EFCC is a toothless bulldog

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President –CEO, GE, Nigeria, Dr. Lazarus Agbazo (left) ; Chairman, GE, Mr. Jeffrey Immelt (2nd left); Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (7th left); President Muhammadu Buhari (middle); President, GE, Africa, Mr. Jay Ireland ; Minister of Power , Housing and Works , Mr. Raji Fashola (behind) and Snr. VP, Human Resources, GE Mrs. Susan Peters, during the visit of General Electric to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, at the weekend.

Obasanjo attacks EFCC •’You are a toothless bulldog’!

By Daud Olatunji, Abeokuta

ormer President Olusegun Obasanjo has F attacked the Economic and

F i n a n c i a l CrimesCommission, EFCC, which he described as a toothless bulldog.

Obasanjo said, though the anti-graft body became dreaded during the time of the pioneer Chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, it has become a toothless bulldog.

While speaking, yesterday, during his 79th birthday celebration, held at Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, the former Nigerian leader wondered what had happened to the anti-graft agency that led to its present status.

According to him, gone were

the days when the people believed that “the fear of Nuhu Ribadu is the beginning of wisdom”.

The former President, however, advised the Buhari government and stakeholders to take a critical look at the situation that made the agency lose its power to tame corruption and avoid it.

He said government must avoid any action that could make the agency take a step forward and three steps backward.

Obasajo said, “Honestly, when Nuhu was handling EFCC, he handled it in such a way that people coined the saying that ‘ the fear of Nuhu Ribadu is the beginning of wisdom ‘ and then the question you will ask is, how did we go down? How did we lose that?

“Nuhu Ribadu is still here, he’s still alive. The institution we started together is still

there, but what made the institution to become a toothless bulldog? What? And that’s the matter we have to keep looking at, so that we don’t take two steps forward, one step aside and three steps back.”

While speaking on the need for government to develop technology to fight insurgency and extremism, Obasanjo said if insurgent groups could develop technology to promote their cause, it is imperative to adopt the same method to stem the tide.

The former President, who traced insurgency to lack of

fairness and justice all over the world, blamed institutions, including religious bodies, for failing in their responsibilities towards having a safer society.

He said, “The world is interested in what can be done to stem the tide and I think what we did, yesterday, we made our own contribution in a way that we believe will serve our country, serve our subregion, West Africa; our region of Africa and indeed the world we live in.

“I summarize that the solution lies in six areas: At home, the community, the church/mosque, the school/ college, the state-local, state and federal government - and the international community.

At each of these, we should do

asset, making false information to an officer of EFCC and offering gratification to a public official.

The charges: “That you Rickey Tarfa (SAN) on the 29th day of January, 2014 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, intentionally gave the sum of N 1,500,000 to Hon. Justice Nganjiwa Hyeladzira Ajiya

Leader and former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio, described Obasanjo as a man who loves justice, adding that the ruling class believes in his leadership, vision and prophesy.

Akpabio recalled how he defeated 57 aspirants during the primary that earned him the governorship ticket of the PeoplesDemocraticParty(PDP) in his state, and how many stakeholders were bribed to stand against him except Obasanjo and some party leaders.

The Senate President, represented at the occasion by the senator representing Ogun Central, Senator Lanre Tejuoso, announced the donation of his March salary and that of Akpabio to the Center for Human Security, a brain child of OOPL. Other dignitaries at the event include Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State; the

acting Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Segun Oni; former governors of Osun, Cross River and Adamawa States, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Liyel Imoke and Bala Ngilari, respectively.

Former Vice President

Atiku Abubakar, who donated N25 million to the Center for Human Security, was represented by the Chairman of Board of Trustees, American University of Nigeria, Akin KerereEkun, while the governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, and Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, were also represented .

Mile 12 killings : No inter-tribal violence in Ogun-Police

By Daud Olatunji, Abeokuta

Lagos State, between Yoruba and Hausa traders, there was anxiety in some parts of Ogun State yesterday over the possibility of

the killings Mile 12, Ketu, Fatollowing EFCC set to arraign 2 SANs for alleged bribery he Economic and a 27-count of alleged wilful of the Federal High Court count charge of allegedly Financial Crimes obstruction of officers of the directly from your Zenith attempting to pervert the T Commission, EFCC, is set to EFCC, refusing to declare Bank Account course of justice and offering arraign two Senior Advocates of Nigeria,SANs, Rickey Tarfa and Dr. Joseph Nwobike, at the Lagos State High Court.

In two separate charges filed by the anti-graft agency, the SANs are accused of offering gratification, running into millions of naira, to judges in what it described as a ploy to influence decisions in their favour. Tarfa is facing

things and not leave undone what we should do.

“Therefore, people have or they see perceived injustice or perceived grievance and they try to react but, as I said, yesterday, when you have to treat violent extremism and radicalization as an issue, then it costs you more; what we should do, which will be cost effective, wise and cheaper, is to prevent and, if we do what we should do at all those areas, we should be able to prevent.

“One of the things we now have to take seriously is technology because technology impacts on our daily life; it’s built in our homes; it’s in our pocket, and if there are those who want to do anything to make life unbearable for us in terms of security, then we must also use technology as the antidote and the means by which we can ward off what they may want to do against us”.

Meanwhile, Ministers of Science and Technology and Transportation, Ogbonnaya Onu and Rotimi Amaechi, respectively, described the former President as an institution, a gift to Nigeria and a detribalized Nigerian.

Onu said, “Obasanjo is a man who has become an institution, a special gift that God gave to Nigeria.

At every time the nation faces challenges , God has used Obasanjo to get out of the problem and thereare so many paths to this unique personality.”

The Senate Minority

No.1002926967, in order that the said Judge acts in the exercise of his official duties.

“That you Rickey Tarfa (SAN) on the 3rd day of October, 2014 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, intentionally gave the sum of N 835,000.00 (Eight Hundred and Thirty Five Thousand Naira only) to Hon. Justice Nganjiwa Hyeladzira Ajiya of the Federal High Court directly from your Zenith Bank Account No.1002926967, in order that the said judge acts in the exercise of his official duties.

“That you Rickey Tarfa [S.A.N] on or about the 15th day of December, 2015 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, intentionally gave the sum of N500, 000 to Hon. Mohammed Nasir Yunusa of the Federal High Court indirectly through Awa Ajia Nigeria Limited’s account No. 0000971931 domiciled in Access Bank Plc belonging to Hon. Justice Nganjiwa Hyeladzira Ajiya in order that Hon. Mohammed Nasir Yunusa refrains from acting in the exercise of his official duties”.

Nwobike is facing a five-

gratification to public official.

The charges: “That you, Dr. Joseph Nwobike (SAN), on the 19th day of March, 2015, in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, intentionally gave the sum of N 750,000.00 to Hon. Justice Mohammed Nasir Yunusa of the Federal High Court directly through your United Bank for Africa Plc Account No.1002664061 in order that the said judge acts in the exercise of his official duties.

“That you Dr. Joseph Nwobike (SAN), on the 28th day of September, 2015, in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, intentionally gave the sum of N 300,000 to Hon. Justice Mohammed Nasir Yunusa of the Federal High Court indirectly through Awa Ajia Nigeria Limited’s account No. 0000971931 domiciled in Access Bank Plc belonging to Hon. Justice Nganjiwa Hyeladzira Ajiya of the Federal High Court in order that the Hon. Justice Mohammed Nasir Yunusa acts in the exercise of his official duties”.

reprisal attacks.

But, the Ogun State Police Command , has debunked the rumour making the rounds that there was violence between the Yoruba and Hausa community in Ogere area of the state.

The command, in a statement issued by its Public Relations Officer , Olumuyiwa Adejobi, described the news as baseless and untrue.

The statement read,” The attention of the Ogun State police command has been drawn to a rumour in circulation that there is an ethnic clash between Yoruba and Hausa in Ogere,Ogun State.

“The command wishes to debunk the rumour. Such news is baseless and not true.”

Adejobi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said the

Command is not leaving any stone unturned to ensure peaceful co-existence among tribes in the state.

He added that the state Commissioner of Police, CP Abdulmajid Ali, had urged members of the public to disregard the rumour and go about their lawful businesses.

“All hands have been

on deck to maintain the peaceful coexistence we enjoy in the state,” the statement said.

Rev Eke tasks NGOs to support Buhari administration

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he immediate past com missioner representing Ndokwa nation on the Board of DESOPADEC, Rev. Chukwudi Eke, has enjoined all Deltans, especially nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) across the nation and in the Diaspora, to support the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

He made the call while addressing leaders of civil society organizations at a forum of the Network of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Asaba, Delta state.

Rev. Eke explained that, “the United Nations systems strongly encourage the participation of NGOs towards good governance He advised that, “we should

find how and where we can key into governance, partnering with both public and private sectors, towards providing organizational, operational and logistics supports that foster socio-economic development of Nigeria, one place at a time. This could be through online support, good image building through the social media, proposing development bills to the legislature, etc.”

The former DESOPADEC Board member stated that, “although NGOs serve as watchdogs of society in the process of good governance, we must not join political parties and ethnic bigots in destructive opposition of any credible government in power from local to national level.

PAGE 6 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 6, 2016

ALLEGED DSS INVASION: You can’t harass us into betraying Fayose, Ekiti lawmakers stabilise the Ekiti State Govern- unknown as we speak, and reatell Buhari ment, using the Department of sons for the invasion and abduc-

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HE 26 members of

theEkitiStateHouseofAssembly have declared that no amount of harassment from the President Muhammadu Buhariled Federal Government would make them submit to an alleged plan to use them to impeach GovernorAyodeleFayose.

The lawmakers, reacting to the allegedinvasionofthestateAssemblybymensuspectedtobeofficials of the Department of State Services(DSS),on Friday,whichresulted intheallegedabductionoffourlawmakers,raisedthealarmthatthere is a “... clandestine plot by the Buhari led All Progressives Congress (APC)FederalGovernmenttode-

State Service (DSS).”

In a release by the Speaker of the House, Rt Honourable Kolawole Oluwawole, they alleged: “More than 10 DSS men, armed totheteeth,invadedtheAssembly Complex, shooting sporadically into the air, thereby causing panic among members and staff of the House of Assembly, who had to scamper to safety.

“At the end of the commotion, we discovered that four of our members could not be found. “ It was only this morning that wewereabletoestablishthatHon AfolabiAkanni,representingEfon Constituency, was abducted and taken to Abuja. The whereabouts of three other members remain

tion of our members are not known”.

Alleging thattheabduction was a script by the FG and APC to detain top functionaries of the Ekiti government to coerce them into submission,theysaid:“Theplotis to harass, intimidate and embarrass top officials of the Ayodele Fayosegovernmentbecauseofthe governor’s critical stance on the Buhari’s government. We are awarethat18ofourmembershave been pencilled down for harassment and the game plan is to harass them to submission, with a viewtocoercingthemintosigning an already prepared notice of impeachment of the governor and hisdeputy.”

INSECURITY: Lagos seeks total ban of Okada

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

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HERE are indications that Governor Akinwunmi Am-

bode is disposed to imposing a total ban on commercial motorcycles, popularly called Okada, in Lagos State.

The move, it was learnt, is not unconnected with the Thursday clash in Ketu-Mile 12 area of the state, allegedly triggered by a dispute between an Okada operator and a passersby, which led to loss of lives and property worth millions of naira A source at the Government House, Alausa, at the weekend, said Ambode was under pressure and may approach the state House of Assembly to amend the law restricting Okada on some routes to total ban of their operations in the state.

The former administration of Fashola had signed the Lagos Road Traffic Law 2012, which restricts Okada in at least 492 of the 9200 roads across Lagos in an effort to reduce the menace of their operations in recent past.

The source said Ambode was not comfortable with the flagrant abuse of the law by Okada riders, coupled with reports of robbery incidents in recent times allegedly perpetrated with the use of Okada.

“Don’t forget that there is a law on ground that restricts them on certain routes in the state but they have not been adhering to the law. They find

a way to circumvent the law and government has a duty to safeguard innocent lives. Most of them drive against traffic during the day and at night; so,

government is weighing the option strongly that the best thing is to ban Okada outrightly and it is in the interest of the state to do so”, the source added. “They (Okada riders) are

•L-R: Mrs. Ronke Solomon; Olori Shotobi; wife of Lagos State governor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode; groom, Mr. Abdulrasheed Olusola; bride, Mrs. Riskat Olusola; Lagos State deputy governor, Dr Oluranti Adebule, wife of a former Lagos State governor, Mrs. Abimbola Jakande, and Mrs.Olanilesi Mamora, during the cutting of the cake by the bride and groom, yesterday. PHOTO: BY GODWIN IREKHE gradually becoming a menace in Lagos and it is evident in the way they ply restricted routes at any time of the day.

“You are also aware of the

recent bloody clash in Ketu-Mile 12 and the increasing threat to lives

DSS arrests gun fabricator for Boko Haram •Nabs ANSARU supporters going for terror training in Sudan

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HE Department of State Service (DSS) said, yesterday, that it has arrested a suspected Boko

Haram gun fabricator, and arms runner in Jos, Plateau State.

“The arrest of the fabricator came just as the Service arrested three suspected members of the extremist ANSARU organization perfecting plans to move to Sudan for terror training with other radical elements,”it stated.

A statement by Tony Opuiyo for the DSS said, “On 2nd March, 2016, one Musa Garba Abubakar (Engr), aka Muhadis Musa Bin Haddad, was arrested at Jos, Plateau State, during a special tactical operation by the Service.

“ABUBAKAR is a major gun fabricator, arms-runner and a covert linkman/courier for the Boko Haram group.

“During his arrest, 2 pistols, 80 rounds of live ammunition and several sensitive documents were recovered from him.

“In a bid to employ propaganda to manipulate the in-

ternational community against the efforts of the Federal Government, in the

ongoing war against terror in the North-West re-

gion, Musa had approached a foreign mission in Nigeria for logistics and financial support to fight Boko Haram.

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ONTROVERSY marred the ward congresses of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, yesterday, as a former Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Rowland Owie, accused one of the governorship aspirants of sponsoring thugs to molest leaders at a meeting called, Friday evening, by the South-South Vice Chairman of the party, Mr Cairo Ojougboh.

The meeting of leaders of the party almost turned bloody when the thugs

intent for mischief and communal strife in the North Cen-

• Security forces killed 80 IPOB members – Rights coalition

By Nwabueze Okonkwo

OUTH-EAST Based S Coalition of Human Rights Organizations, SB-

CHROs, has accused security forces of killing 80 members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and their supporters between August 30, 2015 and February 9, 2016.

The accusation came on a day President Muhammadu Buhari vowed that Biafra will not stand.

The coalition also estimat-

ed those maimed at 170, just as it put the total number of those arrested, detained, charged or kept in captivity without trial at 400.

In what it termed as the con-

cluding part of its letter to the Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin, and the Minister of Interior, Gen Abdulrahman Dambazzau (retd), entitled: ‘Ceaseless Killing Of Unarmed Citizens In Nigeria: Why Security Chiefs Must Desist From Provoking More Insurgencies Capable Of Plunging Nigeria Into Syrian

— Ex-Senate Whip

molested some of the party leaders who they sensed were not in support of the governorship aspirant.

Some of the leaders molested include Clement Edo-Osagie, a former member of the National Conference and one-time deputy chairman of the PDP in Edo. Others are Samson Esemuede, pioneer chairman of PDP in Oredo Local Government Area, and a former member of the House of Representatives, Mr Ifaluyi Isibor.

“However, unknown to the mission, he is actually an unauthorized gun-maker/runner with

ously considering this move because he feels that a mega city like La-

gos cannot harbour Okada.

He feels that the Lagos economy and most especially the transport sector cannot be driven by Okada”.

tral region.

“In furtherance of exploited leads, this Service apprehended other suspected associates of the gun-runner, namely: Umar Khalil Muhammed and Mohammed Yakubu Tahir aka Mallam Yaro, on 2nd March, 2016”.

Biafra will not stand, Buhari vows

EDO WARD CONGRESSES: Thugs molest three PDP leaders as Owie escapes harassment •Those behind this will pay dearly

By Simon Ebegbulem, Benin City

and property by terrorists in the country; it has, therefore, become expedient and imperative for government to ponder on this option.

“The governor is seri-

Tension at the meeting venue heightened when the thugs attempted to stop Owie from equally entering but one of the governorship aspirants, Mr Matthew Iduoriyekemwen, and his loyalists intervened when they pushed the thugs out of the way.

Owie, who explained that the ward congress in his Isi South ward was successful but that of Ward 7, Isi North, was inconclusive, described as sad “that we came for a stakeholders meeting called by the National Vice Chairman South-

South of the PDP and an over-ambitious governorship aspirant brought in thugs to stop some leaders from entering the venue.

“They molested three of our leaders and tried it with me when good hearted party members resisted them. But it is very clear from what happened yesterday (Friday) that these same people have not changed from their antidemocratic culture but certainly the new PDP will not have a place for them because those who fight with the sword die by the sword”.

Style (Concluding Part)’, SBCHROs alleged that the army, police and navy specifically killed 22 IPOB members on February 9, 2016 in the compound of the National High School in Aba, Abia State; maimed over 30 others, murdered 13 of them and dumped their bodies inside a burrow pit located, along Aba-Port Harcourt Road in Abia State.

The group added that the army was responsible for 60 percent of the killings, police 30 percent and others including the navy,10 percent, stressing that the video clips of the Aba National High School massacre and the AbaPort Hartcourt Road burrow pit dumping of 13 murdered IPOB members were available on request.

The letter was copied to the UN Secretary General and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, among others.

Efforts to reach the Director of Defence Information, Colonel Rabe Abubakar, last night, to comment on the coalition’s allegations proved abortive.

In a related development, PresidentBuhari stated, last night, that Nigeria would not tolerate the agitation for Biafra.“Speaking to Aljazeera television during his visit to Qatar, last week, Buhari recalled that over two million lives were lost during the Nigeria civil war be-

tween 1967 to 1970 that resulted from the demand for Biafra.“He said: "At least two millions Nigerians were killed in the Biafra war. And for somebody to wake up, may be they weren’t born then, looking for Biafra after two millions people were killed, they are joking with the security and Nigeria won’t tolerate Biafra.” “Also speaking on the economy and the pressure to devalue the Naira, the President stated that Nigeria was prepared to go against the advice on International Monetary Fund, IMF.“He maintained that the devaluation of the Naira would not pay Nigeria, saying the country was purely an import nation.“He also stated their despite the plummeting crude oil prices in the international market, it would pay Nigeria to remain in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC. ““If it is against our national interest, why can’t we go against the IMF advice?” Buhari asks.

OUR ERROR

On page 34 of this edition of Sunday Vanguard, we mistakenly used the photograph of His Royal Highness, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, instead of that of the newly crowned Olubadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji. This error is regretted.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 6, 2016 — PAGE 7

God save us from Lai Mohammed: Right Of Reply Y

OUR commentary, entitled ‘God save us from Lai Mohammed’, publi-shed on Wednesday March 2nd 2016 refers.

In the said commentary, you challenged the Hon

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to ‘’publish a copy of the circular mandating officers to adopt the Zero-sum budgeting approach for

2016.'’

You threw the challenge in response to the Minister’s statement that the 2016 budget is a Zerobased budget, in an apparent attempt to disprove the Minister.

It is not our style to take on critics or throw punches at those who disagree with us and, honestly, we welcome criticisms that are based on facts rather than emotions. But on this issue of Zero-based budget, we are compelled to take on the challenge that you have thrown at us.

In view of this, we have enclosed herewith a

document, entitled ‘’Federal Government of Nigeria: 2016 Budget Call Circular’’, dated 7 Dec. 2015. Section 1.2 of the document reads inter alia: ‘’To this end, the FGN’s annual budget will be prepared using the ZeroBased Budgeting (ZBB) approach in line with the government policy thrust.

Therefore, all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are to adopt ZBB method in the identification and costing of their projects and programmes in the 2016 Budget.’’ We have attached herewith a copy

of the said document.

Now that your ‘waiting’ is over, sir, and you have been provided with the necessary document, we do hope you will give this response the same attention that you gave the commentary in which you threw the challenge, since your intervention must have been made in search of the truth about the basis

for the 2016 Budget.

May God save us all from those who will always rush to judgement without giving others the benefit of the doubt.

•Segun Adeyemi, SA to Hon Minister of Information and Culture, Abuja.

From left: Yomi Sanni, Partner and Chief Operating Officer, KPMG Nigeria; Okechukwu Enelamah, Hon Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment; Nike Oyewolu, Head, Sales and Markets, KPMG and Wole Obayomi, Partner, Tax Regulatory and People Services during the KPMG 2016 Annual Alumni Lecture held in Lagos on Friday. Photo Lamidi Bamidele

PAGE 8—SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 6, 2016

Bravo to Saraki and Dogara, but….

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he 7 th National Assembly which ended in 2015 was in several respects ignoble.

It did not only set a record of passing 46 bills in 10 minutes, it did many other irritating things such as some of its committees being compromised while investigating certain alleged corrupt practices in some public bodies.

Although it is probably too early to evaluate the 8 th National Assembly, one can safely hope, from its performance so far, that it is not likely to decline to the level of its immediate predecessor. The Senate in particular is likely to be different in view of the acceptance by its presiding officer, Senator Bukola Saraki that there had in the past been poor performance in the area of oversight. He indeed promised to bring a closer relationship and a better connection between the Nigerian people and the

Senate. For a number of reasons, it would appear that Saraki has been trying to fulfil his promises. First, his Senate decided to examine and review the salaries of its members that were bloated by inexplicable allowances.

Second, it stood against the crazy idea of paying a whooping sum of N2.7bn severance package to some members of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

Third, it sent a high powered delegation to internally displaced persons in the North-East to empathise with them.

Thereafter it sought to resolve the new electricity tariffs in the interest of the people as the Senate promised to do when it addressed the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) protesters on February 08, 2016. But by PhD,Depar tment of Philosophy, University of Lagos 08116759758

President Buhari: The bigger the head, the bigger the headache (4)

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he “kill corruption” programme of Buhari would gain a lot of credibility if allegations of financial impropriety against these former leaders are thoroughly investigated by the relevant agencies of government, including appropriate sanctions against those found culpable.

Moreover, imagine what would happen if the EFCC, acting on the orders of the President, beams its searchlight on APC kingpins, some of whom are governors and ministers right now. Of course, that will send a very clear signal that President Buhari is prepared to deal with corruption no matter who was involved. In addition, those who accuse him of using the anticorruption agencies to emasculate the opposition would, if they are sincere, concede that Buhari really means business when he says he is determined to kill corruption before it kills the country. But as I argued sometime ago, it is very unlikely that President Buhari would allow the EFCC to probe former military leaders, who are part of the inner circle of the “invisible government,” alongside their extremely wealthy and influential cronies both within and outside government.

Besides, bigwigs in APC with unsettled allegations of corruption dangling on their necks were instrumental to Buhari emerging as President on his fourth attempt.

Therefore, it would amount to biting the fingers of those that fed him politically if Buhari were to give such individuals what might be called the Dasuki or Metuh treatment.

Still, whether B u h a r i m a n i a c s acknowledge it or not, the President is in a dilemma: either he expands his anticorruption dragnet such that it would catch allegedly corrupt prominent politicians in APC who made his presidency possible, and risks being labelled an ingrate, or he concentrates mainly on members of the PDP, as he is doing right now, which opens him up to the charge of political selectiveness in his anti-corruption efforts. Some Buharimaniacs have pointed out to me that the case against Dr. Bukola A. Saraki, an APC chieftain and President of the Senate, and Jafaru Isa, an associate of Mr. President, shows that the accusation of selectiveness is untenable. But they forgot that Dr. Saraki, because of his defiance of APC’s choice for Senate President, is seen by the party’s establishment as

far the best of its efforts is that unlike its predecessors that always used ‘boldface’ to ward off any public discussions on their salaries, the situation has changed to that of negotiations and reviews.

For the first time, the exact wardrobe allowance figure of N506, 600 for each member was revealed.

Whether or not the National Assembly can successfully carry out the assignment of reviewing the huge take-

The average legislator is not poor.

Therefore, a developing nation like Nigeria should not seek to provide accommodation for them because that can consume the resources for developing where the poor people they represent live home pay is a different matter. That it accepted to listen to the cries of Nigerians that our legislators were the highest paid in the world is to us a good beginning. It is only fair to commend the leadership of the 8 th a rebel. In addition, the number of APC bigwigs and associates of President Buhari in EFCC’s dragnet is negligible compared to the number of top PDP members facing serious heat from the anti-graft commission.

Perhaps, in view of the above, there is some truth in the notion that most prominent PDP members decamped to the APC after Buhari won the election in order to avoid being investigated by the EFCC, which implies that the APC has become a refuge for agbata ekee PDP politicians.

I have argued severally that the President made a tactical error by stating that he would only probe allegations of corruption committed when Jonathan was in office. It would have been more appropriate for him to say that anti-graft agencies were free to deal with corruption irrespective of who was in power when it was committed or who was involved. That way, he would have avoided the charge of selectiveness by leaving the door open for the EFCC to give practical effect to his ambiguous declaration that “I belong to everybody, and I belong to nobody.”

Corruption is not the exclusive preserve of the PDP. On the contrary, prominent APC chieftains, including virtually all the political turncoats who abandoned shambolic PDP to join the new ruling party, were involved one way or another in the hideous plundering of our national wealth.

Anyway, despite my reservations about the current efforts to deal with corruption, President Buhari deserves some plaudits for allowing the EFCC to identify and prosecute avaricious public officials engaged in financial rascality and primitive accumulation. Although often embellished with the exciting halo of sensationalism, media reports of billions of naira and

Assembly for such a wise step because it is one thing that always and still sets up the people against their law makers.

A few weeks ago when indomitable President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote to the National Assembly to put a check on its propensity to live above the times, a few of the legislators who prefer the old order rudely countered Obasanjo.

Their disposition was quite laughable as they sought to establish that the former President was not a saint – a strategy which some Nigerians usually adopt by pointing out what is wrong with someone else when their own wrongs are exposed. They don’t seem to know that exposing other thieves does not exonerate a robbery suspect. It only establishes that the thieves are many.

Against this backdrop, the recent revelation that Senate President Saraki has formally replied a letter by former President Obasanjo criticizing the National Assembly’s plans to purchase 469 vehicles despite the economic problems facing Nigeria is instructive. The report that Saraki in the letter promised that the 8 th Assembly will endeavour to depart from the evils of the past is heartwarming.

In the words of the Senate President, “the 8th National Assembly has made the issue of plugging leakages and cutting

wastages in our public expenditure system a major priority that should not be toyed with. This may have happened in the past but it will not happen with us.”

The senate President is not alone in this new approach which is a far departure from the impunity of the past. Yakubu Dogara Speaker of the House of Representatives appears to be on the same commendable page. About a month ago both leaders reportedly rejected the idea of using N10 billion to build their official quarters.

According to a report by this newspaper, Saraki and Dogara asked that the funds which was voted in the 2016 budget of the Ministry of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), be slashed from N10 to N2billion. To show their sincerity of purpose about the subject, they reportedly notified the chairmen of the Committees on FCT in both chambers to reflect the decision in their report to the Committees on Appropriation arguing that building for them, two houses worth N10billion amid deepening economic crisis would be insensitive.

We agree with them but would move one step further to say it is not right to provide any official houses for them or any other public officer.

To start with, the issue of official accommodation is one matter in which the governments of Umaru Yar ’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan proved to be

weak. They cannot explain to posterity why they were persuaded out of the monetization policy which was put in place by the government of President Obasanjo. The latter at the time sold government buildings to those officers living in them with a plan to cancel official accommodation and provide for public officers, housing allowances in lieu of accommodation. As usual, the policy was reversed without reversing the sale making it necessary to build new houses which were again sold to their occupants only for another set of houses to be built for new officers. As in all cases concerning government, each house was always sold at a loss.

Yet, for all the time that Saraki lived in his personal house in the Maitama area of Abuja while Dogara stayed in a rented apartment, their leadership qualities didn’t wane. So, why build official quarters for them only to as usual sell-off and build again only to sell at a loss?

The average legislator is not poor. Therefore, a developing nation like Nigeria should not seek to provide accommodation for them because that can consume the resources for developing where the poor people they represent live.

As a result, Nigeria desires legislators who the famous Albert Einstein says should be “ready to live their lives for others”.

dollars mismanaged by some top ranking officials of the previous administration calls to mind late Prof. Adeoye Lambo’s suggestion that those aspiring to high public office should be subjected to rigorous psychiatric test to determine their suitability for the position they are seeking.

In that regard, it is not far-

corruption by the Buhari administration would be an exercise in futility if there is no transparency, proper accountability and intelligent use by the federal government of the money and assets recovered from the looters. Of course, there is need to strengthen the EFCC financially and in terms increased recruitment of wellmotivated patriotic professionals with the requisite knowledge and experience to handle different components of the commission’s mandate as stipulated by law.

There are indications that the Father Christmas syndrome and abominable waste of public funds to satiate the bulimic appetite of politicians will continue under Buhari’s watch. According to reports, the federal government is planning to give Republic of Benin the princely sum of $1 million dollars for her upcoming elections, just to keep up appearances that we are still the “big brother,” the “giant” of Africa. I have already noted the huge sums earmarked in the 2016 budget for the presidency. Now, I want to remind Nigerians that gluttonous federal lawmakers at both chambers of the National Assembly have continued the wicked and unconstitutional practice of allocating to themselves outrageous allowances very disproportionate to what they truly deserve, despite the harsh economic realities of the present. This idiotic behaviour is not new. Since the return to civilian rule in 1999, members of the federal legislature have been taking Nigerians for a ride all the time. Now, APC promised that if its candidates were voted into power, they would bring about positive change in leadership.

Unfortunately, the change promised by the party is turning out to be a mirage, a mere slogan designed to deceive Nigerians. That is why

APC senators who dominate the Senate see change only in terms of enjoying luxuries that most of them cannot afford at the expense of the suffering masses. It is utterly shameful and irresponsible that senators, after collecting car loans last August, are poised to collect 2016 Toyota Prado jeeps worth N4.7 billion, at a time the APC is abandoning one by one the promises it made to the poor and unemployed Nigerians and when the need for prudent spending is a necessity because the economy is really in bad shape. What the federal legislators are doing is insensitive to the extreme and invites a response from Nigerians. Democracy is too important to be left for politicians alone. Hence, I recommend that civil society groups should organise “Occupy the National Assembly,” a peaceful programme designed to send a clear message to federal legislators that the time for frivolous spending is over. To occupy the National Assembly, thousands of Nigerians should sit in front of the National Assembly building until the legislators renounce the jeeps and other bulimic allowances they allocated to themselves. This time around, mere armchair grumblings, ineffectual insults, curses and verbal abuse of the senators will not do. Concrete action is needed now or those pigs in our Animal Farm would think they can get away with anything and nothing would happen.

Unfortunately, President Buhari is gradually losing the moral authority derived from his inflated reputation as a frugal disciplinarian. Given the large amount of money set aside in the budget for his comfort, he is not on a moral high ground to put pressure on members of the National Assembly to drop their silly To be continued

Given the large amount of money set aside in the budget for his comfort, he is not on a moral high ground to put pressure on members of the National Assembly to drop their silly plan fetched to believe that most of our politicians are neurotic: they are so anxious and feel so empty inside; so obsessed with material possessions in a futile effort to fill the existential vacuum at the core of their being that they just cannot stop stealing public funds and assets. The level of corruption in Nigeria is so high, so pervasive that only a complete moral pervert would not be outraged by the amount of money purportedly mismanaged by the animals in human skin who occupied important positions in government and in PDP. As one of the millions of Nigerians working so hard for so little, hanging precariously outside the expanding gravitational pull of poverty, it is heart wrenching to learn that government officials routinely wasted millions and billions of naira on frivolities. But the revived war against

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016, PAGE 9

rexmarinus@hotmail.com

Ese Oruru: Living in two countries

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he details are still frankly, quite murky. But the general outline is this: round about August 2015, a young underage girl, Ese Rita Oruru, was abducted

by Yinusa Yellow a 25-year Muslim resident of Yenegoa, and taken to Kano, where Yinusa was originally born, and from where he came to live in Bayelsa, where he made home, and a living hawking water.

From Yinusa’s own father ’s account, his son, Yinusa, did not abduct Ese. They are a couple in love, he claimed. Ese willingly followed Yinusa home to Kano, where she converted to Islam, although in his mind, no marriage took place between his son and Ese Oruru. It is against the law and the tenets of his religion, and therefore, he was opposed to all this in the first place. I think we ought to listen to Yinusa’s father for his perspective, except that Ese Oruru is a minor, and newspaper reports indicate that she may be five-months pregnant; a situation, if it were to be true, that puts the matter into a totally new dimension, because the question would therefore come to be: who raped

Ese Oruru? Who made her pregnant, if as Yinusa’s father claims, there was no coupling between his son and Ese whom he abducted? Current medical technology using the DNA test kit ought to reveal this and put it all to rest. It is also quite important to note that Ese Oruru herself has declared that she did not know how she arrived at Kano. She just followed Yinusa. Was she under some kind of hypnosis? Who can tell these things? I, myself, am of a more rationale and empirical mind: I do not put much store on magic and the supernatural, nor or the sham of miracles and juju. I would rather Nigerians paid attention to the simple facts of this case: Ese is a minor, and may have been made to leave Yenegoa against her will, and possibly with the threat of bodily and spiritual harm.

She has been made pregnant too in ways that should not be too mysterious, or too difficult to discern, since Angels have long since stopped impregnating young virgins, not since the archangel Jibrin or Gabriel’s last nocturnal holy visitations to the Virgin Mary. Yeshua, the

SocialEtiquette With Janet Adetu

info@etiquetteconsortium.com JSK Etiquette & Image Training Janet@JSKEtiquette JSK Etiquette Consortium

‘The Beauty of a Mother’

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irst I must say happy Mother’s Day to all you wonderful Mothers. This is for those I have never met, those I aspire to meet, those of you who have made me laugh, cry and reel with excitement. Not forgetting those who have inspired, encouraged, adviced, and prayed for or with me over the years.

What a joy it is to be a Mother, a day to remember in the life of every woman. A day of mixed feelings, overwhelming joy, bouts of pain as well as exciting relief.

“Can you remember the moments?”

It is indeed a journey that a woman takes with lots of prayer, for both self and your baby(born or unborn yet) and your family as a whole. The job of a Mother begins on that very day in the labour ward when “its time for that baby to come out”. The job is never ending from the first smile, first steps, first words, first day at school, all the way to when you see your own baby carrying their own baby.

Wow! Sometimes it feels scary because nobody is perfect, no amount of lessons can be sufficient to teach us women what to do and how to do it when the time comes or when situations arise.

Experience they say is the best teacher, so we can only take a leaf from our own mothers and the mothers, young and old that surround us.

As I let you in on a few Mothering Etiquette Tips that I personally put together, remember they are only guidelines that will enhance, build and propel you to being a better person. Knowledge is power, we should seek to keep ourselves empowered at all times; seek new information, desire to develop our person our polish and our presence.

Let me start with this beautiful quote which for me more is more of food for thought by Maralee Makee “Today our children are our shadow Tomorrow they will be our reflection”

bold boy, result of this divine or supernal rape grew up alienated from his own Jewish culture. Defiant of its highest authority, rebellious and radicalized, and made to feel like an outsider, he found and led a movement of the dispossessed, those whom the land rejected, and ended up nailed to the cross himself. That’s what happens to children like that, who are conceived from rape, and are often reminded of the unsavory past and burden of their conception and birth: they feel unwelcome and belong to none. And often become dangers to themselves and to their societies. In a few happy accidents, some turn out to be the saviors of mankind. I draw all these allusions and analogy to basically point to the difficult life ahead for Ese Oruru after her rescue, and if she indeed is pregnant, and this doubtlessly from rape, the complexity of the life of the coming child. It is important therefore to think, right this minute, about the nature of her p s y c h o l o g i c a l rehabilitation, and preparation for a life ahead that will be full of unanswered questions, guilt, and self-doubt.

Nigeria has far too few mental health counsellors and psychiatrists in a country, in which by my own observation and estimation, though not yet backed by data, 75% of the citizens suffer from serious, undiagnosed mental health issues. This fact alone might help explain the nature of the police, and of the police response to the abduction of Ese Oruru in Yenegoa. In civilized societies where these things work, and where they matter, recruitment to

police services requires constant psych-evaluation, regular mental health counselling, and frequent productivity and behavioral assessment. There is also something called empathybuilding.

A police service with little respect and concern for the well-being of the populace will, aside from the basic fact of been inefficient, also be insensitive to the necessity to

The Ese Oruru incident is a muck up. One important revelation however from all this is that Nigerians apparently live in two countries, where parallel governments exist – one traditional and shadowy, the other a “pretend republic

protect and serve the citizen with diligence and impartiality and commitment.

Nigeria arrived as a country into the 21st century with scant preparedness for the 21st century. The reality of an increasingly complex urban culture escapes those charged with thinking of such matters, and tasks the

M O T H E R I N G ETIQUETTE TIPS •Be Spiritually Tuned In: Before I step into the act of branding you we can all agree that to be a mother is easily one of the most difficult jobs ever. Your whole character, personality and charisma rubs off from you and is transferred to your child in small portions as you go about your daily duty as a mum.

Seriously the first step as a mother without any contention is to be spiritually in tune with your maker.

•Etiquette - Your No.1 Principle: Etiquette they say is language that ex+presses patience, kindness, love, respect and consideration. It is not about pretending or being fussy, but an attempt to be perfect and mindful in behavior, in conduct, in character and personality.

•Have Elegance, Poise, & Presence: An Elegant mother is graceful in appearance, eloquent in speech, stunning in poise and presence. Pay attention to the details in your deportment, walk with meaning, do not drag your feet or swing your arms like soldiers.

Gracefully, stand upright, sit with poise and exhibit body language that says a lot about you psitively without saying a single word.

•Lead by Example:

Remember you are always being watched, It is better to be admired than to be watched.

You are not perfect so are allowed to let your guard down once in a while after all you are only human. However your children and many others that surround you will always watch closely.

•Watch Your Character Traits: Another quote I like: “You lose your property you have lost nothing “You lose your health you have lost something “You lose character, you have lost everything”

structural and foundational limits of our institutions.

With a primitive police system, built on a colonial constabulary model that is antiquated, that is corrupt, that has very outmoded policing doctrine, and that is not structured to meet with the demands of a civil, democratic, and polite society, it was impossible to prevent Ese Oruru’s abduction, or conduct a quick, scientific, and guided rescue operation before she crossed many state borders from Yenegoa to Kano, where she was quickly “disappeared” behind the hard veils of a Muslim’s hijab, and the warren of “Ba Shigas” behind the old city walls of Kano role in this business needs to be further investigated. At what point did Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Emir of Kano, become aware of the abduction of Ese Oruru, and what was his role in all this? This is the story that should not go away until a full accounting is made.

The Bayelsa Police Commissioner under whose charge this event took place must resign his commission for his incompetence in discharging his duties to the citizen whom the police act compels him to serve. The InspectorGeneral of Police, Solomon Arase, who put more store on the “power” of the Emir of Kano, than in his own legitimate authority as the nation’s chief cop in this rescue story should also be compelled to resign.

The Ese Oruru incident is a muck up. One important revelation however from all this is

that Nigerians apparently live in two countries, where parallel governments exist – one traditional and shadowy, the other a “pretend republic.” I should make this clear in a moment. Last week, I wrote about the need to abolish the “traditional rulers” – the Emirs, Sultans, Igwes, and Obas – who run parallel governments in contention with the authority of the Federal Republic.

It is clear that Yinusa Yellow did not feel bound by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He was, even as claimed

by Lamido Sanusi who called him “my subject,” under the protection of the Emir of Kano, who felt himself in a position higher than the authority of the Nigerian Police, that sole authority in Nigeria established by law to keep and enforce domestic law and security. The Emir is running a parallel government, can grant and dissolve marriages at will; can “order” and “re-order” the police, and can secure the obedience and determine the conduct of his “subjects” in Kano, outside the laws of the Federal republic.

When Biafrans and other separatists tired of the Nigerian contradiction agitate that they do not wish to live in such a country where “anything goes;” where individuals are mightier than the state, and where therefore regular citizens are at risk, vulnerable, and at the mercy of these powerful potentates rather than the common law, and can therefore no longer expect to be protected and secured as evident with Ese Oruru, by the institution of state, their demands begin to ring increasingly legit.

Show the right attitude at all times as a mother even in circumstances where the other person was wrong. Be the more mature person that has an aura of p e a c e , patience, joy and happiness.

Have an optimistic view of life even when you are challenged these are the things that build your character.

•Quintessential Image: Your image is everything, the

addressed at all times for all occassions.

beginning of you creating a good or bad first impression.

Whether you are meeting your child’s teacher for the first time, your new boss, a potential client or a distant inlaw how others view you should be your concern. As a mother you not only mentor your own children, but the people you work with, your clients, acquaintances, colleagues, staff and subordinates. You should either command a sense of authority, or approachability otherwise you will be seen to be standoffish, proud and unapproachable. Dress the way you want to be

•Think, Speak, Act: How eloquently do you speak? As a mother, your child’s first words will come from hearing you as well as others. Make up your mind what language you would like your child to learn first. Perfect the language and construct your sentences well.

•Evolve with the Times Our children today are so high-tech we can hardly keep up with them. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the Likes. What next?

This Z generation are fast taking over the world. I say keep up with the times and don’t be left behind. Let yur children know you are a breast with what is going n around you.

•You Were Born to Inspire: You should have it at the back of your mind to want to leave a good legacy behind for your children both boys and girls. We all have dreams and aspirations that form our daily, weekly and yearly goals.

Be a huge inspiration to your children, whether you bake cakes, sell shoes or clothes, design clothing, train, teach, consult, whatever you do let your children have cause to be interested in what you do.

Have a Blessed and Great Mothers Day. Happy Reading

PAGE 10—SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016,

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SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016, PAGE 11

FORMER PRESIDENT OLUSEGUN OBASANJO AT 79 Former President Olusegun Obasanjo marked his 79th birthday with a lecture held in Abeokuta, Ogun State, yesterday.

PHOTOS FROM THE OCCASION BY WUNMI AKINOLA

From left: Professor Akin Mabogunje, former President Olusegun Obasanjo; his wife, Bola; Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State and his wife, Funso

From left: Prof. Mabogunje; Chief Ogbonaya Onu, Science & Tech. Minister; and Obasanjo

From left; Otunba & Erelu Kunle Ojora, Senator Kola Bajomo and Chief Femi Majekodunmi

From left: Governor Amosun; wife and Amaechi.

from left: Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, Transportation Minister, Senator Godswill Akpabio and Mr. Lyel Imoke

Medical exper ts lis experts listt consequences of phone abuse

By Victoria Oladunni Ajayi

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r. Kingsley Okeke, of the Federal Polytechnic, Bida Medical Center, says the abuse of smartphones could result in brain fatigue, leading to low human performance.

The Senior Medical Consultant, who disclosed this during an interview in his office, said, as harmless as smartphones look, the healthimplication,whennot properlyused,canbeasdangerous as the side effect of drug addiction.

According to him, students, who depend on smart phones and consider them as a fast route to solving academic challenges, such as projects, research, assignments, test, or even examinations, don’t put their brain to work as they ought to, a development“whichreduces their ability to think, resulting in low productivity”.

“Addiction to smart phones, also known as nomophobia, is one of the causes of dullness, lack of creativity, distraction and even academic failure of manyNigerianstudents”,he added. Okeke’s claim was corroborated by Dr. Muyiwa Oluyide, of Ekiti State Teaching Hospital, AdoEkiti, who revealed that constantly staring at the phones for messages, videos, pictures or even games may lead to eyestrain, blurred vision, dizziness and dry eyes.

Oluyide said smart phones abuse may also lead to stress of the mind as those addicted to it are constanly checking their phones, whetherornotthereisamessage. This, he said, can build up anxiety resulting in high blood pressure. “Excessive

utilization of smart phones may also cause insomnia which is a sleep disorder. Those who sleep with their phones beside them are constantly conscious of it and wakes up from time to time to checkthephones,theymighteven feeltheyheardthephonesringing when they did not even beep”, he stated. Aside health implications, phones are believed to be among several causes of road accidents.

TheProvost,FederalRoadSafety Commission (FRSC), Unit 724 Bida, Musa Sanusi ARC, said most people seem to be unable to do away with their phones even while driving. “They make and

receive calls, read and reply text messages while driving. These constitute distractions and may result in accident”, Sanusi stated. He said although government has emphasized the need nottooperatephoneswhiledriving and outlined rules and sanctions to this effect, smart phone addicts are vulnerable to breaking these rules and fall victim.

“Although smart phones were created to help us connect to the world and make things easy for us, the danger of abuse should not be over looked. It is important to manage it”, the FRSC official stated,

StarTimes to slash subscription od.” rate by 25% Kafar added that Star-

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head of the Easter cele bration, StarTimes says from 29 February to April 30, 2016 it will slash the prices of its highest bouquet; Unique, on digital terrestrial and Super, on digital satellite platform by 25 percent to enable Nigerians enjoy digital TV entertainment during the holidays.

According to statement from Startimes, the Unique or Super bouquet, which is the highest Pay TV package on its platform with about 120 channels monthly subscribed at N4800 will be reduced by 25 per cent to N3600 of which both existing and fresh subscribers will enjoy during the period. Marketing Director, Mr. Oludare Kafar, said StarTimes is committed to offering subscribers quality television entertainment with strong considerations for affordability and easy accessibility.

“We are offering subscribers a 25 per cent reduction on the Unique or Super bouquet to enable more subscribers access our highest bouquet and get maximum entertainment for less during the Easter peri-

Times is committed to offering subscribers the best in class of digital entertainment for maximum viewing pleasure on a very affordable platform. Digital TV should be exciting and within the reach of the people. For us, it can be great and yet affordable. We are making efforts to keep spreading digital TV across the nation for the enjoyment of every man and woman whether in the urban or the rural; that’s our driving force at StarTimes.

“We will continue to engage our subscribers for great moments of exciting entertainment with our array of over 100 great channels consisting of movies, series, sports, news, children’s programs, fashion and religion, said Kafar.” Meanwhile, the pay TV Company’s ongoing Extra Special offer will also run till April 30. The “Extra Special Offer” allows existing subscribers recharge on any bouquet before due date and get rewarded with extra viewing days free in multiples of the number of months paid.

PAGE 12—SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016,

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SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016, PAGE 13

Keri Hilson to headline Airtel TRACE Music Star Season 2

Onikoyi68@gmail.com

We are not so charitable in this part of the world, DG, Lions Club laments

•Lion Omolola Anobili

BY ADERONKE ADEYERI adagry was agog, penultimate Friday, when members of District 404B1, Lions International Club stormed the coastal city to celebrate its 2nd district annual convention. However, highlight of the event was the foundation-laying ceremony of an eye centre at the Badagry General Hospital. The District Governor, Lion Omolola Anobili whose lifestyle is associated with service and integrity and a determination to make a difference, emphasized the need for well-to-do Nigerians to partner with the NGO to impact positively on the society.

“I must confess, we are not so charitable in this part of the world. This is because we have people in Nigeria who have the resources but are not just willing to affect their environment positively”. She also stated that “I have decided to concentrate fully on what the Lions hold dearly to their hearts. We got to know that the eye centre here in Badagry which also serves people in Cotonou, Ifo, Igando, even Apapa can be likened to a kitchen. So when we got the approval from the Lagos State government, we didn’t look back’’, she said The representative of the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Olumide Sojinrin applauded the bold steps of the District and assured the Lions that the Ministry will be more than willing to partner with them under the district. According to the District Governor, Lions-led activities include supplementary support to campaigns on children’s vaccination, empowering the youths through various activities, advocating for increased support for immunisation systems during World Immunisation Week and lots more.

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Artistes storm Owerri for club launch

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t was entertainment in all its purest forms at the Coral Reef Hall, Ikoyi, Lagos, when the For The Love of Art concert held recently. From drama to poetry to drumming, and face painting, the program

took the audience on a roller-coaster of emotions and excitement. A highlight of the event was when three visual artists chose three volunteers from among the audience and painted their portraits from scratch live on stage, while dancers thrilled with soft music in the

he Season 2 of Airtel Trace Music Star, the biggest pan-African talent search competition, has commenced in Nigeria, with renowned American vocalist and songwriter, Keri Hilson, to serve as judge/ mentor in the music talent show.

Leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, and its partner, TRACE TV, announced the kick-off Season 2 to pressmen during the week.

Speaking at the event, Chief Commercial Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Ahmad Mokhles, noted that Airtel is pleased to partner with TRACE to bring excitement, joy and laughter to millions of Nigerians through the TRACE platform and also empower talented Nigerians and African youth with a credible ladder to stardom.

“Indeed, Airtel is passionate about creating platforms that delight, excite, entertain, engage and empower talented youth as well as telecoms consumers across the country.

TRACE demonstrates our commitment to our vision of connecting talented Nigerian youths to their dreams. The sponsorship is yet another eloquent testimony of Airtel’s commitment to empowering young, talented Nigerians. As Nigeria’s smartphone network of choice, we are always excited to enter partnerships that connect the Nigerian youth to their dreams and we are very excited about the opportunities that TRACE presents, “ he said.

•Keri Hilson

IHMS brand ambassador

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nternational Health Management Services (IHMS), one of Nigeria’s leading health maintenance organisations, has appointed awardwinning actor and comedian, Hafiz •Mallam Yankee Oyetoro, more popularly known as ‘Saka’, as its brand ambassador.

Oyetoro was unveiled on Friday as the new face of IHMS at a well-attended media luncheon held at the company’s head office in Lagos.

“Hafiz Oyetoro is a worthy ambassador of this generation. His value and passion for excellence in his chosen career is in consonance with the objectives and goals of IHMS as a first class health maintenance organisation,” Ukandu said, stressing, “We are convinced that he will add value to our background, serenaded the brand as well as connect seamlessly with IHMS audience; it was indeed subscribers and potential subscribers,” says Dr Chidi creativity at its best!

Ukandu, Chief Executive Officer of IHMS Speaking with the Creative Director and Producer of the event, Shola Adewumi aka The Soulful Chameleon, after the show, she noted that the aim was to celebrate the diversity of art and its impact on society.

In her words, ‘I have nurtured the idea for years because I am very creative and into art. So I’ve always had the idea to do a show like this to entertain, promote art and culture, and to influence and impact.’

Meanwhile, other acts that performed on the night included Santa, Oyinkansola Adesewa, Phrance, Drumsville, among others.

•Saka signing the papers

Classic entertainment at For The Love of Art Event

By TOFARATI IGE

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Saka becomes

Mallam Yankee’s

t will be another star studded show in Owerri, the Imo State capital on Friday, March 11 and Saturday, March 12, 2016, as the Chairman and Managing Partner of The Bank Club, Abuja, Mallam Yankee launches another multi-million naira club called Illusion in the State capital. The club opening and official launch which will parade A-list Nigerian artistes will hold inside the New Imo Concord Hotel, Owerri.

In his official statement, Mallam Yankee disclosed that Club Illusion will transform the social life among Owerri residents, even as he divulged that the club will run only three times a week. He said the club will open for business only on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. According to the popular socialite, Club Illusion would test-run on Thursday, March 10, 2016. The grand opening which is strictly by invitation is currently generating interest among Imo elites and youths who are seriously getting ready for the much-talked about Illusion opening. Mallam Yankee is renowned for his effort in transforming nightlife across the country, including the Federal Capital Territory. FCT, Abuja. He has partnered and organized several shows including, Koko Concert, Iyanya Album Launch, many of 2Face’s shows, Charlyboy showlive, Owerri must laugh, Night of a Thousand Laugh, and others numerous to mention. The event is powered by Hennessy.

BY JULIET EBIRIM

PAGE 14—SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 6, 2016

Our case against Buhari, Jonathan, Yar’Adua, Obasanjo,

by SERAP

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH Mr Adetokunbo Mumuni, is a long standing legal practitioner, notary public and an executive director of Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP. In this encounter, he sheds more light on the recent court judgment in favor of his group against the federal government. He concludes that all Nigerians must rise to the occasion and save the country from imminent collapse due to corruption and impunity. He also speaks on some other national issues.

Excerpts:

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hat was the motivation behind SERAP’s decision to embark the case regarding the Abacha loot in the first instance?

It is as simple as saying: ‘’The desire to entrench transparency and accountability”. In a democracy, there must be no opaqueness in government businesses and dealings.

What were you people out to achieve by all these actions because some people say it is about the usual helpful noise by NGOs? It should be recalled that in matters concerning the recovery of looted funds/ resources of the nation, a lot of conflicting figures/amounts of the worth of looted funds/resources were put in the public domain for too long.

So, it is necessary to hear directly the authentic position from the government in respect of the matter.

Hence, the need to use the instrumentality of the Freedom of Information Act. SERAP as an organisation and as a public trust is not interested and will never be interested in playing to the gallery or such mundane matters as ‘’Public Noise or media accolade’’ if indeed such things exist somewhere. Like the response to the first question, the reason for filing the case and what we seek to achieve is the entrenchment of transparency and accountability.

In pursuing this case you must have gotten some facts concerning the stolen funds. Precisely, what is the amount you think has been stolen and returned back to the coffers of government?

The total amount of the funds, from the information available to SERAP, so far recovered, put conservatively, cannot be less than 7 billion dollars because from Late General Sani Abacha alone, 6 billion dollars was recovered and returned to the Nigerian government.

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This well researched judgement by the court has received commendation. However, don’t you think the issues raised by the court, will become an ordinary academic exercise like the previous ones, having been directed to the ex-heads of government, who for instance have left the office?

The judgement of a court of competent jurisdiction, once it is clear and unambiguous, must be complied with by the person or government institution to which it was directed. The question of an academic exercise does not arise in this matter. In any case, the Courts are not set up to entertain academic exercises or matters of mere academic importance. Further, as regards the President who is dead Umar Yar’Adua - and as regards those Presidents that have left office Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan - there can be no problem.

It must be remembered that government and government businesses are matters of continuity.

The information or document which the honourable court has directed must be provided, are matters of public record and can be located and provided between two principal offices in Nigeria.

Which offices are these?

The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation and The Central Bank of Nigeria. What is needed as a matter of urgency is for the Chief Law Officer of Nigeria, the Attorney General of the Federation, to give the appropriate legal advice to the President of the Federation so that he will then give the appropriate executive directive to the appropriate offices to comply with the judgment of the honourable court.

A similar judgment has been secured by SERAP in its search for probity on education funding in

Nigeria, up till today, it is difficult to execute the judgment of the court. So, how do you intend to execute this recent judgment, so that it will not be a judgment in vain?

SERAP is of the sincere opinion that the change mantra of the present administration is not a make belief or a sham. Since the issue involved in this matter is one relating to probity, honesty, accountability and transparency and has considerable bearing and relationship with the anticorruption crusade of the present administration, there should be no difficulty or hindrance to compliance with the judgment of the honourable court.

Some people have described SERAP as meddlesome interlopers in its fight, saying the body lacks locus. What will be your reaction to this?

The Judgement resolved the issue of locus in SERAP’s favour. In any case, leaving legal technicality out of the matter, the mandate of SERAP is the promotion of the socio-economic rights of Nigerians and anything that affects the social and economic well-being of Nigerians must be a matter of serious interest and concern to SERAP. We maintain that SERAP is a public trust.

The issues that made your organisation achieve its present feat in pursuit of the fight against impunity are also present in most states of the federation. In your own view how can this be tackled?

The answer to this question is simple. Nigerians must also be asking the state governors and state-level institutions the same questions, so that the state governors will also be under constant pressure to be

accountable and transparent.

All said and done, is there anyway SERAP will be seeking support and cooperation from the international community especially countries and institutions involved in the transfer of these funds?

There are international platforms, institutions and mechanisms that can be used in this process. SERAP would seek and use such institutions, platforms and mechanisms if it becomes necessary.

Does your organisation intend to invoke any international instruments in the implementation of the judgment?

This may not be necessary because SERAP’s sincere position is that the present administration has no reason not to comply with the judgment.

The total amount of the funds, from the information available to SERAP, so far recovered, put conservatively, cannot be less than 7 billion dollars because from Late General Sani Abacha alone, 6 billion dollars was recovered and returned to the Nigerian government

Can you shed more light on the judgment as it affects each of the heads of state including the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari?

The judgement talks about a time belt namely from 1999 till date and it is specific as to the issue, which is accounting for the loots recovered

since 1999 till date. Like I have responded to an earlier question, It is a matter of records and documents and these records and or documents can be located between the Office of Accountant General of the Federation and the Central Bank of Nigeria.

What’s your advice to Nigerians on the fight against corruption?

The fight against corruption is a matter for every Nigerian. The movement against corruption has to start from every individual Nigerian and Nigerians as a people must take ownership of the struggle and it is when this is done that the success of the crusade can be long lasting and sustained.

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016,

PAGE 15

EDO 2016: Why Edo elders are interested in Oshiomhole’s successor – Prince Akenzua SIMON EBEGBULEM, BENIN CITY

Prince Edun Akenzua is the Enogie (Duke) of Obazuwa and the Chairman of Benin Leaders of Thought (BLT). In this interview, the veteran journalist and younger brother of the Benin monarch says the elders and leaders of Edo State are sad that Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s tenure is coming to an end, asserting that they wish the governor could serve another term.

H

e however discloses that some of those aspiring to suc ceed the governor have been interviewed by the leaders and that a report will soon be submitted to the governor where a prospective successor will be made known. He also supports the anti-corruption war being tought by President Muhammadu Buhari, saying that though the economy of the nation is currently suffering, the future looks bright.

Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s tenure will come to an end in November. What are the elders’ feeling about his looming exit and what are you doing to enthrone a suitable successor?

The Edo people and elders, I must tell you, feel sad that Oshiomhole’s tenure is about to end. They wish they could continue with Oshiomhole. Because, as I have always said, there has never been a governor in Edo, Bendel, Midwest, who performed as much as Oshiomhole. This is why we are all sad that this glorious moment is coming to an end. Like people say, whatever has a beginning must have an end. Now we don’t know what those that want to succeed him have in stock for the people. We can really not tell who will be the most appropriate person; and there are many things to consider. We believe there are many people in Edo who can govern the state as much as Oshiomhole, perhaps do better than he is doing; so we are trying to help search for a good Edo man who will succeed him, who is doing what he is doing or perhaps do better than him. Benin Leaders of Thought, for instance, just concluded an exercise; we decided to look at those interested in this position to see who is the most suitable person. It is unfortunate that we don’t have third term; so that Oshiomhole can continue. However, we just concluded that exercise; we have a report which we will make public very soon. We want to first give it to the governor; after that we will show it to the people.

C M Y K

•Prince Akenzua....Today, the level of political understanding of the people of Edo has been so much heightened

It is true the economic situation is very bad, it is biting everybody badly.

But it is wrong for anybody to think that this is the fault of President Buhari. For 16 years, the PDP was in power and they messed up the situation We are aware that you have met with some of the governorship aspirants. What are the qualities you are looking for?

We will be making a public statement in the future. What BLT did was to send invitation letters to about 15 aspirants we heard are interested in the governorship position and nine responded. They presented themselves for screening. We are talking about good governance, we are talking about honesty, rule of law and all the things people will use to determine good governance. And using the present governor as an example, he is leaving big shoes behind; if you are going to wear the shoes, will they fit you? Can you do what he is doing?

Can you improve on what he is doing?

What exactly do you think the people of the state will miss in Oshiomhole?

Oshiomhole came like a dark horse.

He was never in politics; he was a labour leader. But when he came, we saw that this man was dogged, very determined to ensure that this place moved forward. He worked day and night; a few times I met him, I wondered where he got his energy from.

He worked all over Edo, every part of the state got what no governor has ever done. There is no where you will

go in all the three senatorial districts where you will not find his footprints, in roads, schools, hospitals, everything. But , to me, one remarkable thing he has done, which no other person has done and which will linger, is that, when he arrived, he taught the electorate the value of one man one vote. Because before then, there were important people, starting from 1999, who were found voting in three four places but that doesn’t happen anymore. He came and taught the people that they have the final say, that power belongs to the people, and not to individuals, not to political parties. And the people of Benin were very very happy about that because we had been fighting god fatherism.

When he came, he was a very very welcome ally, he joined us and we fought god fatherism to a standstill.

He knew how corrupt the system was and told the people to stop selling their conscience. Today, the level of political understanding of the people of Edo has been so much heightened: Thanks to Oshiomhole.

So, as we go tor another election, we advise politicians to play according to the rules. The days of the snatching of ballot boxes are over, the days of intimidating voters are over; unscrupulous people will try but the electorate will not agree. The man who is coming will give you his manifesto; ask him questions. Oshiomhole has told our people that they should not be afraid to ask those who want to be their leaders questions. ‘What have you done before? What you can do?

Don’t come and tell us that you are going to build us a castle, give us example of what you have done before’.

We are encouraging our people to learn to ask questions.

The National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, is a proud son of the Benin Kingdom.

How do you feel hearing of an alleged plot to remove him?

There is always this plot to remove the man, but those trying to remove him should tell us why they are against him. Oyegun, as much I have known him, right from when he was in the civil service, is a very upright man. And he says it as it is any time.

If anybody comes up now to say ‘I don’t want Oyegun’, it must be that, perhaps, that person talking, his path had crossed that of Oyegun and he found that he is some body that cannot be used. Nobody had really told me what Oyegun has done or what

he has not done. I think Oyegun has been very steadfast unlike others who have been changing from one party to another. He is a man of integrity, but I believe that what is happening is an intra-party matter; so they will sort it out. But I have known Oyegun for a long time to be a honest person.

The Binis supported President Muhammadu Buhari during the election, but, today, economic hardship is biting very had. Do you still have confidence in him?

It is true the economic situation is very bad, it is biting everybody badly.

But it is wrong for anybody to think that this is the fault of President Buhari. For 16 years, the PDP was in power and they messed up the situation. Somebody has just come to clear what is called the Augean’s stable, and he has been there for only for six months and some people are asking why has he not cleared the Augean’s stable? I think it is unfair to ask that question. When Buhari came in, they talked about change, that was the mantra; if anybody believes that the APC or the President will come with magic wand and, in six months, change all the things that have gone wrong, that persons is a joker. Yes, they want to change things, but we must give them time. Among the things they are changing now, all the things about corruption, they are publishing every day. This is the first time this will happen in Nigeria. It has never happened before that institutionalized corruption will be identified the way it is being done. I am not one of those saying the President and his cabinet are not fulfilling their electoral promises because, when they came, they said they were going to change things. But I can see the change; a couple of weeks ago, they talked about the budget which they sent to the National Assembly and everybody started talking about padding or no padding. That is change because a thing like that never happened before. There have been situations when things had been sent there, when they were changing Senate Presidents every two weeks. But today the President even said that whoever is responsible for the padding of the budget will not go unpunished; that means he is aware that something has been done wrong and he believes they will get the person that did it. So there is change coming. I believe this government is doing its best in six months.

PAGE 16 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 6, 2016

OGHARA:

Ransom-seeking kidnappers lay siege to university teaching hospital town or •10 doct doctor orss paid money ttoo secure their release – NARD President

•I ent ered int or entered intoo IOU with abduct abductor orss – Victim •Police failed to act, said ‘they don’t work on weekends’ – Abductee’s wife

BY PEREZ BRISIBE

I

RKED by the spate of kidnappings in his domain, the Ovie of Oghara Kingdom, Orefe III, has threatened to deal with anyone found culpable in any form of criminality under any guise in the community.

Oghara is the administrative headquarters of Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State and plays host to not only the Delta State University Teaching Hospital, DELSUTH, but also Western Delta University, a state polytechnic and headquarters of the Nigerian Navy Logistics Command.

Describing the development as worrisome, the monarch traced the upsurge of criminality to the lifting of the ban on youth activities in Oghara by the administration in the state.

“Though I don’t think it is correct to attribute the lifting of the ban on the youth activities to the upsurge of kidnapping in the area, it is not quite clear the true position of things.

Though when the ban was lifted, the youths promised to help in fighting crime, they have not done very much in this regard,”he stated.

Monarch attributes growth in business activities to upsurge in crime The Orefe went on:”I think the growth in business activities over the C M Y K

years in Oghara that has now made it a cosmopolitan city, which attracted people from all parts of the country, could be a factor in the wave of crime in Oghara.

“As a monarch, if I know of anybody hoarding information about criminals from security operatives in Oghara, such person would be punished because whoever hoards information is working against the collective interest of Oghara people.”

However, the presence of the Navy Logistics Command has not helped in abating the kidnappings and other forms of criminality in the area.

Hard hit by the development are the staff of DELSUTH who, despite assurance by the monarch and security operatives in the area, are leaving the community in droves to reside in neighbouring communities like Sapele and Mosogar from where they come to work.

To press home their grievance on the kidnappings of their colleagues, DELSUTH resident doctors have consistently embarked on industrial action thereby crippling activities in the hospital.

A doctor, who was recently released from kidnappers’ den, put the number of abducted doctors at eight in six weeks while the President of the Association of Resident Doctors, ARD, DELSUTH Branch, Dr. Innocent Okocha, stated that 10 doctors had parted with money to facilitate their release from kidnappers who collect the money from their victims and move to the next target with a certainty that they would not be caught.

Describing doctors as endangered species in the hands of kidnappers, doctors, under the aegis of Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, MDCAN, staged a peaceful protest to the Delta State Government House, Asaba, with a vow to suspend their services until security in the town was beefed up.

‘I entered into IOU with kidnappers’ Recounting his 17hours ordeal in the hands of a sixman kidnap gang, Dr. Joseph Akponana Mudiaga,

of the Department of Anesthesia, DELSUTH, who was abducted at his Oghara residence, likened working and living in Oghara as “living in bondage”.

According to him, he had to enter into an IOU (I Owe You) with his abductors to facilitate his release.

“When they (kidnappers) came into my apartment, after collecting money, phones and other items, they took me along, stating that they came specifically for me. Outside my apartment, two of them drove off in my Toyota Highlander vehicle, with registration No. SKL 899 EH, which, till date, has not been found, while four others blindfolded me and took me into the bush,”Mudiago narrated.

“After walking kilometers under the rain into the bush, they told me that I had been abducted and that I would have to call some persons to raise a ransom of N3million to secure my freedom.

Pleading, I told them that the only way they could gett the money was if they released me so that I could go and mobilise for the ransom.

Police told me they do not work on weekends – Wife of abducted doctor Meanwhile, the victim’s wife, Mrs Mudiago, while accusing the police of not being alive to their responsibilities, said she reported the abduction at the Oghara Police Station where she was allegedly told by an officer on duty that she would have to wait till Monday before investigation into the case could commence as “they (police) do not work on weekends.”

Police appeal for partnership Contacted, the Public Relations Officer of Delta State Police Command, Celestina Kalu, appealed for a partnership with DELSUTH doctors and the police in curbing kidnapping in Oghara.

On the claim by Mrs Mudiaga that a policeman in Ogbara told her the police don’t work on weekends, she said: “I do not believe that any police officer would say so because the police work 24hours.

When there is a kidnapping and it is reported, the message is radioed to the command with same sent to neighbouring states to be on the lookout.”

Another doctor, who spoke anonymously, disclosed that he had been kidnapped twice in Oghara with the last one being around 7pm on the same day as Dr. Mudiaga after which he was released on parting with a ransom of N5million.

Security measures Giving insight into the measures in place to stem the tide of kidnapping in Oghara, the Orefe

stated that he led a delegation to meet with Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on the problem in the area.

“With the governor’s assistance, we have more policemen deployed to the Oghara Police Division and given more tools to combat the problem, yet the matter persists. For now, we have given out mobile numbers to residents of the area to call if they are in distress.

“Also, I want to assure everyone in Oghara that we now have patrol teams going round the town. Though for security reasons I will not give the details, they can be rest assured that their safety is our concern and, as a community, we would do our best to ensure that everybody living in Oghara is safe.”

Crime has dropped in Oghara – COUNCIL BOSS Meanwhile, the Ethiope West council chairman, Mr. Solomon Golly, has debunked the claim that he is to be blamed for the upsurge of criminality in the area.

According to the council boss, he has engaged over 200 youths to complement the efforts of security operatives to check criminality in the area, a move, he said, has yielded positive result.

“With the efforts of security agencies and the youths, we have apprehended about 17 kidnap suspects since November. I can tell you that, contrary to reports, since November last year, crime has drastically dropped in Oghara because of the efforts we have made so far,”he stated.

“For us to get quick result, we have to track numbers if anyone is kidnapped and this costs an average of N120, 000 to N140, 000. I also pay N10, 000 daily for the accommodation of the Divisional Police Officer who has been staying in a hotel as his official residence is under renovation.

“As regards the teaching hospital, we have beefed up security in and around the hospital and I can assure you that there are security operatives stationed there to forestall any security breach.”

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH, 6, 2016, PAGE 17

Five ways to get him back?

A

BY ONOZURE DANIA

re you in a relationship that has hit the rock, or maybe one of you decided to end things and maybe you are wondering if it’s possible to save things.

It is possible if you both agree to certain terms.

Networking/ Sponsorship •Gift, 22, a student, from Delta state but resides in Benin, needs a man who can sponsor her education. 08106799762 •Nkem, 23, an undergraduate, needs someone to help sponsor his final year project in school.

07016752945 •Dolapo, 36, from Oyo state, needs kind hearted Nigerians to support his show business with 50,000 and above.

Oderinde Dolapo A, GTB Acct 0029770644, 07062260704 •Ola 22, needs sponsorship for his school fee.

07054233972 •Fidelis, needs kind hearted Nigerians to help sponsor his NGO, that carters for children.

08116349567 •Charles, 35, needs a lady, with large hips and curves, aged 20-35, who resides in Asaba Delta state, for a relationship. 08127937046 •Blessing, 24 and resides in Delta state, needs someone that can assist her financially, with N400, 000. 07033356146, 08064609432 •Ifunanya, from Anambra state, but resides in Delta state, needs someone to sponsor her financially to set up a business.

Ezekwesili Ifunanya, acct no.

2172171509, Eco bank 09025417874 Friends Searching Female •Tracy, 23, a graduate and resides in Delta state, needs mature female friends.

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You must forgive or move past all past wrongs, this might seem like common sense, but one thing is saying that you forgive, and another is actually living this in the relationship day to day.

If either one of you hold onto resentment and makes the other person feel wrong about

what happened even in subtle ways, the relationship can’t move into deeper levels of intimacy.

He must be open and honest and listen to what he did that didn’t work for you and you must address that as an ongoing process in your r e l a t i o n s h i p .

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relationship.08125289980,08038742548 •Samuel, 23, from Delta state,also a student, needs a lady that can take care of him, for a relationship.

08171809361 •Andrew, 29, from Delta state,needs a lady, for a serious relationship, aged 18 -30.08188260705, 08148187365 •Prince, 50, handsome, God fearing, a businessman and resides in Lagos, needs a matured and beautiful lady, aged 45 and above, for marriage.08182112618 •A guy, from Agbor Delta state, needs a lady, aged 1722, for a relationship.

08132704292, 07061952306 •Maxwell, 40, a businessman, resides in Lagos, needs a responsible and God fearing lady, aged 30-40, for a serious relationship. 08139003383 •Adebayo, 42, a surgeon and resides in Lagos, needs a lady, aged 35-45, who is employed, from any tribe, for a serious relationship.

08133016033 •Henry, resides in Lagos, needs a God fearing lady, for a serious relationship.

08064723689 •Emeka, 43, a contractor, from Delta state, needs an employed lady, aged 35-45, for a serious relationship.

08122472987, 08063674470 •Frank, 35, a businessman, from Enugu state, needs a God fearing and serious lady, who is ready for marriage, aged 25-45.08102896176 •Ike, 41, from Anambra state, needs a homely and good mannered lady, aged 25-30, preferably from Anambra , Imo, Abia state, for marriage.

08037297055 •Bishop, kind hearted, generous and a businessman, from Anambra state, needs a beautiful, attractive, busty, and fat lady, aged 20-35, from Anambra state, for marriage.

08033379668 •George, 43, a graduate, fair in complexion, average height and a businessman, from Imo state needs a

Searching Male •Paul, from Delta state, needs a caring lady, for a relationship.07052579873,.08177729134 •Segun, 32, 5.6ft tall and resides in Lagos, needs a lady, for a serious relationship, aged 23-36.

08135075430 •Moses, 30, dark in complexion and jovial, needs an employed or self employed lady, for a relationship that can lead to marriage.

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DISCLAIMER! Dear readers, please note that we neither operate, nor are we an affiliate of any match–making agency in or outside the country. Any reader who transacts business with any one claiming to be our agent does so at his/her own risk. Our mission is only to provide a platform for social networking.

Also note that neither Vanguard, nor Yetunde Arebi will be liable for any error in the publication of requests which may result in any form of embarrassment to any member of the public. We therefore request that text must be sent through at least one of the numbers for contact. This notice is necessary to enable us serve you better in our refreshingly different style. You can send your requests to 33055. For enquiries, text or call 08026651636 C M Y K

By a process, I mean this is something you continuously work on together, you must commit to being open and honest and listening to the things you did that didn’t work in the relationship for him and you must address that as a process in your relationship.

You must make an agreement for complete honesty from there forward with no withholding for fear of hurting

one another.

Getting back together in a relationship that wasn’t working has to be more about creating a fulfilling life for each other and yourself than it has to be about fixing the relationship.

When you focus on creating a fulfilling life together rather than being in “fixing” mode the relationship becomes healthier.

matured, employed or business lady, for immediate marriage.08109866663 •Wisdom, upcoming artist and resides in Lagos, needs a responsible and decent lady, for a relationship, aged 20-26.

08132870892 •Emmanuel, 24, resides in Kaduna state, needs a rich lady, in Kaduna and Abuja, that can take care of his needs.07037591026 •Dare, 26, dark in complexion, 6ft tall, an artist and resides in Lagos, needs a lady, who serious, hard working and employed for a relationship that will lead to marriage this year, aged 24-30.07019288384 •James, 37, 6ft tall, from Delta state, needs an employed lady, for a relationship. 08130416704 •Alex, 35, employed and resides in Lagos, needs an employed lady, for a serious relationship, that will lead to marriage09033846673 •Francis, 42, and employed, needs a lady, aged 30-45, for marriage.08168005147 •Stephen, 35, from Enugu state, needs a lady, who is God feraring and financially bouyoant that they can do business together, for a relationship that will lead to marriage, aged 32.

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09028672548

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08125415196 Searching Male •Leonard, from Warri, Delta state, needs a sugar mummy, for a relationship. 08166856505,

PAGE 18 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 6, 2016

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk 08056180152, SMS only

Just because you can easily be unfaithful doesn’t mean you should

H

ow would you feel if a neighbour knocked on your door to yell angrily at you that your husband knocked up her daughter? What if shortly after that, two females in the neighbourhood were alleged to have fought tooth and nail over affairs with your husband?

Would you walk out on him in disgust - or would you just keep quiet, especially when children were involved? Khadijat, in her late 30s, fashionable and the owner of a very impressive beauty parlor was in her salon recently, doing what she knew best when a neighbour strolled in, scowling at her from the mirror she used to view incoming customers.

“She looked like a fish out of water in my salon”, Khadijat said, “and her scowl made me want to shove her out of the door.

Before I said anything, she told me she’d want a word with me. With her was her daughter who I’d seen a couple of times in the salon. When I asked what she wanted to see me for, she said it was a private matter.

Thinking she wanted employment for her daughter, and knowing there was no vacancy, I told her I was busy with a client and she was free to tell me what the matter was. “‘Your husband has made my daughter pregnant’, she spat, the hostility in her voice was most annoying, I looked at her daughter and at her and my blood boiled.

The salon was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. `And what has that got to do with me?’ I asked her, intending to

embarrass her more than she’s embarrassed me.

‘If you don’t get out of my salon I’ll call the police.

Why should I be accountable for your d a u g h t e r ’ s waywardness? I’d advise you to take your complaint to my husband. And let me warn you, if you ever show your gold-digging faces at my door-steps again I’ll let the dogs out on you”.

They both looked as if they weren’t done yet, so, I told my staff to push them out of the salon.

“Was I shocked at what I’d just gone through?

No. Just hurt. I’d been married to Wole for close to ten years. A single mother of a five-year-old when I met him, I couldn’t believe my luck at meeting a responsible man like him, willing to get hitched to a single parent. He had his own computer business and he was quite successful.

Travelling often to bring in goods and showering my daughter and I with gifts. He was also a remarkably good lover and responsible father to my daughter and the two children that quickly followed after we got married. Then one day, after we’d been married for five years, I started hearing stories of escapades. Two friends, who he’d successfully bedded had a terrible fight over him in the neighbourhood.

My husband couldn’t deny what happened as the girls out-did each other in their accusation of boyfriend snatching.

Wole quickly begged for my forgiveness, swearing it was one of them who threw herself at him and sleeping with her was the only way he

had of getting compensated for the money she borrowed off him!

“Later, stories abound of how he used to have sex regularly in his office with different girls” from professionals to food hawkers!

He was obviously a sex addict and people like him seldom change” I wanted to leave, but I’d put in so much time and money into my home for me to just walk away like that. Besides, I’d told him sex between us would be strictly with him using condoms because I didn’t want any disease. I was shocked when he readily agreed. So here I am, stuck with a sex fiend.

All I know is that whenever I find the occasional bonk, I treat myself with a very clear conscience ...”

“What the society fail to realize is that, there are a lot of unfulfilled and adventurous women our there”, bragged Kay, a happy-go-lucky married- bachelor friend.

“I remember years ago

when I got a job as a company secretary in a firm. The place was crawling with confident and enlightened women.

‘Everyone sleeps with everyone here’, confided a colleague. ‘Even the married ones are at. it!’ I instantly became interested. So, people really did have sex for fun - and 1 wanted it! So, when a few of the girls started teasing me, I gave back as much as I got.

Over the next couple of years, I’d been involved with five of them.

The last one was a dynamo and the relationship went on for months. I was over the trauma of my divorce and toying with the idea of re-marrying. Tope, the girl in question came from a good family and sex with her was mind-blowing, she’d invested a lot in lacy tempting underwears and confessed she’d had the best sex ever with me.

“She knew of my escapades with my other colleagues and I told her they were before I met her even though I was still bonking one or two on the side. When I started

despisco_4sky01@yahoo.com 07035148931

FATHER'S ADVICE TO HIS SON ABOUT MARRIAGE

Y

OUR column to express your loving thoughts in words to your sweetheart. Don’t be shy. Let it flow and let him or her know how dearly you feel.

Write now in not more than 75 words to: The Editor, Sunday Vanguard, P.M.B. 1007, Apapa, Lagos. E.mail: sunlovenotes@yahoo.com Please mark your envelope: “LOVE NOTES"

I am going to smile

I am going to smile and make you think I am happy.

I am going to laugh,so you don't see me cry. I am going to let you go in style,and even if it kills me- I am going to smile.

Princewill Nosa Ogbomo

•1. My son, if you keep spending on a woman and she never asked you if you’re saving or investing, and she keeps enjoying the attention, don’t marry her.

•My son, a woman could be a good wife to you, some could be a good mother to your children but if you’ve found a woman like a mother to you, your children and your family, please don’t let her go.

• My son, don’t confine the position of your wife to the kitchen, where did you get that from? Even in our days, we had farm-lands where they worked every morning . . . that was our office.

• My son, if I tell you that you’re the head of the house, don’t look at your pocket; look if you will see a smile on your wife’s face.

•My son, if you want to have a long life, let your

mentioning marriage, she didn’t encourage it.

In the end, I had to come right out to tell her it would be nice if we became a couple. She looked horrified ‘But I already have a fiance’, she said. ‘We never agreed on marriage did we? You told me you wanted fun and so did I’.

We kind of split up after that and I felt betrayed. “‘Shortly, after, we all got invited to the wedding.

I attended so I could see the sort of creep she preferred to me. He was young and obviously in love with his new wife.

A year after, she wedded, she left the company when her husband started his own business.

“I eventually got married but have since discovered that relationship sex could be dull, dull, dull. ... So I went back to my wicked ways. I even bedded older women who told me happily that my youth made me energetic and virile. Whatever turned them on! Older

women never pestered me about continuity - all they wanted was amazing sex. A sort of passion without responsibilities and that suited me to the ground, left me free to sleep with other people and to feel no jealousy at all when they shut me off from time to time because they found more interesting prospects!

“My third marriage has slowed me down of course but I still have the occasional fling. A fiftysomething accountant just confessed a few weeks ago that when she was younger, she’d thought orgasms were a myth. That thanks to me, she was now having incredible sex. That growing older has never been such fun! So what do you make of that!”

One More Time With Feelings! (Humour) A n elderly couple had met in an old people’s home and after a few months, the man got down on his knees and asked for the woman’s hand in marriage, she gladly accepted.

However, the next morning when the old man woke up, he couldn’t remember what the old woman’s answer had been. Feeling extremely embarrassed, there was no way round it but to ring her up and find out.

“Hello Gloria, it’s Cyril,” he said. “I feel awfully silly about this but I wondered whether you’d tell me again what your answer was to my marriage proposal. I’m afraid I can’t remember!”

“Oh Cyril,” she replied happily. “I’m so glad you phoned. I knew I’d say ‘ yes’ to someone but I couldn’t remember who it was!”

wife be in-charge of your salary, it will be difficult for her to spend it when she’s aware of the home needs and bills to pay but if it’s in your care, she will keep you asking even when all has been spent.

• My son, don’t ever beat your woman, the pain in her body is nothing to be compared to the wound on her heart and that means you may be in trouble living with a wounded woman.

• My son, now that you’re married, if you live a bachelor kind of life with your wife, you will soon be single again.

• My son, in our days, we had many wives and many children because of our large farm-lands and many harvests, there are hardly any land for farming anymore, so embrace your woman closely.

• My son, under the mango tree that I did meet your mother could be your eateries and restaurants of nowadays, but remember, the closet thing we did there was to embrace each other.

Chris Onunaku 08032988826/0818484015 #KriSpiratiOn2016.

SUND AY Vanguard, MARCH 6 , 2016, P AGE 19 SUNDA

Does your wife think you’re a good lover?!

I ke was feeling damned pleased with himself. As he parked the car, he whistled a cheerful tune, gathered the ’treat’ he’d bought for his family and trotted to his flat. Amidst squeals of welcome from his kids, he dolled out his presents; meat pies and doughnuts for the .kids”, a peppered quarter chicken for his wife, Remi and of course, the same piece of chicken for himself too. Remi sighed. She knew what would follow. She would be expected to fry chips to go along with the ’treats’ so that she would spend less time on the family dinner.

Her husband would then wash his chicken and chips down with a big bottle of stout and she would be expected to do the same with a small stout of her own.

The next state would be the bedroom. Naturally, Ike would have had a shower and as soon as Remi got into bed he would pounce on her. “It is nice to feel wanted by your husband but sex should not be a routine.” Remi sighed. “Ike would deftly put out the light. reach for my nipples and kneed them in turn and expect me to be instantly aroused. But it is always irritating.

I hate my nipples to be twiddled and if my husband wants sex. I want to be flattered by being asked.

“On days when I’m not in the mood and I tell him so, he looks so wounded that I feel guilty.

Unfortunately. I seldom initiate sex. When I do, it is the same hasty preamble before he goes into the real thing. After doing it the predictable way all these years, sex with my husband has become a necessary evil. 1 have

to grimace and bear it. “ Unfortunately, a lot of men believe that as long as you can make a go of love- making for say 10 to 15 minutes non-stop, you are a super stud.

Recounting a recent experience at a high powered conference where he met a married legal practitioner. Bernard, another lawyer who delivered a paper said. “Don’t let me bore you with details. The chemistry when we met, was right and we both found ourselves in bed in her hotel room on her own turf so to speak. She was the most liberated woman I’d ever seen.

I switched off the bed side light so that only the TV light was on and we made what I thought was beautiful love.

“You make love beautifully,” she said and I glowed only for her to crash my ego by adding “for yourself. Now make love for me.” I looked at her a bit puzzled. “You did not say a word about how beautiful you thought my body was or how

tantalising you found parts of my body. Do you read the Bible often? You’ve read the Songs of Solomon and the bit about ‘How beautiful are thy breasts, like twin doves?’ If a man could be as romantic as that all those centuries back, then why are you making love mechanically? Is that how you make love to your wife?”

“Leave my wife out of this,” 1 spat at her. 1 was enraged. But she assured me she meant no harm. She was happily married to a sexually adventurous man but their works kept them apart for long periods and she was sure her husband too took his pleasures wherever and whenever he could find them.

“And he doesn’t mind the possibility of your sleeping around,” 1 was a bit curious but she flared up: ‘So it is alright for him and not for me?

“That’s what all husbands want to believe. Even so, I act with discretion and I have never endangered his good name. In

public, I am a loving and devoted wife. Take the two of us as being together now, for instance. It is no more than a diversion as far as I am concerned. You live in Lagos, I am based in Benin, we might never meet again. So you’d better make the most of this opportunity so you could go back to your wife and show her what real love-making is all about. I mean if your performance now is what you’d been offering her all your married life, I bet she must be feeling sexually frustrated by now.’

“I was far from feeling humiliated. I wanted to learn if she was willing to teach me. For the remaining days of the conference, we were almost inseparable. Every time we tried anything new, I would think how my wife would feel if I tried it on her. The last night of the conference, on our way to the end of conference banquet, she dragged me to one of the hotel shops and asked me to buy a present for my wife. I looked around the shop, lost. The items were ridiculously expensive, 1 made to pick a nice looking inexpensive scarf but she steered me away from that and picked a bottle of perfume that cost over NIO,OOO. I looked alarmed but she said 1 should trust her, it would be worth it.

Women like to be surprised by very feminine gifts. Our last night was a memorable experience and as she left my room, she said I shouldn’t bother to see her in the morning as her husband would be sending a driver. So that was it.

But she was worth my meeting her. To me, it was an honour.

“My wife’s eyes nearly dropped off when I gave her the present when 1 got back home.

She thanked me with my favourite meal and when we got to the bedroom, I didn’t switch off the lights or anything of the sort. Of course, 1 wasn’t as crazy as to put her through all the things I had learnt about sex from my trip, but over the next few weeks I did. In the end, she told me she was sure I had a bit on the side when I went away for the conference but that she didn’t mind. It was a small price to pay for the sexual pleasures we now enjoy. ~ A small miracle don’t you think?

What married couples should realize, however, is that erotic life of people who have been married for years is bound to be a bit humdrum. “After all,” said a “happily married” lady, “it’s been sealed off from outside influence for too long.

Sometimes it seems to me that a long-standing sexual relationship becomes like a diplomatic treaty between two hostile countries, the boundaries get fought over and marked out - no French kissing in the morning, no nudity except in semi-darkness, no excessive fondling of breasts and once these terms have been laid down, it’s impossible to renegotiate them. At least, not without a violent struggle.

Happily, a lot of couples make the effort of bringing romance back to their marriage; an almost impossible feat after the trauma of raising kids and holding down jobs. But if you don’t make time for love, come retirement age when you finally have time, the magic would have been gone.

08052201867(Text Only)

Rapid ageing: The anti-dote

I

T’S normal in this age to expect scientific proof of any thing and everything.

If science has a stand-point on something we want to know it.

We are encouraged to do or not to do. This means we live our day to day lives with a lot more confidence. We do not have to tread too gingerly as if in total darkness.

One of the things we should all know by now, if we don’t already is the proven fact that exercise can reverse the hand of the clock.

Exercise can make you feel younger and live life fuller.

Try and introduce a daily exercise discipline into your life.

Early morning is best for some.

Well, temperaments differ. In this case suit yourself. What time you exercise should not matter much.

The practice is the thing.

For me the total lack of need for any tool is what I find most appealing about yoga.

Once you’ve picked up the techniques to performing a few of them all what you’ll ever need for practice is just a little space and enthusiasm hinged to the knowledge that you’re doing yourself a great favour.

Don’t dwell on the negative

thoughts of what happens to those who fail to exercise.

You should think thoughts that say you’re improving physically, stretched put the palms of the hands float down just behind the

toes. Now lean on the hand and throw the head back. Take a deep breath and slowly lift the heels and thrust forward the lower part of the body and humping up the chest which means your spine

being arched. Retain the posture for a while and return to sitting on the heels with the head held high and breathe out. Rest and repeat.

Benefits: The camel posture affects the go-nards and thyroid glands. The spine regains elasticity. It is also a great help against constipation and gas.

Head to knee posture (standing)

Technique: Stand with feet together. Raise your hands straight over head. Breathe in as you do so. Now bend your upper body down dropping your hands.

Keep your breathe out.

Keep the palms down and your forehead brought into contact with your knees. And stay in this position for a while and as you inhale return to standing position.

You may repeat a couple more times. This posture maintains elasticity of both spine and hamstrings. Those into sports will do well to practise this very posture.

It’s a great insurance against pulling hamstrings - a common happening at athletic meetings and soccer games. This posture massages deeply the regions of the abdomen and pelvis. Women folk who suffer painful periods should practice this before the onset of their periods. With it they get relief.

Yoga Classes STARTED Physical Therapy Centre @ 32 Adetokumbo Ademola, Victoria Island Lagos.

9.00am — 10.00am on Saturdays

•Head to knee Posture (standing)

•The Camel

PAGE 20 — SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016

Adieu perfect gentleman Professor Rokosu “A well-written life is almost as rare as a wellspent one.” Thomas Carlyle, 1795-1881. (VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS).

Our Iroko has fallen and left a gap which none other can fill adequately.

Seldom does one come across an individual about whom all those who knew him in life have nothing but good things to say. Professor Ajibade Abayomi Rokosu, “IROKO”, 1940-2016, had just completed one the most amazingly blessed lives anybody can dream of and spent. When good Prof passed away, late last month, he left everybody wondering if it is possible he could pass their way again.

At 76, in a country where life expectancy is still a miserable 51, and might be getting shorter, Prof had actually out-distanced the allotted time to the average Nigerian. He went right past over-time, injury time before the good Lord asked him to return to his beginnings and join the Saints triumphant.

Heaven’s gain is our loss.

But, God knows better in all things. But, irrespective of how one looks at it, Iroko’s life was one gloriously spent as the following summary will demonstrate.

Born on June 29, 1940, in

•The late Prof. Rokosu the Salawe Court of Lagos Island, he was already armed with a silver spoon – in a part of the world where some never eat with any spoon from birth to grave.

But, he brought more than eating utensils (which he used proficiently to enjoy life); he made sure he also came equipped with one of the sharpest brains and intellect that would smoothen his way through life. Not done, he supplemented all these with incredible degree of selfdiscipline, as well as high ethical standards and mental courage.

He started his primary education at St Mary ’s Convent School and completed it at Holy Cross School – both Catholic Mission schools, in Lagos Island, in those halcyon days when development of intellect and integrity were inextricably linked in

Blinkered majority "Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong.

When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance.

And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core belief" —Frantz Fanon

I

n the last couple of days, an England footballer, Adam Johnson, aged 28, was found guilty of sexual activity with a girl aged 15.

In UK, the age of consent is 16 and the law takes it seriously when an adult interferes with a minor under 16. This carries a hefty prison sentence and the convicted offender is placed on the sex offender register for life.

Life as a sex offender is like wearing a scarlet letter and everyone knows your crime and not many are given a second chance once they are labeled. So, imagine the shame and the isolation. The UK society and the law is very clear; it is very protective in safeguarding the interest of

the young person. So, for those who feel that they can get away committing crime against young people, they will eventually be found out.

No matter how long the crime has been committed, the offender can still be convicted.

This has been possible because the country demanded that law and the enforcement agencies take action. This can only be possible when there is a dedicated and understanding authority.

The story in many Nigerian newspapers and the social media, recently, is about a minor, who was abducted by an adult. Depending on the news you read, the young girl is 13 or 14. Whatever, the case, she is a minor and she was removed from her home in Bayelsa and was later found in the company of the young man in Kano.

Call me a cynic, the big interest was only such, because of where she came from and where she was found. This sudden concerns were mostly not genuine; many showing contempt and rudeness. They do so as it serves their own ulterior agenda. They take to bashing Muslims, Northern and

mission schools. Not surprisingly, he followed with attendance at St Gregory ’s College, Obalende, Lagos, where he finished his School Certificate examination with the top grade possible – Grade 1. Excellence in science resulted in tertiary education at Blackburn Technical College, Dublin; University of Reading, England; and Leeds University, Great Britain.

Golden fleece in pocket, he headed home.

Teaching for him was a passion. So, he started his teaching career at the University of Benin, UNIBEN, from 1975-1984, as Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, Biochemistry until he was appointed a Commissioner in Lagos State by late Governor Gbolahan Mudashiru.

His first posting was as Commissioner of Education; as well as a member of the Implementation Committee for the establishment of Lagos State University, LASU. He was also, at various times the Commissioner for Information and Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs – all in the space of about twenty months. Few Lagosians have ever been fortunate to serve their state in so many capacities and touch so many lives.

With the change of military government in 1985, Iroko transferred his teaching services to LASU and very quickly became the Head of the Department of Biochemistry. At the same time, he was a Council Member for Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education. Briefly, he served as the Acting Vice Chancellor of the university until a substantive VC was Southern. This is the pattern of these people and it serves their hatred and narrow mindedness.

There are some people who have no gumption, neither respect nor integrity. The access to social media has brought out the good, the bad and the ugly. So, this is not surprising and they rather throw the proverbial baby away with the bath water.

Their intolerance for anything that is out of their way of thinking is glaring, as always, such thing that is out of their way of thinking is also not entertained. In fact, they often go on the war path and make veiled threats behind the screen.

The victim here is the young girl and this seems to be lost in the din of the media trolls.

The sad fact is that, child abduction is rife in Nigeria and it is known in major European cities that Nigerians are leading in human trafficking. No one seems care. On the contrary, any news on abductions is merely news fodder in Nigeria and many of us know it is so.

It is little wonder these cases do not get similar special. Yet, over thousands of young girls have been trafficked across Europe to service prostitution rings. We need to take a long and hard look at the way we react and ensure that we use our voice for good, regardless of what part of Nigeria what has attracted our reactions comes from. The fact is that these are Nigerians, after all.

Let us stop this heinous crime!

In the case of Ese, the story remains patchy and disjointed and it seems that some of the

appointed and Prof returned to his faculty with perfect equanimity. He retired about ten years ago.

Unfortunately, as there can be no clear sky without some dark cloud somewhere.

Iroko’s encounter with the adversities of life came towards the end. One was an act of God; the other can be laid at the door steps of insensitive leaders in Lagos State. “Well now, there is a

At 76, in a country where life expectancy is still a miserable 51, and might be getting shorter, Prof had actually outdistanced the allotted time to the average Nigerian remedy for everything except death”, said Miguel Cervantes, 1547-1616, author of the classic, DON QUIXOTE. So, when death crept close to our dear Prof, none of his dear friends could foresee the eventual outcome.

Somehow, there was that feeling that people like Prof should or would never die.

But, cancer, one of death’s agents, is a relentless assassin and once it grips a victim would not let go. And so, Prof, after a vigorous battle, succumbed to the irresistible power. Pity. But, we can’t query our creator.

More pitiful is the pain inflicted on the man after his meritorious services to Lagos State. His pensions and gratuities were not paid by the Bola Tinubu and Babatunde Fashola administrations for ten years. It was not until a passionate appeal was made to Governor Ambode that a third of his entitlements were authorized to be released to

This young girl would need some support to deal with trauma of separation and the impact of the relationship that she has forged with her abductor main players are poor historians. Now that the Gender and Child Protection Unit is involved, maybe, they might make head or tail of what actually went on and apportion blame where necessary.

This young girl would need some support to deal with trauma of separation and the impact of the relationship that she has forged with her abductor. There is a phenomenon called Stockholm syndrome, where the abducted becomes sympathetic towards the abductor.

The extra attention that this young child has been exposed to will traumatise her for sometimes after the whole circus has packed up and has left town. This young girl will suffer without proper support.

As for Yunusa, the adult who was responsible for her disappearance, kidnapping, endangerment and sexual abuse of a minor, he will have a lot to answer for. That would be job for the police.

The main outcome is that the girl has been found safe and well but it seems that this is lost on those who want to use their warped views to whip up their own religious and tribal hatred for their own agenda.

pay his mounting bills.

The cheque had been written and signed, but not delivered until Prof passed on – a victim by pitiless governments.

Still we rejoice because Iroko was a socialite in every decent sense of the word and he enjoyed life to the fullest. He was a wellrespected member of various Lagos clubs. His favourite, though, was WAKA CLUB 1945, which he joined as a member of the “Junior” club – called CLUB 2, at Towry Street, Lagos Island (perfect alangba eko i.e Lagos lizzard) before graduating to the senior club. As usual, this “cream” eventually rose to the top. He became, in quick succession, Chairman of the Executive Committee, where he served excellently; and ended as a member of the Board of Trustees until his departure to everlasting glory. “His life was gentle and the elements so mixed in him that Nature might stand up and say to all the world, ‘This was a man.’

William Shakespeare, 1564-1616, (VBQ p 136).

On behalf of WAKA CLUB 1945 and my family, kindly join me in wishing incomparable Professor Rokosu perpetual peace. Amen.

FOR GOD’S SAKE, WHAT WAS PROMISED? “The more you look, the less you see.” Moshood Abiola.

I got you if you think that immortalized Chief M.K.O. Abiola was the author of that statement.

There was another Moshood Abiola, aka, Professor Peller, the late magician.

Like all practitioners of his trade, he could make handkerchiefs and odd objects disappear even

when the onlookers had their “eyes” fixed on him.

Well the APC might as well tell Nigerians, “The more you listen, the less you understand.” At the moment Nigerians are in a dense fog about the 2016 budget despite the trope of words we have heard from just about everybody close to the Presidency. “Missing”, “replaced” and “padded” had been added to what from time immemorial had been just annual budget.

And now, just as I was about to go and queue for my share of free N5,000, as a retired pensioner, rumours have it that I might die on the line, like other pensioners (Professor Rokosu, thanks to the “progressive governments” in Lagos State from 19992015 went away, fortunately on a hospital bed, without collecting a kobo) without somebody stuffing naira notes in my empty pockets.

Rumours have it that Buhari said it. I hope not. This is the last card for some of us.

Absolute last card!!!

One question I would like to ask this government though. If they have enough money to give away N5000 free to millions, why don’t they use the money to pay pensioners some of their entitlements? It is like a chronic debtor, right in front of his creditors, “dashing” away money to others he doesn’t even owe a kobo.

Does it make sense? It is certainly provocative. Is this the change promised?

Rob a lot of Peters to pay a bunch of Pauls? I also hope not. It is, above all, unethical.

P.S, A “progressive” government, in the South West, gave free food for four years. Now it is broke and can neither pay doctors nor provide the food anymore.

Fools never learn – even from mistakes of others.

Although, father of Yunusa Yellow, Dahiru Bala, confirmed that his son had told him of his plan to come home with Ese sometime in 2015, he however tried to dissuade his son from going ahead with such plan.

His words: "When he told me about the plan to come with a girl from Bayelsa to Kano, I asked him not to, but he insisted that Aisha had become a Muslim, fell in love with him and wanted to marry him. I still warned him against coming with her.”

So it is clear that Yunusa was known to the Orurus’ clan. It is worrying that the two may have had relationship prior to the abduction. This 13 or 14year-old was removed from her family and for a long period without, I can only presume, her parents consent.

This is a capital offence but let’s be frank, this kind of heinous behaviour is more common than we all care to admit. In fact, it is common in some places to marry off minors. This is across the country and we all know young girls who are taken out of schools, hawking, working as maids and routinely, sexually, physically and verbally abused by their charges. So for those hypocrites, you are part of the problem.

This young girl is way too young to know what love is, talk less of running away with a grown up man.

Apparently, the young girl had threatened to kill herself if she could not be with Yunusa. It seems they had

some kind of relationship prior to them travelling together to Kano. As the story unfolds, it seems that the young girl is very spirited but impressionable girl. I mean, this girl should have been in school and not have been in the company of young men.

It seems that it is permissible that this young girl has been playing house way before her time of maturity. Is this what her parents had wanted for their daughter? To be married young, have babies before her body is ready, she is more prone to miscarriages, her body becoming damaged, not given opportunity to complete her education and settling for a life of penury and subjugation.

Mr. Bala said while he had strictly opposed his son's decision to come to Kano with Miss Oruru, his son informed him that the girl had threatened to commit suicide if she was not allowed to travel with Yunusa to Kano. He said Ese decided to travel because he was afraid Yunusa was getting married to another person in Kano.

"Still, I warned him against coming with her," the father said.Surprisingly, the boy called me the following day to announce his arrival with Aisha, saying they were on their way to my house.”

The father was right to seek advice first from the head of his village and the Emir. He said, "On hearing this, I then quickly rushed to our village head to inform him about the development. The village head then said I should take them to his house immediately after arrival".

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 6, 2016, PAGE 21

Ita Giwa, at 70, becomes Methodist Dame •Amaec hi, TTinubu, inubu, Osoba, Dangot e, other •Amaechi, Dangote, otherss pa payy tribut tributee

BY IFANYICHUKWU EZIASHI

S

enator Dame Florence Ita Giwa clocked 70 on February 19, 2016.

Meanwhile, Methodist Church of Nigeria has inducted her as a Dame, following her contributions to the development of the church in Calabar and Lagos.

This means that the feathers to the cap of Mama Bakassi are growing with titles that are well deserved. Her lineage as a daughter of a traditional ruler earned her naturally the title, ‘princess’, while the fact that she was two-time member of the Senate made her a Distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic and perhaps, having served two former Presidents as Special Adviser, the Federal Government honoured her with the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON).

Besides her achievements in business, politics and social works, Ita-Giwa is a symbol of

•Ita Giwa African fashion. She is an icon who sets the pace for younger fashionistas. Little wonder the

Dean of Faculty of La,OAU,Prof. Ademola Popoola(L),Provost of Post Graduate School,Prof. CT Akanbi(5th from L),Judge Ajibola,Guest Speaker,Prof. Abiola Sanni and Chairman of the occasion,Dr Adereti Ademakinwa at the cutting of the memorial cake.

Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria honoured her too at the Oriental Hotel.

Still on the birthday of this blessed personage, the Zinnia Hall of Eko Hotel and Suites became a rendezvous for the movers and shakers of Nigeria.

The role call includes the Minister of Transportation and a former governor of Rivers State, Rt. Honourable Rotimi Amaechi; a former governor of Akwa Ibom State and the Minority Leader of the 8th National Assembly, Senator Godswill Akpabio; a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah; a former governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba; Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Chief Harry Akande; Prince And Princess Samuel Adedoyin; a former deputy governor of Lagos, Mrs Sarah Sosan; Senator Dino Melaye; Senator Ben Bruce; Senator Oluremi Tinubu; Senator Kola Bajomo; Senator Lekan

Mustapha; Yeye Oge of Lagos, Chief Mrs Opral Benson; Princess Abba Folawiyo; founder of Entyst Event and Fashion Klinik, Mrs Ndidi Obioha; Ambassador Greg Mbadiwe; Barrister Evlyn Obioha, mother of Senator Ita Giwa’s daughter; Koko and her hubby, Chimaobi Obioha.

It was an evening of accolades and music fiesta in honour of Ita Giwa’s investment in the Foundation for the Children of Bakassi with 13 children already adopted. These children of Bakassi were adopted 10 years ago and they are all studying in best institutions within and outside Nigeria.

Ita Giwa is a woman with a heart of gold. At 70, she feels fulfilled. She is proud yet modest with her achievements. She is aging gracefully. She advised younger women to be confident and focused. She urged them to be ambitious and never allow anyone intimidate them.

Judge Bola Ajibola (6th from L),Guest Speaker,Prof. Abiola Sanni,Chairman of the occasion,Dr Adereti Ademakinwa,Dean of Faculty of Law,OAU Prof. Ademola Popoola and the Magnarians during the 7th Bola Ajibola Lecture

The day Ife stood still for Bola Ajibola

By Bashir Adefaka

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he Faculty of Law of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, stood still for the former Judge of the World Court at The Hague and proprietor, Crescent University, Abeokuta, Justice Bola Ajibola, OFR, at its seventh memorial lecture. The public lecture, hosted by Magna Curia Chambers of the faculty, took place in the Conference Centre of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, which stood with a loud ovation in honour the former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, who served for six years, three months, twenty days, one and a half hours making him the longest serving Attorney-General so far, arguably a feat no serving Nigerian has superseded, both in the present and the past.

Accolades were showered on the international jurist who was reported as having hired additional members of staff whom he was paying from his pocket apart from sacrificing 40 percent of his monthly salaries to the coffers of the Federal Government; 25 percent to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and 35 percent to charitable/humanitarian

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organisations across Nigeria in demonstration of sterling leadership.

Thus, the Magna Curia Chambers member-students of the Faculty of Law of Obafemi Awolowo University,Ile-Ife, have, close to a decade, adopted His Excellency, Judge Bola Ajibola as its model of legal and academic inspiration for future generations of Nigeria’s compatriots.

Judge Ajibola was also reported to have sold off all his assets both in his country and abroad to establish Crescent University, Abeokuta to contribute his quota to a widening access to education in Nigeria.

Speaking on the topic, “True Federalism: A Panacea to the Economic Crisis in Nigeria”, the gust lecturer, an associate professor of law at the University of Lagos, Abiola Sanni, hypothesized that, “in troubled times such as this, one would expect the government to tweek the tax policy, law and administration in order to give a new lease of life.”

Explaining key concepts such as economic problem, taxing power, fiscal federalism, multiplicity of taxes and double taxation, Dr. Sanni copiously remarked that a true federalism could not do without these key variables, noting that taxing power as an attribute of sovereignty,

which needs to be expressly conferred, was the power of government to raise revenue through taxes within the limits of its jurisdiction.

He advocated that, “The interest of Nigeria and taxpayers will be better served with the adoption of a simple tax system compared to the current one, which is undoubtedly made for a far more sophisticated literate society with higher tax culture.”

Dr. Sanni submitted that although all societies faced the economic problem of how to make use of limited resources to meet their objectives, “ economic problem in the context of Nigeria is lack of efficient allocation of functions and resources among the tiers of government”. He stressed that this resulted in concentration of powers and resources in the centre, thereby promoting waste, corruption, lack of transparency and the impoverishment of the nation and its people”, submitting that Nigeria’s economic problem was to a large extent a function of the current unsustainable system of government.

Dean of the Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Professor Ademola Popoola, said the lecture had been a

source of inspiration as well as academic rendezvous to both staff and students of the faculty.

In his remarks, Obafemi Awolowo University’s Vice Chancellor,

represented by Provost of PostGraduate College, Prof. C. T. Akanbi, said he was elated to be at the lecture, noting that Magna Curia Chambers had put the right peg in the right hole by its choice of Judge Ajibola.

President of Magna Curia Chambers, Okwuoha Uche Raphael, described the essence of the lecture as “to educate great Nigerians and to enrich and feed our intellects with adequate information and knowledge about developments in our society through law.”

Magna Curia, he said, “is the youngest chambers in the Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, with its motto ‘redefining the standard of leadership through law’.

Apart from accepting that the annual lecture be done in his name, Judge Bola

Ajibola, according to Raphael, had been supporting the chambers’ intellectual gathering both financially and morally from inception.

PAGE 22 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 6, 2016

AYO ONIKOYI 08052201215

The A deba emus light up Ibadan Adeba debayyos, the P Pemus

L-R: Mr Solomon Pemu, Mrs Murieni Adebayo, the couple, Mr and Mrs Omagbitse Victor Pemu, Deaconess Grace Pemu and Mr Lasisi Adebayo, parents of the couple.

L-R: Mr and Mrs Okiemute Duku with Mr and Mrs Seyi Adekunle.

THE families of Lasisi Adebayo and Solomon Pemu lit up the ancient city of Ibadan, Oyo State when their children were joined together as husband and wife.

The wedding, which paraded top notch personalities from different walks of life held at Living Faith Church, Idi Ishin, Ibadan, February 27, 2016. Both families did not disappoint in treating their guests to a superb reception as they spared no expense in making the day a grand one. Photos by Dare Fasube

Mr Solomon Pemu and Deaconess Grace Pemu, parents of the groom.

The new couple, Mr and Mrs Pemu Omagbitse Victor, during the engagement ceremony.

L-R: Mr Chuks Egbe, Mr Bill Amuka-Pemu and Mr Peter Arigbe.

Power sho w as Chuk a Ebere’s son w eds show Chuka weds Father of the groom, Chuka Ebere needs not prove that he wines and dines with the crème de la crème of society if the turnout of dignitaries at his son’s wedding is anything to go by. High profile dignitaries from far and wide honoured his invitation to see his son, Eberechukwu Ebere marry his beau, Oluwatosin Olabode at The Divine Grace Event Centre, Ibadan, on Saturday, February 27, 2016. Photos by Dare Fasube

L-R: Mrs Esther Ebere, mother of the groom, Mr and Mrs Eberechukwu Ebere, the couple and Mr Chuka Ebere, father of the groom.

L-R:Mr Chioke Ebere, Hon David Momodu and Mr Dotun Ajimobi.

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L-R: Mr Chuka Ebere, father of the groom, Mrs. Olusola Oluwatoki Olabode, mother of the bride, Mr Chioke Ebere and Mrs Esther Ebere, mother of the groom.

L-R: Dr Bruce Ijirigho, Mr Chuka Ebere and Mr Olawale Jafojo.

L-R: Chief Ita Ekpere, Rt. Hon. Wilson Ekpeyong and Inyang Etim Inyang.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 6, 2016, PAGE 23

ESE ORURU PROLOGUE

Rape of Innocence

By Jide Ajani

I

n 2014, Nigeria's Senate did the unthinkable.

The Senator Sani Yerima-propelled shooting down of an amendment to parts of Section 29 of the 1999 Constitution, regarding renounciation of citizenship, sent a dangerous signal which suggested that some members of the Senate want to further endanger the girl-child in an environment that had been made unsafe by socio-economic and security challenges.

Specifically, it had to do with the non-passage of the amendment proposal to Section 29(4)b. The Section deals with the renunciation of citizenship. It provides that for a Nigerian to renounce the country’s citizenship, he or she should not be less than 18 years of age or be an adult.

Section 29(4)b then goes ahead to state that to be an adult, the person must be married.

The primary implication of that Sub-section relates to the fact that those girl-children who are under the age of 18years, but who have had the magnified misfortune of being forced into marriages across the country, would also qualify to be described as adults – because they are married.

This was the vote that was being taken and which the Senate was almost amending with a view to removing the ‘B’ part of sub-section 4, when the former Zamfara State governor, Ahmed Sani Yerimna, worked himself into a frenzy.

On the floor of the Senate, he objected to the removal of the clause and also went a step further by piling so much pressure on some of his colleagues not to allow the amendment to pass.

Interestingly, by the time the vote was called, the Senate could not muster the required 73votes to allow the amendment to sail through.

And so, Nigeria’s Senate, by implication, told the world that any married girl-child can be categorised as an adult irrespective of the age.

Had the amendment sailed through, the direct import would have been that those who relish abusing the girl-child via marriage would no longer have any excuse under the Constitution. How Yerima was able to swing the process of voting in his favour remains to be explained. One of the direct implications of this act is what has played out in the Ese-

Oruru saga.

When leaders endorse a particular way of life while hiding under religion and culture, they stockpile wood for the bonfire of behavioral recklessness.

For those who do not know where to locate the origins of the endorsement of the sick, very sick act of peadophilia, which overwhelmed Yunusa Dahiru Bala, the alleged abductor of Ese, from Bayelsa State, they need look no further than a section of the elite in northern Nigeria that does not yet see anything unbecoming in taking underaged girls for wife. To claim that this perverted way of life, this evil desire, is not rampant in the North is to claim that the naira can hold its own against the dollar.

The very thought of whatever Yunusa may have been doing to or did with Ese in the innermost recesses of his village in Kano offends the sensibilities. Yet, Yunusa had parents. The village had a head. And there was an Emir in Kano. Whereas the Emir of Kano was said to have intervened last September, it needs clarifying that tokenism carries no weight in the face of a determined dangerous mentality and, therefore, the Emir should have followed up his intervention. After all, the village head, members of the Sharia Council and the Emir are themselves parents who, naturally, would not want any harm to come upon their wards, how much more their children. Yet, in all of these, the seeming complicity of the police in Kano needs to be thoroughly unearthed.

Unashamedly, guerilla arguments are being introduced to muddy the waters. Some people are now attempting to claim that Yunusa is an 18year-old - a claim which would make an Amaju Pinnick qualify to play for Nigeria's U-17.

Because Nigeria is a country where opinion is cheapest in the world, and where good sense is trampled upon, we celebrate the intended idiocy the unintelligent bring into the public sphere when they attempt to rationalize an otherwise clear case of infringement and violation and rape of innocence.

Between Laila St. Matthew-Daniel and Madam Ankio Briggs, there is a consensus that all those complicit must face the law - no matter their position in society. In this instance, it takes an evil mind to act out this evil; and worse still, to act as if it is normal, or even celebrate it, is nothing but a rape on the innocence of the girl-child.

YUNUSA’S MOTHER: The problem with our son

By Abdulsalam Muhammad, & Hauwa Isiaka

T

his certainly is not the best of times for Dahiru Bala’s family, whose son, Yunusa, aka Yellow, allegedly abducted Bayelsa girl Ese Oruru, converted her to Islam and forcibly married her.The controversial abduction may have compelled the family to relax its Sharia compliant lifestyle when it let Sunday Vanguard team into its mud house located at Kauyen Tofa, to feel the pulse of Yunusa’s mother.Though the encounter was snappy, the woman, who identified herself as Maimuna, opened a chapter in the Yunusa/Ese affair.The 44-yearsold housewife was bewildered by the attention accorded what she termed a “private life of two individuals” in love.Maimuna said: “All of a sudden, my house has become a Mecca of sorts, and while I continue to wonder the intrusion into our private lives, the more I am confused about the unnecessary spotlight”.Letting Sunday Vanguard into what she knew about the crisis, the mother revealed that the Dahitu and Ese Oruru families were no stranger to each other.Her words: “My boy has been with them for 10 years, and when we heard of a love relationship between Yunusa and Ese, my husband did the needful to arrest the situation.”We may be poor and uneducated, but the fact

remains that we run our lives based on the dictates of our religion, and we don’t need anyone to lecture us on the illegality of Yunusa’s action”.The encounter with the embattled mother was punctured by sobs from Maimuna who expressed confidence that her son would overcome the trial.”I don’t doubt the fact that Yunusa is passing through a difficult phase in his life which I know is a fulfillment of destiny and it is •Yunusa’s therefore our duty to identify mother with him and pray to Allah to see him through”.Meanwhile, as Yunusa’s mother narrated her story, the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 1 told Sunday Vanguard that the alleged abductor’s action was criminality in the eye of the law.The AIG, Shu’aibu Lawal Gambo, said: “We have at our disposal an established case of abduction and the law would treat it the way it is”.

PAGE 24—SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 6, 2016

Ese faces

first hurdle in Bayelsa

By Samuel Oyadongha,

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Yenagoa

he ambition of Ese Rita Oruru, the 14-year-old, who was allegedly abducted from Bayelsa State and taken to Kano State where she was said to have been converted to Islam and married out without the consent of her parents, was to become a nurse.

However, fate appeared to have dealt a blow on the ambition, following the ill-fated trip to Kano with Yunusa Dahiru, aka Yellow, a commercial tricycle operator, her alleged abductor.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that the trip denied the minor the opportunity of joining her school mates to write the Junior Secondary School Certificate Examination, a first step to actualising her ambition of becoming a nurse.

Said Adama Miebimo, her classmate, “I happened to share the same seat with Ese in class and we became friends. She is very intelligent; her favourite subjects are mathematics, English and Integrated Science. She wanted to concentrate on science subjects with the hope of becoming a nurse in future.”

Journey to captivity Ese, a student of Epie Community Secondary School, Opolo in Yenagoa Local Government Area and daughter of Mr. Charles Oruru, a wood merchant, though now jobless, and Mrs. Rose Oruru, a food vendor, was relatively unknown until the sad turn of events in her life.

Whereas the JSS III student’s ambition, according to her classmate, was to be become a nurse, last August, she reportedly left home to see a classmate at Tombia, who had an accident, but never returned.

The next six months turned out to be a nightmare for her parents and siblings as well as school mates.

While the parents launched a search for their missing daughter, her class mates resorted to prayers for her safety and quick return.

It however remains a mystery to unravel whether Ese’s excuse to go see a class mate at Tombia on that fateful August 12, 2015 was a ploy to run away with Yunusa or whether she acted under the influence of strange powers as being speculated in some quarters.

Mr. Oruru, the father of the girl C M Y K

,while recalling the sudden disappearance of his daughter, which he described as a trying moment for his family, said: “On 12 August, 2015, as the one working to fend for the family, I had left to work. When I came back, I was told that Ese claimed she was going to see her classmate who had an accident at Tombia.

“When she did not return home, we began to search for her; it was in the course of the search that one Mohammed (aka Daidi), informed us that one Mr. Yunusa (alias Yellow) had taken her to Kano with the intention to convert her into Islam and marry her.

“I want to make it clear, that no one consulted me or paid me bride price on my daughter; besides, she is too young and is in school. I don’t have any prior knowledge or consented to what has happened.”

The father was convinced that his daughter must have been charmed by her alleged abductor.

“My wife is a food vendor and her customers are mostly Hausa

men, who she sometimes gives free meal. The said Mr. Yunusa (alias Yellow) does not have a steady source of income; sometimes, my wife gives him free meal. As much as I know, he was not having any affair with my daughter and he could have used charms to lure and abduct my daughter to Kano.

Struggle to recover Ese Recalling their moment of pain, Mr. Oruru said after his wife first trip to Kano failed to get their daughter back home, he also travelled with the hope of recovering Ese and spent two nights there but met a brick wall.

Oruru noted with sadness that he met his daughter at the Sharia’s council parley in Kano, wearing black veil on the two occasions and his abductors even argued that she was 18 years which he dismissed, saying his daughter was born in 2002.

This, he noted, was after the failed attempt by his wife to get their daughter back home in the course of her trip to Kano that took her to the palace of the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and the police.

Enter well-meaning Nigerians NGOs, civil society groups

However, reprieve came the way of the family when the issue came to the front burner, following the intervention of nongovernmental organisations, the media and government of Bayelsa State.

Mr. Oruru admitted that it would have been a fruitless search but for the intervention.

He is convinced Eze was under spell and is prepared to seek spiritual assistance from popular Lagos cleric and founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nation, Pastor TB Joshua.

The father, who said the traumatic experience and release of his daughter was the Lord’s doing, added that it would take prayers before she could return to normal.

“We have decided to visit the T. B Joshua for prayers and thanksgiving. When I heard that she is declining to come home, I see this as a spiritual problem that can only be countered by prayer,” he said.

My daughter is pregnant Though he admitted that test carried out on his daughter in Kano and Abuja confirmed she was five months pregnant, Mr Oruru said, “I am very happy the storm is over. I thank God for her safe return and all Nigerians who made it possible for her to return. I thank Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police, the NGOs, the media and other civil society groups.

“It has been a traumatic experience for us.

I was like a fish out of water. I was not sleeping well. It was a real war for our family.”

“Whatever you read in the newspapers about her health status is true,” he said in reference to Ese’s reported pregnancy.

Dickson orders prosecution of abductors Meanwhile, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State called for investigation into the Ese alleged abduction and prosecution of those who aided the alleged mastermind.

Dickson said the state government had directed its Ministry of Justice to collaborate with the police to ensure that the issue was prosecuted to a logical conclusion.

He also expressed optimism that the investigation would be extended far and wide with a view to bringing the perpetrators to book.

Puzzles Dickson, who described Ese as a minor, wondered why it took so long to secure her release, adding that there were questions begging for answers, “as those who knew something about her abduction failed to say or do something to ensure Ese’s return to her parents.”

CLO writes NASS, NHRC, seeks rehabilitation of victim, prosecution of culprits In a related development, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) has sent a protest letter to the National Assembly and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) over the alleged shoddy handling of the Ese issue.

According to the CLO, though the police, through the prompting of the media and civil society groups, have secured the release of the abducted Miss Oruru, the NHRC and the National Assembly should prevail on the police to ensure the rehabilitation of the victim and the arrest and prosecution of those involved in the abduction.

The organisation, in the letter signed by its Bayelsa State Chairman, Chief Nengi James, Legal Secretary, O.J.J Makbere, and the mother of victim, Mrs. Rose Oruru, stated that the victim and her family were entitled to exemplary damages, proper clinical evaluation and prosecution of

those behind the weeks of traumatisation experienced during Eze’s abduction.

Ese sheltered at Police Officers Mess At press time, the rescued 14year-old was being sheltered at the Police Officers Mess in Yenagoa undergoing counselling.

The state Commissioner of Police, Peter Ogunyawo, said: “We are trying to see how we can counsel her. As you can see, my wife had just visited her and that is what we intend doing in the next few days.

She is traumatized.”

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 6, 2016, PAGE 25

ESE ORURU

All those complicit should face the law — Laila St. Matthew-Daniel Laila St. Matthew-Daniel, a social activist, explains, in this interview, why all those implicated in the Ese Oruru saga should be prosecuted. She also says sentiment, religion and culture should never be used as excuses to abuse children. Excerpts:

T

he Ese issue has raised concerns, with many people shocked. What was your reaction when you heard about it?

When I heard it first in January, I was horrified; that in this day and age, a young girl could be taken from her parents, converted, given another name and married off without the consent of her parents and, to compound it all, she is underaged. That even when the mother finally located the whereabouts of the child in Kano, the abducters refused to release the girl, despite instructions to do so.

That is very sad and painful to hear. I kept tab with the NGO monitoring the exercise of setting Ese free and finally lent my own voice to the call.

We understand that this directive had been given as far back as last September?

The Emir of Kano was said to have waded in when the mother got to Kano and the case was brought before him.

It was a lucky break for the mother because if she had not been told that Yinusa was the one who had taken Ese away, she may never have been able to locate her, and it would have just been taken as a case of a missing girl.

Ese’s mother has a canteen where she sells food and she had always been nice to the people who patronized her. She was always kind to them such that even on the special religious days she used to give them free food. So it was one of these young guys who mercifully took pity on Ese’s mother, when she found her daughter missing, and volunteered the information that Ese was not missing, but was with Yinusa; and that was how she was able to go to Kano, with the guy, to locate Ese. It is most tragic. We want to see the end of this.

What people must know is that she is not of age.

There are also many anomalies in the report on the reason for the continued detainment of Ese in Kano.

We were told that the Emir gave a written mandate, in September, that the girl should be released because it is against even Islamic tenets to marry or convert an underage child - especially without the consent of the parents.

He gave the instruction in a letter and a man of his caliber is not expected to go everyday to find out how far his instruction had been obeyed. He expected his instructions to be obeyed.

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Unfortunately, Eze was supposed to be in police custody, but she was allowed to go back to the abductor, while the mother kept going back and forth before an NGO, Khan Initiative, took it up in December 2015.

How do you describe the role of the police when the mother first reported the alleged abduction?

The police did not act promptly.

The police did not act with the seriousness that the matter deserved and it boils down to the fact that we needlessly bring in emotion and sentiment into serious issues of law enforcement that should be dispassionate and clinical.

Look, once the Emir gave the instruction - because it appears his voice is even stronger than that of the IGP - why did the police not obey?

Then when he came out to issue the order, they quickly obeyed now because of the controversy it had generated. So it must be investigated why the police did not ensure the safety of the girl since last September.

All those involved should be investigated. For instance when Yunusa arrived in Kano, who were those who welcomed him home.

This is the case of an abduction; and you then converted her.

Interestingly, there are some allegations that there were two letters from the Emir’s palace giving conditions for the release of Ese - that she would be released to the police; that the parents should not beat her or punish her; that she should not be re-converted to Christianity.

But, the father has stated that the first thing he would do is to take her to church for prayers (deliverance) because she didn’t appear to be behaving normally from what the mother said.

So many anomalies; but when the alarm is raised like this, how come we respond in a slow manner?

We’ve gotten to a stage of placidity.

We react to the negative first before we do what should be done. That is what happened to the Chibok girls.

The story come out on April 15, 2014, that the girls had been abducted on the night of April 14, but rather move promptly to recover the girls, people kept debating whether it was possible, true or not; and now we

are almost two years on. Same thing with this Ese girl. The mother kept going to and fro - tossed here and there until she began to receive NGO assistance.

Unfortunately, people who knew absolutely nothing about what was going on are saying Ese must have been prostituting herself, she must have been loose. Some say it is negligence on the parents side - so many judges and jury abound but, at the end of the day the issue is this - a girl-child was taken away by an adult without permission from her parents and that is abduction.

wife? Is she physically ready? Is she emotionally capable of being a wife and mother? These are issues that we have to understand.

Was there a case made to the local police in Bayelsa? Because we, sometimes, don’t follow the process of law enforcement?

We will get there in the trust of reporting such issues and being taken seriously. But let me say from experience that people don’t believe in the law enforcement agencies as such.

Progressively, however, the leadership of the police is making efforts to change that and to educate Nigerians that it is better to trust the police in cases of abuse and violence.

In my social activism work in the field of violence and abuse we encounter a reluctance of women to speak to the police first - they come to us but we always explain the importance for the issue to be documented by the Police first and foremost. So, it is the norm that the first port of call is usually not the police - that is why a lot of education and sensitization needs to be done.

Even intelligent people are ignorant about what to do and what their rights are.

What should be the next step for Ese now that she is out?

Firstly, we should understand that until a child is up to 18years, she does not have any right to change her religion from the religion of her parents. A child cannot also decide to get married if she is not up to the age of 18. There must be parental consent. So, the issue of parents giving their consent in some parts of the country before the child attains the age of 18 is what the Child Rights Act talks about.

I’ve heard people say, ‘maybe she may have been sexually active while working with her mum in the canteen’. Please let us not begin to rationalize what is not.

As I said, the mother says she has known the guy, Yinusa, aka Yellow, in the community for many years. Some earlier said he was much older. Later they said Yinusa was 18. But meanwhile when Yinusa first walked into the Oruru’s compound six years ago, she said he was not 12years old.

He was much older. So, realistically, he cannot be 18years suddenly.

And even if Yinusa is 18, Ese is not.

She’s younger and that makes it a violation of the law in all forms statutory rape, abduction, forceful conversion, etc.

He must be prosecuted for what he has done and all those complicit in the matter must face the law. This has nothing to do with religion or tribe. It is about the law that has been broken. We can’t hide behind religion or culture. Too many acts are committed against the girl-child and persecution circumvented. This cannot continue.

As for Ese, she needs to undergo counselling and therapy, more especially now that it is alleged she is five months pregnant.

We hear all these cases of abuses, but then we have a Child Rights Act. What’s its importance in the light of these abuses?

Yes, it is there and it is very clear, but not all states have domesticated it.

Why is that so?

Well the states have their own statutes regarding child rights based on culture, religion etc. You will find out that when this type of situation happens, people quickly bring in culture or religion, but we have to move beyond that and take a holistic approach - is that child of age? Is she psychologically ready to be taken as a

How do we get to a point where we can separate religion and culture from these issues?

It concerns you and I. We have to keep at it because if the centre is not able to enforce domestication by all the states, then how do we get to a point where we see it for what it is - abuse of the right of a child to education, the right of a child to be secure and the right of a child to be a child.

Ese, she needs to undergo counselling and therapy, more especially now that it is alleged she is five months pregnant

PAGE 26—SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 6, 2016

Politicians and our laws do not protect the girl-child —Ankio Briggs

•Says Ese’s abductors must be punished

A

nkio Briggs, in this interview, comes down hard on all those involved in the abduction and sustained detention of Ese Oruru. She insists that conscious efforts should be made to protect the innocence of the girl-child in Nigeria.

Excerpts: When did you first hear about the story of Ese? I first heard of the Ese story on the 27th of February.

Unfortunately l am not very active on social media because it is abused in Nigeria otherwise l may have seen it a few days earlier. When l heard it l got in touch with my friend Morris Alagoa who confirmed the story and l then committed to be in Yenagoa for the planned protest for Monday.

When l got to Yenagoa l learnt that the protest was no longer holding as there has been assurances given that the child Ese will be released soon. That did not sit well with me, as she had already been in captivity since august 2015, so I got in touch with media houses, Radio stations, and Silverbird TV and Channels were following the story and l spoke with them. The Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, President, Udenz Eradire, was in the studio as well, and the listeners who phoned in were very angry. The breaking of the story by Punch newspaper and the AIT story, as well as the persistence by other newspapers brought it to the notice of the world.

My first reaction to the story was disbelief. I always follow up stories and where C M Y K

The way forward is that the parents, siblings, and Ese are all owed a high level of compensation as a deterrent to men old or young whose sexual appetite is to have carnal knowledge of little girls

necessary visit before l speak on any matter as l must be factual so that l don’t fly with incorrect or false information which will be embarrassing to say the least. So, as the story unfolded l became angrier; the parents were helpless and fought hard as any loving parents will do, but they went through things they should not have gone through; they could have been killed; it is by Gods grace that they lived to tell the story and got their daughter back. The political and security system did not do enough, a serious crime had been committed against a child, you don’t consider political parties, friendship, title, religion or culture when a crime such as this has been committed.

Thank God the issue is being resolved, but as a woman, what does this say of respect for the girl-child?

As a woman and as one who grew up under the security and protection of family, community, culture and religion, where my rights were respected and upheld, I am horrified. Times have changed, l was raised in a community where the old saying that a child also belongs to the community was effective, the sort of risk our children face today we hardly faced them when we were growing up. As parents we have to work harder to protect our children. Today parents have to work, mainly away from the security of our communities, where everyone knows everyone; that is not bad, it is progress, but we have to put more efforts into securing our children - and when l say we l mean parents, law enforcement, and

government. Our politicians must work with us, the electorate, to achieve these goals which are based on our rights, and our children’s rights. Failure to protect our children now will put us at risk later when they are in charge if we don’t protect them now.

We should not expect them to protect us later, it is an issue of responsibilities. We must hold up our own end now for them to hold up their own in the future.

Are you in touch with the parents and if so, what sort of interaction have you had?

These parents ought to be highly commended, they fought hard to get their child back without knowing that the government and the law, and constitution owed them a responsibility to bring their child back.

Going forward, how should the culprits be dealt with?

The way forward is that the parents, siblings, and Ese are all owed a high level of compensation as a deterrent to men old or young whose sexual appetite is to have carnal knowledge of little girls.

All over the world this is a crime against humanity, the most venerable, helpless and weak amongst the strong.

Children can’t fight or speak for themselves therefore every adult must speak for them and fight for them. Any adult who harms a child, male or female, for any reason at anytime must be made to pay the highest price; a crime against a child is a crime against God. Our society, particularly our politicians and law do not

respect children because if they did the Child Rights Act would have been domesticated by now.

In Ese’s case all the rights of the child were denied her; all were broken by the people who stole her; the people who knew she was under-aged and married her off.

She was raped, defiled, dehumanized and now, there is the claim that she is pregnant.

If she is, she is a child, and has not matured to the age of carrying a pregnancy to full term, or giving birth the normal way a matured woman will do, and she, no doubt, would have received serious injuries to her reproductive system which has long lasting devastating medical implications.

The father of the abductor, the so called village head, the Sahria council, the Emir of Kano, who has accepted he knew about Ese’s case and went ahead to refer to her at the age of 13 as Aisha a name the people who converted her to Islam gave her as against her birth name Ese, should be investigated.

The constitution and laws of Nigeria is above everyone, no matter your religious, cultural or traditional tittle. These have gone on for too long; people have married 13 years old from Egypt, and other areas of Nigeria. It is not permitted by our 1999 constitution which is the only law in Nigeria, any other law is by the choosing of a group and no matter the justification, cannot be allowed to over ride our national laws, otherwise any group can write its own laws.

All must be questioned and where they have broken the written down established laws they must be made to pay.

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016, PAGE 27 08116759757

Alleged failed sugery on woman with eight months pregnancy: Our story

by LUTH CMD

By Chioma Obinna

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he story of 37 – year – old Funmilola (Lola) Oniyelu, who alleged she was mismanaged by doctors at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, made headlines, last week. While Lola claimed she was down with end stage renal disorder following a surgery at the hospital, LUTH management says her claim is false.

Sunday Vanguard spoke to the Chief Medical Director, Prof. Chris Bode, who revealed that the patient’s travails began on July 23, 2008 when she was rushed to the emergency unit of the hospital.

Bode said Lola was eight months pregnant when she was brought to LUTH following her referral from a private hospital.

“Hospital records showed severe hypertension and 2+proteinuria.

The referral showed that she was treated for severe pre- eclampsia but she discharged herself against medical advice from the private hospital three days after while her blood pressure was still elevated in pregnancy”, he stated.

He explained that, on admission in LUTH, doctors discovered that

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Lola’s blood pressure was highly elevated with protein in her urine.

The doctors, according to him, were able to perform an emergency Caesarian Section “under professionally standard conditions within six hours of presentation despite the fact that she was classified a high – risk for surgery but saving the baby was also essential to saving her life”.

According to the CMD, after the successful surgery and discharge, “although Lola’s severe eclampsia continued post – operatively after her discharge five days later, she was not seen in the hospital’s follow up clinics until seven years later”.

Bode, who expressed shock at the stories making the rounds about the patient’s predicament, said it is sad the way patients criticise medical professionals after gallant efforts they put in to save their patients lives.

“We are not against patients raising funds for renal transplant but we take objection to patients ruining the hospital in the name of whipping-up sentiments to raise money,”he stated.

“After Lola was operated on and taken care of in 2008; she disappeared and was not seen again until seven years later, precisely on June 22, 2015, with another complication of pregnancy”, the CMD said.

“She presented after seven years again from an hospital at Isolo with severe preeclampsia with drainage of liquor at 36 weeks, blood pressure of 170/120mmHg and a doubtful fetal heart beat.”

He dismissed Lola’s claim that it was the surgery LUTH carried out that damaged her kidneys.

“After her surgery, she was comanaged with the consultant nephrologist on account of persistently elevated blood pressure and deranged renal function tests.

Despite closed monitoring she had episode of post – partum eclampsia on the fifth post-operative day which was aborted by the use of parenteral magnesium sulphate”, Bode explained.

Stating that the tertiary hospital only saved her life by carrying out the surgery immediately, he explained that anybody with preeclampsia is high risk for kidney disease and other organ failures.

“Pre- eclampsia is a complication that sometimes affects pregnant women, posing grave risk to mother and baby in the womb. Its causes remain unknown; this terrible disease of pregnancy is a cause of maternal and neonatal deaths and this is why the urine of pregnant women is routinely tested for protein at all antenatal clinics,”Bode said. “ It is sad but not strange therefore that Lola possibly developed chronic renal failure subsequent to the complication of her last pregnancy. She arrived on shock from the ruptured uterus and this was what triggered the renal failure during her second emergency.”

The CMD said the patient’s current situation was not related to anything the doctors who saved her life twice did or did not do.

He stated that LUTH was proud to have saved Lola’s life each time she arrived at the hospital as an emergency in grave conditions with complications of pregnancies that had been managed elsewhere. “She is still attending our clinics and we will not victimise her but continue to treat her with the professional courtesy and kindness she deserves. She may require money for further treatment but we implore her to desist from saying hurtful things that may tarnish the image of the hospital and the professionals that treated her,” he added.

PAGE 28—SA TURD AY 28—SATURD TURDA

Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016

08116759757

OPC:

‘The shape of things to come’

By Demola Akinyemi

the lot of members in the state even as he commended the anti -corruption efforts of President Muhamadu Buhari.

Speaking with Sunday Vanguard after an emergency meeting of the congress in Ilorin,

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he new coordinator of the Oodua People’s Congress(OPC)in Kwara State, Comrade Oladipo Ganiyu Olayinka, says he has come to improve

the state capital, the OPC coordinator also commended Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed for what he described as his good management of the economy of Kwara despite the meager resources at the disposal of the state government.

He further commended the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Zukaniani Gambari, for his fatherly role to the people of Ilorin and environs, saying the monarch has been adding value to the harmony and tranquility in Ilorin and the state in general.

Olayinka explained that he has come to shape up the OPC so that the congress can fulfil its obligation to the sons and daughters of Oduduwa across the globe.

Corroborating his views, Comrade Abdulkareem Eleji, spokesman for the Kwara Chapter of the congress, said the emergence of Olayinka was a function of the gods, meaning that he was ordained from heaven to come and reshape Kwara OPC for better performance as a pan Yoruba socio-cultural organization.

The coordinator also said that all members of OPC worldwide have come together as one and that it’s

Why I abandoned real estate for nail technology – Favour - Junaid

BY YINKA AJAYI

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lthough her academic background is in real estate, today, she is making waves in far away South Africa as a nail technologist and beauty therapist.

Femi Favour-Junaid, the Edo State born mother of three, it was one of the best decision she has ever taken in her life as the switch from real estate to the beauty world has proved to be a source of immense blessing to her.

Femi Favour-Junaid was recently in Nigeria and she talked about her mission in the country, her journey into the beauty world, training as a nail technologist among other issues.

Why are you in Nigeria?

I’m a Nigerian, and home will always be home. However, I’m in Nigeria to set up a 100

per cent nail shop, Planet Nails. I have been practising as a nail technologist in South Africa for the past 17 years.

Although I read estate management, my mind has always been driving at setting up a venture in beauty related enterprise. I also discovered that I love nails, especially beautiful clean nails, and this was the reason I went for training in nail technology and for the past eight years, I have been practising as a nail educator.

Although I have general training in other aspects of cosmetology, nail is my passion.

What is unique about nail that has compelled you to set up 100 per cent nail shop?

The results of a research I commissioned in Nigeria showed that even though the beauty industry is growing in Nigeria, up till date, most Nigerians are yet to appreciate or know how to treat their nails. The way Nigerians treat their nails is not good. They are not paying special attention to their nails and this is why I decided to open 100 per cent nail shop at Ogunlana Street, Surulere, Lagos to cater for the nail needs of Nigerians.

What is unique about nail technology that you are bringing to Nigeria?

Nail technology is a specialized aspect of cosmetology that requires special training. To be a successful nail technologist you must understand how nail behaves and what it does.

My intention of coming to Nigeria is that apart from setting up the 100 per cent nail shop, I also intend to set up a beauty training school. The school will be training nail technologists and beauty therapists. Governmental and nongovernmental organizations can partner with us by sending people to receive training.

The school will be of value to government’s empowerment programmes as people can be sent to the school to acquire skills that will make them to be self-employed.

How affordable are these nail products in view of the fact that they are being imported from South Africa?

My coming to Nigeria to set up the nail shop is what I will call a sacrifice.

The driving force behind my coming is to let Nigerians have an update knowledge about nail technology.

Coming from South Africa, I came with some experts to train Nigerians in this special field of beauty. Nail technologists are very few in Nigeria and there is a need to fill this vacuum and that’s why I’m leaving some of them behind to train Nigerians.

As for affordability, our products are affordable however Nigerians should know that a quality product can’t sell for peanuts. Our products are affordable. I’m

Performing artistes plan big for entertainment summit in Delta

By Festus Ahon

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vangelist Quincy Tebite (JP) is the Governor of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria, PMAN, Delta State Chapter. He is also the Managing Director, Tisio-Tisio Music Orchestra, Ughelli, Delta State.

In this interview, he speaks on some upcoming events of PMAN, his achievements and other issues.

Excerpts: This is your second year in office; could you tell us some of your achievements so far?

Achievements are relative, but let me see how I can enlist two. If you could remember, my few months in office brought us a brand new Toyota Hiace bus which was given to us by former

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Secretary to Delta State Government, Comrade Ovuzorie Macaulay.

The achievement I patronize most highly is the relative unity that now exists within the entertainment industry in Delta State. Now, we can speak with one voice and a common objective.

We also have been able to redeem our image before the state government and the society at large. Before now, government sees us as discrete persons owing to different factions, but today, PMAN Delta State is one indivisible entity, hence we have been able to bridge the gap between us cooperate bodies and the state government. Amongst other things too numerous to mention is this PMAN maiden music concert and the entertainers summit scheduled to hold sometimes in May this year.

Could you throw more light on the two

events you just mentioned?

PMAN, Delta State came up with her maiden music concert in Delta State where various entertainers officiated. In fact, it was fun and it was held here in Ughelli main town at Don Rose Event Centre along Patani last Saturday.

For the entertainment summit, it is a big one coming up in May and PMAN intends to partner with the Delta State Government.

This programme aims at educating all entertainers on the rudiments, the dignity and the place of music in contemporary society and government. Guest lecturers shall come from neighbouring states and within. This programme shall take two days and will eventually be held at the State capital, Asaba.

You will definitely know when the time draws near.

Why do you want to partner with the state

only in unity would any organization make progress.

Olayinka eulogized the visionary steps of Otunba Gani Adams whom he said had taken the congress beyond expectation especially with the various innovative steps and programmes added to the congress on daily basis.

His words, “I want to specially commend Otunba Gani Adams for his vision and courage, in leading the OPC world wide. He has helped to disabuse the minds of all Nigerians about OPC and introduced several cultural and traditional issues into the congress in a way that all Yoruba children now have an opportunity of knowing their culture better. It is in the line of this that I will work to uplift his pioneering efforts and prove the confidence he reposed in me to have appointed me as the state coordinator.”

The former coordinator of the OPC in the state, Moruf Olanrewaju, was removed by Adams as a routine operation of the congress.

Olayinka and Eleji, reported to be foundation members of the OPC, were brought on board as a result of reorganization.

also a major distributor for nail products not only in Nigeria, but also in the West African sub-region. After sometime, we are also going to set up 100 per cent nail shops in Ghana, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon and some other countries.

For those who want franchise we are ready to partner with them. We want the impact of this business and its benefit to Nigeria to reach as many people as possible.

Uvwie gets new vice chairman

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hief Napoleon Akpomiemie Ifie has been sworn in as the new vice chairman of Uvwie local government area.

While performing the swearing in ceremony in the council chambers, Chief Stella Otiotio Dabone, chairman of Uvwie local government council, charged Chief Ifie to key into the SMART agenda of Okowa’s administration and also support her in the running of the affairs of the council.

Responding, Chief Ifie expressed gratitude to God and the people of Uvwie for making his swearing in possible and promised to bring his wealth of experience to bear to ensure that the people of the council enjoy the dividends of democracy.

government?

What is partnership? And who is government? For the government of Senator Ifeanyi Okowa to succeed, all hands must be on deck and every Deltan must contribute his or her own quota. If this is true, then PMAN Delta State is not an exception. So, the Delta entertainment industry which makes up 7% of the Delta State total workforce decided to partner with the Okowa administration to ease unemployment and reduce restiveness of youths as part of PMAN’s socio-cooperate and civil responsibilities.

I see it as aiding Delta State Government in our own capacity and I advise other unions to join hands with Dr. Okowa’s government if we do not wish our wellbeing a fata morgana. He alone cannot do it, so let all Deltans support him and our prosperity will be fast-tracked.

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016,

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PAGE 29

PAGE 30 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 6, 2016

e k a m o t s i l a o g y M y d n e r t n a m o w y r e v t Int'l e s e n le y t S , O Okwu, CE —Goodness

xcellent llmark of etylenest a h e th is a need CEO, S and satisfyrs Goodness Okwu, ped into the everfy ti n e id to p M The ability rs. One of such is rofession, Goodness tar hair care products u p e e y n th b o t re n p d e n ta jo b in a sa un entr al. An Acco hair extensions, wig g h e r fl o u r is h in g to bring n o ti a rn te n In e for humav e y e a r s a g o , le a v inin her determinationdness tells rising crazw fi n e m rge. Goo o ce soared a m o n g s t nal firm. She has sinnd African women at la multinatio ack age to Nigerian a total hair pis inter view. more in th

*Goodness Okwu

BY JOSEPHINE AGBONKHESE

W

HAT informed your desire to go into hair business and not any other kind of business?

As an entrepreneur, albeit profit was at the back of my mind, the joy that I could make a woman, regardless of her age, class and social status, to look beautiful and happy, took precedence. I am a woman and I am proud to be a woman. I am proud to promote womanhood.

I like seeing women look good.

So, my major aim was to make women of all ages appear fashionable. I am not saying it must be expensive in order to be trendy. No, that's not the case here. Basically, you can work within your budget and look trendy. Believe this or not, our appearance speaks volumes about who we are.

So, I established Stylenest International to cater to the hair needs of women. We launched out in 2011 to help bring home quality hair extensions to women, not just in Nigeria, but across the African continent.

So, we are a marketing company that deals in the promotion and sales of 100 per cent human hair extensions and wigs as well as other hair care products.

Would you say you're achieving that goal?

Yes. Like I said, our focus was to bring out the beauty in African women irrespective of their age, social status or religion. I am happy to say that we have since 2011 brought smile on the faces of women, both in and out of Nigeria, as today, our hair extensions, wigs and hair care products are sold nationwide and abroad. With the help of new media also, we showcase our products to our clients all around Africa.

Have you always wanted to be an entrepreneur?

Yes, I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Even while

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working with a multinational firm several years back, I couldn't find fulfillment. I've always believed in creativity and style. A woman is supposed to have style, poise and taste and so Stylenest was a dream come true for me. This is a nest where style and trendiness have come to rest.

What class of women do you cater to?

Well, our products are not cheap but it's very affordable. It caters for people depending on your budget.

To what extent do you employ the use of new media?

That's what we basically use. We are on Facebook, Instagram, twitter, our website and other social media platforms and with the help of media outfits like yours, we believe that our story will reach more women. Last month, February, we ran a campaign called: 'Your lover's Hair Choice' promotion. It was a social media campaign which allowed women to visit our Facebook page and state in clear terms the

kind of hair extension they wanted to wear in the month of love and at the end of each week, the Stylenest team visited the city with the highest number of likes and comments on the Stylenest Facebook page and provided them with our products. The campaign was targeted at major cities in Nigeria, namely; Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Aba, Calabar, Owerri, Benin, Warri and Asaba.

Where do you see Stylenest in the next 10 years?

We look forward to having our own hairline and to also be the market leader in hair and hair care products.

We also plan on having more branches in major cities in Nigeria before the end of this year. Like I mentioned initially, we want to give every woman a beautiful look that's why we want to be situated in as many locations as possible.

Your advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Be focused. Define what you really want to do. The zeal and passion should be there. Hard work plus a good suppport system would help too.

Celebrating the girl child as OLA turns 60

BY ESTHER ONYEGBULA & ANINO AGANBI

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he Old Student Association of Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School, OLA, Yaba-Lagos, recently celebrated the girl child, charging young girls all over the world to be goalgetters.

The celebration was the core of a three-day activity-filled event organised to mark the 60th anniversary of the school.

The event gave the old students the opportunity to give career talks, motivational talks and share life experiences and words of encouragement with the current students. The highlight of the event was a gala night and fund raising held at the Sheraton Hotel.

According to Dr. Kehinde Wenike-Briggs, the President of the association, “there is always room for improvement in a society where there is disparity in girl child education. we thank God that there are some female schools that are grooming young girls.

I come from a family of five girls and we were privilege to attend a school like this where we were taught how to hold our heads high and excel in life.

"What we have done and continued to do is that we come

in every founder’s day, to give career talks, inspire girls into certain careers and not just professions but entrepreneurship as well. They should make use of their hands and brains; we are not just grooming our girls to become wives and mothers but to also become top people in the society that the world all over can reckon with. Hence, we come in every now and again to give them educational talks and support the school in any way that we can, financially and project wise.

"We have quite a lot of successful entrepreneurs among us. So we encourage them not to sit idle even when they leave school.”

Inspiring the students, Executive Director, Project Alert, Josephine EffahChukwuma, encouraged the girls to be hard working. Sharing her life experiences with the students of the school.

Effah-Chukwuma noted that: “You can be anything you want to be in this life. Be a goal-getter. You are not too young to start setting goals for yourself.

That you are a

girl doesn’t mean you are a second-class citizen. Have a positive self-esteem, love yourself because you are uniquely you. You are only treated the way you allow people to treat you. You don’t permit anyone to bring you down. Being a girl is not a sickness. I am proud to be a girl, a woman, and mother. The African culture does not disrespect the African woman.”

Reliving the moments of the reunion, Chief (Mrs) Edit Yeside Pam-pam, the first student of OLA, said that “I feel great and wonderful. Charity begins at home. The things I learned in this school really helped me to become what I am today. The discipline and the standard of education in OLA is high. Apart from the academics, we were taught how

Old students in their uniform

to walk, how to talk, how to be neat, how to stand, sit, how to eat, and in fact everything to make you a respectable young woman.”

Congratulating the old students for their achievements, Rev. Sister Patricia Oguejiofor, former school administrator, OLA, said, "I am really proud of the old girls. I didn't get the opportunity to tell them how wonderful they were when I was there. They gave me a reason to work and God helped and I achieved a lot of things that they say that I achieved.

My message is that they should continue to be focused and be hard working and try to ensure that all the quality that makes OLA different from all others are upheld.”

SUNDAY Vanguard,MARCH 6, 2016, PAGE 31

Agenda for economic summit: Experts should subject APC’s blueprint to scrutiny — Prof. Ekpo

BY UDEME CLEMENT

Akpan Ekpo is a professor of economics and the current Director General, West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM). In this interview with Sunday Vanguard, he speaks on the crisis facing Nigeria’s economy and also sets agenda for the Federal Government, on the Economic Summit called for experts to brainstorm on ways to rejuvenate Nigeria’s economy. s economic expert what agenda are you setting for government on the Economic Summit being called to proffer solution to the crisis rocking the nation’s economy?

While the Economic Summit is desirable, it should not be another talk-shop. The agenda must be how to provide basic necessities of life to millions of Nigerians; how to fast-track infrastructure development in the country and how to create jobs. The All Progressives Congress (APC) had an economic blue-print in its manifesto. The manifesto should be subjected to discussion by experts with time-lines for implementation.

What are the economic implications of Naira’s depreciation up to about 400 per dollar?

The Naira has been almost on a free fall and at one point in time N400 was equal to a Dollar.

Because of the sharp decline in oil prices, the country ’s foreign reserves are scarce relative to the demand for it. The official window is N199 per Dollar, but with the sharp decline in oil revenues, it becomes difficult to defend the local currency. The implications of the depreciation are many, apart from creating uncertainty, it would result in inflation with adverse consequences for the poor.

On the other hand, the depressed value of the Naira should stimulate exports but Nigeria’s major export is crude oil. The price of crude oil is not only exogenously determined but its volatility remains a big problem for the economy. In addition, the output of oil to be exported is determined by Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Hence, the country cannot benefit from depreciation except it produces for export and adds value to the manufacturing space. The lesson to learn is that the economy must be productive, hence the need to change the structure of the economy to encourage exports and diversify it away from oil. The oil sector itself needs to be diversified to have linkages with agriculture, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Furthermore, with

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depreciation, foreign investors with foreign currencies can invest in Nigeria by converting same into millions of Naira. They can also invest in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) crowding out local investors. They can repatriate the profits at official rate, all things being equal.

Why is the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) acting as if it is panicking?

I do not think the CBN is acting like it is panicking. To me, the CBN is adopting a managed float regime, which is best practice in an economy whose reservoir of foreign reserve is subject to the rise and fall of commodity prices. The foreign currency is always scarce even when it could cover three months of import (this itself is provisional); it should be noted that the Naira is not convertible, therefore there is need to adopt a managed float. The float aspect is subject to demand and supply.

When demand outstrips supply, the CBN would decide how best to allocate the scarce foreign reserves. However, it should also be noted that monetary and exchange rate policies are only one side of the coin. The fiscal aspect is also very crucial. Even when exchange rate and monetary policies are being articulated, fiscal policy must be accommodating as well. In a market capitalist economy, speculation and uncertainty are at their best when there is scarcity.

The CBN listed about 41 items not entitled to forex through the official rate. The aim was to stimulate local production of these items, but if you examine properly the list, it is the importation of petroleum products that gulps the highest amount of forex. So, why not fix the refineries and refine enough petroleum products for domestic consumption, as was the case in the 1970s and early 1980s.

What measures can the CBN put in place to tackle forex crisis in the economy?

Not only what the CBN does, the economy must be productive and manufacture for export to determine the value of the Naira.

The implication of this is that, government must create the necessary enabling environment for local and foreign investors to have confidence in the economy, by investing and benefiting from the large domestic and global markets. We must alter the structure of the economy.

The National Bureau of Statistics has launched a macroeconomic data platform, can this solve the problem of lack of sufficient data for assessing the economy?

The macroeconomic data platform of the NBS is a welcome development. It would enable the agency to generate reliable and

•Prof. Akpan Ekpo consistent data necessary for managing the economy. There is need for more disaggregated data on the economy, especially social data. In addition, the NBS should assist states to have data bank as well.

The Senate said 2016 budget will be ready by March 17, do you see this happening?

If the Senate says the budget

You do not need to be a soothsayer to know that poverty has increased. The incidence of poverty stood at almost 70percent in 2014 and with rising unemployment, more Nigerians have fallen below the poverty line.

The rate of unemployment as well as underemployment is about 30 per cent and still rising would be ready by March 17, who am I to dispute that. The House has oversight functions and I hope all issues would be considered to ensure that the budget meets the deadline they are setting.

What do you have to say about controversies trailing the 2016 budget?

The so-called controversies trailing the 2016 budget are normal in democracy under experiment. Moreso, a new government is in place. The new government introduced a zerobased budget while the previous government had implemented

incremental and ‘performance’ based budget for 16 years, hence the transition was too sudden.

Furthermore, a perfect budget can never be presented to any House of Assembly. Apart from the budget being estimates, the house has oversight functions implying that issues would be raised particularly by the opposition.

Nonetheless, the executive arm must have the capacity to prepare a budget it can defend. My personal opinion is that the performance-based budget would have been utilised for 2016 and thereafter the zero-based would have been adopted. This would have allowed the technocrats to study the new approach. In addition, we can never rule out politics and self-interest in budget debates.

It seems the poverty level is now increasing, as unemployment is also rising. Can you give us statistics on the growth rate of the economy?

Yes, you do not need to be a soothsayer to know that poverty has increased. The incidence of poverty stood at almost 70percent in 2014 and with rising unemployment, more Nigerians have fallen below the poverty line.

The rate of unemployment as well as underemployment is about 30 per cent and still rising. When you consider the high lending rates, unemployment, inflation, poverty incidence, then the misery index is also on the rise. The economy is growing at about 3 percent, which is less than the growth from 19992013. The growth of the economy decreased in the last two consecutive quarters of 2015.

However, growth is not development. On average, the economy has grown at about 5 percent from 2007-2014, yet unemployment keeps rising, the provision of basic services to Nigerians is nothing to write home about; the supply of electricity remains epileptic;

Phone makers tasked on user-friendly applications

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BY YINKA AJAYI

ollowing the proliferation of smart phones in Nigeria, the General Manager of LG mobile communication division Mr. Steve Seungeui has called on smart phone manufacturers globally to inculcate innovative user

friendly applications that would deliver maximum utility in its purpose.

Fielding questions from news men on the recently introduced LG G4 smartphone, Seungeui Lee stated that. “We are living up to our promise of ‘Innovation for a Better Life’ with a , premium smart-phone that is focused

on delivering a balanced user friendly experience that can compete with the best. We wanted to give consumers a human-centric device that combines analog sensibilities with technologies that delivered real world performance. From design of the camera to to the UX, this is the most ambitious phone

we’ve ever produced. We urge other smart-phone manufactures to emulate the same, in order to make the world a better place.”

He went on. “Equipping smart-phones with powerful cameras has become common, manufacturers should work on ways to improve the user experience, by making it easier to edit and share their

millions do not have running water and health delivery services are in disarray. Growth is only a necessary condition for development.

Power generation capacity just dropped from 5,000mw to 2,700mw. What is fundamentally wrong with our power sector?

The power situation in Nigeria is not only disturbing but embarrassing, because all the elements needed to generate and distribute electricity in the country are available. I will urge the current administration to reexamine the unbundling of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and the entire process of privatising the power sector.

Nigeria’s total debt profile is about $60billion and government uses estimated 80percent of its revenue to service debts. What are the economic implications of this?

If government uses 80percent of its revenue to service debt then very little (20percent) is left for development. However, it is expected that the debts were incurred to finance capital projects with explicit multiplier effects on the economy. There is no doubt the amount set aside to service our debts is too high. There is need to reduce it. In the 2016 budget, about N1.0trillion is set aside for debt servicing.

Who will save Nigerians from arbitrary bank charges?

It is only the CBN that can save Nigerians from arbitrary bank charges. These charges are becoming too many and complex.

The banks should be called to order by the apex bank. For example, I am yet to understand what the banks mean by maintenance fee, among others.

These fees when put together represent huge revenue for the banks.

The President said no more N5,000 for jobless graduates.

What is your take on this?

Anyway, the N5,000 for youths was not only unsustainable but also not the proper way to implement welfare programmes.

As a social democratic party, the government should discuss and find better ways of providing welfare programmes. However, it is crucial that jobs be generated for youths. One way of achieving this is for government to invest in massive infrastructure development like power, roads, rails and industrial development.

How will you rate the economy now?

I will start rating the economy after a year in office. For now there is no data for such assessment.

However, the President is doing well in the anti-corruption crusade, which is unprecedented in our history.

pictures and videos. As smartphone cameras grow in importance, progress is being made that will allow the devices to one day dethrone even expensive digital camera. The future of smartphone cameras is in devices that allow amateurs to quickly capture high quality images and make it easy for users to edit and share their favourite shots”.

PAGE 32—SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016

By JAPHET ALAKAM VISUAL

n line with its mission of representing Nigerian and I international artists at its

exhibition space in Nigeria and outside, one of the leading galleries in Nigeria, Omenka Gallery stormed the 2016 edition of The Armory Show with recent works of fast-rising contemporary artist Nengi Omuku.

The Armory Show is New York’s premier international art fair, showcasing over 200 galleries from around the world and the 2016 edition of The Armory Show’s regional focus section titled: Focus: African Perspectives— Global Contemporaries. The event opened on March 3rd and is ending today.

Omuku’s work functions as a metaphor alluding to wider themes of difference, understanding and a mutual belonging. Through colour, she explores the supposition that the human figure can be transformed based on the premise that things could not only look, but also be otherwise. The release from the physical form has led her into a new territory, a moment-bymoment expression of beings that

By JAPHET ALAKAM PRESENTATION

A

fter many years of planning and waiting, the dream of young Samuel Odole to be celebrated as an author matrialised with the public presentation of his new book entitled Principle of Possibility.

The event which was held at the Pavilion of CAC Igando was attended by notable Nigerians, friends, colleagues, family members and others who came to identify with him.

In his goodwill message, Pa Olu Samuel Odole, who took the audience down memory lane with his mastery of English language and events commended the author for his exploits saying that what he has done is an indication that he has more ideas off his sleeves.

Pa Odole who went on to advice the author on some of the missing links in writing and importance of market to every product , also provided him with a lot of possible topics he can work on to

By PRISCA SAM-DURU BOOK LAUNCH

A

s part of its contributions to ensure Nigerians begin to enjoy good governance, Segun Adeleye Foundation For Good Leadership In Africa (SAFFGLIA), a new initiative to promote good governance in Africa, is to be inaugurated at the Afe Balalola Hall, University of Lagos on March 10, 2016.

The launch at an intellectual setting in the presence of top business executives, government officials including ministers, governors, scholars, future leaders, and the media will also feature the presentation of the 1st SAFFGLIA African Leadership Lecture by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

Mohammed, a lawyer and former National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will speak on a topic‘ Setting Agenda For Good Leadership In Africa’ at the event where a book, ‘So Long Too Long Nigeria’ authored by Segun

2016 Armory Show: Omenka gallery marks entry with Nengi Omuku have been transformed from their present reality and reanimated through colour and marks.

It is her desire to convey portraits: presences floating through active spaces, presences that have the aspiration of becoming events in their own right. She also frequently explores the encounter – what happens when different forms meet.

Another element of her work is the scape, in particular, the escape the bodies inhabit.

Focus will provide a glimpse of international art from African perspective, moving beyond conventional ideas of the African continent and its counterpath

Nengi Omuku’s collection consists of stunning imagery; iridescent landscapes bathed with light from half hidden globes, and populated by clouds and waterfalls; fantastical formations peopled with hybrid beings and floating organic bodies; imaginary vistas of intergalactic fields; and emerging cloud formations.

A close examination shows Omuku’s transiting clouds and waterfalls are representative of different physical states in the process of energy conversion.

Consequently, we gain valuable insight into Omuku’s oeuvre, largely a series of self portraits that document her strongly personal journey or escape across several energy levels as various expressions, bounded only by the law of energy conservation.

Established in 1994 and held annually on Piers 92 & 94, The Armory Show is New York’s premier international art fair, showcasing over 200 galleries from around the world. The Armory Focus: African Perspectives – Spotlighting Artistic

• The Phantasmic Middle Creature, 2014 by Nengi Omuku Practices of Global Contemporaries is curated by Julia Grosse and Yvette Mutumba, founders of Contemporary And, an online platform for international art from African perspectives.

Moving beyond conventional ideas of the African continent and its “counterpart,” “the Western hemisphere,” this year’s Focus will provide a glimpse of international artistic production from contemporary African

Day of honour for young Samuel Odole capture his audience, pointing out that the market value of each product is fundamental to improved level of writing.

Finally, he prayed for the author and prophesied into his life that one day, he will celebrate Olowole as a medical doctor.

The book reviewer, Mr Japhet Davidson who described the book as a manual or guide for those who want to change the story of their life said that the author in the 89 page book published by Biodunbooks International, Lagos, distills a life-time of motivational wisdom into ten powerful principles that inspire, challenge and guide readers to see and seize unlimited possibilities within themselves.

In looking at the state of impossibilities, the author in the 12 chapter book highlights some of the principles one needs to apply in order to become a successful entrepreneur, while rediscovering yourself and potentials.

• Rev F.F. Daramola (2nd left) with other members of the hightable presents the book , Principle of Impossibility to the public In his exhortation, the father of the day, Rev F.F. Daramola who spoke on the topic, Don’t settle for a shadow mission, pointed out that every body has a dream and must work on that dream to actualise that. Taking his text from the book of Esther, he urged all not to settle

for a shadow mission, rather to work on your vision as we can do greater things because God has imbued greater things in our life.

According to him, we need courage to fulfill our mission, discover it and work on it, pointing out that fulfilling ones

viewpoints: emerging curators, artists, galleries and art spaces that connect scenes and markets through global networks. From Lagos to London to Luanda – and presented together for the first time in one location. It will also examine the artistic developments and manifold narratives arising from African and African Diasporic artists, emphasizing geographic fluidity and global connections.

The author distills a lifetime of motivational wisdom into ten powerful principles that inspire, challenge and guide readers to see and seize unlimited possibilities within themselvesneeds vision is what makes one to be a celebrity in the world.

On his part, the elated Ondo state born young author and graduate of Human Anatomy who shared his joy with the audience thanked all for honouring him. He stated that contrary to the old adage that knowledge is power, his own view is that it is knowledge shared that is power as that is what will help mankind. On his targeted audience, he stated that it is for all and that is why he wrote it in simple language so that both the old and young will read and understand it.

Adeleye’s book on good leadership for launch Adeleye, founder of SAFFGLIA, will also be launched.

Adeleye, President/CEO, World Stage Limited, a journalist, author and media entrepreneur said SAFFGLIA was founded to leverage on his experience over the years to help in whichever way possible in the development of leadership culture in Africa, as his way of giving back to the society henceforth.

“From my exposure over the years through interactions with business organisations and top government officials both at home and abroad, I’m concerned about how the issues of leadership failure and lack of corporate governance robbed our country and the continent the opportunity to be great,” he said He listed the objectives of SAFFGLIA to include; To carry out activities and projects that will encourage governments across Africa to embrace good governance in order to uplift the standard of living of the people.

We will employ all possible

means including legal actions to achieve this; To draw attentions to activities of governments from local to national levels and encourage/compel them to do things in best interest of the people; To engage in leadership training programmes that will raise new generation of positive leaders who will champion the spirit of development of their societies in Nigeria and Africa; To provide scholarships in higher institution level to youths with leadership quality in Nigeria and other African countries.

Others include, To promote research into good leadership in Africa; To engage in research into alternative policies to existing government policies that are not working; To provide counselling, support and care for people that are unjustifiably victimised by bad governments in Africa.

To organise Annual SAFFGLIA African Leadership Lecture, seminars, briefings, workshops and interventional programmes on

issues of good leadership; To engage in opinion moulding, empowerment, and building

confidence of people on how to make their governments accountable.

St. Joseph’s College celebrates 60th Anniversary

S

t. Joseph’s College, Ondo which was founded by the De La Salle Brothers on March 19, 1956 will be celebrating her Diamond Jubilee from Wednesday, March 15 to Sunday, March 20, 2016.

According to the statement by the Chairman, Media, Publicity and Publication Committee of the 60th Anniversary, Nobilitas Henry Akinyele, the event would be celebrated with pomp and ceremony as agreed by the entire Old Boys Association of the college headed by Nobilitas Biodun Akinkoye.

Among the programmes lined up for the event are anniversary lecture to be delivered by an OBA Nobilitas Prof.

Bola Akinterinwa, the Director General, Institute of

Management Affairs, Health Walk tagged “Let’s Walk to School”, Bonfire/Variety Night, Award/Dinner Night, Launching of N50,000,000 endowment fund and Thanksgiving Service.

Expected to grace the occasion are eminent OBA members, current students, staff and friends of the school while His Excellency, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, the Governor of Ondo State who is of 1971 set of the school is the Chief Host of all the events.

Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the Anniversary Planning Committee, Chief Bimbola Oladapo appealed to all old boys to give back to the school that provided the platform for their distinctive successes.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 6, 2016, PAGE 33

SATELLITE TV: There is no pay -as-you-watch model anywhere in the world – John Ugbe, DSTV boss

By Lekan Bilesanmi

J

ohn Ugbe is the Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Africa, a pay-TV entertainment company. In this interview, Ugbe explains, among other things, why the company services redundant broadcasting equipment and spent over N20 million on the entertainment industry.

What is your impression about digital satellite services in Nigeria in comparison with other climes across the world?

I think that is the beauty of satellite. Your availability of satellite is the same anywhere in the world.

The digital satellite service here in the country is not different from digital satellite T.V service any where in Europe. The satellite is manufactured and maintained by the same organizations. Our DSTV runs on Eutelsat which is a worldwide company. So, the availability is the same every where in the world.

Where you tend to have variances is mostly from a wider perspective. For instance, if you are sitting in NewYork, in January where there is a lot of snow, you tend to have more interruptions, whereas, in the same January here in Nigeria where there are no rains, you can hardly have that kind of interruptions. So, over the years, we started with C-band 2.8 metres dish which was as big as some of our roofs. So, with the shift in technology and in order to make it more affordable, we have the bigger dishes which cost a lot more.

Meanwhile ,some countries have started moving to the KU-band which is smaller than the present one. It is like a little plate hanging outside your house, but it has a lot of interruptions from weather, but we are yet to move there because we don’t think the availability is suitable for our market here yet. But one thing we always try to do, get people to do, may be trying to be part of our culture, just like any other thing, is that the dish in front of your house needs servicing by checking the strength and quality of the signal. For those of us who are close to the ocean here in Lagos, because of winds, there is the probability that there might be a shift such that the signal strength may go from 95%,98% to 60% at which time you can still continue to watch. But it then means that if there is a very thick cloud, it would affect your service more than it would affect the other person’s service who has 90%. As with any other thing, we

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service pumping machines, our cars after every few kilometers. We implore our subscribers , once a year, to get an installer to look at the installation if it is aligning properly.

Talking about service, we have never had service outage. When I am talking to people, I always ask them if they could think back if there was any time the entire DSTV service went down, no channel working, and whether the same thing happened to their friends. For a service you cannot remember when it went down, that shows the reliability of our service.

It means we have multiple sites.

That means we have the first site, we have the second site. The issue is that, all the equipment are sitting in the sites idle, in case something went wrong. You probably would never noticed if something went wrong, it probably switches automatically to the back-up site. That to us is additional cost, servicing a second redundant equipment.

Complaints about booting period Yes, some of the subscribers told us that ten years ago, the booting period was faster than what it is now. But my reply is that, yes, 10 years ago, it was faster, and that is because the contents were not as many as what we have now. Don’t forget that when the decoder boots, it picks up different transpondents, so the more the channels you have available, the more the time it has to pick everything up. So what we have always done is to see how the box can load a bit faster. And to work within some of the infrastructure challenges we have.

Your shutting of decoder every few minutes is not battery. It is not supposed to happen. The decoder is one of the things that is supposed to stay on, mostly permanently. Because even when you are not watching, we are continuously talking to it, by down loading some new soft-wares into it. We upgrade the soft-wares of the decoder a lot of times, especially when usually it will not disrupt your viewing pleasure at night. We understand some of the infrastructure challenges we have and we try to build around them.

But to provide a great quality service to you, we cannot ignore some of those vital elements. I like the feedback, because each time we get a feedback like that, we take it to our developer to see how we can put in all the wonderful

people were subscribers who paid their monthly subscriptions. They paid for that game and it was sold for 100 dollars. We don’t even have 100 dollars paid on any of our bouquets. But for that three, four hours of the night of the boxing match, you had to pay 100 dollars.

Think about it, how did we show that match here?

things our subscribers want into making the decoder better without necessarily cutting down the loading time of the decoder.

Meanwhile, we try to encourage our subscribers that they should try to put UPS behind their decoders so that, between the time you switch to generator when there is power outage, your decoder is still working, and I think that is why we also try to provide highlights of games. I can tell you, for certainty, that we will keep on improving, that is one thing that guides us.

The billing system, which many people say is based on pay-per-watch in South Africa, is not obtainable here in Nigeria? Why? I have always been shocked when people say it is in South Africa, and my consistent question has been, where in South Africa? I know the Multichoice Group of Companies at least, it is not practised anywhere. We don’t have pay-asyou-watch model anywhere. I think people tend to take perception for reality. I am yet to be taken to the country anywhere in the world where such a model is in operation.

How about the issue of not being at home, yet your bill runs?

It does not work anywhere like that. Perhaps I should take you to the larger understanding of the pay- T.V model. When you acquire the right to a football match, hardly can you go back to say midway to the game that the supporters of the losing team are not happy and they decide to switch off their decoders. Again, when you go to a stadium to watch a game, if you have to leave at half time, do you get a refund for not able to finish with the teams? It is the nature of payT.V and contents. And, often times, it is compared with communication. We are in the broadcast industr y.

Communication is two- way, broadcast is one-way. We have no way of your decoder talking back to us. There are some contents. If you look at the Pacquao and Mayweather match which was sold in the U.S. as pay- per- view.... remember, pay-as-you-watch and pay-perview are completely different from each other. This was addition to the fact that the

We don’t have pay-asyou-watch model anywhere. I think people tend to take perception for reality. I am yet to be taken to the country anywhere in the world where such a model is in operation

Don’t you think providing the price model as a game-changer in the industry?

To us, it has to be a model that allows us a service that is affordable.

Don’t forget that this is a business we set out, such that some of the rents are acquired at a massive loss just to be able to get subscribers. I am not talking about what our competitors can do, but we are always looking at the technology with the best model. Am I saying that in future, if such technology becomes available to us, and if that is the best model for the business, we would not do it? That is not what I am saying. But with what we have got and to be able to provide service, it is like the Pacquiano-Mayweather fight, if we had said to watch it, you to pay 20k into the bank before we could show it, you can imagine that is even more than the monthly subscription. But we provided it at no cost to the subscribers apart from their monthly dues.

The Compat bouquet benefited from the full compliment of the EPL,La Liga,UC and even hardware price slash. Was this decision based on the pressure you got from the Consumer Protection Council?

We have always looked at giving value. So, if giving value periodically means bringing in new channels, continuing to provide a lot of contents, maybe you are correct.

We are adding more contents than the price. Do you know your EPL,La Liga, Bundusliga and others are some of the most expensive contents we have, but, to us, providing quality contents is paramount here, even when it comes with a loss. However, the action was not in response to the CPC or any pressure because I don’t think how we could have woken one morning and have price slash, you can see that it has a long marketing drive around it. It is something we had been planning and developing, because we constantly at look how we can add value; we understand

Continues on page 34

PAGE 34—SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016

The many rites that heralded the new Olubadan, Oba Adetunji Ogungunnuso 1 ByuOla Ajayi, Ibadan

T

he installation and presentation of staff of office to the 41st Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Olasupo Adetunji Aje Ogungunnuso 1, on Friday, at Mapo Hall, cannot be forgotten in a jiffy.

It was a day that politicians in Oyo State put their bitterness aside to honour the 87- year-old monarch.

On that day, Governor Abiola Ajimobi, former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, Alhaji Rashidi Ladoja, Senator Teslim Folarin and host of others, from different political tendencies, came together under the same roof.

Many traditional rulers from within and outside the South-West also attended. They include the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111; Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Eniitan Ogunwusi; Oba Rilwanu of Lagos; the Alake, Oba Adedokun Aremu Gbadebo; and the Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Sulu Gambari.

The rich cultural display at the occasion overshadowed the litigation filed against the new monarch by the estranged Seriki line.

The ceremony was slated for 9am, but, due to some traditional rites that members of the Olubadan-inCouncil and the king went to perform in a nearby shrine, people had to endure the scorching sun.

Crowning After the rites, Oba Adetunji was crowned at about 9:53am after

Ooni of Ife; Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi

which he went for more rites.

The Oluwo Afobaje Labosinde of Ibadanland, Alhaji Wahab Idowu Popoola Mosadogun, stressed the importance of the rites, saying they were to initiate the new Olubadan into the royal priesthood.

Calabash In Yoruba culture, when a king

is about to be crowned, three calabashes are placed before him.

In the three calabashes are different kinds of objects, including honey, pepper, bitter kola, kolanut, money and, sometimes, honey bees.

The face of the king is tied and asked to pick one of the calabashes. The one he picks, it is believed, will prove whether his reign will be peaceful or not.

In the case of the new Olubadan, he picked money and honey.

After this, Ibadan High Chiefs entered and paid homage to the king. Oba Adetunji then prostrated to members of the Olubadan-inCouncil and the people for the last time. After this, the king is not expected to prostrate for any other person on earth, even his parents.

At 11:20am, he went to the Osemeji Shrine where he performed the last rite after which he moved to Mapo Hall.

Due to some stress he had undergone, the monarch showed some signs of exhaustion as he was supported by those around him when he became unstable.

People had to surround him and began to fan him. After some time, he regained his strength to the joy of many people who witnessed it.

Before the presentation of the staff of office and certificate to the Olubadan, Ajimobi took the gathering down the memory lane.

“By the transition of Oba (Dr.) Samuel Odulana Odugade I

on Tuesday 19th January, 2016 a vacuum was created in the Olubadan Chieftaincy which is a recognized Chieftaincy under Chiefs Law Cap 28 of Oyo State 2000. In line with the Declaration regulating appointment to the Chieftaincy, succession to the Stool of the Olubadan will be in strict rotation between the two major Chieftaincy lines, that is the Otun and the Balogun lines. The late Oba was from Otun line while the new Olubadan is from Balogun line in conformity with the age long tradition”, the governor said.

Those in attendance include the governors of Ogun, Osun, Lagos, Ekiti and Imo states, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, Ayodele Fayose and Chief Rochas Okorocha respectively.

Also in attendance are Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, National Leader of the All Progressives Congress; Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu; a former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; Dr. Omololu Olunloyo; former governor of Jigawa State, Mr Saminu Turaki; senator representing Oyo South, Soji Akanbi; Chief Kola Daisi, industrialist; Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Abel Idowu Olayinka; Senator Teslim Folarin; a former Senate Leader; Mr Bosun Oladele, member representing Oorelope/Olorunsogo Constituency; and Mr. Dapo Lam-Adesina, member of House of Representatives.

Satellite TV: There is no pay-as-you-watch model anywhere in the world – John Ugbe, DSTV boss Continued from page 33

the economy is tough right now and I think everyone feels it. And in response to the market, we say, ‘okay, this is more value we can add’. In our thinking about Nigeria, I want us, a lot of times, to think what we are doing with the country professional league. This season is one of the most defining seasons for us, because of the number new teams. These games are coming live. We want the discussion to drive what we do locally here. We would love to have our league become, gradually though, ultimately better that what we see in the EPL. We want to see laurels being won because this is what will motivate teams like the MFM team. The MFM team is presently at the top of the league. I want people to go out there and support these teams. We need people to buy the jerseys because the money will flow back to the players, and, by extension, the communities. I am hoping in the next few years, other pay TV providers in Africa and around Africa buy into it to be able to show our league.

Outside your investment in Nigeria, in what other areas have you invested and what is the scale and shape of

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these investment?

We are not interested in throwing money around. Just over a year ago, we took boxing as a pet project with one of our brands, Gotv. Before now, I don’t know how many Nigerians have seen a Nigerian boxing match on T.V

or gone to the national stadium to watch, some don’t even know the names of their boxers in the country. I remember the first one, we had Jeremiah Okorodudu and Joe Lasisi, they had a memorable bout. And I thought, seeing the two together, it was the right thing we were doing. One year after, the National Stadium indoor sports hall was filled up. The last time, December, we were there, someone said this place has never been filled to capacity. That programme took a lot from us to be able to bring it to that level. The same thing is with basketball which saw our team qualifying for the Olympics after beating Angola which, by the way, we were always struggling to beat. With boxing, we have boxers now winning 1m,5m.

We are changing their lives, not only about the money but also about the fact that they have something to do, practising the fight. It is a destination for them, there is hope. We had coaching and health clinics..we also insure them just to make sure we can get it to a stage where other people

will begin to invest in it.

The AMVC awards grand finale is usually held in Nigeria since inception. Why not in other parts of the continent?

At the moment, I think there are some other events which do not hold in Nigeria. But Nigeria is a major hub for movies in Africa. I am very happy that we are having it here in Nigeria. In future, if it moves, it will be the decision of the company, but, for now, it is a very developmental phase. And the important thing is that we are rewarding. You see, when you reward, people tend to put in more efforts. It is important we are not just rewarding best actors, there is a lot of technical stuff behind the movies. We believe in the industry because we invested about N20million in the industry in the last few years.

There is a whole that goes into a movie. There is the make up, carpentry, feeding. If we have like 100 movies, you can imagine how many carpenters are involved. This is an industry that we believe is the future of Nigeria. Yes, we are trying to

build factories. You know, every nation, at one point or the other, has to go back to its strength, just like the Indians who worked on their softwares that now allows them to leapfrog. We have the talents and, in Multi-choice Nigeria, we believe these talents will grow in future.

The company used to sponsor productions, but for sometime now, it is like you have stopped. Any reason for that?

We are still into production. I think, last year, Hotel Majestic, an internal production, was the biggest thing on TV. African Magic has been co-producing movies launched recently; even in the theatres, you will always see that it is co-production with African Magic. So, we doing a lot in the industry.

It is in line with our philosophy to do everything internal. So we are able to form partnership with the projects and ensure that only a few of them projects go outside. You will recall that African Magic Igbo was launched last year. Before then, there were not too many Igbo movies, but there is a lot now. And that is because there is a willing buyer as someone has created a platform to showcase them.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 6, 2016, PAGE 35

THE CORONATION OF THE OLUBADAN The coronation of the Olubadan of Ibadanland , Oba Saliu Adetunji, was held at Mapo Hall, Ibadan, Oyo State, on Friday. Photos by Dare Fasube

Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (2nd left), with the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III; All Progressives Congress National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu I; and Minister of Communication, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu.

From left: Former Governor Omololu Olunloyo of Oyo State, Alhaja Mutiat Ladoja, former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala and Oba Lamidi Adeyemi.

From left: Governor Akinwumi Ambode; the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi and Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The Olubadan, Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji, receiving his staff of office from Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

From left: Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, Mrs Florence Ajimobi and Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State.

A cross section of Ibadan high chiefs

From left: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode; the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III and Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi (Ojaja II) .

The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibraheem Sulu Gambari (left), Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar.

PAGE 36—SUNDAY VANGUARD, MARCH 6, 2016

dept C

MOTHERS PLEAD WITH KIDNAPPERS OF ‘IKORODU THREE’:

Please don’t sexually abuse abducted schoolgirls

By Evelyn Usman and Bose Adelaja

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idnapping of students has never been an issue in Lagos State, until Monday, February 29, 2016, when Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary, Agunfoye-Lugbusi, Ikorodu, Lagos State, was thrown into darkness following the kidnapping of three female students. Since then, heavy at about 8pm.

The alarm was raised and this brought about panic in Ikorodu and environs security presence was noticeable in AgunfoyeLugbusi village.

Security operatives have intensified the search for the abductors of the girls whose kidnappers were said to have started negotiations with the parents.

Although there was no official statement by the school authorities since the incident occurred, sources gave the names of the kidnapped girls as Olusa Timilehin, Popo-Olaniyan Tofunmi and Akinayo Deborah, all in Senior Secondary School, SSS 11.

Timilehin was said to be the daughter of the Executive Secretary of Lagos State Anglican School Management Board, Venerable Victor Ayo Olusa.

One of the affected parents, simply identified as Wale Akinayo, said one of the girls, Deborah, had a telephone conversation with her mother two hours before the ugly incident.

Also, he said the 13 years old girl is the only female among his three children.

The kidnappers, about 15, were said to have gained access to the school through the rear fence and went straight to the School of Science Department where the students were having an evening lesson.

They were said to have announced their presence with gunshots, prompting students and teachers to scamper to safety.

The last Monday incident was said to be the second attempt by kidnappers as a similar incident occurred on January 22, 2016, a day to the schools inter-house sports, but the attempt was foiled by internal security.

A School of Arts student, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the students were busy preparing for their forthcoming examinations when there were sounds of gunshots from the Science class direction. ‘’We were preparing for our examinations when gunshots were heard from the Science section and this threw us into panic but one of the teachers calmed us down saying everything was under control,”one of the students of the school told Sunday Vanguard.

My friend told me it was the sound of crackers but I insisted it was gunshot and, before we knew what was happening, we saw people running helter skelter.

What came to my mind was that the internal security was on top of

the situation but I was wrong as three female students were kidnapped by the gunmen.”

Another female student, simply identified as Tope, said one of the kidnapped girls was her bosom friend. ‘’I don’t know what to say until the girls are found,’’ she said.

Academic activities were disrupted on Tuesday and Wednesday but the school authorities tried to force the teachers to go back to their duty posts.

As at Friday morning, the kidnappers were said to have reduced the ransom they were demanding to N10m per child and there was apprehension as people were anxious about the whereabouts of the kidnapped students with meetings and prayer sessions ongoing in the school.

Due to the development, a prayer chain has started across the country with the harshtag #PraywithBMJS and #WestandWithourgirls trending on different social media platforms like Facebook and Twiter.

In a Facebook post, a group, identified as Mothers United in Prayer and Praise, started an online prayer and intercessory chain for the safe return of the girls. The main prayer point was that the kidnappers would not have sexually abuse the teenage girls.

A parent, Mrs Tinuola

Oyenuga, said the incident was a big tragedy to her. “I was about going out when I got a telephone call that there was crisis in and I rushed down only to discover what happened, “ said the parent.

Another parent, who pleaded anonymity, was bent on withdrawing his two children from the school. ‘’I have two children all my life who are both students of the school but the developed hs proved that the school cannot take care of them. There is nothing anybody will tell me that will convince me to leave them with the school again or how can I bear another children at my old age,’’ he stated.

One other parent, Mrs Biola Ategbole, said the incident was a surprise to her, “I believe what happened is under control and God, in his infinite mercies, will bring the girls back safely.

Kunle Owode, who also has children in the school, said the task of searching for the girls should not be left in the hands of government alone as all stakeholders are expected to swing into action to search for the girls. “I believe government is doing something already, but the search for the girls is a corporate responsibility. I believe it will be something of the past by the grace of God. The security issue is a major concern in boarding schools and I know the school will do something about it, he stressed”.

In the cause of the security operation for the search of the girls, a local vigilance group in Ikorodu, ‘’Onyabo Vigilance Group’’, has been called upon for assistance and members were said to have swung into action by deploying to the creeks in the area.

At Agunfoye-Lugbusi community, residents said there were security lapses in the school and the school attention drawn to it without any tangible response. ‘’Government should look inward because kidnappers or armed robbers don’t operate successfully without the assistance of an insider. Moreso, the school has failed to develop rapport with its host community and this is very bad. We have told them that the rear fence was too low and there is need to clear the back of the school for the sake of the students but they turned dear ears,’’ said one of the residents.

Apart from frequent communal clashes in the area, residents claimed there was no record of kidnapping or armed robbery except the recent ones which took place in the school.

Days after the incident, many people are anxious that it does not go the way of that of April 14, 2014 when 276 female students were kidnapped from the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram, but some of the victims were later rescued, remaining 219 whose whereabouts remain uncertain.

The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr Oluranti Adegbule, and many other eminent personalities have visited the scene of the kidnapping, assuring that the situation will be resolved, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode says his administration will spare no effort to ensure the safe return of the girls.

SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016, PAGE 37

By Peter Duru, Makurdi

I

t’s been tales of sorrow, tears and blood in Agatu local government area of Benue State in the last two weeks, following the invasion of several communities in the council area by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

The resultant crisis, which has left over 300 people dead and several houses and property destroyed, came when the state was enjoying a reprieve from the protracted Benue farmers/ herdsmen conflict which got to a head at the twilight of the last administration.

In fact, before the latest incursion, the state recorded minimal skirmishes between farmers and herders in the last nine months, with casualty figures within the period at about 40.

However the latest crisis came as a surprise to locals who had lowered their guards following assurances by the state government that its peace parley with the neighboring Nasarawa State government to permanently check the crisis was yielding result.

Unfortunately, like other peace talks, the feuding parties failed to restrict themselves to the pacts and the consequence was the destruction of lives and property.

In this particular instance, the siege claimed over 300 lives within one week while seven villages including Okokolo, Aila, Adagbo, Akwu, Omikuidi, Ocholonya and Odugbeho were razed and now deserted.

“Several communities, including Obagaji, the local government headquarters where people usually took refuge in the past, have been deserted”, a source in the area said.

“People are fleeing Agatu in droves and heading to Ugbokpo in neighboring Apa local government area for fear of being killed by the heavily armed marauders who have virtually taken over Agatu.

“It is a well coordinated attack on Agatu communities. As I speak, fighting is raging, many are missing and we have a huge number of displaced persons without facilities to house them”.

In a reaction to the bloodbath, the Opiatoha K’Idoma, a socio-cultural organisation of Idoma sons and daughters, through its General Secretary, Adoka Adaji, said the crisis had created a huge refugee situation in the area.

The organization urged the Federal Government to take steps to arrest the situation and also declare Agatu an insurgency area.

Part of the statement read, “What we see happening in Agatu, today, can be likened to the happenings in the NorthEast and we call for urgent action by the Federal Government.

“The people of Idoma nation are helpless in the fight against Agatu by suspected Fulani herdsmen with over 300 Agatu people killed and others maimed in one week without concerted effort by the state government to abate the attack, killings and destruction.

“A lot of Agatu people have been rendered homeless with thousands taking refuge in Ugbokpo, Adoka, Iga, Otukpo among other towns.”

AGATU (1) , s r a e t f o r e Riv s h t a e d , d bloo e u n e B n i w o fl Residents flee

•

Former Senate President, Senator David Mark, in his reaction, also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to mobilize security apparatus to the area “ with a view to putting a stop to the senseless carnage currently ravaging Agatu local.”

Mark, who made the call in a press release signed by his Special Assistant, Benue Liaison, Dr. Adakole Elijah, lamented the incessant attacks on Agatu communities.

He urged all well-meaning Nigerians to stand up in defense of the Agatu people by condemning the killings and further enjoined the Federal Government to station a detachment of armed soldiers in the area to forestall the attacks just as he implored the Benue and Nasarawa State Governments to take steps to check the carnage.

Also reacting, the Benue State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, while condemning the attacks and killings in an area considered its stronghold, alleged that the crisis was politically motivated.

Benue State Chairman of the party,

Dr. Agbo Emmanuel, who led the state leadership of the party on a solidarity visit to the National Chairman of PDP, Ali Modu Sheriff, in Abuja, said the attacks on Agatu were as a result of the people’s refusal to vote for the All Progressives Congress at the recently held senatorial rerun election which the PDP won.

Agbo said, “Benue witnessed massive attacks on several communities in Agatu local government area. This resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives and property worth billions of naira.

“We have reasons to believe that this recent attack on the Agatu people was punishment for their resolve to vote overwhelmingly for the PDP and Senator David Mark”.

Meanwhile, a picture of the situation in Agatu was painted by the Benue State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Paul Yakadi, who visited the crisis zone to assess true situation.

Yakadi disclosed that his team saw over 5,000 cows being led and accompanied by arms wielding

Fulani herdsmen, grazing on occupied farmland in deserted communities.

He told reporters at the Command Headquarters in Makurdi, the state capital, that the invaders stormed Agatu from Naka in Gwer West local government area of Benue State, Loco and Doma in Nasarawa State.

He said, “The worrisome renewed attack on Agatu communities by Fulani herdsmen was as a result of the alarming influx of the herdsmen into the area through neighbouring towns of Naka in Gwer West local government area of Benue State, Loco and Doma of Nasarawa State where cattle are made to swim across the water to Agatu.

“The Command on an assessment tour of the area, a few days ago, to identify areas that security is needed to be beefed up, discovered Fulani herdsmen armed with sophisticated weapons with their cows numbering over 5,000.

“We saw a number of houses that were either burnt or destroyed and foodstuffs from these areas were looted and some were burnt.

“The team also discovered that the following villages; Okokolo, Aila, Adagbo, Akwu, Omikuidi, Ocholonya and Odugbeho were deserted with no trace of persons living there while three corpses were seen in Aila and Adagbo.”

The Police Commissioner, who said the crisis had been brought under control, said the police, in conjunction with the state government and other sister security agencies, had made conscious efforts to monitor and forestall further destruction of lives and property in the area.

Bothered by the level of the killings in Agatu, Buhari has also promised to set up a probe into the killings in order to find a lasting solution to the protracted crisis.

Meanwhile, the Victims Support Fund, VSF, led by Dr. Sunday Ochoche, which recently sent a factfinding team to Agatu, lamented the level of destruction of lives and property in the area.

Ochoche, in his observation after the visit, said, “The level of destruction of lives and property is similar to what the Boko Haram is doing in the North-East.

“It is unfortunate and sad that almost all the villages visited were completely destroyed and deserted which is a sign of serious economic and humanitarian crisis.”

PAGE 38—SUND AY 38—SUNDA

Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016

FIVE SACKED VCs:

Reps, minister

trade words!

By Emman Ovuakporie and Johnbosco Agbakwuru

L

ast Tuesday, the Minister of Educa tion, Mallam Adamu Adamu, was told that the removal of five university Vice Chancellors (VCs) by government was dictatorial when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Tertiary Education.

The Vcs, appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, had been sacked under the guise that their appointments did not follow due process.

Hell was let loose as the university community raised dust over the issue.

The action was condemned by many scholars who felt the sacked VCs were not given a fair hearing.

The House had the previous week passed a resolution mandating the committee to investigate the sack of the VCs of the federal universities of Oye—Ekiti, Binin Kebbi, Gusau, Gashua and that of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) when their tenures had allegedly not expired.

Consequently, the committee invited the minister to explain the decision.

During the hearing, the committee and minister disagreed on the sack of the five out of the 12 VCs disengaged by government.

While the lawmakers believed that the five of the VCs were sacked “illegally and unconstitutionally,” minister Adamu said the right thing was done.

The minister said four of the VCs were removed because there was no law backing their appointments, while that of the Open University was removed because he got an illegal extension from the institution’s council.

Adamu explained that, at the time of their removal, there was no council in place at the four institutions and that the action was based

on the Universities Miscellaneous Act. The Chairman of the committee, Hon Aminu Suleiman, APC, Kano, disagreed, saying that based on provisions of the law, the Visitor, in person of President Muhammadu Buhari, could only remove VCs after receiving a recommendation from the council and, in consultation with the Senate, saying in the case of NOUN, there was a council in place, which never made such recommendation.

He stressed: “What you’re now telling us is that all the actions taken by those institutions were illegal.”

A member of the committee, Hon Aishatu Jibril Dukku ,APC, Gombe, who is a former minister of state for education, said former President Olusegun Obasanjo kick-started the Universal Basic Education (UBE) in 1999, while the law backing it came up in 2004.

In his response, Adamu said the fact

The minister said four of the VCs were removed because there was no law backing their appointments, while that of the Open University was removed because he got an illegal extension from the institution’s council that Obasanjo did that did not make it legal.

Hon Mojeed Alabi ,APC, Osun, in his contribution, said the way the VCs were removed was done with “impunity,” which could obtained only during the

military era.

Speaking in the same vein, Hon Timothy Golu ,PDP, Plateau, decried the alleged illegality of the existence of the four universities, saying “ you should advise that the institutions be closed down.”

When Suleiman asked to know why government could not wait for the council to be constituted before removing the Vcs, the minister said he believed the President got different nominations from “the party, states and other sources.”

He further noted that Buhari had the right to choose persons to appoint in the circumstance, insisting that the Miscellaneous Act supersedes any other Act instituted by any university.

“If there was any law on their appointment, I believe that the president wouldn’t have acted that way,” he said, adding that “you can’t say the action of the president was illegal; if there is no council in place, who will appoint them?”, the minister stated.

Probing further, the committee asked why the NOUN council that extended the tenure of the sacked VC was still in place, to which Adamu replied: “Probably, they will be punished later.”

Another member of the committee , Hon Abbas Tajudeen ,APC, Kaduna, suggested that, in view of the lack of clear understanding between the committee and the minister, a technical committee be set up to interface with the minister, but the chairman said they did not have the luxury of time to do that.

Adamu supported the idea of a technical committee, but he was instantly overruled on the matter.

The chairman at this point adjourned the sitting with the minister to Tuesday.

But before he hit the gave,l he advised the minister to get all the relevant answers as to why the VCs were sacked

Kogi: Why we wanted power shift, by Sanusi Abubakar

By Favour Nnabugwu

T

o many, politics is a means not o n l y

to contest for power, but also an avenue for enrichment and road to actualising selfish interests.

However, one man, Alhaji Sanusi Abubakar, the Turaki of Ebiraland, chooses to be different.

The driving force for venturing into politics, according to him, is to address the marginalization of his people and also uplift a vast majority of people from the shackles of hopelessness and despair.

From his posture, Abubakar does not rank among politicians desperate for power to pursue economic gains. His passion for the people is a clear sign that he is a politician determined to make a difference.

Abubakar, who was one of the 28 contestants that slugged it out for the APC gubernatorial ticket in Kogi State, apart from his philanthropic gestures which are worthy of note nationwide, also has achievements built on the premise of enterprise.

In Kogi, his home state, he was pulled into the race by groups and individuals, who were convinced that his track records in humanitarian services had touched the lives of thousands of less privileged people.

They believed the feat could have been upped to emancipate Kogi from its perceived state of hemorrhage.

C M Y K

•Alhaji Sanusi Abubakar Abubakar was born to the family of the late Alhaji Abubakar Aliyu, popularly known as Abu Inihaya, and Hajia Asmau Abubakar on July 1, 1961 in Okene. He started his primary education in Igbira Native Authority School (INA), Okene between 1966 and 1972.

He obtained his O’Level certificate in Community Secondary School Ihima, Kogi State between 1976 and 1981, studied Diploma in Estate Management from Kwara

State College of Technology between 1982 and 1985; Higher National Diploma in Kaduna Polytechnic between 1987 and 1989 where he was the best graduating student and was offered immediate appointment as a lecturer, which he declined.

In 2000, he obtained a postgraduate diploma (PGD) in business administration and management from University of Abuja; and, in 2001, he bagged a master’s degree in the same discipline from the same university.

The immediate past governor of Kogi State, Captain Idris Wada, was Abubakar’s course mate in the university.

It is not only in his educational pursuits and private enterprises that he distinguished himself. Abubakar ’s record at the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) is exemplary. He retired as a Principal Estate Officer in FCDA to float his private business. He is the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Gamji Nigeria Limited.

Abubakar later became, Chairman of Board, Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals, Kogi State branch in 2000.

For almost 20 now, he has worked to uplift orphans, the sick and the less-privileged, delivering free eye treatment to over 20,000 people; the construction, rehabilitation and provision of medical facilities in Okene and Obangede; providing transformers, scholarship to indigent students; and empowering

youths and women in Ebiraland through Gamji Group of Companies, and the Asmau Foundation.

In recognition of his sterling qualities , he is today a recipient of many awards including African Leadership Award, London 2014; Award of Excellence on Youth Empowerment and Community Development by Ebira People’s Vanguard.

He is also a member of many professional organizations like the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), National Association of Technologists in Engineering; and International Peace Federation (Peace Ambassador).

His selflessness which inspired him to carry out these philanthropic services has combined to single out Abubakar as one of the most illustrious sons from Kogi Central.

He was the arrowhead of the call for power shift in Kogi.

“The movement started in 2003 with Sola Akonmade, the then Deputy Chief of Staff in the Presidency and we insisted that our Igala brothers should give us opportunity too to take a shot at the Lugard House in order to showcase our endowed capacity so that we can have competition for good governance”, he told Sunday Vanguard.

“I took the initiative then and invited political leaders from the central part and we met at the residence of a respected leader, Alhaji Ahmad Badamasi, in 2003, to discuss the need for both West and Cen-

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016, PAGE 39

Mother's Day: Profits and Reality of Motherhood

T

oday is Mother's Day in some parts of the world. It is the day that has been set aside for the celebration of our mothers and motherhood.

On this day, we give special recognition to our mothers, some of whom had been through thick and thin and struggled to make the best possible for us.

The role of mothers in the larger society cannot be under emphasised, especially this crucial times when most governments are too "broken" to care what happens to the traditional family institution. As governments are daily shedding their roles of providing for their citizens, mothers duties are not becoming anything easy.

In recent times, Mothers have taken in extras roles in the society. They have to bend backwards everyday to make sure that despite the failures of governments, there are no excuses to let their children add to the ever growing population of demented individuals on the streets.

The streets are full of broken individuals who lack the love and warmth of mothers. They are not difficult to identify.

It is in recognition of mothers' roles that some countries create special awards for them. They are appreciated because mothers are special beings who are often regarded as sources of existence. They are special human beings that deserve appreciations in our hearts as they juggle everything together to make the basis of any society a good one.

It has been said and widely accepted too, that good families translates into good society. While fathers are regarded as the head of the family, mothers are known to be the administrators. This means they are more or less responsible for the day to day running of the homes.

They are closer to the children, know their needs, emotionally and physically and easy for them to put a wandering soul back on the straight line.

How often we, as individuals, celebrate our mothers is actually not for the society to determine for us. However, I guess (just a guess) that as a result of the gradual loss of societal values, some people came about and decided that if care was not taken, mothers' real value won't be worth much any more in the future. This is glaring, as we see many mothers-to-be gradually becoming examples of how not to grow.

Every year, we roll out the drums and red carpets for our mothers. Just like every other man created celebrations such as Christmas, Easter, Father's Day, Valentine Day, Brother or Sisters Day, the commercial value has far

overtaken the importance of these days. It is therefore not surprising that the appeal of Mothers' Day has indeed gone from appreciating them to making hefty profits out of them. Many wares of merchandise are produced and sold at profits every year to mark the day.

Multi national companies care less about the plight of the mother who is striving to feed her children or struggling to hold down her home. But to them, it is a day that has to be exploited to the hilt.

Today is one of the days that stores, restaurants etc make the most profits selling on the sensibilities that we all love our mothers.

Just like Valentine, I had no idea of the concept of Mother's Day in my growing up years. I have many times tried to blame this on probably the fact that I lost my dear mother in my early years. But I have come to realise that not many people of my age group actually celebrated any Mother's Day until in the mid-nineties.

Events in our dear country Nigeria in recent times are indeed tests for motherhood. As we were trying to mop up the mess created by the abduction of the South-South girl Ese and the attendant ugly stories, another scandalous story broke out. We woke up to the news of the kidnap

As we celebrate Mother's Day today, let's pause and offer a prayer for the kidnapped girls and their mothers. Let us all look beyond the merchandise, cards, gifts, dinner dates and remember mothers are to be appreciated everyday, not once a year

of three girls from a boarding school in Ikorodu, Lagos. Just like the legendary kidnapped Chibok girls, it first started like a tale by the moonlight until one had to do a reality check. You find yourself arguing that it could not have taken place in Lagos.

Lagos? The Centre of Excellence? It sounded unbelievable. More so, these girls were not abducted in one outskirt local school, but right in the middle of the historical city

of Ikorodu.

If my Geography has not failed me, Ikorodu is a well populated city and the school in question is not in the middle of nowhere like the Chibok High School.

Although the city seem always in the news, mainly for bank robberies and ever present clumsy motor traffic, one can now safely add kidnap to the city's "tourists distractions."

The kidnap has come as a shock. And more shocking, according to groups and individuals across the state was the slow reaction of the state Executive Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to the incident. It took the government representative quite a while to issue any statement assuring Nigerians that efforts are in place to get the girls back.

What else can break the hearts of mothers who had sent wards to school only to be told they have been kidnapped? It is a nightmare that cannot be imagined. The thought of kidnap of their children on school grounds would be the last on a mother's mind.

The last question that any mother would have considered while dropping off her child in a boarding school would be to ask the proprietor if they had enough guns to fight off kidnappers.

There is the belief of security and invincibility in these boarding schools. As a result, the government, citizens and parents refused to flow with modern times.

We refused to acknowledge the fact that evil lurks every where now in the world.

Gone are the days when boarding schools in Nigeria were secured places where children are groomed to adulthood in discipline and i n d e p e n d e n c e .

Unfortunately they are no longer sacred places where students are shielded away from the complications of the larger society.

These events have also called into questioning the security systems of schools in a volatile society such as Nigeria. It was reported the children were kidnapped after gun shots were fired in the air. One needs no FBI operative to tell us that most of these schools security systems do not go beyond employing local men to stand by the gates, and in the extreme equip them with local dane guns.

Events in other parts of the world should have warned us that thoughts of evil people cannot be rationalised. We can still remember the attack at the Peshawar Army School in Pakistan at the end of 2014 when terrorists walked in to the school and killed as many as 121 students among the 147 declared dead. These were innocent kids who had obediently gone to school on this faithful day.

While we may argue that the Nigerian situation is for ransom purpose, we must however remember that no child should be a pawn in any game, monetarily or physically.

As we celebrate Mother's Day today, let's pause and offer a prayer for the kidnapped girls and their mothers. Let us all look beyond the merchandise, cards, gifts, dinner dates and remember mothers are to be appreciated everyday, not once a year.

W

ere you part of the 50-day-fasting of the Redeemed Christian Church of God? If you did, then believe the word of Daddy G.O. that great testimonies will be your portion very soon.

Also Laughter Foundation Ministries International, Lagos ( Jesus Baby Factory ) marks its 19th anniversary this month. To mark the anniversary, the church has commenced a weekly programme, holding February 27 to March 28, during which, according to the G.O. of the church, Pastor Gbenga Oso, God will release babies to expectant couples.

Find time to attend the fiveweek programme.

The issue we are about to discuss today has become necessary as a result of the challenges in some homes.

Note that what I am about to share with you are true stories.

A lady was visited by her friend. The host prepared a meal for her visitor and served it.

The visitor took the meal and had a left over.

After she left, her friend decided not to waste the ‘special meal’ and ate the left over. Unknown to her, the visitor had poisoned the food.

Of course, the host became ill such that no doctor could diagnose the ailment.

So, a spiritual battle began to save her life.

Many would say, why should she eat the left over food? We may be quick to dismiss her, but we have done it at one time or the other.

Another instance is the case of a couple trusting God for the fruit of the womb.

This couple was so ‘nice’ that they allowed any relation to visit and spend the night in their home.

The couple was regular in the church and prayerful.

In one of the services they attended, they were asked to sprinkle their home with the blood of Jesus. While carrying out this assignment, they had to move the chairs in their sitting room.

Suddenly, they found a fetish object placed at the back of one of the chairs.

One called the attention of the other and they began to ask questions , ‘Who did this?’ .

Of course, they got no answers.

Whoever did it had done something sinister to stop their progress.

The two cases I mentioned are a signal to us that, even as we want to be hospitable, we need not be too trusting.

As Pastor J.T. Kalejaiye of RCCG would say, Matthew 10 verse 36 is my witness.

It states, “ And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household”.

You don’t believe it?

Let me share another story with you.

A young couple, blessed with children, was visited by the mother of the husband.

The woman was in the habit of bringing pepper from the village to Lagos to cook a native food for her son.

The man and wife are from different ethnic groups in Nigeria.

To the wife, she didn’t see anything wrong with mama cooking for her son and, in many cases, she was not allowed to eat out of it.

Within a short time, the mother became the husband’s preferred cook.

Is her conduct in line with

Watch the company you keep the word of God according to Matthew 19 : 4-6 which states: “ And for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother , and shall cleave to his wife: and the twain shall be one flesh?

Wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh . What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder”.

My prayer is that the Lord of restoration will restore joy into that home and others who may have similar challenges in the name of Jesus

Meanwhile, anytime the old woman left the home, joy also left the couple.

The couple would begin to disagree and even engage in physical combat.

To cut a long story short, things got so bad that the couple, that were good church going Christians, were forced to separate.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I have not said that mothers-in- law should not visit their sons because, in any case, the wife of today hopes to become a mother-in-law someday too.

It was not until they were separated that the wife, who had been cautioned by her own mother, realized that the pepper and food ingredients that the mother-in-law brought to cook for her son were from the forces of darkness.

Why would a mother want to destabilize her son’s home?

That is the question you would ask.

The answer was found when the man began to make progress and his mother left her own husband and her other children to take charge of her son’s home .

She became the

treasurer and financial secretary of the home.

Do you now know why?

Simple, she wanted to control his destiny; indeed his finances.

Please let’s understand the point I am making clearly.

I’m not saying we should not be hospitable, but, in doing so, we need to be watchful and not be too trusting.

Again my witness is recorded in Micah 7 verses 5 and 6: “ Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide; keep the doors of they mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth against her mother, the daughter- in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house”.

My emphasis here is in the latter part of verse 6: “ A man’s enemies are the men of his own house”..

Watch the company you keep. Don’t be too trusting.

Even as a I write today, the couple I mentioned remain separated and, of course, the children are the victims.

My prayer is that the Lord of restoration will restore joy into that home and others who may have similar challenges in the name of Jesus.

As I conclude the column, this week, I remember the story of a woman who had a son after 18 years of waiting. On the day of the boy ’s first birthday, relations of the husband refused to eat.

No one knew they had their own plans. One of them sneaked into the baby’s room, took his clothes and went to consult the forces of darkness.

To shorten the story, the baby died a few months after.

The point is that, even while celebrating, we must remain vigilant.

The good news is that the light of God overshadowed the forces of darkness and, before it was a year that the boy died, his mother had a set of triplets.

God shut the mouth of the enemies permanently.

These relations were so stunned, some of them refused to congratulate the couple.

It didn’t matter.

For the couple, they had learnt a lesson not to be too trusting.

Please note that I am not saying that only in-laws can be fetish or evil, even your own relations too can be.

Remain prayerful and the Lord will give you wisdom to relate with such people.

On your part, watch the company you keep and remain steadfast with the Lord.

It is well with you in Jesus name.

Page 40 — SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016

VIEWPOINT

By Jonas Agwu

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF

An agenda for accident-free roads VER the years speed related O crashes, dangerous driving and loss of control account for about

60percent of recorded road traffic crashes .This explains why the Federal Road Safety Corps throughout 2015 engaged its various stakeholders on the need for a smooth sail in a campaign whose successful implementation could see crashes going down by at least 30 per cent at the onset It is over 13years of seat belt enforcement and the importance of seat belt as a safety device in the vehicle. Yet, a greater percentage of motorists still see seat belt usage as a fulfilment of the law; not an acknowledgement of its safety value and as such merely strap when they cite a road safety patrol team. I written a lot this year on seat belt and will not stop recalling experiences of motorists. It is instructive that as we ponder on where we are going, that we look again at the WHO manual which recommends seat

VIEWPOINT

By Nkechi Odoma

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF

Unveiling products developed by a Nigerian agency

HE current economic situa tion has finally forced us as a T nation to accept the truth that a

monoculture economy that is dependent on crude oil exportation is not in our collective interest. Our dependence on oil revenue is only rivalled by our unrealistic and unsustainable culture of importation, to the extent that a fruit like banana that grows in abundance here is imported. Both variables have been responsible for the pressure on the naira thus the chant has been strident in promoting consumption and usage of made in Nigeria products.

This growing awareness and support for locally made goods is great, but the reality is that years of neglecting indigenous manufacturing has stunted domestic capacity to produce, even some industries have collapsed or relocated to neighbouring

VIEWPOINT

By Mohammed Abubakar

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF

Making farming profitable GRICULTURE was the main stay in Nigeria before oil A polluted our psyche. Our leaders

and national planners did very little to diversify despite warnings from the international community.

Oil price is so unpredictable that no sane producing nation would ever rely on it. The global oil glut contributed by the United States and Iranian exports to the saturated market aggravated the gloomy scenario.

The agricultural revival strategy, started during Obasanjo’s regime, was lopsided. It was not a national programme to say the least. The cassava revolution to replace wheat flour in bread making was not sincere. Rice and wheat production was not given priority in the strategy. And importation/ smuggling of the two commodi-

FRSC AT 28: The hurdles ahead (2) belt as one of the core indices for crash reduction and re-jig our seat belt campaign to compliment the successes expected from speed limiter enforcement This is because a wholesome seat belt usage by both the front and rear seat passengers would give us as a country a greater mileage beyond our projections.

Sometime last year, I did a piece on the penalty point system which ran for about two weeks. Just a fortnight ago, I was privileged to travel out of town and had a very interest-

The beauty of the Western world is that the least traffic officer in a patrol vehicle carries with him a library of drivers’ status, including recalcitrant drivers

ing discussion with a cab driver in the UK who told me how careful he is as a driver because of the fear to attract penalty points that might bar him from driving and ultimately keep him out of work. I has similar experience when I went for a training program at the California Highway Academy where we saw what technology backbone does in traffic enforcement. Even before this training, I have maintained that our strategies will fail to create the desired impact if our technology backbone is not fully deployed to the highway to ease and aid enforcement.

This was the point the Corps Marshal made during a recent television discussion on the imperative of the penalty point system. The beauty of the Western world is that the least traffic officer in a patrol vehicle carries with him a library of drivers’ status, including recalcitrant drivers. It is this information that aids him in identifying the legality of the man behind the wheels and his driving records and status over time. I know that we often act as if we are above the law but I can assure you that the moment drivers know that

they stand the chance of being disqualified from driving through either the suspension, warning or withdrawal of their drivers licence, that driver would cherish his driver’s license like is the case in countries such as the United kingdom and the United States of America where possessing a drivers license is celebrated far above even possessing an International Passport. In keeping with the same WHO template, I believe strongly that out efforts to rid our highways of the consequences of driving under the influence could be approached from an angle that I have canvassed over time especially after my small stint in Lagos as Sector Commander. What obtains in Lagos is the same across all other states and parks where sale of alcohol is openly done making it easy for drivers to ensure they top up before embarking on a journey. It is therefore important to consider cleansing the parks from the sale of alcohol and weeds while sobriety checks are increased on the highways by operatives of the Corps .The fact is that alcohol is a depressant drug. It slows down the activity of the central nerv-

A new shopping list for NASENI countries. In practical terms, while the movement to promote made in Nigeria products has grown, the capacity to meet resulting demands for local goods is left at the theoretical stage unless through the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI).

The present situation presents opportunities that can be harnessed. A repositioned NASENI can be the nucleus for this particularly in the wake of President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that this agency should explore ways of converting all its technology products, innovations, machines and equipment to achieve industrial revolution for the country.

NASENI, under the Vice Chairmanship of Professor Mohammed Sani Haruna, has unveiled an array of products that it developed in conjunction with local partners. These products can be deployed towards boosting local manufacturing. They will also serve

the purpose of reducing the number of heavy machineries to be imported for jump starting the ‘made in Nigeria revolution’.

For instance, a promise by the Bank of Industry (BOI) to provide support fund for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operator that adopt technological innovations developed by NASENI should be revisited. Activation of such programme will leave all parties as winners: BOI gets to fulfill its mandate of growing the

NASENI, under the Vice Chairmanship of Professor Mohammed Sani Haruna, has unveiled an array of products that it developed in conjunction with local partners

industry, NASENI provides the technology, and the SMEs get funding and affordable technology, while the economy gets a boost.

Other financing schemes for SMEs should key into this idea for the sheer possibilities it offers the nation to get out of the woods financially.

Similarly, without prejudice to the several bilateral and multi-lateral trade pacts that Nigeria is signatory to, the relevant agencies like the Nigerian Customs Service should consider updating its import list to factor in products that NASENI has developed. Professor Haruna had once hinted that such step could help the NASENI M1 motorcycle gain ground. The 80C engine motorcycle, which has been successfully tested was locally conceived, designed and manufactured by Nigerian engineers at the National Engineering Design Development Institute (NEDDI)-one of the nine research and development Institutes that NASENI supervises. There are a host of other innovations devel-

Re-engineering agriculture under Buhari ties continued unabated.

President Goodluck Jonathan’s efforts to go beyond rhetorics in revolutionizing the sector brought in Or Adeshina Akinwumi as Minister of Agriculture who purchased cellphones worth N50 billion from China to facilitate fertilizer distribution across the nation without third party interference. How that boosted farmers output is yet to be determined.

Akinwumi is now the President of African Development Bank whose PMB’s endorsement paved the way to grabbing the plum job.

Akinwumi was in diaspora when the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the then CBN Governor, hired him as Special Assistant to take charge of NIRSAL(Nigerian Integrated System of Risk Sharing Lending), a programme initiated by the Central Bank to assist farmers access funds from commercial banks. The programme was meant to guarantee and reduce agricul-

tural lending interest to farmers by the Central Bank.

Unfortunately, the new Governor of the bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, did not see NIRSAL as a priority, until recently when Aliyu Hamidu, a former Deputy Governor of the CBN, was assigned to head the unit.

If farmers could access funds with ease and limited cost of lending guaranteed by the Central Bank, that would certainly increase production for internal consumption and export as well.

The recent announcement by the CBN that N350billion has been set aside to promote non oil exports is a welcome development. Agriculture and solid minerals sectors would enhance government’s earnings to complement dwindling oil revenues suffered by oil producing nations across the globe.

One of the areas of concern is disbursing cash to small and medium scale farmers as intervention

fund. I never subscribed to it even before now. History has it that government and other sponsoring bodies tried this process of making cash available to “willing farmers” only for them to marry more wives at the expense of tilling the soil.

What farmers need is agricultural infrastructure, ie, land preparation, water channels, tube wells,improved seedlings,fertilizer and other extension services than giving them raw cash.

Interestingly,this initiative was started on a low scale by some interest group known as Wheat Growers Association in Kano. The infrastructural facilities are provided on a small scale to farmers, and, in return, the farmers sell their produce to the association.

If the new strategy is all-inclusive the way it should be, the Federal Government may as well consider introducing a body that is similar to Marketing Board in the then Northern Region. Farmers

ous system, including the brain. Alcohol could affect your driving by causing: Impaired vision,reduced reaction times, reduced concentration and vigilance, feeling more relaxed and drowsy, which may cause a driver to fall asleep at the wheel, difficulty in understanding sensory information, difficulty doing several tasks at once (e.g. Keep in the lane and in the right direction, while concentrating on other traffic),failure to obey road rules, over confidence, which may lead to risk taking, the hangover effects of alcohol, the next day, can make it hard to concentrate and drive safely, and might cause you to fall asleep while driving. Poeople who have been drinking alcohol may think that if they are especially careful, they will be able to drive safely. However, the alcohol may have affected their view and perception of reality. Their actions and responses may be quite different to what is actually needed, but they may be unaware of how much their driving skills have been affected.

Concluded •Agwu is the FRSC spokesman oped at NASENI whose production can be scaled up in conjunction with the private sector to reduce our dependence on importation.

It is visionary on the part of Professor Haruna to have gotten a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Coscharis under wrap over the NASENI M1 motorcycle as it demonstrates to other companies in Nigeria that the agency has been positioned to fully collaborate with indigenous firms. This is what the other government agencies can replicate as we collectively push for a Nigeria with increased local manufacturing capacity. It would have been pointless to develop an innovative product only to have it manufactured abroad and shipped back to Nigeria. Should this happen, we would have lost the potential to save on the forex and also the jobs that would have been outsourced to the manufacturing country. The NASENI example should thus be emulated by companies in the private sector that currently contract their manufacturing to other countries when the local capacity is there.

•Odoma is President, Africa Arise for Change Network. sold their produce competitively directly to the board not through any third party.

The establishment of a produce marketing company or solely for the purpose of paying agricultural exportable produce from farmers at economic price is an encouragement to produce more in commercial quantities. The organisation should be national in outlook with other arms that would be involved in inspection, purchasing, transportation, storage and processing for export. Apart from providing massive employment opportunities for our teaming youths, it would be another source of revenue generation to government in foreign exchange. One can confidently say in this period of low crude oil price that it may be another good source of revenue to government with potential in helping to finance it’s development projects.

•Abubakar is past President, Nigerian Institute of Management, wrote in from Kano

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016 —

Page 41

Before Tayo Akpata University of Education takes-off VIEWPOINT

By Queen Isedu

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF

At last, a college is upgraded

I

N 2009, when Governor Ad ams Oshiomhole took stock of Edo State, he declared that the top two items on his agenda for developing the state were education and infrastructure. Indeed, he has invested heavily in the education sector with the construction and rehabilitation of many primary and secondary schools as well as tertiary institutions.

The College of Education, Ekiadolor-Benin was established in 1979 as an Advanced Teacher Training College (ATTC) for the training of NCE teachers and located at Iyaro, Benin-City. It was formally opened on May 15, 1980

VIEWPOINT

By Adebola Williams

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF

A riposte to the campaign of calumny against a minister

I

N a desperate attempt to ele vate the fallacy of a false alternative to Nigeria’s economic realities, some partisan political hacks are spearheading a campaign aimed at tarnishing the image of Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance.

As most Nigerians know, Adeosun’s managerial expertise in micro and macroeconomics is unrivalled. A chartered accountant, Adeosun served for several years as a financial analyst for Price Watershouse Coopers, the world’s preeminent professional services firm.

Before then, she’d served as an accountant with the British telecom giant, BT., where she handled rigorous financial transactions amidst tight schedules.

It was as a result of her enviable achievements and rare professionalism that Governor Ibikunle Amosun appointed her to the position of a commissioner in charge of Ogun State’s finances from 2011 until 2015 when President

VIEWPOINT

By Olorogun Okiemute Okwagbe

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF

How to move Nigeria forward

P

RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari should take a critical look at the widening gap between the rich and the poor. His campaign promises was to close or reduce drastically gap between the rich and the poor.

From what is happening now, the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer, and the prevailing economic situation is a clear indication of the inability of the current regime to stimulate the various indicators of a vibrant economy.

The crash of the naira is one of the indicators of the inefficiency of the finance regulating agencies of federal government and Buhari needs to work harder before the stifling economic effect on Nigerians will take a different turn.

In fact, the masses are already

and renamed College of Education, Benin-City. The college moved to its permanent site at Ekiadolor, about 25 kilometers from Benin, in April, 1986. It is transforming soon into a university with the current infrastructure.

The people of Ekiadolor, college staff and students are happy with the Comrade Governor’s decision to upgrade the institution to Tayo Akpata University of Education, a promise made about 15years ago by former Governor Lucky Igbinedion but failed to materialize.

The move is in honour of a former Commissioner for Education in the defunct Bendel State, Chief Tayo Akpata. Announcing the decision during the funeral service for the late elder statesman in Benin, Oshiomhole said that it was as a result of his (Akpata) contributions to the development of Edo. He said the renam-

ing of the university would serve as an inspiration to youths, whom he advised to emulate the virtues of the late Akpata, who also was the Executive Secretary of the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund and the first Chairman of the National Youth Service Corps (Mid-West State) in 1975.

Going by the level of physical development of the proposed university, the requirement of tangible infrastructure has been realized

The Comrade Governor has matched his words with action by setting up a panel of professors, led by Dennis Agbolahor, to carry out staff verification and audit in preparation for the take off of the university. As far back as 2000, Edo State government promised to upgrade the college to a degreeawarding institution.

Meanwhile, Professor Amen Uhunnwangho, the Provost, has made giant strides in all facets of the college. Every aspect of the community has benefited from his astute and visionary managerial skill as the college has witnessed unprecedented development in many areas. The dream of the Academic Staff Office Block for the college was conceived during the tenure of Prof. Raymond Elaho, but was realized when Uhunmwangho assumed duty in 2008.

Uhunmwangho deserves com-

Who’s Afraid of Adeosun?

Muhammadu Buhari realised that her talent would be better used to the benefit of the country.

Since then, several partisan political jobbers have been trying to drag her through the mud, unleashing defamatory attacks against her person with the evil intent to setting Nigerians against her. Although there have been quite a number of sinister questions and innuendos thrown up against Adeosun, the latest and most ridiculous one of these is the question of

Although she took office as minister barely four months ago, Adeosun has helped in no quantifiable measure to attract investments to the tune of several billions of dollars into Nigeria

whether the minister is competent or not.

This would have been laughable were it not coming at a time Nigerians are facing harsh economic realities and Adeosun is one of the few individuals saddled with the responsibility of solving the crisis.

If we pay a close attention to the nature of these disparaging assaults, we’d discover that it is not that difficult to know where they’re coming from.

Quite honestly, Adeosun is not a strong politician in Ogun State that she represents in the federal cabinet. In fact, she’s not a politician at all. She’s a career accountant who practised in advanced climes for the better part of her career. But the politicians who schemed heavily for the highlyconsequential office were left largely furious after Buhari tapped Adeosun. In attacking her, however, they seem lost in the irony that they’re helping to strengthen the fact that the woman got the position strictly on intellectual wherewithal as against political connection that was once the order of af-

fairs.

Also discernible from the pattern of attacks against Adeosun is the hatchet job of civil servants who have been rattled by the minister’s take-no-prisoner approach to ensuring that Nigeria’s purse is completely taken away from the reach of powerful racketeers.

Over 23,000 ‘ghost’ workers were recently purged as part of Adeosun’s efforts to ensure that those on the payroll of the Federal Government are genuine individuals.

These individuals are now deeply troubled by the fact that a minister that promised to correct most wrongs and instil discipline in public service is truly making positive impacts.

In proving whether Adeosun is competent or not, I will not go the way of her detractors, who have continued to fabricate spurious allegations against her person.

Instead, I’ll focus on her exploits in the Ministry of Finance so far.

In Ogun State, she took internally-generated revenue from N750m per month when she assumed office in 2011 to over N6B in 2014.

mendation for his infrastructural rehabilitation in the college, especially in his ability to pursue and restore the 2007 to 2010 collapsed Tertiary Education Trust (TET) Fund for library development which resulted in the construction of a befitting e-Library Complex.

The school can now boast of adequate lecture halls and conducive offices to enhance teaching and research and, with this, the National University Commission (NUC) accreditation exercise will be favourable as the college is transiting to a university. Going by the level of physical development of the proposed university, the requirement of tangible infrastructure has been realized. Edo State government should take steps to enable the new university take off soonest.

•Isedu, a public affairs analyst, lives in Benin-City, Edo State.

Although she took office as minister barely four months ago, Adeosun has helped in no quantifiable measure to attract investments to the tune of several billions of dollars into Nigeria. She has also helped to winnow ghost workers from federal payroll, consequently saving Nigerians over N3b, in what would otherwise have been lost to fraud, every month.

These and many others are why Adeosun has become a target of unscrupulous elements who flourish in the status quo. The detractors should understand that it is in their best interest to leave this woman alone and look for something more productive to do with their time because Nigerians believe in her and Buhari himself has continued to show that he has unwavering confidence in Adeosun.

And he highlighted it by allowing her to play a very crucial role during their recent trip to Qatar.

There, the president allowed Adeosun, a female Christian from the South, to sign most of the consequential bilateral relations with Qatar, a very conservative Muslim state. So, if Adeosun’s detractors think they could get Buhari to cut short her appointment, they better brace themselves for a long drawn battle.

Buhari’s promises and poverty in the land constrained by the realities on ground to take up all brands of verbal missile at their disposal against Aso Rock.

Besides the orchestrated antigraft war that is targeted at presumed enemies, the President has failed to meet the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians, in terms of anticipated dividends of democracy.

This is right the time for Mr. President to make amends and a constructive opposition is needed for any democracy to be groomed into a robust and viable system of government that can effectively lead to an egalitarian society.

It continues to beat my imagination why a man like President Buhari who spent so long a time to take a shot at the Presidency, could still be waiting to take hand-outs from the metro pole through his largely unproductive foreign trips

that are yet to translate into what can be termed a solution to our escalating economic problems.

What is happening in the downstream sector of our petroleum in-

Nigeria is one of the richest countries in the world, the borrowing culture in the midst of affluence is an error of human judgement

dustry is an embarrassment to Buhari who promised milk and honey during his journey to Aso Rock in the first 100 days in office.

He is simply overwhelmed with the plethora of challenges without clear cut policy statement on how to tackle the contemporary hydra– headed problems of Nigeria. The falling exchange rate which has triggered a tripartite problem of high prices of commodities within the eight months span of his reign has not been looked into or put a stop to. Recent happenings compel most Nigerians to question the Aso Rock authority if the retrogressive change we are experiencing is going to have a terminal date or we shall remain so until the foundation of our economy is shaken beyond redemption.

People are worried about the debt seeking mind-set of our President who is pre-occupied with the

business of stockpiling more debilitating debt profile for our children unborn provided he can serve the narrow interest of a few politicians who are not ready to do anything different from our dirty yesterday men and women.

It is not wise enough to think of borrowing in a country where its single treasury account (TSA) is hitting N2.2 trillion daily and Nigerians demands explanation from Aso –Rock why we are quick to run cap in hand to countries that are not earning as much in their national economies to beg for what can be afforded by our wealthy barons. I stand to be corrected, Nigeria is one of the richest countries in the world, the borrowing culture in the midst of affluence is an error of human judgement.

•Okwagbe is a Warri-based business mogul.

PAGE 42—SUNDAY VANGUARD,MARCH 6, 2016

Double celebrations: Adeboye shocks ambitious pastors, not in a hurry to quit ... ....God is not yet done with RCCG, declares Oyedepo

•Pastor

Adeboye

BY SAM EYOBOKA AND OLAYINKA LATONA

T

HE Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, yesterday concluded activities marking the 74th birthday anniversary of the church's General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye and the 30th anniversary of the Special Holy Ghost Service---a divine vision given to the former Mathematics lecturer at the University of Lagos to mark his 44th birthday---30 years ago.

The event began with a unique Marathon Messiah’s Praise, a 74hour non-stop programme aimed at expressing gratitude to God for His mercies upon the life of Pastor E.A. Adeboye, and to create a new pattern of praise in this dispensation. The vision was planted in 2012 to allow God’s children engage in a long lasting spiritual worship experience, and it has grown bigger and blossomed to become the longest gospel musical event globally.

The marathon praise session dovetailed into the Special Holy Ghost service on Thursday which featured Holy Communion service, special intercessory prayers for nation of the world especially the violent crimes against children.

Leading thousands of worshippers to cry against the inhuman act which has become an order of the day in various cities and towns, wife of the General Overseer, Pastor (Mrs.) Folu Adeboye urged the worshippers to pray for the quick release of all kidnapped children in various parts of the country, adding that those involved in the act will not have peace until they release their captives and repent from their wicked activities.

Adeboye said: "There is another scourge against the children now, and that is kidnapping the little children. We will pray that wherever these kidnappers are, the fire of the Almighty God will fall on them and they will not have peace until they release the children in their custody and repent from their evil activities. " Admonishing the congregation on the theme of the programme tagged : "The Winning Side", Daddy G.O. explained that every living being has one battle or challenge to confront in life and that winning means to be victorious and triumphant over such life's challenges.

Pointing out characteristics of a

•RCCG choir winner, Pastor Adeboye described winners as people who sing and dance to appreciate God's awesomeness in their lives, those who always shout and clap to overcome their enemies. According to him, winners are bold, they persist till the end, submisive and obedient to God's injunction and faithful in all their dealings.

He explained that winners don't stop at almost successful but rather hold tenaciously to their faith until they are victorious over every life's battle: "Winners are always persistent to the end. They never stop at almost successful, noting that David had already killed Goliath with a stone but he was not satisfied and he went ahead to cut off his head.

"Winners do not just want to be fruitful but very fruitful. They are tenacious, not satisfied with half victory but total victory, they keep on pressing forward until they win," he said.

Adeboye also prayed that God will finish the good work He has started in Nigeria.

Wife of the General Overseer, Pastor Folu Adeboye urged the people to appreciate God for not allowing the country to disintegrate and bringing to nought all evil prophecies concerning Nigeria.

She further prayed for God’s fear to reign in the hearts of Nigerians and the Buhari led administration for divine wisdom and God’s fear in the hearts of the leaders for them to lead and lead the masses aright.

She said: "Let's pray for our leaders, from highest to lowest hierarchy that God should help them to walk on the path of righteousness, lead in God's fear, wisdom, knowledge and understanding."

Earlier, charging the congregation on the theme of the programme, the founder of Living Faith Church, Bishop David Oyedepo, in his message, urged the participants to know who they are in Christ, explaining that the work of redemption has positioned born again Christians as winners and not loosers.

He added that Satan and his principalities do not have the capacity to prevail over them.

Oyedepo further revealed that children of God were not redeemed to struggle with Satan but subdue him, empower their environment and show forth as light and salt of the world.

He explained that Christians carry greater potentials than that

Anybody who wants to go in anger in future is hereby advised to leave now because you may not like the one who would succeed me, and if you wait till then to leave, it may adversely affect your destiny

of biblical Abraham, David, Daniel and that such potentials can only be awaken through dedication to the works of the kingdom, reading the scripture.

The Bishop who revealed that God has been sustaining him for over 40 years in ministry, urged the people to walk in the covenant of Christ, faith and word of God, adding that they should ensure they are always on the winning side.

Congratulating Pastor Adeboye, Bishop Oyedepo said: "God is not yet through with RCCG, the 30th anniversary of Special Holy Ghost service has taken the ministry to another level. I am amazed at the ever increasing grace on RCCG." Ministering in some are the Church mass Choir, local instrumental display by Akwa-Ibom children's department who mesmerised the audience with various choruses alongside their local instruments.

Some of the delegates at the event included Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and his wife, Ondo State governor, Dr. Segun Mimiko and his wife, Benue State governor, Mr. Samuel Ortom, and The Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gabriel Olorunsakin and his wife.

Earlier, during the ministers' conference that preceded the HGS, Pastor Adeboye who celebrated a quiet 74th birthday, may have shocked some ambitious pastors in the church when he

made a surprise declaration to ministers of the church that though he is advancing in age, he was not in a hurry to depart yet.

To the very ambitious members of the church who had been positioning themselves to either take over from him or position their candidates for the coveted post, some of whom had vowed to leave if his successor was not their choice, the General Overseer had an unpleasant birthday present, advising such persons to leave now to avoid future truncation of their destinies.

According to him, "there is no death in my eyes at all," revealing that on two previous occasions in 2006 and last year the devil had an opportunity to terminate his life, adding that the evil one failed on both occasions. He didn't give details of the two attempts at his life though there have been loud suggestions by some church elders for him to retire when he turned 70 few years back just as there had been unconfirmed reports of how he had survived food poisoning.

There was even a report that one of his provincial pastors once tried to harm him through juju. The man merely emphasized that God had assured him that there is yet a lot to be done and will therefore preserve him for the greater challenge ahead, saying that he was yet to know who would succeed him.

"Anybody who wants to go in anger in future, is hereby advised to leave now because you may not like the one who would succeed me and if you wait till then to leave, it may adversely affect your destiny then," he added, arguing that God had assured.

As if giving a statement of his stewardship on his 74th birthday which coincided with the 30th anniversary of the ongoing special Holy Ghost service, Pastor Adeboye announced that the church now has 16 parishes in Libya, stressing that RCCG has become the first church organisation to benefit from the new development in that country, that apart from the capital, Tripoli, you can now rent a land to establish a church.

He then proceeded to inform the church leaders, that God had assured that the church growth has just begun, noting that a new agreement is underway whereby any parish pastor who wants to leave the church would not be allowed to take any church proper-

ty when he is leaving.

Pastor Adeboye was born on March 2, 1942 at Ifewara in the present day Osun State to Pa Moses and Esther Adeboye. He obtained a BSc. in Mathematics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and subsequently bagged his Ph.D in Applied Mathematics from the University of Lagos and worked as a lecturer in mathematics at the universities of Lagos and Ilorin.

After joining the RCCG in 1973, he began working to translate the sermons of its then pastor/founder, Rev. Josiah Olufemi Akindayomi, from Yoruba into English. In 1981 Adeboye was appointed General Overseer of the church, taking over from Papa Akindayomi, who had died the previous year. For three years he filled the role parttime, still lecturing at Ilorin, until he gave up the university job to preach full time.

Some young pastors in the church have been putting pressure on Pastor Adeboye to vacate the post as it is the custom of the church for any serving official to retire when he clocks 70 years of age.

But Special Assistant to the General Overseer on Administration and Personnel, Pastor Johnson Odesola debunked that claim, saying that those calling for the retirement of the General Overseer were ignorant of the church’s constitution, arguing that there was no where in the legal document that says he should resign or retire.

“Whereas the constitution provided that the deputy and assistant general overseers are appointed to retire at 70 and enjoy their retirement benefits for life, there is no such provision for the general overseer,” he stated, adding that on account of such ignorance even among the pastorate, the governing council had agreed that the constitution should be printed into a book and made available to all workers in the church.

“People have papers but they don’t read them. We have a compendium about the day to day running of the church but people just don’t read. The people who are agitating for the G.O.’s retirement because he is over 70 years are ignorant and the Bible says you don’t become foolish,” Pastor Adesola explained to the journalists.

Catholic priest launches album for Divine Mercy Year By

I

Perez

Brisibe

N acknowledgement of this as a year of Divine Mercy as declared by Pope Francis, a Catholic priest from Umuawuru Nvosi, Isiala Ngwa, Abia State, Rev. Fr. Tony Nkwachukwu Ogwu has launched a 17-track album titled Divine Mercy.

Ordained priest in 2009, and currently serving at Mary the Queen Parish, Ekpoma in Edo State, Fr. Ogwu said the album contains songs for all Christians irrespective of denomination, noting that following the declaration of 2016 as an extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy by the Holy Father, he decided to go beyond the pulpit in spreading the Lord's message. "Looking at the world today, I feel the strongest avenue to actualize this is through music," he added.

SUNDAY VANGUARD,MARCH 6, 2016, PAGE 43

T

HE devaluation of the naira is the talk of the town. It is on everyone’s lips. From 200 to the dollar, the naira dropped as low as 400, and then rallied again to 310.

Although the government has refused to devalue the currency officially, Nigerians know it has already been devalued unofficially.

This has provided the excuse for skyrocketing prices nationwide. From the market woman to the barber to the tailor, everyone has inflated their prices ostensibly because of the depreciation in the value of the naira.

As a result, a gloom has fallen over Nigeria. Companies are laying off their staff to the barest minimum.

Foreigners are packing their bags; going back home. Everyone is bracing up for a tough 2016. What does all this mean for the children of God? What is in store for us in these difficult times?

Believer’s immunity The true believer in Christ Jesus is immune to the situations and circumstances in Nigeria. Time was when they used to affect him. But then he heeded the call of Christ who says: “Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28). When the believer puts his trust in the Lord, he enters into God’s rest. That means he is no longer at the mercy of the vagaries of the Nigerian economy. Like Jonah, he can now sleep in the storm. “(God) gives sleep to his loved ones.”

(Psalm 127:2).

Although the believer in Christ might still live physi-

TRUE BELIEVERS CANNOT BE AFFECTED BY THE DEV ALU ATION OF THE N AIRA DEVALU ALUA NAIRA cally in Nigeria, spiritually he has been translated from Nigeria (the kingdom of darkness) into the kingdom of God. (Colossians 1:13).

He now lives in Nigeria not as a Nigerian, but as a stranger and a foreigner. (I Peter 2:11; Hebrews 11:13).

Indeed, he lives in Nigeria as an Ambassador of Christ.

(II Corinthians 5:20). He is now essentially a representative of the kingdom of God in Nigeria.

The true believer is that man (or woman) who is crucified to the world. (Galatians 6:14). He no longer rejoices in the world, or in the things of the world. Instead, he belongs to: “the circumcision who worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.”

(Philippians 3:3). He puts no trust in the economic policies of governments. Indeed, he does not operate according to the dictates of national economies. His trust is in the Lord his God. The difference is clear. The Nigerian economy is subject to change. It has ups and downs. There may be dollar-shortages today and dollar surpluses tomorrow.

There may be price increases today and price decreas-

The Lord our God is a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat es tomorrow. But these ups and downs are non-existent in the kingdom of God. Indeed, all the dollars in the world belong to God. God owns the world, and everything in it. (Psalm 50:12). The job of the kingdom ambassador in Nigeria is to intercede for divine help for Nigeria, his country of accreditation, from his home-country; the kingdom of God. By their fruits Therefore, we can tell a man’s true nationality by the fruit of his lips. Jesus says: “By their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:20). The sons of this world in Nigeria today are busy lamenting and complaining. They are decrying the situation in the land. The sons of the kingdom, on the other hand, are not bothered. You will not hear them complaining. You will not hear them moaning and groaning about price increases. In everything, they give thanks, for that is the

will of God in Christ Jesus concerning them. (I Thessalonians 5:18).

Jesus warned his disciples in his day: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the middle of her depart. Let those who are in the country not enter therein. For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.” (Luke 21:20-22).

Accordingly, when the Roman army surrounded Jerusalem in AD 70, they met no Christians in the city. The Christians heeded Jesus’ warning and fled to the mountains; to a town in Peraea called Pella. Over 1 million Jews were slaughtered by the Roman army, as recorded in Josephus’ “Antiquities of the Jews.” But not a single Christian was killed.

Similarly, when the sons of this world come to Christ, they learn from him that Nigeria is the terrain of the

thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10). Therefore, they follow Jesus’ counsel and move all their prized possessions out of Nigeria.

Jesus says: “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21).

So what do we have?

Those who are true followers of Jesus have moved all their valuables out of Nigeria into the kingdom of heaven. When the thief comes, as he invariably does in Nigeria, all he finds are old newspapers, coke cans and empty cartons. A robbery therefore only occasions thanksgiving. The believer is grateful to God for the wisdom to relinquish all his vanities beforehand. All that remains valuable to him is God and in God. God of Elijah When there was famine

in the land, God prepared a raven to feed Elijah and gave him water to drink through a brook. When the brook dried up, he sent him to a widow in Zarephath who fed him supernaturally during the famine. “She and Elijah and her family had enough food for a long time. The LORD kept the promise that his prophet Elijah had made, and she did not run out of flour or oil.” (I Kings 17:15-16).

God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. “Elijah was just as human as we are.”

(James 5:17). The same way God sustained Elijah in the days of old during a famine, so will he sustain his children today in Nigeria’s famine of foreign exchange.

All we need to do is put our trust in him, depend on him and rely on him. For the Lord our God is “a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.” (Isaiah 25:4).

Beloved, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Draw strength, confidence and comfort from his completed work. In all our afflictions in Nigeria, the Lord himself is afflicted; and the angel of his presence will save us. In his love and his pity, he will redeem all our losses. (Isaiah 63:9).

Thus says the Lord: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.’” (Isaiah 43:2-3).

Fulani attacks continue despite government's investigation

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ASHINGTON, D.C— FOR the past two weeks, the Christian farming community in Agatu Local Government Area (LGA) in Benue State, has experienced hell on earth. From February 22 to 24, radical Islamist Fulani herder militias have invaded the county, wildly sacking whole villages destroying homes and farmlands, and murdering hundreds.

Though some Nigerian news media outlets reported death tolls between 140 and 150, sources close to the situation in Benue told International Christian Concern (ICC) that close to 300 were actually killed, while as many as 7,000 were displaced.

According to local sources, the assault continues unabated, despite President Muhammadu Buhari's launch of an official investigation on Monday looking into the crisis.

Villages attacked include Akwu, Adogbo, Ayilla, Ogboju, Okokolo, Abugba, among several others.

Benue State Police Commissioner Paul Yakadi told the Nigerian newspaper, Vanguard, that the Fulani attackers came from nearby areas. "The worrisome renewed attack on the Agatu communities by Fulani herdsmen was as a result of the alarming influx of the herdsmen into the area through neighboring towns of Naka in Gwer West local government area of Benue State, Loco and Doma of Nasarawa State, where cattle are made to swim across the water to Agatu," he said.

"The Command, which was on an assessment tour of the area few days ago to identify areas that security needed to be beefed up, discovered Fulani herdsmen armed with sophisticated weapons with their cows num-

bering over 5,000," he added.

According to local reports, Agatu villagers rejoiced at the news of the government investigation, but still, the bloodshed continues.

Christians persevering in persecution Since 2001, Christian farming communities across central Nigeria continue to suffer this horrific scale

PFN advocates parliamentary system of govt

By Olayinka Latona

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LOCAL chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria PFN, has advocated a return to parliamentary system of government, arguing it will be in the best interest of the country and Nigerians.

The Okota chapter chairman, Bishop Mark Omonze made the call during the annual ministers' conference of the chapter held at Foursquare Gospel Church, Okota, Lagos, noting that the federal system of government only gives room for corruption.

In his words: "Our governmental system is bad, let us go back to parliamentary system of government which is the best for us in Nigeria. Parliamentary system will work better for us.

"If they really want to change things and fight corruption, they should slash the salaries and allowances of government officials," pointing out that that alone will solve some of Nigeria's problems.

Explaining the importance of the conference themed: "Re-

storing honour and respect to ministry", Omonze said: "There is need to bring orderliness back to the Church. There is need to remind the world that there are still genuine men of God who hear from the Lord, heal the sick genuinely and that the Church has a higher purpose on earth "We are calling on the Church to take its rightful position in the world, get back to the right track, those who are truly called

by God into ministry should not compromise", he said.

Speakers at the ministers' conference agreed that there was need to emphasize the love of God, integrity, faith and the preaching of undiluted word of God, adding that once God's standard and ethics are maintained in the Body of Christ, honour and respect will be restored to the Church and it will take its rightful position of the light and salt of the world.

of persecution, and few voices are speaking out. The crisis affects areas of as many as seven states in the region known as the "MiddleBelt," but the most concentrated attacks have ravaged local government areas in Plateau and Benue states that carry Christian majori-

ties.

While Boko Haram rightly grabs headlines for the brutal persecution that they have inflicted upon the Church in Nigeria, Middle-Belt Christian farmers and churches suffer each day feeling like they wear a target on their backs.

RCCG offers free medical service By

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Olayinka

Latona

O fewer than 200 residents of Orisumbare in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State received free medical services when Province 37 of the Redeemed Christian Church of God organized one its Corporate Social Responsibility programmes in the community.

The Ambassadors zonal headquarters, venue of the free medical services hosted hundreds of residents of Orisumbare community including those who had earlier benefited from such humanitarian gesture in the past and those getting to know about the programme for the first time.

The residents were offered free diagnostic tests to ascertain their Blood Sugar level, blood pressure and other blood examinations like the Widal tests among others by a team of medical diagnostic experts assisted by some medical doctors.

The beneficiaries were offered drugs after detailed examinations as their health challenges demanded.

Speaking on behalf of the Pastorin-charge of RCCG Lagos Province 37, Pastor Benjamin Ajayeoba, the Assistant Pastor-in-charge of the province-CSR , Pastor Olajide Oluwayemi told the people that the gesture was part of the church’s way of giving back to the community as initiated by the

General Overseer of RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye.

He urged the people to accept the free medical services as a token from the church in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ on the need to care for one another especially the less privileged.

Responding, some members of the community expressed appreciation.

Mr. Adeoye Balogun, a Muslim, thanked the church for organising the free medical services for the community, stating that such health services were expensive to acquire in hospitals around the community. He explained that some that could not afford the high cost of such health services have had to live with their ailments.

He maintained that he was particularly impressed that there was no discrimination as to who was qualified to benefit from the services.

To Mrs. Suraju Sulaiman, who missed the medical programme organised by the church last year, the testimonies of earlier beneficiaries motivated her to partake in this year’s event.

She expressed satisfaction at the way the programme was organised.

Pastor Segun Imonide, the Pastor-in-charge of Christ Ambassadors Zone, venue of the service, thanked the people for appreciating the yearly event.

Other senior pastors in attendance included Assistant Pastor-in-charge of province- CSR, Pastor Oluwayemi’s crew, Pastor-in-charge of Jesus Power Zone, Pastor Gabriel Opeyemi, Pastor-in-charge of Praise Sanctuary Zone, Pastor Moses Adeyi, Pastor Dennis Falode of David’s Court Area and Pastor Aladejobi.

44 — S UNDAY Vanguard SUNDAY Vanguard,, MARCH 6, 2016

Kane laments missed opportunity against Arsenal

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Dreaming Gunners... Ahmed Musa of CSKA competes with Fernandinho of Manchester City during the UEFA Champions League match.

Ahmed Musa prefers Gunners to Leicester

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UPER Eagles captain Ahmed Musa said his English Premier League club of choice was Arsenal and not Leicester that came close to signing him in January.

Leicester tabled a £18.7m bid for Musa, but it was rejected by his Russian club CSKA Moscow.

However, the Foxes promised to be back in the summer.

“I would be happy if I was wanted by Arsenal. I have supported the team since the age of six. Nwankwo Kanu has been my idol since childhood. It will

be fantastic to play for Arsenal.

“I will not hide it - Leicester actually came to our club. But I repeat that I want to finish the season with CSKA to help them to win a championship, and then think about changing team.”

Musa has made 113 appearance for CSKA and has scored 35 goals. He is aim to win the 2016 league title with the club.

CSKA are level on points with FK Rostov at the top of Russian Premier League, yet have a game in hand, ahead of their meeting with derby rivals Spartak Moskow today.

ARRY Kane insisted Tottenham missed an opportunity to beat Arsenal as the Gunners came back form 2-1 down to earn a draw and denied Spurs the chance to top the Premier League table.

The Gunners led through Aaron Ramsey’s flick in, but Francis Coquelin’s sending off after a second booking after the break changed the match.

Toby Alderweireld drew Spurs level before Harry Kane curled in a stunning effort to give Tottenham the lead, only for Alexis Sanchez to level late on.

And Kane admitted Tottenham should have finished off the game.

“We are disappointed, it’s an opportunity missed,” he said.

“We should have finished the game off, we should have got the third and fourth and that would have been the end but it if you give top sides room they punish you.

“I didnt think my goal had won it, it put us in a very good position.

“Maybe we dropped off and gave them too much time on the ball but it’s all part of the learning curve. There is a long way to go and we have to take each game as it comes.”

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admitted things could have been better if Coquelin hadn’t been sent off.

“I am proud of the spirit, but there are big regrets, going down to 10 men was the big regret for the day and it was hard to take,” he told BT Sport.

Messi gets new Barca six-year contract IONEL Messi has got Manchester City to join his former considered a bargaining position L a new contract extention that boss Pep Guardiola, who will leave ahead of a contract renewal at Bayern Munich this summer to Barcelona. He was also more will keep him Barcelona till 2022.

Spanish newspaper reports that Barca are aiming to keep Messi for at least the next six years, in order for himtobeattheclubfortheunveiling of their new stadium. Messi has been linked with a move to

manage in England.

There have been rumours that becauseofMessi’scurrentcourtcase regarding tax evasion that he would want to leave Spain for a fresh start, though this has often been

Ighalo putting pressure on himself, says Watford manager

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ATFORD manager, Quique Sanchez Flores wants striker Odion Ighalo to focus more on helping the team than to wanting to score.

Flores was speaking against the background of goal drought that seem to have hit his main man upfront.Ighalohasonlyscoredtwice in his last 12 games and failed to add to his 14 Premier League goals.

“He’s not scoring so we need to support him a lot,” Flores told the Watford Observer.

“Of course, the moment he scores it becomes easier for the team.

“My work with Ighalo now is to try and take away pressure. He has put pressure on himself. It’s like he feels he has to score. That isn’t the best way to recreate a good feeling.

“It’s a mistake to put pressure on himself. He needs to work separate from the feelings of scoring with the feelings of playing with freedom in the team.”

Flores added: “Ighalo is a little bit frustrated. Strikers need goals C M Y K

to feel good. You can feel he is trying but sometimes he makes bad decisions. I support him more than ever.”

recently linked with a return home to finish his career in Argentina, where he is less popular than in Barcelona. According to the story, Barcelona would appoint Messi as captain in time for the new stadium’s completion. The new stadium plans were announced in 2014, with a proposed increase in capacity to 105,000 from the current 100,000. Rather than move locations, the new stadium would be built over the old one. Work is planned to be completed by February 2021.

L - R: National Sports Commission’s Dr. Ademola Are; Brand Manager, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, Gbolahan Sanni; School Sports Federation’s Mrs. Victoria Rowland Layode, and President, Nigeria School Sports Federation Mallam Ibrahim Muhammad, at the launch of this year’s COPA Coca-Cola at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

PHOTO BY AKEEM SALAU

Putting the cart before the horse

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HE Holy Bible tells us in chapter one of the Book of Genesis how God created the heaven and the earth. Reading through the verses of that first chapter up to verse three of chapter two when the creation ended and God rested, you will see that God followed an order and procedure.

That is how everything under the sun should be, otherwise there would be chaos in the world. Any time people tried to do things without order, there is always confusion and most times no good result comes out of such efforts.

Everybody that is a stakeholder in basketball in Nigeria knows that the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF is the governing body of the sport in Nigeria. And so any basketball event, more so a league, must be sanctioned by it, otherwise it will not be recognised. That is the situation with all other sports.

So it was very funny when out of the blues, a new basketball league named Africa Basketball League was announced to commence this year. Surprised that I was not told, beingtheheadoftheNBBFmedia, I put a call to the leadership of the federationandIwastoldtheleague cannottakeoffiftheorganisersdon’t get clearance from the federation.

Ordinarily any effort aimed at improving the lot of the game and its practitioners is a welcome development and no one, not even the NBBF would want to kill such an idea. However, when things are done to undermine the authority of thefederation,becausesomepeople don’t like the faces of the people whoadministerthesport,thenevery move must be made for the right thing to be done to save the game.

Those behind the African BasketballLeague,havingreadthe hand writing on the wall and saw the futility of what they were going into, crawled back to the NBBF wheretheyweretoldtherightthing to do, that is getting the approval of the continental body, FIBA Africa, since they wanted other countries outside Nigeria to participate.

So to FIBA Africa they proceeded but before the meeting with FIBA Africa could hold and approval granted, the ABL organisers have gone ahead to announce a commencement date, drawn their fixturesandevennamedtheircable television partners. As all these happened,theNBBFkeptmuteand watched.

Like in heaven where there is order, FIBA Africa after meeting with the ABL group mid February in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire came out with resolutions and advise not different from what the NBBF had earliertoldthemwhentheymetthe leadership.

FIBA Africa saw the ABL project as very interesting but said it expected the organisers to submit “an explanatory technical documentation of the project and itsimplementation.Theseelements will enable a better understanding of the subject.”

It also told the ABL organisers that the “proposed competition cannot bear the denomination “Africa” or any other term referring toacontinentalcompetitionwithout the approval and technical supervision of FIBA Africa.

This FIBA Africa said is to enable it and ABL define a formal frameworkfortherealizationofsuch a project to, among other things, avoid conflicts with the National Federations, in this case, the NBBF. FIBA Africa also stated “the impossibility (of having) a Continental Competition with only 6 teams which selection remains subjectiveaccordingtotheproposed formula. The current FIBA Africa Clubs Championship is for countries’ Club reigning Champions” and that the “composition of the participating teams (in the proposed ABL) must comply with the regulations of the (NBBF) to enable them to participate in both competitions (National Championships and African Championships).

The continental body made one point clear though, that is its “nonopposition to such a project that would better promote the current competition of clubs”.

When the ABL organisers pleaded to be allowed to organize the competition this year as a test runbecauseofthe“significantfunds invested”, FIBA Africa as a way of soft landing for them, proposed the following alternatives: That is either changing the competition’s denomination and withdrawing “Africa” from it and maketheeventaprivateorregional one,committingonlytheconcerned or participating National Federations.Orpostponingthestart ofthecompetitionsothatbothparties (FIBA africa and A.B.L) could consult to finalize the competition’s related technical aspects. Despite this advise, ABL went ahead to commence the programme but I don’t know under what name. The last is yet to be heard on this action.

The lesson from this is that people or organisations should not undermine constituted authorities or take laws into their hands. When ever people put the cart before the horse, the result is always unpalatable because without the horse, the cart is grounded. The horsepullsthecartandnottheother way round.

On a final note, heard that the Minister of Youth and Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung led a ‘strong’delegation,don’tknowhow many they were, to Brazil to inspect facilities which our athletes will competewithduringtheOlympics.

Idon’tknowiftheytooktheathletes’ coaches whose responsibility it is to instruct the athletes. If there were no coaches, I dare say that the trip was a mere jamboree. We should be preparing our athletes instead because what Brazil will present is not different from what our athletes are already used to. Am I making any sense fellow Nigerians?

S UNDAY Vanguard Vanguard,, MARCH 6, 2016—45

Rio 2016: Judoka rues lack of fund for qualifier

By Jacob Ajom

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OP Nigerian judoka, Esther Augustine is in pains. Not pains from a judo contest or a brawl, but the pain of missing out when the best from around the world gather in Brazil for the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Like most of her peers in Nigeria, the beautiful Akwa Ibom born Esther has given up hope of being in Brazil because she has not garnered enough points required to qualify her for the Games. Indeed, no Nigerian judoka has.

“There is no way I can make it because we have not been attending qualifying tournaments,” she said in resignation.

The Mauritius 2013 African Open championship gold medallist said, “the points I scored in that competition in 2013 and the All African Games last year will count for nothing if I don’t compete in two or three more qualifiers before the Olympics.”

She noted with sadness that athletes from other countries were now headed for Morocco for a qualifying tournament.

“There is a qualifier in Morocco from March 17 and another in Tunisia, soon after that. We have been told there is no money to attend any of the competitions. I have just resigned myself to fate.” Esther only goes to the stadium to train ahead of the severally postponed National Sports Festival, which nobody is sure of the commencement date.

She said she was sure of garnering enough points that would have qualified her for the Olympics, if she was opportune to attend qualifiers.

“I fight in the 63 kg class and I know what I can do,” she

Siasia Continued from backpage confidence and, as long as the boys play to instruction, we do not have anything to worry about.”

Egypt presently sits atop the group with maximum six points, two ahead of Nigeria after two rounds of matches.

But Siasia believes playing the first leg at home is an advantage to the Eagles. “We are playing at home and we must make sure that we win at home, no matter what it takes us. Egypt can’t beat us, I assure you that. So, there is no need for panic,” he insisted.

His belief has been strengthened by the availability of video tapes of the Pharaohs and he said the technical crew will seat with the players and study the tapes closely. “ The first leg encounter will hold in Kaduna on March 25, while the return leg is scheduled for Alexandria on March 29.

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Esther Augustine(2nd from left) displays her gold medal won at Mauritius 2013 African Open Judo Championship. boasted, recalling that her feat in Mauritius did not come easy. “I competed among the best in the world as no fewer than 31 countries were represented at the tournament be-

cause it was open. I fought an opponent from Great Britain to win the gold in my class.”

Two Nigerians attended the event and returned home with 1 gold and 1 bronze medal.

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HE two-week camping pe riod for young boxers who were discovered at the GOtv Boxing NextGen Search came to an end yesterday. A total of

Continued from backpage

FIFA Continued from backpage could sanction the club if they failed to pay up.

Warri Wolves owe their players sign-on fees and other entitlements from last season.

And these players include Azubuike Egwuekwe, Solomon Kwambe, Gbolahan Salami, ThankGod Ike, Oghenekaro Etebo, Stanley Dimgba and others. They made representations through their lawyers to the FIFA dispute resolution chambers and the club have been mandated to pay the players their salaries amounting to N82,507,960.00 or the club will be thrown out of the CAF champions league.

Last season Warri Wolves were one of the clubs owing their

players outstanding salary and the Nigeria professional league management Company had threatened to deduct points, but somehow the clubs were left off the hook.

Speaking on the development Warri Wolves chairman Moses Etu said the club have not received any official letter from FIFA, but officials were aware that the players did take their case to a higher level.

“Right now I cannot comment on the situation since we have not gotten any letter from FIFA. “What I know is that we have discussed with the LMC. The players could not authenticate their claims, there was no documentation on the said liability.

“It is just some individuals who have left the club that are trying to complicate matters for us,” Etu said yesterday.

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RAZIL U23s coach Dunga is sweating on the availability of Barcelona attacking midfielder Rafinha for the upcoming meeting with Nigeria’s Dream Team VI in Cariacica.

Rafinha suffered a serious knee injury against Roma in the Champions League last September but was named to the 22-man roster announced by the Brazilian Federation on Friday, despite returning to training recently.

Ten players that represent European clubs have been included in the squad list including Andreas Pereira (Manchester United), Malcom(Bordeaux) and Ederson(Benfica).

An analysis of the roster revealed that two goalkeepers, four central defenders, four wingbacks, six midfielders and six strikers have been summoned for the meeting against Nigeria.

Brazil square off against Nigeria on March 24 before tackling South Africa in Maceió three days later.

GOtv Boxing NextGen search camp ends 28 boxers were selected from

Wenger

L-R: Consumer Planning & Research Manager - Beer, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Franklin Ben-Awurum; One of the one hundred thousand naira winners, Mrs. Adetutu Abosede and Sports journalist, Murphy Ijemba at the cheque presentation in the ongoing Guinness “Every Minute Made of Black”

Dunga invites 22 for showdown with Dream Team

And Wenger believes that after a week in which his squad’s hunger was questioned off the back of three successive defeat that his players answered some of their critics with their performance.

“We have shown great spirit all game, I’m proud of the spirit the players have shown and the response even with 2-1 down, we went down to 10 men,” he told BT Sport. “We managed to come back with at least a point.

“We have big regret, it looked like we were completely in control. Then we went down to 10 men. That’s the regret of the day. Overall, it’s difficult to take.

Rangers Continued from backpage Nwabulu in the Wikki goal.

Wikki almost took a surprise lead on 24 minutes when Yau Hassan fired wide from close range after a good work from the impressive Mustapha.

The hosts’ goalkeeper, Itodo Akor, was forced to make a desperate goalline clearance in the 35th minute to deny a lurking Mubarak who looked poised to pounce.

Godwin Aguda then gave the hosts the lead deep into first half added time when he

over a hundred boxers who participated in the talent hunt.

From that figure, 15 were adjudged to have shown greater potential by the judges’ panel, headed by famous boxing coach, Joe Mensah. The 15 members camped at the Lagos Boxing Hall of Fame Gym, where they underwent intensive training under the watchful eyes of top coaches.

Rasheed, Pro-boxer scrambled home from close range in a crowded penalty area.

Rangers continued to ask attacking questions after the break with Bitrus Dada forcing a save from the extremely busy Nwabulu in the Wikki goal.

Ifeanyi Egiwm and Osas Okoro came close to extending the lead of the hosts but were denied by good goalkeeping and poor finishing.

The win lifts Rangers over former leaders Lobi Stars as they have now amassed 10 points from their opening five games while Wikki drop to fifth. But the lead is temporarily till after today’s matches.

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SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016,

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PAGE 47

SUNDAY Vanguard, MARCH 6, 2016

FIFA threatens Warri Wolves over N82m debt

By Ben Efe

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ARRI Wolves could find themselves in cold water following debts owed to their

players. The world soccer governing body, FIFA has received complaints from the players and

Continues on pg 45

Don’t panic over Egypt — Siasia tells Nigerians

Etebo

Rangers beat Wikki to go top

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UPER Eagles interim coach, Samson Siasia has urged Nigerians to stop worrying about the 2017 Afcon double header between Nigeria and the Pharaohs of Egypt later this month because his wards have assured him of victory over the North Africans.

Speaking in Abuja ahead of the resumption of camp today, an optimistic Siasia said, “I have spoken to the likes of Mikel, Moses, Odion, Iheanacho and others; they are all ready to play.

They said: “Coach, we are coming to do it and play for you,” which is a good assurance. So, we want to go out there with a positive mind to make sure that we put smiles on the faces of Nigerians.”

On his part, the coach has assured that the double header was a top priority. Said he, “I am going to give over a 100 per cent of my time to make sure that we win those two games. I am full of

Continues on pg 45

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NUGU Rangers are the new leaders of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) after recording a 1-0 win over Wikki Tourists in Enugu yesterday.

Both sides came into the game in fine form having suffered just one defeat in their opening four games of the season.

They also knew that a win for either side would take them to the top of the standings.

The hosts had the first sight of goal in the sixth minute but Obinna Nwobodo’s effort was too weak to beat Emeka

Continues on pg 45

A LEGGY AFFAIR: Action n a lively opening half of the EPL match between Tottenham and Arsenal, Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli and Coquelin compete for the ball in a midfeild battle. The match ended 2-2.

Wenger hails Arsenal spirit A

RSENAL manager Arsene Wenger has hailed the spirit of his side after they came from behind with 10-

men to hold north London rivals Tottenham.

Alexis Sanchez secured a point for the Gunners after Toby Alderweireld

and Harry Kane had given Maurcio Pochettino’s side the lead in the aftermath of Francis Coquelin’s red card.

Continues on pg 45

CROSS WORD PUZZLE DOWN ACROSS 1. Sample (5) 1. Governor of Sokoto 2. Niger state town (4) State (8) 3. Observe (5) 5. Assistant (4) 4. Lecture (6) 7. Praise (5) 5. Everyone (3) 8. Upright (4) 6. Use (6) 9. Lantern (4) 10. Inquires (4) 11. Tradition (6) 13. Lagos masquerade (3) 12. Carpet (3) 14. Colour (6) 15. Exclamation (2) 15. Resistance unit (3) 16. Pig’s nose (5) 17. Coax (4) 18. Agent (3) 19. Rollicked (6) 20. Glitters (6) 21. Hatchet (3) 24. Forward (5) 22. Satisfied (4) 25. Nigerian state (6) 23. Nigerian state (3) 27. Boring tool (3) 26. Cry of derision (3) 29. Ghanaian fabric (5) 27 . African country (6) 31. Perform (2) 28. Endure (4) 32. Oshiomhole’s state (3) 29. Child (3) 34. U.S. currency (6) 30. Spoke (6) 36. Vow (4) 31. Adorn (5) 38. Musical quality (4) 33. Baking chambers 39. Inclination (5) (5) 40. Eager (4) 35. Asterisk (4) 41. Damages (8) 37. Possessed (3)

Osas Okoro

RESULTS NPFL: Enugu

1

Wikki

0

EPL Tottenham Chelsea Everton Man City Newcastle Southampton Swansea Watford

2 1 2 4 1 1 1 0

Arsenal Stoke City West Ham Aston Villa Bournemouth Sunderland Norwich Leicester

2 1 3 0 3 1 0 1

TODAY’S MATCHES

See solution on page 5

Wenger

NPFL Dolphins El Kanemi Heartland Ik Utd Kano Plateau Shooting Sunshine Warri

v v v v v v v v v

Nasarawa Enyimba Lobi MFM FC Akwa Abia Warriors Giwa Ifeanyi Ubah Tornadoes

EPL Crystal Palace West Brom

v v

Liverpool Man Utd

2:30pm 5:00pm

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