network can tell where you are, when you use your phone. In the future, you could use it to track down your kids or even your sneaky other half!” So the message is clear-think before you text! A lot of text messages will be flying around in a couple of weeks, seeing a decline in the sales of greeting cards both for the Christmas and the New Year.

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You can only drink so much water!

C M Y K

tors, such as general health, age and weight as well as life-style and climate. A good way of being sure is by the colour of your urine. If it’s pale

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E

veryone knows the recommendation that you should drink eight glasses of water a day. But should you really? According to the Consumers Association in Britain, no one knows where this socalled fact came from. Dr. Heinz Valtin, of the Darthrnouth Medical School in the US was asked by the American Journal of Physiology to find the origin advice. But after a lOmonth trawl through research and numerous interviews with medical colleagues and nutritioners, he drew a blank.

The Consumers’ Association says: “There’s no one-size fits all rule as to how much fluid you should drink.

The amount depends on many fac-

The truth is that we’re missing out on life while we hang about

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and straw coloured, it’s fine, but if it’s darker, you should be drinking more fluids.

How to make snap decisions:

A few of us are capable of making

a quick decision without worrying whether we’ve done the right thing. But some of us spend so long dithering, we miss opportunities and drive others up the wall while we’re at it. Often we fail to make our minds up quickly because, we exaggerate the importance of the situation and the consequences that might follow.

T

he truth is that we’re missing out on life while we hang about. Snap decisions take confidence. So stop telling yourself that you’re useless at making good choices.

Then actively choose to make more decisions, no matter how long they

take you. Start with little things.

Make choices that will affect only you. Will you have tea or coffee with your breakfast? Do you want a light lunch or a heavy one? These decisions aren’t going to have a huge impact on your life. Then up the pace. What will you cook tonight?

Which film will you go to see and when? Get used to the fact that you don’t always have to know all about the pros and cons.

Gradually, you’ll build up confidence in your own decision making.

However, some decisions do need to be mulled over, so don’t feel pressured into rushing to make up your mind when there’s something really important at stake.

20—SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1 1, 2012

when a couple deals with unemployment.

These terms can be misleading because there are still fewer women in the labour force, and women lost jobs, too. It’s

Honey, I’m home!

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A

FTER their July 2012 wedding in Abuja followed by two weeks honeymoon in the United Kingdom, Joyce and Mike returned home to Abuja, where they happily settled into newlywed life. But that was for only 12 days. Then Mike was laid off from his job .

“I thought, Oh, God, what have I gotten myself into?”

Joyce says. “Now he’s unemployed and I’m stuck. I thought marriage meant not having to stress about money.

I never thought I would marry a banker, but I did want an equal partner.”

When your guy loses his job, what it means to be the man of the house changes.

That sense of dread is familiar to many women who’ve gotten the same news during the punishing economy of the past several years. An expanding series of joblessness try to encapsulate

romantic dynamics . As such, for many women, talking about it feels like a betrayal of their guy to such a degree that interviewees shared only their first names and none would comment on their sex lives.

Shame and guilt accompany job loss. The best way to avoid the stress it brings to a relationship is getting in front of the money issue.

The longer you spend money as if nothing has happened, the deeper the chasm becomes. The aim, of course, is to have that six-

The best way to avoid the stress it brings to a relationship is getting in front of the money issue

the nation’s financial situation . The recession that hit the predominantly maledominated employees and the “She-conomy” ,with more middle-class women as breadwinners, and the “Hecovery” ,which has more men rejoining the workforce hardly tell the full story or describe what it’s like at home

been discovered that unemployed men weren’t defensive about financially depending on women , but it did uncover all this emotional stuff.

Indeed, male unemployment is a mélange of money matters, sexual politics, and

month cushion that financial planners always suggest. But beware of thinking that minor cuts will enable you to maintain your expensive habits .

When Mike first lost his job, Joyce says, “I fired our cleaning person, I gave up certain personal treats and other luxuries. And immediately we noticed the boost in our finances. We have been managing life ever since but things are never as they were".

Tessy, a fashion designer, hasn’t been financially walloped by her

Can we make it together?

F

EW years ago, I knew I had met my soulmate. He was a wonderful person to be around and we loved spending time together. He soon went away to serve in the military and was stationed across the country and we kept a long distance relationship. He came home a little over a year ago. I love him so much, he is the greatest guy I have ever known and at times, I feel like I cannot live without him and I know he feels the same about me.

Our problem is that when he gets stressed , I get put on the back burner and he tells me he just needs time to himself. He later explains it by saying that he can’t take the stress of a relationship at the same time with the other stresses he is dealing with. I understand that he is stressed and I know I make the situation worse because I put

pressure on him to decide whether he wants to be together or not.

We ended up breaking up, not talking for awhile. But eventually, when things calmed down a month or so later, we talked and tried to work things out. This has happened three times and this time, we really don’t know what to do.

Even through all this, each time we fight, we still say we feel like we really do want to be together and I know we do. But this has taken a major toll on our relationship.

We know we love each other so much but we realize love is not enough and don’t know how to fix things.

We try to talk but talking doesn’t fix our differences. When we get back together, we do try really hard to communicate and work things out and we do a great job for a while. Things are wonderful for about a month or so but before you know it, we are back to our old ways, fighting all the

,

time. We love each other too much to waste a lifetime without each other.

We want it to work forever, but we have not gotten married yet although we’ve talked about it a lot. We don’t know how or if we can make it. Can you help us please?

Peace, Benin Ans: Did you really meet your soulmate, or just a good candidate?

When a relationship begins with a bang, it’s tempting to think you’ve met your soulmate. But a breath-taking start must be followed by genuine staying power, or soulmates soon turn into cell mates, then ex-mates.

Meeting someone with major “wow” is only step one. Call such a person a soulmate candidate. But will they get elected? Will they become your lasting soulmate? This takes more

husband’s job loss yet because according to her, “we didn’t have debt. We owned our cars. Our rent was minimal. My father-in-law died, and we got some money after selling his house .That’s the kind of windfall you save, and we pissed it away on living expenses.”

When her husband’s family business dissolved three years ago, he had two months’ severance, so he took a trip . "I figured his life was changing, he needed a break. But three years later, he’s still going unemployed. It’s not really easy but we are managing.”

Looking back to his wife’s loss of job three years ago, Nath, a budding businessman said his family was badly affected. “ My wife was earning so much and she sustained the family most of the time but nowadays, the cash is no more flowing and our lifestyle has changed.

When my wife was working, we built the house we are now living in and with her retirement benefits, I started a business that is now blossoming but life is no more as rosy. We used to spend holidays abroad but now, things have changed. For the three years she has been jobless, we have not made any trip abroad except my wife who has been trying to use her contacts abroad to re-establish herself in a new business line. Our kids are feeling it but there is nothing we can do. We are facing the realities of time.”

than magic or fireworks.

No matter how great a honeymoon, all relationships encounter challenges. The road to happily ever after includes an occasional rock to trip over.

The difference between couples who enjoy lasting love and those who fall by the wayside is not the absence of problems. All couples meet obstacles on the path. The difference is in how they work with such challenges. Some couples face issues, embrace fears or discomfort, and operate from the best in themselves. They learn, grow personally, and are open to change.

These couples prosper and become real-world soulmates with solid staying power.A longterm relationship requires learning and growth, or it will stagnate and die.

Specifically, both people need to do the learning, and both people need to grow as individuals.

two female children, hotel manager, resident *Wale, 44, single, Yoruba, Christian, lives and works in in Lagos, is looking for a serious -minded lady Lagos, needs a Yoruba lady, a Christian believer of RCCG of from Benue, Osun, or Kwara States for a 28-33 , who is employed and based in Lagos for marriage relationship that can lead to marriage on on 08122196089 •Tunde, employed, based in Lagos, needs a tall lady 0 8 0 6 6 3 3 3 0 9 7 *Joe, 30, wants a wealthy lady for a marriage-bound who is also based in Lagos on 08168379901 •Charles, from Rivers state, resident at Eleme, relationship on 08057557562 •Obotu, male, Christian, 42, graduate,divorcee with needs a Godfearing lady for •Vincent, 24, from Delta State, needs a lady a serious relationship on of 22-30 for a relationship on 08088317218 Do you have reactions to our stories or have you any experience you want 07039319965 •Eniola, 29, living at Karu, Abuja, wants a •Tasha, 23, fat, robust, good looking woman of 35-40 for beautiful, busty, from relationship on 07037684112 Do you want to be linked?

•Alex, 36, from Delta, needs a Godfearing , Neither Chioma Gabriel nor Saturday Vanguard has any relationship with anybody wanting Delta State, needs a to be linked. We have no agents anywhere and charge no fees. We have no personal informa- relationship that can lead neat, humble and attractive lady of 28-35 for tion of people who have been linked or want to be linked and therefore, are not answerable for to marriage on a relationship that will lead to marriage on 0 7 0 5 8 6 4 1 4 5 4 08053332498

C M Y K

SATURDAY

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info@katehenshaw.com

No respite in sight(1) commences... .The various probes into corrupt practices fail to yield any lasting solution because the dangerous trend is becoming a norm. We hardly see a case concluded with stiff penalties meted out to deter others from taking that path when we have pleas being the order of the day in the judiciary.

Why would corruption cease if one who is caught is only made to part with a portion of the loot? It will be well worth it

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ou could be driving down the waterfront close of your estate, you pull over to the side to make a call and then the next thing, you are kidnapped; whisked away to an unknown location and a ransom of 10million naira is demanded to set you free! That is what happened to a friend’s colleague barely two weeks ago.

Another, had to drive like James Bond to escape being blocked in by a car and a man walking down to the side of his car whom he sighted in the mirror.

The reason for this evil is not far fetched. Our society has gone gungho... and things are spiraling out of control. With the approach of the Yuletide, it is heightened by the need of undesirables to make a last minute killing and make money to satisfy their greed before the year draws to a close.

Kidnapping is just one of the many ills that plague our society. The police have to step up their operations to nip this in the bud.

Stories have been heard with instances,that some criminals have superior fire power over that of our law enforcement agents.

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t is also important that the welfare of the police is considered to ensure the diligence of the police in discharging their duties,and also to curb unscrupulous activities of the bad eggs within the rank and file who indulge in renting ammunition to criminals among others. It’s apparent that corruption has eaten deep into our society. The anomaly is right from the top echelon to the bottom.

The trend is,wait to occupy a lucrative position and the looting

A

s badly behaved as they were okada riders provided a service. There was no more accurate a compass, It doesn’t matter if it is off, off, off, off, off one obscure street; okada man will know the place! You cannot throw way for Lagos! They were also our version of the red eye shuttle –guaranteed to get you to that meeting on time regardless of the traffic situation.

What I never understood though C M Y K

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where our ministers and government officials go to look at, and then say something will be done. Our roads are decrepit( not just the famous LagosIbadan Expressway), more or less death traps,and with the increase of travelling plans this December, God indeed! help those travelling by road and take them safely to their various destinations.

Should you fall ill or be in serious need of medical intervention, do not look to

our health system with its third rate facilities, you are better off with local herbs and a lie down on your bed with a prayer on your lips for the Great Healer, Jesus, to heal you.

Unemployment levels are still alarmingly high,and we lag behind when it comes to educating our children who are leaders of today, not tomorrow, for tomorrow is far cry.

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who

hat would it take for those

lead to honestly serve the needs of the people,and indeed, for those being led to obey the laws and behave like responsible citizens without resorting to crimes of horror at the drop of a hat? It is heart warming however to know that one bad apple does not spoil the whole bunch.

There are still a sizeable number of Nigerians who are committed to doing things right; I see them daily when they stop at the traffic lights without LASTMA or the police being around, I see them when they are orderly in queues, when they speak out against wrong doings and when they instill good values in their children to respect their elders, work hard to become responsible members of their society and never to expect a free ride in life. It would indeed,be a shame that our children should be handed empty bowls when it will be their turn to enrich this nation the right way.

A special kind of stupid was the psyche of an okada man.

I don’t understand why they presumed they were special specie; aided and abated by the traffic authorities as they mill

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I was driving past this huge lorry load of confiscated motorcycles and it occurred to me that each bike represented the livelihood of goodness knows how many people and the several thousand that in turn used to depend on them. How will they earn an income?

With every single day of my existence in this beloved country of mine, I shudder to think of the future. I feel a strong ache in my heart that unless we are ready to grab the bull by the horns, we remain rammed into the wall. We are still inundated with very unstable supply of petrol, a product we produce in our country and make no mistake fellow Nigerians, be ready for another price hike as an early Xmas present! It is mind boggling still how we can have so much and yet be in total lack! Our refineries are nothing but museums

If the amount of money stolen in Nigeria, happened in the UK, UK would no longer exist

stealing huge amounts so that when you have to part with a portion of it, you still have a enough to throw a party to celebrate your escape from the long arm of the law. The Prime Minister of Britain had this to say: “If the amount of money stolen in Nigeria, happened in the UK, UK would no longer exist”.

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t’s a paradox of sorts the daily gridlock that the Lagos traffic has become. One would have thought that the banning of okada would ease things up a bit; the direct opposite is the case. So I’m thinking to myself that perhaps a large percentage of the people who used bikes as their primary mode of transportation owned private cars.

Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012—21

been set up was to protect them mostly from themselves. I remember when helmets became mandatory; their response was to go on a protest. And if I remember well some of it even turned

I don’t understand why they presumed they were special specie; aided and abated by the traffic authorities as they mill about like swarming cockroaches breaking every law in the book

about like swarming cockroaches breaking every law in the book. Another thing I never understood was their angst. Almost every law that had

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ugly. How stupid is that?

No I can’t say I understand the mind set of an okada man. It’s almost like they all drank from a special brew that made them wild, unruly and attempt

some incredibly stupi stunts. The more they were threatened with extinction the more badly behaved they became believing (erroneously it turns out) that they provided a service so great it didn’t matter what their excesses were the rest of us would just have to ‘suck it up’. It was only a matter of time really

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nce again, Government has shown that ultimately it will have its way be it setting up a toll gate, removing petrol subsidy or… banning okadas on particular roads, and there’s very little anyone do about it.

My unsolicited advice…? They should curb their excess and embrace the 55 or so roads they still have access to. To the teeming Lagosians whose lives just got a little bit harder, what can I say? E pele! E ku iroju!

22 — SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012

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OMETHING’S missing. No, not the keys - your sex drive!

Read on to find out why you’ve lost that loving feeling and learn tips to get it back.

You remember having a sex drive once. You’re not alone. About onethird of women experience some type of hypoactive (underactive) sexual disorder – otherwise known as “I’m not in the mood tonight.”There are reasons why you’re having sex or you don’t feel like it.

Why you are not in the mood

* You’re stressed. It would take a small army of clowns to match what one working mum juggles every day.

But as any veteran multi-tasker knows, the more balls you’ve got in the air, the more stressed you become. And when you start looking for items to scrap from your to-do list, sex is often the first to go. Women can do many things at once, which works to their advantage work-wise and life-wise, but it does make things hard sexually.

Most women find themselves putting the kids to bed, cleaning up the kitchen and making lunch for the next day, and the last thing they feel like doing is having sex.

What can help? Ask your partner to take over some chores. If he can take a little off your plate, you can relax.

And that means you’re better able to respond sexually. *You’re using hormone-based contraceptives.

This is a cruel irony. The kinds of birth control meant to inspire freespirited intimacy lower testosterone levels. For some women, that depresses libido.

What can help? Talk to your gynaecologist about swapping brands. Birth control pills contain estrogen and various types of synthetic progesterone called progestin.

In some pills, the progestin behaves more like testosterone and can actually increase libido.Or opt for a barrier method (diaphragm, cervical cap, condoms or IUD), which won’t affect sex drive. * You’re taking medication.

Contraceptives aren’t the only drugs that can take the wind out of your sails.

Anti-anxiety benzodiazepines, like Valium and Xanax, can also short-circuit your sex drive.

So can beta-blockers taken for high blood pressure and antihistamines, which can dry up your runny nose and erogenous zones.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants can blunt desire to such a degree that men often take them to remedy premature ejaculation, according to sex researchers.

What can help?

Try a different beta-blocker or antidepressant.

If you’re feeling good on your SSRIs and your only complaint is that you wish you felt more sexual, talk with your doctor about adjusting your dosa g e .

Mixing a low dose of another kind of antidepressant with your SSRI can restore libido, says an expert. *You’re not sleeping well.

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, women are more than twice as likely as men to have trouble sleeping. And sleeplessness has an enormous impact on desire.

First, not getting enough shut-eye disrupts sex hormones like estrogen and progesterone.

But perhaps more important, missing out on sleep can make you too ir-

ritable for sex. And if it’s your hubby’s snoring that’s robbing you of snooze time, you probably feel more like smothering him with a pillow than with kisses.

“If you’re battling over sleep, it’s hard to maintain intimacy.

What can help?Make your bedroom a dark, quiet, sleep-friendly haven.

Banish work items, like your BlackBerry or laptop; turn off the TV and invest in a comfortable mattress. Use earplugs and a sleep mask to block out light and noise. Check your medications to ensure they don’t contain stimulants. Also ask your doctor about a short-term prescription for sleeping pills.If your partner is keeping you up, talk with him about ways to diminish his snoring ,like losing weight and avoiding alcohol in the evening, for example.

If all else fails, take him to a sleep specialist. When you sleep better and are less irritable, you’re a lot more interested in sex. That should be good enough incentive for him!

*You have an overactive bladder.

About one-third of women with overactive bladders “leak” during intercourse.Orgasm may cause a slight blip in communication between the brain and bladder.The bladder always wants to go to the bathroom, but it doesn’t because there are inhibitory messages sent from the brain to the bladder saying no.

For some women, orgasm may override these messages and, as a result, they release a small amount of urine during sex. It only has to happen once or twice for women to become sensitive about this, and that puts a damper on their interest because they don’t want to pee on their partners.

What can help?Making a pit stop before sex may reduce the chances of a spill, since involuntary bladder contractions are often triggered by volume.You can also talk to your doctor about getting a prescription for medications like Detrol or Ditropan, used to treat overactive bladder.

ASK THE SEXPERT

*You’re in menopause.

You lose about 90% of your estrogen – the sex hormone largely responsible for arousal and lubrication once you hit this milestone.

As levels drop, the vaginal tissue thins and dries out, which can make sex painful enough to make you want to opt out for good. For many women, the drop in estrogen alone explains a dive in libido.

But other aspects of menopause may also leave you feeling unsexy: hot flashes, weight gain, mood swings, apprehension about getting older, and the erratic, heavy menstruation that can occur before your periods stop for good.

Menopause typically occurs around age 51, but some surgeries and chemotherapy can trigger it earlier, which may put even more of a damper on desire.

A recent survey found that women

with surgically induced menopause reported higher rates of lowered sex drives (26%) than those who experienced natural menopause (9%).

What can help?

Conventional wisdom is “use it or lose it.” Having sex encourages blood flow to the genitals. Generally speaking, the more sex you have, the more you want.

That said, talk to your gynaecologist about medications that make sex more comfortable. Ask about topical testosterone, which can increase desire in postmenopausal women, and estrogen-based creams or suppositories, which remedy vaginal dryness.

Please advise.

Ques: My name is Nath. I am 20 years old. I want to have sex with a prostitute. I promise I will use a condom. This will be my first time. I am confused whether I should choose an aunty or a girl of my age for this purpose. Please advise.

Ans: Consider your future and decide on the choice you want to make. There is always the risk of a disease in any form of sexual intercourse. If you must do it, insist on a condom . Otherwise, I’d advise you to be careful and forfeit homosexual sex.

Ans: It is your choice. Who am I to stop you? Aunty or otherwise, sex with an unknown person, even with a condom, is risky. I’d rather advice that you get a loyal partner.

Ques: I am 29 years old and have been married for the past three years. My husband is 30. Off late, I have noticed him watching porn on his laptop.

Our sex life is otherwise good. When I confronted him the other day he got very defensive about it. He said that it’s normal for men to do this and I must understand it as a grown-up woman. I still find him watching porn occasionally. Is it normal for him to do so?

Ques: I’m 27 years old and bisexual . I have both male and female partners. My male partner wants to have sex with me.

This will be my first time with him. What precautions should I take before giving him a blow job? What cream should we use if he wants to penetrate me? Also I can’t seem to decide who I like more.

Ans: So long as the porn makes him a good lover and not an addict, why worry? In fact, you may ask him to share some of it with you.

SATURDAY

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once read somewhere that “the more the body does the more it can do.” I would frame the diction a slightly differently by saying “the more often the body does, the better it can do.”

When you start an exercise programme the aim should be two-fold to develop strength and attain great suppleness.

Though you may not initially have any considerable supply of either, commitment, tenacious commitment for that matter, will soon make it possible for you to possess them.

And with strength and suppleness you don’t wear and tear with as much rapidity. The body can take a lot more bashing and yet not break if we take proper care of it by way of healthy eating, regular exercise and relaxation and, of course, right thinking or a positive disposition.

When we make changes for the better in terms of more nourishing food, the body seems to respond to the challenges or demands of an exercise routine much better. When the food is not wholesome enough it has a telling on the body.

You become a lot stiffer and you tire rather easily at work and play.

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hen the diet is natural and is ready for eating in its raw slate or with the least cooking time, there is C M Y K

Cyber criminals and the rest of us

,

hen I received a call on Thursday, from a friend, a Belgian citizen who just left Nigeria a few days back to Iceland where she has a business, I thought she called to inform me that she had arrived safely. Unfortunately, she called to tell me that some fraudsters had hacked into my e-mail account and had sent a mail purported to be from me, asking for a loan to get me out of trouble in Europe. I was flabbergasted, not because I have never heard of such incidence, but because I never thought I would be a victim.

I decided to open my mail to see what was going on but could not log in. I then realized that my password had been changed. I tried frantically to recover my mail box and eventually succeeded. I then tried to access the level of damage done and how to arrest the situation, only to find out that the hackers had wiped out all my contacts, obviously to stop me from sending a disclaimer. The hackers also deleted over 2000 mails from my mail box.

As I was still logged on, a message flashed on my screen, informing me that I had been disconnected from chatting as someone else had logged into my account from another computer. I initially did not take this message seriously and continued to work. When I logged out and tried to log in again and could not log in, it dawned on me that the fraudster may have hacked into my mail again. I recovered my mail account again and continued to work.

The hacker or hackers also used my facebook to contact my friends, to solicit for recharge cards, claiming that I was in a meeting and not in a position to get someone to help me buy recharge card. When I got the

Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012 —23

There are cyber criminals all over the world, but what makes the difference is the effectiveness of various governments and law enforcement agencies to stem the tide and make cyber crime less attractive

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information, I got my facebook suspended, but latter in the day, I got another call that they were still using my facebook, which made me suspect that they may have cloned my facebook.

I invited an IT expert to come and help me to recover my contacts; he agreed to come on Saturday. So on Saturday while I was working with the consultant, to get messages across to all my contacts who received the scam mail, the message flashed again and I asked the IT expert what was the implication of the message, he confirmed that the hacker or hackers are still hacking into my mail account.

I was very eager to get my message

across to all that received the scam mail to prevent the fraudster or fraudsters from duping anyone. I eventually succeeded and heaved a sigh of relief.

The cyber criminals in their effort to frustrate people who would want to confirm the authenticity of the mail they received, made a slight alteration to my mail signature, for instance, our phone numbers were slightly altered, also to ensure that the fraudster alone would be communicating with their target, the fraudster created a new account (maardec@live.co.uk) and altered my mail setting using the fraudulent new mail address as reply to address.

It never ceases to amaze me that a person would devote his/her time trying to reap where he/she did not sow, when that valuable time could be used positively to sow seeds that would bear fruits... against trying to dupe others with the associated anxiety and risk of being caught and consequent destruction of the image of our country which invariably makes things more difficult for everyone, including the fraudsters.

May I implore all my relatives, friends, business associates, colleagues and all the good people out there, to always confirm the authenticity of any suspicious mail or text message before taking action.

Note that the fraudsters are highly sophisticated and can set booby traps for you which you might fall for, while trying to confirm the authenticity of suspicious mails. So in trying to verify the suspicious mail, do not use any contacts contained in the suspicious mail, you should rely only on the contacts or information you already have.

M

ay I call on our law enforcement agencies and the government to move quickly to stem the tide of cyber crime in our country.

There are cyber criminals all over the world, but what makes the difference is the effectiveness of various governments and law enforcement agencies to stem the tide and make cyber crime less attractive by ensuring that there are strong laws, and that the law enforcement agencies are equipped to fight the crime. When the tendency to apprehend perpetrators and punished them is high, it will serve as a deterrent.

Exercises for strength and elasticity

very little toxic waste produced, the system becomes cleaner and lighter. If what goes into the body is healthpromoting then if you top that with regular but moderate exercise, the body responds beautifully. Muscles that were once flabby lone-up and become welldefined and joints that were stiff and creaky before become supple. Your newfound fitness will enhance how good you feel inside and that will translate into how well you relate wilh people and events.

Exercise doesn’t only toughen the body, it also improves the mind.

For one, it improves concentration (well, yoga exercise does) a veritable tool in all human endeavours.

Benefits: The Spread Eagle stretches taut the muscles of the inner thighs.

Also,helps burn fat about the hips and corrects a stoopy posture.

The following are some yoga postures to help you improve your strength and elasticity.

The spread Eagle Technique: Sit down and spread the feet as wide apart as you can. Keep the trunk very erect and hold as far down the legs as possible. You can stay in this position 5 and 30 seconds. Bring the feet together when you’re done, rest a bit and repeat.

Leg and Trunk Raise: Technique: Lying on your back, interlace the fingers of both hands and place them behind the neck. Breathing in, lift both legs and trunk off the floor.

Now breathe normally. Stay in this position for 5 seconds or more.

Benefits: This posture firms up the muscles of the abdomen and upper back.

Yoga Classes @ 32 Adetokumbo Ademola, Victoria Island Lagos.

9.00am — 10.00am on Saturdays

24—SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012

Chineze An Anyyaene ready for hist or histor oryy again with Ije

Bukky Wright, Dayo Adeneye for youth symposium

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*Chineze Anyaene

fter two years of an unbroken record as the highest grossing Nigerian film in the cinemas, the multiple award winning movie, Ije: The Journey, produced by US based Nigerian film maker, Chineze Anyaene, is set to make history again as the film hits the DVD market from Monday, December 3.

Ije, produced in 2010, and featuring two of Nigeria’s best actresses, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde and face of Range Rover in Nigeria, Genevieve Nnaji, grossed over N70 million in the box office, before the emergence of Avengers. The film beats movies such as Salt, Avatar and Spiderman.

According to the producer, who is currently in the country, “ We want to make history again by putting Ije on DVD.” One of the cast of the movie, Omotola said “It is nice to see the movie on DVD, those who didn’t see the movie when it was at the cinema would have another opportunity to see the movie now. I hope they will like it’’.

Omotola, however, described her relationship with Genevieve while shooting the movie, as “cordial”, adding “she is so full of life and very versatile too. Genevieve is an actress who understands the industry, little wonder why she is an authority in this clime.’’

IJE tells the story of two sisters, Chioma and Anya, the choices they make in life and the consequences they have to pay for making those choices.

Post-humous a ward ffor or Amadi aw

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ultry actress, Bukky Wright and charismatic impresario, Dayo Adeneye of Prime Time Entertainment have been listed among the resource persons for the maiden edition of a youth empowerment symposium entitled, “You and Your Youth.”

Organized by Key Media, a media and public relations outfit, the two showbiz personalities were said to have been selected for the event based on their immense contributions towards youth development and humanity.

The symposium is billed to take place at the prestigious event place, Knot Center, Jibola Lawal close, Yaba, Lagos later this month.

Others speakers penciled down for the event include, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Mr. Abiodun Onasanya, the CEO of Zenith Global Merchant, Mr. Juwon Lawal, CEO of ABD fuels, Susan Harvey a.k.a. Goldie, popular lawyer Ope Banwo, Chief Mrs. Dame Okoli of Moore Enterprises, ace journalist Afolabi Odeyemi and Human Right Activist, Joe Okei-Odumakin.

Chairman of Suru group of companies, Edward Akinlade, is expected to preside over the event while Mr. Kunle Onime of Marketing and Promotions Concepts (MPC) will moderate.

According to the organizers, the event is aimed at grooming participants with regards to leadership, communication and intellectual skills. It will also enlighten youths on how to get opportunities from the rubble of risk, discover themselves for entrepreneurial role and get exposed to several global opportunities.

..As Gov. Akpabio pledges support for Nollywood

By Anozie Agole rominent Nigerians including former Information Minister, Prof Dora Akunyili, the AkwaIbom State Governor represented by his Commissioner for Information, Aniekan Umana, and Nollywood practitioners last weekend invaded Our place, an event centre ,located at Olufumilola Okikiolu Street, Ikeja, Lagos, for the this year’s edition of the Nollywood Outstanding Personality Award.

The annual award ceremony organised by the Association of Movie Journalists of Nigeria in collaboration with Stanword Media Group, were categorized into three, Diamond pen, PostHumous and Special recognition award.

The late entertainment editor of Vanguard newspapers, Mr Ogbonnaya Amadi was honoured with a Post-Humous award for his immense contribution, to the entertainment industry in Nigeria.

Also honoured at the event was the Akwa Ibom State Governor who bagged the Grand Patron of Arts award. Receiving the award, the governor’s representative said, “ he was very happy for the award.”

He pledged his continuous support for the motion picture industry in Nigeria. In his words, “I have started the support by building a multimillion naira international gallery at Uyo, the AkwIbom state capital where both local and foreign movies can be screened.”

Also speaking at the event, the former Information Minister, Dora Akunyili, applauded the organizers for their vision, adding that she has been an ardent supporter of the film sector during her days as the minister of information when she rolled out her rebranding project as she used some Nollywood faces for the advert. “I am very happy to be invited as the mother of the day that was why I had to fly down to Lagos to witness the occasion”. *Godswill-Akpabio

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Nigezie and Beat FM tto o sponsor TTont ont o onto Dike’s video

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ollywood actress, Tonto Dike has again hit it big, This time, getting a free video shoot as winner of the Win A Video competition organised by Magic Factory and Nigezie in partnership with Beat FM and Naija FM. The elated actress broke the news on the micro blogging site, Twitter, earlier today, “Congratz Loverz. We jux won the Nigezie Magic factory/Beat FM ‘Win a muzic video promo’ Meanz I aint gonno spend a dime of ma money shootin #H’ @tontolet tweeted.

The competition which kicked off few months back, is the first of its kind and is aimed at helping upcoming musicians achieve their dream of a befitting video.

SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012—25

Laolu Akins’ wife, friend kidnapped ...Abductors demand N40m ransom *Laolu Akintobi

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ife of multiple award winner and prolific music impresario, Laolu Akintobi, a.k.a Laolu Akins, including his friend’s wife as well as her husband were abducted Thursday after they were attacked at gunpoint by armed robbers at Okada village, in Edo State.

HVP gathered that the victims were on their way to the eastern part of the country to attend a wedding ceremony when the incident happened.

Although no official statement has been released by the victims’ family as at press time. A reliable source however hinted that the abductors are demanding N40 million ransom for their release.

The news of the incident came to

Laolu Akins while attending the launch of Ray Mike Nwachukwu’s new studio in Surulere on Thursday.

However, all efforts to contact him were futile as he was not in a good mood to comment on the incident.

Laolu Akintobi was one of the foremost music producers in the country. He was a member of the defunct group called BLO that held sway in the late 1960s and has produced award wining hit albums including Sir Shina Peters’ Ace and Shinamania as well as Adewale Ayuba’s Bubble, which won him a platinum for selling more than 250,000 copies.

Heaven’s Hell set to raise the bar in Nollywood

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new flick, Heaven’s Hell, designed to create real-change in the African movie industry with a message supporting the fight against woman and child violence is billed to hit global cinemas in the third quarter of next year.

Speaking at the unveiling of the first phase of the big-budget initiative, the Nigerian and foreign partners, One-O-Eight Media, BGL Asset Management Company Limited, Hashtag Media House and Del-York International, unanimously agreed to move Nollywood forward with the project.

“Creating real change in the Nigerian and African movie industry will require greater participation and dedication from business, financial and creative minds working with the right international partners where and when appropriate. This is what the Heaven’s Hell Project Partners have achieved in putting together this movie to be released internationally in early third quarter of 2013.

From world-class story-line and scripts to the best cast, crew and equipment, the Heaven’s Hell Movie Project is an international co-production movie carrying a message to fight violence against women and children. With international distribution deals in the US, UK, South Africa, the movie is designed for lasting impact in the minds of the world about movies from Nigeria and Nigerian Filmmakers. To this end, we have formed strong local and international partnerships with filmmakers, financiers, and international distributors among other,” disclosed Mr. Katung Aduwak.

“With a best-in-class local and international cast and an insightful storyline, we anticipate a huge global traction for the Heaven’s Hell Movie. We believe every partner on this project will receive commensurate traction to their works and offerings based on their association with this movie, our storyline/message and cast will be revealed soon”, added Mr. Linus Idahosa, boss of Del-York International.

Yvonne Nelson’s hot pictures light up Facebook

By AYO ONIKOYI

H

ighly rated Ghanian actress, Yvonne Nelson, continues to make screaming headlines time and time again. Just when the dust generated by her professed love for Nigerian singer, Iyanya, has hardly settled down, the curvy actress and star of ‘’Single and Married’’ is back again stirring things up, and this time around, it is her choice of dress rather than her love story that caught the eyes of the world.

The actress recently changed her profile cover picture on her facebook with a picture which some may regard as a bold and fearless approach to fashion but some people, particularly of Islamic leaning, may have a downright aversion to her style which depicts her as an Arabian princess with a bit of overedge revelation of her upper abdomen region.

Yvonne, from the picture, has on what may pass for a hot pant with just veil covering the rest of her body, with a bit of a hint of her breast underneath. Though there isn’t a big show of the bosom area but there is a enough tease into silhouette of what she may have up her chest.

*Yvonne Nelson

Representatives of the project initiators at the event

10 happy cheers for Princess Chineke

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ollywood actress, Princess Chineke is bound to play host to a couple of Nigerian celebrities this evening as she rolls out the drum to mark her ten years sojourn in the entertainment industry.

Princess, a product of the New York Film Academy, began her career as a model 10 years ago, before she veered into acting. Since *Princess then, she has not looked back, Chineke having featured in several movies and soaps such as Ladies Cult, Tarima, Papa Ajasco, Bola’s Place, Echoes, Heroes and Zeroes, Rebound (shot in USA), Cut in the Middle, Ladies Cult, Tarima and of course, Last Flight to Abuja.

The UNIBEN Computer Science graduate is not just a bonafide runway model and a budding actress, she has featured in as many ads and paid commercials as there are.

26 —SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012

Terry G in fresh scandal ...As Police investigate hit-and-run case against him Akpako’ master, Terry G is reportedly embroiled in a fresh scandal as he has been declared wanted by officers of the Nigerian Police Force over an alleged ‘hit and run’ case which occurred last Friday, in Lagos.

According to reports, the pop singer was leaving the premises of a local night club, ‘Club Royale’ where he had jollied with friends and supposedly ran over the leg of a pedestrian, one Mr Moshood Azeez.

Azeez is reported to have been rushed to the General Hospital, Ikeja for medical attention. The case was however reported at the Wemabod Police Station.

When contacted by an entertainment tabloid, NET, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Conchita Braide said, ‘The matter is being

investigated’.

Meanwhile, all efforts to reach Terry G proved abortive as his phones were switched off. Sources say the TGP Entertainment boss has left the country for the UK on other matters.

His Personal Assistant and friend, Uche however, refuted the story, assuring that his management would soon issue a statement concerning the news.

‘It’s not true, don’t believe all that.

Terry will soon make a statement over this nonsense‘, Uche told us over the phone.

Terry G emerged in the music scene back in 2008, and released his debut ‘Free Me’ the following year. After a series of features and production for artistes, he rose to fame with the release of the hit single ‘Free madness’ off the ‘Ginjah ur swaggah season 1 album.

Actress Aofiyebi’s son, Mojo returns with Welcome

BY OPEOLUWANI OGUNJIMI

S

on of a popular M-Net series, Tinsel actress, Funmilola Aofiyebi, Mojola, a.k.a, Mojo, is poised to take the Nigerian music scene by storm again as he concludes plans to drop a mind- blowing single, Welcome.

The Law student from International Baccaloriete, UK, says he initially didn’t want to release the single before now, but for the fact that it got leaked on the internet and since then, has been enjoying a massive airplay.

However, following the feedback he has gotten so far from his fans, Mojo has decided to officially release the audio this month. He promised to release the video in January next year.

According to him, Welcome is a song written to introduce Nigerians into his new style of music.

Produced by Femi Nuga, same producer of his debut video single, Spendit, the single, Welcome, promises to be a hit.

Narrating the story of his journey into music, Mojo said he left his study to pursue a career in music as a result of the numerous invitations he got to perform at shows.

Funke Akindele unveiled as MTV VJ Search judge ...As Ice Prince, Wizkid, Burna Boy join the list

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ollywood actress, Funke Akindele-Oloyede has joined the league of celebrity judges auditioning contestants at this year ’s edition of the MTV VJ Search competition.

Other judges include, OAP Toolz, R&B singer, Banky W and director, Tim Horwood.

Meanwhile, the trio of Ice Prince, Wizkid and Burna Boy are billed to storm the Fantasy Land, Ikoyi, venue of the auditions today.

This is the second edition of the search in Nigeria, and organisers have promised the winner a chance to become the face of the channel and host their different programmes both at home and abroad. The first edition was held in 2007 and was won by Cynthia ‘Cvon’ Ozoemena .

Since his return to the

country, he has performed at several crowd-pulling shows including, the Eko Football Festival and Beat FM’s Oriental show. He has also performed alongside the likes of D’banj, Davido and Iyanya at TBS. His next stage performance will be at the forthcoming one of Nigeria’s hottest show, Rhythm Unplugged.

Tiwa Savage, Chidinma, others lobby for NMVA votes

BY OPEOLUWANI OGUNJIMI

A

s the d-day for the Nigerian Music Video Awards draws near, nominees including, Tiwa Savage, gospel act, Anny, Chidinma, Video director Clarence Peters, Kween Onakala, Dona Diva, Rapper Illbliss, Ruggedman, Olamide among others are practically going about with ‘beggar ’s plates’, ready to lick your legs just to get your vote.

Showtime investigation revealed that Marvin Records artiste, Tiwa who has succeeded in raking in four nominations for ‘Best use of Costumes’, ‘Best Indigenous Concept’, ‘Best Highlife’ and ‘Video of the Year’ with her recently released duet, Ife wa gbona, is doing everything to get the people’s votes.

Chidinma who followed with her Kedike video and others aren’t left out in the battle of who comes out top.

Ex-Minister son shi 1

9-year old Rhodri Emeka Ihenacho, the second son of Capt.

Emmanuel Ihenacho, foremost Master Mariner, ship owner and immediate past Minister of Interior, emerged one of the favourites at this year ’s Mr. World competition held at the prestigious Kent County Showground, Kent, United Kingdom.

Though he did not win the crown, he featured prominently at the grand finale which held last weekend.

Kamal Ibrahim of Ireland crowned Francisco Escobar of Colombia as the new Mister World at the end of the event, with Philippines' Andrew Wolff being the first runner up and Ireland's Leo Delaney as the second.

Rhodri represented Wales at the competition having emerged the winner of the prestigious Mr. Wales

SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012

— 27

I play unconventional gospel music— Gee-The Preacher H

e is a gospel artiste whose genre of music is a fusion of R&B, hiphop, reggae and jazz. But Godwin Esebamen a.k.a.Gee The Preacher says, he plays “unconventional gospel music. In this chat with Showtime, he talks about the release of his much awaited album.

Life and kind of music?

My names are Godwin E. Esebamen popularly known as Gee the Preacher. I hail from Edo State. I am last child of family of nine. I attended Edo College in Benin and later proceeded to Yaba Technology, where I studied Civil Engineering at the Ordinary Diploma level.

I am an eclectic artiste, I’m into Jazz music, hip hop, R&B, Reggae, traditional, etc. I play the bass Guitar, keyboard and the drum set Foray into Music?

My late mom was the leader of the traditional dance group in my home town. She was also a great singer. It runs in the family, I had always followed her because of my passion for music and I knew that one day, I would sing like her. I developed interest in music while growing up in the children department of my Church, the Church of God Mission, in Benin.

And from the children Choir,

I graduated to the senior Choir in Faith Arena Christian Redeem Voices. So, it’s a passion I’ve been nurturing for more than 20 years. When I relocated to Lagos, I joined the Ikeja branch of Christ Embassy choir as a bassist.

But my journey into the world of music started in April, 2009, when I organised and performed at shows. I am so passionate about music, it is my calling and it’s my own way of passing the message to the world. That’s why I’m called Gee the preacher. Gee stands for Godwin and preacher is a messenger.

Do you have an album now?

Yes I do, 12 tracks album, but not in the market yet.

Hopefully by God’s grace, we are looking at the possibility of releasing the album into the market before the end of the year. As soon as I get a

I am so passionate about music, it is my calling and it’s my own way of passing of spreading the message to the world

,

reputable record label, we will push it into the market without further delay.

What genre of music do you do?

I do R&B, reggae, hip-hop,

DJ Top ups the ante

T

urntable master Toyin Oyedola otherwise known as DJ Top was in his element weeks back when the Williams sisters (Serena and Venus) came visiting Lagos.

He was on the Console spinning and dishing out good music at the gala night hosted in honour of the American tennis stars at the Federal Palace Hotel Lagos, many are still talking about the Williams sisters, dancing steps at the event.

According to the man on the console, “disc jockey is something I know, it’s what I love to do and what I want to do and I so much believe in it. Anytime am on duty I find out what the people want that was the case with the Williams sisters”.

“Meeting the sisters and knowing their kind of music was a great experience”. The DJ has performed alongside top music stars. He is currently planning his annual club tour cum 12th year anniversary in 2013.

ines at Mr. World 2012 competition held late last year at the St David’s Hall Cardiff, Wales, the United Kingdom.

Emeka, until his sudden rise to fame, was a graduating ‘A’ levels student from the prestigeous Monmouth Public School, preparatory to the University.

In emerging as Mr. Wales in 2011, Emeka who at 18, was the youngest contender in the field of 19 finalists, faced very stiff challenge from the 18 equally talented and gifted competitors but in the event, emerged the youngest ever winner of the Mr Wales pageant.

With his emergence as Mr. Wales 2011, in addition to the attractive package of prizes which came with the position, Emeka acquired additional skills for acting as a Charity and Goodwill Ambassador for the Joshua Foundation.

The winner smiled home with the whopping sum of £6,240.

,

BY SIMON PETERS

highlife, jazz. Call it interior/exterior decoration unconventional gospel music. and construction. I intend to use the profit I will rake in Are you signed on with any from my business to fund the record label ? releasing of my album as soon Not yet, but there are as possible. prospects Are you married at the So, who funded your album moment? project?

No, but I’m hoping to marry I had to sell my car and landed soon as God blesses the work properties to generate fund of my hands. with which I was able to execute my album project. I am the So, how have you been able owner of Wrought Ornamental to cope with the ladies Plus Limited, we deal on around you?

Day Channel O came to town!

Channel O marks its 15th year anniversary as Africa’s first 24hour music TV in Lagos few days to its 2012 Music Video Awards.It was a moment of celebration and popping of champagne .

Africa’s music giants in

Freeze,Cynthia & Mercy of Cool FM at the event

attendance were decked in old school style with a glam house party, themed ‘Channel O House Party.’ The party attracted a long list of Nigeria’s biggest and brightest music stars, designers and celebrities who beseiged venue of the party to celebrate with the music station.

The event which held on the Lagos island amid pomp focuses on how Channel O can create African content based around musicians. The Channel over the years has been involved in creating music shows like Volt–a celebration of African musicians as they tell their stories in music, introducing next big act, Africa Dreaming, Basement and much more.

The Nigerian music industry is a growing force to be reckoned with and Channel O, which has enjoyed a long and successful collaboration with this trend-setting community, rools out drums to celebrate Nigerian talents in Lagos.

28—SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2011

daise4000@yahoo.com

The Night Before Christmas:

An African Story

Hello Jets’,

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he Christmas smell is here already! I know that some of you would be wondering that it is only middle of November, but l am talking about the season, the smell of Christmas, the air that is already changing.

Let’s start experiencing Christmas before the real day of Christmas.

Christmas is a season of showing love and love should be shared everyday of the year!

A king was born and He came to save us all.

BY PETER ADOTEY ADDO

I

t was the night before Christmas in Ghana and I was very sad because my family life had been severely disrupted. At a point, I was sure that Christmas would never come. The usual joy and anticipation that I always felt during the Christmas season were absent. I was eight years old, but in the past few months I had grown become.

Before this year I thought Christmas in my Ghanaian village came with many things. Christmas had always been for me one of the joyous

I

n this edition, we shall start the celebration of Christmas and it would run through the whole season till we are sure we have known the true meaning of Christmas and love. What is Christmas to you?

Send a story on how yours was spent last year. This and others are on your darling page.

Have a wonderful read and a splendid weekend!

religious festivals. It was the time to dance and listen to beautiful Christmas music on the streets, on radio, on television and everywhere.

Christmas had always been a religious celebration and the church begins its preparation in November. We really felt that we were preparing for the birth of the baby Jesus.

Christmas was the time when relatives and friends visited each other so there were always people traveling and visiting with great joy from all the different ethnic groups. I always thought that was what Christmas was all about. Oh, how I wished I had some of the traditional food consumed at the Christmas Eve dinner and the Christmas Day. I remembered the taste of rice, chicken, goat, lamb, and fruits of various kinds.

V

irtually most houses were always decorated with beautiful paper ornaments. The children and all the young people loved to make and decorate their homes and schools with colorful crepe paper.

All of us looked forward to the Christmas Eve Service at our church. After the service there would be a joyous

Success Trails!

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Give Education what is right and not what is left.

Man’s ways leads to hopeless end.

He who kneels before education will stand before anyone.

Educational ways leads to endless hope.

In the sentence of life failing may be a comma, but never let it be the full stop.

Are you wrinkled with failures? Study for a face lift.

When education ordains, it sustains.

Quick exposure to reading may prevent failing.

Plan ahead; it was not raining when Noah built his ark.

Suffering from the truth decay? Brush up on your books.

the gifts come from Father Christmas, and this always meant Christmas for us. They also received new clothes and perhaps new pairs of shoes.

Meanwhile throughout the celebration everyone was greeted with the special greeting, “Afishapa,” the Akan word meaning “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.” Oh how I wish that those memories were real tonight in order to bring us Christmas.

To be continued next week…

Extract from the internet

The Girl Child

By Olaide Law

By Peace Ndobu, Warri, Delta state 1.

possession through the streets. Everyone would be in a gala mood with local musicians in a Mardi Gras mood. Then on Christmas Day we all went back to church to read the scriptures and sing carols to remind us of the meaning of the blessed birth of the baby Jesus. We always thought that these were the things that meant Christmas.

After the Christmas service young people received gifts of special chocolate, special cookies and special crackers.

Young people were told that

al, Abeokuta

In my country h The girl child ome is often depriv ed of education The girl chil d various vices is exposed to S h e is ex p os ed instead of bein to h a w ki n g g in school •Olaide Lawal Education of the girl child should be man A girl child sh da ou future for all. ld be given a chance to mak tory, e a better

•Peace Ndobu

SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012—29

C M Y K

30—SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012

C M Y K

SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012—31

I wish I could take fruits everyday — Peters

TODAY’S MENU

BY KATHERINE USEH

K

ayode Peters is an actor and producer of the University Campus drama, ‘Twilight Zone’, and a 30 minutes sitcom, ‘flatmates’. He is our guest in this edition of Celebrity Tummy Talk. He speaks on his healthy lifestyle and what keeps him fit. Excerpt.

How did you handle food as a child?

Growing up, I saw food as everything that brings happiness. I believe it was the ultimate thing that could happen to someone in life. I was always satisfied at the sight of anything called food. ...and as an adult?

Food is rated number two now and that is the only change in me. My orientation has changed about food completely. I hardly eat due to my tight schedule. I have come to realize that as necessary as food is, it could be harmful if it is not in moderation. I have also realised that I need to keep fit as much as I believe that food contributes to the wellness of mankind.

So, when it comes to food, what would you say?

Food is a necessity but it’s essential to keep the body alive.

Pure or P oor W at er (2) Poor Wat ater

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ater is expected to quench thirst and give satisfaction but it is worrisome to know that the same content is capable of sending one to an untimely grave.

A personal experience was enough to know that a lot of sachet and bottled water manufacturers directly or indirectly are making deliberate efforts to champion this course.

But a lot of procedures are necessary to have a clean water: registration of business with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC); Registration with National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC; POE Water Treatment Plant/ System,Water Bottling System/Plant (strictly for Bottled water); Water Satcheting Machine (strictly for Sachet water); Good Water Source; Consumables (Chemical additives, Nylon sachets; PET bottles; Pilfer-proof caps; P.E Films, PVC wrapping sheets; etc.),Marketing/ Distribution logistics;7.5 30 KVA Generating set, Trucks and Buses. All these guidelines are expedient in producing a pure and reliable water.

Unfortunately, only a few ones are adhering to these

rules while others forfeit them not because they are not important and necessary but because the system has been sored in such a way that every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to venture into the business of the day therefore endangering the lives of many Nigerians at their own expense, even as NAFDAC recommends that the factory must not be residential nor share compound with residential ones. Floors of production rooms and stores must be tiled; pallets must be on the floor of the store and springs or bore-hole wells should be used as a source of water. Yet, some of the producers of poor water have grossly ignored this critical issue.

What kind of fruits and drinks do you take?

I wish I could eat fruits on a regular basis but my tight schedule wouldn’t let me. My wife makes deliberate effort to get some fruits including bananas, oranges, apples, carrots for me except pineapple grapes and watermelon because I don’t really like them. I love fried rice with carrot.

I take water a lot because it is important to life, I also take alcohol and red wine in moderation but to relax my nerves. I also watch football or a movie too. ..Exercise?

I play football once in a week. And it helps burn down calories. I used to do sit-ups but I have stopped for a while. I also plan to enroll in a gym.

FRUIT OF THE DAY

Tomato Apple Juice Recipes -One cup medium tomatoes, cut into pieces -One cup apple (unpeeled) , cored and cut into pieces -Crushed ice to serve

•Finely slice the tomatoes and dice the carrots into cubes •Wash and grate or pound the pepper and onion.

•Finely slice chop the green fresh vegetables.

Nutritional values of Apple juice

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Recipes One pound Power Pasta spaghetti, broken into 2inch pieces Half kilo of Meat/Fresh fish Seven Medium Carrot Five big fresh Tomatoes Three big Fresh pepper (Tatashe) One medium Onion One bunch of vegetable Vegetable oil One teaspoon Salt.

Preparation •Wash,season and boil the meat or fish

Preparations Blend all the ingredients using a half cup water till smooth.

Strain the juice using a strainer or a muslin cloth.

Add some crushed ice in two glasses and pour the juice over it. Serve immediately.

rinking apple juice promotes heart and prevents asthma attacks.

They are also known to strengthen the lung and cleanse the liver. It helps to rid the liver of harmful substances and keeps the pH level of the body from

Power Pasta with Vegetable sauce with carrot

becoming too acidic. The skin of an apple contains pectin, which helps cleanse toxic substances from the digestive system. Pectin also prevents protein matter in the intestines and helps the body nutrition. It reduces cholesterol and keeps it in check and prevents many skin diseases.

It prevents growth of cancer cells. After looking at all the benefits, it will be hard to keep this fruit away from our diet.

•In a saucepan,fry add the boiled meat/fish and allow to fry for some minutes,then add the blended carrot.

•Add salt,vegetable,stir and let simmer for two or three minutes.

•Then Serve with the cooked Power Pasta

32 —Vanguard, SARTURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012

By OPEOLUWANI OGUNJIMI

My first marriage crashed because my mother-in-law didn’t like my origin

Mercy Aigbe needs no formal introduction as one of the mostsought- after actresses in Nollywood. She’s one of the top rated actresses who has paid her dues in the industry.

In this interview, with Showtime Celebrity, Mercy opens up on many issues, including her marriage to her ex-husband, her recent marriage, career, challenges and others. Excerpt:

W

— Mercy Aigbe you grow up in the West?

Yes, I grew up in Lagos but I would say I learnt the language on the job because before I started acting in Yoruba movies, I wasn’t fluent in the language. My father was the type who didn’t want us to lose our root so, most of the times, we speak Benin and English at home. So, it was because

,

hat’s been happening?

I have been busy working. And some of my movies have been released in the market. I’ve also been on location working, I just completed my recent titled, Suru Lere(Patience Has Gain). I also traveled to shoot the concluding part of my movie, Osas, and by December, we’re going to round everything up.

You started as an actress and now, you’re a producer, how has it been?

It hasn’t been easy because it involves more responsibilities. As an established actress and now a producer, you want to give what people will see and respect. Producing movies that are not up to standard will affect the way people will look at me. So, it’s double work because I also play lead roles in my movies.

How much do you spend producing a movie?

Like I said, as a producer, I love to give out my best on a project.

But with the kind of environment we have here, one of my challenges is piracy. Sometimes, when you have a project and you’re to spend like N10m, you’ll always want to cut cost because you’re not sure pirates will allow you to recoup your money. But at the same time, because of my status and the kind of person I am, I always want to do what I want to do.

You being a Benin woman, why did you choose to act in Yoruba movies?

I’ll say it’s providence because it’s not by choice. I didn’t know I would be more prominent in the Yoruba movie genre. But I’m a professional- I studied Theater Arts at the University of Lagos.

So maybe this is where God wants me to be for now. But actually, I started off acting in soaps. I did a couple of soaps before going into Yoruba movies. And it was after I featured in few Yoruba movies that I started getting more scripts from Yoruba movie producers. And it’s not as if I don’t get called up by non-Yoruba movie producers and it’s not as if I don’t want to diversify to feature in English movies and even produce mine, but for now, I’m okay with where I am .

You’re so fluent in Yoruba. Did

So what happened after the degree?

It wasn’t easy because I had to battle my dad who never supported my decision to go into acting. It didn’t believe I could earn a living with it. So it was hell but after some time, he consoled himself that after all in Nigeria, you don’t necessarily have to work

When I met my husband, he was already separated from his first wife.

Although they were still married, they were no longer together

we live in Lagos that I started picking up a bit of Yoruba. When I started, my scripts were written in Yoruba and I would pronounce words just anyhow. But because I love my job, I had to learn it and as I continued acting, I got better with it.

So you knew you were going to be an actress?

Yes. That was why I went to study Theater Art. I first went to Polytechnic, Ibadan where I had my OND in Financial Studies and Instead of continuing with my HND, and because of my love for acting, I went to the University of Lagos for my degree in Theater Art.

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with the certificate you have and probably that I would go for my Masters. So after school, I pleased him by working for a while.I worked in a financial institution for a while How much were you paid when you just started?

We were not paid at all. When I started, it wasn’t easy finding people who believed in me and take the risk to feature me in their movies especially to play lead because most producers wouldn’t be sure if one is capable of playing a character for a long time even after auditioning. So when I get opportunities to express myself as an upcoming, I was

grateful even when I didn’t get paid. I wasn’t paid in most of the movies, and if I got paid at all, it was peanut.

Like How much?

I had been on the set of a movie for three weeks and at the end, I was paid N2000. And I remembered that on my way back home, I was crying because before I came into the industry, I already had a car and I was okay. So it was like leaving a lucrative job for an unknown place where I wasn’t even sure I would be accepted. But I think my passion for the job kept me on until things became better.

What determines the kind of script you accept?

The number one thing is the script- it has to be well dialogued and has to make sense. I love to play a character that someone can learn from. The other one are the director, the casts and crew matter a lot because it’s one thing to have a good script and another to bring it to life.

You said you don’t belong to any caucus. But actresses like Funke Akindele, Eniola Badmus, Bimbo Thomas and others belong to one. Are you a loner?

I’m not a loner o. I didn’t just have to join any caucus because after the movie, Ara, everybody just started giving me scripts. So, there was no need for it. But maybe I should say that I belong to all caucus because I have a good working relationship with

everybody, whether it’s the Odunfas, Akos and others. Yinka Quadri, Oga Bello are my fathers and I work with them a lot.

And you didn’t get harassed by producers?

I wouldn’t call it harassment.

Yes, men make passes at me because I’m very beautiful. It happens everywhere. I’m an adult and if I wanted to date someone, I would have but I didn’t date anyone.

Why? Because I just believe that relationships in such industry doesn’t work.

You don’t trust anybody?

Exactly. I just have that thing at the back of my mind that such relationship won’t last long.

Was that what determined you choice of a husband?

Probably but the thing is that I knew I wasn’t going to date anybody in the industry. So, I wasn’t attracted to anyone and didn’t allow any feeling to develop inside me for anyone. So when I’m on set, I just do my job.

But I can’t say it influenced my choice of husband. Fine, my husband isn’t in the industry. I didn’t know I would get married to a hotelier and a car dealer. I

M e r A i g

Vanguard, SARTURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012 — 33

ductive wife at home.

So whenever I’m away on location, I make his food and store inside the freezer and he eats. I also have domestic staff who help me out . My mother also help me with the kids whenever I’m away.

Doesn’t he suspect you having an affair whenever you are away on set?

The reason he doesn’t doubt is because when we were dating, I didn’t give him any cause to doubt me. According to him, he has tested me and he trusts me.

So how do you cope being the second wife. Don’t you and the first wife have clashes?

Laughs. This question is very funny and I’m going to deal with this now. What happened is that when I met him, he was already separated from his first wife. Although, they were still married, but no longer together. She lives

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didn’t have a particular picture in mind. I just met him, fell in love with him because he was very kind, matured and understanding.

One hopes he doesn’t get jealous whenever you go to location for weeks?

It’s a lot of hard work being a mother, wife and a professional and still be on top of my game.

Sometimes, the whole thing just gets to me and I feel exhausted.

But I have an understanding husband who loves my job and supports me. He knows I love my job, he knows I’m an independent woman and I love to work for my money. I love his money too o but there’s this pride that comes with me spending my money. So he supports me because he knows my job makes me happy and he doesn’t want to have an unhappy and unpro-

So how does he handle it whenever you get advances from men?

He just squeezes his face and asks me if I don’t know that I’m old. So I just tease him back that it’s only to him that I’m old and other guys don’t know that. We just laugh it off. But I think he likes the fact that men make passes at me- I think you should ask him that. But to me, we just joke about it.

that has been done by God, he wants to make sure he pulls it down.

Marriage is meant to be sacred but it no longer like that anymore. A lot of things have changed, even men don’t care what broken home can do to their kids. I feel our spiritual leaders should ad-

Mercy Aigbe

Aren’t you due for another baby because your boy is two

from. She didn’t like the fact that her son didn’t marry a lady from their village.

She made me go through hell. At a point when I couldn’t take it any more, I actually left the marriage.

I didn’t make any mistake in my first marriage. I just feel it was meant to be like that. I had a mother-in-law who didn’t like where I come from

abroad with the children.

So, they were already separated when we started dating.

They weren’t divorced?

They weren’t divorced as at the time when I met him but now, they’ve finalized their divorce and I’m the only wife.

They were separated for like five years before I came into the picture and their divorce case was in court. They were divorced before we got married. A lot of people don’t know the real gistnow I’m not the second wife but the only wife.

So now you’re happy?

Yes because even when I started dating him, he never had a wife but because I didn’t grant any interview, I just allowed people to say whatever they wanted to say. They were still in court then so I didn’t want to say anything and just kept quiet and the town went agog. But now, they’ve finalized their divorce before our wedding and even before I had my son.

c y b e

know whenever someone makes passes at me so he can know I’m still hot. But jokes apart, I’m a married woman and I don’t want anything that will stain my name.

I love my home and I pray to remain married for the rest of my life. So I always know how to draw the line.

You’re a very beautiful woman, how do you cope with male advances?

I get a lot of that because people tell me I don’t look my age. I get a lot of male advances and it makes me feel good because I get reassured of my beauty even after two kids. So I tease my husband about it. A times I even let him

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So you wouldn’t blame those ladies who wish their mother were dead before they got married?

I swear I wouldn’t blame them.

If I think back to what I went through, I wouldn’t pray for anyone to go through such because I went through hell in the hands of that woman. And for me to have woken up one day and decided to leave, it wasn’t easy because I was young and tried my best to please her. But she wasn’t pleased. I went out of my way to learn their language, learn how to cook different dishes just to please her but she didn’t bulge.

years old now(laughs) Yes, I want to have another one by the special grace of God. So what are you waiting for?

It’s God that gives and I know he’ll do it very soon.

Does your ex husband still bother you?

No, he doesn’t Did he let you be just like that?

Of course.

Has he moved on like you?

I don’t know anything about him.

Both of you don’t care?

Why would I care? I’m married now and I care only about my husband and my kids.

Are you not bothered about the negative gist in town concerning it?

I don’t have any business with him again. That’s my past. My husband and my children are my present and future.

Divorce cases are many now.

How do you hope to remain married again?

It’s not me and I don’t have the power to keep my home. All I’m determined to do is my best in the relationship. What I’ve done as a woman is to take my marriage to God because the divorce cases are scary. It’s everywhere. Ladies of nowadays are independent and don’t care about marriage. In the past, single mothers used to lie about their status but today, ladies flaunt it, the world is changing. I’m going to sound a bit spiritual here- the devil is against marriage because it was instituted by God. And anything

dress it and make people start thinking of the vision God had about marriage. I’ve been a victim of divorce one and I know what my daughter went through because I had an issue from that marriage. I don’t want to see any of my children go through that again, and that’s why I’ve taken my marriage to God. So what were those mistakes you made in the last one that you wouldn’t want to repeat in this one?

It’s not like I’m trying to sound holy but, I didn’t make any mistake. I just feel it was meant to be like that. I had a mother-inlaw who didn’t like where I come

So what did your ex-husband do about it?

At first, he actually fought it but some women have a strong hold on their sons. So in the end, he obeyed her. He didn’t like it fact that I was leaving but he couldn’t hold me back at the same time because he wanted to please his mum. We had fought the battle for a long time and it wasn’t as if it would come to an end and we would be friends so, I had to leave.

Have you ever been broke in your entire adult life so far?

Of course, I had when I left my job for acting. But it wasn’t as if it was that bad because before I left my job, I already made a provision. I had a cosmetic and fashion accessories shop. So I knew I would face financial challenges as an upcoming actress.it wasn’t that bad, I ‘ve just been blessed.

34 — Vanguard, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012

January Transfer Window:

Dream scenarios for every EPL team With January just over a month away, English Premier League managers will be plotting their all-important transfer moves.

The right decision in January can be the difference between mid-table anonymity and European football, while the wrong one could leave facing the prospect of relegation.

Read on to find each team’s ideal winter transfer window.

Arsenal

Left-back Andre Santos is a terrible footballer, while Kieran Gibbs can’t seem to stay fit.

The left-back position remains an issue for Arsene Wenger, and at the moment he would rather play Thomas Vermaelen there than his natural Brazilian option.

Other areas could benefit from additions in general, with the manager’s assertion that he needs another striker right on the money.

Chelsea

Radamel Falcao So maybe this isn’t the ideal situation for Roman Abramovich due to his lust for Fernando Torres, but for literally everyone else involved, Falcao is a musthave signing for Chelsea this winter. The interest is well established, and his poaching abilities would tie in nicely at Stamford Bridge.

All the Blues need is a quality finisher who can stick the ball in the back of the net.

Everton

Retention of key players Everton may look at one or two positions in January— with creative midfield being the obvious flaw but David Moyes will be happy if, by his first game in February, he still has his best players at Goodison Park. Of course, we’re referring to Marouane Fellaini, Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines.

If the Toffees can adapt to every side desperately trying not to lose against them, then they’ve got the overall quality to crack the top four.

Fulham

Sign on the dotted line Fulham have a solid squad that needs to find some consistency. With this lacking, they simply yo-yo between irresistible and unwatchable.

The best thing that can happen for the Cottagers this winter is when their defensive stalwart Brede Hangeland finally inks a new deal at the club.

C M Y K

Martin Jol is optimistic it will happen , but the nerves will continue until the deed is done.

Liverpool

Sign a striker Luis Suarez is currently on course for a 30-goal season, but that doesn’t mean Liverpool should ignore the severe lack of depth up front.

With Fabio Borini injured, Brendan Rodgers has been walking the tightrope with his Uruguayan poacher one yellow card from a suspension.

Manchester City

Isco Just buy him before someone else does.The Malaga kid is destroying everyone in his path in Europe, while he’s finally found La Liga form to match.

Roberto Mancini appears to be in the market for an attacking midfielder who could perhaps provide cover for David Silva, and the Boquerones starlet’s next move could be his last.

Manchester United

Central areas Manchester United sit top of the English Premier League, so perhaps its absurd to

suggest they need to look at several positions and invest.

But centre-back and central midfield remain constant thorns in Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.

The Red Devils need to pick up a combative, physical holding midfielder like Kevin Strootman or Victor Wanyama and a centre-back like Angelo Ogbonna who can lead them to the title.

As promising as Chris Smalling and Phil Jones are, it’s not a partnership that’s going to dominate the very best forward lines.

Newcastle United

Confidence and perhaps a new physio Has Gary Lewin taken a new job at Newcastle?

There’s a lot of first-team stars taking a tumble and taking weeks, even months, to recover from what look like routine injuries at St. James’ Park. Confidence is key for the Magpies now. They have the talent, but Alan Pardew has lost his players’ heads.

Southampton

Defence, defence, defence Nigel Adkins’ side is finally clicking into gear with Gaston Ramirez and Adam Lallana pulling the strings. With Jack Cork back from injury to partner Morgan Schneiderlin

the midfield looks rosy, that just leaves central defence as the major issue.

Maya Yoshida is an upgrade on Jose Hooiveld, but Jose Fonte is yet to convince anyone after one good performance in 15 games.

A quality centre-back and decent left-back could make this Southampton side a real force in the English Premier League.

Central areas Manchester United sit top of the English Premier League, so perhaps its absurd to suggest they need to look at several positions and invest.

But centre-back and central midfield remain constant thorns in Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.

Sunderland

Creative central midfield Sunderland are creating next to nothing in midfield for Steven Fletcher to feed on.

Martin O’Neill teams are always the same, and this Black Cats side resembles his Aston Villa one in all ways but one—no Gareth Barry.

If Sunderland can find a playmaker who plays in a pure central midfield role, they’ll instantly become more composed on the ball and find their dangerous wide men more frequently.

Swansea

Retaining key players Michu, Chico Flores and Pablo Hernandez have lit up the English Premier League since Michael Laudrup brought them in.

The Dane’s biggest task this winter will be keeping his squad together. They look

TENNIS

Rafael Nadal: Is a warm-up tournament needed before the Australian Open?

R AFAEL Nadal hopes to get his hands back on the Championship trophy at the 2013 Australian Open.

The 11-time Grand Slam champion isn’t satisfying inquiring minds regarding his recovery process, only saying: “With a week of training, no miracles or timetables, I am working to return to being the same as I was before the injury and I'm sure that we are going to make it.” The 26-year-old Rafael is cool, calm and collected in his road back to the top because he has been through it before.

In 2004, he returned from that horrendous foot injury that many were quick to say would be the nail in the coffin to his

promising career. Rafael was compelled to remind doubters of this.

“I came back the same or better, and my goal is to do it again this time,” Nadal added.

I liken the Spaniard’s imminent return to that of driving a brand new car. Experts say that the first few hundred miles of a new engine is delicate and vulnerable to damage if it hasn’t sustained a little wear-and-tear first. Under that theory, Nadal would be smart to register some mileage on those knees before he steps onto Rod Laver Arena.

He appears to agree, as he is confirmed to play an exhibition match at the 2012 Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, December 27-29.

primed for another comfortable season free of relegation concerns, but things might get ugly if, for example, Liverpool were to come calling for another star player.

Vanguard, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012 — 35

Off The Pitch

English Premier League:

Five clubs that are under pressure The 2012/13 English Premier League season might only be a third of the way through, but already, several clubs are starting to face mountains of pressure.

Be it their failure to keep pace with the top clubs or be it their inability to find a result and move their way out of the bottom half of the table, several clubs are already under a great deal of pressure, and it’s growing with every passing week.

Which are the top five EPL clubs under pressure at the moment?

Chelsea

The optimist says I bet you the only reason we’re on this list is because we fired Roberto Di Matteo for failing to produce in the Champions League—which is true, by the way. I mean, seriously, enough with that already.

We’ve lost just two Premier League games all season, one of which was thanks to a joke of a referee who couldn’t tell the difference between a trip and a dive. The Blues have the strongest team on paper in the league and no Premier League squad can rival the talent that Juan Mata, Oscar and Eden Hazard have throughout midfield.

The pessimist says Chelsea, you’re going nowhere.

You’re about to become the first

European champions to be eliminated in the group stages and it’s because you don’t have enough skill to cover one little injury.

There’s some massive culture problems resonating through Stamford Bridge—player rifts, racism suspensions, racism accusations on referees, fired managers, scoreless draws at home and it’s little wonder that your fans are booing your current state of affairs.

Liverpool

The optimist says Enough with the comments about how long Brendan Rodgers’ revolution is going to take at Anfield—we’ve heard them already, and in case you haven’t noticed, we’re putting together a nice little run in the league this season.

The pessimist says Enough with the comments about how Brendan Rodgers’ revolution is going to get there eventually and how this is still a top side.

This isn’t a top side. Top sides win games and they score goals, and they certainly don’t win just one of their past six matches if they want to consider themselves a genuine threat.

For a club that prides itself on being able to keep pace with

David Beckham not ruling out Premier League return?

the other big names of the league, how come Liverpool are in 11th and the other big clubs are, well, at the top of the table—where they rightly deserve to be this season.

Manchester City The optimist says Haha. Funny. You put the only undefeated team in the Premier League in a list of clubs that are currently under pressure. No really, that’s a good one.

I haven’t heard that before.

I mean, it’s not like we’re the reigning champions and have conceded just 10 goals through our opening 13 games.

Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Javi Garcia—you might have heard of some of the players in our team this year?

Oh yeah, and we’re undefeated. Which, to be honest, and doesn’t really qualify for any sort of pressure at all this season—none what so ever.

The pessimist says Cut it with the undefeated nonsense—you can’t play away from the Etihad and were it not for the late heroics of Edin Dzeko a billion times this season, you’d be

GOLF NEWS

F

ormer Manchester United midfielder, David Beckham has declined to rule out a return to the Premier League.

Beckham, 37, played with United from 1993 until 2003.

He joined the Los Angeles Galaxy of the United States’ Major League Soccer in 2007 and is set to play his last match with the club on Saturday. Beckham said a Premier League return is unlikely.

lucky to even be inside the top half of the competition table.

You’re out of the Champions League,shame about that, and you can’t even manage to beat Aston Villa in the Capital One Cup (shame about that too)— meaning that you’ve put all your eggs in the one basket about repeating as league champions this season.

Rory McIlroy is making all the right calls; can he maintain that hot streak?

R

ory McIlroy became a professional golfer in mid-September of 2007 and just over five years later finds himself looking forward to 2013 as the undisputed king of the golfing world.

Some might call that a meteoric rise, but I hesitate to characterize it that way because most meteors flame out quickly.

That’s not how I see McIlroy.

Obviously, he has done a lot of amazing things on the golf course. You don’t win major championships by eight shots or shoot 42-under par over the course of the four FedEx Cup playoff events if you’re not spectacular.

But just as importantly, he’s made key decisions off of the course that have positioned him very well as he begins his reign as the best golfer in the world.

Golf fans for years have heard about how structured and strict the early years of Tiger Woods’ life were.

Things weren’t nearly as military-like for McIlroy, but the youngster got hooked on golf early.

He didn’t travel the same fast-track path to professional golf that Woods did. He played on the European Tour in 2008 with some success and didn’t compete on the PGA Tour until 2009. He also played very well in his rookie season, posting three top 10 finishes and earning over $800,000.

The first of the right calls McIlroy has made came last year when the youngster decided to leave his management team, International Sports Management, that was founded by Chubby Chandler. He had been

•Beckham

Radamel Falcao Wants to Play in Different League?

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TLETICO Madrid president Enrique Cerezo says Colombian forward, Radamel Falcao wants to play in a different league.

Falcao has reportedly drawn interest from several clubs across Europe after scoring 36 goals in all competitions last season. This term, he has scored 11 league goals in 12 appearances.

The 26-year-old has been linked with a move away from Atletico in recent months, and Cerezo says Falcao might leave Spain entirely.

•Rory McIlroy McIlroy’s only manager, but the youngster opted to join Dublin-based Horizon Sports Management to be managed

by Michael Bannon.

“I feel like I’m going on to the next level and that I need something a little different,” he told The Telegraph at the beginning of November. “I just feel like I want to be the best player I can be, to concentrate on golf and just try to win golf tournaments —

and to have a fresh approach, maybe a different view on things, might just allow me to do that. Until this point I haven’t won enough.

“It’s not a decision that I’ve made overnight. I’ve thought long and hard about this and I’ve spoken to the people who are close to me, obviously my mum and dad, and they’re 100 per cent behind any decision that I make. I just feel like it’s a good move for me.”

•Falcao C M Y K

36—SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012

C M Y K

SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012—37

Women should stop downgrading themselves and acquire skills — Okechukwu Cordelia Okechukwu is a director with the Lagos State Ministry of Special Duties who works closely with the youths especially corps members. With special interest in uplifting the standard of health of Nigerians, she assists her husband in operating a foundation for community health support. In this interview, she narrates how her experiences as house help gave her the needed encouragement to be a figure to be reckoned with in addition to resolving to assist other individuals live a meaningful life. She also gives practical methods of earning a living. Excerpts.

My background My name is Cordelia Usonwanne Okechukwu, a graduate with degree in Education, from the University of Ife. I also have a post graduate Diploma in Financial Management and Masters Degree in Business Administration in 1988. I am happily married to Pastor Aloy Okechukwu, a Chartered Accountant and Pastor with the Redeemed Christian Church of God. We are blessed with three male children.

I joined Lagos State Government in 1997 and have worked as Director, Labour Agency; Public Works Corporation; Public Service Staff Development Centre(PSSDC) Magodo and a Director at the Ministry of Special Duties from 2008 till date.

So how was growing Up? Growing up was not easy at all. We were seven, that is, my grandma, mother, and my siblings. We lived in a one room apartment and things were seriously tough for us because my mother was a single parent.

But with hard work, and God on her side, she was able to train all of us.

As a result of the ugly situation we found ourselves, I started my life as a maid with a family that was really nice to me and that was way back in Primary 2. Theirs was a very wealthy family and surprisingly, they were good to me. Then, when I was in Primary 4, I left that family and proceeded to live with another relative who treated me so badly. My expe-

riences were nothing compared with what happened during my stay with the first family.

Between the period when I was in primary 5 and form 2 in Badagry Grammar School, I lived with another person. It was not a fantastic movement from one home to another but I give glory to God. Within this period of living as a maid, the first family I lived with influenced my determination to work very hard and be somebody great in life because they were very wealthy even as far back as 1968. To be honest, it was not fun living in a face-to-face building in this Lagos which to a large extent, contributed to my plight when I lived with the other families which did not take good care of me. All the same, I thank God for my mother who struggled to make sure my siblings and I later received sound education.

What are the lessons you learnt from all that?

My experiences in life have thought me that an idle brain is the devil’s workshop. Although moving from one home to the other as a house help wasn’t the best at all, it shaped my thoughts about life because I decided to look at the positive side of everything. I will never support the idea of children being given out as maids because there are so much hazards involved.

What are some of the challenges you encounter working with youths?

I am not comfortable at all with the way our youths are living their lives. There is too much emphasis on higher education though it is a great idea to go to

good starting point. For instance, an unemployed youth who lives in an estate where there is no single drycleaner can start dry-cleaning service by going to people’s homes to collect and return their cloths, and money surely, will come. Also, where there is no barbing salon, the individual in question can give hair cut

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BY PRISCA SAM-DURU

the university but what happens when the individual concerned does not have a sponsor? Nobody wants to learn a trade any longer. It is higher school or nothing, and we no longer have people wanting to do apprenticeship anymore.

Most of the young men these days want to become Okada

I try to touch all aspects of not just the youths but everyone at the Foundation

riders because it is a money spinner while the girls want to become commercial sex workers because it is an easy and quicker means of making money.

By virtue of my job in the Ministry of Special Duties and my involvement with youth corps members, I try to let them know at every given opportunity, the importance of acquiring a skill during service. Youths must wake up and discover how they can help themselves without depending on any assistance the government or anybody can render to them. I usually advice them to look for a need around them and try to meet that need and then, through that, money would start flowing in. They should look for a service that is missing around their environment and render that service and I am sure, that will turn out to be a

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service to people at home. This is home service and the person makes money without even paying shop rent. The same goes for a lady who can make women’s hair. This is particularly lucrative these days and also because she only has to get simple tools like combs which are cheap to get.

Before long, rather than looking for a brothel to work as harlot, she would be known by so many and this would automatically lead to her getting a shop and expanding the business. Remember that the Bible says that we should not despise small beginnings.

There is dignity in labour so I advice that women should stop down-grading themselves and acquire a skill. As a matter of fact, list of skills is unending.

They can start by rendering services to neighbours, church members, relations, husbands’ relations, brothers and sisters,

Youth workers

old school mates as well as their friends. They do not need to go too far to look for clientele at the beginning.

Are these parts of your job at your health foundation?

Well, I try to touch all aspects of not just the youths but everyone at the Foundation. The issue is that I believe people must be healthy to be able to work or acquire a skill in the first place, which is why my husband and I started the foundation for community health support. Our mission is to make a positive impact on the lives of people in local communities. To this effect, in December 2010 we were in Imo state and in another community in Osun state last April. Next, we will be going to Ibeku ,Yewa north in November. And as this project takes us around the country, we talk to the youths in the local communities on some possible ways to live a healthy and meaningful life.

What parents should do At this point, I will advise that parents bring up their children in the fear and nurture of God. Do not encourage the children to cut corners be it to pass exams or get jobs or even to gain admission into tertiary institutions. Helping our children learn how to cheat in any way surely has a boomerang effect.

I must commend the Lagos state Ministry of Special Duties for the availability of skills acquisition centres in the state. Our technical schools have been upgraded and the women development centre in Agege is doing so much to empower our women. But because the government cannot do everything for the people, Nigerians especially our youths must rise up to make a positive impact on their lives so that they can in turn affect others especially the less privilege, positively. By so doing, we would be eliminating violence and societal ills from our midst.

38 — SATURDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 1, 2012

SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012—39

BY TAYE OBATERU/COMFORT ALIFIA/PHILIP EKIGWE & UTIBE-ABASI OKON

I

* Protesting workers

Harvest of deaths in Plateau as LG workers’ strike continues

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t has been a harvest of misfortune for many fam ilies in Plateau State as the strike embarked upon by local government workers over the implementation of the N18,000 minimum wage entered its sixth month.

Since the industrial action began, health institutions, among others in the various local government areas were shut. Life has become unbearable for the people.

From deaths arising from lack of prompt medical attention following the closure of local government health centres to the frustration of parents who cannot afford to send their children to private schools, many have tales of woe to tell.

The hope that the situation would normalize soon have so far failed as both government and the workers are yet to agree. So the strike lingers and activities in all but one of the 17 local government areas in the state remain paralyzed.

Workers in Kanam Local Government Area are said to have opted out.

For the local government workers, it has been a difficult time, with salaries unpaid for about six months. Some have lost husbands, wives or loved ones as a result of their inability to raise funds to take care of them. One of such persons is Mrs Anna Gyang who told Saturday Vanguard that she lost her husband. Also a local government worker and a a staff of Jos South Local Government died because of absence of personnel to take care of his medical needs .

Many others narrated how their children dropped out of schools as a result of their inability to pay their fees or meet other responsibilities. A local government staff, Samuel Yohanna corroborates this: “You can imagine what it means for a man not to be paid salary for about six months. I must confess, it has been difficult for us. We have been living from hand to mouth, but we are fighting a just cause and we will not give up until government listens to us.”

However, the issue of the minimum wage which was the initial cause of the strike has been resolved with the workers settling for 55 per cent.

But the issue of salary arrears became another problem as government insists that it would enforce the no-work, no-pay policy. Governor Jonah Jang did not mince words in declaring openly that the workers would not be paid for the period they were on

The workers are angered by the recent reference to the non payment of their salary while the strike lasted by Governor Jang to justify the decision not to pay local government workers currently on strike the salary arrears for the period they have been on strike

strike. He made reference to medical workers and those of tertiary institutions who were not paid for the period they were on strike sometimes back, saying the local government workers could not be treated differently. Twice, government gave the local government workers ultimatum to resume work or face the music but the workers have rebuffed the order insisting they would not unless their salary arrears were paid.

The state government had penultimate week, through a statement signed by Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Dr. Paul Wai issued the fresh ultimatum penultimate Monday to resume work after a similar one issued earlier was shunned by the workers.

The state government gave the local government staff up to Monday November 19 to resume duties. Local government management committees chairmen were directed

,

to provide attendance registers to be signed by the workers at 8am prompt. Management committee chairmen were ordered also to work hand in hand with security agencies in their domain to provide adequate security for those resuming work and to safeguard lives and property. The statement said government would not condone any act of lawlessness and those found taking the laws into their hands were assured they would face the law. But rather than be cowed by this threat, the workers had since that Monday commenced peaceful demonstrations to press home their demand to be paid their salary arrears before they would call off the strike.

The state NLC Chairman Comrade Jibrin Bancir had said penultimate weekend that the strike would continue despite government’s ultimatum adding,”we are not resuming on Monday unless

government pay us all the arrears.” He said workers were resolved to continue with the strike until the state government backs down on the no-work, no rule policy.

The workers have since Monday been appearing in black attires and displaying various placards asking government to end the suffering of the people by paying their salaries.

But the workers are insisting on government agreeing to pay the salary for which they did not work. The government accepted to pay October salary only.

Wai had told journalists that the decision to pay them the “unearned salary” is a departure from government’s initial stance to enforce the no work, no pay rule for the period the workers were on strike. He said the concession, though at variance with the Trade Dispute Act, was to save the third tier of government from collapse as it would be irresponsible for government to allow the strike continue indefinitely.

“It has become necessary for government to take appropriate steps to salvage the local government system and the primary education from total collapse”, adding that the strike by the workers was against the Labour Act as negotiations were still ongoing when the workers commenced the strike.

On another front, academic activities in government owned tertiary institutions in the state may be disrupted again following a threat by

workers union to resume their suspended strike over unpaid arrears during their prolonged strike last year.

The fresh threat by the tertiary institution workers is a fall out of the one by local government workers. The workers are angered by the recent reference to the non payment of their salary while the strike lasted by Governor Jang to justify the decision not to pay local government workers currently on strike the salary arrears for the period they have been on strike.

Chairman of the tertiary institution workers, Mr. Victor Dawurung who spoke to journalists on the matter described the reference to their case as unfortunate since they had at no time, accepted the no-work, no pay rule. “We want to make it categorically clear that we have not accepted the imposition of ‘no work, no pay’. We have only been pursuing the matter diplomatically, but unfortunately, we have become a reference point of the imposition of the draconian rule”, he said.

He explained that the elders who brokered the suspension of their strike had advised that they pursue the matter of their arrears diplomatically, an advice they had taken until the governor used them as a reference point for the no work, no pay policy. According to Dawurung, ”despite the agreement reached with government on the 15th June and 17 th October 2011 that no worker will be victimised for participating in the strike, we are today being outrightly denied our three months salaries under the guise of ‘no work no pay’.We have written three different letters appealing to government to pay us our three months outstanding salaries but to no avail.”

The union alleged that salary have not been paid to members for some months but they had continued to work in the interest of peace but noted that the situation was causing members untold hardship. If the tertiary institution workers make good their threat, it would lead to a near paralysis of the education sector of the state with public primary schools already closed for about six months.

While the debate as to which side is wrong between the workers and the government continues, the backlash of the strike is clear for many to see.Not only is it adversely affecting economic activities as traders complain of very low sales, but the plight of the children of public primary schools whose future remain enmeshed in a struggle they know nothing about .

40 — Saturday

Vanguard, December 1, 2012

By IFEANYI OKOLIE

A

T first, when relatives of a 25-year-old student of Enugu State College of Education, Chika Egbo, learnt of her romance with a man from the south western part of the country who had offered to marry her, they were surprised giving the fact that their daughter and sister does not live or school at that part of the country.

In spite of the initial skepticism, they later consented to her request of marrying the man, identified as David Sulieman. Her father, Matthew Egbo, is a Taraba based businessman, upon giving his approval, asked her to bring the man and his family to their home town in Awgu, Enugu State, for proper introduction.

The mood in the family became ecstatic, as both her parents and siblings couldn’t stand the joy of giving her out in marriage. But little did they know that she was in for trouble.

On June 25, 2011, Sulieman and a couple of friends visited Egbo’s home town in Awgu and performed what her father described as ‘knocking on the door’ which he said was in line with Igbo tradition. “None of them identified themselves as his parent and they said they came for introduction. I welcomed them and asked Suleiman to bring his parents to me, because marriage is not for children and I also wanted to be familiar with the family I was about giving out my daughter to in marriage. He then told me that his father was sick and he was in coma but he can bring his mother and other members of his family for the marriage ceremony. I said okay that I am waiting. But few months after that, my daughter called me and said she was pregnant.

“I was so shocked and embarrassed. I berated her for letting the family down and not waiting for the man to bring his family to conclude her marriage rite before going to bed with him. She told me that she was sorry, so I accepted and asked her to leave all she was doing in school and travel to Lagos to inform the man’s family about her pregnancy. When she got to Lagos, she called me and said she met a man at Sulieman’s house who introduced himself as his father but he was healthy,hail and hearty . She also said that the man told her that he was unaware that Sulieman was engaged to any woman. She said the man told her that all Sulieman had always requested was visa for him to travel abroad and they have been making plans for that. The man also told my daughter that he had separated with Sulieman’s mother for a long time and they were no longer staying together. Then he gave her Sulieman’s mother’s phone number and asked her to call the woman and tell her what was happening. When she did, the woman was so surprised and my daughter was embarrassed, she thought Sulieman’s mother was on the know of all his plans to marry her and unfortunately his mother wasn’t. She then asked her to call him and confirm.

“When she did, Sulieman told my daughter that he wasn’t in the country. When my daughter checked the number she used in calling him, it was a local number. She sensed trouble and left the place angrily. Later, she called and told me everything that happened. She said Sulieman is a liar and she would have to abort the pregnancy because she cannot marry a man she does not trust. I asked her not to do such a thing because it is against our religion and no one knows who the child could become in future. She accepted and kept the pregnancy.”

Egbo explained Crime Guard gathered that Chika carried her pregnancy for nine months but Sulieman didn’t show up. Her father said they took care of her and paid all her hospital bills. “ I didn’t hear anything from the man who impregnated my daughter. I and her mother struggled to take care of her and we also paid all her hospital

L-A-M-E-N-T-A-T-I-O-N-S O-F

See how my daughte bathed her with acid

Chika Egbo... when the going was good

Chika Egbo... bathed with acid

APOLOGY

We sincerely apologize to our numerous readers over the mix-up in the story captioned, ‘I sold human parts to churches and ritual killers’ published on this page last week . The unedited script was erroneously inserted. The devil was really at work. We highly regret the mix-up.

Crime Editor

aught father Chika’s distr

bills and when she put to bed, we also did not hear from him. We took care of our daughter and when the child became three months, we asked her to bring the child to us at Taraba State so we can take care of her.

All this happened last April and by November 4th, I got a call from Sulieman that he wanted to see his daughter, then I told him that if he wanted to see his daughter, he must bring his parents to see me. That was all I told him and the next day, I got a call from my son in Enugu that his sister has been poured acid by the man who wanted to marry her and she is currently

at the hospital. I asked him to rush down to Lagos and confirm if it was true and he did. After he called, I travelled to Lagos and I saw my daughter.

I shed tears when I saw her. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw her burnt body. When I asked what happened, I was told that the man who wanted to marry her tricked her to Lagos, that his mother wanted see her and when she got to Lagos, he took her to a spot, then he brought out a can and poured acid on her, that an Okada rider who took them to the spot saw what was happening and ran after Sulieman but he emptied the can of acid on him also but the man held him firmly. After which they were both arrested by the police who took my daughter and the Okada rider to the nearest hospital.

“All I need now is justice, I have told Sulieman’s parents to do all they can to restore my daughter’s face. She did nothing to this man. I don’t know why he would do such a thing to her. When I spoke to Suileman at the State SCID, Panti, Yaba, Lagos,

Saturday Vanguard, December 1, 2012 — 41

A F-A-T-H-E-R

er’s fiance d

Fear grips residents of Nsukka as kidnappers terrorize people

*Fuel merchant kidnapped, associate Professor shot *Police,Soldiers take over streets By: CHINENYEH OZOR, NSUKKA

A

Sulieman, the suspect he told me that the devil took over him, that was why he did what he did. “ he lamented.

When Crime Guard visited Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH,Ikeja to see Chika, doctors at the hospital said she could not talk as she had just gone through a surgery.

Also, efforts made to speak with the suspect at the State Criminal Investigations Department, SCID, Panti Yaba, Lagos failed as policemen insisted that no body should visit him.

nxiety,confusion and fear enveloped the University town of Nsukka, Enugu state following the kidnap of a prominent petroleum merchant and the shooting of an associate professor of the University of Nigeria,last Tuesday Night.

Crime Alert gathered that the senior lecturer in the department of social work and local government administration of the University of Nigeria and proprietor of a flourishing private secondary school,(Ejiofor Comprehensive international School) who resides at Oloto II, street,Nsukka,had gone to a nearby street on an errand when three armed men on a motorcycle accosted him and demanded for his car key.

Eyewitnesses said the associate Professor allegedly refused to surrender his car key but instead threw it into the bush, an action that made the hoodlums to shoot him on the leg and sped away with their motorcycle, while passersby scampered for safety on hearing the gun shot.

The gunmen reportedly raced for about two poles from the point of shooting the associate Professor when they cited the petroleum merchant whose name was given simply as Aruma, the proprietor of Akalaka Filling Station along Obollo road, Nsukka, driving into his residence. They followed and forced him back into the car, hemmed him inside his car at gun point and drove away while the rider of their motor cycle followed closely to an unknown destination.

Crime Alert learnt that as soon as they disappeared with the fuel merchant,his family and other residents burst into wild cries which attracted people to the scene.

The next morning, after several attempts to track the hoodlums, fierce-looking mobile police men, soldiers and plain cloth policemen besieged the street where he was shot called Ofulonu and started carrying out a stop-and-search mission of all manner of motor vehicles and motorcycles, an operation which lasted for several hours and compelled residents of the streets and inhabitants of the town to be mindful of their

IGP M.D. Abubarka - time for action movements.

It was gathered that the wounded university don, Dr.Ejiofor, has been taken to the National Orthopedic Hospital, Enugu for treatment after he was given first aidtreatment at an undisclosed hospital in Nsukka. The whereabouts of the kidnapped petrol merchant, Aruma, is not yet known. His abductors have also not opened up channels for discussion for his release as at the time of this report.

Security agents made up of the police and army personnel have been making frantic efforts, combing all nooks and crannies in search of the abductors and their victim.

Contacted for comment, a senior Police Officer attached to the police area command, Nsukka, who pleaded anonymity said that the Police would unravel the circumstances surrounding the kidnap and the shooting in no distant time. The senior Police Officer pleaded with the general public to give useful information to the Police to enable them surmount and unravel the atrocious acts of hoodlums in the town.

ROTARY CLUB COMMISSIONS POLICE PROJECTS Pix 1 L-R: Governor District 9110, Rotary Club of Nigeria, Rotn. Kamoru Omotosho and Superintendent of Police, Uduak I, Udom, Divisional Police Officer, Ojodu Division at the commissioning of renovation works at Ojodu Police Station by Rotary Club of Ojodu recently

Pix. 1

Pix. 2

Pix 2 L-R: Divisional Police Officer, Ojodu, Superintendent of Police, Uduak I, Udom; Governor District 9110, Rotary Club of Nigeria, Rotn. Kamoru Omotosho and President Rotary Club of Ojodu, Rotn. Uche Okechukwu Ukah at the commissioning of renovation works at Ojodu Police Station by Rotary Club of Ojodu recently

42—Vanguard, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012

It's normal for a family like ours to have issues --Ojukwu's son

relationship between the Ojukwu family and the governor?

Dr. Rochas Okorocha’s relationship with the Ojukwu family is excellent. Actually, he was one of the first people that came to us as the date was approaching and asked what we wanted him to do, whether we wanted him to be involved. And he has been coming since my father died.

He in particular knows about this event and got closer.

Some thing came up that stopped him from attending this function but he sent a high powered representative to the occasion and he called us to tell us as soon as he knew that he was not coming with so much apologies. In fact, his assistance was great in every way. We do not have any issue with him. He has been fully with the family since my father died. He has stood with us at those trying times, so I reject any notion that the family has issues with him.

*Says,'Nobody can tamper with my father's will' Barely a year after the death of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Emeka Ojukwu, there seems to be an on-going family crisis. In this interview with ENYIM ENYIM, the first son of the late warlord, Chief Emeka Ojukwu, jnr, speaks on the rearing family feud as well as the life and times of his late father.

Excerpts;

death of your father?How true is this?

Are you referring to Debe?

Yes? He has taken my father’s wife to court. He has taken me to court. He has taken my fathers brothers to court and even my cousins to court. He has taken the AIG of police to court and even the army command has been taken to court.

Almost every body has been taken to court over one claim or the other. I think that you would have to ask him why he is in court with everybody.

And I want to remind you that while my father was sick in England, he took my Ojukwu Transport Company and the Directors which my father was a member to court. So, my father’s name was listed as a defendant. So these are things that you would have to ask him. I do not want to comment further on that. If there are issues within any family and there bound to be issues especially in a big family like this, it is best resolved within the family whether you are from the outside, or you are from the inside. Going to court or going to the police or even going to the press will certainly not solve the problem. All you do is to aggravate the system and it's not good and you will end up creating more enemies.

Rumour has it that your father’s will has been tampered with. Is it true?

I have heard those rumours and people have asked me severally about it.

Essentially, my father’s will is known to me and there has

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T

here are speculations that one of your brothers has filed a suit at a law court against Bianca barely one year after the

Emeka Ojukwu jnr

The notion that he was no more was indeed touching;but the response from Nigerians was what sustained us and we have realized that his life really meant something and really touched our lives

been a rumour and people are saying that there has been changes in the will. We are not aware of such changes. But we are watching to see. There is a rumour about reading of the will severally. Three months ago, there was a rumour that the will had been read without some people involved knowing about it. I want to wait and see, given that I know what my father

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said is what it is. You should also know that reading a will is a different thing from executing a will.

The family will have to look at it to see who produced these changes and what the changes are. If it is a deviation from my fathers wishes, then we will surely challenge it in court. I cannot discuss the details of my father's will in the public but we do have copies with us.

Last Sunday, your family had one year remembrance of late Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu.

People had expected that the South East governors would have been present. But on that day it was only governor Peter Obi that came.

Let me clarify something for you first of all. What happened on Sunday was the removing of our mourning cloth. It was not the remembrance. You remember my father died on the 25th of November and he was buried in March. The remembrance would be around that time.

We as a family decided to give

him one year of mourning from the day he died and that was why. We celebrated mass on the 25th. It is more of a private family matter or ceremony with some few close friends of the family. It was not supposed to be for the general public as such.

Soon after your father’s burial, we gathered that some members of the family organized a similar event before now.

Why? Some members of the family, you mean my father ’s wife, Bianca. A lot has been said about this in many ways but basically, what happened was that the family made it clear that it is going to be one year and nothing less than that.

And she suggested that she wanted to do it before one year due to her engagements and the family said she is free to go abroad for her engagement but when it is one year, she has to join the family. She insisted and that was why you did not see family members as it was last Sunday. But when the time came for us to do it, she decided to come down and join us. I think that from the way I see it, she got better advice from people and she realised that it was not right about what she did.

During the ceremony last week, Bianca explained that the absence of the Imo state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha was due to some other engagements.What is the

How do you feel about the contributions of Nigerians to your father's funeral?

I do not know what to use to describe it. It is only the likes of Achebes, Soyinkas that can find a word to describe it. It was indeed touching and the assistance have been amazing I must say. We are talking about a man who seemed immortal. He was greater than life. The notion that he was no more was indeed touching but the response from Nigerians was what sustained us and we have realized that his life really meant something and really touched our lives. You see one tends to take people close to them for granted and you may not know how great or respected he or she is because he is with you. The response by Nigerians further opened our eyes. It was really a wonderful thing to see what took place during his funeral.

You know there were events of course in Europe and America; all parts of Africa and the far East. I will never forget it and I am sure where ever he is, he knows that he has achieved what he had come on earth to do. Maybe he did not take us to the promised land but he certainly took us to the mountain and showed us the promised land.

The national chairman of APGA , Sir Victor Umeh has said he would expose things about Ojukwu’s death and the role of Peter Obi and Bianca?

What is your reaction?

Like I said before, internal issues about the family do not need to be discussed in the press. Some times ,we would not like it to be written. The

Continues on page 43

Vanguard, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012—43

It's nomal to have issues in a big family like ours

money whether you have it or not and that is the way it is. It is now that I have come to realize the role my father was playing as it were and now, I am playing similar roles. I know that the man was on a mission and I know that it was not a mission one can finish in a life time.

—Ojukwu's son

One of the ways to carry on from where my father stopped is this problem in the party APGA. We have to find a way to stop it and settle all parties. It would be wrong that in his absence, the party that he gave his life for and nurtured would end up this way and the whole thing will derail completely. You were here last Sunday when Governor Peter Obi and Sir Victor Umeh met here in my palour and shook hands and I feel this is a sign of good things to come and we shall ensure that the matter is settled.

*Say's 'My father's will is known to me Continued from page 42 comment by about some issues. My comment on this is that I'll wait for Victor Umeh to tell as what he wants to expose.

Tell us about your father and your life with him at your tender age Certainly, he was all that people say he was. Growing up, my father was a jovial person. He likes to play pranks a lot. He was a loving and wonderful father. We did not see him much because of the civil war but whenever he comes, we enjoy him so well. But when we began to see activities and the heavy presence of people around our house, we would know that he was coming to see us. We got to spend more time with him in Ivory cost. The war was over. But the first few months after the war, he was quite depressed about the number of deaths during the war, about the killings and especially those under his charge that died. But after that, he came back to his normal self. He would play football, table tennis, play with people. He was indeed a wonderful father and a great one at that.

Can you recall an issue that took place between you and your father?

Sure, many of them. Some of them I will not tell you in fact, he sent for me before I because it could be came back. So he was that kind embarrassing. I will tell you of person. one. You know that as you When he discovered start to get old or coming up that you were now a man, as a tanager, you'd begin to how was his approach to see muscles forming, you will you later? begin to feel great like a man.

By then, I was not quite a I came home and perhaps I man and that was why I went somewhere that I was jumped out of the window. not supposed to go and I One thing I really enjoyed came in and saw my cousins about my father was honesty. and my parents. He He was an honest man. challenged me and instead of Remember, when I was me backing down like it used getting married for the first to be, I spoke up and asked time and I asked for his him what do you mean and by advice, do you know what he that action, something told me? He said 'my son, I am happened. His reaction on my number three and I am surprised me. Instead of not the best person to give continuing with the advice, so just go and ask argument, he just looked at somebody that is still on me and said oh! So you are a number one.' The man is man; good, good, okay, every indeed fun to be with. body out. Everybody went But why did you choose not out and he locked the door to be a soldier like your and while I was looking at father? him, he started unbuttoning It's not that I do not want to his shirt and I was just looking be a soldier. I tried. When I at him and I was about calling came back to Nigeria, I him daddy and what I heard wanted to join the army. Even was gbuum. He gave me a when I was in Ivory coast, I blow close to my chest and wanted to join the army but my stomach rose high before my father said no, that I I landed on my back like a sack should join the Nigerian of rice. I couldn’t breath.

Army. He said that I was not I was trying to breath or say from Ivory Coast. something when I got He has always maintained another one gbum. When I that we are Nigerians. I got up, I jumped through the participated in sports in window and ran away. You Ivory Coast and I qualified for know in Ivory coast, we did Olympics 100 meters. I was not have burglaries like here faster than some of the people in Nigeria. I did not come that represented Ivory coast home lfor about two days and then but my father refused,

Emeka Ojukwu jnr

Remember when I was getting married for the first time and I asked for his advised, do you know what he told me.

He said my son me I am on my number three and I am not the best person to give advice so you just go and ask somebody that is still on number one

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insisting that I will have to join the Nigerian team and not the Ivory Coast team. I was about fourteen or fifteen years ten.

When I came back to Nigeria, I went to join the army and I was unofficially told that it wouldn’t be such good idea from the powers that be then.

I tried even the French Legion but it didn’t work out.

Possibly they were afraid of your father and that was why they refused Well I wouldn’t want to put words in their mouth about that. But I know that they have had enough of the first Ojukwu, let alone having another Ojukwu in the Nigerian Army.

Humphery Boigny of Ivory Coast was your father’s great friend, how did you see him?

He was like a father to my father because the age disparity was too much.To us, he was a wonderful man, very caring. He always remembered our birthdays and will come to the house with gifts.

He will even remember what you like to eat. He was just fun to be around.

He was also a very powerful person and he held that country firmly. Not that they did not have problems but he was able to hold the country. I will tell you one story about him. As a young child, I liked something and you know children

like what they like and we do not want to know if this thing is

cheap or costly. So one day, at the palace in Yamosukwu with guests and friends, he had invited us to eat and enjoy with him and I like caveat and caveat is very much expensive. A little quantity of caveat is very expensive, about hundreds of dollars. But that is what I liked.

It is also an apatizer before the meal. They will give you a little caviat and put it on a cracker about four or three.

For me, I was eating like garri and my dad and my mum were making signs, telling me to stop that they were doing it quietly so that people would not know, but the president noticed that and said, oh! my young friend likes caviat. He said he likes good things and it is good for him. And later on, we finished and went home and one day, two black cars came to our house from the presidency full of cartons of it to our house and said that they should give me and that they are for me.

Your father Dim Odumemgwu Ojukwu is no more ,what are the challenges facing the family?

There have been serious challenges since he died.

People now have expectations about you and what they expect you to do now as the head of the family.

People want to prop you up, people want to knock you down. But this is what life is all about. I miss him because there are things I would have loved to seek his advice but he is no more and the burden of the family is now on me and I have no choice but to carry on and I told my father that he will never be disappointed at me because with his training and teachings, I am well armed to carry on with the challenges that go with it.

Today I have to take some leadership actions and bring out

An incident happened on that Sunday morning when the MASSOB leader Ralph Uwazurike came with his people to your compound...

You mean early in the morning before we went to church. What happened was that Uwazurike was invited by Bianca and he was allowed into the family compound but you know, he tends to move with a huge crowd and he was advised at the gate to enter with enough security personnel for him to feel protected and that the hundreds and thousands of people following him would not go in because we were still planning for the event and could not accommodate so many people.

In their characteristic nature, they forced their way in and started fighting the security operatives at the gate and things were about to get out of hand.

S o I entered my living room and made some calls and that is why peace was restored that day. If you noticed, there were presence of soldiers, police and the state security service. And it was good that they took that control as it were and his men were not able to follow him into the compound. If you enter somebody’s house as a guest, you must respect that home regardless of any other thing.

Why did Bianca choose to invite him?

You would have to ask Bianca about that not me. Of course you know that even the newspapers seem to be attending functions together with him.

Was he afraid that he would not be allowed to enter the

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44—SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012

DILEMMA OF AN ACTIVIST:

I was detained with condemned criminals at Oko prison--Ugolor necessary for the burial.

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM, Benin City

Rev.David Ugolor man carried him into my Hilux pick up and rushed him to the Central hospital but the emergency center was locked.

The gateman helped us at that point. I had to get in touch

,

ev.David Ugolor is the R Executive Director of the African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), a Non Governmental Organization (NGO). However, to the chagrin of civil society groups in Edo state and the entire nation, the activist was arrested by the police over the murder of the Principal Private Secretary to Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde. He was however absolved of the crime by the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) three weeks ago after he spent six weeks in different prisons in the country. In the euphoria of his exoneration by the DPP, he narrated his ordeal in the hands of the police and how he was kept with condemned criminals in prison. While narrating his relationship with late Oyerinde, he explained the genesis of his ordeal to Saturday Vanguard.

My friendship with Olaitan Oyerinde started when we first met at the NLC. USAID invited us for consultations and he was representing the Labour group. There, he gave me his complimentary card and some years after, he came to Edo state with Adams Oshiomhole, after he resumed as governor.

Then we met again and we began to interact. It happened that he was a key member in the cabinet that interacted with the Civil Society groups and Labour on behalf of the Comrade Governor. He was very helpful each time the civil society wants to embark on any project or training. So we were very close until his sudden death. On that very fateful day, May 3, 2012, Olaitan put a call across to me as usual, asking where I was. I told him I was along Etete and he asked where we could hang out that evening. So we agreed and met some where that was close to that area.

Unfortunately I did not come in my car. A friend drove me to that place and coincidentally, I arrived the same time with Olaitan at the place. We had drinks together and later he drove me back to my house.

After about two-three hours, I heard somebody knocking at my window. It was the wife and she said her husband had been shot. I wore my trouser and called the Police control room and then drove down to his house. When I got there, Olaitan was in the pool of his blood. My self and his in-law who visited them and the gate-

I was shocked when a man I have never met in my life called Garuba Maisamari walked towards me in handcuff, gun bruises all over his body and pointed at me that I was the one who sent them to kill Olaitan

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with the ADC to the governor and others. But before the doctors and nurses could intervene, Olaitan was dead.

There was a little exchange of words between me and the medical doctors on duty because I was really disappointed with their attitude. He was later taken to the mortuary and I returned to my house and I was told that the wife went to the police. At that point, we went to take the children to my house. The

children were in my house before we took them to Government House. The police came and interviewed me and I told them every thing I knew about Olaitan. I was asked to go. Subsequently, the police kept inviting me and I was honouring their invitations. As a matter of fact, any time I want to travel out of the city, I would notify them. You would recall that after the death of Olaitan, the Civil Society groups had demonstration at the SSS office, asking them to fish out his killers because we felt that the way Olaitan was killed was unacceptable. There after, we had a press conference at the NUJ Centre. Also, we all ensured Olaitan was given a befitting burial and the state government did a wonderful job too by providing every thing

My ordeal But on July 27, I was invited again by the police. I was very surprised when I was told that I was under arrest. My telephones were collected from me and I was shown a search warrant and they said they were going to my house to conduct a search and my office. At that point in time, I requested to call my wife but the officers refused. However, I eventually made some calls. They asked me to call my lawyer because I would be going for a parade identification. They handcuffed me and took me to my house. If you watched the scene, you would think I had overthrown the President of the country all in an attempt to humiliate and present me before the public as a murderer.

They first came to my office and even bankers who were transacting business in my office were all detained. Their telephones were seized and they now went to my house for a search for about three hours but nothing was recovered apart from the sim card of my telephones and some used phones. Nothing incriminating was found against me. So we returned to police station where they said I was under detention.

I was remanded at the Area Command, Sapele Road and they took my statement and finger print. So I invited my lawyer because they said we were going for identification.

My lawyers insisted on some procedural issues but they ignored those issues and paraded me, unknown to me at that time that most of the people who were paraded with me were policemen in mufti. I was shocked when a man I have never met in my life called Garuba Maisamari walked towards me in handcuff, gun bruises all over his body and pointed at me that I was the

one who sent them to kill Olaitan. I was just laughing because the whole thing looked like a movie. After that incident, the next day, they brought the Maisamari before me for cross examination. All these were videoed and I insisted on the man who led the investigation team to Benin, Dr Chris Ezike, a deputy Commissioner of Police and I told him that I am sure all these video clips would be made available before the court during prosecution because I knew that what they were doing was a complete frame up.

You’d cry if you see the man whose name is Maisamari. He was smelling because of gun shots he received from the police. When you see him, if they present that video to the world, people will weep. So I called and asked this man if he knows me and he started laughing. I asked if he knows my house, and the kind of cars I use. He said no. What kind of car did Olaitan and I drove to your place since you said we came to change money?

He mentioned a car which I can’t remember. But unfortunately for him, neither Olaitan nor I used the kind of car he mentioned. So he I found out that he does not know any thing about me and Olaitan.

After the cross examination, I knelt down and thanked God I don’t know him. He does not know me. And I asked him again, do you watch me on the television? I asked him, did any other person know when we were transacting the business? He said no, except him . So I just felt that they were framing me up.

So the police said they wanted to get my bank accounts and I gave them. ANEEJ was not the person who killed Olaitan and at that point, I knew somebody was up to for some thing. They continued to detain me and refused to charge me to court. So at that point, members of the public started asking questions and the media was also there to probe. In that process, I went to the court and I was granted unconditional bail. But the Police disobeyed the court order. And that sent a signal that it was not because of Olaitan’s death that they arrested me.

So my lawyer, Barr Afolabi continued to press for my bail. After much pressure, the police finally charged us to court and we were remanded at Oko prison.

My lawyers filed in for my bail again and I won the case for unlawful detention and I was awarded N5 million. I was granted unconditional bail at

Continues on page 45

SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012 — 45

Oko and I was released and I was very happy about that. So we started waiting for the feed back from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) where the case file was sent to and I was very happy that few days ago, they came out with their final report where they found out that I was not involved in the murder.

I was framed up But what strikes me most was that in the DPP report, the socalled Danjuma and the other man who they claimed that killed Olaitan were actually in the police custody. As a matter of fact, when I was in the police custody, when we were being moved from the magistrate court down to Oko prison, in the vehicle, the boys were already fighting and I asked them why. They said Sir, they had to tell me the truth that it was because of the gun shots they received from the police and the torture they got was why they implicat-

Rev.David Ugolor

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that was what actually happened.

Then in the prison, I didn’t know that where they remanded these young men at the police headquarters in Benin, there was another prisoner whom I have never met in my life. He said that when he was still detained at the Edo state Police Command, it was

Continued from page 44

At Oko prison, my lawyers filed in for my bail and fundamental human right and I won the case for unlawful detention and I was awarded N5million; I was granted unconditional bail at Oko and I was released and I was very happy about that

going to eat food from prison. They tried to trick me to eat their food but I and my lawyer resisted it. As a matter of fact, the condition I was subjected to at the Area Command Sapele road was incredible. I was ac-

I was detained with condemned criminals at Oko prison-Ugolor ed me, that the police brought my photograph to them and they asked

them to mention my name. But I was not surprised because I knew

there that some policemen investigating the case brought my photograph; that even when they lined us up for identification, it was the same policemen who came to tell them where I was standing and the clothes I was putting on so that Maisamari could identify me. Maisamari confirmed this and I am glad that these boys are still alive at Oko prison.

And my appeal to the prosecution officers is that they should quickly charge those boys to court so that the world will know the truth because the latest information now is that the SSS suspects that were handed over to the police.

The police have suddenly turned around to say that these people were not the ones who killed Olaitan. I think it has now gotten to a point where we should parade these people before the court and find out who really killed Olaitan and know those framing David up. We need to know all these because if we don’t, it will encourage the culture of impunity because like I told people, it is me today, but it may be somebody else tomorrow. That is why since I was released, I have been calling for police and prison reforms because what I experienced in detention is nothing to write home about. The only way we can move forward in this country is when the police system is sanitanised.

Feeding in prison I insisted that I was not

tually defecating in a nylon bag because there was no toilet. My skin started changing when the situation became very bad and my lawyer intervened. He now decided to bring money to construct a new toilet inside the cell at the Area Command. And prior to when the court granted me unconditional bail, they smuggled me back to Abuja, Gariki prison. At Gariki prison, the roof was leaking and when it rained, prisons would get soaked. In that place, I was kept with armed robbers. Throughout my stay in Abuja, I did not see any reason why they took me to Abuja but it was not clear that my continued incarceration was politically motivated and its an attempt to kill my spirit. It was later that I discovered when I came back to Benin that those boys were interrogated again by the DIG of police, Peter Gana, who happens to supervise the entire investigation.

Maisamari told him that he does not know me but at that point, the police officers shouted them down and threatened them. They were told that if they don’t stand on their initial statement that I sent them to kill Olaitan, they would be killed. And when they took these boys to Peter Gana they never took me along. I was left at Gariki prison. Through out the matter, the policemen were mocking me. They said I should pray to God to save me since I am a Reverend but I told them that God will put them to

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shame. People spend unnecessary time in prison. There are a lot of innocent people in prisons languishing today and our government must look into that matter. For example, the two people who were granted pardon by the governor recently, one of them was an innocent man but he spent seven years in prison before he was pardoned.

This is unacceptable.

Ironically, the real criminals don’t find their way in prison only few.

Over 90 per cent of the people in prison are awaiting trial and they say justice delayed is justice denied. I think the best way to do justice to Olaitan’s death is for every body to mobilize and demand that justice prevails. We cannot allow this show of shame with the case to continue. The police cannot continue to frame innocent citizens up. This is wicked and the current different reports coming out from police and the SSS on the matter is an issue that the President and the National Assembly must intervene in.

The final report of the DPP has not only vindicated me but again reinforced my initial message that the police framed me up because of the values that I stand for, the work I do in Nigeria, my work in the oil and gas sector. But thank God for his mercies.

Truth will always triumph over evil and you can see since my release the reactions from the people. I expected that the President would have requested the report of the investigation from the Police because the police must tell Nigerians what actually happened.

Source of my travails I am very careful and cautious because I don’t want to point fingers at innocent souls. I leave every thing in the hands of God. I have since moved on with my life. I thank God for his glory and because God did this for me, I see it as an opportunity now to add a voice for the voiceless.

46—SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012

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48—SATURDAY, Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012

NCF’s dinner dance THE Nigerian Conservation Foundation, NCF, held its 2012 annual fund raising dinner dance at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki Lagos penultimate Saturday.

Notable personalities graced the occasion. Photos

by Biodun Ogunleye

R-L: Chief (Mrs) Pat Oluwole with Amb. and Mrs Hamzat Ahmadu

L-R: Amb. Adeyombo Oyesola, Director, Finance & Admin, Mr Alade Adeleke, Ag. ED and Mrs Susan Okeke, all of NCF

L-R: Uche Ogbonna, Napoleon Esemudje, and wife, Ijeoma and Ejike Ndiuto

FNM’s ‘disability’ night THE Finding Normal Movement (FNM) in support of people living with disabilities held its 2012 evening at the Wheatbaker Hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos , recently. The children had fun with the Movement’s bigwigs. Photos by Biodun Ogunleye

The Children dancing

L-R: Mrs Angela Emuwa, Dr Yinka Akindayomi, both Co-Founders of the Movement and Mrs Anne Bessong

L-R:Princess Anie Okure, Mr Babs Fatunmbi (Jnr) and Ms Olubunmi Aboderin, MD Punch Commercial Printing

Titi Jegede marks 40 VANGUARD’s advert bureau chief in Ibadan, Oyo state, Titi Jegede clocked 40 recently and to celebrate the landmark occasion, she entertained family, friends and colleagues at a classy event that was as entertaining as it was refreshing.

Vanguard Family Ibadan, From Left; Dare Fasube, Titilola Jegede, Sunday Alifia and Lola Koseunti.

L-R:Iyabo Lawal, Titilola Jegede ,Adeolu Adeoye and Yinka Agboola

From left; Bamikole Jegede,Titilola Jegede and Odunayo Jegede

Nigerian Institut e of TTo own Planner erence, Abuja 20 12 Institute Plannerss Annual Conf Conference, 201 MEMBERS of the Strathclyde University Alumni Association at the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners Annual Conference at Abuja recently.

From right , TPL Anene Chimezie, TPL Aaron Braimah, TPL Obike and TPL Geoffrey Anuta.

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From right, TPL Nze, TPL Steve Onu (newly elected president of the Institute) TPL Geoffrey Anuta and TPL Aaron Braimah.

SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012 — 49

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52—SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1 1, 2012

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SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012—53

BY GAB EJUWA

T

Late Chief Ogbe Onokpite and wife when the going was good

Onokpite:A year

af ter, friends eulogise slain politician

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HE ancient Okpe com munity of Ugolo Okpe in Okpe local government of Delta State was agog last Monday as politicians, human rights activists beseiged the sprawling town in their hundreds to mark the first year anniversary of the slain Urhobo human right activist and former Delta State gubernatorial candidate, Chief Ogbe Onokpite. One after the other, the eminent personalities at the event mounted the podium to renew the call for justice on the fallen hero, who was killed under mysterious circumstances.

An activist, Chief Paul Ibeyon who chaired the event, was the first to speak.

In a manner reminiscient of a typical village spokesman, he greeted the crowd in the language they understood and then cleared his throat to garner the attention of the momoth crowd who converged to ostensibly honour their sudden departed hero.

Just like conversation, Chief Ibeyon began, “those who killed Chief Onokpite can never kill his dream of a better society for all. We, his friends and associates have vowed to keep his dream alive.”

Similarly, renown human rights activist in Oshimili North, Comrade Ifeanyi Agbah who made a tearfulspeech noted that both Chief Onokpite and his killers made history but however added that his killers would be dumped on the bad side of history unlike Chief Onokpite who he said would always be mentioned for good.

The Oshimili North born human right activist noted that Chief Onokpite did not die fighting the course of the Urhobos alone but the oppressed Deltans.

He noted in dismay that some of those who benefited from the late Chief Onokpite had not shown interest in the fight for justice over his death. The activist likened late Chief Onokpite to Isaac Adaka Boro, Ken Saro Wiwa and Martin Luther King (Jnr).

“Before he was killed, he was a gentleman that was established with over four thousand workers who received their salaries when due.

“So the accusation by the police of being a gun-runner was baseless and frivolous,” Comrade Agbah who later read the biography of the late Chief Onokpite added.

Placards protesting the killing of Ogbe and calling for justice on his death were also displayed at the event; some of them read: “Chief Ogbe, your vision is our mission”

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Similarly, the Personal Assistant of late Chief Onokpite and the DDP councillorship aspirant in Uvwie Local Government Council, Comrade Wilson Akpos noted that those who killed his boss were afraid of

him. “They even begged him to work for them but he refused and chose to work for Chief Great Ogboru. They have killed him but they can’t kill what he stood for, the course for a better Delta State and Urhobo nation”.

While calling President Jonathan and Inspector General of Police to bring the killers of Chief Onokpite to book, he observed that if the slain politician was to be an extraction of Oduduwa, Arewa, Ohanaeze, the Ijaws and even the Itsekiris, they would not have taken the gruesome murder of Chief Onokpite lightly. He also lamented the silence of those that matter in Urhobo kingdom on the death of Chief Onokpite who he said died fighting the cause of the Urhobos.

Even as the call for justice continues unabated, the younger brother of the slain

politician, Diemo Onokpite has hailed the efforts of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar.

The brother disclosed that according to available information, some police officers allegedly fingered as being behind the dastardly act are currently being tried for their alleged role in the murder of Chief Ogbe Onokpite. He, however, expressed optimism that the trial would not end as an exercise in futility.

The DPP Uvwie Local Government Council Concillorship aspirant disclosed that the event would be celebrated annually and that a book on the biography of Late Chief Onokpite would be launched in no distant time.

“He founded Ogbe Political Change (OPC) and Ogbe

Foundation. Infact,he was

a source of inspiration to most of us, particularly we the Urhobos”.

But Pastor, Apostle Love Ededuwah who officiated at the event, presented a copy of the photograph of late Chief Onokpite to every one present through which curses were rained on the killers of Ogbe , with backings of some powerful inscriptions from the bible.

Placards protesting the killing of Ogbe and calling for justice on his death were also displayed at the event.

Some of them read : ‘Chief Ogbe, your vision is our mission’; ‘Chief Ogbe died as an hero’; ‘Your dreams of founding Ogbe Political Change (OPC) Ogbe Foundation and Urhobo New F a c e i s still alive’; ‘CJN, please bring

the killers of Chief Ogbe Onokpite to book’; ‘We are asking Urhobos, Nigerians, Deltans, what did Chief Ogbe Onokpite do to deserve his death?.’ and ‘Chief Ogbe, your song of freedom, love, peace and unity, will never be in vain’.

The peaceful event was also blessed with a beautiful weather.

However, there was a general silence but an accepted fact that the slain politician left an oversized shoes and indelible footprints in the sand of times.

54—SA TURD AY 54—SATURD TURDA

Vanguard ,DECEMBER 1, 2012 anguard,DECEMBER

Review of “From Rookie To Mandarin, (memoirs of a second gen. Diplomat)”

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mbassador Femi George’s tome “From Rookie to Mandarin(Memoirs of a Second Generation Diplomat)” is indeed, a magnum opus of his distinguished career. It is interesting, educative and absorbing. Right from Part I Chapter I, the Author captivates the reader with his painstaking research and careful rendition of the records in spite of the very poor state of Nigeria’s archives. Amb. Femi George has gone even further than the equally illustrious memoirs of the late Amb. John Mamman Garba “The Time Has Come”, to document with biographical details, the original “12 Disciples” of the Nigerian Foreign Service. Though I would have preferred the appellation of “12 Apostles” since they went on to effectively “apostolise” succeeding generations.

Anybody who knows the tedium involved in tracing the career paths and patterns of these apostles and pioneers must give kudos to Amb. George for his effort.

Parts II-VI, dealt with the author’s professional career-his recruitment, training, foreign postings to Washington, Addis Ababa, Geneva, London and ambassadorial assignments to Portugal and Canada.

More importantly, they focused on the crucial assignments and responsibilities he was saddled with at Headquarters. Such included the Chadian crisis, Western Sahara, peace-keeping efforts in Liberia and Sierra-Leone, Guinea Bissau, Cameroon and the Bakassi Peninsula issues, NEPAD, the transformation of the OAU to the AU etc.

By CHRITIAN ITA

Amb. Femi George gave insider accounts of twists and turns of events, in particular, during the Liberian and Sierra-Leonean crisis. Undoubtedly, his long stay on the African Desk at Headquarters, his hands- on attributes and diligent record keeping made this possible. In the mould of his distinguished predecessors like Amb. Olujimi Jolaoso and late Amb. A.D.J Blankson, Amb. Femi George is an acknowledged Czar on African Affairs!

His seminal roles in peace-making and enforcement in Liberia and SierraLeone and the transformation of the OAU to the AU were well documented in this book and for posterity.

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B y OLUFUNSO OLUMOKO

and its Missions abroad, inadequate training, breach of internationally recognised diplomatic ethos and standards, in particular by political office holders (like Governors who hob nob with low-ranked diplomats accredited to Nigeria seeking visas), appointments of non-Careerists as Ambassadors etc.

Amb. Femi George, however, proffered some ways forward for the Foreign Service which included, reforms which should aim at making MFA stronger and efficient and not further weaken it as the one carried out in the recent past, less politicisation of the Foreign Service,

Nigeria needs to make her domestic economy strong andcompetitive

Throughout the volume, just as he was not shy to trumpet his achievements, he equally did not disguise his punches, even at superiors, whom he felt fall short of the best traditions of the Foreign Service” He had no qualms, for instance, speaking out his mind whenever and wherever he felt justice and professional standards were not being upheld!

Particularly refreshing and welcoming to Practitioners was the searchlight he beamed on some debilitating factors militating against effective operation of the Nigerian Foreign Service. These include, systematic derogation of MFA’s clout and effectiveness in formulating and implementing Nigeria’s foreign policy by outside forces and vested interests, gross underfunding of the Ministry

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need for a Separate Foreign Service Commission, competitive recruitment to the Foreign Service, adequate funding, strengthening of the Inspectorate arm of the Service, need for Nigeria’s gravitas, especially in the area of conflict resolutuon within ECOWAS, he also called attention to the need to convene another All Nigeria Foreign Policy Review Conference. I would add as a footnote that Nigeria needs to make her domestic economy strong and competitive. I believe that without this no country, especially the consequential ones, will take Nigeria seriously or respect her citizens.

However, to further strengthen this valuable memoirs, I wish to suggest that Amb. George, in future revision/ edition of this work, among other things, add a brief biographical

sketch of himself, improve the quality of some of the photographs adorning the middle pages of the book and deal with some Printers’ Devils that crept in here and there in the book.

All in all, Amb. Femi George in this book, has put together a treasure trove of information and not only a very valuable addition to the historiography of the Nigerian Foreing Service but also on major theatres of its activities, in particular, Africa. For instance, how I wished this volume has come out before I turned in my project on NEPAD while on course in NIPSS(SEC.25)! I also felt the debate that raged a while back on whether to appeal or not the judgement of the ICJ on the Bakassi Peninsula could have been well informed and less acrimonious if the contenders have just taken a good look at the insider account of the critical factors surrounding the judgement. Amb. George being a member of the Nigeria/ Cameroon Mixed Commission on Bakassi Peninsula. I recommend the book to foreign/international affairs practitioners, diplomats, academics,etc.

Finally, I wont be the only one wondering what informed Amb. Femi George’s illustration on the cover of the book. My own interpretation, I see the picture of my esteemed and amiable senior colleague scaling the glorious heights of the famous “Olumo” Rock and raising his hands in triumph for a job well done on both the diplomatic and civil service fronts!

Congratulations! You have definitely left your indelible footprints in the annals of the Nigerian Foreign Service.

Amb. T. Olufunso Olumoko, (former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Thailand)

Day Americans saw Obudu Ranch Resort and wept

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t was just a 30-minute flight from the Margaret Ekpo International Airport in Calabar to the Bebi Airstrip in Obudu. But for the 30-man delegation from the State of Maryland, the United States of America, it seemed like eternity.Led by the Secretary of State, John MC Donough, the Maryland delegation had arrived Cross River State three days earlier to cement the Sister State programme entered into by both states.The historic Friendship Agreement was entered into by both states on July 23, 2012 in Annapolis, the capital of Maryland.

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So before the short flight to Obudu, the Maryland delegation was given a tour of

took the cable car to the resort.

At the Resort, they were given a grand tour of the facility including the Presidential Mansion built by the Senator Liyel Imoke administration.Interestingly, in the Maryland delegation was a Nigerian, Mr. Sylvester Okereke— the chairman of the

I was deeply broken and wept after seeing the few places I saw

Calabar and taken to places like the Slave Trade Museum, Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort, Marina Resort, The Palace of King Eyo Honesty, Sure-foot American College, Destiny Child Centre and Obudu Ranch Resorte tour was an eye-full for them. At Tinapa for instance, they were pleasantly surprised by what they saw. Not in their wildest imagination had they expected to find such a complex in Nigeria. They were spellbound.Indeed, the Deputy Secretary of State, Rajan Nata was so overwhelmed by Tinapa and the prospects it holds that he vowed to personally lead the efforts to market it in the US.He also offered some marketing tips that should be adopted locally so that Tinapa can fly. So, when the flight took off from Margaret Ekpo International Airport for the Bebi Airstrip, the delegation was eager to see Obudu, the crown jewel of the tourism offering of the state. When the plane landed at the Bebi Airstrip, the delegation was driven to the foot of the Ranch from where they

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Nigeria/Maryland Sister State Project.What he saw in Calabar and Obudu was too much for Okereke to bear and so he succumbed to emotions. With all the negative things being written about Nigeria in the international media, the delegation, particularly Okereke, was taken aback by what it saw.

Speaking about his experience, a sobbing Okereke said: “I vow to help in any capacity I am needed to showcase the hidden, undiscovered riches we have in Cross River.”On why he got misty-eyed, he said: “I was deeply broken and wept after seeing the few places I saw. I was like, ‘God thank you.’

A flashback on Psalm 49:20 flooded into my mind.” Psalm 49:20 reads: “A man with valuable possessions but without understanding is like the animals that perish.”The partnership between both states covers such areas as Agriculture, Health,

Information Communication Technology (ICT), Education, Tourism and Investment.

At a private dinner with the delegation, the state governor, Senator Liyel Imoke expressed the hope that the partnership will soon begin to yield dividends for the peoples of both states.The friendship agreement affords Cross River State the opportunity to tap into Maryland’s experience and technology to position itself as a preferred destination in all spheres of development on the continent.According to Special Adviser InterGovernmental Affairs, Mr. Joe Edet, “the partnership creates a platform that will be effective, transparent and strategic in ushering in the deliverables of this relationship in the state”.

Edet also stressed that, “today, global cooperation is crucial to social and economic vitality and this sister state relationship will help to enhance economic development because no country or state can survive on its own without some sort of support, assistance or co-operation from dependable allies”.

The leader of the delegation and the Secretary of State of Maryland, John MC Donough said the delegation was in Cross River on a mission to strengthen relations between the two states following the signing of the Friendship Agreement earlier in the year in the United States.Their visit, he said, was a fact -finding mission, to look into areas of partnership, co-operation and capacity building.He said such a bilateral agreement would be of benefit to “the two sister states”.The relationship opens doors for Cross River to have access to Maryland’s companies, educational institutions, non-profit organizations and citizens through high level government connection, thereby promoting huge foreign investment in Cross River.

Christian Ita wrote from Calabar.

55—SA TURD AY VANGU ARD , DECEMBER 1, 2012 55—SATURD TURDA VANGUARD

PAN appoints new MD

M

R Jaime Pena has been appointed Acting Managing Director of PAN Nigeria Limited. A circular

Toyota develops Collision Avoidance Assist System

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OYOTA Motor Corporation (TMC) has announced that it has developed a Pre-collision System (PCS) with collision avoidance assist that is effective in helping mitigate even high-speed collisions.

The newly developed PCS uses millimeterwave radar to detect the risk of a rear-end collision with a preceding vehicle, with the system warning the driver via sound and

display alerts to prompt braking when such a risk is detected. When the driver applies the brakes, PCS enables deceleration of up to 60 km/h by greatly increasing the braking force up to twice that of the average force applied by drivers. If the brakes are not applied, automatic deceleration of 15 km/h to approximately 30 km/h is possible.

More than 90 percent of rear-end collisions occur

when the difference in speed between the preceding and following vehicle is within 60 km/ h. TMC aimed to develop a system based on real-world collision data, and has, with its newly developed system, achieved rear-endcollision reducing-effects at the highest level in the industry. The new PCS was developed to be used in a wide variety of models, and is to be

rolled out starting with soon-to-be-launched models.

To contribute to the elimination of traffic accident fatalities and injuries the ultimate goal of a society that values mobility TMC is conducting research and development on individual on board safety devices and systems based on its Integrated Safety Management Concept, an approach

that gives direction to safety technology and vehicle development.

TMC is pressing forward with the development of safer vehicles and technologies and is intensifying its wideranging traffic-safety initiatives by participating in the development of traffic environments and conducting educational traffic-safety activities.

Emulate FRSC, World Bank advises African countries

T

O improve road safety in Africa, the World Bank has advised traffic agencies in the continent to emulate the Federal Road Safety

Commission, FRSC. The advice was given at the 2012 World Bank and the Sub Saharan African T r a n s p o r t Pr o g r a m m e ( S S AT P )

Road Safety workshop in Addis Ababa; Ethiopia.

The world apex bank singled out Nigeria as a role model, which other African countries should

L-R Osita Chidoka, Corps Marshal &Chief Executive FRSC, Justin Runji Regional Cordinator, Sub-Sahara Africa Transport Programme (SSATP)/World Bank and Erling Rask, Sub Sahara African Transport Programme Consultant at the 2012 United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Road Safety workshop held at the UN conference centre Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

emulate, according to a statement by Bisi Kazeem, Deputy Corps Public Education Officer of the Commission.

Per Mathiasen, SSTAP Transport Specialist in a presentation: Lead Agency Good Practice, noted the increase in road traffic crash data in 2008 due to good reporting developed by the Federal Road Safety Corps. The high figures has since been trending down due to improved enforcement strategy . He stressed that the trending down in Nigeria is not replicated in any other country visited.

Other issues highlighted by the speaker include the world class drivers licensing standards which is very difficult to forge.

He also

commended the dedication of personnel including the volunteers.

He asserted that the technology deployment in Nigeria through FRSC is unparalleled in Africa, South of the Sahara.

He attributed the success to the establishment the Federal Road Safety Corps under the Presidency with its clear mandate and budget.

He recommended this framework for other African countries The Workshop was unequivocal in applauding the efforts of the Corps in leading the West African Road Safety Organisation (WARSO) in ensuring road safety in the sub region.

Other sub regions were urged to emulate the good example .

Mr. Pena, MD, PAN signed by General Manager, Corporate Resources, PAN, stated that Alhaij Shehu Sani Dauda, the Managing Director, MD/CEO has proceeded on terminal leave, effective from November 1, 2012 and that the board of Director has approved the appointment of Mr. Jaime Pena, as Acting Managing Director of the company.

Jaime Pena, an accomplished engineer and factory manager, holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technical university Federico Santa Maria, Chile and a post graduate degree from university of Chile. His experience in the automobile industry spans three decades.

He was Deputy General Manager of the Automobile Peugeot (AP) factory in Madrid, Spain before joining PAN as General Manager Industrial Division in 2006.

American Suzuki files for bankruptcy protection

A

MERICAN Suzuki Motor Corp. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and said it will cease selling automobiles in the U.S. as part of a plan to restructure its business.

The company, based in Brea, Calif., is the sole distributor of Suzuki Motor Co. vehicles in the continental U.S. In documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Central District of California, the company estimated that its debts and liabilities range from at least $100 million to as much as $500 million.

It also said it has between 1,000 and 5,000 creditors.

American Suzuki Motor said it has enough cash to operate during the restructuring and intends to honor all car warranties and buyback agreements.

56—SA TURD A Y Vanguard 56—SATURD TURDA anguard,,

DECEMBER 1, 2012

Government has no control over its agencies --- OKUMAGBA P

astor, (Comrade) Lucky Okumagba, former National vice -President of PENGASSAN, was a manager in the Corporate Affairs department of Oando Plc. He was also at a time, producer and presenter of Labour Watch TV, Chief Operating Officer of Brubar Nig. Ltd,; a consultant on media communications, Labour/Industrial relations and marketing and one time candidate for Federal House of Representatives.

In this interview with Saturday Vanguard Business he reveals reasons why unemployment continues to bite harder as corruption takes centre stage in Nigeria. But even with that, he believes all hope is not lost if only government could be serious enough to monitor its agencies at the point of implementing policies, projects etc. Excerpts: How would you describe the state of the economy, is it promising?

Hum! it’s chaotic, terrible, injured and bleeding profusely from all sides. It has been in the Economic Revival Emergency Ward for recovery. The doctors of the economy have been battling to save it. Diagnoses which you call “probes”, have revealed the degree of injury inflicted on the health of the economy and that is why I described it the way I did. I’m happy that some of the so-called business and political moguls or do I say rogues are going through legal frog jumps and I believe sooner or later others would take their turn. It is my expectation that these economic leakages will be closed soonest and the probes (whether that of Federal, House of Reps or Senate, Presidential

committee such as the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Ribadu would be used to bring respite/ meaning to the economy and can make it functional again. So, if you ask me, if it is promising, I’ll say ‘Yes’. When one is sick or attacked by enemy, and an appropriate diagnoses and treatment are done and there is positive response to treatment, then there is a promise or hope for life. The fact that government and people of Nigeria allowed these financial probes to come on board is a pointer. The calibre of people that chaired, especially the presidential committee such as Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Nuhu Ribadu, are men of impeccable characters and I’m seriously excited about the revelations of their committee. They are bold and

nomic human resources such as Mallam Sanusi, finance minister etc. let’s allow them to work. Our foreign reserves is well up and our foreign debt is well managed, though the local debt is high at the moment and the Finance Minister has actually addressed the governors on that. Some of the governors, Adams Oshi-

Okumagba

courageous in their reports. Aig-Imoukhuede is the GMD of Access Bank, is impacting positively on employment of youths and the economy. We have an array of great eco-

omhole, Godswill Akpabio, Babatunde Fashola etc. are giving a new face to the economy in their states. The Federal Government’s Sovereign Trust Fund is quite innovative.

The daily oil productions have moved from 700,00bpd to 2.7 mbpd.

Are these not promising enough? Tell the evil men and women to allow the people of goodwill for this country to work for her growth and development, otherwise very soon, nemesis would disgrace them.

The increasing rate of unemployment especially among our youths and poverty in the land show that little or nothing has taken place to arrest this situation, what’s your take?

I don’t want to take or accept it as something normal;being reminded of this makes me angry.

But, I’ll answer you. Bribery and corruption, the desire or urge for what I called Crazy Olympic High Profit (COHP), poor regulations and monitoring of government agencies etc, have caused this country a lot of unemployment. Let me give you a few instances. Why would government at any level for example,fail to intervene, in a pharmaceutical marketing company that imports genuine drugs for a period of 5-10 years and found to be consistent in profit making and effective in operations, to help it in setting

"Grasscutter farming farming: Another investment opportunity" RESEARCH has it that millions of Nigerians are unemployed and the fear of it all is that the few jobs

in town go for those that are connected. So, many Nigerian graduates that are looking for white

collar jobs to get rich and wealthy are not only confused but frustrated and they don’t have solution to the situation on ground. On the other way round, unemployed Nigerians can afford themselves the opportunity of investing into grasscutter farming with little amount that can equally make them rich and wealthy.

However, a consultant and Managing Director of a booming animal farm in Lagos, Prince Arinze Onebunne has made a clarion call to the youths and unemployed Nigerians not to miss this opportunity of investing into grasscutter farming.

According to him, when you think about becoming wealthy, you probably think of a high paying job, a high yielding

investment portfolio or a partnership to launch a new product or services that will roll in millions.

But what is your assurance of getting adequate funds and market for these services or product? Have you ever wondered why the government and the private sector are placing more emphasis on micro, small and medium business opportunities and financing in the country today? Have you ever come across a grasscutter farm? Can you imagine the financial gains accruing to those men and women who deal in grasscutter business at one stage or the other? What about the nutritional benefits the people who patronize pepper soup joints, beer parlours, p a r t i e s , relaxation centres and eateries are deriving from such time out.

Do you know the economic, commercial, nutritional and medicinal values of grasscutter to humanity? A visit to a grasscutter farm where different types and sizes of cages are used for rearing

grass cutter in captivity should serve you a good menu of the profitability of the business in the country today.

Personally he said, “I found out that, our academic curricular is not structured to make us business conscious and that is why people don’t understand the concept of private enterprise. After school, to pick up business ideas becomes very difficult, this is the reason many people are unemployed. While in school, they believe that the job is waiting for them. It is no more like that today. We have to create job for ourselves and others. Nigeria alone is targeting about 2 metric tons of yearly grasscutter production not only for domestic market but also for African and other

up factories that would make employment viable.

Construction companies cough out so much bribe to be able to access contracts, which would certainly lower their capacity to employ. What about the actions of our economic looters that make it impossible to pay local contractors ? Does that not tell you that the small and medium enterprises may not give their best as regards employment. Maybe, you have forgotten the electricity problem and its effect on industries/SMEs and the multiplier effects on employment. What about poor negotiations clauses on employment strategy or government investment policies. It is nonsensical. Let me tell you this, maybe, it will make you understand me better. Some years ago, I had an opportunity to be a guest to oil workers’ union in one of these Scandinavian countries.

And when I got talking about employment strategy, the officials of the union told me that their government allows them to have discussions with all investors in Oil and Gas on how the employment strategy and format should be.

overseas patronage. A grasscutter farmer does not have to invest from breeding stock stage to table size rearing; an investor can specialize to perfect in just a segment of grasscutter trade and secure more areas of special concentration as follows: Grasscutter breeding stock production This is one of the most lucrative aspects of grasscutter farming. The turnover period could be very short, maximum of 34 months after birth.

Grasscutter breeding family comprising one male and four females referred to as a colony is sold for between N35,000 and N45,000 depending on the specie. This colony can produce between 50 and 56 more grasscutters in just one year. Imagine the financial gains.

ALC empowers people at conference

As its obedience to God and service to humanity, the Apostolic Leaders Conference (ALC) Nigeria comes up with great impartation through the unadultrated word of God. The conference which presents ALC International Ministers’ Congress with its theme: “The Greater Release” takes place at Love Aglow Ministries Int’l, Festac Town, Lagos.

According to ALC African/National Apostolic Leader, Apostle (Dr) Wale Odukogbe, the two day programme that commences Tuesday, Dec. 4 and 5 is set to showcase ministers from different ministries such like ALC Chief Apostle, Apostle Dr. Hezekiah Adesanya, (USA), Apostle Brandford Cecil (USA) amongst others.

“As a congress of ministers not a union, we organise free medical services and award scholarship as part of our service to humanity.

SA TURD A Y Vanguard SATURD TURDA anguard,,

Usman Danfodio Varsity honours Tambuwal today

BY IMAM IMAM

T

ODAY, in the Caliphate city of Sokoto, Nigeria’s Number Four citizen and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, will be conferred with a honourary doctorate degree by one of the country’s premier institutions of higher learning, the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto (UDUS).

For many Nigerians, the Rt. Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal emergence, ability and Tambuwal’s foresight in managing the affairs of the lower chamber of the National Assembly has given much hope for optimism. The reason for this is not far-fetched.

As the leader of a vanguard of new breed politicians determined to halt the drift and make the system work, Tambuwal’s contribution towards national development and integration is gradually institution, recently told a boosting confidence of the Nigeria.

I am sure the authorities of gathering of his former school people not only in their leaders but in the polity as a Usman Danfodio University mates that allowing the whole. The little he has done are not oblivious of the effort present state of things in the as Speaker in the last one and put by the 7th session of the education sector to continue half years has increased National Assembly to halt the would lead to catastrophic transparency in governance fallen standard of education in consequences. He said any and made for a better economic the country. Tambuwal, country that desires to achieve management of affairs in himself an alumnus of the its maximum potential must

Tambuwal, himself an alumnus of the institution, recently told a gathering of his former school mates that allowing the present state of things in the education sector to continue would lead to catastrophic consequences

,

take the education of its citizenry seriously.

In the same vein, speaking when he inspected the construction of school infrastructure at the NigeriaGambia International School in Banjul, The Gambia last July, Tambuwal made it clear that the future of Nigeria is closely tied to how it handles the education sector. He said while Nigerians have excelled in schools abroad, only a small fraction perform to acceptable standards at home, a situation he said must be changed.

Not only does the Speaker mouth his concerns at what is happening in our schools, he has taken practical steps to ensure he make his mark where necessary. Apart from building school infrastructure from his earnings in some schools in the countr y, Tambuwal recently gave scholarship to about 20 young girls of an Abuja-based Girlchild education foundation to enable them realize their future dreams of having qualitative education.

Realising the importance of Information and Communication Technology as a tool for socio-political emancipation, the Speaker made it a point of duty to encourage all legislators in Nigeria acquire computer education in order to enhance their lawmaking capabilities. For those in the House of Representatives, becoming

DECEMBER 1, 2012—57

computer literate is a mandatory requirement preparatory to the full implementation of the Eparliament component of the House Legislative Agenda.

The electronic parliament blueprint seeks to elevate the National Assembly operations to international best practices and ensure public access to parliamentary information and process.

It is not just in his contribution to the education sector that the UDUS authorities found Tambuwal a worthy recipient of their honourary degree. In words and deeds, the Speaker has proven himself adept at providing quality leadership needed to make the necessary impact in the polity.

Of particular reference here was his speech to the extra ordinary session of the House of Representatives in the wake of the bribery allegation against members of the Ad hoc committee that investigated the management of subsidy funds in the country. On that memorable Friday, Tambuwal gave a doughty and inspiring speech, one that matched the occasion and rose to a high level of succinctness and elegance comparable to any speech anywhere.

Imam is the Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs to Speaker Tambuwal

,

Doctorization of Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi

BY DAVID IYOFOR

I

T was one of those early winter evenings in London. Windy and very cold, despite the absence of snow. It was the first business trip of the new Governor of Rivers State, the Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, to Queensland. Weeks back, Amaechi had won a resounding, earth-shaking Supreme Court victory to emerge as governor of the oilrich state after an exhausting, long-drawn judicial and political battle with forces that were anything but democratic, behemoths who wanted to play God. Many years after, echoes of this landmark judgment continues to reverberate in Nigeria’s judicial and political landscape.

As we rode in a black cab from our central London hotel to an appointment somewhere in North London, I asked the Governor when he thought we would be able to build a country like the United Kingdom or something pretty

close- steady power; good roads; potable water; decent and affordable housing; health facilities that are not death centres; an education system that truly educates etc.

“David, honestly I don’t know,” he shot back rapidly, staring into the glitzy streets.

“But I do know that things have got to change and I will spend my time as governor ensuring that things change for the better in Rivers State, building a Rivers State that all of us, every Rivers man, will be proud of…”, Amaechi continued after a short pause. He went on to talk about the changes he wanted and the kind of state he wanted to build during his time as governor.

Indeed, in the past five years, Governor Amaechi has not only talked the talk but also worked the talk. He has spent the past five years building a Rivers State that has transformed significantly from what we used to know. Passionate about his State and his people, Amaechi has made changes,

small and big, that have impacted tremendously on their lives. And he was under no illusion that these changes must of necessity come with a heavy price. It is in the nature of change to cause a lot of discomfort, especially to the few who benefit from the rot, who would want the old ways of rot, decay, corruption and the sharing of the collective wealth of the people by the elite to continue.

Amaechi realised early enough that the task was daunting and the road would be tortuous. Amaechi set out to build a new educational system that is effective and efficient. He took quality healthcare service to the hinterland and started rebuilding the state’s infrastructure. He blocked all the financial holes and clearly said NO to sharing of the collective wealth of the people among a privileged few.

A new city-Greater Port Harcourt-which will decongest Port Harcourt, the state capital, and give the citizenry a big

Gov Amaechi sense of pride, is coming up.

The investment in human capacity development is remarkable.

Besides, agriculture is a focal point of the State economic development and employment generation.

The Garden City, as Port Harcourt is fondly called by residents and visitors, has regained its peace, after years of siege by criminals – thanks to Amaechi’s priority to

security. Now, nightlife is back, bigtime. The hitherto comatose social scene is alive again. And soon, there will be a stable and steady power supply in the State, which have been welcoming businesses with open arms.

There are many ways Governor Amaechi has altered for good the lives of Rivers people. These changes will forever enhance the fortunes of those who live in the geographical location called Rivers State. These are farreaching changes that no other governor has been able to do since the days of the first Governor, Alfred Diette-Spiff, who was a military administrator.

The visually appealing Amaechi Schools, as folks tend to call the new model primary schools scattered all over the State, are properly furnished and fully equipped for learning with computers and other toos. Each of these schools has more than enough space for sporting and other recreational activities.

58—Vanguard, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012

Okposo, Ayefele, Ekiye

BY EMMANUEL EDUKUGHO for Oritsejafor's triple juounded in 1962, the bilee

F

UNILAG students during the carnival

When Unilag floated World Carnival to mark Golden Jubilee

,

University of Lagos (UNILAG) recently floated a colourful World Carnival as part of activities to mark the 50th anniversary of its establishment. It was a spectacular, extraordinary occasion with students drawn from Creative Arts Department along with their counterparts from other faculties as well as students of Theatre Arts and Music from the Lagos State University (LASU) in collaboration.

Adding international flavours to the carnival, the students representing Brazil, China, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, India, Ghana, Jamaica, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa, resplendently clad in colourful, beautiful costumes and national attires of these countries had assembled in separate contingents at the Senate House Parking Lot. Others wore sexy bikinis, some on horses, dancing and singing in jubilation.

As the build-up reached its crescendo, with everyone in excitement, awaiting the arrival of the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof Rahamon Bello, he came into the venue accompanied by Prof Babajide Alo, Deputy ViceChancellor (Academic and Research), Barrister Oluwarotimi Shodimu (Registrar) Mr. L.A. Odekunle (Bursar), Dr. Okanlawon Adediji (Acting Librarian) and some Deans of Faculties.

Others present were academic and non-academic staff, students, Alumni members and stakeholders.

Addressing the carnival audience and participants after the national anthem was played, Bello paid tribute to the memory of the departed vice-chancellor Prof Babatunde Sofoluwe who died in office after kick starting the programme for the 50th anniversary celebration. A minute silence was observed. He then expressed his tremendous pleasure in welcoming everyone to the carnival.

“There is no doubt that for staff, students, alumni members and other stakeholders, this is a day of great delight. As we all look back over the last 50 years, we should all be very proud of the giant strides recorded by our university, “Bello said.

The Acting Vice-Chancellor went on: “Today, the University of Lagos can boast of a stable academic calendar which is largely attributable to the peace and tranquility in our task-environment.

We are poised to sustain the peaceful and conducive taskenvironment through teamwork, open administration and democratic governance. This explains why management holds regular meetings with staff unions, students’ representatives, alumni and other stakeholders.”

He added: “We are proud of our products, many of whom are

“We are proud of our products, many of whom are in the commanding heights of industry, government and organisations

,

in the commanding heights of industry, government and organisations. We are therefore thankful to the almighty for our success story today which explains the rationale for rolling out the red carpet to celebrate our golden jubilee.”

Bello noted that in the true carnival fashion, students have all turned out massively in colourful constumes to publicly mark this great milestone with parades, music and traditional dances.

The celebration featured displays highlighting the culture and carnival of about 10 countries across the globe being represented by the students themselves.

After his speech, the Acting Vice-Chancellor accompanied by some of the principal officers went round each of the countries and were received by tumultuous applause before coming down to take their seats on the high table under a special cano-

py draped in post card pictures of all the vice-chancellors of the University since inception 50 years ago. There was live coverage of the celebration by UNILAG Radio.

Each of the 10 countries represented by students moved one after the other to the front of the distinguished principal officers which included the Acting ViceChancellor.

The respective national anthems were rendered in the languages of the countries perfectly well by the students who dressed in unique costumes and waving national flags, attracting huge applause from all watching.

First nation to emerge was China whose national anthem was beautifully rendered in Chinese language, followed by Brazil, Cuba, led by mounted horses with girls riding them, Egypt, Ghana, India and Jamaica. Nigeria whose representatives were clad in green and white

UNILAG student s

costume worn by the lead singer, a male in “Buba”, while others wore attires depicting the diversity of the country – Edo, Hausa, Itsekiri, Igbo, Yoruba, etc.

The singing of Nigeria’s national anthem in English was followed by reciting of the plege.

South Africa with the female participants dressed in black outfit while the males were bare chested in Zulu tradition, all waving the South African flags.

At the rear was Trinidad and Tobago led by someone on motor bike as others held colourful umbrellas to match.

After this aspect of the celebration, the carnival train regrouped moving from senate building parking lot in a long stretch to the Main Gate, Education, Ransome Kuti, Distance Learning Institute (DLI), Health Centre, Staff School, Science, Moremi Car park back to the Senate parking lot for the grand finale of fire works display.

An excited female announcer

dressed in carnival costume expressed appreciation to the vicechancellor, registrar, teaching and non-teaching staff, mummies, daddies, deans, professors and others present, praying that, “we shall be here to celebrate 60th, 70th, etc. My kids will attend Unilag by the grace of God, Amen.”

In a brief interview with Vanguard, Prof. Bello, who took over in acting capacity after the death of Prof. Sofoluwe, said that the celebration is to showcase what University of Lagos had been known for: the University of first choice, the pride of the nation and one of the best.

He affirmed that the celebration was put together mainly by the Department of Creative Arts.

“Hence if all the departments and faculties work together, they will provide the best. The ambience was nice.”

His advice to the Federal Government was - “Maintain the Universities, provide adequate funding and universities will excel.”

It will be recalled that the University of Lagos was established by an Act of the Federal Parliament in April, 1962. Its development was planned to be implemented in three phases. The first phase began in October 1962 with establishment of Faculty of Business and Social Studies, Faculty of Law and a medical college conceived as an autonomous unit of the University with a Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

Originally, the idea of University of Lagos was contained in the Report of the Ashby Commission on post-school certificate and Higher Education in Nigeria and the subsequent report of the Advisory Commission of the Univeted Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for the establishment of the University presented to the Federal Government in September 1960, barely one month before Nigeria got independence from British colonial rule on October 1st, 1960.

The Golden Jubilee celebration was marked with great passion and reverence by students and staff after the University survived an obnoxious and controversial attempt to re-name it on May 29, 2012 after Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential vote.

Since 1652, the university had ten substantive vice-chancellors as follows: Late Prof Eni Njoku (1962-1965), late Prof Saburi Biobaku, (1965-1971), Prof Festus Ade Ajayi (172-1978), Late Prof Babatunde Kwaku Adadevoh (1978-1980), late Prof Akin Adesola (1981-1988), Prof. Nurudeen Oladapo Alao (19881995), late Prof Jelili Adebisi Omotola (1995-2000), Prof.

Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe (20002002 Acting, and 2002-2007), Prof Tolulope Olukayode Odugbemi (2007-2010), late Prof Babatunde Sofoluwe (20102012), who died in office.

Eko 2012: Can Lagos host, win?

BY OSARETIN EMUZE

T

HE much expected 18th National Sports Festival began in Lagos on Tuesday with a colourful opening ceremony as the participating States displayed the best of their culture in the March Past for the biennial event put together in 1973 by the General Yakubu Gowon administration to bring unity to the country after the devastation of the civil war.

Lagos hosted the inaugural edition in 1973, went on to host the torch of unity in 1975 and 1989 and has won the festival in the past.

But can they host and win it again? The Lagos State Commissioner for Sports, Enitan Oshodi has said Lagos has prepared well to win it as host.

He said Lagos’ strength lies in table tennis, weightlifting, swimming, boxing, cycling, the ball games and athletics. Many sceptics have however, ruled out Lagos as one of the winners as they believe Lagos has no team to beat the last winners, Rivers State, runner-up, Delta and Edo, third place finisher.

They argue that since Lagos does not poach and cheat, states like Delta and Rivers will —

have upper hand. Aside that, they stressed that Delta and Rivers have prepared hard for the Games.

Though the festival will be open to all, Delta and Rivers have the edge because of their large contingents coupled with the fact that they have the athletes to top the festival’s overall medals table. States like Edo and Ondo who picked the third and fourth positions in the Garden City Games may spring surprises, as they are equally good.

The only problem that may hinder them is late preparations caused by late release of funds by their respective governors which culminated in poor feeding and welfare and the confusion that almost ground the camps of the States to a halt.

While Edo athletes resulted to protesting inhuman treatment in camp, some Ondo athletes allegedly collected their money and traveled abroad thereby depleting Team Ondo.

11 yr old taekwondoist hails Chukwumerijie WINNER of the just concluded Chika Chukwumerije Sports foundation International Taek-

•Little Nwogo

wondo champ-ionship in the girls 10-11 category, Sophia Nwogo Chigozie, has called for more taekwondo action in the country.

Speaking soon after sending all other con-tenders to the cleaners to win the title, the 11 year old scholar of Eaglets International School Owerri, Imo State, thanked Chika Chukwumerije for organising such a championship which was the first of its kind in the country and

pleaded with other well meaning Nigerians to emulate the Beijing 2008 Olympic bronze medalist by organising similar competitions for Nigerian youths.

Despite fighting with injury to win her fourth taekwondo title, Nwogo hinted that her exploits in the game has just began having drawn inspiration from her parents, Inspector Peter Obi Chigozie and Mrs Chinasa Obi Chigozie, both of the Nigerian Police who are taekwondo practitioners too. Little Nwogo Chigozie believes that more Chika Chukwu-merijes could still be discovered in Nigeria with more competitions like the just concluded CCSF tournament.

SATURDAY VANGUARD, DECEMBER 1, 2012—59

Eko 2012: Athletes, coaches’ season to make money D

ESPERATION of participating States for medals at the National Sports Festival is expected to reach fever pitch when the athletics events begin next week at the Teslim Balogun Stadium.

The build up to the festival has been more of ‘horse trading’ for athletes by the States who have no development programmes. They solely rely on poaching already established athletes to pursue their quest for medals. And no doubt the athletes and coaches are the end beneficiaries.

“States like Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom have money to throw around.

You see them offering as much as one million to athletes to represents them. “There is so much desperation to win medals even as they have not cultivated any d e v e l o p m e n t programme,” said an athletics coach.

His views were

corroborated by veteran coach, Lati Obisesan who is coaching athletes for three different states.

“What can we do? Since the States are not ready to bring up their own athletes, we have to

make ourselves available and earn some money. As a coach I cannot stop any of my athlete from representing any State that needed his or her services. “But I must say that this is not helpful to the sport.

•Sadjo

Teslim Balogun’s ‘bouncing tracks’ worry officials

A

THLETICS officials are not expecting any record breaking performances on the

tracks of the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos where the athletics event of the Na-

Leave AFN alone, Fasuba tells politicians

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FRICAN 100m record holder, Olusoji Fasuba has urged the government to cede the Athletics Federation of Nigeria to private individuals to manage, if athletics were to be revived in the country.

Fasuba, quit the Nigerian athletics scene to join the British Navy after failing to regain his running form due to injury. He argued that the process of athletics administration in Nigeria was too politicised and the country will continue to suffer embarrassments at international events if the trend is not reversed.

“The federation must be privately managed, if we are to move forward. This may sound crazy to some

people, but if the sport is rid of politics it would be easy to manage. “The practice of handing picking individuals and former athletes will not help athletics in Nigeria.

In the UK, athletics management is solely in private hands and we can all see what they have achieved,” said Fasuba, the only Nigerian male sprinter to finish in the world championships top four.

He added that Nigeria was not short of people who could turn athletics around, but government’s reluctance to let go because of the pecuniary gains of certain individuals with vested interests, athlet-ics will continue to be on a downward slide.

tional Sports Festival will hold.

According to the vice president of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, Jide Josiah the tracks are bouncy and uneven and therefore it will not support any spectacular performance.

“The Teslim Balogun Stadium tracks are not ideal. They are bouncy, this is because professional advice was not sort when they were being laid.

Coupled with the fact that most of the athletes do not have track facilities in their states, it will be difficult to have standard performances,” said the former national sprinter. However, he stated that the federation is ready to deliver a hitch free athletics competition at the Festival. One week of athletics events begins today at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, while the field events will hold at the practice pitch of the adjacent National Stadium.

60—SA TURD AY Vanguard , DECEMBER 1, 2012 60—SATURD TURDA ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

ODD NEWS

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Compiled Richard Okotie

The 900-foot climb weeding

Jack Morrison fights for life

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picture that could break anyone’s heart Tiny Jack fights for life while his father desperately pleads for an organ to save him.

Jack Morris, from Liverpool, has been on the transplant waiting list for five months. The 15-month-old is being kept alive by an artificial heart at Newcastle transplant centre with his mother Laura Campbell, 24, by his side, while his father and older brother divide their time between Liverpool and the North-East.

B

ob Ewing and A n t o n i e Hodge defied gravity for their i n c r e d i b l e wedding pictures, taken at Seneca Rocks in West Virginia.

The couple made the 900-foot climb in their formal wedding attire.

Minibus cruised through the city of Guilin

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Naked Chinese man brings traffic to a stand still

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ello officer! Naked Chinese man brings traffic to a standstill with his cheeky salute to the police. The deranged man arrived on scene in the Chinese city of Hefei dressed in his boxers shorts and before long started clambering onto bonnets then stripping off and lying in the middle of the road, but not before saluting the police who came to arrest him.

S the driver of this minibus cruised through the city of Guilin, in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, the last thing he would have expected was drive headlong into a sinkhole. Without warning, the 2mdeep pit opened up and engulfed his vehicle as he drove along the Fuxing Road in the city’s Qixing district.

The driver - the only person in the vehicle - was rushed to hospital, where the extent of his injuries are unknown .

SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012 — 61

C M Y K

62—SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1 1, 2012

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SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012 — 63

Ebewele hails peaceful atmosphere at EKO 2012 Stories By Eddie Akalonu continue all the way. For taking that decision, I sincerely commend Laormer Edo State gos and it is something Sports Commis that future hosts of the sioner, Brown Ebe- festival can emulate bewele has lauded Lagos cause it’s in the interest State for not adopting the of sports,” he said. “hosting to win attitude” But the former sports ditowards the on-going rector of Edo State said 18th National Sports Fes- the festival would protival, saying this break duce nothing new befrom past practices was a cause it is a closed one positive step to sports where athletes competing are already 24 and 25 development.

Speaking in Lagos Ebe- years old. He has therewele observed that “The fore, called for it to be only reason that there is thrown open to be more peace in this festival is competitive. the decision of Lagos “When you are in a fesState not to host and win. tival with such high It has allowed concentra- number of old men and tion on the main business women in competition of the festival by all the then it’s no longer develstake-holders.” opmental. It can only be Going back memory lane, if you have athletes caphe recalled that hosting tured in primary and secto win approach gave past festivals very bad ondary schools competition.. But we have athconnotation.

“In past festivals, by now letes developed by clubs there would have been and states. So, there is protests and disagree- the need to throw the fesment such the can dis- tival open to allow for competition rupt smooth flow of com- stiffer petitions and I like this among the states,”he atmosphere of peace to stressed.

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An action during a table tennis match at on-going 18th National Sports Festival in Lagos.

PHOTO: Kehinde Gbadamosi

Boxing: Officials lament fake gloves, head gear

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hough boxing is progressing at the National Stadium Gymnasium in Lagos, it may not be bare of the controversies and intrigues that surround the sport. One of such center on equipments. Head of technical of Nigeria Boxing Federation, T.J Adams was reported to have brought the issue of fake gloves and head gear to the attention of the MOC which promised to do something

about it.

Olympian Jerry Okorodudu has pointed out there could be lots of injuries to head and brain of boxers, owing to what he termed “ low standard equipment” in use at the festival.

“As a boxer and trainer, I have never seen such low standard equipment.

I think these are substandard to specifications by world amateur boxing ruling body,

AIBA.” Investigations at the boxing venue showed the SR BOXING gloves in use.

“The head gear is not made for amateur boxing. These head gears are made for training, not for ring competition. But since they are continuing with these, my belief is, there will be injuries,” he said. Officials also expressed disappointed at the poor lighting in the new-Gymnasium, venue for the sport, saying it makes for the lowest standard visibility for competition. The hall is so dark and makes it very hard for officials scoring fights as boxers also complained about poor visibility

It’ll be great if ex players head confederations – Blatter

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IFA President Jo seph S. Blatter is attending the draw for the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 holding in Sao Paulo.

Ahead of that, together with Secretary General Jerome Valcke, he has taken some time to discuss football matters with journalists in Sao Paulo.

FIFA.com summarizes some of the topics covered.

On the FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup is more than just a sporting event, it’s the event every four years. There

is no sport event that can be compared to the World Cup in regards to the international audience. This event has a history, where Brazil has played a very important part. They won it five times, now they host it. In my personal opinion, it will be a great World Cup. On the participating teams for the FIFA Confederations Cup It’s like a present to have such a selection of great names for this competition. We have

four World Champions, two from South America with Brazil and Uruguay, two from Europe with Italy and Spain. The Confederations Cup is not only a rehearsal for the World Cup, it’s a high level competition.

On the Infrastructure I’m sure everything will be ready, it’s not the first time that I’ve been involved in the organization of a FIFA World Cup. There have always been problems here and there, but in the end, we had a great event.

On Ronaldos role in the

High turnout excites Obisia

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nurture them but they leave to fight for other countries because the incentives are not there to make them continue.

Now, more will come out of this festival but can anyone guarantee their stay,” he asked?

The former super-lightweight pugilist called on the National Sports Commission to put in place appropriate measures to help sustain boxers to fight for Nigeria, adding, “It is my sincere hope that the country will do something to get it right for once.”

ational coach, Obisia Nwankpa has hailed the high turnout of boxers for the festival, saying it was a clear evidence Nigerian coaches are producing boxers.

“We have always done the job of getting new boxers into national and world stage but the problem is the enabling envi-

ronment is not created to sustain them here.

The high number is an evidence that we are doing our jobs in states from where athletes emerge. But because we have no system of keeping our national boxers, about six of them recently joined the British Royal Navy shortly after the Olympics in London. That shows we produce and

LOC and his possible candidature for the CBF presidency I’m always happy when former footballers are taking time and energy to work for football. It’s great for him as it’s added value to his life, to be involved in the organization. It would look good if former footballers were at the head of the big entities, if they bring along the necessary experience. With the experience he is getting through this World Cup, he is on a good track.

REGISTERING... Chairman House Committee on Youth and Sports, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon Lawrence Babatunde Ayeni, signing the Harp Lager ‘Drink Responsibly’ campaign board at the 18th National Sports Festival (Eko 2012) in Lagos, while other members of his delegation watch with keen interest. PHOTO: Kehinde Gbadamosi.

SATURDAY Vanguard, DECEMBER 1, 2012

Medals Table State Rivers Delta Lagos Oyo Edo Kogi Ogun Kaduna FCT Bauchi

G 7 4 4 2 2 1 0 0 0 0

S 3 2 2 4 1 0 3 1 1 1

B 3 6 3 0 2 1 2 1 0 0

Total 13 12 9 6 5 2 5 2 1 1

Classification wahala for special sports athletes PARALYMPICS sports officials had a hard time classifying athletes for their events at the Eko 2012 National Sports Festival.

This is because the participating States were desperate to have their athletes included, even as these athletes did not qualify to compete. However Paralympics committee director of technical, Mr. A. Lawal stated that the medical experts on ground have been able to sort out the classification after a torrid time.

“Classification was a

problem. For instance in table tennis we have 10 categories, we have sitting and standing, but athletes who were not qualified sometimes wanted to compete and it was very difficult as the States wanted their athletes in.

“However, the experts were able to carry on the classification satisfactorily. This was done by accessing the muscle capacity of the athlete involved,” said the official.

He stated that competition has been going well after the classification palaver.

BLOCKING... Niger State players in Blue jersey trying to block the spike from a Kaduna player at the on-going 18th National Sports Festival at Teslim Balogun stadium in Surulere, Lagos. PHOTO; Kehinde Gbadamosi

It’s more like jamboree, sports officials declare EKO 2012:

By BEN EFE

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FTER four days of competition at the ongoing National Sports Festival the glamour and also the usual competitive spirit among participating teams, appeared to be missing and this was enough for sports enthusiasts to conclude that the sports fiesta is almost now a jamboree.

Feelers from most camps of athletes in the festival indicated that the utmost interest was how and when their allowances would be paid, while the States sports officials are only counting days for the sports fiesta to be over.

“The sports festival is more like a glorified inter-house

sports. And if the Sports Minister is really serious about sports development in this country, he should institute a study group to see how the sports festival could be revived,” said a member of the EKO 2012 local organising committee at the National Stadium yesterday.

Also former Edo State commissioner for sports, Mr. Brown Ebewele stated that the only thing happening was the usual intrigues by States to top the medals table.

“The only thing that is certain so far is the usual hustle by the States to top the medals tables without being very competitive”.

Rightly so the festival seem to be a three horse race between Lagos, Delta and Rivers. These are the visible competitors at the venues visited during the week.

Others seem to be be putting more of a shadowy appearance. “For me it is more like a jamboree,” said Athletics Federation of Nigeria vice president, Jide Josiah. He is part

of the Ekiti contingent.

“I can just imagine the number of sports officials who will complete their buildings after the sports festival.

“Can you imagine that the

State’s top officials are accommodated in cosy hotels.

They haven’t even gone to see the hostels where their athletes are kept.”

CROSS WORD PUZZLE CROSS 1.Super Falconets (U-20) Striker, Ngozi (6) 4.State in Nigeria Known as the “Liberal State”? (6) 7.Beverage (3) 8.L.G.A. in Rivers State (6) 9.Bauchi State Governor, Alhaji Isa (6) 10.Adamawa State Governor, Muritala (5) 13.Akwa United FC Chairman, Isong (5) 15.State in Nigeria Known as “State of Harmony”? (5) 17.Colour (5) 18.Cross River State Governor, Mr. Liyel (5) 20.Vietnamese Capital City (5) 23.L.G.A. In Niger State (5) 26. Mali “Les Aigles” National Coach, Pathe (6) 27.France “Ligue 1” Clubside (6) 28.Cereal Crop, (3) 29.L.G.A. in Kebbi State (6) 30.Anambra State Deputy Governor, Dame Virginia (6)

DOWN 1.Imo State Capital (6) 2.Former Super Eagles Skipper, Jay Jay (6) 3.Country in Europe (5) 4.Eskimo Canoe (5) 5.Delta State Deputy Governor, Dr. Amos (6) 6.Minister of Trade & Investment, Mr. Olusegun (6) 10. Zambian Currency Unit (5) 11.Former Minister of Sports, Stephen (5) 12.L.G.A. in Kogi State (5) 14. Addition Result (3) 16. Greek Alphabet (3) 18. Oyo State Capital (6) 19. Super Eagles Assistant Coach, Sylvanus (6) 21. Igbo Girls Name (6) 22.L.G.A. In Osun State (6) 24. Niger Republic’s First President, Mr. Hamani (5) 25.Number (5)

SOLUTION on page 59

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