My fears for Buhari's change agenda— OBASANJO

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 62684

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N150

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

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EFCC raids ex-VP Sambo's office, carts away $50,000 cash, valuables

ide ins t u l-o pul e e •S

My fears for Buhari's — OBASANJO change agenda • Doubts if current administrative system can implement change •Says gains he made in public service reforms reversed

By Clifford Ndujihe & Ola Ajayi

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AGOS—FORMER president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, dissected the state of socio-economic affairs of the country, especially the initiatives of the current administration, and returned a verdict of doubt. His words: "The problem today is that it is doubtful if the current administrative system is imbued with right mix of skills and values to successfully implement a wellarticulated programme of Continues on Page 5

Why I did not pick Aluko as my CoS — Fayose ARRIVAL—From right: President Muhammadu Buhari, National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju

Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Chief Bisi Akande, Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun; Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Oluranti Adebule and Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, at the arrival of the President at the Presidential Wing, of Murtala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos Yesterday.

Senate uncovers N10bn hidden in education budget COLUMNIST: Cultists lay siege to Ubima, Amaechi’s town See Inside C M Y K

With Buhari's new friends, Minister Lai, who needs How now, the •P.20 enemies? •P.17 bailout?

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I won't speak on the $2.1bn probe now — JONATHAN

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11 Mr & Mrs

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POCKET CARTOON

CONFERENCE—From left, Former President Olusegun Obasanjo; Ambassador Tokunboh Awolowo-Dosunmu and keynote speaker, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, during the inaugural conference of the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP) held in Ibadan, yesterday: Photo: Dare Fasube

My fears for Buhari's change agenda — OBASANJO Continues from Page 1

change."

He also averred that the country was on its way to another debt burden unless the rising debts were creatively addressed.

Obasanjo, who recalled how he led Nigeria to exit the Paris Club and how he pursued public service reforms, regretted that the gains he made had been reversed.

The former president made the remarks at the conference of Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy, ISGPP, Ibadan, Oyo State.

The former President stressed the need for government to kick out all forms of corruption in the polity, provide jobs for unemployed youths and be committed to change.

Looming debt

overhang

Noting that the conference was timely as the country was in search of new ways of doing things, given the crisis of governance that now manifests in vigorous ways, Obasanjo said: "The drastic fall in the price of oil in the international market has unravelled the weakness of governance in Nigeria.

"The Minister of Finance has recently announced that the 2016 Budget deficit may be increased from the current N2.2 trillion in the draft document before the National Assembly, to N3 trillion due to decline in the price of crude oil.

"If the current fiscal challenge is not creatively addressed, Nigeria may be on its way to another episode of debt overhang, which may not be good for the country. It will be recalled that a few years

IT'S UP TO YOU

BY AYO ADIO

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T is always easy to blame someone else for the failures in our lives, but if we would ever make considerable progress and leave legacies, then we must take absolute responsibility for our lives. It's up to you.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

We dig into our own resources knowing that the solution to every problem is hidden within the problem itself — Harold Klemp

D

ON’T waste your life dreaming about someday when you can be building your life now. No matter what path you choose in life, don’t go around half conscious or unconscious. You owe it to yourself to give this life a good whirl, to put everything into it, and to make it worth living, you owe it to yourself as a spiritual being to enjoy the goodness and richness of your life.

SAYINGS OF OUR PEOPLE That's no how it will rain and the ground will not know.

ago, we rescued Nigeria from its creditors with the deal in which the Paris Club of sovereign creditors wrote off USD 18 billion of debt, Africa’s largest debt cancellation.

"Nigeria then used windfall earnings from oil exports to pay off another USD 12 billion in debts and arrears.

Is govt working?

"On the rest of SubSaharan Africa, the hope that followed the initiative of the New Partnership for Africa Development, NEPAD, and African renaissance initiatives are being threatened by developments in the global economy and governance.

"Falling commodity prices have put pressures on local currencies, and if caution is not taken, may lead to mounting debts. It is, indeed, proper for us in Nigeria to ask the questions: Is the government working? Is government positioned to deal with challenges arising from these new developments?

"These questions are made apposite by the massive scale of poverty and unemployment, the decay in infrastructure facilities, the impoverished living standards of citizens with regard to food, housing, water supply, education and healthcare which have deepened in recent years.

"This is complicated by the protracted experience of violence and brutality, the flow of internally displaced persons, IDPs, arising from the Boko Haram insurgency in large parts of NorthEastern Nigeria where many citizens have become distressed, live in fear and insecurity."

Systemic failure

He continued: "Recent developments in governance show the failure of systems, the disregard for institutional processes and the general decline of institutions that used to function to guarantee reasonable service delivery to citizens.

"When I assumed office in 1999, though I had some sense that the bureaucracy of government that I left in 1979 had experienced significant decline, I only appreciated the extent of this decline after the Dr Christopher Kolade Panel that I set up submitted its report.

"I implemented remedial measures and a reorientation programme coordinated by Professor Adebayo Adedeji. I got the Management Service Office to undertake and evolve a National Strategy for Public Service Reform.

The reform process commenced in 2003 and by 2007, significant progress had been made.

"Unfortunately, the evidence available today shows that those gains have been reversed. The problem today is that it is doubtful if the current administrative system is imbued with right mix of skills and values to successfully implement a well-articulated programme of change."

We must fight all forms of graft

Recalling that during his tenure, he identified corruption as the greatest single bane of our society and as one of the worst legacies of misrule and bad governance, a reason his administration set up the ICPC and the EFCC to tackle it, Obasanjo lamented that things had taken a turn for the worse.

"Today, corruption drains billions of dollars from our economy that cannot afford to lose even a million dollars. It seems we are just beginning the fight against corruption afresh.

"Until recently, it seems corruption had returned with a vengeance, taking seat at the very heart of government. I reiterate my statement in October last year during the 55th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence that ‘corruption must not have a resting place within our society; we must kick corruption out because it destroys almost everything and I am not talking about corruption of money; corruption of attitude, nepotism, favouritism, they are corruption in different forms and all aspects of corruption must be kicked out of our society."

Leadership must be committed to change

"Now, given these governance challenges and our experience with reform, it is clear that change doesn’t just happen, there must be a basis for change.

Leadership has to be committed to change.

Beginning with the reality of the budget, there is need for sober reflection. Rebuilding the foundations of governance involved paying attention to values, principles and practices that promote hard work, innovation and sacrifice.

"Leaders who call for sacrifice from the citizenry cannot be living in obscene opulence. We must address these foundational issues to make the economy work, to strengthen our institutions, build public confidence in government and deal with our peace and security challenges. We must address the issue of employment for our teeming population, particularly for our youths.

"Leadership must mentor the young and provide them with hope about their future as part

of a process of interg e n e r a t i o n a l conversation."

Lambasts govs over LG funds

...Anyaoku wants six geo-political zones made federating units The former president also lambasted some state governors who he said had turned themselves to emperors in their various states, mismanaging funds meant for local councils.

Lamenting the pitiable conditions of teeming masses in the councils, he said: “Is there any development going on in the 774 constitutionally recognised local government councils?

"Now, we have a situation where some governors have become sole administrators, acting like emperors.

These governors have rendered public institutions irrelevant and useless in the manner they starve local governments their legitimate funds from the federation account.

“When governors take their money, the chairmen of councils take the balance of the money and put it on the table and share it out among the council members. In some states, governors have hijacked the resources of local governments and expended them to serve their whims and caprices instead of using these resources to galvanise growth and development”.

Chief Obasanjo who later visited the Olubadandesignate, High Chief Saliu Adetunji in his residence, spoke extensively as the chairman of the occasion.

Chief Emeka Anyaoku, a former Commonwealth Secretary-General expressed disapproval over the lopsided federal structure and situation in which many of the states are hovering on the brink of bankruptcy.

Anyaoku said: “Instead of the structure of 36 unhealthy states the country currently has, the National Assembly should convert the six geopolitical zones to federating unit while the 36 states remain administrative units.”

6—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

Man, 35, docked for defiling 3-month-old baby

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35-year-old man, Oladele Oladunmoni, who allegedly poked his finger into the private part of a three-month-old baby, was yesterday arraigned in a Yaba Chief Magistrate’s Court, Lagos.

Oladunmoni is facing a charge of child abuse.

The prosecutor, Inspector Rita Momah, told the court that the accused committed the offence on January 18 at his residence.

Momah said the accused, who lives in the same building with the mother of the baby, viciously forced his finger into the baby ’s private part, adding “a medical doctor, who examined the baby, confirmed that she was defiled.”

She said the offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, and the said law prescribes life imprisonment for offenders of child rape.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The magistrate, Mrs F. A. Adeeyo, granted the accused N500,000 bail, with two sureties in like sum and adjourned the case till March 14 for mention.

Navy seizes barge with illegally refined AGO

By Samuel Oyadongha

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ENAGOA—THE Central Naval Command has seized a barge laden with 800 metric tons of illegally refined Automated Gas Oil, AGO, at Odekiri creek around SantaBabara River on the Atlantic fringe of Brass in Brass LGA, Bayelsa State.

The Flag Officer Commanding, Rear Admiral Apochi Suleiman, in a statement, said the barge, MV New Victory 1, was arrested by a patrol team of the Forward Operating Base, FORMOSO. He said: “The arrest was made possible following a coordinated intelligence by the Nigerian Navy.”

He said the Navy will continue to arrest vessels involved in maritime crimes.

HIJAB DAY: A procession to mark World Hijab Day organised by Muslim community, Alausa Secretariat Central Mosque, led by Hajia Aisha Adams, in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: Bunmi Azeez.

Woman kills neighbour, another beats 18-yr-old girl to death

By Peter Duru

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ENUE State Police Command has arrested a 22-year-old nursing mother, Nwuese Ayom, for allegedly stabbing her neighbour, Tererse Ayua, to death in Gboko town, just as another suspect was paraded for killing his neighbour ’s 18-year-old daughter.

Nwuese, who was paraded yesterday at the Command headquarters in Makurdi, the state capital, alongside 15 other suspects arrested for various crimes, said she was provoked by the deceased.

The single mother, Nwuese, told journalists that the deceased was fond of teasing her over the baby she had about four months ago.

She said: “We were neighbours. I had nothing with him; he used to abuse me since I had my baby, and sometimes he went as far as accusing me of abandoning my baby at night to sleep with other men.

‘How I stabbed him’

“He kept doing it and I kept begging him to leave me alone.

He refused. A few days ago, while I was sitting outside the house peeling oranges and attending to my baby.

“He came and started harassing me, threatening to beat me up that I flirted with another man, while I left my baby crying. I tried to explain that I went to make my hair, but he would not listen to me.

“Our argument led to a fight.

He beat me and my baby fell from my hand. It was at that point that I reached for the knife I was peeling the orange with and stabbed him in the stomach.

I learned he died before getting to the hospital.”

Also paraded was one Terwas Iorve, who allegedly battered and killed 18 years old Ngohide

Aperiker, daughter of his neighbour at Vase in Ukum Local Government Area of the state.

Recovered from the other 14 armed robbery suspects

paraded were five locally-made pistols, one local revolver rifle, three rounds of .9mm ammunition, one round of 5.56mm ammunition, expended shells, cutlasses and cash.

Cobbler lynched in Calabar

By Ike Uchechukwu

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ALABAR—THERE was pandemonium, yesterday, in Calabar, Cross River state capital, when a mob lynched and burnt a cobbler, Musa Ibrahim, for stabbing a boy.

Vanguard learned that trouble started at 36, Asong Aseng Street, Akim Qua town, Calabar Municipality Council Area when the deceased stabbed an unidentified young man with a dagger after a disagreement on the terms of payment for work done.

An eyewitness, who preferred anonymity, told Vanguard that when the deceased finished

mending the boy’s shoes and an argument ensued over payment, adding “out of provocation Ibrahim brought out his dagger and stabbed the boy, but while trying to run away, youths in the area pursued and lynched him.”

When Vanguard visited the scene, many residents had deserted their homes for fear of being arrested by the police.

Vanguard also visited the casualty ward of University of Calabar Teaching Hospital where the boy was rushed to.

He was seen on a bed with his thigh bandaged, contrary to insinuations that he died at the scene of the incident.

Policeman detained for allegedly defiling 7-yr-old girl

By Peter Okutu

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BAKALIKI— A policeman attached to Ebonyi State Police Command, Ndubuisi Ewerem, was, weekend, detained at Central Police Station for allegedly defiling a seven-year-old girl in Abakaliki.

Vanguard learned that the suspect sent the victim to buy onions and defiled her when she returned to deliver the item.

While neighbours said the victim was actually raped by the policeman, others alleged that the suspect sexually abuse teenagers.

In a telephone chat, the

Commissioner of Police, Peace Abdallah, who confirmed the incident, insisted that whether the victim was raped or fingered, the act perpetuated by the policeman was a crime punishable under the law.

According to the Commissioner of police, the result of the medical test conducted on the victim would ascertain whether she was raped or not, as investigation into the case was still on.

Last week, the police boss announced the dismissal of a police Corporal with Afikpo North Division, Okporie Okporie, for defiling a nineyear-old girl in Ebonyi.

Cleric remanded in prison over N2m fraud

By Bartholomew Madukwe

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AGOS—AN Ejigbo Magistrate's Court in Lagos has remanded in prison custody a cleric, Reverend (Mrs) Precious Amanze, for allegedly defrauding a widow, Oluwatoyin Simonson, of N2 million under false pretence of assisting her to clear her debt.

The presiding magistrate, Mrs. J. O. E. Adeyemi, who granted the accused N500,000 bail with two sureties in like sum, ordered that she should be remanded in prison custody pending the perfection of her bail conditions and adjourned the matter till March 7.

It was gathered that the widow introduced Amanze to an American drug manufacturing company called Clean Shield to market their drugs in Nigeria with a specified bonus to members, which would be sent through Amanze’s bank account by Clean Shield.

Problem started when bonuses started coming into Amanze’s account for several months for members to share, but she reportedly refused to inform other members or pay them.

The matter was reported to the police at Area ‘M’ Command, Idimu.

Police requested the details of the payment by the U.S. company and it was discovered that Simonson had a bonus of over N2 million, which was signed off by Amanze without her consent and knowledge.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016—7

Senate uncovers N10bn hidden in education budget

By Henry Umoru & Joseph Erunke

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VISIT: From left, Chief Justice of Bahamas, Hartman Longlmy; Chief Judge Borno State, Kashim Zannah; Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmud Mohammed and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during a courtesy visit to the Vice President by Chief Justices from Caribbean countries at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday.

Amnesty flays reinstatement of ex-GOC 7 Division accused of possible war crimes As Defence Hqtrs faults rights group

By Kingsley Omonobi

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AGOS — HUMAN rights group, Amnesty International (AI), has condemned the reinstatement of a former commander of the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Ahmadu Mohammed, who the organization accused of possible war crimes, following the alleged execution of suspected Boko Haram detainees in Giwa Barracks, Maiduguri, Borno State.

Meanwhile, the Defence Headquarters, yesterday, faulted Amnesty International over its condemnation of the recall of Major General Ahmed Mohammed.

Amnesty implicated Mr. Mohammed, a Major General, alongside other serving and retired military chiefs for possible war crimes, following the alleged torture and extra-judicial killings of more than 8,000 suspected Boko Haram detainees.

Mohammed was specifically accused of overseeing the killing of 640 detainees at Giwa Barracks, Maiduguri, Borno State on March 14, 2014 after the barracks’ detention centre was attacked by Boko Haram.

Mohammed was retired in 2014 after a mutiny by soldiers who accused him of knowingly leading them into a Boko Haram ambush around Chibok on May 12, 2014.

More than 70 soldiers were killed in the ambush.

Mohammed, whose vehicle was shot at by the angry soldiers during the mutiny, has been quietly reinstated after he allegedly wrote several letters to the army authorities asking to be recalled.

Mohammed must be investigated In

a

statement

issued

yesterday, Amnesty International described the reinstatement of Mohammed as a monumental failure of the government to stamp out impunity for wars crimes at the highest level.

“Major General Mohammed must be investigated for participating in, sanctioning or failing to prevent the deaths of hundreds of people. Young men and boys, rounded up by the military, were either shot, starved, suffocated or tortured to death and no one has yet been held to account.

"It is unthinkable that Major General Muhammed could resume command of troops before an investigation has even begun,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

According to the group, the report that implicated Mohammed, “Stars on their shoulders, blood on their hands: War crimes committed by the Nigerian military,” was based on years of research and analysis of evidence, which included leaked military reports and correspondence as well as interview of some 400 victims, witnesses and top military officers.

AI stated that the report “exposed a range of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity committed by the military in the course of operations against Boko Haram."

It found that, since March 2011, "more than 7,000 were starved, suffocated, and tortured to death in military detention camps. A further 1,200 were rounded up and unlawfully killed.”

The group also stated that the recall of Mr Mohammed flew in the face of assurances by President Muhammadu Buhari that allegations of human rights abuses against the military would be investigated and those found culpable brought to book.

Defence Hqtrs faults rights group

Speaking with Vanguard, Acting Director, Defence Information, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, said: “Allegations

by Amnesty International against the officer is unproven. We have our own administrative procedure.

"Last year, the armed forces set up a committee to look into all allegations from human rights bodies against military officers.

They were invited, they did not come or send any representative.In fact, if you ask me, I think what the Army did is something worth commending.

"If we could recall over 3,000 soldiers who committed offences and were sentenced but due to law of fair hearing, they were given a second chance, what more of an officer who was not convicted of any crime or offence. ‘’The military felt that a mistake was committed and it corrected the mistake. That is we deserve commendation not what Amnesty is saying. ‘’There is no legal competent court that found him guilty of anything. Based on our code of conduct, rules of engagement, terms and condition of service, he was not found wanting anywhere so his recall should be commended."

Vanguard had reported exclusively two weeks ago, that President Mihammadu Buhari directed the Nigerian Army authorities to immediately reinstate Major General Ahmed Mohammed, whose official vehicle was famously fired at by troops protesting the death of their colleagues in a Boko Haram ambush.

Consequently, the former GOC was recalled and is currently awaiting posting by the Army headquarters.

BUJA— THE Senate Committee on Education, yesterday, uncovered N9,982,258,479 hidden in the budget of parastatals by the Federal Ministry of Education.

The committee, which discovered the amount at the commencement of its 2016 budget defence, said the amount was hidden in the ministry’s parastatals.

The parastatals allocation for the year, according to the Senate Committee, increased at geometric progression by almost N10 billion while the entire personnel cost for the ministry and all its subsidiaries including schools and colleges declined drastically when compared to that of last year.

To this end, the committee chairman, Senator Aliyu Wamakko, ruled that the permanent secretary and the ministry should go back to the drawing board and come up with a more sensible overhead cost, saying its discovery was that the huge sum was deliberately hidden under parastatals’ personnel cost.

As seen, the ministry’s parastatals’ personnel cost rose from N88.1 billion in 2015 to as high as N98.1 billion in 2016 estimate proposals while the personnel budget of universities reduced by as much as N16.245 billion, declining from N227.2 billion in 2015 to N211.0 billion in 2016.

Similarly, colleges of education budget decreased from N40.2 billion in 2015 to N37.6 billion, while polytechnics’ personnel cost which previously stood at N61.44 billion in 2015 was trimmed to N58.23 billion just as unity colleges’ budget had been cut from N288.7billion to N7.588 billion.

While the ministry itself reduced its budget by only N244.9 million from N3.768 billion in 2015 to N3.523 billion in 2016, UNESCO Paris was the worst hit with the drastic reduction of its budget from N288.3 billion in 2015 to N7.588 billion in 2016.

Minister of State for Education, Professor Anthony Anwuka,who appeared before the Senate Committee on Secondary School Education for budget defence, in company of the ministry’s

Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Folasade Yemi-Esan, gave account of the education budget performance in 2015.

He said N483.183 billion budget was earmarked for education in 2015, with only N13.279 billion released.

Anwuka added that only 50 per cent of N23.5 billion, amounting to N11.9 billion was released for capital education.

However, after his submission, a member of the committee and Senate Chief Whip, Senator Olusola Adeyeye, queried the rationale behind the increase in only the budget of parastatals by only about N10 billion while the budget of universities reduced by as much N16 billion.

Adeyeye wondered while parastatals which were meant to support the institutions should have their personnel budget increased by such a huge volume. He, therefore, demanded for an explanation.

“If you look at personnel cost on page 28, almost every sub-sector of the ministry lost some money except parastatals that got increase.

What is special about the parastatals that they gained more than universities, colleges, polytechnics and unity schools? Why should the parastatals that are meant to serve them keep growing in personnel cost?” Adeyeye queried.

The minister pushed the question to the permanent secretary who for want of expression said they would go back to look into it.

She said: “We will go back and find the aggregate of the parastatals put together so that we can look into the details and find out those that are increasing and the difference between them.”

Dissatisfied by that response, Adeyeye insisted that the ministry must explain how a whopping sum of about N10 billion was added to the parastatals’ personnel budget at the expense of institutions which actually need budget increase.

He said: “The budget of the parastatals have N9 billion extra while others lose money.

We can’t have a situation where schools are losing money and parastatals are gaining. How did parastatals have such a quantum leap?”

Responding again, YemiEsan said the reduction in personnel budgets of schools and colleges was not imposed on them. Rather, she said it was what they submitted that the ministry collated and submitted as their personnel costs.

8—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

EKITIGATE: We’ve been vindicated — Ekiti APC Babatope, Mohammed, Oyetibo, Ogunlesi differ Fayemi declines comment

By Dapo Akinrefon, Gbenga Oke & Bartholomew Madukwe

L VISIT: President Muhammadu Buhari (right), introducing members of his cabinet to the Prime Minister of Italy, Mr Matteo Renzi, during his visit to the Presidential Villa in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: NAN.

Dasukigate: EFCC raids ex-VP Sambo’s office Carts away $50,000 cash, valuables Sambo’s lawyers protest invasion, slam operatives

By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor

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BUJA — STILL shopping for evidence to nail top Nigerians who might have benefitted from the $2.1 billion arms cash, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, have raided the Abuja office of former Vice President, Namadi Sambo, carting away $50,000 from his safe.

The raid was carried out, weekend, on the building which houses a top European High Commission’s Visa Processing Centre opposite the National Defence College, Abuja, throwing some occupants into confusion.

A source close to the operation confirmed to Vanguard, yesterday, that the operatives broke into the safe kept by the former vice president and removed whatever valuable they found, including top branded wrist watches, assets declaration forms, and list of landed property.

The raid, it was learned, followed the discovery that one of Sambo’s aide, known as Daboh, was found to have collected N25 million from the embattled National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisah Metuh, as part of the sum he got from the former NSA, Dasuki Sambo.

Although Daboh was arrested on January 11 by the EFCC and later released after taking statement from him, the operatives swooped on the exVP’s office on Saturday with the hope of extracting "incriminating evidence."

The raid took place barely a few days after Sambo had moved some vital documents from his residence to the office in the

Central Business District, in many bags, known as “Ghana-Must-Go, which were thought to contain foreign currencies The raid also coincided with the trip of Sambo to the United Kingdon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, where he is undergoing treatment on one of his legs and for some religious purposes.

Sambo’s lawyers protest invasion

But the raid, it was learned, has infuriated Sambo’s lawyers, who felt that it was improper for the EFCC to break into the office of their client without a valid search warrant.

In response to the development, the lawyers, yesterday, fired a strongly worded letter of protest to the

EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, asking him to direct his men to repair the destroyed property in the office.

But the EFCC is reported to have left behind three armed policemen to guard the place until the doors and other damaged property were repaired.

A source close to the former vice president confirmed last night that they were trying to get in touch with him and brief him on the ugly development.

The source said: “I think the EFCC operatives were disappointed that they could not find any reasonable amount of money or any serious evidence of corruption against the former president.

“They had thought that the former vice president had taken some money to the office which they could take as evidence against him. But they were disappointed as they did not get anything tangible from the office,” the source said.

65 killed, 136 injured in Dalori village attacks —NEMA

By Kingsley Omonobi

A

BUJA —THE National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, said yesterday that a total of 65 persons lost their lives and 136 persons injured, following the weekend attacks on Dalori village by insurgents.

Dalori, which is less than 10 kilometres from Maiduguri, came under the attacks on Saturday evening.

NEMA’s Emergency Response Team immediately mobilized for rescue along with others, including Police AntiBomb Squad, NSCDC, Nigerian Army, Federal Road

Safety Commission, and Nigerian Red Cross.

A statement signed by Sani Datti, Snr. Information Officer, NEMA said: “Victims were evacuated to Umaru Shehu Hospital, University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and Borno General Hospital for medical attention where 40 persons were confirmed dead. ‘’However the community buried 25 deaths beside those that were taken to the hospitals. 136 persons were injured in the attacks. ‘’The insurgents came into the village and started shooting sporadically. This put the villagers and the neighborhood into pandemonium and started running helter-skelter."

AGOS—THE polity was awash with mixed views, yesterday, on the allegations by former Ekiti State Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Temitope Aluko, that the PDP used the military to rig the June 21, 2014 Ekiti governorship polls won by Mr. Ayodele Fayose.

Although, the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate, Dr Kayode Fayemi, who was the incumbent governor but now Solid Minerals minister, declined comments, Ekiti APC said it had been vindicated by Aluko’s confession.

However, former Minister of Transport and a stalwart of the PDP, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, disagreed with Aluko, saying anyone alleging that Fayose did not win the polls on a clean slate was hallucinating.

Other notable Nigerians, who spoke on the issue included Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed; legal icons, Tayo Oyetibo (SAN) and Lanre Ogunlesi (SAN).

Contacted on the issue, yesterday, Fayemi’s Chief Press Secretay, Mr Yinka Oyebode, replied with two words: "No comments.’’

We’ve been vindicated —Ekiti APC

Commenting on the allegations, the Chairman of the APC in Ekiti State, Chief Jide Awe said the party had been vindicated and called on relevant authorities to take the necessary step.

He said: “All along, with the way things were in Ekiti State, we made it clear what happened in 2014 elections was not a democratically conducted elections but a warfare. Since the powers that be had unleashed terror on us, we went to court but the court did not see what went wrong in Ekiti State.

"You see, conscience is an open wound, which only truth can heal. The man, who spoke was the secretary of the party, in whose presence the atrocities were committed."

It’s an afterthought — Babatope

Former Minister of Transport, Chief Babatope said: “All this talk about Ekiti

elections being rigged makes no sense to me. What Aluko is saying right now is too late and I want to believe he is also an accomplice in what he is saying right now.”

Defending Fayose, he said: “Whoever says Fayose did not win the Ekiti elections is hallucinating because I can confirm that the people voted massively for Fayose because he is popular."

Those involved should be prosecuted —Mohammed

Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, said irrespective of the timing of the revelation by Aluko, justice must be done.

He said: “To overlook what happened in Ekiti elections without prosecuting the people, who perpetrated the act will be unkind to democracy.

So I think the Attorney General of the Federation should use his good office to prosecute those involved in the rigging."

Aluko should be charged for perjury — Ogunlesi

Former Ogun State AttorneyGeneral and Commissioner for Justice, Lanre Ogunlesi, SAN, said: "Dr. Temitope Aluko should be charged to court for perjury. Are they saying that the army set up that committee solely for Ekiti State? He should be charged for perjury because he once said that he deposed an affidavit saying there was no problem."

PDP is bound by court’s judgement —Oyetibo

On his part, Oyetibo said Aluko is bound by the judgements of the courts because the matter had been challenged in courts and judgements given.

He said: "Why then did they (PDP) go to court to have it (election) upheld, if the party’s former secretary in Ekiti State, Dr. Temitope Aluko, is alleging that the June 21, 2014 governorship polls in the state that led to the emergence of Chief Ayodele Fayose as governor was not an election but a coup against the people?

"If you contest in an election and you find out that it was not properly conducted, you go to the court. If you do not challenge it in the tribunal, it means you have accepted the result of the election. If you challenge and lost, then you are bound by the judgement."

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2 , 2016—9

C M Y K

10 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2 , 2016

Lagos to sanction private schools over exam malpractices

By Amaka Abayomi

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AGOS State Deputy Governor, Dr. (Mrs) Oluranti Adebule, has expressed the state government’s displeasure towards private schools that engage in examination malpractice, saying government will not hesitate to sanction such schools.

Speaking at a meeting with proprietors of private schools in the state,the Deputy Governor, who doubles as the Commissioner of Education, revealed that about 25 schools have been indicted by the West African Examinations Council, WAEC, and the National Examinations Council, NECO. Charging school owners to de-emphasize profiteering, Adebule said “teachers are known for discipline and quality learning and teaching is paramount to us.

Government is not happy about the situation and will not hesitate to close down such schools, so it is either you are in or out.”

The Deputy Governor also revealed that a census of private schools to know the actual number of schools is underway as some schools owners only come for name search and thereafter start operating without completing the process.

“We recognise that there are low income schools but that is not an excuse for them not to do the right thing. In collaboration with Developing Effective Private Education in Nigeria, DEPEN, and Department for International Development, DFID, we will be conducting school rating to ensure that the required standard is maintained in the sector”, she said.

Buhari, Awujale hold closed-door meeting

By Daud Olatunji

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B E O K U T A — P R E S I D E N T Muhammadu Buhari yesterday, held a closed door meeting with the Awujale and paramount ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona inside the monarch’s Ijebu-Ode palace for about 20 minutes .

Buhari who arrived in the state at about 6:15pm, flew into the Dipo Dina International Stadium,

Ijebu Ode in a chopper, arrived Awujale palace to commence a two-day official visit to the state.

The 20-minute closed door meeting had in attendance Governor Ibikunle Amosun .

Though, the content of the meeting was not made public, a source from the palace told Vanguard that, the monarch begged the President to facilitate the creation of Ijebu State.

After his closed-door meeting with the Awujale , which lasted

PRESENTATION: Perm Sec, Office of Civic Engagement, Lagos State Deputy Governor Office, Mrs. Adebunmi Adekanye; Special Adviser to the Governor on Civic Engagement, Mr. Kehinde Joseph presenting a financial Assistance of 1.5 million naira cheque to Mr. Okeiyi Jonathan, during the presentation of cheques to beneficiaries of financial assistance in various needs, at Govt House, Alausa Lagos, yesterday. Photo by Kehinde Gbadamosi.

Lagos lists tools for economic devt

By Olawale Gabriel

the state government is ready for ideas and plans by investors for AGOS State government the replication of leisure facilities has re-iterated its policy of in all parts of the state.

While re-iterating the using tourism, hospitality, entertainment and sports as a tool government’s promise of creating of stimulating the economy of the an enabling environment for partnership with interested state.

Speaking weekend at the private sector organisations, commissioning of the Folarin said the intervention will redeveloped Apapa Amusement affect all facets of tourism, Park, the Commissioner for entertainment, hospitality and Tourism, Arts and Culture, generate multiplier value for the Folorunsho Folarin-Coker, said state economy.

Folarin-Coker said the Apapa Amusement park offers Lagosians an opportunity for the regeneration of family values and bonding, “provision of a leisure spot with facilities as contained through every available here goes a long way in means. stimulating the mind through The cleric who gave the assertion during the church’s 2016 annual general conference with the theme ‘ 90 year after : Whither the C&

By Godfrey Bivbere S church, stated that better measures , other than the HE Senate Committee on option of sending suspected Marine Transport, looters to jail should be put yesterday in Lagos, charged the in place in order to recover management of the Nigerian public looted funds.

Maritime Administration and He however, advised that Safety Agency, NIMASA, to political colouration should be ensure that they adhere to the avoided by the present anti-corruption stance of the administration in its fight against present government. corruption, appealing also that Former governor of the trail of suspected looters should Zamfara state and Chairman of be handled with human face. the committee, Alhaji Ahmed

L

Cleric urges FG to create special courts on corruption

By Evelyn Usman

T

HE Supreme Head of the Cherubim and Seraphim C& S Unification Church of Nigeria, Prophet Dr. Solomon Alao yesterday, urged the Federal Government to create special courts devoid of endless adornments, where private or public office holders alleged to have looted the nation would be tried.

He also called on religious, traditional and political leaders to join the present administration in its campaign against corruption, by rebuking their subjects

about 20 minutes, Buhari was hosted to a banquet where he briefly addressed eminent personalities and monarchs in Ijebuland.

He said that he would be meeting with former president Olusegun Obasanjo later last night.

Buhari who was received at the stadium by Governor Amosun and state officials was immediately driven into the palace of the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru

recreation and entertainment.”

He called on Lagosians to visits the park, Folarin-Coker said it will help in conserving foreign exchange that would have been spent visiting such facilities elsewhere in the world as well as create jobs for people in the area.

“If this place generates one million tourists in a year and they spend at least N5000 that is about a billion Naira. You see that the volume is what we need to keep this place going.”

He explained that the tripartite project of the government in resuscitating the park will provide a benefit for return on investment as well as attainment of the government’s long term vision to make the state the destination of choice for tourists.

GRAFT: Senate tasks NIMASA

T

Yerima, gave the charge when members of the committee paid a working visit to the agency as part of its over-sight function.

According to him; “Corruption which has become a norm in our society must be eradicated in the discharge of our duties. Therefore, ensuring efficiency and effectiveness in the discharge of the responsibilities of all agencies of government in the course of our over sight function.

Kayode Adetona.

During his official visit to Ogun which is part of the activities to mark the 40th anniversary of the creation of the state, Buhari who was expected to inaugurate about 40 projects located across the three senatorial districts of the state, however had to shelve the ones slated for Ijebu-Ode. The President who was expected to kick off his activities in Ijebu-Ode with the inauguration of the Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona and Mobalufon Flyovers as well as the expanded and reconstructed Ejirin Road however had to cancel the activities due to time constraint.

But Buhari apologized for his lateness in coming, noting that he was held up in a meeting with diplomats in Abuja.

The president noted that as a matter of courtesy, he felt it would be unwise to visit the state without paying a visit to the paramount ruler of Ijebuland.

He however disclosed that he would be holding a meeting with former president Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta later last night.

In his remarks, the Awujale described Buhari’s visit as “homecoming” and prayed for the success of his administration.

Oba Adetona, who praised the president for his visionary leadership, endorsed his fight against corruption.

“If we don’t face corruption, corruption will kill us. And we don’t want corruption to kill us.

So, Nigerians must support your efforts,” the revered monarch added.

Buhari immediately left the Awujale’s palace in company with Governor Amosun travelling by road from Ijebu-Ode to Abeokuta.

Prominent dignitaries who gathered at the palace of the Awujale to receive President Buhari included the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun; Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and the Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; former governors Aremo Olusegun Osoba and Otunba Gbenga Daniel; All Progressives Congress National Vice Chairman (South), Chief Segun Oni; Oba Otudeko, Otunba Mike Adenuga, Senator Gbenga Kaka; Chief Judge of Ogun, Justice Olatokunbo Olopade and Olorogun Sunny Kuku.

Others were incumbent senators Lanre Tejuoso, Gbolahan Dada and Buruji Kashamu; Senator Lekan Mustapha, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Alhaji Agboola Alausa, Vice Chancellor of the Tai Solarin University of Education, Prof. Yemisi Obilade; Vice Chancellor of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Prof. Adejimi Saburi Adesanya, Senator Olorunimbe Mamora, Biodun Sobanjo, Chief Kessington Adebutu and Otunba Subomi Balogun.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016 — 11

Why I didn't appoint Aluko CoS – FAYOSE

By Leke Adeseri, South West Regional Editor

E

KITI State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has said the allegation by the former Ekiti State Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tope Aluko, that the military was used to influence the outcome of the June 21, 2014 governorship election in the state was another ploy in the fruitless efforts by the All Progressives Congress to rubbish the mandate freely given him by the people of the state.

He also said such a wild allegation could only have come from a questionable character like Aluko who he refused to appoint his Chief of Staff because he could not be entrusted with such sensitive position.

He spoke in a broadcast on state television and radio in Ado-Ekiti yesterday.

In a statement by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, the governor said the election that ushered him to office was conducted about 20 months ago and applauded by the election observers and the international communities, wondered when the opposition would stop licking their wounds.

Fayose said; “All these steps are being taken by the APC to silence me because of my criticism of obnoxious policies of Buhari

administration, but I cannot be silenced. If I Ayo Fayose remains the last man standing to put Buhari administration on its toes, I will not look back. Strong opposition is ingredient of virile democracy. I don’t have skeleton in my cupboard.

If the APC has any concrete evidence against me, it should give it to the EFCC.” Fayose added that he felt sorry for Aluko because he had allowed those who rented him to do the very dirty job to destroy him totally, thereby bringing shame upon himself and his family.

The Governor continued, “ It is very obvious that those who rented him will keep him at arms length believing that what he did to me, he will do same to them.

“From Aluko’s rantings, one could see that he wants to poison our waters because he did not get the position he expected in our administration.

He complained that he was not made the Chief of Staff, how could somebody with great lust for money and insatiable drive to jump from one camp to the other be trusted with such a sensitive

post. I was advised by wellmeaning Ekiti people not to trust him with sensitive positions because of his greed.

“As the state secretary of the party, he was going from one aspirant to the other to collect money, using his position.

When he was at the stateowned university, he was sacked because of certificate racketeering. Pressure was mounted on me not to appoint him otherwise he would put cerdibility problem on my administration.''

VISIT: From left; Head, Public Relations, Airtel Nigeria, Adefemi Adeniran; Zonal Business Manager, Lagos North, Chioma Agogo; Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka and his wife, Folake Soyinka, with Regional Operations Director, Airtel, Lagos Region, Oladokun Oye during the courtesy call on Prof.

Soyinka on the telco’s educational product, Airtel Smart Trybe Junior, at his residence in Abeokuta.

OGUN AT 40: Osoba, Daniel shun Amosun’s parley with ex-govs

By Daud Olatunji

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BEOKUTA—TWO former governors of Ogun state, Chief Olusegun Osoba and Otunba Gbenga Daniel, yesterday, shunned the incumbent governor,

Senator Ibikunle Amosun’s parley with past Governors of the State since the State was created 40 years ago.

The state which was created out of the defunct Western Region on February 3rd,1976, was

Olubadan won’t be buried secretly – Committee

By Ola Ajayi

I

BADAN—AS activities marking the burial ceremony of late Oba Samuel Odulana Odugade 1 begin this Friday, a burial committee set up by Governor Abiola Ajimobi has said the interment of the monarch will be not be done in secrecy unlike other monarchs in the South West.

The committee said the burial which will hold at the Saint Peters Aremo where the monarch attended till his death would be done in public glare unless a sup Oba Odulana joined his ancestors on January 19, 2016 after a ripe age of 101.

While speaking with newsmen on the 9-day burial programme at the ancient Mapo Hall, Ibadan, Alhaji Alli who told all the gathering that the committee had the backing and sponsorship of Governor Ajimobi said the programme will hold between February 5 and 14.

However, the committee led by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Olalekan Alli was evasive on the presence of wives and children of the late monarch during the interment process.

The committee which comprises the head of service, special advisers, permanent secretaries, representatives of the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes, representatives of the Olubadan-inCouncil and members of the royal family and other government officials from the eleven local government areas in the state.

The committee also preferred to keep mum on the litigation over the installation of a new monarch praying proverbially that there would not be crisis in the city over the choice of a new king.

He added that God would not allow anyone who may want to foment any trouble in the peaceful city.

As for security arrangements, the committee said all necessary things had been done to ensure peaceful participation of all residents of the city.

administered by the military for 22 years while the civilians reigned for 18 years.

Amosun had scheduled a special state executive council meeting with past Governors of the state in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the creation of the State .

Osoba and Daniel who were two executive governors of the state failed to show up at the exco meeting. They did not send their representatives either.

Meanwhile, the meeting which was held at the Executive Chambers of the Governor’s Office, Oke-Mosan, was attended by seven military administrators while Col. Raji Rasaki was also absent.

Those in attendance were the Lt Colonel Siedu Adeolu Balogun, Colonel Oladipo Diya, Lt. Colonel Oladayo Popoola, Navy Captain Oladehinde Joseph, Lt.Col. Daniel Akintonde, Group Captain Sam Ewang, Navy Captain Kayode Olofinmoyin.

They used the avenue for the past military administrators to share their experiences on how they administered the state.

A minute silence was observed in honour of the departed exgovernors Brigadier Harris Egbagha and the first executive governor of the state, Chief Olabisi Onabanjo and Navy Captain Mohammed Lawal.

The past administrators who

spoke one after the other identified the areas where the state needed to improve upon to improve its fortune.

They all however, commended the efforts of the present administration in the state led by Senator Ibikunle Amosun for the giant strides in moving the state forward.

Also in attendance were Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, senators representing Ogun Central and West senatorial districts, Prince Lanre Tejuoso and Prince Gbolahan Dada,while the Senator representing Ogun East,Prince Buruji Kashamu was not also present.

In his remarks, Amosun appreciated the former administrators for honouring the state and pledged his administration’s commitment to continue to work for the progress of the state.

Aregbesola charges APC stakeholders councils in Osun

By Gbenga Olarinoye

O

S O G B O — GOVERNOR Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State has charged the newly constituted stakeholders councils across the 30 local governments and Modakeke area office by the All Progressives Congress APC, to be good ambassadors of the party.

Aregbesola said this yesterday during the inauguration of the committees at the party Secretariat in Osogbo.

He said, the elders councils are expected to educate and enlightened party members at their various wards and local governments on party policies and good governance.

...As Methodist Church partners with Osun on Agric

M

EANTIME, the Methodist Church of Nigeria yesterday said it is ready to partner with the State Government of Osun in her efforts towards strengthening the economy of the state and Nigeria through Agriculture by going into mechanised farming.

This was even as the Governor Rauf Aregbesola stated that the only successful Nation of the world are those who cultivate the land for Agriculture and not those who dig into the land for Oil and other mineral resources.

Prelate Methodist Church Nigeria, His Eminence, Dr. Samuel Emeka Kanu Uche during a courtesy visit to the governor at the Governor’s office in Osogbo noted that the church is strategising on how to improve the economy of the state through commercial farming that will provide jobs for the youth.

12—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

Tompolo challenges warrant of arrest

By Innocent Anaba

by the court before the EFCC applied for a warrant of arrest against him.

He is further claiming, through his counsel, Mr Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, that up till the time of filing the application, he had not been served with the criminal charge nor indeed any warrant of arrest.

F

ORMER militant leader, Chief Government Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo), has challenged the warrant of arrest issued by a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, to compel his appearance in court to answer to the criminal charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. He is praying the court to discharge the bench warrant issued against him.

EFCC, in the charge, had accused Tompolo and others of diverting the sum of N34 billion belonging to the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency, NIMASA. Trial judge, Justice Ibrahim Buba, had on January 12, 2016, following an application by EFCC's counsel, issued a bench warrant for Tompolo's arrest.

In the application challenging the bench warrnt issued against him, Tompolo is arguing that the EFCC did not follow due process of law in applying for an order of substituted service of the criminal charge against him, adding that no service of the charge was effected as directed

According to him, whereas he was prepared to appear in court and answer to any charge against him, he insists that due process of law must be followed and his rights under the law be guaranteed, especially the right to be notified and served with the charge against him.

CUSTOMER FORUM: From left: Segun Olisa, Operations Manager, South-South, MultiChoice Nigeria; Caroline Oghuma, Public Relations Manager, MultiChoice Nigeria; Nnamdi Okere, MultiChoice Super Dealer and Ofonmbuk Ndom, MultiChoice Dealer, during the DStv Customer Forum in Port Harcourt.

Kidnap victim is Olomoro Regent not 96-yr-old king —Community leader

By Emma Amaize, Festus Ahon & Ochuko Akuopha

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LOMORO— THERE is a twist in last Friday's abduction of the OdioOlogbo of Olomoro Kingdom, Isoko South Local Government Area, Delta State, as sources revealed, yesterday, that it was the Regent, son of HRM Josiah Aghaza I, that kidnappers in fact abducted and not the 96year-old traditional ruler.

However, the abductors have called the wife of the monarch asking for N20 million ransom, which they reduced to N5 million and further down to N4 million at press time.

A community leader confided in Vanguard: “I can confirm to you that the person kidnapped is the son, who is the Regent. By the Olomoro Customary Declaration, the son is the defacto traditional ruler.

Therefore, it is correct that the traditional ruler of Olomoro is the person abducted. This was done because of the age of the monarch.”

Chairman, Isoko South Local Government

He also called the attention of the Inspector-General of Police, the Chief of Army Staff and indeed the Navy to the fact that he is challenging the order made against him, so that overzealous persons do not take advantage of the court process to attempt to trample on his legal rights.

Council, Mr. Malik Ikpokpo, who confirmed that the abductors reduced their ransom to N4 million, also said that the son of the monarch was the person kidnapped.

There were still fears in the community, yesterday, with the Ovie of Ozoro Kingdom,

HRM Ogbogbo Ibuka I, describing the incident as regrettable.

“It is an unfortunate phase in our lives but it is part of the security challenges we have now all over the world.I know that the government is doing everything within its power to apprehend the perpetrators and

E-West Road gulped N286bn without completion —FG

By Chris Ochayi

A

BUJA—THE F e d e r a l Government, yesterday, said that the sum of N286 billion had been paid for the dualisation of the East-West Road project, which has not been completed.

According to the government, the project was estimated at N560 billion, which in itself was an upward variation from the original N211 billion awarded in 2006 by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Speaking yesterday, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uguru, at a meting with members of the Association of Community

Leaders of nine oil producing states in Abuja, assured the people of the Niger Delta region that none of the ongoing projects being executed by the ministry in the region would be abandoned.

He said: “The East-West Road is not abandoned except that work on the project is very slow. We will soon find out why the work is slow. Contractors will tell you it was because of lack of funds. But we will soon tell you our own reasons why the work is slow.

“One thing I can say is that by the budget on the road, more than N560 billion was estimated and for now, over N286 billion had been paid, which in my view should have completed the road."

Edo 2016: PDP urged to conduct free, fair primaries

By Etop Ekanem

A

chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State, Mr Clement Osagie, has advised the leadership of his party in the state against the imposition of any aspirant for this year’s governorship election.

Edo Osagie, in Benin City, noted that Ikhimi’s committee could not be seen as credible because half of its members were in the campaign team of an aspirant and as such the party cannot trust them to come up with an unbiased report.

Calling on the state PDP members to be ready to resist such biased report, Osagie called on the leadership of the party to toe the path of honour and allow the party to undergo party primaries for the governorship nomination and allow a winner to emerge.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016—13

Ijaw leaders call for talks with JTF to end siege As Okowa’s aide cautions Ijaw, Itsekiri stakeholders against igniting ethnic crisis

By Emma Amaize & Ochuko Akuopha

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ARRI—IJAW leaders of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West Local Government Area, Delta State, have called for dialogue with the Joint Task Force, JTF, in the Niger Delta to brainstorm on the recent pipeline bombing in the state and halt the military siege that has crippled social life, education and economic activities in the area.

The leaders are apprehensive that with the manner security agents are allegedly hounding villagers without identifying and targeting the perpetrators, the military could be setting the stage for the annihilation of Gbaramatu Kingdom.

with those that are intimidating them?

“What I am saying is that there is no synergy with the way things are going on and this is not good. We have looked at it as leaders and think that there is need for us to meet with the task force and discuss. We hear them and they hear us and we all agree on how to tackle the problem.”

However, the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, comprising Edo, Delta and Ondo States and Foundation for Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Crusade, FHRACC, think the task force has overstepped its bounds in

Fenegbene communities, saying, “We are reliably informed by members of these communities that the military had sent a warning to them that they should vacate their ancestral lands.

“They also said the military sent a warning to them that should they refuse to heed to the warning, soldiers will invade the communities in the name of searching for the culprits of the bombings,” the group said.

Ar ugbo -Ijaw community grumbles

Meanwhile, the leadership of

Arugbo-Ijaw Federated Community in Warri has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to call the Commanding Officer, 19 Battalion, Koko, Warri North to order, saying that the army should not extend the hunt for perpetrators of Delta pipeline bombing to Ondo State.

President-General of the community, Chief Barrister Olowo, in a statement, said it was wrong for soldiers to be hunting for ex-militant leader, “General” Bibopre Ajube, alias Shoot –At- Sight, for the bombing in Delta State, as neither he nor the Bolowoh community had anything to do with it.

Okowa’s aide warns against ethnic crisis

Meanwhile, Senior Special Assistant to Delta State Governor on Peace Building, Mr. Augustine Ogedegbe, has cautioned stakeholders of Ijaw and Itsekiri ethnic nationalities against accusations and counter accusations over the recent bombings of crude oil and gas pipelines in the state, so as not to ignite ethnic crisis in the state.

Reacting to the bombings of the pipelines, Ogedegbe said that it was necessary to prevent a reoccurrence of the attacks on the oil facilities and arrest of those involved in “the unwholesome criminal act.”

He urged youths of the Niger Delta region to halt the attacks on oil and gas facilities in the interest of peace in the area, advising them not to resort to unlawful means to express their grievances on any issue.

Why we want a meeting —Gbenekame

The Bebenemowei (Chief Mobilizer) of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Chief Godspower Gbenekame, told Vanguard: “Yes, we (Ijaw leaders) are calling for a peace meeting with the Commander of JTF, MajorGeneral Alani Okunola and his officers to discuss what is happening and the way out.

“A lot has happened. They are arresting our people everywhere and many riverine dwellers have fled their homes in Okerenkoko, Oporoza, Kurutie and indeed, all the Ijaw communities in the kingdom because of the fear that soldiers will invade them like they did in 2009.

“The task force is not briefing the elders on anything. There is no channel of communication as we speak, yet the JTF Commander said he will hold leaders responsible while they have asked the leaders to produce suspects they do not know and who the security agencies have not identified. Can you see the problem and how do you want community leaders to collaborate C M Y K

VISIT: Governor Ifeanyi Okowa (left) with the Olu of Warri, HRM Ogiame Ikenwoli I, shortly after the monarch’s visit to the governor.

Pipeline bombing: Olu of Warri predicts doom for culprits

By Egufe Yafugborhi

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ARRI—THE Olu of Warri, His Majesty, Ogiame Ikenwole I, yesterday, spoke on the spate of willful destruction of oil installations in Warri South- West Local Government Area and other localities in Delta State, saying that those behind the criminality risk condemnation by the gods.

In a statement by the Palace in Warri, through the Office of the Palace Secretary, the Olu said that such acts were designed to sabotage and deplete oil earnings accruing to Delta State and other agencies charged with the development of oil producing communities.

“The acts pull back the hands of the clock to the notorious dark days in the history of our dear state. Those behind the dastardly acts must change their ways and those fanning embers of ethnic crisis in the Niger Delta should repent now or face the wrath of the gods and ancestors,” he said.

He called on the Itsekiri, Ijaw, Urhobo, Isoko and other ethnic groups in the area to shun divisive tendencies and dissipate their energies and resources on

partnering government at all levels to bring the culprits to justice.

“Those trying to use destruction of oil facilities to

plunge the ethnic nationalities in the area into another orgy of violence will fail. The people are now wiser to their antics and selfish motives,” he added.

Delta CAN decries rising cases of kidnapping

By Victor Ahiuma-Young

D

ELTA State chapter of Christian Association of Nigerian, CAN, has expressed concern over the increasing cases of kidnapping in the state, and called on security agencies to be alive to their responsibilities by checking the trend.

The body condemned the recent kidnap and subsequent murder of the traditional ruler of Ubulu-Uku Kingdom, HRM Edward Ofulue III, as well as the alleged abduction of another monarch, the traditional ruler of Olomoro Kingdom, HRM Josiah Aghaza I, a few days ago.

CAN warned those involved

in the unholy act “to repent or be ready to face the wrath of the ‘soldiers of Christ’ in Delta State.”

In a statement by state Chairman of the association, Reverend Gideon Oyibo, CAN warned that should such occurrence persist in the state, it would not hesitate to mobilize Christians for appropriate massive actions against Fulani herdsmen, the alleged perpetrators of the act in the state.

Condoling with the royal family of Ubulu-Uku and the entire Ubulu-Uku Kingdom on the strange kidnapping and murder of their monarch, the association offered prayers for the immediate release of the kidnapped traditional ruler of Olomoro Kingdom.

Allegation that I sacked commissioners loyal to Odubu laughable —Oshiomhole

By Simon Ebegbulem

B

ENIN—GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, yesterday, described as laughable, claims by some commissioners who were sacked by his administration, that they were being victimized due to their perceived support for the governorship ambition of the deputy governor of the state, Dr Pius Odubu.

Oshiomhole said that they were sacked for alleged betrayal of trust, which he described as sad, adding that rather than make public apologies, they have been carrying advertorials to rubbish his person.

He spoke while swearing in the new Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Kaseem Afegbua and the member representing Orhiomwon Local Government Area on the board of the Oil and Gas Commission, Mr Sunday Iyamu.

He said: “Even people who were involved in some offences, investigated and confirmed even by the deputy governor, when we removed them from office, instead of hiding their heads in shame, sponsored write ups that they were fired because they were supporting the deputy governor."

Chief Ofua for burial March 4

C

HIEF Samson Ofua, the founding father of Urhobo Orators, is dead, aged 90.

A statement by Godspower Efiawhre, said Chief Ofua, who hailed from Ovu Inland in Ethiope East LGA of Delta State, was National Coordinator, Urhobo Language and Co-ordinator, Urhobo Magazine, Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) Benin City untill 1990.

Service of songs comes up March 3, 2016 at 27, Old Warri Road, Oviorie. March 4, 2016, lying in state and interment at his compound, Oviore.

He is survived by two widows, 15 children, 45 grand children and eight greatgrand children.

Late Chief Samson Ofua

14 —Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

SERIAKE DICKSON, BAYELSA GOV CLOCKS 50.

Governor Dickson, assisted by his wife, Rachael cutting the birthday cake.

Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson (centre) supported by his wife, Rachael (right) and daughter, jointly cutting the Governor’s 50th birthday anniversary cake at Government House, Yenagoa.

Governor Dickson and Rev Uma Ukpai at the event.

Governor Dickson, his wife, Rachael with some children at the Gloryland Motherless Babies Home (Orphanage) during the Governor’s 50th birthday

FACES AT PROF PAT UTOMI'S 60TH BIRTHDAY. Photos by Kehinde Gbadamosi.

From left; Prof Pat Utomi, Mrs Ifeoma Utomi; Miss Nony Utomi; Miss Isioma Utomi, and Mr Patrick Utomi during the Evening of Culture to mark the 60th Birthday Ceremony of Prof Pat Utomi, organised by Centre for Values in Leadership.

From left; Chief Samuel Adedoyin, Justice George Oguntade, Chief Mrs Folashade Okoya, and Chief Razak Okoya.

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From Left; Mr Stanley Agwuh, Mr Sachin Agwuh, and Akshay Tami.

From left; Chief Razak Okoya, Chief Sunny Kuku, and Dr. Mrs Doyin Abiola

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2 , 2016—15

BIAFRA: Rights group names Nnamdi Kanu

prisoner-of-conscience •Wants his defence team to appeal against bail denial •As MASSOB reaffirms commitment to actualize struggle

O

The statement

In the statement entitled: “SBCHROs Names Nnamdi Kanu-A Prisoner-OfConscience On Account Of His Continued Persecution

By Buhari & Bail Denial By Justice John Tsoho”, the group further stated that for the fact that he was arrested and detained for 98 days without trial contrary to Sections 35 (4) (a) (right to personal liberty), 33 (right to life), 34 (right to dignity of human person), 36 (right to fair hearing) and 41 (right to freedom of movement) of the 1999 Constitution and Articles V,VI,VII and XII of the African Charter on Human & Peoples Rights (ratified and domesticated by Nigeria in 1983) and for the fact that the Nigerian authorities led by President Muhammadu Buhari have flouted with impunity and reckless abandon, several court decisions bordering on protection and enforcement of these constitutional rights of the detained Prisoner-ofConscience; Kanu should now be addressed as so.

Arrest politically motivated

According to the statement, “For the fact that Nnamdi Kanu’s arrest and detention was politically motivated and ill-conceived; for the fact that he was arrested and detained and is being C M Y K

By Anozie Egole

A

BUJA—THE Catholic Church has explained the recent transfer of controversial Catholic priest, Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka from Enugu to Emene.

The Church said the essence of his transfer was to make him more useful.

By Nwabueze Okonkwo & Francis Igata

NITSHA—AS reactions continued to trail last Friday’s ruling of the Abuja Federal High Court presided over by Justice John Tsoho which turned down an application for bail filed by the detained leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, members of Southeast Based Coalition of Human Rights Organization, SBCHROs have nicknamed Kanu a prisoner-of-conscience, POC. In a press statement issued yesterday in Onitsha, Anambra state, SBCHROs said that for the fact that Nnamdi Kanu has never killed anybody, used violence, advocated for violence or authorized anybody or group to kill, Kanu eminently deserves the local and international status of a prisoner-of-conscience.

Why we transferred Fr Mbaka —Catholic Church

Detained leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu (2nd right). persecuted for his non violent political and social thoughts and for the fact that the mind of the trial Judge, Hon Justice John Tsoho was possibly abused, biased and corrupted presidentially, leading to the Judge convicting him even before trial (his choice of words); upon which he was denied his long awaited and deserved bail; he should henceforth be called prisoner of conscience.”

The statement further declared: “For the purpose of refreshing the minds of all and sundry particularly the Nigerian democratic forces, Prisoner of Conscience, POC is a term coined by Peter Benenson; founder of Amnesty International, UK in his May 28, 1961 article “the Forgotten Prisoners,” published in the London Observer Newspaper. The term refers to anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views expressed or conducted non-violently or in peaceful manners.

“It also refers to those who have been imprisoned and/ or persecuted for nonviolent expression of their conscientiously held beliefs.

Amnesty International, UK regards prisoners of conscience as political and activist prisoners (non white collar or street criminal suspects) or jailed international or national citizens who have been jailed or imprisoned by repressive and

suppressive political authorities because of their political, religious or other conscientiously-held beliefs, ethnic origin, sex, colour, language, national or social origin, economic status, birth, sexual orientation or other status, provided that they are non violent and peaceful and have never sanctioned the opposite.

“Beyond naming Kanu a prisoner-of-conscience; plans

by SBCHROs are also on the way to formally write and appeal to the likes of Amnesty International, UK, the Human Rights Watch, USA and the Society for the Threatened People, Germany, etc to also adopt Nnamdi Kanu as a prisoner-of-conscience or be given or accorded with equivalent status.

“As SBCHROs’ prisoner-ofconscience, Nnamdi Kanu will remain under our local, national and global campaign searchlight until he is freed, discharged and acquitted of the ongoing phantom charge of treasonable felony”.

We remain committed —MASSOB

Similarly, the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, yesterday, reaffirmed its commitment to stay focused on the struggle for Biafra secession not minding the distractions meant to whittle down the outcome.

The pro-Biafra group was reacting to a comment credited to Rabiu Kaugama representing Madori/ Kaugama Federal

Constituency of Jigawa State wherein he alleged that Biafran agitators have abandoned the struggle and surrendered to President Muhammad Buhari.

In a statement by MASSOB leader, Uchenna Madu and made available to newsmen in Enugu,the Biafra activists warned that it will not be cowed or weakened by sponsored utterances of some northern leaders adding that the over 17 years struggle cannot be jettisoned on the altar of partisanship.

According to Madu, ”our struggle has yeilded much unprecedented and overwhelming diplomatic success and international sympathy/recognition; a struggle of survival that members have willingly and consciously sacrificed their lives and are willing to pay more prices.

Non-violence Biafra struggle

“MASSOB has made it clear uncountable times that no amount of external falsehood, intimidative utterances and campaign of negative impressions will ever deter us from the non-violence Biafra struggle. MASSOB under my leadership will never be detered or shaken because of baseless allegations of compromising the Biafra struggle. We are aware that our detractors/blackmailers are not comfortable with MASSOB new reformation and global recognition.

“We will continue to partner with IPOB and other pro-Biafra groups to actualize the struggle.”

In a reaction through the Secretary-General of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Reverend Father Ralph Madu, yesterday, the church said the posting was not meant to be punitive but a “normal church procedure.”

According to him, “Mbaka’s transfer is not an exception; the Bishop has the right to post any priest wherever he feels his service would be more useful to the church. “ His posting should have been a privilege, not a punishment – which the Bishop can do because he has the power.

“If he (Mbaka) says it’s a punishment, then it’s open for further investigation. Posting is a regular thing, a priest can be transferred after two, three, four, or more years. It depends on the discretion of the Bishop.

“That ministry (Adoration Ministry) is his private ministry. It does not belong to the church. Overseeing a parish is a full time job.

Overseeing a ministry is a bigger task. If the church decides to take him somewhere where he’ll have more time to carry out his ministry, how is it punitive?

That should not be the language.”

Madu said Fr. Mbaka had done things that were unacceptable to the church in the past but received no punishments for them.

He said: “He is supposed to be a missionary. What if the Bishop had closed down the ministry , which is within his power to do? Sometimes, transfers can be for the good of thepriestassomethingcanbegoing wrong which he might not be aware of. The Bishop is free to move any priest at any time, it is his prerogative.”

Criticisms had greeted the Enugu Diocese’s recent decision to transfer Mr. Mbaka out of Christ the King Parish , GRA, where he had served for over a decade and had establishedapopularprayerministry, the Adoration Prayer Ministry.

Fr Mbaka is to resume immediately at his new post at the Our Lady Parish, Emene. The priest, who is as fiery as he is controversial, had described his re-posting by the church as a “calculated move” to make him suffer."

16 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 02 , 2016

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Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBUARY 2, 2016 — 17

I

F I were to ask you to name one or two countries that can be said to be friends of Nigeria, my guess is you would be hard-pressed to answer. The truth is that Nigeria is a loneranger in international relations. We have no friends.

There is virtually no country we can run to or rely on in a time of need. If anything speaks eloquently of the failure of Nigeria’s diplomacy, it is our failure to cultivate friends and allies in international relations in 55 years of independent nationhood.

A friend is useful in times of need. Today is Nigeria’s time of need. Our economy is in shambles. The price of our oil has collapsed. We are fighting insurgency in the North-east.

We need international friends to help us weather the storms.

But the truth of the matter is we have no friends.

ECOWAS diplomacy We used to say “Africa is the centre piece of Nigeria’s foreign policy.” True enough, when the going was good and our oil economy more buoyant, we expended a lot of capital on our African “friends.” We helped them militarily, diplomatically and financially. However, these friends were not really our friends because we defined friendship simplistically by race.

If you were black African, we considered you to be our friend because of our vaunted status as the biggest Black Country on earth.

These fair-weather “friends” took our money but denied us their love. Indeed, some took our money and despised us.

They obtained our support but did not feel obliged to us in any way, especially because we were foolish enough to ask for nothing in return. We simply assumed that since we helped them, they would be grateful and would like us. But they did not. Today, there is no African country we can confidently call a friend of Nigeria. Not even neighbouring Cameroon, to whom we generously and foolishly ceded Bakassi.

The West African sub-region is our natural zone of influence.

Within it, we are a colossus.

The Nigerian economy is larger than that of all other ECOWAS countries put together. Our population is over 50% of all ECOWAS. Over the years, we have expended a lot of capital, both human and financial, in building up ECOWAS. We have engaged at great expense in regional peace-keeping and peace-enforcing, especially in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Nevertheless, we cannot confidently say today that these countries are our friends.

Ghana is a major Anglophone ECOWAS country. It should be a natural ally of Nigeria’s in the sub-regional sea of Francophone countries.

Nevertheless, Ghana is more our competitor than our friend.

We have been known in the past to expel Ghanaians from Nigeria under our infamous “Ghana must Go” policy. Such C M Y K

With Buhari's new friends, who needs enemies? acts of hostility do not promote friendship; neither are they easily or readily forgotten.

Frontline States Even more pathetic is our relationship with Southern African countries. If no other countries in Africa are friends of Nigeria, the Southern African countries of Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa should be our very best friends because of our active participation in their liberation struggles. Not only have we gone out of the way to establish friendship with them, there can be no doubt that they owe it to Nigeria to be our friends.

With South Africa, for example, Nigeria was at the forefront of its anti-apartheid struggle. This earned Nigeria the honorary status of a frontline state, even though we are geographically a West African, as opposed to Southern African, country. Nevertheless, Nigerians were recent victims of xenophobic attacks in South Africa. When Nelson Mandela died, the Nigerian president was not even given the privilege of making a speech at his funeral.

Lone ranger On a basic and fundamental level, Nigerians do not want friends, especially extra-African friends. We are too brash and too independent to seek

A diplomacy that requires you to bad-mouth your country in order to please your so-called new friends every time you venture abroad only goes to show that your friends are not really your friends

international friendship. We like to believe we need no one.

Our former so-called oil-wealth was a blinder in this regard. It gave us the illusion that we did not need help. As far as we were concerned, we could go it alone and were determined to do so.

On the wider international scene, we delighted more in irritating the West than in courting it. At critical junctures in the courts of the United Nations, we voted against Western interests, and made a great song and dance about it.

We made speeches, telling off the West. We had romances and dalliances with the Eastern bloc countries. We joined OPEC in confrontation of the West. We declared national sovereignty over our natural resources and tweaked the tail of Britain by nationalising British Petroleum assets in Nigeria.

We have never really expressed a liking for Britain, our former colonial overlord, beyond making it a destination of choice for shopping, schooling and immigration. No sooner had we become independent than we jettisoned the British parliamentary system. Later, we dumped the British pound for the Nigerian naira. We decided to drive on the right and not on the left. We ditched yards for metres. The only thing British we have left is the English language, but even there, we have a distinctive preference for nasal American phonetics to Queen's English.

Disdain of America Having ditched rule Britannia, Nigerians are now enamoured with the United States. We adore the American exuberance. We like the fact that Americans are larger than life. We are fascinated by American gangs and gangsters.

Our musicians are American copycats. Our television is all things American. Our political system is made in America.

However, what we want is to be like the Americans. We would not have the Americans rule over us.

In any case, the Americans see us more as nuisances than as friends. To be a friend of America from the American point of view, you have to be a slave of America. But Nigerians learnt from rule Britannia that: “Nigerians never never never shall be slaves.” We don’t want

to forge a strategic military alliance with the Americans. We don’t want to create a port for their navy. We don’t want American troops on our soil. We are even leery about them training our soldiers. We will not let them browbeat us into legalising same-sex marriage.

Friends of the United States are required to kowtow to the Americans. They are required to bow down to them. But since Nigerians are too proud for that, the American have no time for us. Their disdain for Nigeria is palpable. American news networks regularly bad-mouth Nigeria. When CBS’ “60 Miniutes” wants to do a programme on corruption, it does not base it on New York or Chicago; it bases it on Lagos.

When Obama visits Africa as the first black president of the United States, he deliberately ignores Nigeria; the biggest black African country and economy.

The CIA maliciously envisaged the collapse and unraveling of Nigeria by 2015.

It must be none too pleased that this did not happen. With the onslaught of Boko Haram insurgency, the Americans refused to sell us arms, even though we were not asking to buy them on credit. With the onslaught of Ebola, they sent special drugs to Liberia and not to Nigeria. Lately, the United States moved from being the largest importer of Nigeria’s oil, to a zero-importer of Nigeria’s oil.

Buhari’s new friends The illusion of the Buhari administration lies in the belief that the West is not anti-Nigeria but simply anti-Jonathan. The Americans supported the opposition APC against the PDP government in the 2015 elections. Obama’s campaign gurus doubled as Buhari’s campaign advisers. They provided the APC with a media blitz that showcased a suitwearing Buhari to dazzle Nigerians.

Mid-way through the election, Buhari borrowed a leaf from Obama and carried his campaign to far-off Chatham House in London, even as Obama carried his to Berlin in 2008. During the 2015 election itself, the American interfered in the process, complaining about the postponement of the

election and warning the Nigerian government not to rig the vote.

With the election won, Buhari eagerly made a trip to the United States. However, he came back empty-handed.

Buhari’s government is mistaken in the belief that the Americans are now friends of Nigeria. This is far from the truth. The Americans have mouthed sweet-nothings about helping us defeat Boko Haram, but there is considerable evidence that the Boko Haram is sponsored by the Saudis; and the Saudis are key American allies in the Middle East. This is where the whole situation gets murky.

New Boko Haram The Saudis have a principal regional adversary, the Iranians. The Saudis are Shias: the Iranians are Shi’ites. For the time-being, their battlegrounds are Syria and Iraq, but if Buhari is not careful, it will soon extend to Nigeria. Instead of minding our business, the Buhari administration decided to join an anti-insurgency coalition organised by the Saudis, clearly designed to short-circuit Iranian return from international isolation after its nuclear deal with the West.

It is no coincidence that as we were slaughtering hundreds of our Shi’ite brothers on very spurious grounds in Zaria recently, the Saudis were also announcing in Riyadh the execution of 47 Shi’ites on terrorism charges, including Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr; provoking great uproar in the Shi’ite world. In short, while still grappling with Boko Haram, we have laid the foundation for another insurgency in Northern Nigeria by importing the incendiary of Sunni/Shi’ite conflagration into Nigeria, all in the interest of being in the good books of the Saudis and their Western allies.

Saudi Arabia is no friend of Nigeria’s. It cannot be because it remains a principal sponsor of international terrorism.

Britain and the United States are no friends of Nigeria. The only friendship they accept would make us their slaves.

France is no friend of Nigeria’s.

It regards the francophone countries of our ECOWAS subregion as its subalterns, making us its competitor. In any case, it is better to be an enemy of the West than a friend. Enemies of the West get destroyed by Western friendship. We do not need to become a battle-ground for Western and Saudi proxy wars in Africa.

The young and naïve Buhari administration needs to tread with caution, even as it looks for friends on the international scene. Anti-corruption is not the only viable foreign policy option of Nigeria today. A diplomacy that requires you to bad-mouth your country in order to please your so-called new friends every time you venture abroad only goes to show that your friends are not really your friends.

18 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBUARY 2, 2016 WITH the recent Supreme Court verdict on the epic gubernatorial election in Rivers State which pronounced Governor Nyesom Wike as duly elected, we are calling on all political gladiators to sheath their swords and give peace a chance.

We are glad that the two main protagonists in the political “war”, Governor Wike, who flew the flag of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and his counterpart, Hon Dakuku Peterside, who stood for the All Progressives Congress (APC), went public with peace overtures as soon as the judgement was made known on Wednesday, January 27, 2016. While Wike made a radio and television live broadcast calling on his former opponents to join hands with him in developing the state and providing good governance, Peterside immediately raised an olive branch, pledging his

Let there be peace in Rivers cooperation.

These two leaders, by their pronouncements, showed good examples for their supporters to emulate. We hope they would follow up their words with action and ensure that a conducive atmosphere is provided for the peaceful coexistence of all citizens and residents of the state. We need to reiterate that the essence of the democratic contest for leadership is to give the people the chance to choose between the candidates who are hungry for their endorsement.

It is unfortunate that politicians

saw themselves more as gladiators and warriors during the campaigns and the elections proper, and conducted themselves in ways that led to loss of lives and property and deep grief for many innocent citizens who suffered collateral damage. The elections in Rivers and Bayelsa States were “soaked in blood”. We totally abhor this beastly manner of electioneering, and hope that lessons have been learned to avoid a repeat in the future, both in Rivers and all other parts of the country.

The beauty of democracy is evident in the fact that no

condition is permanent. Those in power today will one day be out and those who lost today have more chances to try again in the future.

The story of our incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari, should inspire all politicians to be patient and persistent in seeking the people’s mandate. Three times he tried to be president and failed.

He made it the fourth time.

The time has passed when any leader or political party could hope to stay in power without justifying the mandate given to them. PDP, the ruling party in Rivers State, the main opposition, APC, and others have roles to play in ensuring good governance in the state.

They all have a shared obligation to provide an enabling atmosphere for the citizens to enjoy the dividends of democracy and accelerated development. Four years is just a shout away, not an eternity.

OPINION Looming dar kness ffor or the judiciar y? darkness judiciary?

By Jide Esan

T

HAT the Nigerian judiciary is under studied and coordinated siege, is as certain as that the price of crude oil has fallen off the cliff, or that the value of the naira is collapsing under this present administration.

Just one peep-in at the longlist of siege bombardments. A professor of law, apparently on hire, [the professor heads a well-funded, and government promoted anti-corruption advisory body] took up newspaper pages and ‘decreed’ that government, who apparently he was speaking for, would be surprised if the judgement of the Supreme Court, in the Governor Wike versus Peterside, went ‘otherwise’. And thank God the Supreme Court ‘shamed’ them by the unanimity of a landmark judgement that went ‘otherwise’, against the interference and ‘instructions’ of the professor of law.

However to get a takeaway view of the longlist it serves us well to quote Idowu Akinlotan, a columnist with The Nation’s newspaper. It serves well to remember that both The Nation and the columnist, were sympathisers of candidate Muhammadu Buhari. Now apparently suffering from a post-purchase trauma, Idowu in his Abubakar Malami’s inquisitorial tendency, of January 24, 2016 writes: ‘’And both he the president, and [Attorney General] Mr. Malami talked sanctimoniously about the outrage over judges’ corruption as if the judiciary is isolated from Nigeria’s other publics; as if corruption in the judiciary, because of its moral and religious undertones and implications, is somehow more

reprehensible than corruption elsewhere….. What both the president and Mr. Malami are doing to the judiciary is even more damaging than the corruption they conclude has hobbled justice delivery.’’

But topping the longlist of deadly siege against a largely innocent judiciary, comes the prize winner. It was perhaps as usual a presidential diatribe fired from abroad. In a Nigeria’s Judiciary is my main headache in corruption war – Buharireport, The Premium Times, January 31, 2016 writes: A statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said Mr. Buhari stated this while speaking at a town hall meeting with Nigerians living in Ethiopia.

‘The president said that far-reaching reforms of the judiciary remained a key priority for his administration.”On the fight against corruption vis-à-vis the judiciary, Nigerians will be right to say that is my main headache for now.’

With this release, we can now state that we have entered the final theatre of warfare and siege against the judiciary. And it is here that the matter becomes a matter of life and death both for our young democracy and our very diverse nation.

First the greatest mistake we will make as citizens of a free and proud country is to think that if the judges are intimidated and gamed, it is just the judiciary that has to fall. The point is that the fall of the judiciary

The jurisprudential and operational independence of the judiciary are granted her by the will of the people not at the leave of the executive

will bring in its wake the fall of 170 million Nigerians and the rise of dictatorship, perhaps dictatorship in civilian democratic disguise.

The other points in issue are as follows.

The judiciary like the executive is an independent arm of government and governance. The judiciary contrary to the false impression being canvassed is not a third party or stranger to governance.

Democratic good governance as designed, is a joint participation of the legislature, the judiciary and lastly the executive. It is no longer democratic or governance, if the judiciary or just any other arm is diminished or excluded.

The judiciary is not a creation of the executive and does not exist at her leave or at any level of subservience to the executive.

What constitutes the greater, in fact the only good of the nation, are policies, laws, as made by the legislature, interpreted by the judiciary and executed by the executive.

And just like the executive and the legislature, the judiciary is a creation of the constitution, of the people. Separately and severally the three arms are all independent partisans and are so purposecreated by the people.

To repeat it is deliberately so created. So it is illogical for a partisan in the issue, say the executive to claim it wants to reform another partisan, here the judiciary. Firstly, whoever has proved that the judiciary is more corrupt than the executive, now or in the past? And without a proof how can the executive volunteer on a quixotic journey of reforming another and not itself? Let the executive first reform itself. The greatest sauce to corruption in Nigeria is in the unimaginative, unmanageable centralisation hoisted on the nation by executive, in a long history of coup making.

So why reform that?

It thus follows and needs to be restated that none of the three independent arms of government, the judiciary, the executive and the legislature, shall or can arrogate to itself, however messianic, the ambition to reform the other. Just as the judiciary cannot reform the executive, the executive cannot not be allowed to tinker with the processes, assumptions, jurisprudence and proclivities of the judicial arm. If there are to be crossbranch reforms, the very process must be returned to the people. In other words the jurisprudential and operational independence of the judiciary are granted her by the will of the people not at the leave of the executive. And only the people can tamper with it.

The executive is not created with the wisdom to know what good judicial orders or processes are. Anything outside this is to act a coup, perhaps on the mistaken error one wants to inaugurate a new paradise, a troubled paradise? So whether the judicial process takes a thousand years or days, should not be a matter for the executive arm. Executive wisdom if there be such a thing, does not cross boundaries, certainly not unto judicial turfs. Executives can only be wise in executive things. That is the decree of the people via the constitution.

Democracy is a team play, and of the three member representative players, not one is subservient to the other. Tellingly Abuja has a Three Arms Zone, a signification of the irreducible importance of each arm to the play and game of democracy. Or is APC under Buhari, gunning for One Arms Zone?

Finally is the judiciary is the headache of the executive, it may be indicated that the executive commits hara-kiri of its own freewill.Dictatorship of whatever kind is actually the worst moral corruption.

Dr. Esan, a commentator on national isues, wrote from Lagos.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016 —19

Oshiomhole and Edo State politics

By Sunny Ikhioya

A

DAMS Aliyu Oshiomhole, the present governor of Edo state is one person I have tremendous respect and admiration for; a great orator, cerebral analyst, brilliant administrator and very effective grass roots mobilizer. He is one who rides the opportunities as they come; as a local unionist at the Kaduna textile factory to becoming the head of the Nigerian Labour Congress as President.

Whether by chance/destiny or through his brilliance, or a combination of all, he has managed to come out as one of the symbols of our present democracy experience. But for his doggedness and team, it"s a wonder what President Olusegun Obasanjo would have done with this nation. Their confrontation stories are now legendary and not once did Oshiomhole avoid the set up trap. He brought respect and dignity to the Labour union within and outside our shores through his quality contributions to Labour matters. You can always count on Oshiomhole’s perfect delivery on any matter that he is handling. He was so good that late Chief Gani Fawehinmi considered the governorship position too little for him, urging him to go for the

ultimate prize of President. When the APC party was shopping for a presidential candidate, not a few of us expected Oshiomhole to throw his hat in the ring but the sociological implications of our nation’s politics –ethnic and religious- ensured that he remained in the background.

Oshiomhole is wise enough to identify the battle that he can win, not the presidential ticket of his party in 2015.

Incidentally, this was the period that a different side of Oshiomhole’s personality began to manifest. Oshiomhole had not been too strong on religion prior to this time and the general impression was that he tilted towards Islam. In fact, at a time the Aliyu in his name was more pronounced than Adams.

Suddenly, in the heat of the activities to pick a Vice Presidential candidate for Muhammadu Buhari, Oshiomhole came out with an official statement for the general public to know that his religion is Christianity and not Islam. Then the Muslim-Muslim ticket for the APC was totally ruled out, not a few of us wondered why Oshiomhole will come up with such declaration at the time.

After his successful re-election and with the victory of the APC and Buhari as President, Oshiomhole became a different

man, emboldened, eager to be heard, eager for confrontation with anybody, and anything particularly on Federal matterseven though we have paid hands to perform such assignments- and ready to damn any consequence.

People of Edo and Delta states began asking the question: What does Oshiomhole want? A good General knows the risk of exposing his troop on many flanks during a war, but not so for Oshiomhole. He has been firing fromall cylinders, not caring whose ox is gored. As a result, at this point in time, we are unable to determine what will be the political consequences of his actions in the forthcoming governorship elections; both within his party and without there are disgruntled persons. Is Oshiomhole not planning to leave on a high note like he did at the NLC? We wait and see.

But, a very close study of his performance since his second coming has shown that , as a result

It is ironic that Oshiomhole now wears the tag of a godfather

RIGHT OF REPLY:

Sunset and a coronation Travel’s Broddinaggs, we have to applaud

By Ekanpou Enewaridideke

I

T is dark. No one denies that it is dark, neither does anyone pretend that the Heavenly bodies decree the darkness. Yet, it must be dark and darkened so the labourers would be known and crowned deservedly.

There would be no coronation without darkness; darkness reinforces hopes of coronation. Therefore it must be dark, very dark, for all buzzing showy creatures to get the crown and find their roost.

Great writers have distinguishing marks.

Great writers are a rarity anywhere in the world but in Nigeria great writers can be spotted in any part of the road, engaged in selective analysis. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi’s vindictive moves towards the cancellation of the Nigeria Maritime University, Okerenkoko, the incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu without bail, the violent 2015 Bayelsa State governorship election, the serial violation of court orders by the Federal government, the resurgence of Niger Delta restiveness, dwindling crude oil prices and the missing 2015 National budgets are national issues which merit the objective analytical commentary of great writers/ columnists. Intellectually engaging these issues, asserting purposive prescriptions, would guide the government towards the formulation of a clear policy direction to the comfort of the wailing Nigerians. It scalds like a steaming kettle of water that the great writers, so ideologically obsessed with the pulverization of the Jonathans, Dasuikus, OKonjo-Iwealas and the Tompolos, they have metamorphosed into Tuomo Iguanas blind and dead to the consuming craters, blazes in the national discourses on good governance. Therefore, on daily basis, we have become slaves to the pseudo-intellectual distractions of buzzing showy creatures whose motivations and HOLY GRAIL centre on qualification as the megaphone of the anti-corruption government, and may be for the occasional temporary aggrandizement tantalizingly standing as the windfall. To be so honoured and entrusted with this patriotic national task, towering far above toddling intellectuals and writers like Gulliver’s

C M Y K

their achievements everyday and sincerely pray for inspiration for them so that no hiatus would invade their task and endanger the entire country.

Obsessively, most clearly situated among the great writers is Tabia Princewill whose cream of commendable inspiration shows all elements of immersion in, and subservience to John Dryden’s ‘Mac Flecknoe’. Both intellectually and historically she strikes a chord when she hysterically cast Tompolo as the cause of the impoverishment of the Niger Delta who was economically empowered by former President Goodluck Jonathan without any corresponding extension of same empowerment to the ordinary Niger Deltans. In a logically disconnected article dominated by feeble, limping sentences in the Vanguard of 27 January 2016 entitled ‘Can Nigeria teachers still teach?’ she coughed disgustingly like a hunter poised to fire an antelope at close range in the forest that: ‘The likes of Tompolo etc. according to recent allegations were enriched by the past government, with no benefits to the common man of the Niger Delta. So when will said common man in the creeks, living from hand to mouth, stop hiding and defending the people who are the cause of the region’s poverty?’

It is pointless and vague to say that Tompolo was enriched by the past government without evidential base provided. Does any known law or tradition prohibit human capital empowerment? Or if it had just become intellectual obsession for Princewill to discourse on people enriched by past governments, why didn’t the non-Niger Deltans who have been made STINKINGLY rich with oil blocks by past

On the intellectual space, the articles of Princewill are viral proliferations, intellectual analytical abnormalities which demand attenuation and elimination

of these political distractions,his performance has fallen below expectations compared with his first tenure. For a man who has ridden to victory on the back of one man one vote mantra, it is ironic that Oshiomhole is now wears the tag of a godfather. Of course, he defended his action by saying that it is incumbent on him to play a part in the emergence of his successor but he compounded the whole issue by citing the example of Bola Tinubu and Fashola. As a self confessed democrat, is that the kind of example, of imposition that he wants to set for Edo state? Is he angling to become the Tinubu of Edo state politics? Has he bothered to find out how Tinubu has managed it? Does he think that Edo state will accept it like majority of the Yoruba states did?

Has he forgotten the rejection of Tinubu by the Ekiti and Ondo people, next door neighbours to Edo? It will be a very big minus to Oshiomhole’s record if he fails to conduct a very transparent and successful transition in the governorship race of Edo state both within his party and without.

Another point to ponder is: Does it mean we cannot get a credible candidate to take over from Oshiomhole in a free and fair contest without his open endorsement of a candidate? The democratic process is simple and straight forward, if our politicians do not come with their selfish interest; conduct free ward

governments feature in her tendentious article of famished sentences. When superrich oil magnates are deleted from an article supposedly partly devoted to the analytical categorisation and minimisation of personalities enriched by past governments, then we must listen to the tutoring voice of Wole Soyinka’s in The Interpreters as this would expose the true undisguised motivations of Princewill: ‘When a club yields right of way to an antelope, first look and see if Father Leopard is not a few trees behind’.

The pernicious ideological obsession of Princewill perpetually dances to hysterical filete steps. In her second article of disjointed communication, she admitted the existence of ethnic sentiments in the UK. It was also part of her admission that Nicola sturgeon who was the leader of Scottish National Party was known for his advocacy for projection of an undiluted Scottish voice in parliament. Perhaps, the commendable advocacy role of Nicola Sturgeon parallels the emancipation advocacy role of Tompolo, who inspired by the fosilled words of Soyinka in The Man Died that ‘The man dies in all who keeps silent in the face of tyranny’, has sacrificially laboured to bring developmental illumination to the Niger Delta, though armlessly.

Reading the article logically one would have expected Princewill to foreground the parallel between sturgeon and Tompolo and analytically justify the emancipatory sacrifices of Tompolo and the Niger Delta State struggle but rather illogically, she coughed intermittently and ululated that Tompolo, Asari and Jonathan were the agents of underdevelopment in Nigeria and the Niger Delta in particular, and that this domineering triumvirate had perfected the art of barricading talented Niger Deltans from the South-South who could LONDONISE Nigeria and the Niger Delta.

In an article in which no part is devoted to a discourse on talents and personalities from the South-South geopolical zone, this signals the peak of compositional illogicality, intellectual casuistry, intellectual self-aggrandisement, hubris, analytical prejudice, analytical incapability, intellectual self-confusion, analytical culde-sac, etc. it is Princewill’s article published in the Vanguard of 13 May 2015 entitled ‘UK general election: Regional and popular interest in Nigeria and UK Politics’ which

elections and pick representatives, then go to local government levels and choose amongst the ward representatives, then to the Senatorial levels and the state. If the people pick their leaders transparently, there will be no confusion.

Is Oshiomhole fighting for the politics of after service as an ex governor? That is the question people are asking. It is worthy of note that he acknowledged the helplessness of the godfather once the new man is sworn in, therefore the solution is not in imposition or open support for a particular candidate. The solution is in conducting a peaceful,credible and bias free primaries to choose the leaders. It is not every time that the best leader comes out through a democratic process but more often than not, they get a leader that is generally accepted and this reduces tension, which creates an avenue for peace and under a peaceful atmosphere the people thrive. The other beauty of democracy is that if the people are wrong in their choice(s), they have another chance in just four years to correct their mistakes through another election. Oshiomhole must leave a legacy of true democracy in Edo state, if not, posterity will not judge him favourably, despite all his gifts. *Mr. Ikhioya, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Lagos.

embodies this vindictive analysis: ‘Indeed, ethnic, or regional sentiments exist, even in the UK. Scottish National party leader Nicola Sturgeon has been advocating for a clear Scottish voice in parliament. Talents from the South-South who could have brought real development to ordinary people in the Niger Delta were sidelined by the Asari Dokubos and Tompolos of this world, who besides loud often comical pronouncements, have not, like their Principal, lifted their home towns, their people or Nigerians at large, out of poverty’.

The coronation of Princewill as a great writer, even more talented than Soyinka, Achebe and JP Clark, is fast approaching.

The coronation Committee demands that whether or not she would be crowned depends on the number of trophies or laurels garnered; the number of laurels would be determined by the pulverization power and range of her obsessive pen and so to merit the crown, she has grown indiscriminate, destructive and insolent in the empowerment of her pulverization machine, deliberately moving away from analysis of developing issues, matters to infliction of bodily wounds, assaults on targeted personalities.

Nowhere is this analytical deviousness or bifurcation more eloquent and purposive than this when verbal gamalin 20 was remorselessly poured on former President Jonathan in this article published in the Vanguard of 2 September 2015 entitled ‘The disservice of Jonathan’s men’: That he didn’t know of their activities is frightening: who then was in control? Many feel it is the untenable defense of a village boy who unexpectedly came to power and wanted to act as the ‘big boys’ did before him, “chop and clean mouth” but without the networks, or the devilish cunning and sophistication of a maradona to get away with it’.

A virus, not attenuated or emasculated, destroys indiscriminately beyond control.

The Ebola virus once reigned but was killed

by Jonathan government. Today, it is the Lassa fever that threatens though there are corresponding moves by President Muhammadu Buhari to curtail it. On the intellectual space, the articles of Princewill are viral proliferations, intellectual analytical abnormalities which demand attenuation and elimination. *Mr. Enewaridideke a public affairs analyst, wrote from Akparemogbene, Delta State.

20—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBUARY 2, 2016

Minister Lai, How now, the bailout?

Much learning earns you much trouble.

The more you know, the more you hurt.

Ecclesiastes 1:18 The Message (MSG) NTIL I came across this verse of scripture,Dr. Amos Akingba had been my reference point on the danger of knowing more than most of your community.The elder statesman is fond of expressing regrets that he knows too much. "Sometimes I wish I don't know as much as I do.If I were in some village chewing kola nut and drinking palm wine all over the place,I would not be in this agony as I would be swimming in ignorance."

I feel like him when I look at the level of ignorance in our country today and the gusto with which they are expressed.While one could pardon the children of frustration on yahoo-the generation that went to school but learnt nothing-the same cannot be said of those who learnt but are now putting their feet in their mouth.

The ones who know yahoo more than history are not capable of arguing any subject. All they know is abuse,insult and curses.They are all over Facebook,Twitter and other platforms of expression of anger without reason.They are not capable of rational thought. They lack the power of analysis.They can hardly see beyond their noses. They have very few words in their dictionary :"clown", "fool", "idiot" "stupid" et al.

This army of ignoramuses are complimented in our land today by the old peers who should know better but afflict the intellectual space with the vigour of the yahooligans.

U

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Information and Culture minister. to think that something is wrong with what you are saying if you are not so sure of yourself.

However if you are made of steel you go on expressing your conviction knowing that whosoever wants to lead the orchestra must be ready to back the crowd.

A few months ago ,the company of simpletons were all over the place hailing the ill-thought out bail out for the states as a great feat.The then spokesman of APC,Alhaji Lai Mohammed now Information and Culture minister was pounding the ground over the package. Said he: "Also, the President has approved a debt

Bakare on successful change I read one of them in a Sunday paper about two weeks ago dismissing the seminal presentation of Pastor Tunde Bakare on "Roadmap To A Successful Change" and I could not but weep for this country.It was as if the old man did not read what he was reacting to.His take on the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference showed that he did not even bother to read the conference reports.And these are folks moulding opinions for some people.

When you share the same space with such people,you are tempted C M Y K

The implication is that the life span of such loans will be extended, while reducing the states’ debtservicing expenditures, thus leaving the states with enough resources

Map of Nigeria relief programme that will help states restructure their commercial loans currently put at over N660 billion. The implication is that the life span of such loans will be extended, while reducing the states’ debt-servicing expenditures, thus leaving the states with enough resources – which otherwise would have been removed at source by the banks – to meet their monthly salary obligations, among others. ”History is repeating itself before our very eyes. Some 31 years ago, Buhari, then as a military head of state, also inherited a huge national rot similar to what has been bequeathed to it by the PDP, and had to approve 480 million Naira for the payment of arrears of workers’ salaries. Truly, the President is a man of destiny,” This column was not scared to call the bail out exactly what it was -fiscal irresponsibility.I particularly don't like quoting myself but I have to do it often now in our season of peculiar mess in Nigeria.

Writing under "Fiscal Irresponsibility as bailout" on 8th September 2015,this column submitted as follows:" There was

no legislative approval for these loans which were packaged under the table in the most brazen violation of fiscal responsibility.

Shorn of all pretenses,the states drawing these loans are technically under RECEIVERSHIP! What the Federal Government has done is akin to what someone who has a wayward relation living beyond his means would do to dig him further into the trench while deceiving himself that he is helping out. Imagine the scenario where a fellow who is earning N100,000 a month decides to go and rent a flat in Ikoyi where he pays a rent of N250,000 monthly. Within six months he has gathered “gbese” of N1.5m on rents and he runs to his brother to bail him out of the “quagmire “(I borrow that from one of the chronic d e b t o r governors).

If the man he runs to has a better gumption than his debtorbrother, the first thing he must do is to get him out of Ikoyi to AbuleEgba where his income can comfortably pay for a house and still be able to meet other obligations and then find ways to clear the debt he is owing in Ikoyi to remove the shame he has invited upon himself.

But if irresponsibility runs in their DNA, he could choose to serve as guarantor to his brother to go and take loans from a bank to pay the six months arrears to be repaid over 20 years at 9% interest.The implication of this is that he would pay the arrears of his irresponsible lifestyle of six months and begins to acquire new debts on rents and the interests on the loan he has taken which would immediately reduce his income to N90,000 while he still pays a rent of N250,000 monthly in addition to outstanding principal. His

condition has been worsened by the unreasonable “bailout”.

This is exactly what the Federal Government is doing to the states all in a desperate bid to keep the Abuja “command and control centre” when it has become all too obvious that the panacea is to restructure the country and create new corridors of prosperity that would give a new lease of life to the federating units.

Restructuring debt to plunge into greater indebtedness over a longer period can only be a cause for celebration as is currently the case only in Nigeria.It is clear except to the naive that none of those states would be able to do any capital project in the foreseeable future .Little wonder the APC folks can make promises to a people like these and renounce them in 100 days and yet they are not asking what they should now expect in the remaining 1350 remaining days.

Anyone still in doubt that these “maga” will continue to pay and the conmen will continue to shout “hallelujah “?

Federal allocation The yahoo thugs abused all they could for telling the truth on this matter then.

On the 28th of January 2016, The Sun Newspapers reported APC governor of Imo state as confirming the truth we spoke six months earlier:“The monthly wage bill of the state is N4.2 billion which is far higher than what we receive from federal allocation including the internally generated revenue which means that the state government has always been operating on a deficit. As at December 31, 2015 the state received N1.9 billion from the Federal Government while the monthly wage bill of the state for the same period was N4.2 billion.”

“We cannot continue to patch a cracked wall as if all is well, we need to break it down in order to rebuild it, and the current wage bill of the state is beyond our capacity. Imo State now receives the least allocation among the South-East states because of the monthly repayment of the BAILOUT FUND which the state took from the Federal Government, a situation which has further COMPOUNDED THE FINANCIAL SITUATION of the state.”

We know these truths and we will continue to express them !

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

— 21

FirstBank, 3 other banks in global top 500 Banking Brands

F

VISIT: From left, Ashish Bakhshi, Partner/Business Development Leader, EY; Ajen Sita, EY Africa CEO; Herbert Wigwe, Group Managing Director, Access Bank Plc; Henry Egbiki, EY Nigeria Country Leader and Bunmi Akinde, Senior Partner, Advisory Services, EY Nigeria, during a visit to Access Bank by EY management team in Lagos.

Corruption’ll cost Nigeria 30% of GDP by 2030 —Report A

By Jonah Nwokpoku

NEW study by professional services firm, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, PwC has shown that Nigeria will lose 30 per cent of its GDP to corruption by 2030.

Country and Regional Senior Partner, West Market Area, PwC, Mr. Uyi Akpata disclosed this when he led a PwC team to submit the report to the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Speaking on the report which was titled: ‘Impact of Corruption on Nigeria’s Economy’ Akpata said: “”The results of the study show that corruption in Nigeria could cost up

$116. 45 0.10 $2,765.00 -5.00 $13.07

-0.07

to 37% of Gross Domestic Products (GDP) by 2030 if it’s not dealt with immediately. This cost is equated to around $1,000 per person in 2014 and nearly $2,000 per person by 2030. The boost in average income that we estimate, given the current per capita income, can significantly improve the lives of many in Nigeria.”

According to PwC, “Several steps were used in the report to estimate Nigeria’s cost of corruption. The first of which was to examine over 30 studies to understand the way that corruption affects GDP in Nigeria. The study was obtained from International organisations including the OECD, IMF, DFID and Transparency International, Nigerian Academics affiliated with Nigerian Universities published by other Academics across mediums such as journals, articles and PhD publications among others as well as in-house studies assessing the health of the Nigerian economy such as the World in 2050 publication. The

IMF study was selected to estimate impact of corruption on economic growth PwC’s Chief Economist and co-author of the report, Dr Andrew S Nevin, noted that PwC formulated the ways in which corruption impacts the Nigerian economy over time and then estimated the impact of corruption on Nigerian GDP, using empirical literature and PwC analysis.

He said: “We estimate the ‘foregone output’ in Nigeria since the onset of democracy in 1999 and the ‘output opportunity’ to be gained by 2030, from reducing corruption to comparison countries that are also rich in natural resources.The countries we have used for comparison are: Ghana, Colombia and Malaysia.”

The report further noted that corruption is a pressing issue in Nigeria which affects public finances, business investment as well as standard of living. It listed three dynamic effects of corruption to include; Lower governance effectiveness, especially through smaller tax base and inefficient government expenditure.

IRSTBANK of Nigeria Limited has retained its number one banking brand ranking in Nigeria for the fifth consecutive year in the 2016 The Banker and Brand Finance Top 500 Banking Brands in the world.

According to the 2016 Top 500 banking brands ranking published in the February edition of The Banker magazine, Financial Times Group in conjunction with Brand Finance, London, United Kingdom, First Bank moved up the scale in 16 places. The bank moves from 336 position in 2015 to 320 this year.

A statement from the Country Representative of The Banker magazine in Nigeria, Mr. Kunle Ogedengbe, added that three other Nigerian banks also made the ranking.

They are Guaranty Trust Bank which moved to 389 in the world from 417 in 2015, Zenith Bank that dropped from 388 in 2015 to 392 in 2016, and United Bank for Africa that returned to the ranking in 447. Access Bank that made the ranking at 496 in 2015 dropped from the 2016 ranking.

First Bank’s brand value, which is the licensing rate that a third-party would need to pay to use the bank’s brand increased to $322 million in 2016 from $300 million in 2015 while that of Guaranty Trust Bank also increased to $243 million from $213 million.

The 2016 brand value of Zenith Bank increased to $238 million from $235 in 2015 while United Bank for Africa that made a return to the ranking since 2012 has a brand value of $198 million. UBA’s brand value in 2012 was $121 million.

For the ranking’s methodology, Brand Finance obtained brand-specific financial and revenue data; modeled the market to identify market demand and the position of individual banks in the context of all other market competitors; established the royalty rate for each bank; calculated the discount rate specific to each bank, taking account of its size, geographical presence, reputation, gearing and brand rating and discounted future royalty stream (explicit forecast and perpetuity periods) to a net present value which is the brand value.

Obat Oil denies diversion of N1.2bn oil subsidy $34.93

-1.06

$32.23

-1.39

CURRENCY BUYING US DOLLAR POUNDS EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYAL KRONA SDR

196 279. 8684 213.836 191. 9311 1.6192 0.3066 270. 2647 29.7999 52. 2263 28.6458 270. 578

SELLING 196.5 280. 5824 214.3815 192. 4207 1.6233 0.3166 270.9541 29. 8764 52.3595 28.7118 271.2683

197 277. 2963 214.927 192. 9103 1.6274 0. 3266 271. 6436 29.9529 52. 4927 28.7919 271. 9585

CBN Exchange rate as at 01/02/2016

C M Y K

By Adeleke Adeseri

T

HE management of Obat Oil and Petroleum Limited has denied reports of its alleged diversion of N1.2billion oil subsidy, saying the publication is not only malicious but orchestrated to disturb its business.

The company also urged the public to disregard rumours that its tank farms had been sealed up by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC. A statement signed by the Head of the Legal Department of the Oil Company Mr. Seun Bakare said “We take excep-

tion to any malicious publication and slander orchestrated by certain people in a bid to disrupt our business. For the avoidance of doubt, EFCC did not close our depot facility. We were only invited because of the petition and lies being spread by the Managing Director of Petrocam Trading Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Patrick Ilo. “We urge the public to disregard the misinformation peddled in the false and malicious publications as well as desist from propagating same, in their best interests.

Bakare said it was unfortunate that Ilo could stoop so low to the extent of feeding the public with falsehood and attempted to denigrate the personality of His Imperial Majesty, Oba Fredeick Obaretu Akin-

runtan, the Olugbo of Ugbo who was not part of the business transaction.

Bakare said while it is true that Obat Oil had business transactions with Petrocam that failed to implement the transaction according to the terms and agreement, Obat Oil will not succumb to blackmail when Petrocam had refused to allow the Accountants of the two companies to reconcile their accounts.

According to the statement, “The transactions which gave rise to the false reports and the spurious claims from which they have sprung have already been submitted to the Court’s consideration and ordinarily should not be the subject of discourse or advertorials.”

22 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

Produced by:

Edited by:

INVESTOR'S

Babajide Komolafe Peter Egwuatu, Nkiruka Nnorom Emeka Anaeto

FCMB, Courteville:

Profit warnings and more underway

By Emeka Anaeto, Economy Editor

P

REVIOUS week’s corporate disclosures, a measure of corporate discipline and integrity resonated with profit warning from FCMB Plc, a major player in Nigeria’s banking sector. A week later another quoted company, Courteville Business Solutions, the technology company running the popular Autoreg, issued their’s.

As usual their stocks tumbled maximumly, and coming on the heat of massive stock routing, this came without much noise.

But our investigations have indicated that more profit warnings are underway as both nine-months and full year 2015 corporate performance results begin to roll-in.

Stockbrokers and investment analysts are all jittery at the fate of the market which had shed so much weight and literally gasping for breath since beginning of this year. The negative trend was coming at a time fiscal and monetary policies were rather inclement and unfriendly to stock market.

Investors’ expectations This is not the first time profit warnings were used to manage investors’ expectations. In 2012 there were profit warnings from many quoted companies. Then many stockbrokers were not happy with the trading outcomes as bear run hit the investments.

But the situation now appeared different. Then it was only the banking sector that was affected with Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive to write-off bad debts.

Also the stock market was not facing an all-round turbulence.

In the current situation most quoted companies across almost all sectors of the market are under the pressure arising from general macroeconomic downturn.

Moreover, the bear run on the market is far longer and rather than signs of buttoming out most analysts are seeing more reds following last week’s uninspiring outcome from the first 2016 Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, of the CBN. Many company results in 2015 point to harsh operating environment that have forced almost all blue chip companies into declines in financial results, the most recent being PZ Cussons.

Peter Obaseki, Managing Director of FCMB Group had stated that the nine-month poor C M Y K

results were due to two factors: a spike in impairments particularly in the energy sector and the significant reduction in trade finance-related revenues due to foreign exchange illiquidity.

The bank had subsequently announced over 84 per cent drop in profit, and this was immediately followed by further crash in the stock price, hitting over 50 per cent year-to-date.

FCMB is already used to this shock as a similar scenario played out nearly four years ago. In March 2012 the bank sent out a profit warning that it expected to report a net loss for 2011 of up to N9.0 billion.

Underwriting of several share issues It had then attributed the loss to some investment and underwriting of several share issues dated back to 2009 and some non-performing loans sold to Assets Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON. Immediately the shares went down by 5.0 percent with further declines in subsequent days before bottoming out.

Many other banks also had to toe same line. For instance in the same early 2012 management of UBA issued a Profit Warning.

The Bank said the loss for full year 2011 would be driven principally by one off write-offs against earnings including writeoffs from disposal of loans to AMCON with one oil company’s write-off of N15 billion being the largest.

Our investigations show that the oil sector bad loans are currently heavy across all the banks indicating that a similar circumstance may be playing out in the banking industry.

Regardless of the discomfort the bad news of profit warning may bring withholding such information can only create unfair advantage to a few insiders to the detriment of the majority of investors.

Investment analysts say profit

Stock market observers were also quick to point out that such warnings should be timely for it to be useful

•CEO FCMB Plc Ladi Balogun declines are going to be prevalent in the days ahead as more full year and nine-months 2015 results come out and investors deserve to have equal access to the information.

Stock market observers were also quick to point out that such warnings should be timely for it to be useful.

But a good step is for the Nigerian Stock Exchange to encourage more companies, especially those with significant market capitalisation, to adopt this disclosure action. It should become a market norm.

Some observers last week raised concern that while PZ adopted this measure in 2012 no other blue chip did so and worse still PZ appeared to have abandoned the practice as it failed to announce a warning ahead of its huge profit decline for full year 2015 announced last week.

Profit warning is normal in all

•CEO Courteville Bola Akindele

developed financial markets.

That is investor democracy, or better put as democratisation of investment information.

Courteville, a relatively smaller cap company, has shown that profit warning should be a universal norm in the stock market. The company has not only shown maturity at tender age but also pointed the way forward by indicating what it’s future holds amidst the expected bad results (they have only issued warning last week, and yet to announce the result).

The company said the future is looking good. The group managing director, Mr Adebola Akindele said Courteville is getting on other ways of helping government and private sector to collect more revenue thereby increasing the company’s volume of business; “ rather than be asking for depths or heights in our commission, we ask for

width, get more services on board; not just for public sector alone; but include the private sector. We have identified a few areas in 2016.

“Courteville is about diversification and that is the future. Shareholders would say are they going to smile? But they have been smiling; we hope that the smile going forward would hopefully turn into a lot of laughter and Courteville is a company that pay dividend regularly. We would resume that and we have not failed in a year yet to put something down in a calendar year, let them appreciate it”.

In it’s outlook, FCMB added to its courage in profit warning, indicating that the challenges in the corporate banking business is being taken care of while an impressive performance in retail banking is compensating for the downsides in corporate banking.

Courteville Business Solution Plc: Q2 Financial Performanc

Gross Income Cost of sales Gross Profit Operating Cost Operating Profit Other Income Finance Cost Profit Before Tax Other Comprehensive Income Taxation Profit after Tax

Indices:

EPS (Kobo) Outstanding Shares (Million) Gross Profit Margin Operating Profit Margin Profit Margin SGA as a %age of Gross Profit Interest Cost as a percentage of Operating

Profit

2015 Q2 N’m

2014 Q2 N’m

%age Change

464 (159) 305 (134) 170 10 -35 145 – -16 128 11%

396 (188) 208 (110) 98 51 -14 135 – -21 113 16%

17.2% -15.2% 46.4% 21.8% 74.0% -79.7% 157.4% 7.7% #DIV/0!

-25.7% 13.1%

0.04 3552 65.7% 36.7% 27.7% 44.1%

0.03 3552 52.6% 24.7% 28.6% 53.0%

13.14% 0.00% 24.91% 48.53% -3.44% -16.79%

20.8%

14.1%

47.91%

Land squabble: 2 brothercommunities come to blows in C-River

PAGE 2

RAHI, Amnesty Office take free medicare to riverside dwellers

PAGE 3

RIVERS…

THE TREASURE BASE OF THE NA TION NATION

VOL. 1: No. 80

TUESD AY, FEBR U ARY 2, 20 16 TUESDA FEBRU 201

Cultists lay siege to Ubima, Amaechi’s town 1 beheaded, over 11 dead in separate clashes; Chiefs, villagers take flight  Youth group requests IG, chiefs to summon Amaechi, Omehia for peace talk

By DAVIES IHEAMNACHOR

U

BIMA—TWO cult gangs, Icelanders and Deygbam, allegedly fighting a political superiority battle have turned Ubima community in Ikwerre Local Government Area, Rivers State, the country home of Minister of Transport, Rt. Hon Rotimi Amaechi and his relative, Sir Celestine Omehia, both former governors of the state into a battleground.

In one of the gory encounters, fear gripped the entire community after one of the cult groups killed about three suspected members of a rival cult.

A number of chiefs and elders have fled the community and taken refuge in neighboring towns because of the atmosphere of insecurity in the town.

The boys, who are on the prowl, monitor movements in and out of the community and harass any visitors to the community.

Disappearance corpse

Leader of Ikwerre Citizens for Democratic Movement, Mr. Precious Dikewoha.

Suspected cultists paraded by Rivers State Police Command. the community and killed the

with leader of Deygbam group, Mr.

Penultimate week, a boy visiting the community was intercepted at the boundary between Apani community and Ubima was shot dead and his corpse taken away.

Contacted for comments, chiefs in the community declined because of fear of the rampaging cultists dispatching them to the grave in an untimely manner.

Cult leader, Morocco beheaded

Findings by Niger Delta Voice showed that in second week of Januar y, t h e Iceland cult group invaded C M Y K

A view of Ubima community

Morocco, sparking apprehension in the community.

One of the cult leaders who pleaded anonymity boasted, “We beheaded Morocco because he declared himself as point- one (leader) we separated his head from his body just to let him know that he is nothing. There are men who own this town and not Morocco.”

A community leader, who pleaded anonymity, said the rival group beheaded after both groups engaged in never-ending exchange of gunfire for hours.

The chief said the battle was

a continuation of an earlier clash in the same community that claimed the life of over six members of the Icelander cult group.

He said that the Icelanders cult wrote the community and the Degbam cult group that they would avenge the death of their members with 50 heads.

The chief said that the community is in confusion, adding that their two wellplaced sons have not done anything to bring the situation under control.

The crises in Ubima community has degenerated to the extent that most of our brothers and sisters, including Ubima turned to the prominent ones 'slaughter headquarters' A troubled group in the area, among us could not Ikwerre Citizens for return home during Democratic Movement, expressed concern the Christmas and ICDM, over the recurrent cult war and New Year killings in Ubima community.

Speaking, the leader of the celebrations group Mr. Precious Dikewoha, said it was unheard of that the Ubima community would serve as battle ground for cult

groups. He claimed that the cult was politically motivated.

Dikewoha said: “Our attention has been drawn to the political cult supremacy battle and killing that has turned Ubima community into a headquarters for human slaughter. Over eight young and vibrant sons of the community have been murdered; some buried others yet to be buried while few others are missing.

“We cannot afford to sit on the fence and watch our youths slaughter themselves like animals.

Problem created by political class!

The group also warned: “We resolved that Ubima cannot shy a way from dealing with the problem which the political class has created in the community. We must accept responsibility and initiate plans to reconcile the differences among the youths.

“The crises in Ubima community has degenerated from bad to worse to the extent that most of our brothers and sisters, including the prominent ones among us could not return home during the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

“We hereby call on the PDP and APC members in the community, including their leaders- the Minister of Transport, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and former governor, Sir Celestine Omehia, to see themselves as sons of Ubima community, not as politicians and immediately address the issue confronting us.

2 weeks ultimatum to summon Amaechi, Omehia

“We are giving two weeks ultimatum to the council of chiefs, the CDC to officially write or brief to Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and Sir Celestine Omehia and also invite other sons and daughters of the community to discuss the end of this bloodshed and bring peace back to the community or have us to contend with.

The group called on the Inspector General of Police to invite Sir Celestine Omehia and Rotimi Amaechi over their silence to address the war in their community.

Peace has returned – Police Strangely, the Rivers State Police Command said normalcy had returned in the community.

24 —

Niger Delta Voice, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

You dispense contaminated water, residents berate C-River agency No, our water is 100% safe - Tech Vibes Nigeria Limited, Operator

BY IKE UCHECHUKWU A L A B A R — THOUSANDS of inhabitants of Calabar Metropolis, Cross River State are at loggerheads with the Cross River State Water Board Limited, CRSWBL, over insufficiency and quality of water the government agency distributes to the people.

Residents, especially those at Mount Zion, Yello Duke, Ekondo, Chamley, Barracks, section of State Housing areas complain that they could neither drink nor cook with the water from CRSWBL.

C

We rather cook with sachet water

Mr. Evaristus Obeten, who lives at Inyang Edem in Calabar South, said: “We are still managing the little that flows but my brother, I must be sincere with you, I buy water from the Aboki people who supply us water from private boreholes. Sometimes, we resort to sachet water to cook because with the colour and smell of the water distributed by the agency, you will not dare to use it for anything except washing.”

A resident of Yellow Duke lane, Mrs. Florence Iyadim, asserted that taps stopped flowing in the area nearly a month ago, adding: “To my amazement, they still sent us a bill which we have refused to pay. How can we pay for what we did not use, all these utility providers behave the same and it is so annoying and painful but we thank God for private borehole operators who we now depend on for our daily water supplies.”

The people became infuriated when the company introduced a new billing system with new meters sold at N25, 000, a disparity of N18, 000 from the initial N2, 000 registration fees paid during the Liyel Imoke-led administration.

THE TEAM Emma Amaize, Editor Jimitota Onoyume Samuel Oyadongha Simon Ebegbulem Gabriel Enogholase Festus Ahon Egufe Yafugborhi Emmanuel Una Akpokona Omafuaire Godwin Oghre Tom Moses Chioma Onuegbu Ike Uche Davies Iheamnachor Emem Idio Brisibe Perez Theresa Ugbobu Ochuko Akuopha Nath Onajoke Chijioke Nwankpa C M Y K

“Sometimes, when we carry out maintenance work, it takes up to 24 hours for some of those chemicals to dry up and the line is turned back on, so these things take time and also cause delay in distribution."

Tawo also stated: “We are building from scratch, we want standard.

Before now infrastructure was not considered, we are working round the clock to make sure the city has regular water supply despite the overwhelming challenges which will soon be a thing of the past.”

Problem of illegal connection, vandalism

Queue of people buying water buying water from a commercial borehole operator

Our water is not dangerous

Head, Corporate Services and Administration, Tech Vibes Nigeria Limited, the company that took over management of CRSWBL, August, last year, from Ortech Nigeria Limited, Mr. Benedict Tawo, said: “The

Broken down generator at CRSWBL

water we distribute is 100 percent safe for consumption, so there is no need for the people in the metropolis to panic.

He said out of the 41,000 customers on their database, only 4,000 consumers pay water bills regularly, adding, “Over 90 per cent of our people who use our water are by illegal connections, which no one can even report or know about.

“We have series of leakages sometimes caused by road users and vandalism, though illegal connections is also part of what is mitigating against our operations and efforts ,but we will push for laws to prosecute such offenders,” he said.

Mr Tawo explained: “This place used to be powered by three (3) 1000KVA generators but as you can see for yourself, only one is functioning which is a huge challenge for us.

Although we are working to make sure we have more than one, we are also making efforts to connect to NIPP so that we can have constant electricity to

CROSS-RIVER… THE PEOPLE’S PARADISE be able to work effectively and efficiently, one hour interruption of electricity can lead to a one week shortage in water supply.

Explaining that no service giver would deliberately produce a bad product or supply its customers sub standard products, he said the company was planning turnaround maintenance, pleading with the people to pay for the services rendered to them.

“On the Atimbo axis, we have lost about, 15,000 customers in that area alone due to damages done during the road construction in the area but we have already started re-connection work to ensure the people have water after two years,” he revealed.

Quality consciousness

Head of Operations, Tech Vibes, Mr. Okonji Paul explained: “Every two /three hours, there is quality control checks from the reservoir, cascading, flash mixer, clarifier, filters and finished water. We are quality control conscious, the transition period was well handled and the quality of our water remains of a high standard, some of the complaints may arise from burst pipes because there is no way to take back what has gone into such pipes so debris can also enter from such areas.

LAND SQUABBLE: 2 brother-communities come to blows in C-River •Elders blame hot-blooded youths for mayhem

By EMMANNUEL UNA & IKECHUKWU UCHE

U

KELE—OYORBA in Wanikade and Liokom in Wanihem are two blood-related villages of Ukele clan, located in Yala Local Government in the northern fringes of Cross-River State, sharing contiguous border with Ebonyi and Benue States.

The 10 communities that make up the tribe lay claim to the same ancestry and speak varieties of the same dialect, Kukele. They reportedly descend from the same forbearer, who migrated from Biase in central Cross River.

However, on Saturday, 23 January, something that had never happened since their existence happened. A bitter war broke out between the two villages over a portion of land along the border between the two villages.

Cause of disagreement

Investigation by Niger Delta Voice revealed that a native of Liokom built a house on the boundary between the two villages. The people of Oyorba felt he had crossed the borderline and decided to pull it down, an action the Liokom people did not take lightly and demanded the reconstruction of the house, which Oyorba people rejected.

To vent their anger, Liokom youths mobilized with weapons and went for reprisal.

Incidentally, it was on Wanikade market day and the people had

nottotouchhimbecauseUkeleman does not spill the blood of an Ukele man, we are children of the same parent,” he added.

CouncilorrepresentingWanikade at the Yala council, Mr Francis Lukpata, put the blame for the conflict on the youths from both communities, who have suddenly become too aggressive and do not listen to their elders any more.

Sophisticated weapons

Ukele

all gone to the market about five kilometers away.

Invasion

A retired school headmaster and community leader, Chief Christopher Okoko, who described the attack as senseless and cowardly, said: “The Liokom people know during our Wanikade market day, virtually everyone moves there to sell farm produce and buy provisions that could last the family for the next five days, so they met an almost empty village.”

He said the Liokom people launched their attack at about 3.00 pm and inflicted heavy casualties on the few people available in the village, who attempted to confront them with weapons of their own inflicting various injuries on them with machete cuts and gunshots on their legs.

The invaders, he said, went ahead to set houses ablaze,

destroy farm produce, economic trees and poured chemicals into streams and ponds, which are sources of drinking water.

A shocked Wanihem community, Prince Dan Onah, asserted, “The two communities have been living peacefully but I do not understand why the sudden change in relations. We have intermarried, farmed on the same land and drank from the same stream. That Wanikade market Okoko spoke about is the same market we buy from, but those young men are becoming too aggressive.”

He said it was due to the blood ties that they instructed Liokom youths not to kill anybody and burn any house in the three-day fracas.

Ukele man cannot spill blood of a fellow Ukele man

“ Even the Wanikade man, who targeted one of our young men and shot to kill him… when our boys got hold of him, we instructed them

“Several people sustained gunshot wounds on both sides and several houses and farmland were also destroyed; we are appalled at the calibre of weapons used in this conflict, which is as a result of land dispute between two villages in the sistercommunitiesofWanikadeand Wanihem”.

A villager in Wanihem said the weapons used in the conflict were certainly acquired from outside Ukele because most weapons used by the people of the area were dane guns and single barrel guns for hunting of animal, but the ones he saw duringthe conflict brought fears to his mind.

One of victims, Ugbem Joseph, whose house and barns were set ablaze, lamented that he had been turnedintoabeggar,saying:“Itwere better if they had killed me because my life is finished as I have nothing to feed my family now and yams to plant in my farm.”

Peace has returned – Police

TheCrossRiverStatePoliceCommand spokesperson,JohnEluu,saidnormalcyhas returnedtotheareaandthatsecurityagents, includingpoliceandsoldierswerepatrolling theareatoensurethattotalpeacereturns tothewarringcommunities.

Niger Delta Voice, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016 — 25

EDO… HEART BEAT OF THE NATION

RAHI, Amnesty Office takes free medicare to riverside dwellers A

JAJURAMA—THE Rural Africa Health Initiative, RAHI, in partnership with the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta , OSAPND, have carried out a medical outreach programme, tagged “Across the Creeks” to 10 selected riverside communities in Edo, Bayelsa and Delta States, as part of the reintegration process of the Amnesty programme.

Niger Delta Voice learned that the free medical mission commenced at Sabagreia and environs in Kolokuma/ Opokuma local government in Bayelsa state and spread to Biugbene/Trofani in Sagbama area before the team berthed at Agoloma/ Patani and environs in Patani local government area, Delta State.

The team, which also

RAHI team attending to patients visited Ajakurama, the traditional home of the

Egbema people and environs in Ovia South West

area of Edo s t a t e , where it recorded medical interventions in dental, ophthalmic a n d outpatient units with minor and m a j o r surgeries performed successfully.

T h e doctors treated, prescribed and gave drugs for several medical conditions peculiar to children, adults and aged in the communities. They

“They use that particular festival to wipe out evil and purify the land. They do it annually and that is why you never find any Ugoniyekorrhiomwon indigene as a mad person either female or male. It can never happen because the gods we serve cannot allow it.

According to him, “we have Igbaghon River which is a traditional river. During the Ekaba festival, we go there before performing Ekaba, there is a person called Iyase, who is a female that perform the traditional function at Igbaghon. They go there to call the river home and that is why we call the river our mother.

“Before you call the river home, you go there with some traditional tools which I cannot mention. When you throw them into the river, some things that will come out of the river immediately and you will carry them home.

“When we get home we kill a cow to celebrate acceptance because if the River receives it,

EKABA: Edo community festival that shields natives from madness

Igbaghon River

U

GONIYEKORHIOMWON— IT is habitual to see the people of Ugoniyekorhiomwon community in Orhiomnwon Local Government Area, Edo State, preparing to visit their country home between February and March annually for the great Ekaba festival.

It is a festival that they look forward to every year because of the many benefits, according to the Enogie of Ugoniyekorhiomwon, His Royal Highness, Edugie Ogierhiakhi Ogiugo, who spoke to Niger Delta Voice.

This year’s Ekaba festival, which is unique in Benin Kingdom, is coming up this month (February) and the community is already agog.

HRH Ogiugo, who is the chair, Association of Enigies in Orhiomnwon and vice president, Association of Enigie of Benin Kingdom, sounded very categorical when asked if it was true that nobody could inflict madness on an Ugoniyekorhiomwon indigene.

He replied: “Yes, that is true; it is hard to find an Ugo indigene that is a mad man in Ugo or elsewhere. It does not happen and that is why we celebrate the Ekaba festival between

every February and March. If you come to the festival, their way of dressing is always in a mad form and different.

DELTA… FINGER OF GOD

Okowa appoints Idama into Delta rural devt board W

ARRI—GOVERNOR Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has appointed businessperson, Chief Patrick Idama, into the board of the state Rural Development Agency, RDA. The agency is a critical organ that Okowa wants to use to accelerate rural development in the state.

Meanwhile, a campaign support group in People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Force Movement for Okowa based in Warri, has commended the governor for appointing their chair, Chief Idama.

The group also expressed their gratitude to the senior political adviser to the governor, Chief Festus Ochonogor and political adviser, Hon. Omimi Esquire, for nominating their leader for political appointment.

gave reading glasses to the visually impaired while dental prosthesis was carried out for those concerned.

There were classical cases such as near ruptured appendix, suspected squamous cell carcinoma and excessive lipoma handled by the team of experienced doctors and nurses in addition to varied complaints attended to at the various units of the outreach.

A youth leader and former secretary of the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, western zone, Friday Ayadi, said the entire Egbema people were happy with the wonderful job of the RAHI founded by a former national president of the body, Dr. Chris Ekiyor.

He, however, appealed that such free medical health intervention should be sustained, saying the people would request for another week of free medical services if it was possible. brings out something for us, that is the signal that your sacrifice has been accepted.

Until today, it is still going on.

We do not go there to serve that river every day, it is annually and there are things we use telling Igbaghon that we want to perform Ekaba festival.

Concluding he said: “Igbaghon River has a way of receiving any gift and reacting against anything or person who want to offend it.

If you go to the river, after announcing your presence and throw whatever you came with. There is a way it shows you signs that it has answered your prayers, it is like our miracle river. Since 1989 that the community installed me, I have never heard that the river killed anybody. It can never kill rather it will save lives.”

SSLM vows to resist Delta pipeline bombers

W

ARRI—THE SouthSouth Liberation Movement, SSLM, has undertaken to counter sea pirates and oil thieves, who hide under the guise of fighting for freedom of Niger Delta people to bomb crude oil and gas pipelines.

The group in a statement jointly signed by president and secretary, Messrs John Adie and Goddy Ewerode, condemning the recent pipeline bombing in Delta state, said: “The business of bombing, kidnapping and sea piracy is over. We will not allow sea pirates and oil thieves, who before now hide under the guise of fighting for the freedom of Niger Delta

people to continue their criminal acts.

“The long arms of the law will definitely catch up with them no matter where they hide, we call on the perpetrators of these aimless bombings to call their boys to order,” it added.

SSLM asserted: “We have made consultations with royal fathers, stakeholders and youth leaders in the Niger Delta and stand to resist any attempt by any group to destroy the Niger Delta region. Those who have any issue with the Federal Government should seek legal means to address their grievances rather than dragging the whole Niger Delta into it.”

C M Y K

26 — Niger Delta Voice, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

Delta community cries out, as landslide submerges houses, canoes • Primary School on the verge of extinction, part of building inside water •Leaders finger multinational oil company

By OCHUKO AKUOPHA

O

NYAH—THE people of Onyah, a coastal community in Ndokwa East Local Government Area, Delta State, have raised the alarm that landslides had sunk and washed several houses in the locality into the River Niger, calling on the state government to come to their rescue.

President General of the community, Chief Michael Emeka, said at the rate erosion was attacking the town, the people would have no land to build and farm in five years time.

His words: “Many houses had collapsed because of landslide and washed into the River Niger.

Day in and day out, we have been crying to the government to come to our aid, even there is a video we recorded in 2013 that was aired in NTA, Channels and other stations hoping that the government will come to our aid, but nothing has been done till now.”

He further asserted: “If nothing

Govt should come to assess situation

Erosion site in Onyah

is done, then I wonder where we would be; we will be refugees in our own land. Then the government will be interested in developing a refugee camp for us or Internally Displaced Persons’ camp where we would stay since they are not thinking

about us despite our cries.

Decrying the adverse socioeconomic impact of the erosion on residents of the community, he said: “Due to the erosion, people use ladder to climb from their boat into the land, no potable water and for you to

“The government should come to Onyah and see the magnitude of the erosion for themselves and not just rely on the mere information they get from elsewhere. They should come and see the pains we go through, as you can see, half of our primary school is in the river as I speak to you, they are aware of that, but did nothing about it.

Chair, Onyah community, Mr Fidelis Enubuzor, said erosion had been taking its toll on the community over the last two years, adding, “so many houses have been cut off. Sometimes this thing happens in the night when people are sleeping and this has caused a big problem to us. Most of the canoes, which we take for fishing, had also been destroyed by landslide and we have no money to buy new ones.”

“We are begging the

DELTA… FINGER OF GOD government to come to our aid either by shore protection or anyhow they can control the erosion or by relocating and building us new houses inside, because most of the people don’t have money to build other houses."

A woman leader , Mrs. Afani Enubuzor, said: “The erosion has affected us to the extent that we can no longer go to the river bank to fetch water; you dare not send your child there to do anything.

Houses go into the river on a regular basis, we no longer have market in this place; we must go other places before we trade.

“The children are afraid of going to school because half of the primary school has gone into the river. We are begging the government to come and pile the riverbank for us and build us anothermarket.

Contacted, the Deputy Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Friday Osanebi, advised the people to remain calm, saying he had been making frantic efforts to address the problem.

Speaking through his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Agbanashi Obinne, Osanebi noted that owing to the dwindling resources, he had reached out to the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC and other interventionist agencies, particularly those that have to do withfloodandothernaturaldisasters on the issue.

AKWA IBOM…

A-IBOM RESIDENTS TO BUHARI:

LAND OF PROMISE

Stop our misery on dilapidated S-South, S-East federal roads

I have had that experience twice, this government should repair that road if it really has the interest of the citizen at heart, as it claims in its change slogan.

•Grumble about decrepit Ikot-Ekpene-Umuahia-Aba; ItuCalabar roads

Motorcycle to the rescue

By CHIOMA ONUEGBU

U

YO—RESIDENTS of Akwa Ibom States have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene and bring to an end their perennial nightmares traveling on the East-West Road and other federal roads that link contiguous states in the SouthSouth and South East regions.

Citizens, especially drivers, commuters and businesspersons, who spoke to Niger Delta Voice, lamented the deplorable condition of the federal roads, saying they have their hearts in their mouths when traveling to Abia and Cross River States.

They said the government has been shouting change but they want to feel and experience it on the federal roads in the two regions, especially Ikot-EkpeneUmuahia- Aba and Itu-Calabar roads.

Cut-off

National President of SouthSouth Solidarity Forum, Dr Bassey Umoh, who hails from Ibiono Ibom local government area, Akwa Ibom, said: “I know that so many roads across the country are also in deplorable condition, but we are particularly worried because this region that contributes so much to the wealth of the country has no good federal roads.”

“From Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa, you observe that the only dualised link road is the East -West road but it appears that that road has been highly politicized because I cannot remember how many years it has been under C M Y K

come down the river bank to fetch water is a tug of war. Onyah is in a pitiable condition currently and we will continue to cry out until they hear us.”

He blamed the problem on the activities of a multinational oil company whose barges pass the river countless times on a daily basis, adding, “the current they generate through these barges is one of the factors that is causing the erosion in that magnitude. We have tried to reach out to this company but they did not give us a listening ear, we also want the government to help us too."

Dr. Bassey Umoh

Uncompeted East West road Bridge at Eket Onna

construction.

“How can a people be cut off completely from each other?

Between Ikot Ekpene and Aba and Ikot Ekpene and Umuahia which are the routes to most commercial town in the East, the roads are not passable. From Cross River to Benue, the road situation is not different; journey that should ordinarily take five hours, people spend close to eight hours before they could get to Calabar from Benue.

His words: “For instance the Calabar-Itu road has been in a bad shape over the years. I met that road when I was born; they have not repaired it except minor works that break down the next moment. Successive governments have neglected us in terms of road development, that is why we are appealing to this government to come to the aid of this state in particular and

the South-South region in general.”

Behind schedule

Similarly, chair, Afaha Atai village council, Eket Chief Samuel Etti, decried the delay in completing the East-West road, which commenced since 2007.

He said: “When I visited there two days ago, I noticed that work is going on; they are still working on part of the road that is yet to be completed and the bridge leading to Onna local government area. One of the workers said there it is fund problem, which is delaying the completion.

“As a community leader, my position is that the completion of the project is long overdue and we are not happy about it because whenever a project comes to this part of the country,

execution is usually a problem.

So we are asking this new government to do something to hasten the completion, they should release the budgeted money for the project so that it can be completed before the next rain starts.”

Nasty experience

Uyo -based executive, Master Chibuike, said: “The the roads to Aba and Umuahia are nightmares.

They are manageable now that we are still in the dry season. Once the rain starts, it will be something else. Apart from the fact that the cost of transportation will increase during the rainy season, sometimes, people’s goods and commodities can stay on the road for two to three days because of the bad road.”

“I am telling you this because

A youth activist from Ikot Ekpene local government area, Mr. Manasseh Umoette, said: “The situation of Ikot EkpeneAba-Umuahia is worrisome.

For so many years now, it has been difficult to access Aba in Abia state from Ikot Ekpene such that people now resort to using motorcycle from Ikot Ekpene to Aba. “And this exposes people to so many health issues and dangers like robbery, especially those drivers who must always go to Aba using diversions from Obot Akara in Akwa Ibom through NdiuroOboro Amizi villages.”

Youths fleece drivers

Umoette disclosed: “The last time I went to Aba, that is last December, I observed how youths in those remote villages capitalize on the situation to extort money from commercial drivers and other vehicles that use the diversions before they allow you to pass. These are very narrow roads that two cars cannot pass at the same time; one car has to wait for another to pass first before it can then pass.”

NDV learned that the high cost of transportation was responsible for the high cost of goods and commodities in Akwa Ibom markets despite the nearness of the state to the commercial town of Aba where most of the people go to buy their wares.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016 — 27

,

S FORUM

Courteville is about diversification and that is the future. Shareholders would say are they going to smile?

But they have been smiling; we hope that the smile going forward would hopefully turn into a lot of laughter

,

Implications of Lagos bond repayment re-scheduling —Cowry Assets

•Investors’ liquidity to improve but with re-investment risk

B

By Peter Egwuatu

ONDHOLDERS may hope f o r improved liquidity with the proposed Lagos State repayment re-scheduling.

Reacting to the plans by Lagos State Government to propose a new repayment schedule for the bond Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Cowry Asset Management Limited, Mr. Johnson Chukwu, said “The reason why the Lagos State Government wants to convert two of its outstanding bonds of N80 billion and N87.5billion, totalling N167.5billion, from bullet payment bonds to

amortising bonds is for the state to reduce the interest burden it is bearing on both bonds. “ The cost to maturity of an amortising bond is significantly lower than that of a bullet payment bond due to the disparity between the bond coupon rates that is interest rates payable on the bond and the return earned from funds set aside in the sinking funds account for the redemption of the bonds. In effect the primary objective of the state in changing the repayment structure of these bonds is to minimise her cost of funds particularly in an interest rate environment where returns on

money market instruments, where most of the sinking fund is invested, have crashed while the coupon on the state’s bonds are fixed.”

On the benefit to bondholders, he said “Changing the bonds to amortising bonds would improve the Investors’ liquidity but expose them to reinvestment risk from unplanned asset liquidation/repayment given that they are currently very few instruments in the market with similar risk rating and paying equivalent returns.”

It should be noted that Lagos State will ask bondholders next month to agree a change to the

payment schedules for N167.5 billion of bonds.

The Lagos State, Vanguard gathered wants to pay interest and principal semi-annually rather than making a single bullet repayment of the principal at maturity.

The meeting will be held on February 23, 2016. The debt in question includes an N80 billion seven-year bond

maturing in 2019 and an N87.5 billion to be repaid in 2020.

Coupons on the bonds would remain unchanged at 14.5 percent and 13.5 percent respectively.

The State government did not say why it wants to change the payment schedule but analysts said it may be hoping to sell new debt at lower yields to fund infrastructure projects.

Stock market slide:

Investors should diversify portfolio — Stanbic IBTC

By Nkiruka Nnorom

A

S investors streamline their investment portfolios to take advantage of expected opportunities in the capital market in 2016, Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic IBTC Asset Management Limited, Bunmi Dayo-Olagunju, has advised investors to diversify their portfolio to ensure optimum returns.

Dayo-Olagunju said considering the volatility in equities and commodity markets, it is imperative for investors to diversify their portfolios by investing in mutual funds and other investment vehicles to hedge their risks.

According to her, the attractiveness of mutual funds or collective schemes is the number of advantages it offers over other investment vehicles, such as flexibility, which makes it possible to either invest a

lump sum or make regular installments every month; liquidity, which means the funds can be accessed at any time by the investor who may require money for a variety of purposes such as healthcare, education, vacation and housing. Other advantages include steady returns, professional management, and risk reduction.

“Mutual funds offer investors the advantages of portfolio diversification and professional management at low cost. These advantages are particularly important because diversification and professional management ensure steady returns when compared to other investment instruments. Mutual funds offer an opportunity for steady growth in assets while reducing the attendant risk associated with investing in individual securities,” said Dayo-Olagunju.

Stock Market Outlook (Feb. 2 — Feb. 8) I

n light of the weakening investor confidence dictating short holding period of investors, analysts at Afrinvest Group say some more profit taking should be expected this week, though inflow of corporate earnings may swing market bearing.

In overall, short term outlook remains bearish on macroeconomic concerns and forex inflexibility, investors are advised to adopt long term perspective on Nigerian equities.

This week, we anticipate overall positive change in the index on sustained positioning for corporate actions.

Also another week of bargain hunting on FGN Eurobonds is expected at the international market as crude oil sustains its price upbeat amid plans by world largest producers to cut supply.

COMPLAINTS & INVESTIGATIONS Send complaints or enquiries about any quoted company, issues, products and services of any capital market operator or agency to vanguardinvestorsforum@gmail.com.

We investigate and publish with feedback C M Y K

28—VANGUARD, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

Stallion begins sales, maintenance of Infiniti models in Nigeria •Infiniti_Q50

S

TALLION NMN, the Nissan brand custodian in Nigeria has announced the inclusion of Infiniti brand amongst its product range.

Infiniti is the luxury sibling of the prime Japanese automaker, Nissan. The Infiniti brand which was officially introduced in North America in 1989 is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker – Nissan with direct equivalents in the Nissan product line-up.

More than 200, 000 Infiniti vehicles was sold worldwide last year with America’s 133,500 vehicles toping the sales chart followed by China’s 40,000, Canada 11, 300 and Europe’s 7,000 including unavailable sales data in the Middle East.

Product launch Stallion NMN who became Nissan brand custodian in May 2013 has already taken delivery of three Infiniti variants including the Q50 (sedan), QX70 and QX80 SUVs respectively and are all available in Stallion NMN accredited Nissan showrooms countrywide.

Addressing the media at the product launch, Managing Director, Stallion NMN, Parvir Singh said “the introduction of Infiniti, Nissan’s luxury brand to Nigeria is proof of our commitment to set fresh standards in the local automobile industry.”

He said Nissan is undoubtedly a painstakingly engineered brand with vast range of models, cutting across various applications, saying this versatility has placed Nissan well ahead of competition which is currently ranked sixth largest automaker in the world. Stallion NMN, he added, hopes to replicate this success in Nigeria

by making Nissan one of Nigeria's m o s t preferred brands.

A l s o adding that Nissan has transcended the challenges of yesterday and living up to its tagline ‘Innovation that Excites’, Mr Singh said: “Our obligation is to make ownership of Nissan product range an exciting experience as we recognise the significance of excellence both in the quality of Nissan vehicles and in after sales service.”

He said Stallion NMN has trained and is continuing to retrain all her service technicians in multiple auto repair disciplines and will continue to acquaint them extensively in Nissan’s constantly advancing and cutting edge technology.

Also in his product presentation, Stallion NMN Head of Marketing and Sales, Amit Sharma described Infiniti as an award winning brand and a meticulously engineered brand with excellent fuel efficiency and output to deliver exceptional feelings and superb driving response.

Mr Sharma depicted the Infiniti Q50 as a 3.7litre sedan with 326Hp@7,000rpm producing 361Nm@5,200rpm while QX70 is available in V6 3.7litre and V6 5.0litre engines, with 329Hp@7,000 rpm and 390Hp@6000 rpm respectively.

The QX80 is equipped with V8 5.6litre powertrain with 400Hp @5800rpm. These engines have aluminium alloy blocks and heads with film coated pistons, he noted.

•Infiniti Q80

Oando Marketing boosts skills acquisition with Oleum Academy •Graduates 200 Batch II Auto mechatronic technicians

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N furtherance of its commitment to consistently improve technical skills amongst auto mechanics, Oando Marketing Plc, leading petroleum Distribution Company in subSaharan Africa, recently graduated its second stream of 200 mechanics from its Oleum Academy, in continuation of its training programme aimed at harnessing the potentials of auto-mechanics in Nigeria. The granduants, who cut across diverse backgrounds, were awarded the Oleum Academy certificates accredited by the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).

T h i s programme,

•Infiniti Q70

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designed to support the diversification of the economy which is vital to the development of any nation, breeding selfreliance and entrepreneurship amongst technically-oriented individuals, is in its second year, after having successfully graduated 100 auto-mechanics in its first stream.

The participants, who undergo a highly rigorous selection process are admitted into the 3-month training programme and are exposed to a well-designed training curriculumdevelopedinpartnership withAutomedicsasfacilitators;awellrenownedautomobilecompanywith amechatronicstrainingarm.

Mechatronics training The syllabus combines classroom and onsite training methods, with special emphasis on auto diagnosis and repair, usage of modern diagnostic tools, mechatronics, and advanced training in automotive electrical systems, lubrication knowledge and application.

The initiative is part of the company’s Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) to bridge the skills gap in the nation, focusing on

the automotive industry whilst improving their social status and relevance in their communities throughtrainingandskillsupgrade.

This programme also equips them with internationally-recognised technicalandlifeskillsfortheirbenefit and that of the nation as well. As the automobile industry constantly advances, and the demand for efficiency, expertise and customer experienceincreases,thereisaneed for mechanics to upgrade their skills and keep abreast of industry trends and the ever-changing consumer marketspace.

To empower them through a constructive and rewarding engagement with the lubricants consumer market and the Oleum brand, a Mechanic Oleum Reseller Enterprise (M.O.R.E) initiative was also inaugurated; designed to enhancetheentrepreneurialskillsof themechanics,anddeepenproduct usage and breed proximity with users.

Oneofthebeneficiaries,Opeyemi Bello thanked Oando Marketing PLC for the opportunity to be able to improve his skills and expand his technical knowledge. He said “this hasopenedmyeyestoalotofthings, nowIcanworkondifferentcarsand models and give the right solutions tomycustomers.

VANGUARD, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016 — 29

By Theodore Opara

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HE 2016 Ford Explorer is now available in lefthand drive markets in SubSaharan Africa, bringing more smart technologies, improved performance and efficiency, as well as greater all-round capabilities to this popular model.

As America’s top-selling sports utility vehicle (SUV) for the past 25 years – with more than 7 million sold in the United States alone – the Explorer has a formidable reputation that will reach even greater heights in its updated form.

“The Ford Explorer helped define how the world thinks about SUVs,” said Rob Johnston, Regional Manager Sales and Marketing, Ford Customer Services Division for Sub-Saharan Africa. “It is the centrepiece of Ford’s global utility vehicle line-up because it delivers an ideal combination of form and function” he added.

All new Ford Explorer debuts with Enhanced Smart Technology

•Ford_explorer_2016

Form and function Introduced in 1990 as a 1991 model in the US, Explorer featured generous interior space, customers were looking for, and was engineered specifically for people seeking adventure for their families and a way to express their individuality. For a quarter century, Explorer has reigned as one of America’s best-selling SUVs. Ford Explorer is built in North America at Chicago Assembly

Plant, as well as in Venezuela and Russia, and is sold in markets across the globe.

“Customers love Explorer, and they expect it to continue to lead the way in innovation, performance and fun,” said Arie Groeneveld, chief engineer for the new Explorer.

“That’s the challenge we embraced when we set out to build the best SUV in the world.”

With the latest Explorer,

customers will get even more capability, thanks to the introduction of two all-new EcoBoost engines for the 2016 models, delivering unrivalled performance matched to outstanding fuel efficiency.

“The new Explorer isn’t giving up its reputation as a leader in highway fuel efficiency – which is especially key for customers who want a vehicle that is also a capable trail warrior,” said Groeneveld.

•Ford explorer interior design 2016 Also the Explorer’s intelligent four-wheel drive with Terrain Management System™

reassesses conditions about 20 times faster than the blink of an eye – providing precise handling and traction.

Goodbye, old rugged Defender

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AND Rover celebrated 68 years of history recently as the last of the current Defenders was produced at its famous Solihull production facility.

To mark the occasion Land Rover invited more than 700 current and former Solihull employees involved in the production of Series Land Rover and Defender vehicles to see and drive some of the most important vehicles from its history, including the first pre-production ‘Huey’ Series I as well as the last vehicle off the production line, a Defender C M Y K

90 Heritage Soft Top. At the same time, Land Rover announced a new Heritage Restoration Programme, which will be based on the site of the existing Solihull production line. A team of experts, including some long serving Defender employees, will oversee the restoration of a number of Series Land Rovers sourced from across the globe. The first restored vehicles will go on sale in July 2016.

“Today we celebrate what generations of men and women have done since the outline for

the Land Rover was originally drawn in the sand,” said Dr Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover.

“The Series Land Rover, now Defender, is the origin of our legendary capability, a vehicle that makes the world a better place, often in some of the most extreme circumstances.

There will always be a special place in our hearts for Defender, among all our employees, but this is not the end.

We have a glorious past to champion, and a wonderful future to look forward to.”

“This is a special day of fond celebration for Jaguar Land Rover. We all have personal memories of Defender. It’s a true motoring icon and is much loved around the world,” said Nick Rogers, Group Engineering Director at Jaguar Land Rover.

“The world has changed dramatically in the last 68 years,

but this vehicle has remained a constant – something no other vehicle can claim.

The last of the current Defender models embraces the vehicle’s simplicity, honesty and charm – it represents its Series Land Rover heritage. Creating the Defender of tomorrow, a dream for any engineer or designer, is the next exciting chapter and we are looking forward to taking on that challenge.”

Defender Celebration The Defender Celebration in Solihull saw more than 25 unique vehicles from Land Rover’s history come together in a procession around the Solihull plant, featuring the final current Defender vehicle off the line. Land Rover associates were joined by a number of previous employees from the past 68 years to help celebrate this historic day. The last of the current Defender vehicles contains an original part that has been used on Soft Top specifications since 1948 – a hood cleat.

From 1948 to 2016 –

Celebrating the Solihull Story More than two million Series Land Rovers and Defenders have been built in Solihull, UK since 1948.

What began as simply a line drawing in the sand has gone on to become one of the world’s most iconic 4x4s, earning the accolade of being the most versatile vehicle on the planet, capable of taking owners to the places other vehicles couldn’t reach.

In 2015, a unique milestone Defender – the ‘Defender 2 000 000’ sold for a record £400 000 (more than R9-million) – a far cry from the original £450 the first Land Rover sold for at the 1948 Amsterdam Motor Show.

In 1948, the Series I went into full production at Solihull. Postwar Britain was struggling with a shortage of steel, though the country had vast manufacturing capacity.

Inspiration came from Spencer and Maurice Wilks, two brothers who had helped return the Rover Company back into profitability during the 1930s. They had devised the Land Rover as a vehicle primarily for farming and agricultural use.

30— Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

Firm strengthens structure to support real estate market

By Kingsley Adegboye

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Housing estate in Abuja

Navy to partner UN Habitat in provision of 20,000 houses

By Kingsley Omonobi

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S part of efforts to address the glaring shortage of accommodation for officers and ratings of the Nigerian Navy, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ibas has commenced a bilateral initiative with UN Habitat with the aim of building 20, 000 houses in the next three years for the Navy.

Speaking when he received the Regional Director of UN Habitat for Africa, Prof.

Oyeyinka Oyebanji at Naval headquaters, Admiral Ibas recalled that Nigeria has a housing deficit in the region of about 20milion but noted specifically that the Navy was worse hit out of the Services with a deficit of 15, 000 housing shortage.

Market prices He said: “This huge shortage accounts for over half of the houses needed for the Navy to cater for its personnel.

“Our efforts at providing housing for our personnel through the Navy Holdings have yielded houses that are not only qualitative but goes for almost half the market prices.”

While noting that the Navy was still a long way in meeting its housing needs, the CNS said, “One of the greatest challenges young officers and rating are having is the question of what happens to them after service to their fatherland. We are involved in the fight against insurgency, peace support operations, protecting the nation’s

exclusive economic zones etc.

The least the men require is to have a house over their heads.

“That is why we will partner with the UN Habitat in the venture. We are looking at the investors providing 20, 000 houses for the Navy in the next three years” the CNS said.

Earlier, Professor Oyebanji said UN Habitat in conjunction with some of its partners have provided affordable but qualitative houses in record time to similar institutions in

Our efforts at providing housing for our personnel through the Navy Holdings have yielded houses that are not only qualitative but goes for almost half the market price

Kenya, Somalia and about 10 other countries out of the 34 countries it is affiliated to.

He said one of the companies in the consortium had built about 700 million houses in China. Another has more than 30 years experience and has built more than 10 million houses around the world. The houses are top -class quality houses that will be of immense benefit to the Navy and other owners alike.

Estate surveyors renew call for creation of Valuer -General’s office

By Kingsley Adegboye

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HE Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Lands Bureau, Mr. Bode Agoro has promised to push the call by estate surveyors and valuers for the creation of the office of State Valuer-General in view of the the enormous benefits it would engender.

Agoro who said Lagos was the first state in the country to create the Office of Solicitor-General, added that hopefully, it (Lagos) will again take the lead in the creation of Valuer-General.

He explained that there are qualified members of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, NIESV in the Lands Bureau to fill the position when carved out.

Agoro who was responding to requests by a delegation of the Lagos State branch of NIESV led by its chairman, Mr. Samuel Ukpong who paid him a courtesy visit last week, gave reasons why some executors of the Land Use Charge are acting unprofessionally.

According to him, Land Use Charge used to be under the Lands Bureau. He noted that it was ceded to the Ministry of Finance that does not have professionals on land matters.

“Land Use Charge used to be under us. But it is under Ministry of Finance now. May be this is why they collect double tax. They are not professionals in this area (land) but they are experts in collecting money”, Agoro said.

Orientation programmes Stressing the need to organise orientation programmes for the workforce, Agoro said, “some illegalities are perpetrated in terms of land transactions and identifying the perpetrators is difficult. People try to circumvent us but we will also try to deal with them. This is why we are embarking on the reorientation of the thinking of our staff”, the P. S. said.

On the request for land by estate surveyors, Agoro assured them that land will be allocated

but made it clear that he cannot guarantee the number of plots they requested for.

Also speaking, the Executive Secretary, Lands, Mr. Olukayode Ogunnubi said the Lands Bureau is being repositioned in a more professional manner.

Earlier, the Lagos NIESV boss, Mr. Ukpong called on the permanent secretary “to use your office to propagate the creation of office of Valuer-General in Lagos state”. He claimed that there is no inventory of government’s assets.

“Lets regularise things being done so that practitioners can be incorporated into governance,” he canvassed.

The Lagos NIESV chairman who stated that the double taxation inherent in the Land Use Charge’s implementation is giving his institution great concern, posited that rather than charging them on income tax and capital value tax, the charge should be on income tax alone.

N its quest to respond to increasing demands for global standards and technology adoption in Nigeria’s real estate and facilities management subsector, the Board of Directors of Alpha Mead Facilities & Management Services Ltd (AMFacilities), a Lagosbased leading facilities management firm, has announced the appointment of four Executive Directors (EDs) to help the company support the growing sophistication and expansion of the market.

The Four new EDs announced at the company’s head office in Lagos last week, are: Wale Odufalu, Deputy Managing Director; Bob Daglish, ED, Operations; Wole Olufore, ED, Commercial; and Damola Akindolire, ED, Real Estate Development.

Their appointments take effect from January 1, 2016.

According to the Chairman, Board of the Directors, Engr.

Obi Nwasike, the new structure becomes necessary to help the organization support the market and position it better to harness new opportunities and take on contemporary challenges in the market place.

Contemporary challenges He noted that the current FM and Real Estate markets require a strategic blend of technologies, international systems and standards, and the right top management to drive the evolving changes.

“We all know that in the current economic dispensation, it is inevitable for businesses to seek new ways of competing and growing their bottom lines.

So we are injecting some of the finest professionals and experts into our structure to drive the huge investments we have made in technology and systems, for our customers to be able to compete favorably in the market”, he said.

Speaking further on the strategic intent of the appointments, Femi Akintunde, Managing Director/CEO of the company, said it is another way the company is poised to further its leadership position in the industry.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016 — 31

Insecurity: Residents task Ambode on abandoned property in VI, Ikoyi

Kukoyi lecture: Stakeholders call for rebuilding of public institutions

By Ikenna Asomba

By Kingsley Adegboye

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GAINST the background of security threats posed by over 100 abandoned properties that litter in Victoria Island and Ikoyi areas of Lagos, residents of the two communities under the aegis of Victoria Island, Ikoyi Security and Environment Trust (VIISET), have called on the state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode to come to their aid by addressing the challenge as a matter of urgency. VIISET is a brainchild of Victoria Island and Ikoyi Residents’ Association (VIIRA), an advocacy group which has over the years engaged past administrations in the state over the issue of abandoned One of the abandoned properties in Ikoyi properties within the two highbrow neighbourhoods. adding that this is a precautionary The Chairperson, Board of Trustees measure to nipping the activities of (BOT) of VIISET, Mrs. Francesca miscreants who may be converging in Emmanuel, who spoke to journalists these abandoned properties to carry out during the launch of membership drive their attacks on the neighbourhoods. for VIISET and VIIRA in Lagos last week, Stating however, that VIISET was decried that miscreants take advantage created in 2007 as an intervention of the of these abandoned buildings which are executive arm of VIIRA, Mrs. Emmanuel in their hundreds, by hiding in them disclosed that the association takes thereby constituting security threats to premium on the security of lives and residents, business owners and workers property in the communities, as well as who eke a living in the communities. improvement of infrastructure in the Mrs. Emmanuel, former Permanent communities.

Secretary in Lagos state said the According to her, VIISET initiated the association has lately got in touch with first corporate and individual support the Police authorities by sending them a for the provision of equipment to security list of the confirmed abandoned agencies in the communities, especially properties within the communities, the Nigerian Police Force in 2002,

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adding that this initiative led the way to the creation of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund.

To continue to improve the security situation as well as the public infrastructure in Victoria Island and Ikoyi communities, the former Permanent Secretary said: “Our objective now is to solicit the support of the media for our programme to increase the individual and corporate membership of VIISET and VIIRA. Our prospective members are all who are resident or do businesses in these two districts.

Community activities “What is special about this effort is the collaboration of the Lagos State chapter of the National Youth Service Corps, which has sent a team of youth corps members to participate in a moderated data gathering of eligible and prospective individuals and corporate bodies under their Community Development Service (CDS) programme.

“It is our hope that through this joint venture, this programme will stand as a model for other Residents Associations, and further introduce our youths to a desired involvement in the community activities’’, Mrs. Emmanuel noted.

Also, the Executive Secretary, VIISET, Alhaji Abdul Latif Muse, pointed that the issue of abandoned properties in the Victoria Island and Ikoyi communities calls for collaboration, adding that ‘’owing to the fact that we are at the receiving end of the consequence of this menace, we have over the years involved the state government through the Ministry of Physical Planning, the Local Government Authorities as well as the Police.

The list of abandoned properties that we have generated has about 100, and we have submitted it to the state authorities. Since this issue remains a concern to us, we will continue to bring it up at every forum, as an advocacy group, until we have a conclusive resolution by relevant government authorities,” he said.

GAINST the backdrop of myriad of challenges confronting Nigeria as a nation such as national identity and integration, sustenance of democratic rule, corruption, poverty and ignorance, job creation, economic backwardness, social and physical infrastructure, poor health delivery service, rule of law as well as weak and ineffective public institutions, stakeholders who gathered at the 11th Adekunle Kukoyi Memorial Lecture organised by the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) Lagos state branch at the weekend, have called for the rebuilding of public institutions in order to move the country forward.

Speaking on the theme ‘’Landscape: Challenges and Responsibilities for African Future’’, the Guest Lecturer, Chancellor of Lead City University, Ibadan, Professor Gabriel Ogunmola, said the humongous amount so far discovered in the arms purchase scandal involving the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki and other prominent Nigerians was a national shame, lamenting that “Just imagine what that amount could have done to health care delivery, provision of infrastructure and so in Nigeria’’.

Prof. Ogunmola, a past president of Nigerian Academy of Science, further noted that as at today, Nigeria still imports water being consumed by Nigerians in the sense that the chemicals and chlorine used to refine the table water consumed by Nigerians are being imported, adding that the country must urgently take deliberate actions to improve on the quality of lives of the people, stressing that leaders in positions of influence in the country must demonstrate sense of responsibilities in order to move the nation forward.

Managing of resources According to him, this sense of responsibilities must involve the rebuilding of public institutions that have been destroyed by the recklessness and lack of vision of our leaders.

Speaking earlier, the chairman of the occasion, former Ambassador and Deputy Representative of Nigeria at the United Nations (UN),Mr. Oladapo Fafowora said despite the numerous resources that are abound in Nigeria, Nigerians remain some of the poorest in the world because of the recklessness with which our leaders manage the resources.

According to Fafowora, there are many challenges confronting the African states, principal of which is corruption, adding that African states, especially Nigeria, must now pursue the anti-corruption war with all seriousness required. He said those who have corruptly enriched themselves are enemies of the state and must be treated as such, insisting that there should be no sacred cows in the fight against corruption.

The challenges he said include those of national identity and integration, sustaining democratic rule, fighting massive corruption, mass poverty and ignorance, job creation, economic backwardness, poor social and physical infrastructure, poor health delivery service, constant threat to constitutional government, and the rule of law, as well as weak and ineffective public institutions.

32 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 02 , 2016

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Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016—33

Count Oshiomhole out of impeachment plot against deputy —Edo APC

By Simon Ebegbulem

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ENIN—EDO State All Progressives Congress, APC, has absolved Governor Adams Oshiomhole of any involvement in the alleged plot to impeach the deputy governor of the state, Dr Pius Odubu, saying that those nursing such plans were only out to destroy the cordial relationship which exists between the governor and his deputy.

It will be recalled that a group under the aegis of Let the People Lead Vanguard, had last week raised alarm that members of the state House of Assembly, who were in Asaba, Delta State, for an induction, had perfected plans to impeach the deputy governor due to his ambition to succeed his boss as governor.

However, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly described the allegation as untrue and irresponsible, saying that they only went for an induction which was supposed to hold last year, insisting that no plot to impeach the deputy governor was discussed.

Reacting, yesterday, through its state Publicity Secretary, Mr Godwin Erhahon, the APC said: “We are very sure that

Oshiomhole appreciates the unalloyed loyalty of his deputy, Dr. Odubu, and as such has no hands in such plot even when they differ on who succeeds him or how such successor should emerge.

“Oshiomhole is reputed for his

tolerance of opposition in any contest and his self-confidence and courage to challenge and defeat his opponent through superior arguments and conventional strategy.

“Therefore, any attempt to link our governor with such vicious

strategy as impeachment of a loyal deputy for the purpose of disabling him in his governorship ambition can only come from enemies of peace and progress who are bent on causing disaffection between the duo of the governor and his amiable deputy.”

AWARD: From left: General Manager, Human Resources/Company Secretary, Total Nigeria Plc, Mrs. Olubunmi Popoola-Mordi; General Manager, Sales and Marketing, Mr. Babajide Olufemi; Best General Trade Executive Nationwide (Lubricant), Mrs. Oluchi Ugboaja; Best Retail Sales Executive Nationwide (Lubricant), Mr. Arnold Mozia; Managing Director, Mr. Alexis Vovk and General Manager, Operations, Mr. Goke Aluko, at the Total AAA Challenge Awards, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Professional bodies bemoan state of Nigeria's economy

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By Emma Una

ALABAR—NIGERIA’S economic situation is worsening daily and the government needs to rise to the challenge by initiating policies that will boost the naira to avoid a collapse in the welfare of Nigerians, especially the low income earners.

Mr Gabriel Fasoto, President of Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria, APBN, the umbrella body for all professional associations in Nigeria, who stated this in Calabar, Cross River State, at a two-day retreat of the association, said that the management of the nation’s resources leaves much to be desired.

He said: “Our government is operating below the general expectation of the citizenry and apparently needs to sit up in many areas as seen in the free fall of the naira against major currencies in the world, a trend that is impacting negatively on the people particularly the low income earners.

“The unprecedented level of corruption as recently unraveled through the arms deal probe and the high rate of unemployment among our youths cause unstable government. Therefore, the President and his team must initiate policies that will bring reforms based on his agenda of change.

“We have an abundance of professionals who are fired up in their vision to assist

government succeed through constructive and creative deployment of skills

in all areas and we implore government to take advantage of their services.”

NATA, Delta artisans in superiority tussle

By Festus Ahon

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S A B A — N AT I O N A L Patron of National Automobile Technicians Association, NATA, Alhaji Francis Ismail, has berated the Delta State Chairman of Artisans, Mr Godwin Ochonogor, for encroaching in the activities of NATA. Enjoining Ochonogor to apologise to the leadership of NATA for attempting to bring it under his leadership, Ismaila said NATA had been in existence for decades and could not be

under Artisans Association which, according to him, was still at its formative stage.

Ismail, who was reacting to media reports credited to Ochonogor wherein he allegedly challenged the authority of NATA, insisted that the Delta State Chairman of NATA, Mr Ifeanyi Abanum and his members were not under Artisans.

He said that Ochonogor as a professional welder, “Is a member of NATA and has no right to break away with members of NATA under any

guise.

“We did not form this association through fraudulent means. It is surprising that Ochonogor is expecting a national association to be under Artisans whereas as a welder, he is supposed to be working under the authority of NATA.” He alleged that Ochonogor had hoodwinked artisans in the state to believe that he has registered a cooperative which the state government has agreed to fund to the tune of N1 billion.

Efforts to reach Ochonogor for comment were unsuccessful.

Chieftaincy dispute rocks Edo community

By Gabriel Enogholase

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ENIN—CRISIS is brewing in Okpella Kingdom, Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State as the Oteku Sub-Clan/ruling house of the kingdom has asked an Edo State High Court sitting in Agenebode to declare that the headship of the clan rotates among two sub-clans of Ogute and Oteku ruling houses by virtue of the Edo State Traditional Rulers’ Law. In the suit, Oteku sub-clan is also seeking a perpetual injunction restraining the

Okuokpellagbe of Okpella, Alhaji A. Dirisu from parading himself or holding himself out as a ‘king’ and presiding over ‘Okpella Kingdom.’

Claimants in the suit are Chief Charles Adogah, SAN, National President, Ukhuomunyio Community, Okpella; Dr Godwin Umoru, National President, Iddo Development Union, Okpella; Dr Ayuba Giwa and four others on behalf of Oteku Sub-Clan/ ruling house.

The claimants, in a 30paragraph affidavit deposed to

by Mr. Edward Sado, averred

that they "are natives of Oteku sub-clan which is one of the two ruling houses of Okpella by virtue of the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Law of Edo State."

He averred that the two subclans, Ogute and Oteku rotate the rulership of Okpella one after the other and in turns.

They are praying the court to determine whether or not the Okuokpellagbe can operate outside the letter and content of the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Edit 1979 (as amended) to transmute himself into a King, ruling over Okpella Kingdom rather than clan head’ of Okpella clan.

A-Court ruling: Bayelsa Assembly yet to swear in ADC candidate

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By Emem Idio

ENAGOA—AFTER being declared the duly elected member of Bayelsa State House of Assembly representing Ogbia Constituency 3, by the Appeal Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in December, checks at the state Assembly reveal that Mr. Gabriel Ogbara, of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, is yet to take his oath of office.

The appellate court had annulled the April 11, 2015 state Assembly victory of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ms. Naomi Ogoli and declared the ADC candidate, Gabriel Ogbara as the duly elected member of the state Assembly and directed the withdrawal of the Certificate of Return issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to the PDP candidate, while also ordering it to issue a Certificate of Return and swear-in the ADC candidate as the duly elected member of the Assembly.

While INEC has issued the ADC candidate a certificate of return, the state House of Assembly is yet to obey the directive of the appellate court to swear him in as a member of the House.

Gov Emmanuel urges youths to strengthen faith in God

By Tare Youdeowei

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OVERNOR Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State has called on youths to hold fast to their faith in Jesus Christ as the redeemer and saviour of mankind.

Governor Emmanuel made the call during the Akwa Ibom Youth Prayer Summit held at the Eagles Assembly, Osongama Road, Uyo. He said: “When youths are committed to the service of God, their future is secured from anxiety and the society is saved from threats of criminality.”

Emmanuel restated his administration’s commitment to youth development, stressing that as vanguards of the future, the youths would be exposed to viable economic ventures that will enable them earn a living.

He added that the second batch of youths to be trained under the power sector development have departed to Abuja for the programme.

34—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 02 , 2016

DPR reads riot act to petroleum marketers in Imo O

By Chidi Nkwopara

W E R R I — T H E management of the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, has warned all marketers that it would not hesitate to commensurately sanction those who indulge in varying despicable acts in the procurement and distribution of petroleum products.

The Zonal DPR Operations Controller, Ogbuefi Morrison Nwokedi, read the riot act at a one-day sensitization seminar organized by DPR for members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, and other stakeholders in Owerri.

“Henceforth, the brazen violation of sealed fuel stations by marketers, would attract a penalty of N1 million, in addition to closure for a period of six months. Subsequent violation would attract seizure of operation license,” Nwokedi said.

While warning that the retail outlets of violators would be sealed, the zonal DPR boss equally warned that anybody found to be operating with invalid, adulterated or expired licence, would attract instant closure of the erring marketer.

Ogbuefi Nwokedi, who was not particularly happy at the way DPR officers carrying out their legitimate duties were being molested by aggressive marketers, equally kicked against the diversion and hoarding of fuel, as well as abandonment of the retail outlets on sighting DPR officials.

“When we seal any fuel station, it is for a particular purpose.

Again, whenever this occurs, do not defy our action because the penalty is always grave and we must enforce it because we must do our job as monitors and regulators,” Nwokedi explained.

He then called for what he

termed “sustainable synergy between the DPR and IPMAN”, adding that the DPR would soon introduce Information Stickers on all available fuel pumps in the South East to inform consumers to dial particular numbers

whenever the need arose.

Additionally, Ogbuefi Nwokedi announced that “the establishment’s Health Safety Environmental Audit, HSE, which is to be advisory in nature, will be carried out by DPR officers

ANAMBRA CENTRAL:

from this week”.

Speaking also, the Imo State Chairman of IPMAN, Chief Christopher C. Amadi absolved members of his association of allegations of sharp practices in the selling of the commodity.

ABIA GOV: CJN

queries Judge over litigant's petition

By Ugochukwu Alaribe

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BA—THE dust raised by the December 8, 2014 governorship primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Abia State is yet to settle as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Mahmud Mohammed has queried the former Judge of the Federal High Court, Umuahia, Justice F.A. Olubanjo over a petition written by a former aspirant of the party in the state, Chief Friday Nwosu.

According to a highly placed source in the judiciary who pleaded anonymity, the query titled, “Denial of fair hearing and

attempt to frustrate the conclusion of a governorship pre-election matter for the obvious benefit and undue advantage of the 3rd defendant, the sitting governor of Abia State” was the fall out of a petition written against Justice Olubanjo by Nwosu on October 12, 2015.

The source further hinted that based on the petition, the CJN through the Chief Judge, Federal High Court, Abuja, Justice Ibrahim Auta queried Justice Olubanjo, asking her to address issues raised in Nwosu’s petition within 14 days of the receipt of the letter.

Recall that Nwosu had after the party primaries, in Suit No. FHC/ UMU/CS/64/2015 (FHC/ABJ/CS/ 184/2015): SIR FRIDAY NWOSU V. PDP AND 3 OTHERS instituted a tax forgery suit against Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu at the Federal High Court, Umuahia and joined INEC and the PDP. Not satisfied with the way the matter was handled, Nwosu petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the National Judicial Council accusing Justice Olubanjo of frustrating an accelerated hearing of the matter and granting undue advantage to his opponent.

Fire razes 16 shops in Ebonyi

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By Peter Okutu

BAKALIKI—IT was an unpalatable sight at the popular Gunning Road near Abakpa market in Abakaliki when fire outbreak destroyed a shop belonging to the Ebonyi State correspondent of National Light Newspapers, Aaron Onuorah and 15 others, yesterday.

The inferno which started at about 3pm destroyed goods worth millions of naira.

When Vanguard got to the scene, the affected traders and their sympathizers were seen in clusters discussing the matter.

The goods destroyed in the fire outbreak ranged from electronic appliances to generators, wares,

electrical installations, among others.

In a chat with Vanguard, one of the victims and a practicing journalist, Onuorah who lamented the level of destruction that took place in the area noted that the fire incident took everybody by surprise as it burnt the affected shops sporadically.

“Before I could realize what was happening and make effort to remove my goods, the fire burnt so fast that I couldn’t save anything. The goods I was able to remove from the fire were still affected. The goods in my shop are estimated at over 6 million naira” Other traders affected by the fire

lamented that the effort of the fire fighters did little or nothing to rescue the situation as the fire massively destroyed the goods belonging to traders.

Reacting, the chairman of the State Emergence Management Agency, SEMA, Evangelist Ephraim Onoye said that the fire fighters did their best to salvage the situation, adding that the street lights put in place by the present administration assisted in curtailing the activities of looters during the ugly incident.

Recall that last weekend, fire outbreak in Ishielu Local Government Area claimed eight lives.

On Supreme Cour e as Riv er e Go Courtt declares Wik Wike River erss Stat State Govvernor he Supreme Court of Nigeria has made my day with the affirmation of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike , may God continue to grant those Justices wisdom to carry out their functions. I am not a member of any political party. Mr. Peter Fowoyo, Journalist

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very right thinking political analyst expect this judgement, the supreme court cannot contradict its judgment in Lagos that gave Ambode the governor, so I know all along that Wike is the governor and will be returned. Miss Bukola Okereke, Secretary

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f Wike had lost at the supreme Court the PDP would have blamed Buhari or Tinubu for interfering in judiciary process but now that Wike had won, who should be praised for this?

Is it Buhari who had allowed the rule of law to prevail. Mr Ismaila Abubakar, Worker

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he judiciary is surely not helping matters. I really expected this judgment when I heard the comments made by the Chief Justice of Nigeria after the court of appeal ‘s judgment. Is that not interference? That is just my view. Mr Stanley Olisa, Graduate

By Victor Otigbu

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AGOS—THE League of Patriotic Lawyers has hailed the choice of Mrs Sharon Ikeazor as the All Progressives Congress, APC, senatorial candidate in Anambra Central Senatorial District, noting that her candidacy would guarantee victory for the party in the forthcoming senatorial election.

Briefing newsmen, Chairman of the association Mr. Abubakar Yesufu, described Ikeazor as a reliable politician, who would be a worthy representative of the Igbo nation.

His words: ‘’The Chairman, League of Patriotic Lawyers, has thrown his weight behind the nomination of Sharon Ikeazor for the Anambra Central Senatorial District election. Sharon Ikeazor, who was a former classmate at the University of Benin, Faculty of Law is a woman of virtue and vision. She is a willing vehicle to take the Igbo nation to the mainstream of Nigerian politics. ‘’The senatorial candidate has always been consistent on the part of change.

Sharon is urbane, intelligent and full of initiative. Even when the then ANPP receded in questionable defeat, Sharon remained defiant and refused to jump ship, till the very end. ‘’Like Fashola, this made in University of Benin brand would no doubt hoist University of Benin flying flag in the safe shores of the senate."

By Bartholomew Madukwe (08102479985) nwamad@yahoo.com

PEOPLE SPEAK

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‘Ikeazor'll guarantee victory for APC'

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big thank you to the supreme court for saving lives in Rivers State.

At least, the court did not go the way of Salami-gate by upholding the perverse Salami type of judgement of what the election tribunal and appeal court ruled.

Miss Olanma Brenda, Student

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hile waiting for the Supreme court to give its reasons on February 12 for today’s judgment in respect of Rivers State Governorship election, l want to say that Justice (Mrs) Kekere-Ekun is an incorruptible judge.

Mr Richard Akinola, Activist

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016—35

I'm the only legal wife of Ojukwu, Bianca tells court L

By Onozure Dania

AGOS—THE trial in the ongoing legal battle between the widow of the late Ikemba of Nnewi, Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, Bianca Ojukwu and his brothers over the family estate commenced yesterday before a Lagos State High Court sitting at Igbosere.

Mrs Ojukwu in her evidence in chief before Justice Abdulfattah Lawal, admitted that neither her nor her children are shareholders or directors in Ojukwu Transport Limited, OTL. She also admitted that Ojukwu has eight children which includes the claimants, Afamefuna and Nwachukwu, adding that she is the only one that was legally married among Ojukwu’s wives, as she engaged in court, Church and traditional marriage.

Bianca, under cross examination also told the court that the suit that was filed before the court is only for the right of her children and not other children of Ojukwu.

The witness further informed the court that some of the OTL properties in question had been in the possession of her late husband before his demise, adding that the rent of those properties were being collected by her husband.

Mrs. Ojukwu had on behalf of her two under-aged children, Afamefuna and Nwachukwu (claimants) dragged Ojukwu Transport Limited, OTL, and seven others before a Lagos State High

Court sitting in Igbosere over an alleged move by the family to eject her sons from the company’s properties located in Lagos.

She had asked the court to declare that her children are entitled to the possession and occupation of one of the properties known as No 29 Oyinkan Abayomi Street, Ikoyi Lagos until the harmonisation of the management and administration of the assets of the first defendant, OTL. The defendants in the suit are: Prof. Joseph Ojukwu, Engr.

Emmanuel Ojukwu; Lotanna Putalora Ojukwu; Dr Patrick Ojukwu; Arch. Edward Ojukwu; Lota Akajiora Ojukwu

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properties were under the possession of late Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, the father of the claimants from the time the properties were released from government acquisition till date.

The claimants stated that throughout the period their father was struggling to retrieve the properties from the government, the second to seventh defendants “never played any role in the struggle nor contributed financially or otherwise to the realisation of the struggle.”

However, the judge adjourned the matter till today, for continuation of cross examination of Bianca.

INSPECTION: Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State (right) with the traditional ruler of Obimo community, Chief Spencer Ugwoke (middle) and the Chairman, Nsukka Local Government Area, Prof.Rose Onah, during an inspection tour of ongoing road projects in Nsukka, Enugu State.

S-COURT JUDGMENT:

Senate

and Mrs Massey Udegbe (doing business under Massey Udegbe & Company).

In the suit, Bianca, and her two children, had in their statement of claim, prayed the court to declare that the threat of forceful ejection from 29 Oyinkan Abayomi Street by the defendants is illegal.

She is also asking the court for a declaration that her children are entitled to possess the following property, namely: No. 13 Hawksworth Road, Ikoyi (now known as No. 13 Ojora Road; No. 32A Commercial Avenue, Yaba, Lagos; No. 30 Gerard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos and No. 30 McPherson Avenue, Ikoyi.

According to her, the

Andy Uba, Oduah resume work in

•As Chris Uba's lawyer writes INEC on withdrawal of certificates of return

By Joseph Erunke, & Omezia Ajayi

BUJA—THE two remaining embattled senators from Anambra State, Senators Andy Uba and Stella Oduah yesterday made a bold appearance in the National Assembly to disprove assertions of their removal from office.

The two senators who were reported by some media channels to have been removed from office on account of the judicial affirmation of the Ejike Oguebego faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, also attended their committees’ meetings unhindered.

Their action nonetheless, lawyer to the Oguebego faction, Chris Uche, SAN yesterday, wrote the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, asking the body to withdraw the certificates of return issued to Andy Uba and Oduah. Uche in the letter sighted

by Vanguard also asked the commission to issue certificates of return to the nominees presented by the Oguebego faction.

Senator Uba, PDP Anambra South attended the meeting of the Senate Joint Committees on Banking, Insurance and other

Financial Institutions yesterday while Oduah, PDP, Anambra North was in her office attending to visitors and files on her table.

Their presence at the National Assembly caught the attention of staff and visitors, following news reports at the weekend of their sack from office on account of the Supreme Court judgment on the supremacy battle between the contending factions of the PDP in Anambra State.

The letter from the Oguebego faction addressed to the INEC

ANAMBRA CENTRAL:

—Okonkwo

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By Clifford Ndujihe

A G O S — S E N AT O R Annie Okonkwo, the Supreme Court affirmed senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP for the 2015 polls in Anambra Central, has advised the All Progressives Congress, APC to accept defeat.

Okonkwo, who insists that he is now a senator-elect by virtue of the Supreme Court ruling of January 29 that made him the

Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, was titled “Compliance with judgement of Supreme Court Anambara state PDP National Assembly Candidates SC/37/2015-Ejike Oguebego and Anor vs Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, dated January 29, 2016.

The letter was also copied to the Chairman, Legal Services Committee, INEC Headquarters, Abuja; the Director, Legal Services Department, INEC, Ibrahim Bawa, SAN, and Hassan Liman, SAN, INEC lead counsel.

Uche stated that the effect of the Supreme Court judgment is that those who were not part of the list of candidates produced by the congress/ primary elections under the watch of Oguebego and his executive committee ought and must vacate the positions they occupy at present on the grounds that they were not validly nominated.

The names of Chris Ubah, Annie Okonkwo and 42 others were replacedfollowingtheappellatecourt judgment of 6th February 2015, just before the 2015 general elections.

APC should accept defeat authentic candidate of the PDP for the polls, picked holes in APC’s claims that he did not contest the elections and as such cannot be senator-elect.

The Court of Appeal, last December nullified Mrs Uche Ekwunife’s election for the Anambra Central senatorial because she was not validly nominated.

In a statement by his Personal Assistant, Harvester Charles, Okonkwo said: “PDP no doubt, witnessed a gale of parallel

primary elections in Anambra State but Senator Okonkwo emerged the winner of the only primary election monitored by INEC and which the authentic state executive participated in.

“INEC, the body charged with the responsibility of conducting elections in Nigeria, had stated its position on the crisis rocking the party before the parallel primary elections. Senator Annie Okonkwo’s name was published by INEC."

Abians pray for APGA's victory at S-Court

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MUAHIA—AHEAD of the judgement of the Supreme Court in respect of the disputed Abia State governorship election result, the indigenes have called for prayers, wishing victory for the candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Dr Alex Otti.

In a notice calling for the prayers, the organisers Rescue Abia Group, said it had become necessary “to seek the face of the Lord in the affairs of Abia State.”

The group said their prayer point is for the Supreme Court judgement to come out in favour of APGA as a party, and its candidate Otti.

The result of the Abia governorship election of last year has been an issue for adjudication in the law courts.

First, Otti challenged the declaration of PDP’s Okezie Ikpeazu as governor. The election petition tribunal ruled in Ikpeazu’s favour.

But dissatisfied, Otti appealed the ruling and got favourable judgement at the Court of Appeal. In fact, the Court of Appeal ruled that Ikpeazu was wrongfully declared winner of the governorship election, ordering that Otti be sworn in as governor.

Predictably, Ikpeazu and his party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, took the matter to the Supreme Court seeking to upturn the Appeal Court verdict.

But yesterday, two chieftains of Rescue Abia Group, Mazi Emma Kanu Ivi and Chief Amah Ugbuta, who spoke to newsmen about the call for prayers, said the state at this time needs God’s intervention.

“Our call for prayer is for the ultimate good of Abia State.

We cannot continue in our old ways. Things have got to change. And we are not unmindful that to have that desired change, something has to give way. What, in my opinion, has to give is the PDP government that has held us down for 16 years,” Mazi Ivi said.

In the same vein, Chief Ugbuta said Abians are praying for the coming of the APGA government of Dr. Alex Otti.

Ugbuta said: “Like hundreds of thousands of Abians, I am praying for APGA to win in the Supreme Court, so that the state may have the benefit of being governed by a technocrat like Alex Otti.”

36—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

left— Former Oyo State governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala; Mr. Tanko Kadiri and Assistant Commissioner of Police, Area Commander, Ogbomoso, Mr. Chinedu Sylvester, during Kadiri's decoration as Assistant Superintendent of Police in Ogbomoso, Oyo State.

TURBAN BY PRINCESS: From left— Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Oluranti Adebule; wife of Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode; Managing Director, Princess Aisha Collection, Mrs. Shareefah Abiola Andu, and Mrs. Modele Sarafa-Yusuf, during the public presentation of Princess Aisha Turban by Princess Aisha Collection in Ikoyi, Lagos.

ETISALAT AWARD: From left— Manager, Corporate and Social Responsibility, Etisalat Nigeria, Mrs. Oyetola Oduyemi; Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Professor Abel Olayinka; a beneficiary of Etisalat Nigeria 2015 Merit Awards and student of Economics, Elizabeth Odiaka, and Territory Manager, Retail and Sales (South West), Etisalat, Mr. Mobolaji Fadeyibi, at the cheque presentation ceremony held at University of Ibadan.

A2W INITIATIVE: From left— Head, Retails, Avenues to Wealth Ltd., Olaoluwa Daramola; former President, A2W Cooperatives, Temitope Akinyemi; Chairman, Professor Pat Utomi; MD, West Africa, Adeolu Akinyemi, both of A2W, and Brand Mgr., Ruzu Bitters, Wale Osideinde, at the launch of A2W Helping Lives Initiative, powered by Ruzu Bitters in Lagos. PHOTO: Lamidi Bamidele.

DECORATION: From

Oputa; Director, Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo, and Head, Public Relations, Mr. Reuben Muoka, both of Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, during an awareness campaign against vandalisation of telecoms infrastructure in Lagos.

CHOCOLATE CITY UNSIGNED: From left— Artiste, Victoria Kimani; President, Audu Maikori; CEO, Jude MI Abaga, all of Chocolate City; Founder and Executive Chairman, Mo Abudu, and Executive Director, Lanre Olusola, both of EbonyLife Television, at a briefing on Chocolate City Unsigned music reality show in Lagos. PHOTO: Oscar Ochiogu.

MAMADOR: From left— Head, Consumer Policy Development & Monitoring, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Philip Eretan; Mamador Brand Ambassador, Fumlola Aofiyebi-Raimi; Deputy Director/Head, Lagos Office, Consumer Protection Council, CPC, Nggada Joshua Yakubu, and General Manager, Marketing, Pz Wilmar, Bukola Bandele, at the grand e-raffle draw of the Mamador Cook & Cruise promo in Lagos. PHOTO: Akeem Salau.

COSCHARIS/HUAWEI: From left— Channel Manager, Huawei Technologies, Ken Zhao; Managing Director, Coscharis Technologies, Mukoro Emomine; Solution Manager, Huawei, Wang Shengzhao, and Assistant General Manager, Sales, Coscharis, Louis Iwegbuna, at the Huawei Online UPS launch organised by Coscharis in Lagos

AGAINST TELECOMS VANDALISM: From left— Charlie Boy

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VANGUARD, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016—37

Why I won't talk about Buhari now — JONATHAN •I didn’t negotiate with fake BoKo Haram IT was not the thunderous response that was expected. With his regime under fire for all sorts of allegations ranging from corruption to incompetence, it was thought former President Goodluck Jonathan will react to all the charges against his administration when he appeared before the diplomatic community in Geneva, Switzerland. Word had gone round that the former president will speak on all the corruption allegations and that he would even entertain questions on any subject concerning his administration.

To those of us from Nigeria, any response to the suffocating allegations of corruption would be worth the trip to Geneva. With his National Security Adviser still being investigated for allegedly diverting humongous amount of money to purposes other than what they were meant for, anticipation was high that at last there would be a response.

At exactly 3.30 pm, Jonathan walked briskly into the press centre

of the Cercle DIPLOMATIC flanked by two aides.

Decked in a blue black suit and a light blue shirt and a blue tie, the former president sat down, scanned the hall packed full of journalists, diplomats and some Nigerians in Diaspora, he was introduced by the compere as a rare African former president to have handed over power peacefully and who should as such be honoured. His response to the allegations was not the robust reaction that was anticipated but at least he tried to justify some of the decisions his administration took. The former president also spoke about his foundation - the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan foundation. After reading his three and half page statement he followed on to draw questions. Surprisingly, the organisers restricted the number of people that could ask questions. Even when Dr Jonathan said he was ready to respond to anything thrown at him the compere would not budge. Below is what the former president said to the few questions he was asked.

By Eze Anaba, Deputy Editor

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O you have the support and contact from other leaders on GEJ Foundation I will say yes and even go ahead to state that there is another area of intervention that is of equal importance to me; and this is the area of wealth creation through special programmes to encourage men and women to get involved in medium and small scale enterprises. We intend to be doing this by assisting them through training to acquire capacity in their areas of interest as well as help them with access to funding.

I have been to the United States where I visited some former presidents and the foundations of former presidents, especially Virginia, which is home to many former presidents.

Back home, we are also making a lot of consultations, talking to other African leaders on what we intend to do.

Controversial issue So we are actually on track such that by the time we take off, we would hit the ground running.

How he got the name ‘Goodluck’ That is a question I would have referred to my father, if he were still alive. He gave me that name and only him can say why he did that.

On the alleged diversion of the $2.1 billion arms purchase fund I would have loved to speak extensively on this issue because even back home, I read in the papers where a few people said that President Jonathan should add his voice to this controversial issue. But you know, in our country, there are laws.

When a matter is already in a court of law, the people who had one thing or the other to do with the matter are not expected to make comments because such would be considered as

•Jonathan: I reformed the electoral system by strengthening the electoral body prejudice. As a former President, any comment I make at this point would affect the witnesses and ongoing proceedings in court and I would be going against the law of my country.

So I will not make any comments at this point until all these are sorted out. But definitely I will speak on it. But one thing I will want Nigerians to know is that we had issues in the country. On my part, I tried to build institutions. I strengthened the judiciary and that is why I wouldn’t want to go

into areas that are not in line with standard judicial practice. I encouraged separation of powers among the three arms of government because that is the standard practice in any true democracy.

I reformed the electoral system by strengthening the electoral body, INEC, making it possible for it to seamlessly conduct the 2011 and 2015 elections.

Subsequently, the election was adjudged transparent, free and fair by local and international election observers. Some of you

still remember the tension that had built up before the 2015 elections, so much so that doomsday predictions emerged from many quarters including from agencies in the United States that Nigeria would disintegrate in 2015. The country became even more polarized along the North and South divide and also between Christians and Muslims.

Don’t forget that we still had issues of terrorism then. So to conduct election across the whole length and breadth of the country,

given the circumstances was going to be difficult. But still we were able to conduct peaceful, free and fair elections. So, to answer you directly, I would not want to speak on the controversial $2.1 billion issue, but I will speak my mind on the matter at the appropriate time.

Boko Haram gaining strength Boko Haram started in Nigeria in 2002, not really quite recent.

It started off initially as a religious group. Although they were Continues on page 38

38—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

I didn’t negotiate with fake BoKo Haram — JONATHAN

•Jonathan: As a government we worked very hard to combat Boko Haram

Continues from page 37 fanatical about their belief; they were not terrorist from the very start. But over time, just like any of the other terrorist groups the world knows about, they became radicalized may be through some local and even foreign interests and influence.

We just discovered that a group that was just being fanatical about their belief started resorting to extreme violence and assuming all the characteristics of terrorism.

As a government, we worked very hard to combat them. It started when I was vice president. The first major clash that happened between the Boko Haram agents and the Nigerian military was in 2009.

Then, the first leader of the sect was killed by the Police.

Security architecture From that time we started having more challenges and don’t forget that the country’s security architecture was not designed to combat terrorism at that time. You and I know that combating terror requires different approaches with new technologies.

This is because they are not ordinary criminals like armed robbers, who would not want to die. Terrorists are a strange group that are not afraid of death; they are not frightened by the sight of the guns and other weapons. The security forces

can manage armed robbers and other criminals better because the criminals are careful not to lose their lives.

But for terrorists, they even have suicide bombers who have already made up their minds to die, especially after inflicting maximum damage and killing as many people as possible.

So given this challenge, you need a different security architecture with superior technology. At that time Nigeria had not developed that superior technology.

When I became the President we had to start by building the capacity of various security outfits in terms of intelligence, monitoring and interventions to enable them develop the capacity to take pre-emptive actions. We built that capacity over time.

That was why we were able to push Boko Haram back and degrade them to a level where we were able to conduct elections in all parts of the country. And I believe that with the commitment of the present government we will be able to get to a level when Boko Haram will no longer constitute any obstruction to our social and economic life.

Working with the present Government I am the former President and I cannot throw myself on the new Government. It depends on the assignment the current President decides to give me and also. If I have the capacity to carry

out such assignment. He is our President and can decide to send people on assignments based on national interest. When I was in office, I used to give assignments to former presidents and that is how it has always been. I am free to work for my country and in deed for any other African president that considers my service valuable.

On claims by the Buhari administration that his government negotiated with fake Boko Haram We did not negotiate with fake Boko Haram. I agree that within that period, especially

As a former President, any comment I make at this point would affect the witnesses and ongoing proceedings in court and I would be going against the law of my country. So I will not make any comments at this point

whenever there was a problem, people volunteered all manner of assistance. It is just like what, my successor, President Buhari said in a recent media chat that if his government gets credible leaders of the sect, they would be willing to discuss with them.

People will come to you with all kinds of names. But my government never set up a team to negotiate with Boko Haram.

We found out that the activities of the terrorists were coming from a section of the country, the North East, and they were more active in two states, Borno and Yobe.

If you relate this with the issue of education, you will discover that these two states have the worst cases in terms of children's school drop-out rate with more than 50 percent dropout rate. So you can see that this high rate of out-of-school children speaks to the issue of the prevalence of insurgency in these states.

Prevalence of insurgency We then felt that there may be local issues involved in the matter. What we then did was to set up a committee of senior people in the states to hold conversations with all stakeholders including community leaders, religious leaders and all other interest groups.

Their mandate was to hold

conversations with these groups towards finding a local solution to the problem. There was never a time we negotiated with Boko Haram. I think this whole idea is all politics. The world over, people do and say all kinds of things in the name of politics.But then it is wrong for people to play politics with very serious national issues.

The only group we negotiated with which started when I was a deputy governor was the militants in an area called the Niger Delta. I believe that if we had negotiated with Boko Haram, we would have come out with an action programme in that regard. When we negotiated with Niger Delta militants, we were able to do that because you could identify them and they had a clear position on all the issues.

In that case we were able to come out with what we called the amnesty programme which brought about the end of militancy in that part of our country where crude oil is being produced. We asked the militants to surrender their weapons in exchange for their rehabilitation. We engaged them with relevant training and placed many of them on a monthly allowance.

Some of them were trained outside Nigeria and some were encouraged to set up businesses and so on. For a negotiation to take place there should be certain expectations from both sides.

We just couldn’t negotiate with the terrorists because such expectations could not be established.

Promoting entrepreneurship Anybody who says that we negotiated with Boko haram during my time is merely playing politics.

On his under-reported achievements and legacies I am happy that somebody here could talk about all we did in terms of building institutions, promoting entrepreneurship among youths and many other things we did in office. When I set out to reform INEC for instance, I had in mind building the kind of democracy that is sustainable.

Democracy is not just about conducting elections and announcing the winner.

Elections must be credible and transparent. They must appear free and fair to all the interest groups. There are many elections that are held and won without any iota of credibility.

Such elections will not lead to stability in the polity. And when there is no stability in a country, people find it difficult to enter.

That is the difference between Africa’s independence periods, when we simply won our freedom but there was no stability; and now that our societies are maturing into stable Continues on page 39

VANGUARD, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016—39

Why I won't talk about Buhari now — JONATHAN Continues from page 38 democracies.

Our democracies are becoming institutionalized with even peer review tools being deployed. That is why the economies of many countries are now growing. We also ensured that the judiciary was independent. There was no interference from the executive which I headed. We ensured that the parliament operated within its mandate without any hindrance. We strengthened INEC because without a strong and independent electoral body you cannot conduct a free and fair election.

I can go on and on to enumerate all we did but that is not why I came to Geneva. The truth is that we cannot claim to have solved all of Nigeria’s problems. No president can safely make such a claim as no individual can solve all the problems of a nation. But I can say that we tried our best.

But when you ask me about what is happening to all my legacies and what is happening in the government today, I will tell you that you are being unfair to me.

You do not expect a former President to begin to speak of his successor, especially knowing that I have just left office. It is not standard practice anywhere because any comment I make now, whether positive or negative, could be misinterpreted.

your roads from frequent damage.

Our roads collapse very fast because they are constantly carrying heavy loads, which they were not designed to always support. That was why we decided to begin a programme of reviving the narrow gauge rail network across the country which was built by the colonial masters because of movement of commodities and other raw materials. We also encouraged women to participate directly in governance and in entrepreneurship.

Everybody knows that in the area of women empowerment we performed relatively better than my predecessors.

For instance, I was the one who opened up the Nigerian Defence Academy to begin to admit women as students. That opened the way for women to aspire to any level in the military, including the highest level of becoming service chiefs. I did a number of other things I don’t need to bore you with.

You are right that these achievements were not known by all our people. It is not because my people did not try to publicize the programmes, but

you know, good news doesn’t spread fast. It is only bad news that require no push to spread.

I was told that even the current transport minister who was the governor of Rivers State said not long ago that he didn’t know that trains still run in Nigeria.

That was how bad it was. I also heard that the Minister of Power, Works and Housing who also was the governor of Lagos State has commended our achievements in the area of power infrastructure and building roads. These are testimonies coming from members of a political party that used to be in opposition.

So, I agree with you that probably we didn’t use the media the way we should.

Reason for going into politics

Narrow gauge rail network I will tell you that you are not helping me you are not showing me love, if you continue to insist that I should run commentaries on the activities of my successor.

We also began a programme of revamping the narrow gauge rail network we have in the country.

We intended by this to be able to move goods across the country freely without the disruptive effect of such activity on the roads.

We knew that the narrow gauge was no longer suitable for human movements.

But we were convinced it was still good enough to move our goods within the country. It will shock you to know that moving goods from the northern part of Nigeria, say from Kano to Lagos, could be more expensive than moving the same goods from Lagos to Europe. With rail you not only reduce cost of transportation but you also save

•Jonathan: Democracy is not just about conducting elections and announcing the winner

I am the former President and I cannot throw myself on the new Government, it depends on the assignment the current President decides to give me and also depends on if I have the capacity to carry out such assignment

But even if we did like I said, only negative stories, like the amplified cases of corruption, would instantly go viral once they are mentioned, even without anybody giving it a push. But news about positive achievements hardly register in our minds. It is not as if these things were not being mentioned.

They were, because we had a policy of reviewing all our activities annually. There was even a time our minister of information took journalists round the whole country on a tour of all our projects.

Yet the spread of such information remained limited, in line with what I have just said that news about achievements probably requires a lot of force to spread. It is only negative news that spreads on its own.

Why he didn’t contest his election loss in court

In Nigeria, other people see us as being very religious. This is because we truly believe that human beings, either by creation or evolution, are made for different purposes. That is why people are in different professions and different callings.

The thing I believe is that I did not go into politics because of what I stood to gain as an individual. I went into politics because I see it as a responsibility to serve and to help my society grow. My reason for going into politics may be different from that of other politicians. I also believe that it takes the sacrifice of individuals to build a society.

Most of these societies that are very well developed were built by the sacrifices of individuals.

Some people even died in the process of defending their people and fighting for their wellbeing.

As African leaders we must now be ready to set standards so that other people would begin to emulate us. In Nigeria it is almost taken for a given that anybody who contests for any office would always go to the tribunal to challenge an outcome that doesn’t favour him.

Cheating during elections What that suggests is that nobody loses election in Nigeria. That tradition must also change. As a sitting President I presided over an election in which I contested but lost.

Yes, INEC is an independent body but you and I know that the activity of any agency is under the supervision of a President. Some people were telling me to go to the tribunal

or even stop the elections, citing cases of irregularities.

But I rebuffed such advice. If INEC that was under me, and assuming the officials allowed cheating during elections as was claimed, why will I go to the tribunal to complain? If I did that I would not be setting the right example.

It would then mean that all I suffered to build would come to nothing.

Results of the elections The point I am making is that people should always be prepared to make sacrifices for the sake of their country. We need to evolve that culture and imbibe it in our consciousness that we don’t have to go to court each time we lose elections.

Let me tell you a story that will shock you. When the results of the elections were declared and I got almost 13 million votes while the incumbent president won with over 15 million votes, I recall one African leader telling me that if I decided to leave office, it would only be because I must already be tired of remaining in office.

The implication of that statement was that many other leaders in my position would have stayed put, but that is just not me. My place in governance was to do my best and quit and not to sit tight and destroy everything I had built.

I believe that sometimes one will have to make that kind of sacrifice in the interest of his people and nation that God had graciously allowed you to lead.

40—Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

Nigeria tops list of countries providing contraceptives

By Sola Ogundipe

N

IGERIA provided 22 per cent of the contraceptives provided by the top 10 contraceptives providing countries in 2013 and 2014.

Out of a total of 8,153,431 contraceptives provided for the two years, Nigeria provided 3,873,115.

In 2013, Africa’s most populous country provided 1,835,966 contraceptives, a figure that increased to 2,037,149 in 2014 according to data released by the Family Planning 2020, FP2020, at the just concluded 4th International Conference on Family Planning, ICFP 2016, held in Nusa Dua, Indonesia.

Other countries among the top 10 providers of contraceptives are Democratic. Republic od Congo, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Malawi, Mali, Pakistan and Togo.

The data was released just as the conference closed with renewed calls from global leaders for increased action to expand contraceptive access and options for family planning services to additional 120 million women by 2020.

Over 3,000 participants attended the historic conference organised around the theme "Global Commitments, Local Actions" even as the IPPF has already reached 15 million new users and increased their total

family planning clients by 40 percent since 2012.

As part of the FP2020 commitment, Nigeria pledged to provide additional US$8.35m annually until 2016 for reproductive health commodities.

Further, government pledged to improve equity and access to family planning for women with lowest socioeconomic status, including promoting policy formulation and actions that support maternal and child health.

Programmatically, Nigeria committed to training more community health workers to deliver the range of contraceptives in rural areas Data from the National family planning core indicator 2014-15, showed that the number of additional users of modern methods of contraception rose from 194,000 with a contraceptive prevalence rate, modern methods (mCPR) 10.5 percent in 2013 to 667,000 and 11.4 percent mCPR in 2014. In 2015 the figure rose to 1,064,000 (12.1 percent).

Nigeria’s ambitious FP2020 commitment, includes the goal of raising the contraceptive prevalence rate, CPR, among married women from 15-36 percent by 2018.

Access for 60 million

FAMILY PLANNING: More Nigerians are getting access to contraceptives.

million new users by 2020.

The move is part of measures to provide family planning services and bridge unmet need of women for modern contraception.

Speaking during the closing session of the conference, IPPF's Director General, Tewodros Melesse said the new

More exciting commitment announcements are expected imminently - a testament not only to the compelling power of the FP2020 vision

In its own contribution during the ICFP 2016, , the IPPF pledged to provide access to 60

commitment represents the organisation's most ambitious pledge ever and will allow millions more women to freely choose the size their families.

"We are delighted by what we have achieved and that we can make an even more significant contribution through our increased pledge to reach 60 million new users.

Beth Schlachter, Executive Director of FP2020, said the s past year had seen the largest wave of new commitments since the London Summit.

“More exciting commitment announcements are expected imminently - a testament not only to the compelling power of the FP2020 vision, but to the growing value of this platform as a catalyst for change.”

"Every two years we gather

POLIO: Dangote, Gates commit $42m to routine immunisation

By Gabriel Olawale

T

PARTNERSHIP: L-R: Environmental Surveillance Officer, Mr. Haliru Usman; President, Dangote Group Ltd, Aliko Dangote and Co-Chairman, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, during a visit to Rigasa Environmental Surveillance site, Igabi LGA, Kaduna State.

at the ICFP to learn from one another and map out strategies to accelerate progress. Our goals are bold but, according to the latest FP2020 progress report, we risk falling short of the promises we've made to the millions of women that want contraception if we don't step up," said Jose "Oying" Rimon II, Chair of the ICFP International Steering Committee and Director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health.

Rimon who threw a challenge at the close of the conference, said investing in family planning is key to driving positive health outcomes, economic growth and global development progress.

O maintain the success of Nigeria’s delisting from the group of polioendemic countries and ensure global-level standards of surveillance, Dangote Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have extended their existing partnership on routine immunisation and strengthening of primary health care in Kano and Bauchi states to four additional states of Borno, Kaduna, Sokoto and Yobe.

Speaking on the benefit of the newly signed Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, the Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Foundation, Zouera Youssoufou, said the need to keep up the success through routine immunisation, was to ensure that the trend of polio is not reversed.

"While it is an important indication of progress to have a year and five months without a case of WPV, Nigeria needs to go through July 2017 without a case

anywhere in the country to be declared polio-free. Surveillance must be maintained at global-level standards so that we are not missing anything."

"This informed the extension of strategic partners between the two Foundations and the six state governments to earmark a total of $42 million to strengthening routine immunisatio and by extension, a significant part of the primary health care system.”

Youssoufou hinted that a total of $42 million has been set aside for 2013- 2018 with Dangote Foundation and the Gates Foundation contributing $14 million each while the six states together provide the balance of $14 million.

She pointed out that strengthening routine immunisation takes sustained financial and human resource commitment and it is important that the changes being made during the short MOU period must Continued on Page 41

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016—41

Ondo explains rational behind massive investment in health

By Chioma Obinna

O

NDO State Government has explained the rationale behind its continued massive investment in the state health sector, saying, it was to ensure that the citizenry enjoy optimum health for maximum productivity.

The Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, who gave the explanation while declaring open the State Council on Health meeting, weekend also disclosed that a bill on the State Health Insurance Agency is being drafted and would soon be forwarded to the Ministry of Justice.

Mimiko further explained that the development would assist in sustaining the health programmes of the present administration.

Reasoning that the Council on Health meeting would give room to review the health sector reform and formulate policies for consolidation of health gains and development, the Governor stated that the law on confidential Enquiry into maternal Death was already on ground likewise the Primary Healthcare Development Medical Sciences, among others.

Mimiko, who added that the establishment of the University of Medical Sciences would sustain some of the initiatives in the health sector, called for the collective effort of all and sundry as this would go a long way in achieving a common goal.

In his welcome address, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, explained that the council on health meeting was aimed at showcasing some of the achievements

Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko. recorded in the sector and equally produce a robust document for the system.

Adeyanju said meeting was a way of ensuring that key stakeholders in the health sector have input for documentation to further strengthen the system.

Also, an International expert on universal Health coverage and progressive Health financing from the Chatham House, United Kingdom, Mr. Robert Yates, said that Ondo State is already achieving universal health coverage by providing free healthcare services to pregnant women and children age 0-5.

He also emphasized quality of healthcare and financing as critical

aspects of UHC, stressing that government at all levels must be involved in driving the policy to success.

In a communiqué issued at the end of meeting, the State Council of Health called on the government the state kidney Care Centre should be strengthened to be a resource and transplant centre.

They also recommended that Mother & Child hospitals should be expanded to provide postgraduate training in Paediatrics.

"The Government should increase the intake of Schools of Midwifery & Nursing to 100 and the State should devise a mechanism for safer blood transfusion by equipping one comprehensive health centre and one secondary health centre per LGA

Dangote, Gates Continues from page 40 be 'habit forming' changes that are kept in place well after the MOUs end.

Youssoufou who is the former World Bank Country Manager for Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tomé and Principe, said the the two Foundations are entering into a one-time, 15-month tripartite MoU with Zamfara and Katsina States to strengthen their cold chain system for the success in remaining polio free since 2013.

Immunization Leadership Challenge, the two foundations committed to recognizing Zamfara and Katsina State each with $1 million grant award funds for their success in remaining polio free in 2013."

"Dangote Foundation and BMGF's founding will support the purchase of cold chain equipment, while the states have committed to releasing funds to support equipment installation, operation, and maintenance.

NACA sensitises Rivers communities on HIV prevention

A

S part of the measures to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS in Rivers State, the National AIDS Control Agency (NACA) has taken sensitisation campaign to local communities in Khana LGA. NACA’s four-day funded community outreach organised by E-health Nigeria Ltd provided care to about 4,000 members in Bori and Taaba, both in Khana LGA. Speaking at the event which was flagged off at Bori, NACA’s Deputy Director for Policy and Strategy Dr Chidi Nwanemeka who represented the Director General, Prof.

John Idoko, described the event as timely to increase community level of awareness

and provide preventive messages through mass mobilisation.

The activity which adopted a multidisease strategy also witnessed health counselling and talks on malaria and testing for HIV, malaria parasites, blood glucose level, deworming of children as well as BMI assessment among others.

Incentives such as free drugs and long lasting insecticide mosquito nets were given out to members of the communities who availed themselves for the programme. Present were Medical Officer of Health, Khana LGA, Lovina Nwaidam, Dr. Francis Naziga of the Rivers SACA.

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42 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

Eight years on, hurdles trail Oshodi redevelopment plan

By Monsuru Olowoopejo

T

HE zeal by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State to complete the Oshodi redevelopment plan which commenced eight years ago could further displace hundreds of residents and traders whose source of livelihood comes from there.

Considering the huge number of residents and traders who will be affected by the plan, the present administration has hurdles to scale before it could complete the redevelopment plan without been condemned for its action. One of the major hurdles will be the Mosafejo community.

The status of Oshodi, makes it a major destination for a large percent of visitors to the state.

This location affords one the opportunity to link any part of the state without stress. But over the years, it became major gridlock and crime flashpoint.

Former Governor of the state, Babatunde Fashola, now Minister of Works, Power and Housing, commenced the redevelopment of Oshodi during his first term in office.

The action began on Sunday, January 4, 2009 with the demolition of illegal structures thereby displacing hundreds of traders as well as illegal occupants, mainly street urchins, who had been terrorizing residents, passers-by

and motorists in the area for several years.

It was indeed a massive exercise; starting from the Bolade Junction to the Ilupeju section of the Agege motor road.

Several illegal structures that had been hindering human and vehicular movement were removed.

Many traders looked on as scores of Kick Against Indiscipline, KAI Brigade officials backed up by mobile policemen, bulldozed structures to ensure the place conformed with the megacity status of the state. Efforts by the traders to save their property proved abortive.

Major traffic point Though, the traders cried foul that their source of livelihood had been destroyed but the commendation received by the government for its action exceeded the complaints.

The action brought sanity to Oshodi, as it assumed a new look. It was devoid of its usual filth and narrow road that made Oshodi a major traffic point in the state.

The road became wide and neater, forcing many who had visited the state before the exercise to commend the Fashola administration for restoring sanity to the axis. They argued

that Fashola achieved what the military administrators and governors before him could not.

But the administration would not complete the exercise despite the commendation it received locally and internationally.

Until the expiration of the Fashola administration which ended May 29th, 2015, the plan could best be described as being 50 percent completed.

Removals of certain defacing structures and erection of critical and befitting ones that conform with the megacity status of the state could not commence; except the redevelopment of Isopakodowo market.

The influence of the party at the centre-Peoples Democratic Party, PDP which used to control the federal resources and property, Vanguard gathered affected the Oshodi redevelopment plan.

Also, the redevelopment plan was halted after traders of the Owonifari electronic market dragged the state government to court, seeking injunction to halt redevelopment of the section they occupied. …664 hoodlums arrested in Oshodi: Due to the delay in the completion of the Plan, Vanguard gathered that the miscreants, mostly teenagers between the ages of 12 and 16 who were earlier dislodged started to besiege the area again and they engaged in nefarious

•Mosafejo Market... awaiting demolition activities that disturbed public peace especially during the early hours of the day and late at night.

The former chairman of the State Environmental and Special Offences Task Force Unit led by Chief Superintendent of Police, Bayo Sulaimon, raided Oshodi continuously but the efforts by the taskforce to dislodge them completely from the Oshodi Under-bridge, the railway line and drainage channels, which serve as their abode proved futile. They have continued to flock the market.

Sulaimon’s successors have also visited Oshodi on different occasions to arrest hoodlums who thronged this axis.

Vanguard investigation revealed that over 664 hoodlums were arrested by the State Taskforce on Environmental

It was indeed a massive exercise; starting from the Bolade Junction to the Ilupeju section of the Agege motor road. Several illegal structures that had been hindering human and vehicular movement were removed

from Oshodi in about three years.

It was gathered that the miscreants migrated into the state from neighbouring states of Ogun, Oyo, Kwara, Osun, Ondo among others.

Snatching phones It was also discovered that the major spot for under-age miscreants in Lagos is Mosafejo community popularly called Oko-Mola in Oshodi axis of the state. This is one place that sources said has since become a major settlement for the underaged in the state. This is where several child miscreants were said to often spend their night.

After snatching phones and other valuables at night and in the early hours, they return to this place to sleep. In the later part of the day, they sell the stolen products. This is a place where over 70 miscreants had been arrested in a single raid before.

Sources said that the continued activities of the hoodlums and the aim of transforming Oshodi culminated in Governor Akinwunmi Ambode's action. ..demolishing Owonifari market: In a bid to complete the redevelopment plan, Ambode on January 6th, 2016 ordered demolition of the Owonifari electronic market with over 1, 500 traders displaced.

Confirming the number of affected traders, Prince Issa Kayode, former chairman of the

Continues on page 43

VI

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016 — 43

Eight years on, di hurdles trail Osholan p t n e m p lo e v e red

•Demolished Owonifari electronic market Continues from page 42 market, said that there were over 400 shops and over 1, 000 kleeklamps in the market.

The market was established in 1978 but was demolished 38 years after, specifically six days after it was shut by the state government.

Prior to the demolition, the state government had on December 24th, 2015 issued a two-week quit-notice to the traders before its eventual demolition.

Eventual demolition It was learned over 8 years ago, the traders dragged the State Government to Federal High Court, Ikoyi to restrict the government from demolishing the market in-line with its Oshodi redevelopment plan.

In an interview with Vanguard, Mr. Ola Ganiyu, a trader in the market, lamented “We have more than a thousand traders here. I have been trading here over 38 years ago. And for over the years, we were trading in peace.

According to him, “This place was approved by the Federal Government. The issue is still in court because initially, they claimed that due to the filthy state of the market, it would be shut. The case is still at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi. And few days after the State government issued quit notice, our counsel warned that the market must not be demolished.”

The governor ’s action degenerated as traders especially those of Eastern extraction argued that it was

targeted at them. For days, the media was awash with stories, reactions over the governor’s action. While some applauded the governor, others towed the line of the aggrieved traders to condemn the demolition.

Justifying the government action, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, explained that the Owonifari loop will be transformed into an ultra modern bus terminus with new bus shelters that are befitting of a structured park in a mega city.

Ayorinde stated that the government has commenced the fencing-off of the set-back on Agege Motor Road that stretches from Ilupeju end of Oshodi all the way to the PWD/ Ikeja GRA end of the area.

The commissioner noted that Lagosians should expect from this transformation exercise, a new Oshodi that will be sane and safe and where both traders and commuters would be pleased to visit and trade.

He added that the fencing-off of the long stretch of the set-back is being undertaken to assist the Federal Government and the Nigerian Railway Corporation in particular with a view to beautifying it and safeguard lives along the railway corridor by discouraging street trading and indiscriminate use of the space. …demolishing Mosafejo community: After days of complaint and relocation of the affected traders of Owonifari to Oshodi resettlement market (former Isopakodowo), the State government commenced another round of demolition at the wee hours of last Saturday.

Vanguard gathered that the structures were pulled down after been labelled as illegal structures erected on the setbacks on Agege motor road, as well as constituting nuisance, including serving as hideout for criminals.

It was learned that days before the demolition exercise, the affected buildings were earlier been marked by the state ministry of physical planning, including their occupants who were as well served notices to evacuate the place, weeks before men of the state taskforce who trooped into the area last night, with bulldozers, and began tearing down the structures.

A source from the state government disclosed that the action was a directive from the governor with the aim of getting rid of crime perpetuated within the axis.

He said the removed structures, along Agege/ Mushin road in Oshodi, including that of Heritage Bank,

For days, the media was awash with stories, reactions over the governor’s action, while some applauded the governor, others towed the line of the aggrieved traders to condemn the demolition

were earlier marked among those meant for demolitions within Oshodi environ before demolition began.

Few hours after the completion of the exercise, Ambode visited the scene to confirm if the officials completed the exercise. …residents alleged governor ’s snub: Understanding their structures was next, the residents of Mosafejo Community trooped out to seek clarification from the governor, on whether their building would be demolished or not; following the sudden notice of evacuation from the ministry of physical planning and urban development.

Notice of evaluation But their effort was futile, as Ambode allegedly snubbed the residents who had greeted him joyously. It was learnt that the community was earlier in January, 2015 served an 11-day notice of evaluation by the government after which another two-day, a shorter notification, countering the previous, was pasted on each buildings in the affected area, leading to some of the residents fleeing the place while others, who have no alternative, decided to stay.

A trader, Rashidat Jimoh, resident of the Mosafejo, lamented that the state governor ’s visit to the community did not bring hope to the residents who have been waiting endlessly for the state government to address them since after evacuation notifications pasted on the walls of houses in the community.

She noted that reception of the governor by the people of the community was not cordial and surprised virtually entire members of the Mosafejo including, alleging that, they were snubbed by the governor.

Jimon who claimed to have been residing in the community over 20 years said that the countenance of the governor during his visit to the community was not friendly and that it showed total rejection of the Mosafejo’s people.

Her words, “No matter what, part of our votes in this small community, of no less than 10,000 populations, voted massively for him during the last elections Another , who identified himself as Sunday, argued that the governor’s visit to the Mosafejo was insignificant since he did not address any member of the community or call for a meeting with the community leaders.

He said the few residents left in the community were mainly landlords, including wives and children, who were scouting with relatives until they know their fates, converged to meet the governor with the hope that he would at least address them, but that he was surprised at Ambode countenance and reception toward the residents as they attempted to engage him through exchange of pleasantries.

Notice of evaluation “Our own treatment was even least to what the governor’s aides did to a journalist who tried to have his way into the community during Ambode’s visit. …hurdles before Ambode: The hurdle before Ambode would be to fulfill the promises made to the residents by his predecessor (Fashola). Before the expiration of Fashola’s administration, he promised the state government intervention in Mosafejo community, urging the residents to organise themselves and provide land for government to build two blocks of houses for the community.

He added that any move by the government to develop the area must come with some discomfort and concession which the residents have to yield to. According to him, "No doubt, conditions here are not too good, and I am sure, you residents do not like to continue to live here this way. If you really don't like to continue to live this way and you need help, we will help you to redevelop this place".

"We will help you to redesign this place so that you can still build on your property and get amenities like schools and so on.

But you need to provide the land for us to do this. So you go and meet and tell us when you are ready so that we can begin to take the necessary steps".

Rather than ask the residents to provide the land as earlier stated by his predecessor, the governor has issued quit-notice to the occupants.

44— Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 02 , 2016

C M Y K

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016—45

PDP faults Buhari on judiciary

By Henry Umoru

A

C & S AT 90: From left— Spiritual Father, Special Apostle T. J. Tajudeen; Supreme Head, His Eminence, Professor Solomon Alao; Host Spiritual Father, His Grace, Baba Aladura Hezekiah Amusan, and Chairman, National Executive Council, Special Apostle Olusesi Sowande, all of Cherubim and Seraphim, C&S, Unification Church of Nigeria, at the church's 2016 annual general conference on its 90th anniversary, at Mushin, Lagos, yesterday.

N2BN PENSION FRAUD: Interpol declares Maina wanted

By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor

T

HE stage appears set for the arrest and prosecution of former Chairman of the Presidential Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, who has been accused of looting N2 billion of pension funds.

The development follows the request by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to police to track him and the publication of Maina’s name on the list of wanted persons with the International Police Organisation, INTERPOL, in Lyon, France.

Vanguard learned that the issuance of the alert on Maina

by Interpol had effectively drawn international spotlight on him and makes him a subject of arrest in any country.

Vanguard also gathered that EFCC had on November 18, 2015 written to the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, seeking his assistance “to issues an INTERPOL Red Alert” on Maina, who had been charged to the Federal High Court on July 10, 2015 with charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/297/ 2015.

INTERPOL's letter

In a response to the anti-graft agency ’s request, Olushola Subair, Commissioner of Police, INTERPOL, in a letter dated January 11, a copy of which was obtained by Vanguard, and addressed to the Chairman, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, informed the agency that its request had been processed and a notice duly issued by the INTERPOL. The Commissioner said: “Be informed that the Bureau has taken necessary action on the

wanted fugitive as requested with INTERPOL General Secretariat, Lyon, France.

“He has been published on the INTERPOL Red Notice

accordingly.”

The import of the notice, it was learned, is that there is nowhere in the world for Maina, who was indicted by

EFCC for fraud and the theft of over N2 billion in pension funds in the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, to hide.

NCC, Police Affairs Ministry, NIGCOMSAT fingered in $470m CCTV contract

By Emman Ovuakporie & Johnbosco Agbakwuru

A

BUJA—THE House of Representatives ad hoc committee on Closed Circuit Television, CCTV, contract probe may indict Nigeria Communications Commission, NCC; Nigeria Communications Satellite, NIGCOMSAT and the Ministry of Police Affairs, for alleged negligence of duty.

Vanguard authoritatively gathered that the ad hoc committee, chaired by Ahmed Yerima, stumbled on more revelations that exposed the three government agencies, particularly in the manner the contract was executed.

According to the source, the contract was to be executed by the Office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, but was given to the Ministry of Police Affairs.

He said: “The CCCTV contract worldwide is handled by the office of the NSA, but here we gave it to the end users, which is the police, to execute.

“In other climes, what is normal is for the office of the NSA, after completing the sites, to simply hand over to the end users which are the security operatives.

“NigComsat did not help

matters either, as they approved the materials and sites as been okay while they were in very bad shape.

“Again, NigComsat did not properly advise the Federal Government on the variations and confusion surrounding the contract.”

NCC allegedly erred as it sold the bands designed for public security for commercial purposes.

Such security communications gadgets, according to the source, were never sold to commercial consumers as they were meant for the monitoring criminal activities.

It was also gathered that the committee frowned at the manner $70 million counterpart funding was paid

by the Federal Government on the $470 million Chinese loan.

The source also revealed that another issue before the ad hoc committee was the way over $40 million was paid to service a loan of 10 years grace, when the principal had not been touched.

C'ttee Chair reacts

Contacted, Chairman of the committee, Ahmed Yerima, simply said: ”We are still investigating the matter; it is not yet concluded.”

However, a source privy to this development revealed that the allegations were weighty, adding that there was no way the matter could be set aside.

BUJA—THE national leadership of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday took a swipe at President Muhammadu Buhari over his alarm that the judiciary was his major headache.

The party also urged the judiciary to continue to assert its independence in carrying out its constitutional role as the last hope of the common man.

Speaking yesterday in Abuja, while inaugurating Imo State PDP Caretaker Committee, the party's acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, who lamented President Buhari’s attack on the judiciary, said as an arm of government which is autonomous, the judiciary should not allow itself to be deterred from upholding justice and the Rule of Law. Secondus said: “Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, urges the judiciary, as the last hope of the common man, to continue to assert its independence and not allow itself to be deterred from upholding justice and the Rule of Law, no matter the pressure “The judicial community and, in fact, all discerning Nigerians were shocked by the release by the Presidency on Sunday wherein President Muhammadu Buhari was quoted to have described the judiciary as the ‘major headache’ of his administration.”

He lampooned the statement of President Buhari who narrated his experience in the hands of the judiciary while pursuing his presidential ambition from 2003 to 2011 and his anti-graft war.

Why we prefer World Bank, AfDB loans—ADEOSUN

By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief

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HE Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has explained that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration preferred to borrow from the World Bank and African Development Bank, AfDB, because their funds were cheap.

She said in a statement by her Special Adviser on Media

Matters, Mr. Festus Akanbi, in Abuja, yesterday, that the multilateral loans were cheaper compared with other options open to Federal Government.

Buhari had proposed a budget of N6.08 trillion with a N2.2 trillion deficit and a N1.8 trillion borrowing requirement.

Akanbi quoted the minister as saying “the overall objective is to

provide the lowest possible cost of funds to finance capital projects proposed under the government’s plan to stimulate the economy.

“These capital projects include power, transport, road and housing, among others.”

The Buhari administration is faced with little or no alternative to borrowing to fund the 2016 budget deficit, giving the low crude oil prices that has already affected the revenue profile.

46 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

I won’t be a bench warmer at West Ham – Emenike

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MMANUEL Emenike has said he hopes to “always be in the first XI” after he completed his loan transfer to EPL club West Ham. The Fenerbache striker is on loan to West Ham till the end of the season with an option for the

London club to agree a permanent deal thereafter.

“That is why I am here, to always be in the first XI, always try to make the fans happy and to make myself happy. I really hope it works out,” Emenike told West Ham TV.

“I have always known West Ham as a great club. I have always been watching them. West Ham’s a great club and I am very, very happy and very, very excited that I am here.

“The Premier League is the best in the world,

it is everyone’s dream to come and play here.”

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has followed the Nigeria striker when both worked in Russia and Turkey and so knows what he is capable of.

Mozia breaks national record again improvement on the

BY BEN EFE

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HOT Putter Stephen Mozia has made some slight

•Emenike

Ighalo irreplaceable – Team mate

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AT F O R D midfielder Adlene Guedioura has labeled Nigeria international Odion Ighalo ‘irreplaceable’ after the netted the winner for Watford in a FA Cup fourth round game.

The Nigeria international now has 15 goals and three assists this season, giving him a key role in 62 per cent of his team’s 29 goals.

“I think the statistics speak for themselves,” said

Guedioura, who helped dump former club Forest out of the cup.

“He only came on for a few minutes and scored. He is an amazing player. He is a top, top player for the Premier League not just for our team.

“It is really important he is staying. If you remove Ighalo it is 60 or 70 per cent fewer goals. I want him to finish the season with a lot more goals and why not be the top scorer in the league?”

Le Roy, Renard Continues from BP of the group stage of the 2016 edition, with Tunisia and Guinea progressing ahead of the Sunday Oliseh’s team.

As speculations continue to mount over the future of coach Sunday Oliseh. Several foreign coaches like Claude Le Roy and Herve Renard, who have excelled in Africa, are now queuing up to lead Nigeria.

“Foreign coaches have indicated strong interest to handle Nigeria and even some of them have appointed Nigerian representatives to get them the job,” a top source disclosed.

Oliseh has blamed lack of financial support to the Super Eagles for the below-par showing of the country at CHAN 2016 in Rwanda, while making all efforts to distance himself from the failure.

When contacted,

spokesman of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ademola Olajire dismissed the stories on Oliseh’s future with the Eagles as “mere speculations,” pointing out that “the relationship between the coach and the NFF is normal”.

We, however gathered that the results of an AFCON 2017 double header against Egypt in March could well spark off another round of speculations.

Renard, who led Cote d’Ivoire to win the AFCON last year, has long been linked with coaching Nigeria since AFCON 2010 in Angola.

He is presently without a job after he was sacked by French Ligue 1 club Lille.

Le Roy only recently quit as Congo coach. He has also worked in DR Congo, Cameroon and Senegal. He has also variously been linked with the Nigeria post over the years.

•Ighalo

national record he set earlier in the year.

Mozia, heaved 21.11m at the Vanderbilt invitational in Nashville last weekend to erase the 21.03m he also did in Nashville on January 16. This is just as the Athletics Federation of Nigeria is preparing for the IAAF indoor championships billed for March 17-20 in Portland, Oregon USA. The youngster is expected to test his might with world’s best at the meet.

His throw leads the world top ten list ahead of the championships.

AFN president, Solomon Ogba disclosed yesterday that Nigeria will be represented at meet, where the country has made some impacts.

“At the moment we are drawing a functionary list of athletes that could represent Nigeria in Portland.

“Our preparations are on course, we have athletes in camp in Port Harcourt and others are training in abroad.

Hopefully we are going to get our season off the ground on a good note,” He said.

Iheanacho Continues from BP rewarded with a place in the UEFA Champions League squad by Manchester City following his impressive performances for the EPL club.

Iheanacho, who netted a treble weekend in a cup game against Aston Villa at the Villa Park, has replaced recuperating Samir Nasri in a 25-man squad submitted by Manuel Pellegrini.

“Yes, he (Iheanacho) will be in the squad,” said Pellegrini on Kelechi’s inclusion in the Champions League squad.

“I have decided that. I told Samir Nasri I will

take him out from the Champions League list because he needs two more months to be fit.

“We need Kelechi, because with Wilfried Bony injured, we cannot afford any risks if Kun [Sergio Aguero] is injured.

“So, we need Kelechi in the squad.

“It was not a difficult decision, but it’s always difficult to tell a player he will not continue in the selections.

“But I think Samir understood. He has already been injured for three months and he understands.”

Nasri has been out of action with a hamstring injury for three months.

•Mozia

Give Bomadi a sports complex – Ebebi, Egbebo tell Okowa

BY ONOZURE DANIA

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ORMER deputy governor of Bayelsa State, Peremobowei Ebebi and Bishop Hyacinth Egbebo of the Catholic Vicarage Bomadi, Delta State have called on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State to build a sport complex in Bomadi to engage youths in the area in productive sporting activities.

Ebebi and Egbebo who spoke separately while fielding questions from newsmen during the opening ceremony of ‘Gen Preye Ekpebide Peace Cup’ football tournament at Bomadi, observed that sports, if well developed in the area would prevent crime and youth restiveness.

The former deputy governor noted that since the onus lies mostly on the state government to manage football at the local level,it was imperative for government to establish sport complex where

young talent can be discovered.

He also charged private football managers in Delta and Bayelsa states to look into the creeks and fish out the abundant talents, stressing, these talents if well groomed could represent the country in international events.

On his part, Gen. Preye Ekpebide, who organised the completion, stated that the tournament was to engage the youths and to further promote unity among communities in Bomadi Local Government Area.

•Okowa

Guardiola Continues from BP Germany.

Guardiola, who won 14 titles with Barcelona in his four-year coaching spell, had turned down a contract extension at Bayern late last year after winning back-toback league titles and being on course for a

third straight Bundesliga crown under the Spaniard.

“Out of respect for Manuel Pellegrini and the players, the Club wishes to make its decision public to remove the unnecessary burden of speculation,” City said in a statement.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016 — 47

Guardiola to bring Messi, Neymar to City W

ITH yesterday’s confirmation by Manchester City that Pep Guardiola will replace Manuel Pellegrini as City ’s manager at the end of the season, speculation about who Guardiola will bring to City has already started.

The Catalan coach has worked with a host of top names in his managerial career to date and more want the chance to work with him.

With that in mind, which superstars might have an eye on Pep’s •Neymer (l) and Messi next destination?

Top on the list is Lionel Messi. No explanation needed, you’ve been reading all there is to know about a potential move for at least the last three years.

HE Premier League Also on the card is has spent an incredible Neymar. Possibly a better purchase than £1billion already this Messi, looking to the season alone, comfortably future? The Brazilian breaking the previous looks like he has a fair record of £965million spent few Ballon D’Or- last season.

And that figure is set to winning years in him, and conveniently has rise even higher. with recently talked up how deadline day closing last much he would like to night.

Heading into the final 24 work with Pep. hours of the winter window, David Alaba is another top act heading January spending was for City. City ’s full- already £130m, taking the backs will at some point total into the billions for the need replacing, and first time ever.

This season has seen David Alaba is a mighty some major, big-money fine left-back, as well as transfers, including excelling in a number Manchester United’s of other positions. pursuit of Anthony Martial, Having trusted the 23- Manchester City snapping year-old in this position up Raheem Sterling and despite having Philipp Petr Cech joining Arsenal.

Lahm available, To put modern day Guardiola said of the spending into perspective, player back in October: just five years ago, the “David Alaba is our seasonal spending sat at god.” almost HALF at £545m.

Angel leads Nigeria to ITF Championship

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TF/CAT West and Central Africa Junior Championship Girls’ 16&u singles champion Adetayo Adetunji and Angel McLeod will both headline Nigeria’s challenge at the ITF/ CAT U18 Championship billed for Tunis, Tunisia from February 7-13.

Nigeria junior tennis head coach, Mohammed Ubale disclosed that the pair, who helped Nigeria retain the West & Central AJC qualifiers in Abuja in January, will be joined by Andiyo Inwang, a 16-year-old born of Nigerian and German parents.

This will be the second successive year that Nigeria will be heading

EPL clubs spend £1b on players transfers T

•Sanchez

RSENAL will be without midfielder Tomas Rosicky for today’s Premier League clash with Southampton.

The experienced Czech Republic international only returned from a knee problem ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup victory over Burnley but suffered a thigh problem during the game and will again spend a spell on the sidelines.

Alexis Sanchez is pushing for his first start since a

Go-Round/SWAN Championships:

Students take over tracks

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•Anthony Martial Raheem Sterling and John Shelvey

Alli guns for Norwich’s scalp

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N G L A N D midfielder Dele Alli is expected to return to Tottenham’s starting XI for today’s Premier League clash at Norwich.

Sanchez pushes to start against Southampton

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to the championship, with a debuting player of dual nationality as Russianborn Melissa Ifidzhen made her start as a Nigerian in the 2015 edition which was also held in the Mediterranean country.

Ifidzhen had an average outing as she made an early exit in the singles but made up for it with a semifinal finish in the doubles where she paired with Elizabeth GarosPam, another player that made her Nigerian debut in 2014 to reach the semifinals in the doubles.

Both Garos-Pam and Ifidzhen thereafter made stunning entrance into the Nigerian domestic tennis stage.

hamstring issue in November while Mohamed Elneny is still waiting for his Premier League debut having made his bow in the cup win. Francis Coquelin, Danny Welbeck and Santi Cazorla (all knee) and Jack Wilshere (leg) are out.

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman is keeping quiet about how his side will line up against Arsenal in the Barclays Premier League on Tuesday evening.

Alli was an unused substitute in Saturday’s 4-1 FA Cup fourth-round win at Colchester, while goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and centre-back Toby Alderweireld are among the other players likely to return.

Defender Jan Vertonghen (knee) and midfielder Ryan Mason (ankle) remain out.

Norwich could hand debuts to new loan signing Patrick Bamford and fellow recent recruit Timm Klose when they host Tottenham in the Barclays Premier League on Tuesday night.

Bamford has joined on loan from Chelsea and could come straight into Alex Neil’s side, while Klose could come in after

the Canaries shipped five goals in their last outing against Liverpool.

Andre Wisdom is available having been ineligible against parent club Liverpool while Gary O’Neil serves the last game of his threematch ban following his sending off at Stoke.

•Alli

TUDENTS from the 23 local councils of Rivers State have taken over the Adokie Amiesimaka Stadium in readiness for the flag off of the maiden Go Round/ SWAN Secondary Schools Athletics Championships, which will be officially flagged off today.

The competition, strictly for students in Rivers State secondary schools, is sponsored by president of Go Round Football Club, Bro Felix Obuah.

According to the organisers of the competition, athletes from the local councils are camped at the University of Port Harcourt, while the competition will hold at the Adokie Aimiesimaka Stadium.

Today ’s opening ceremony has former Minister of Sports, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, as chairman, while the special guest of honour is the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Austin Opara.

Other distinguished guests expected at the event are Rivers State Commissioners for Sports, Education and Local Government Affairs, Boma Iyaye, Prof Kaniye Ebeku and Sir Rudaford LongJohn respectively.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

Man City register Iheanacho for Champions League

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IGERIA youth prodigy Kelechi Iheanacho has been Continues on Page 46

Le Roy, Renard queue for Oliseh’s job •It’s mere speculation, NFF insists

•Le Roy

•Renard

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INCE the shocking ouster of the Super Eagles from the ongoing African Nations Championships in Rwanda, there have been mounting fears over the fate of head Coach, Sunday Oliseh.

The Eagles who won bronze medal in their debut appearance under coach Stephen Keshi in 2014 failed to make it out Continues on Page 46

Guardiola resumes at Manchester City July 1 said on Monday.

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EP Guardiola has signed a three-year contract to take over as Manchester City manager in July, the Premier League club

Manuel Pellegrini will leave the job on June 30 to make way for Guardiola, who joins after three seasons at Bayern Munich in Continues on Page 46

Today’s EPL Fixtures

I won’t be a bench warmer at •Oliseh

West Ham – Emenike — Pg.46

Kelechi Iheanacho after training on Monday following a weekend to remember

•Guardiola

Arsenal Leicester City Norwich City Sunderland West Ham Crystal Palace Man Utd West Brom

v v v v v v v v

Southampton Liverpool Tottenham Man City Aston Villa Bournmouth Stoke Swansea

8:45pm 8:45pm 8:45pm 8:45pm 8:45pm 9pm 9pm 9pm

QUICK CR OSS WORD CROSS OSSWORD

TODAY'S PUZZLE

FRIDAY'S ANSWERS

ACROSS 1 Clearing (5) 5 Squandered (6) 8 Angry (5) 10 Cake (6) 11 Parched (4) 14 Wandering (6) 15 Journal (7) 18 Number (3) 19 Tavern (3) 21 Peruse (4) 23 Engine (5) 24 Impetuous (4) 27 Entrap (3) 29 Tree (3) 31 Emit (7) 32 Said (6) 34 Cattle (4) 35 Dawdle (6) 38 Food (5) 39 Instructed (6) 40 Spree (5)

DOWN 2 Meadow (3) 3 Fuel (6) 4 Epoch (3) 5 Sport (4) 6 Slice (6) 7 Determined (6) 9 Sale (7) 12 Decay (3) 13 Eat (4) 16 Atmosphere (4) 17 Go in (5) 20 Famous (7) 22 Adjoin (4) 24 Dislike (6) 25 Steep (4) 26 Loathing (6) 28 Part (6) 30 Knowledge (3) 33 Liability (4) 36 Scull (3) 37 Stretch (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 1, Skewer 5, Work 8, Organ 9, Vie 10, Hero 11, Scan 12, Bathe 13, Rotted 16, Disc 18, Numb 20, Hod 22, Pea 23, Gnu 24, Cane 25, Last 28, Tapped 30, Stamp 32, Hear 33, Aide 34, Nag 35, Force 36, Prey 37, Studio.

DOWN: 1, Severe 2, Election 3, Echoed 4, Broadcast 5, Washing 6, Once 7, King 8, Orb 14, Diplomacy 15, Emu 17, Sea 19, Unopened 20, Hag 21, Destroy 26, Talent 27, Adagio 29, Ship 30, Save 31.

How to Play Sudoku

P

lace a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

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